Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Correspondence Learning

Hi! My name's Henry. Yes, Henry Jenkins. No, not that Henry Jenkins. I'm Professor Jenkins' son, Henry IV. I just graduated from the University of Arizona with a self-designed interdisciplinary degree in Transmedia Studies and I'm waiting to hear back from grad schools so I know where I'm going next fall. Though I'm not a student at MIT - and in fact am currently in Tucson, not Cambridge - I'm participating in Sam's class in an honorary, long distance capacity and plan to visit a few times during the semester. I'm a life long wrestling fan. I started watching the NWA (and soon the WWF and WCW) in 1990 while spending the night at a friend's house, I soon started going to the monthly events at the Boston Gardens with my dad and over the years I've gone through quite a love/hate relationship with Vince McMahon's sometimes offensive, constantly repetitious, often maddening but none the less intoxicating brand of live storytelling. My Sophomore year of college I wrote an essay about my experiences as a fan called Growing Up and Growing More Risque, published in Nicholas Sammond's Steel Chair to the Head: The Pleasure and Pain of Professional Wrestling, which you'll read later in the semester. Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself since I'll probably be one of the few people on the blog who's not in the class. I look forward to meeting all of you when I'm through town and I hope you have some really excellent discussions this semester.

Henry

1 comment:

Sam Ford said...

Henry, thanks for introducing yourself, and look forward to talking some wrestling this semester and possibly even having you visit in the flesh at some point down the line.