[EEEB W3030] Biology, Systematics and Evolutionary History of Apes

Go ahead, ask me whatever you've been itching to know about the systematics, morphology, behavior, dentition, and taxonomy of apes. There isn't much I don't know. After taking Biology, Systematics and Evolutionary History of Apes --or, as it is fondly known, Apes, Apes, Apes-- Professor Shapiro told the class we were as well-informed and up to date as the leading researchers in the field. She wasn't kidding. It was fascinating, and it was intense, as is anything Jill Shapiro teaches. I amazed myself by signing up for the class after having taken Human Species to fulfill a science requirement the previous term, and getting the worst grade of my college career in the course after failing both the midterm and the final. I had never failed a quiz, much less an exam, but I'd also never had as much stuff to commit to memory. I was astonished to see people crying like babies --at Columbia!-- during the final, but Professor Shapiro had seen the weepers before and was armed with a giant box of kleenex. I failed without shedding a tear, and she gave me the chance to redeem myself, and I did, and I'm proud of how hard I worked for that blasted C that destroyed my GPA. Prof. Shapiro is an extraordinary teacher and a wonderful human being. She is also a quintessential New Yorker: brilliant, funny as hell, well-informed on a host of topics, and referencing all of them while lecturing at the speed of light and simultaneously covering every blackboard in multi-colored chalk. She wears sandals and Indian skirts even in February, is extremely sensitive to people's feelings and the political correctness of things, and enjoys feeding students cookies and strawberries whenever the opportunity arises. She also teaches you the arm signals needed to get her to slow down, stop, or repeat. It is for the opportunity of learning from professors like Jill Shapiro that one goes to Columbia. I'm feeling bereft not having her this term.