Turns out one of my lecturers is famous.
His name is Tom Paulin, and Megan & I had the dubious honor of sitting through several of his lectures on "How to Read a Poem."
Biographical photo from
wikipedia.com article.
Don't let this pensive gaze fool you.
This is more like it.
His unruly hair has been conveniently cropped from this picture.
This is also typical attire for a lecture - dress shirt with no undershirt, unbuttoned to reveal a slight glimpse of pathetic sprouts of hair protruding from his chest.
This is another look with which we are familiar.
The piercing, steely blue eyes seem to bore [holes through] you.
And occasionally this beaut.
Most notably when Megan had the audacity to point out that Californians pronounce "San Joaquin" as "San Wa-keen,"
not "San Joe-cane." This after he had just completed his detailed explanation of the rhyme scheme surrounding "San Joe-cane."
Paulin's response to Megan's hesitant and respectful, yet tenacious assertion?
"Well, you've stumped me there."
We knew that Paulin was a published author, but we had no clue that his circle of prestige encompassed the almighty Wikipedia! This discovery was made when I was in the midst of completing research for my long essay, searching for a quote about creation on brainyquote.com, and noticed that one of the generated responses was by "Tom Paulin." I started at the name, paused Beethoven's violin concerto, removed my headphones and turned slowly to Megan.
"Megan," I began, my voice shaking slightly, "what is Paulin's first name?"
"Tom," Megan replied, looking at my bewildered expression quizzically.
"He's quoted on brainyquote.com," I breathed in amazement, as I quickly entered "Tom Paulin" into the Google bar. "I wonder if he's made it to Wikipedia yet."
At the same moment these words were spoken into existence, their suspicions were confirmed.
According to Wikipedia, Thomas Neilson Paulin was born January 25, 1949. He is a "Northern Irish poet and critic, well-known for his strong political views." However, what Megan & I were most interested (yet least surprised) to discover was under the heading "Controversy." However, I've written enough and will leave you with that element of suspense. Simply visit the link above if you'd like to complete your own research.
