How Stevie helped me get an "A" in world history

Macfan4life · #1 12-11-2016, 04:20 PM

This is a funny but true story. Its a bit cheezy but I was 19 and under the spell of Stevie and TOSOTM. Only the people on this board could appreciate such a story. In 1989 I was finishing my first year of college when The Other Side of the Mirror came out. I was going to a community college in western PA and Stevie would come to Pittsburgh that fall to promote her album (Sept 1). The entire summer I was fascinated with TOSOTM. The cassette played in my car and in my Walkman. That summer I walked for miles in Daytona Beach at night playing the album over and over. It was such a magical album for me and I was particularly sensitive to it. Songs like Ghosts and Rooms on Fire were so connected to me that it felt like I wrote the songs (I know that sounds strange). Doing the Best that I can always got me through the really tough times. In 1989, I was going to school, working, and my mother had a stroke and was in the hospital. That fall I had my first of 2 world history classes at the college level. My professor transferred to my school from Penn State. He would lecture every class and the test was one question and the answer had to be in essay form. On test day, he would pass out composition books and then write one question on the board. You had one hour to write to answer it in composition form. You had to cite history authors and form some sort of theme of cultures, civilizations and countries. Quite the challenge to say the least. The professor always reminded people that he never or rarely gave any "A's." I remember taking my notes home and studying for the test. How was I going to create a theme from all these notes? I started practicing of some things I would write. Suddenly Stevie quotes started coming to my mind. I started merging song lines in between historical authors and boy I was on a roll. It all sounded so magical. For example, I would start one paragraph "Still the same old story, what price glory" and then start my world history theme under it. A little line here and another one there. It read like a masterpiece. I remember the professor actually circling one of the lines with a big question mark like ???????who said this, are you trying to quote Burke?????? It read like a magical historical theme with my perspective, the historical authors, and Stevie Nick's poetry thrown in for good measure. I got an A- and the professor was blown away. I felt so accomplished especially for only being 19. Could I have gotten the A without Stevie? I am not so sure. Her poetic lines here and there was the secret sauce ingredient to my masterpiece in Early World Civilization.

**SisterNightroad** · #2 12-11-2016, 04:48 PM

You're a ****ing genius.

I don't have a story of this caliber, but once my feminist physical education teacher since I didn't attend sports classes due to my scoliosis, to "make up for it" told me to write a short essay about my feelings towards one of the problems women face in our society, I don't remember exactly what. Since it was something a bit "strange" of her to do and I was very busy studying for a test of another subject, I just ended up translating the text of a song from Garbage that I unfortunately don't remember in a few minutes. She gave me just a 7/10, that is roughly a little more than a C and less than B in the US system, but I was satisfied enough that I fooled her.

Macfan4life · #3 12-11-2016, 04:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

You're a ****ing genius.

I don't have a story of this caliber, but once my feminist Physical physical education teacher since I didn't attend sports classes due to my scoliosis, to "make up for it" told me to write a short essay about my feelings towards one of the problems women face in our society, I don't remember exactly what. Since it was something a bit "strange" of her to do and I was very busy studying for a test of another subject, I just ended up translating the text of a song from Garbage that I unfortunately don't remember in a few minutes. She gave me just a 7/10, that is roughly a little more than a C and less than B in the US system, but I was satisfied enough that I fooled her.

I still have the test hidden away somewhere in my house. Not only was I the only A in my class but his only A the entire semester.
I just remembered a funny part. I remember having a tough time drawing France into my "theme." The French always seem to go against the "trends" of world history. But I took a stab at it. I used a "book of miracles" line. Something like... France is a hard story to tell so (some historian) consults his book of miracles LOL. I was pushing my luck on that one. I mean what next? Getting some ribbons and bows to tie the connection

Steviegirl · #4 12-11-2016, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

This is a funny but true story. Its a bit cheezy but I was 19 and under the spell of Stevie and TOSOTM. Only the people on this board could appreciate such a story. In 1989 I was finishing my first year of college when The Other Side of the Mirror came out. I was going to a community college in western PA and Stevie would come to Pittsburgh that fall to promote her album (Sept 1). The entire summer I was fascinated with TOSOTM. The cassette played in my car and in my Walkman. That summer I walked for miles in Daytona Beach at night playing the album over and over. It was such a magical album for me and I was particularly sensitive to it. Songs like Ghosts and Rooms on Fire were so connected to me that it felt like I wrote the songs (I know that sounds strange). Doing the Best that I can always got me through the really tough times. In 1989, I was going to school, working, and my mother had a stroke and was in the hospital. That fall I had my first of 2 world history classes at the college level. My professor transferred to my school from Penn State. He would lecture every class and the test was one question and the answer had to be in essay form. On test day, he would pass out composition books and then write one question on the board. You had one hour to write to answer it in composition form. You had to cite history authors and form some sort of theme of cultures, civilizations and countries. Quite the challenge to say the least. The professor always reminded people that he never or rarely gave any "A's." I remember taking my notes home and studying for the test. How was I going to create a theme from all these notes? I started practicing of some things I would write. Suddenly Stevie quotes started coming to my mind. I started merging song lines in between historical authors and boy I was on a roll. It all sounded so magical. For example, I would start one paragraph "Still the same old story, what price glory" and then start my world history theme under it. A little line here and another one there. It read like a masterpiece. I remember the professor actually circling one of the lines with a big question mark like ???????who said this, are you trying to quote Burke?????? It read like a magical historical theme with my perspective, the historical authors, and Stevie Nick's poetry thrown in for good measure. I got an A- and the professor was blown away. I felt so accomplished especially for only being 19. Could I have gotten the A without Stevie? I am not so sure. Her poetic lines here and there was the secret sauce ingredient to my masterpiece in Early World Civilization.

Nice! I'm a teacher, and I love stories like this.

StevieNicksfann · #5 12-11-2016, 06:56 PM

I absolutely adore this story and am so proud you got an A. Wonderful! The only even remotely analogous story I have is that I was directing a production of the musical Rent for high school students. And for the cold reading section of the auditions, I wanted the students to have a chance to act out text about relationships and emotions towards partners and related themes without the familiarity or the singsongy rhyming of lyrics from Rent. So I used Stevie lyrics and without the punctuation it made for some of the most fascinating auditions I ever had. If you could see the variations and choices scene partners would make when saying things to each other like:

So how can you say well I don't know what love is?
You have it and you have no time for it You feel completely indifferent
You feel pushed up against the wall And then one day it just almost goes away

So how can you say well I can't see you
Not now, not tomorrow, not until' it's right
Not until' neither of us is pushed up against the wall
Well I'm frightened and I'm lost and I
Can't give you up, not now I need you now
I'm broken-hearted

I need you now. No questions asked.

AliceLover · #6 12-11-2016, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steviegirl

Nice! I'm a teacher, and I love stories like this.

I'm a 7th grade English teacher. I love quoting Stevie when I can!

Steviegirl · #7 12-11-2016, 07:45 PM

Wow! That's great! I teach 10th and 12th grade English.

24karatstevie · #8 12-12-2016, 01:40 AM

I love your story. Thanks for sharing! I guess you could say that Stevie has helped me in a class too. This semester for my writing class I actually based an essay around Stevie. The assignment was a Definition Argument in which we had to define something and then provide the criteria for it. We then had to argue why something qualifies as this definition by describing how that something meets the criteria. I chose to do the definition of an icon and argued that Stevie Nicks can be defined as an icon. I received a 99% on the paper and it was my highest grade received in the class! I had a lot of fun writing the essay too since I basically got to gush about all the things that makes Stevie so great!!!

lulu28 · #9 12-13-2016, 08:41 AM

Awesome story! My daughter, who is in 7th grade, is doing a speech for a class this semester. She's using Stevie's "If you have grace, you've won the game" quote to finish up her speech on modesty and grace in a teenage world.

Macfan4life · #10 12-15-2016, 07:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lulu28

Awesome story! My daughter, who is in 7th grade, is doing a speech for a class this semester. She's using Stevie's "If you have grace, you've won the game" quote to finish up her speech on modesty and grace in a teenage world.

Really cool
Love how Stevie's poetry has an impact on people to use it in their daily life.