The Abolishment of Showers!

No, I don't mean our daily ablutions! Please continue to bathe on a regular basis. No, I'm talking about the bridal/baby variety. 

The other day I was questioning a colleague about her weekend and she registered a rather lengthy complaint about being someone's maid of honor and having the burden of planning and eventual hosting of the bride's shower and how much she hated them. I concurred that I loathe showers - bridal and baby. We both agreed it is time for the elimination of these archaic practices. 

The reasoning behind the creation of bridal showers dates back to times when women lived at home until they married. Therefore the brides-to-be didn't have any of the daily necessities that are required to maintain a house: dishes, glasses, pots, pans, etc. But nowadays it is practically unheard of that someone lives at home until they marry. Most women move out of their parents' home and live on their own with all the accoutrements that go into living alone. Similarly, so do the men. When couples get together and marry, they commingle their houses and, most likely, rid themselves of the duplicate items. So why, why, why do we still have bridal showers??

Baby showers are just as annoying but unfortunately slightly more necessary. Unlike people who move out on their own long before getting married, people do not anticipate a baby and buy a bunch of products to keep on hand just in case. But quite frankly, I equally detest baby showers. Don't get me wrong, I like children, but why it is the responsibility of friends and family of parents-to-be to make sure that these little bundles of joy have every little thing they need and desire. Quite frankly, if you cannot afford to purchase these products, don't have a child.

I have the added annoyance of being the perpetually unattached, childless friend/family member who plunks down a boatload of money for these two traditions, but end up not having a reciprocal exchange with my friends and family. Where's my quid pro quo? I love my friends and family. I am thrilled when they get engaged, marry, and have children. I celebrate their luck and revel in their happiness, but why should it cost me money in the form of gifts at showers?

So I say all of us need to rise up and say "no" to these ridiculous rituals. Who's in???

Friend, Acquaintance or .... ???

For the first time in my life, the dictionary has failed me! 

What do you call a person who is more than an acquaintance but less than a friend? Below is a list of all the terms I could think of to describe the people in our social lives:

• friends
• acquaintances
• colleagues
• neighbors
• strangers
• enemies
• family

And yet, most of the people in my social life do not fit into any of these categories. I consider certain people to be more than an "acquaintance" but I wouldn't quite call them a "friend". What should we call those people? People that we're friendly with but do not consider them to be friends. Someone once suggested that I have a very narrow view of what I consider a friend and that's probably true, but I don't plan on changing my stance on what a friend is. Therefore, I need a new word.

Someone once coined the term "frenemy" - a mixture of friend and enemy.  Perhaps we can do something similar with acquaintances and friends. Acquaitends?  Fracquaints?  What do you think?

There's the added issue of how do I get people to start using my new term! I remember watching The Colbert Report when Stephen coined the term "truthiness" but I don't have a national television show.  He made it look so easy! (8 years later and this segment still cracks me up!)

Career Change: Mama Said There'd be Days Like This...

Being a teacher is sooooooo challenging on a daily basis. One day, it's the most fantastic day you've ever experienced as a teacher and 24 hours later, it's a complete crapfest!  I suppose that's the most interesting point about being a teacher. After my trip to Phillips Academy last week, I admit I was struggling through the first couple of days back from spring break, but then I had an amazing day yesterday in which students were thoroughly engaged in the material, loved every moment of class, and thought I was the best thing since sliced bread and I thought to myself "Yes, I got this!"  Later in the day, my principal advised me that she was going to nominate me for "Teacher of the Year" - a Rotary Club annual award for my district. Very flattering - although I'm certain I don't deserve the honor nor will win it.

Jump forward 24 hours and I'm dealing with one student assaulting another student in my classroom. That's how quickly it can change when you are an educator. What was the assault about?  Simply enough, 2 pieces of paper on which were printed the school calendars for May and June. Yes, it is true. A female student (a Senior) assaulted a male student (also a Senior) over these two pieces of paper because he wouldn't return them immediately when she asked for them back. Can we say overreaction? Additionally, the female student tried to explain away her actions, blaming the male student.  Erm. Noooooooo, take some responsibility over your actions. I've been equating it with two 5 year old kids fighting over a toy and one child hitting another in order to get it back, except we're talking about two 18 year old "adults".

I suppose what I can say about being a teacher - it's never dull. Of course, later it all balanced out when a colleague of mine mentioned that a student told her that she had "a vagina face."  Now, I'm not certain what that actually means, but I found it amusing and disturbing.  Ah, welcome to education!  It's days like this I wish I still drank!!  :-)

By the way, a couple of new pictures were added to My First Year of Teaching photo album.  

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none."

Today is William Shakespeare's 449th birthday...roughly. What I mean by "roughly" is no one is positive when his birthday actually is but April 23rd is the chosen day.  It also happens to be the 397th anniversary of his death. Being an English teacher, major, and nerd, I am one of the biggest Shakespeare fans.  Each time I have taught Shakespeare, I have had to explain why he's such an important figure in literature and why we continue to teach his works.  Just a few reasons:

• He used over 20,000 words in his works (the average writer uses 7,500)
• The English dictionary of his time only had 500 words
• He is credited with creating ~1,700 words
• He invented words used in our daily speech (i.e., bloody, laughable, lonely, obscene, reliance, suspicious, and so many more)

Today, I was thinking about his words and how much great advice Shakespeare has left for us.  I especially love:

"Love all, trust a few, do wrong to none." 

-All's Well That Ends Well (Act I, Scene I)

This quote seems especially pertinent in today's world - maybe even more so than 400 years ago when he wrote it. Of course, lately I've been thinking "trust none" might be the better advice, but otherwise, this advice is pretty solid. Some more of The Bard of Avon's words to live by would be:

•  "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." - As You Like It (Act V, Scene I)
• "Men at some time are masters of their fates: The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings." - Julius Caesar (Act I, Scene II)
• "Cowards die many times before their deaths; the valiant never taste of death but once." - Julius Caesar (Act II, Scene II)
• "Have more than thou showest, speak less than thou knowest, lend less than thou owest." - King Lear (Act I, Scene IV)
• "The course of true love never did run smooth." - A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act I, Scene I)
• "To mourn a mischief that is past and gone is the next way to draw new mischief on." - Othello (Act I, Scene III)
• "Love sought is good, but giv'n unsought is better." - Twelfth Night (Act III, Scene I)

These are but a few choices words of wisdom that Will has imparted on the world.  There are so many more inspirational quotes from him. But here's arguably the most important line to remember...

- Hamlet (Act I, Scene III)

Thanks, Will, for giving us such great words to live by.

"Homeland" - a Powerful and Sophisticated Drama

Oddly enough, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, one would think that I would have had enough terrorism stories to last me for awhile and yet, for the past couple of days, I've been watching the Showtime original series, Homeland, and am finding it simply riveting. I only started watching the show because of the positive reviews that I had read. Plus, I figure that a show nominated for 9 Emmys and winner of 6 might just have something worth watching.

Plot summary: "Carrie Mathison (Emmy award winner Claire Danes), a CIA operations officer, is on probation after carrying out an unauthorized operation in Iraq. As a result, she has been reassigned to the Counter terrorism center. Whilst in Iraq, she was warned that an American prisoner had been turned by Al-Qaeda. When Nicholas Brody (Emmy award winner Damian Lewis), a U.S. Marine Sergeant, is rescued after being held hostage since 2003, she suspects that he is the turned American prisoner. Brody is received home as a war hero, so Carrie goes to any lengths possible, ignoring protocol, to catch him out."  (IMDB.com)  Carrie's investigation of Brody is complicated by her bipolar disorder and results in an obsession with her suspect.

Review: Due to the nature of the show, I wasn't entirely sure that I would like it, but I do. It's rare that an American show affects me as much as this compelling drama does. British shows-often; American-rarely! Homeland is spell-binding, packed with enough twists and turns to keep even a seasoned mystery writer wondering. Superb acting and a script that manages to avoid the usual clichés. But it's more than that. I spent the past two days trying to figure out why I'm so addicted to the show and it's probably because I feel a kinship with Carrie, as we have very similar characteristics - minus the bipolar disorder which I thankfully do not have. :-) But otherwise, we're very similar characters, sadly so. Carrie is not your typical heroine - she falls for the wrong man who leaves her heartbroken, feeling used and vulnerable; is unable to rid herself of the memories of him; is convinced she will be alone for her entire life; is competent, brilliant but damaged, impulsive, and highly emotional. Basically, a young, pretty, thin version of myself. She's been called an anti-hero but I'm not certain I agree with that description. But she is an unconventional heroine.

Homeland has an added bonus for me: this show also stars one of my all-time favorite actors, Mandy Patinkin. As usual, Patinkin practically steals the show. Being a HUGE Mandy Patinkin fan, if I had known that he was on the show, I might have started watching before now. Somehow I missed that bit of news. 

I'm about halfway through Season 2 and if nothing else, it's worth watching the series if for no other reason than to see Season 2, Episode 5: "Q&A". Superb dialogue supported by stellar performances! There are currently 2 seasons with a third scheduled to begin in September 2013. Give Homeland a viewing when you have some time! Unfortunately, Seasons 1 and 2 are not available for streaming on Hulu or Netflix.

Mandy Patinkin, Claire Danes, Damian Lewis and Morena Baccarin

Sometimes "Selfish Pigs" Are Humorous!

About 10 years ago, a friend turned me onto the genius of Andy Riley, "a British author, cartoonist, comics scriptwriter, and television screenwriter" (Wikipedia), by presenting me with a copy of The Book of Bunny Suicides: Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don't Want to Live Any More (2003).  Okay, sick - I know, but really, really funny and creative. I then bought his subsequent books: Return of the Bunny Suicides (2004), Great Lies to Tell Small Kids (2006), and DIY Dentistry and Other Alarming Inventions (2009). All are really twisted, demented, black comedy cartoons - and I love them all!  Somehow I  missed his 2010 book, Selfish Pigs: Adorably Awful Little Swine, but had to get it when I saw it the other day. 

Synopsis:  "From the creator of The Book of Bunny Suicides comes the book you've been waiting for: Selfish Pigs. Filled with more than 90 pieces of line art depicting pigs being adorably selfish, this is a must-have for pig-lovers and Riley fans.

These are pigs who just don't care any more. They're nasty. They drink, they smoke, they steal, they eat pork and bacon, and they're strangely lovable while they do it. Do they metaphorically represent you and me when we're being bad? Or are they just horrible swine who don't give a damn about metaphors? You'll have to judge for yourself." (Amazon.com)

Review: I adore pigs and I love Andy Riley so it's a win-win situation for me. What else can I say? Cute pigs doing nasty things. Here's just a little idea of what the book is about (click photo to supersize it):

C'mon! Now that's some funny stuff. I admit it; I love it!  But I enjoy abnormal, deviant humor. I would highly recommend any of Andy Riley's books.  I know that this type of humor does not appeal to everyone. Only you will know whether or not it's the right humor for you. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.

Career Change: The Other Side of the Coin

Today, I was given a rare opportunity: a chance to sit in on a few English classes at Phillips Academy, a "highly selective, prestigious co-educational independent boarding preparatory school" (Wikipedia) located in Andover, MA. Founded in 1778, Phillips Academy sits on a 500 acre, stunningly gorgeous campus with all the amenities that any student could need and not need; including a exceptional dining hall, 2 museums (art and archeology), a well rounded curriculum, and a bevy of sports teams. I received this chance to visit PA thanks to my English content coach who has a connection to the school and managed to get an invite for us to sit in on a few classes. Wow, what a difference between Lawrence High School and Phillips Academy. Even though the schools are a mere 4 miles apart, they are in completely incomparable worlds. Granted, parents pay $50,000 a year for their child to attend this illustrious school and most of the Lawrence students are at poverty level.  Here are some basic statistics on the two schools:

	Phillips Academy	Lawrence High*
Student/Teacher ratio	5 to 1	15 to 1
Total expenditure per student	100,000	13,000
Total number of students	1,100	3,000
Average class size	13	25
Faculty	219	210

                               * These numbers are for all of Lawrence High not just my specific school.

The numbers pretty much speak for themselves. Just the amount of money spent on each student in the respective school is indicative of the gap in education. The classes I sat in today were amazing. I attended a Senior Graphics Novel class, a Sophomore class where they were peer reviewing blogs about gender, and a Junior class talking about Shakespeare's Twelfth Night and the theme of virtue. 

Here's a list of what I saw and what I didn't see. What I didn't see: do nows, exit slips, instructional objectives, cell phone usage, fights over uniforms and hoodies, announcements during class time, or disrespect to faculty. What I did see: students who read the texts, were engaged in the material, having open forum discussions, taking notes independently, and a very diverse student body. In other words, I saw education at its highest level. It's something that I attempt to instill in my classroom, but things like cell phones, hoodies, constant disruptions and such are continually getting in the way of education at my school. It was quite refreshing and exactly how I envision a solid, working educational system.

Are do nows, exit slips and instructional objectives necessary for learning to happen? No, but yet teachers are required to do these things daily. I'm not sure what the answer is except maybe smaller classes and an influx of money but something is working well in suburban and private schools that doesn't seem to be happening in urban schools. I suppose if I had all the answers, I'd run for Supreme Ruler of the World.

Such a pretty campus!

 

TED Talks - My New Obsession!

I don't know how many of you know about TED Talks, but I'm here to tell you they are phenomenal! "TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate 'ideas worth spreading'" (Wikipedia). As a result of these conferences, TED.com has posted the conference speakers' "talks" for anyone to watch online for free.  

While I have known about TED Talks for ages, I'd never spent much time on the site. That is until today! As part of a homework assignment in my grad class, I needed to watch a couple of TED Talks and quickly became entranced with watching talk after talk after talk. For anyone who has yet to visit TED.com, I highly recommend you try it.  You will not be disappointed.  My suggestion is that you start with the New to TED? playlist.  11 talks which will astound you.   

I have to admit that I think my favorite talk just happens to be #1 on the New to TED? playlist: "Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity".  It was also the first TED Talk that I watched today (as it was part of my homework assignment).  The talk is by Sir Ken Robinson, "an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education, and arts bodies" (Wikipedia) and it is well worth the 20 minutes of watching - particularly for anyone who is an educator. "Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining and profoundly moving case for creating an education system that nurtures (rather than undermines) creativity." Not only is Sir Ken smart and hits the nail on the head about education and creativity, he is also wickedly amusing.  Of course, he's funny - he's English! 

Another worthy TED Talk is "David Gallo: Underwater astonishments".  Five and a half minutes of underwater video that will blow your mind! "David Gallo shows jaw-dropping footage of amazing sea creatures, including a color-shifting cuttlefish, a perfectly camouflaged octopus, and a Times Square's worth of neon light displays from fish who live in the blackest depths of the ocean." Seriously, I was amazed by this video and it made me wish I had stuck with my teenage fantasy about being a marine biologist!

In my typical obsessive compulsive way, I went to TED.com merely to watch a couple of videos and managed to while away an entire afternoon. It was informative and educational so I don't feel like it was time completely wasted, but I probably should have been doing other things like, oh, I don't know - lesson planning! Oh well, it was a great way to spend an afternoon. Check out TED.com!

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity

A Desire to Run Away From Home!

Today, I had the strongest urge to just pack my bags and run away from home forever – go to the airport and catch the next flight out; no matter where it's going: Bora Bora, Vancouver, Florence, Detroit... okay, maybe not Detroit. Is taking off in a moment's notice ever a realistic option? I remember once when I was 5 or 6, I decided to run away from home because life was soooooooo hard. <eye roll> I packed my teddy and blanket in a little suitcase and away I went. Okay, I merely walked around the block and then went home...probably because I was hungry and didn't bring any food. But still, I ran away – not that anyone at home even noticed!

Why do I often feel the urge to run away? Does everyone feel that way? Today, I decided I was tired ... tired of dealing with stuff I don't want to deal with anymore; tired of people being a-holes to each other; tired of paying bills; tired of being mired up to my eyeballs in crapola, etc. Maybe it's a reaction to yesterday's shocking and distressing bombing in Boston or my unbelievable exhaustion or the depressing filing of taxes. Or perhaps it was all of the above.

Apparently as hard as life is at the age of 5 or 6 is, it's nothing compared to being 40-something. The following statement will not come as a surprise to any adult who's been in the real word:  Being a grownup sucks sometimes!  I keep telling my students who are so eager to be adults to not rush it because it's hard and a lot of times it's not fun. But they don't listen.  I don't suppose I did either when I was in high school.

What kept me from running away today? A few things: first and foremost, my cat, Lotta. It's impossible to run away with a yowling cat and there's no way I would leave her behind. Two, I'm an adult and I have responsibilities. <grrr> Three: loneliness. I'm tired of doing things alone. Even going out for a long walk is too lonely these days. I put the blame for that squarely on one person's shoulders. Jerk! Lastly, money. I might have run away even for a couple of days if I had had extra funds roaming around, but alas 'twas not to be. 

Therefore, I decided to treat myself to something - I went to my local Starbucks and bought my usual chai tea latte and a truly fattening and delicious snack (a warmed apple fritter). Yum! At the reasonable cost of $6, I felt a wee bit better - not entirely, but it was a start. Then I went home and watched the BBC's 1995 mini-series of Pride and Prejudice (starring Jennifer Ehle and imaginary boyfriend, Colin Firth) because I needed to witness some graciousness, beauty, and love even if it is a fictional account on television.

My baby girl - so cute, but not a good travel companion

As for yesterday's senseless attack on Boston, my thoughts are with the victims and their families as well as all who were witnesses to the bombing. My deepest respect to those people who ran toward the explosions in order to help. Let's hope that man's propensity for violence will one day come to a halt. Until then, keep hope alive and read or watch Pride and Prejudice.

Career Change: In Education, One Size Does Not Fill All...

...And yet, I'm supposed to be teaching like it does.  Before I rant on, I will reiterate that I adore my students. They are wickedly funny, smart, street savvy kids with hearts of gold (well, most of them anyway). Do they have the biggest book knowledge? No, but is that so very important - not really.  Here's my bugaboo about my students:

Why, why, why am I told to prepare all of my students for college when it is abundantly clear that most of my students will not be successful in a collegiate academic setting.  I currently have approximately 50 seniors.  Out of those 50, I would say that perhaps 5 are prepared for the rigors of a 4-year college, possibly another 10 will be fine in a community college and yet, I am to teach all 50 like they are all ready for and will be successful in college. Since when does every high school student need to go to college?  Let's face the facts - someone needs to be snaking drains, fixing heating and air conditioning, and repairing automobiles. Trade schools are perfectly respectful post-secondary educations. In fact, most tradespeople make a boatload more money than I do with my "fancy and expensive" college degree, which I will be paying for for the rest of my life. 

My students have been at a severe disadvantage their whole lives due to a multitude of reasons: language issues, poverty, dysfunctional homes, teenage pregnancy, etc. Most of these issues are not their fault but we have to face the facts that these factors are a reality for them and giving them false hopes of attaining a college education where there is limited ability does more harm than good.  Not everyone is meant to have a college education. Nor is college for everyone. I have a bunch of friends who are smart and successful professionals and have not gone to college. Does that make them any less intelligent?  Of course not.

Additionally, can we stop blaming bad teaching/teachers for why these students are failing?  These students from the moment they stepped into a school at the age of 5 were years behind their suburban counterparts. While I'm not saying the education system in the US is perfect, people should not be placing the blame solely on teachers. Most teachers I know are hard-working dedicated professionals who are up against a wall when it comes to low income students. Studies show children from disadvantaged households have a significantly smaller vocabulary bank than those children from middle and upper class households. Those gaps only get wider as these children get older.  You cannot fix this problem in school.  These problems exist from the time these children are toddlers.  We need better pre-school programs in place for low income communities.  You can read some statistics about student vocabulary here.

The last thing I will rant about is when did failure become a bad thing? I know failing is not good but does it make sense to let students "pass" classes at any cost? It would serve students well to actually fail their classes so that they are taught a lesson about the importance of their education.  Here's the problem: every teacher at my school has been told that they need to have all assignments from the beginning of the school year through end of term 3 available so that students can make up all the work they didn't do over the course of the year so that they can pass our classes. Ummmm. What?? How is that teaching them anything? Not only is it ridiculous that these students who did nothing all year can now give me a boatload of crap to grade, but it's causing students who are doing the work to wonder why they are doing the work on time if they can just make it up whenever.  This is not education or teaching!  And it's not the reason that I took a nearly 40% pay cut!

Yeah, I'm having a hard time dealing with some of the issues that are being dictated to teachers by the powers that be. Oh well, it's spring break.  Time to go do something fun for me! Oh wait... I have a pile of work to do first.  

This is the "small" pile of work that
came home with me. Spring Break?

Do We Ever Stop Giving in to Peer Pressure??

Because I see hundreds of high school students on a near daily basis, I am amazed at the amount of peer pressure that goes on in a teenager's life. I suppose as one ages, one forgets how it works in high school. I observe my students constantly encouraging questionable behavior in others, which got me thinking about adults and peer pressure.  Seriously, do we ever truly stop dealing with peer pressure?  Yes, it might not be as rampant as it is in high school but adults equally try to pressure peers in a variety of situations.

What brought this query to the forefront of my mind was Scott Bakula. Yes, Scott Bakula of Quantum Leap and Star Trek: Enterprise fame. Yesterday, on my way home from work, I was listening to the Broadway cast album of the 1988 show Romance/Romance. This relatively unknown musical starred Mr. Bakula and every time I either see Scott on television, in a movie or listening to a recording of his singing, I am reminded of a conversation that I had with a friend a good 20-ish years ago. (Yes, I occasionally curse my superb memory, which allows me to remember stupid things like this conversation.) I was discussing Quantum Leap with this friend and how much I liked Mr. Bakula and the show and I distinctly remember my friend's response: "I think he's dull." It's an unimportant statement and yet 20 years later, I still find myself pondering that statement. I keep questioning my friend's response and how I fought back on it.  To this day, I'm not certain if I was fighting to prove my friend wrong or to keep from feeling that perhaps he was correct and I just didn't see it. This friend was someone whom I deeply respected and I was disappointed in his response, but why can't I just accept that he finds Scott Bakula dull and I don't. Was I trying to keep from giving into peer pressure by not agreeing with him? Or was I trying to pressure him into changing over to my viewpoint? Why?

I find myself thinking about these things often. Do I take that last piece of cake because a friend forces it on me or do I just not have any willpower? Have you ever gone out for drinks with friends and/or colleagues and as you are ready to leave, you hear: "Stay and have one more drink."  So you stay. Are you truly staying because you want to or because you are giving into peer pressure? I tell my students daily to avoid giving into peer pressure and yet as an adult who is well into her .... wellllllll ... let's just say that I am a woman of an indeterminate age... I still find myself having to fight against peer pressure.  It's just something that I find interesting.

Yes, as adults, the type of peer pressure we deal with is significantly different and generally harmless as compared to what teenagers have to deal with, but we do still have to fight ... or not fight ... peer pressure. How can we expect better from our youth?

Just for giggles as it has nothing whatsoever to do with peer pressure, below is a video of one of my favorite songs from Romance/Romance - oddly enough not one that Scott sang (it's sung by the wonderful Alison Fraser), but is also part of my list of cathartic songs! Lyrics can be found here.

It's a "Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time"

Back in 2004, several reader friends encouraged me to read British novelist, Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, which marked Mr. Haddon's first foray into the young adult/adult genre. Up until this novel, he had written only children's books.  While planning my Freshmen Honors unit plans, I made the decision to teach this novel to them because of the very unique protagonist featured in the novel.  But as I hadn't read it since 2004, I needed to spend some time re-reading the novel in the hopes that I was correct about my initial assumption of this book.

Synopsis: "Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. Although gifted with a superbly logical brain, Christopher has Asperger's syndrome. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher's carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor's dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing." Set in and around the town of Swindon, England, Christopher decides to investigate the death of the dog, but is often helped by and occasionally hampered by his specific learning disability.

Review: It has been nearly 10 years since my initial read of this wonderful book and it's just as fantastic.  Mark Haddon has written a most unique and fascinating character in Christopher. Written in the first person point of view, the novel allows the reader to delve into the mind of someone who has a high functioning, but incredibly disabling brain. Warm, funny, sad, moving, witty and brilliant are just a few words off the top of my head to describe this novel. This novel is just a delight and so far my students are enjoying it immensely.

The best way to describe this novel is from the author himself: "In July 2009, Haddon wrote on his blog that 'Curious Incident is not a book about Asperger’s....if anything it’s a novel about difference, about being an outsider, about seeing the world in a surprising and revealing way. The book is not specifically about any specific disorder,' and that he is not an expert on autism spectrum disorder or Asperger syndrome." (Wikipedia) As someone who grew up being an outsider (even still), I appreciate the efforts that Mr. Haddon went through to describe in great detail what it's like to be an outsider.

I highly recommend this book for any adult and young adult reader. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Completely Random Stuff

Okay, so I've come across some random stuff in the past few days that I wanted to share. There's not much I can say about them as they pretty much speak for themselves.  So here we go...

 

One of the best videos I have seen posted on YouTube, entitled "The First Honest Cable Company".  Enjoy.

I saw this t-shirt at my local pet store.  If I didn't hate slogan t-shirts, I might have bought it.

I am really over winter, so much that I'm questioning why I moved to New England! <grrrr>

Music Doesn't Lie - Part 19 (You Could Drive a Person Crazy)

"Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world,
then it can only happen through music." – Jimi Hendrix

Yesterday morning, on my way to school, I had accidentally set my iPod to randomly play whatever it desired and got quite a shock when I heard a certain song begin to play. Why? Because the singer was me! What the... holy cow! I had completely forgotten that I had placed on my iPod an album (Queen Bee) that I had self-produced a bazillion years ago... Okay, in reality it was a mere 13 years ago, which only FEELS like a bazillion. 

I decided to take a listen to the entire album and, even though I'm incredibly critical of myself, I had to admit it was a really fun romp through my former performer life. It made me a little homesick for those days... but just a little. I wouldn't change my current career because of how much I love teaching, but I will acknowledge that creating this album was tons of fun. I had the opportunity to work with some really fantastic people - like my incredibly talented friends Chris and John who were kind enough to join me in performing a couple of duets.

I thought I'd have some fun with one of the songs, "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" from Company and create a video for it (see below). This song is probably my favorite on the album for a few reasons. One, it's a Sondheim song.  Two, my voice coach (Steven), who is a musical genius, came up with a few changes to the song that are brilliant.  Three, it's another song for which anyone could apply to their personal lives (seriously, who has not felt this way). And four, it's just a really funny, fun song. Lyrics can be found here.  

If you're interested in hearing more of the album, you can always check it out on CD Baby, or Amazon, or iTunes. This is not a sales pitch. In fact, my friends can personal message me, if they're interested in receiving a copy and I will send the mp3s.  

I had way too much fun creating this video, so much so that I may do another one soon.

By the way - speaking of teaching, some new photos have been posted to My First Year of Teaching photo album.  Enjoy!

Music Doesn't Lie - Part 18 (I Know Him So Well)

"Music doesn't lie. If there is something to be changed in this world,
then it can only happen through music." – Jimi Hendrix

I think it's been well-established that I am a theatre geek - particularly musical theatre. If I could have spent my entire life doing nothing but musical theatre that would have been a dream come true. For a long time, I kept a wishlist of all the roles that I wanted to perform.  Maybe I'll post that list one day. But suffice to say that it's a long and impossible list. One of the shows that I had always wanted to perform in was Chess. Now there are only two roles for women in this show (Florence and Svetlana) and I'm so not physically right for either one, but that didn't stop me from wanting to perform either role - but especially Florence.

First produced in London's West End in 1986 and Broadway in 1988, Chess (music by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson (yes, of ABBA fame) and lyrics by Sir Tim Rice) "involves a romantic triangle between two top chess players, an American and a Russian, in a world chess championship, and a woman (Florence) who manages one (the American) and falls in love with the other (the Russian); all in the context of a Cold War struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, during which both countries wanted to win international chess tournaments for propaganda purposes."  (Wikipedia)  Svetlana is the estranged wife of the Russian chess master.

As all good performers know, personal pain can be incredibly useful to enhance a performance. Many of the roles on my wishlist are ones that I could play but might not necessarily have an real-life emotion that I could tap into. Chess used to be one of those shows, but experiences over the past couple of years has changed that. If I were still an active performer and had the chance to play the role of Florence, I would blow the roof off of the theatre with my emotional connection to this material as I discovered today after listening to the cast recording. Below is the Broadway recording of Judy Kuhn and Marcia Mitzman performing "I Know Him so Well" - which I think is quite possibly the best recording of any available (although the Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson version is pretty darn good too). This song in particular now has a strong emotional connection to my life and I will never be able to listen to it with emotionless ears again. Lyrics can be found here. 

One of the reasons I love music is its ability to acts as a catharsis, so much so that I'm in the process of creating a "catharsis" playlist.  Many of the songs that I've highlighted in my blog will be on that list, including this one.  Now I just need the perfect name for the playlist:  "Liar, liar, pants on fire" or "Not worth my tears" or "Lies (Are Breaking My Heart)" are all in consideration.  :-)  

I thank the songwriters of this world for bringing music into my life!  (Yes, it's an ABBA song! I thought it fitting with Chess.)

"The Paperboy" Doesn't Quite Deliver...

The other day, I was perusing the video collection in my local library and came across a movie that I had never heard about - The Paperboy (2012) and because one of the stars is John Cusack (a favorite of mine), I brought it home to watch. But before watching the video, I did a bit of research and, unsurprisingly, found out that the movie is based on a novel written by Pete Dexter. I decided to read the book before watching the movie, because generally speaking the novels are better than the movies. 

Synopsis: "The sun is rising over Moat County, Florida, when Sheriff Thurmond Call is found on the highway, gutted like an alligator. A local redneck is tried, sentenced, and set to fry. Then Ward James, hotshot investigative reporter for the Miami Times, returns to his rural hometown with a death row femme fatale who promises him the story of the decade. She’s armed with explosive evidence, aiming to free—and meet—her convicted 'fiancé'. With Ward’s disillusioned younger brother Jack as their driver, they barrel down Florida’s back roads and seamy places in search of The Story, racing flat out into a shocking head-on collision between character and fate as truth takes a back seat to headline news." (Amazon.com)

Review:  While I enjoyed reading this book, there were a couple of things that bothered me about it.  It starts off as sort of a murder mystery, with a pair of reporters investigating the conviction of a backwoods Deliverance-type character in the murder of a unpopular, racist sheriff in a sparsely populated county in Florida. The narrator is the brother of one of the reporters. The plot eventually moves away from this theme, and becomes sort of jammed between a character study of the narrator and his brother, an indictment of media morality, and some sort of Greek-style tragedy. The overall effect is that the book wanders a bit, and doesn't seem to be able to decide what it's trying to do. It almost seems like whenever the book gets perilously close to making a statement, it backs off and goes in a different direction. This is something of a pet peeve of mine, as I think sometimes writers do this kind of thing to seem mysterious and profound, under the assumption that being understandable means being simple and shallow. But in reality, it's just annoying.

Other than that, the book was well written and for the most part the characters were interesting, although most of them were not very likable. I think the book would have been better if the narrator's brother Ward, who was perhaps the central figure of the book, had a detectable personality instead of just acting like a journalistic robot. The book was saved by the narrator, whom it was possible to sympathize with, and even like a bit.

Overall I would mildly recommend it, but it is not a must read.

Rating:  3 out of 5 stars

This novel was the first Pete Dexter book that I've ever read and it's not making me run out and pick up any of his other books. As for the movie, it suffers from the same fate as the book.  It just doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up.  A good cast with a weak story and mediocre dialogue.  Skip it unless you are really bored!  The New Yorker posted a really funny and spot on review of the movie - a far better review than I could ever write!