Me too. And I thought it was totally justified, which is unusual for someone like me (because I normally don't care what other students' grades are).

I recall that someone from 1980 was sent home early too -- the difference for me between 1980 and 1989 was that, as a somewhat older person in 1989, I could see the disaster looming in the latter year, and felt it important to talk to Doc about it.

Ultimately, we had a small class in '89 -- maybe 13-15 students. Madge may remember more.


--m



On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 6:37 PM, Clay Stromberger <cstromberger@mail.utexas.edu> wrote:
I believe the "F" part.


c



On May 26, 2011, at 8:06 PM, Mike Godwin wrote:

For what it's worth, Doc's account is consistent with what Owen said at the time. I don't pretend to know what the truth is, but I know that witnesses often lie, and, retrospectively, I think Owen was fabulating some or all of his situation.

Of course, it doesn't actually matter what the explanation is -- the underlying fact is that Owen couldn't/didn't even learn his poem for Day One. And he explained away his discomfort with the situation by telling a story about this girl he supposedly got pregnant. I believed him at the time, but I've dealt with a lot of dissembling witnesses since then, so I think he may have fabulated his problems in the hope of getting sent home with no penalties.

Here's an abbreviated version of his current account of the events on IMdB:

"Not Shakespeare. In college I took a Shakespeare class because I was an English major, and they had a Summer program called Shakespeare at Winedale, which is out in the German Hill country in Texas , where you go out and live for two months and then you perform three plays at the end of that time. And people from Austin drive out and see it. I was supposed to be one of the two gentlemen of Verona . And I got out there and I just could not stand being out there. There were also so many lines to memorize that it was just overwhelming for me. So I ended up going home and I got an F."

You should believe as much of this as sounds credible to you.


--m



On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 4:36 PM, Barker, Michael <Michael_Barker@spe.sony.com> wrote:
Then I will not say a word.


----- Original Message -----
From: James Ayres [mailto:jayres@cvctx.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2011 06:33 PM
To: mnemonic@gmail.com <mnemonic@gmail.com>; weeklong-l@lists.wikimedia.org <weeklong-l@lists.wikimedia.org>
Subject: Re: [Weeklong-l] Midnight in Paris

A Paul Harvey thing here, "the real story" about Owen. He arrived one
day and left the next.  I provided, demanded, the exit  once I
discovered (from his mother and the UT police) that he was using
Winedale as a hideout from families and legal authorities seeking him
for getting a girl pregnant.  Nothing at all to do with lines.  Only
moral responsibility.  The folklore about his connection with
Shakespeare at Winedale should dissolve, disappear.  He was never there.

Doc


On May 26, 2011, at 4:12 PM, Mike Godwin wrote:

> Famously (or infamously in our circles), Owen Wilson was a Winedale
> student very briefly in the summer of 1989. (Madge and I were both
> there that summer.) He opted to leave rather than learn his lines --
> we handled it.
>
> It's hard not to feel a bit ambivalent about him even now (in case you
> were wondering how long I hold a grudge), but he has shown some great
> charm in some of his movies. (Of course, people feel ambivalent about
> Woody Allen too. And even about Paris!)
>
>
> --m
>
>
>
> On Thursday, May 26, 2011, Maggie Megaw <maggie@bizaffairs.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Meant to write on Sunday after seeing the picture Saturday
>> night—9:30 screening, sold out, as were the two preceding screenings.
>> Loved the movie—full of charm and smitten with Paris.  Most fun out
>> at
>> the movies in a long while.  Congratulations, Michael. xxxm
>>
>>
>>
>> maggie megaw | business affairs, inc | 2415 main street
>> santa monica ca 90405 | ph 310 954 8440 | fx 310 362 8707
>>
>> This message
>> contains information that may be confidential and/or privileged. If
>> you have
>> received this message in error, please advise the sender and delete
>> this
>> message immediately.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
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> Weeklong-l@lists.wikimedia.org
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Clayton Stromberger
Outreach Coordinator, UT Shakespeare at Winedale
College of Liberal Arts, University of Texas at Austin
www.shakespeare-winedale.org
cell:  512-363-6864
UT Sh. at W. office:  512-471-4726