Obviously, I feel very guilty, since I keep returning to those pants. For the record, the three pairs came to about $180.00, after various discounts and coupons. Plus, my mother bought me the pants from Chico's--thanks Mom!
So even though I seek to glorify these purchases by adverting to the concept of Franch Frugality, in truth, the reason has to do with the GAZE.
It is a truth universally acknowledged that students listen to only a small portion of what a teacher says. The ONLY thing I can be sure my students will pick up on is the magical phrase: extra credit. Sometimes they hallucinate, as when they say But you said we could have extra credit for coming to class!
Teachers are subject to the GAZE. Anyone who has spent any time in literary theory classes or film classes knows about the male gaze (famous article by Laura Mulvey: "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema") and its many permutations.
So while teachers seem to have all the power (because they make up the tests and do the grading, obviously), as they intone away on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the students are, it must be admitted, not paying attention to the lecture. But they are GAZING upon the teacher. The GAZER, as we know from Mulvey et al, has the power to which the OBJECT of the GAZE is vulnerable.
I know this for a fact, because as I left my classroom yesterday, I overheard two fellows chatting as they waited for their class. They were saying, "That teacher has the biggest muffin top I've ever seen!" It is a testament to the power of the gaze that every woman to whom I related this story immediately said, "OMG, that must have been ME they were talking about!"
My new pants have wide and stretchy waistbands. Nuff said!
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