Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related FFQ Clark's adoption, LnC's (college) education

Hi everyone,

I am currently working (or putting of working) on three different fics - so I hope that at least one or two might actually see the light of day/the boards - and I came up with two separate questions:

1. Is it generally known that Clark was adopted, or do people around him think that Martha and Jonathan are his real parents?
If it is ever mentioned, who finds out and how?
And no, that doesn't include people who find out that he's Superman and thus have to die, be sent back in time or have to have their memories wiped one way or the other

2. Is it ever mentioned on the show which college Lois or Clark attended; whether they spent some time abroad, and what their major and minor(s) were?
I read that Lois spent a year in Ireland; does anyone happen to know when we learn this on the show and what age she was supposed to be?

I hope someone can help me with this.

Thanks in advance

Eva

Well, I think everyone in Smallville pretty much knew that Martha and Jonathan couldn't have kids so couldn't be his natural parents. I have this impression of one of those small town whispered about things, you know? The infertility thing I mean. I don't think he introduces himself to people like that - Hi, I'm Clark Kent and I'm adopted - or anything but it's not a secret either. We know he tells Lois fairly early on when he does the story about adopted kids searching for roots.

Clark went to Midwestern and played football. Lois went to school in Metropolis but no idea what school - there are probably several universities there. I'm not sure if that's canon or general assumption. Nan's Lori Lyons Kent in HOME went to New Troy State U. There's Metropolis U. U of Met. Univ of New Troy at Met. All are possibilities. You can probably come up with another one or two if you wanted to.

I'd guess Journalism majors but not sure if that's canon or not.

When Irish Eyes are Killing is when we find out she went to Ireland. I don't think it says when or how old she was. I'm not even sure she says it was a year, just that she went with school, but I could be wrong on that.

HTH. Someone else may have more definitive answers.
Carol

Hi Carol,

Thanks for replying so quickly

See, this completely slipped my mind - thanks for reminding me (and there goes a nice little section of my fic ... *sigh)

Do you - or anyone else - happen to know in which ep this was mentioned?

I searched the scripts for the term "Midwestern", but couldn't find it - but maybe it's not in the script or you just see a photo or something.
Also, Midwestern U only offers health care-related programmes, so Clark probably didn't study there.
Midwestern State U, on the other hand, is located in Wichita Falls, Texas (only a population of around 100,000 as opposed to 350,000 for Wichita, Kansas, btw) and - at least today - offers only a minor in journalism, so wouldn't make a great choice for Clark either.

As you can probably tell, I'm stuck in research mode
(You don't even want to know how many virtual cemetery tours I took for researching one of the fics ...)

So, if anyone can clarify, it would be greatly appreciated.

And if you know/think you know the ep in which something was mentioned, please do tell.

Thanks again

Ah but this is an Alternate Universe with a man who can fly...

The Midwestern of that universe could be anywhere and offer anything . Maybe Midwestern isn't 'canon' or is just a picture like you said. Or maybe it's fanon. *shrug* I could have sworn it was canon, but I could be wrong.

You could always pretend the scene with the adoption conversation never happened. Or that he didn't mention it or something. It's now *your* universe .

The football is canon - in fact that may be where Midwestern comes from *runs to pic archive*

Yep there it is .



So he got a game ball for a game against State U [which state?!?!?] at Memorial Stadium. And it's Midwest not Midwestern. That's from ASU btw.

To give credit where credit is due, the pic is from the Lois and Clark Archive but it doesn't allow linking so I resaved it.

There go .
Carol

Ah, but Midwest U isn't necessarily Midwestern.

I'd beg to differ. He never flat out told her that he was adopted. All he said was "It's the not knowing that kills you." To me, that could have gone either way. He might just as well have been expressing sympathy. This is from the episode, mind you. I don't know what the script says, but I go off of the episode as it aired.

Even though 'Tempus Fugitive' doesn't count in the grand scheme of things, Clark did explain to Lois that he was a foundling. Frankly, I'm bummed that we never got to hear him explain to Lois about the globe and how he got to Earth.

It's a good thing we have fan fiction.

I'd assume that both of them were communications majors; there aren't really any colleges that have straight journalism degrees; it's usually an emphasis.

My degree is a Bachelor of Communication with emphasis in journalism. I usually just say I have a journalism degree, but it's not technically accurate.

<gets off soapbox made from a stack of AP Stylebooks>

Thanks for the pic, Carol, it has this lovely, hand-made feel to it

True. As a matter of fact, there is a Midwest U, but it was only established in 1986, so Clark would have been in his third or so year of studying already. Additionally, the real-world Midwest U is a Christian university, which only offers degrees in social work, theology and inter-cultural studies (which are all interesting, but not what I think Clark studied ).

Jenn, thanks for the input, don't trip over those style manuals when coming down from your soap box ...

Since the show doesn't seem to be very reliable in this respect, I think I'll go with Carol's advice and just use information that makes sense to *me*.

So, my Clark studied at Kansas State, which not only has a journalism department where you can get degrees in News/Information or Strategic Communications *nods to Jenn*, but which also has a daily student newspaper, which I think is totally great and really helped him developing his journalism skills

nephente: Thanks for pointing out that he didn't explicitly tell Lois, I might just re-watch the ep and decide what to make of it after that
And I totally agree, it would have been nice to see Clark explain these things to Lois in his own words.

Thanks everyone

Really?

Hmm...

Oh

maybe Jax went to school down here in the land of OZ...


here we certainly don't have any Bachelor's in Journalism, just communications as she said....