Simon says: don't conform
Elissa Badique
Issue date: 2/27/03 Section: Features
- Page 1 of 2 next >
If you should peer through the morning bustle of the Cosumnes River College cafeteria, perhaps you will spot what appears to be a young man with a shaved head shuffling through stacks of papers piled atop the small table.
If you happen to be an English 1C student attending a 7 a.m. class, he'll recognize you and tell you to pull up a chair. Welcome to the office of English professor Rob Simons.
Being a part-time professor on campus, Simons still holds his office hours in the cafeteria with no complaints.
"I like to blend in with the student body," Simons says. And that he does, being only 28-years-old, and fresh out of graduate school, Simons looks much like a regular student aside from the stacks of graded papers engulfing his table.
He actually admits being hired to teach at CRC was a "fluke."
An emergency hire for the Fall 2002 semester, CRC was his first teaching job. However, within the first week, he claims he was "blown away" by the experience and settled right in with the student body.
"I like him, he's straightforward and blunt...he's real," said student Akmal Niezi.
Simons, who currently lives in Oakland, makes the commute from the bay the night before each class, sleeping over at a relative's house in Greenhaven in order to make it to class on time.
A May 2002 graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts, Simons was part of an experimental writing school, which strayed from a traditional literature-based program, branching into internet, video, film and visual terrain, fusing the visual and written into one.
This is reflected in Simons' use of stories, clips and avant-garde films such as Stanley Kubrick's film "Dr. Strangelove" on his syllabus.
"CRC allows me the freedom to incorporate that kind of artistic background into my lectures and discussions," says Simons.
Simons started out just as many do, having a tough time through high school until college turned him towards the "life of the mind."
If you happen to be an English 1C student attending a 7 a.m. class, he'll recognize you and tell you to pull up a chair. Welcome to the office of English professor Rob Simons.
Being a part-time professor on campus, Simons still holds his office hours in the cafeteria with no complaints.
"I like to blend in with the student body," Simons says. And that he does, being only 28-years-old, and fresh out of graduate school, Simons looks much like a regular student aside from the stacks of graded papers engulfing his table.
He actually admits being hired to teach at CRC was a "fluke."
An emergency hire for the Fall 2002 semester, CRC was his first teaching job. However, within the first week, he claims he was "blown away" by the experience and settled right in with the student body.
"I like him, he's straightforward and blunt...he's real," said student Akmal Niezi.
Simons, who currently lives in Oakland, makes the commute from the bay the night before each class, sleeping over at a relative's house in Greenhaven in order to make it to class on time.
A May 2002 graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts, Simons was part of an experimental writing school, which strayed from a traditional literature-based program, branching into internet, video, film and visual terrain, fusing the visual and written into one.
This is reflected in Simons' use of stories, clips and avant-garde films such as Stanley Kubrick's film "Dr. Strangelove" on his syllabus.
"CRC allows me the freedom to incorporate that kind of artistic background into my lectures and discussions," says Simons.
Simons started out just as many do, having a tough time through high school until college turned him towards the "life of the mind."