The Cable - The College of St. Scholastica

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Christine Peters
Opinion Columnist
A Duluth native, Professor Ryan Vine’s convivial personality makes for a
preferable atmosphere in the classes he teaches, including freshman composition,
Introduction to Literature, Ethnic Literature, Fiction Workshop, Poetry
Workshop, and Poetry Movements Theory and Practice. Ryan’s favorite
subject to teach is poetry, because of his life-long interest in it, and he enjoys
seeing the students’ breakthroughs in the thinking process. He said he finds
seeing his former students succeed after college to be inspirational.
Poetry and English have been an exponential part of Vine’s life. He discovered
his passion for poetry while attending Denfeld High School. Vine
joined the ‘Walt Whitman Fan Club’ that his English Teacher, John Johnson,
created, and the group read and discussed Whitman’s works. After graduation,
he went on to study English at St. Scholastica, and continued to Emerson
College in Boston to receive his MFA in Creative Writing and Poetry.
When Vine finished school, he came back to Duluth to regroup and spend
time with his family. He worked as a server at Old Chicago while writing po-
Annelise Frederick
Variety Columnist
Ryan Vine
Photo: Dan Bronovan
For years, my mother has been forcing me to watch chick flicks with her.
From as early as 2002 with the release of “A Walk to Remember,” (which is
the first time I can remember being hauled off to the theater to see one with
my mom) I have been subjected to the mushy romance of teens and adults
constantly stuck on the same roller coaster. Girl meets boy, something keeps
them apart but the power of their love draws them together and helps them
get over the obstacles, and then- “poof!” they’re a couple and there will nothing
will ever be in the way of their eternal happiness!
Valentine’s Day is drawing near, which naturally means there will be
a slew of lovely ‘feel good’ chick flicks and their offshoots: The rom-com,
or romantic comedy. The absolute bane of my existence. Boy and girl meet.
One or both of them make complete and utter imbeciles of themselves and
they get into some sort of fight, but in the end find happily ever after in each
other’s arms. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy a chick flick/rom-com on occasion.
“Pride and Prejudice” is a lovely film, “The Princess Bride” and “Life As
We Know It” are pretty darn good; “Grease” and “The Sound of Music” will
always be a soft spot for me. But overall, these films are just too much. There
Unsettling from the start, The Woman in Black
wraps themes of revenge, insanity, and parental
love into a gothic ghost story. Set in Edwardianera
England, Daniel Radcliffe plays the widower
Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer sent from
London to Crythin Gifford, a remote village, to
settle the estate of Alice Drablow. The villagers
shun Arthur as soon as they know he must go to
the Drablow home, Eel Marsh House, a wasting
mansion on a secluded island reachable only by a
narrow causeway which is daily flooded by high
tides.
Eel Marsh is a classic haunted house, covered
with cobwebs and dust, menacingly cluttered
with old portraits, animal heads, pale dolls and
statues – anything that can stare back with candle
flames glinting off of round dead eyes. Arthur
finds trunks full of old paperwork through
which he eventually pieces together the story of
the ghosts haunting the house. I’ve seen a play
version of The Woman In Black, which did a better
job of fleshing out the back story of the insane
woman and her relationship with her child.
This movie version focuses more on the word-
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Meet Ryan Vine
etry. During that time, he stopped on campus to visit, only to
find that an English instructor had just quit two weeks into the
semester. Vine was offered the job and started immediately.
He said it was a difficult immersion, because he never taught
before nor did he have time to plan.
“I was so nervous, I would write out everything long-hand
for lectures,” Vine said. “I faced that blackboard and would
turn around to look at the class and think, ‘oh geeze, they’re
still there.’”
Vine has undoubtedly become more comfortable and at
peace in his teaching styles since then. His favorite part about
working at St. Scholastica is the students. They are smart, interesting,
and engaging. He spoke enthusiastically about how
some of his classes are so engaged that he can barely finish
his day’s lesson because the students talk, discuss, and argue
about different topics surrounding the current literature or
poems in discussion.
“It truly makes the time fly by and the classroom an enjoyable
place,” Vine said. “If people have fun at school, they yearn
for more knowledge.”
For motivation, Vine believes that there needs to be a balance between stern
criticism and celebrating good ideas in the students’ work.
Not only is Vine a phenomenal teacher, he is an exceptional writer. His
poetry was recently published by Ploughshares Publishing and some of his
new work will be soon published too. He also was the recipient of the Robert
Watson Poetry Prize. Although he has become quite successful, the journey
has been on rough terrain. He has worked to be published for 10 years.
Each time Vine receives a rejection letter from a publishing company, he
brings it to class to show the students that it is hard work and that it is inevitable
to have disappointments along the way, but perseverance will serve
them well.
With poetry and writing, Vine enjoys passing time by learning the guitar.
He recently started practicing finger-picking on the guitar by playing Bob
Dylan’s “Boots of Spanish Leather.” He claims that he does not like to say that
he plays the guitar, though, because he knows many people who are really
talented at it.
The final piece of advice Ryan has to give everyone is short and sweet.
Simply put, “Read.”
Why chick flicks are so painful
is something about chick-flicks that just bothers me, and after years I think I
have pegged it: my problem is just how close these films are to ‘real life’ and
how far they can take it beyond what common sense and common decency
usually allow people to do.
Chick flicks seem to be meant to show this ‘perfect’ love story, it just isn’t
always that perfect. I’m pretty sure by the time college rolls around we’re all
pretty familiar with William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” (which, by the
way, is nowhere near the ‘perfect’ romance). I have no idea how many girls
I know or heard talking that believed that. A romance, tried and true; the
perfect prom, sparkles and flowing dresses; the enemy, ready to sabotage you
and steal your man at every turn, if she wasn’t already dating him; the knowledge
that life was perfect, friends at your back or a sharp comment and plan
to get rid of the enemy and get the guy. I find no use for these movies when
I could save my $8.50 for something else and just watch my classmates getting
into different degrees of that drama on their own, but without a happy
ending.
Is the point of chick flicks and rom-coms to show how the world isn’t 90%
of the time? You’ve got your opinions and I’ve got mine- and if you want to
argue with me on them that’s fine. Just know I consider “The Pirates of the
Caribbean” a chick flick to avoid having to watch an actual one, so things
might get odd.
Movie Review: The Woman in Black
Barbara Patten
Contributing Writer
Internet Photo
less terror Arthur experiences in the house and
the revenge unleashed on the nearby village.
I think the movie would have benefitted from
more back story and fewer chittering monkey
toys, but it does succeed in showing the raw
emotional loss a parent experiences at the death
of child.
Radcliffe’s role is limited by his lack of lines,
but he reacts to the haunting convincingly, and
his efforts to end the legacy of the ghost are heroic.
The extent to which he goes to find what she
is missing was for me the part of the movie that
was the hardest to watch.
I don’t go to a lot of horror movies, especially
those that are rated R and have excessive gore
and torture, but this one is PG-13 and it relies
much more on disturbing shadows and fleeting
glimpses of the dead to tell its story. So, if you
need a lot of violence and pain to enjoy a horror
movie, this one isn’t for you, but if you’re in the
mood for something lighter and enjoy period
dramas, The Woman In Black could be what you
are looking for.