“Frankly, I think it’s a pretty stupid idea for a course/project/paper…creating their own curses by means of cut-and-paste of various curse elements seems to me no more legitimate academic study than a collage of magazine-photo cutouts qualifies as classical art. It has no sensible application, and it adds nothing to the research that one cannot get from just analyzing the original material in its own cultural context. It’s nothing more than playful make-work, and these kids are getting college credit for it. Ludicrous!”

Apparently a few things need to be clarified. Firstly, this was one of several assignment options, and is only worth a portion of the overall mark for the paper. Secondly, the majority of the course is, as you say, studying “magic” in its own cultural context, and therefore perfectly legitimate by your own admission. Thirdly, I must add that for the record I chose not to do this particular option because I thought it would be too difficult. Do you have any idea how complicated these things actually are? It’s far from mere “cut and paste”. Besides which, I fail to see why asking students to apply their knowledge to a practical project is a bad thing; fun doesnt necessarily equal easy or worthless, you know.

Frankly, I think it’s a pretty stupid idea for a course/project/paper. It’s certainly not “dangerous,” or anything like that, and I’m not the least bit concerned about any blasphemy potential; however, I find it quite absurd to give college students course credit for this sort of nonsense. What next — course credit for creating new superheroes by mixing up the powers of those in the comic books? That’s about as appropriate as what they’re doing here.

Researching and writing about the “curses” as practiced in voodoo and similar cultural practices is a perfectly legitimate sort of study (as part of anything from sociology to history to literature), but creating their own curses by means of cut-and-paste of various curse elements seems to me no more legitimate academic study than a collage of magazine-photo cutouts qualifies as classical art. It has no sensible application, and it adds nothing to the research that one cannot get from just analyzing the original material in its own cultural context. It’s nothing more than playful make-work, and these kids are getting college credit for it. Ludicrous!

~David D.G.

But of course! Everybody knows that to be a vampire you don’t take a course. You join the Vampire Church and you must pay $20 dlls. to get your vampire bible first!

Uhh, you do know that New Zealand is in the Great Southern Ocean, don’t you? That is, the very Ocean beneath which is the city of R’lyeh …

I thought R’lyeh was located closer to South America, near the Pacific pole of inaccessibility.

Imagine the reaction when they find out that we also have LGBT and feminist classes. Also, a seminar on bioterrorism.