Has anyone had ART 80 with Leo Soisson?

What is the class like? Is this guy a whack job?

I took it with him this summer...and yes, he's slightly off his rocker. However, it's a nice break from all of the mind-numbing engineering work that seems to turn us into robots (although there would definitely be some advantages to being a robot).

It's definitely an easy A...this summer he gave one to everybody whether they went to class or not. The advantages to going are: if you don't know much about art, you will after this class, and if you attend class, chances are you'll find an opportunity to get out of the final paper (which is the only assignment he gives).

What kind of stuff do you do in class? Does he just pace back and forth and lecture?

Not lecture so much as talk to himself. He shows slides and talks about them and "beauty", and likes to make his students uncomfortable by coming up to them and talking into their foreheads.

Ya, I've noticed that already. Does he always talk about Vietnam??

Any class participation?

I've got that class on wednesday nights. After one lecture, I already decided that man's insane. He wouldn't shut up about beauty and asthetics. I guess we're stuck listening to that shit all semester?

The Vietnam stuff will probably subside, but he'll still bring it up once in a while throughout the semester. As far as class participation, he'll try to make you feel like you should show some individuality and speak up, but if you do he'll probably ridicule anything you say.

If you're all about conformity, you'll probably be miserable all semester. But like I said earlier, it's refreshing to hear a little bit of 'fuck the man' attitude once in a while. I didn't believe everything he said (the famous buffalo death song and being on the FBI watchlist for having a MFA, for example), but he does have some interesting ideas...

Sounds exactly like a shop teacher I had in high school. His most memorable bullshit story was claiming that the CIA was after him because he knew too much about how to make nuclear weapons

Yeah, because the public school system is such a good place to hide!

Everytime he strolled into class he reeked of pot.

Glad I'm not the only one who noticed that.

What the heck is an MFA?

A Masters of Fine Arts. Apparently, the FBI then considers you a potential threat because you think for yourself...according to Leo. Make sure he tells you the buffalo death song story, it convinced me to stay away from peyote!

See, I thought he was talking about a MFA as in Missouri Farmers Association.... I guess that is what being raised on a farm gets you...

http://www.sos.mo.gov/BlueBook/2005-200 ... mit=Search


Damn, I wish I got paid 30 grand a year to stand in front of a class and ramble on about random bullshit. Granted, $30,000 is absolutely nothing compared to what other instructors make, but hey, it's still 30 grand.