So maybe I shouldn't have put my 9th grade students in this position.
On their test over Romeo and Juliet, they had to identify a series of quotations. One of them takes place the morning after their wedding night. So how do 9th graders refer to how the young lovers had spent the night? On a test?
Here's the quote: "Wilt though be gone? It is not yet near day. / It was the nightingale and not the lark. / That pierced the fearful hollow of thine ear."
Here are the first portions of their answers:
"Romeo and Juliet just were married and are celebrating in Juliet's bed."
"Juliet says this to Romeo the after their marriage when Romeo has to leave because it is morning."
"After Juliet and Romeo have their night together."
"This quote is said by Juliet when Romeo is leaving in the morning."
"Juliet says this when she and Romeo wake up in Juliet's bed after he spent the night and Juliet doesn't want it to be morning because if it is he has to leave."
"Spoken to Romeo in Juliet's room before he leaves for Mantua."
"Juliet is talking to Romeo and not wanting Romeo to leave after spending the night together."
"This is Juliet speaking to Romeo. They were laying in bed and they heard a bird."
and this kid:
"Juliet says this after Romeo snuck into her room and they had sex."
Ok, I know I know. It's been months since I've posted on the blog and I'm not even sure if I'm still welcome. I know I'm not a good blogger and most of the time I'm not even a willing blogger. I'm still trying to figure out what all the fuss is about with this blogging / tweeting / facebooking / spacelooking / flogging / clogging stuff . To that point though, I still visit the site fairly regularly as I look forward to hearing about Dead Lennie. You've been pretty lax there my good friend Lennie (on the creative side), although my sense is it's been "one of those years" - to say the least.
I'm blogging today for a little accountability. I started the Berklee online Masters Guitar program in the early fall and as of this week I'm about to finish my second class and move on to class #3. I've had an in depth dive into guitar scales & chords, and am about to move to Blues. It's a good time to take an assessment of what and how I've done, and see if I shouldn't steer myself a little bit in another direction.
Now that I have been through two classes I can honestly say that my concern about whether it would be worth it has been smashed to pieces. I worried that it wouldn't be comprehensive and challenging enough. If anything, it's been the opposite. The only limitation on how much I get from the course is my willingness to put in the time and effort. Both classes so far have enough material to keep me busy and challenged for years. I've found that I have to focus on the aspects that are most relevant to me and hopefully revisit the additional material on my own in the future. Great great stuff. My effort has been very good and I've worked hard to get nothing but A's on all assignments. All in all, I am energized by being able to really LEARN the instrument the way I should have years ago as I insisted that playing songs was all I really needed. I am excited for future courses and excited to keep this learning wheel spinning. Education is a wonderful thing!
Now for the negative. I've spent so much time on these courses, theory and skills, that I've put off just playing. I haven't gigged since Sept. Haven't been practicing songs and repetoire almost at all. Zero songwriting. You get the idea. I think therein lies the gut-check for the upcoming months. I need to balance out my practice and get back to songs & playing gigs and the creative and fun side of guitar. My worry is, the only way to do that is practice, practice, practice. Not sure I can commit to much more and not sure if I should. Although I sure would like to. Hmm. Do my best? Suck it up? Don't worry, be happy? Wherever you go there you are? Other thoughts?
Lennie. I think about you often. Hows the creative stuff? You're not letting life get too much in the way are you? Your audience wants more..........
This was a good day. As this blog is a bit of an electronic journal, more personal than public, I though it might be good place to record my experience of it.
Most of the school gathered in the gymnasium to watch the inauguration as projected on the walls. I arrived while Aretha Franklin was singing, and immediately found myself moved to tears by the images of the huge crowd on the mall. The images were so reminiscent of another crowd on the same real estate, facing the other direction, listening to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Since the election, countless pundits and commentators have mentioned that no one on the Mall during King's most famous speech could have predicted that this day - a black president - would come so soon. Turns out, one person did:
We sat in a darkened gym, and the history of the moment did not seem lost on the kids - and the presence of the kids strengthened the sense of history for me.
I have always loved the melody of "Simple Gifts," and found John Williams arrangement to be powerful and moving, an appropriate mix of traditional and contemporary, comforting and challenging. Best moment: Yo Yo Ma's smile when he had the melody. Wish I could find a picture of that to put here.
The flub in the oath will go down in history. All I could think was that the right-wing zealots would have a field day with it. I didn't realize at the time that the flub was John Roberts' more than Obama's. Still, one Fox commentator has already speculated that the flub means that Obama isn't really president. I like to see that argument go to the Supreme Court, just to see how John Robert's would rule on it.
Fox News: We're unpresidented!
On Fox News, Chris Wallace just speculated that President Obama might still legally be regular ol' Barack Obama, because his botched oath doesn't count.
Wallace was referring to the one slip in today's otherwise flawless ceremonies, which came at the most important moment: Chief Justice John Roberts said and President Obama repeated back to him: "I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of President of the United States faithfully." The oath's actual line (which is in the Constitution) goes, "I [Barack Hussein Obama] do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States."
You can see the video of the oath here:
Over on Fox, Wallace predicted this will go to the courts. Though, presumably, if it makes it to the Supreme Court, John Roberts will rule that he administered a legitimate oath. (Besides, the mistake was Roberts' fault anyway, not that any of this is actually the least bit significant.)
Though I'd ordinarily guess that even this is too silly to take off on the paranoid far-right, these days, who can be sure? As a friend of mine joked, "Maybe the real reason he botched the oath is that he rehearsed it in Arabic."
Reviews seem mixed on Obama's speech. I thought is was tough at a time when toughness is appropriate. I loved that it called us all to task. It could have soared more, but the power was in the moment, the setting, the history, and perhaps expectations are too high. Was there a "nothing to fear" phrase, a "ask not what" moment? Maybe not. But there was a call to return and depend on our highest ideals, and for a "new era of responsibility."
The 1st grade didn't watch the inauguration in the gym, so after we were dismissed I went to look for my youngest son. I was excited and moved about the possibilities of this country, and I wanted to give him a big hug. And I was powerfully reminded of another time that I walked through the lower school halls desperate to give a young son a hug. Seven years ago, on 9/11, I sought out my family members to mark the moment. It was odd that such a different feeling would have such familiarity.
Later in the day, when a senior class came in, one student asked if we could discuss the inaugural poem. Teachable moment. Quick Google search, quick trip to the copier, and within three minutes each kid had a copy of the poem. The kids didn't like it, though they liked it better when it was sitting in front of them. Much was said about it, but the cool revelation, I thought, was that the poem seemed an attempt to echo Walt Whitman, who loved and admired his president, Abraham Lincoln. Like Obama swearing on Lincoln's Bible, this seemed another nice tribute to the progress this country has made, and where much of it started.
They have been dark days of late, and I am once again amazed at big the little things can be.
I assumed my funk, my blues, my down was the result of the big things. Problems in my personal life. Stresses at work. Especially, perhaps, an existential crisis due to shifts in my spiritual life.
I've never been accused of under-thinking things
Turns out I wasn’t sad because of those problems. They were problems because I was S.A.D.
And then the school counselor, whom I don’t know well, but I want to cuz she’s so cool, shows up in my classroom. She said “Here, try this. You’ve looked like you could use it,” cuz counselors notice these things. And she put a light on my desk.
Look, I’m a skeptic, too. About just about everything. But I admit that I had been wondering if my blues were seasonal, and I had heard about light therapy and wondered about it. A buddy walked in, saw me sitting in front of the light, and said “Oh, come on. You have crystals in your pocket, too?”
But I gotta tell ya. I turned on this blazingly bright light for a half hour while I checked email or graded in the morning, and, well, I felt just like this:
Let’s acknowledge that it could be psychosomatic. Okay. I’m alright with that. But it’s not. But it could be. But it’s not. But who cares?
Let’s also acknowledge that the person who gave it to me thinks it works. Which means she literally took her happy off of her desk and put it onto mine. Which is really nice.
So, in all of this time, have I done any writing? No. Well, lots of writing for work – comments on each kid, lots of college recs. But no creative writing.
Well, wait. I wrote a college recommendation for a kid who is the best reader and writer I’ve ever taught, who is getting a C in my English class. So that took some creativity, I suppose.
So the answer to the “And so now what now?” has, for too long, been nothing much. I've not been a creator. Even my time on the piano has been about learning other people's songs. Which I've enjoyed, a lot, but still.
However, I’ve continued to be a big consumer of pop culture, so I thought I’d do a run down of some stuff I’ve read or watched in the long time since I’ve written. This is going to look like a lot of stuff, but remember: it’s been a long time, and I don’t watch sports.
Okay. Here’s stuff I’ve consumed of late:
The Odyssey: Impressed? You ought to be. Well, actually I just taught it again. I love this thing, and as stuffy and unmanageable as you might think it is, you should know that my students love it, too. Cool thing:, I took my son out to lunch at a new Greek restaurant I heard was great. And, it being just after his exam, we got into an argument about The Odyssey. Then we realized we were in a Greek joint arguing about The Odyssey. And that felt kinda cool.
Oedipus Rex: Taught it, love it. But when teaching two different classes, I keep calling Odysseus and Oedipus by each other’s names
That led to Minority Report, which I show after teaching Oedipus Rex. We talk about how the ancient Greeks saw fate as, well, fate: inevitable, unchangeable, and you are a hero if you face it with dignity and courage. Whereas in American culture, you’re a hero if you change fate. Also, it is a really cool movie. I had forgotten how much I love Spielberg. When Tom Cruise's watch ticks toward zero - Will he kill him, as prophesied? Will he not? – it was more fun to watch the students than the movie. They were rapt.
Artificial Intelligence: A.I.: So Minority Report put me in a Spielberg mood, so I tried to watch A.I. with my kids, but my son got too creeped out by it, and I decided that it was too creepy for my daughter. I love this film. It is a beautiful mess the likes of which you should expect if Spielberg (“Life is good, we can control our lives, a positive view saves the day, more happy endings than a Craig’s List massage parlor” [even to the holocaust, see Shindler’s List]) takes over a project started by Stanley Kubrick (“the universe is a bitch, we’re all evil deep inside, we’re doomed by eye liner and bowler hats, or nuclear bombs ridden like rodeo horses, or Nicholson with an ax”) The reactions A.I. causes are so complex and contradictory it’s almost hard to sit through.
I realized that the movie never made sense to me because I thought of the ending as being about aliens, not evolved mechas. I’m an idiot.
Note about me being obsessive. I bought this movie on eBay on a whim. When it came, it was full screen. So I bought it again. You want the full screen version? Really? Shame on you.
Wall*E: How amazing is Pixar? This movie is brilliant, and proves that clever can also be powerful and poignant and fun. We just watched this on DVD, but when we saw it in the theater it got me on a serious Charlie Chaplin kick. Have you ever watched Chaplin?
Modern Times still feels modern, and, though funny and slap-sticky, is also satirical, with an edge that holds up more than I expected. I expected to enjoy it in that I-forgive-old-movies-for-being-kind-of-boring-and-cheesy sort of way, but I didn’t have to. Chaplin movies really hold up. And if The Kid doesn’t touch you, you’re an asshole.
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin. I’m a huge fan. Of the author. But not of this book. Eh.
Wanted I grabbed this comic book from the library and read the whole thing, constantly amazed at how stupid it is, and how hard it works too be bad-ass and shocking, only to come across as trying too hard. This book is embarrassing. So of course I immediately rented the movie
Wanted, which is dumb but not nearly as dumb as the book, and is a blast to watch. Fantastic if crazy derivative stunts and effects, and I think this might have been the first time I’ve seen Angelina Jolie on film. She’s really cool. I didn't expect that. I thought she was only hot. She comes across as really smart and charming (and those other things too, yes.) Also, this movie contains the most ridiculous conceit ever, announced in dulcet tones by Morgan Freeman: “The Loom of Fate.”
Infinite JestI had never read any David Foster Wallace, and when he committed suicide, I was moved by the many obits in the press. So I read a bunch of his journalism, and then dove into his masterpiece. Well, I didn’t dive exactly. I'm still wading in, slowly. But I felt over-due for a literary challenge. I love the book, when I’m able to really concentrate, but my progress through this cinder-block of a novel was stalled by a quote-of-the-day in an email at work: "Here's something else no one will ever tell you: if you don't read the classics, or the novel that won this year's Booker Prize, then nothing bad will happen to you; more importantly, nothing good will happen to you if you do… Read anything, as long as you can't wait to pick it up again. — Nick Hornby, Housekeeping vs. The Dirt (2006)
I don’t quite agree with the “nothing good” part, but I'm still taking a break from the challenge and am reading
When You Are Engulfed By Flames by David Sedaris instead. Fun, thoughtful, with some laugh-out-louds, but his self-absorption gets a bit tedious.
Speaking of self-absorption, I should be clear that I don’t think you are still reading this. But I’m enjoying recording my opinions for myself.
Okay. Other things I’ve consumed in the past days or weeks or months:
Obama’s victory. It’s all been said, but I felt it too, big time. It hit me when I was walking my dog , waiting for the official 270 at 11:00. It just hit me, hard. It was good.
30 Rock: I often forget how great this show is, and then I watch an episode on hulu on a whim, and I try to remember other shows that make me laugh so much.
Quantum of Solace: I don’t get it. Why is everyone bashing this film? It’s not as good as Casino Royale, sure. But for a Bond film, it’s good, right? People remember Bond movies as better than they really are, sort of like the first seasons of Saturday Night Live. Goldfinger? Sure, it’s fun. But go watch it again. Then watch Quantum of Solace. It’s cool and fun, if a little bloated. And smarter than it looks. Nice touch with the oil-coated homage to the Connery classic, too.
A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All: I enjoyed this at the time, but weird out weighed funny. This was almost as surreal as the old Peewee’s Playhouse, but you expect Peewee to be that bizarre.
Tropic Thunder: I'm not entirely fond of how much I loved this film. Hilarious, and Robert Downey Jr.; is there anyone more fun (and impressive) to watch on film these days? I was half way through the movie before I recognized Tom Cruise.
Derren Brown. This guy, who I’ve only seen online, rocks my world (and distracts me from grading exams. And challenges what I believe. And has me studying NLP.) You can’t get his DVDs on this side of the pond. Watch one and see if you can stop.
Frankenstein: The old original. Frickin’ blast.
Young Frankenstein: Funnier than I remembered. And without that old-comedy sag at the end.
Man on Wire: The effect of this documentary is this: even though the guy who walked on a high wire between the Twin Towers is there, in the documentary, in 2008, talking about his exploit in 1974, when you watch the old footage you still think he might not survive. The movie doesn’t exploit the sadness of the missing towers, but the film gains beauty from 9/11 anyway.
West Wing: I loved this show and stopped watching shortly after Aaron Sorkin left, cuz it fell so far so fast, but I’m watching season five now because of this, and while it ain't Sorkin, I am enjoying it.
All Star Batman and Robinby Frank Miller is a comic for fans of the genre only, and only the fans willing to forgive super-hero comics at their most misogynistic. I’m not sure I’m there. And Batman should never laugh like the Joker or say “God damn.” But the guest appearances by the JLA are fun.
Slaughterhouse 5: Taught this again for the first time in years. Loved it even more than I remembered, in large part because of the quality of my students' discussions. And, this time, I think understood the novel in a whole new way. I realized that Vonnegut probably doesn’t agree with the lessons he has Billy Pilgrim come to learn.
The Day The Earth Stood Still: I won’t take the kids to see the new one (horrible reviews, but my daughter really wants to see it) until they watch the old one. Really great movie, in a I-forgive-old-movies-for-being-kind-of-boring-and-cheesy sort of way.
Bolt. Took the family to this one. It’s okay. Opening chase scene is great because it steals apologetically from Pixar’s The Incredibles. The rest of the movie is fun, but mostly points out how impressive Pixar’s consistent excellence really is.
Boy in the Stripped Pajamas: My son and I saw this as a preview for free, and our night out was great. Hooray for the non-megaplex; we need to go to the Drexel much more often. At first the film made me uncomfortable; it depicts the fashion and zeitgeist of my parents' childhood, but with English accents. but the performances are fantastic and the movie really powerful. It is as good as the holocaust as a young adult film can be - which is actually very, very good. The point of view of a young boy who doesn't understand what is happening is moving and tragic and sad; you feel sorry for the son of a monster - and the monster, his father who runs a concentration camp, is uncomfortably honest in making him human. The last fifteen minutes are amazing and powerful on a number of levels.
That's a downer to end on. How about this one:
Robot Chicken: Star Wars I had never seen Robot Chicken, because I am old. But I threw this on my iPod a long time ago and forgot about it, and stumbled upon it yesterday. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but it's hilarious. Here are some clips (not embeddable).
Writing this was a fun and oddly relaxing way to kick off Winter break. If you read the whole thing: why?
I just came across high praise for Tater Tots of Love.
The blogger who wrote seems to be an avant-garde performer in Bristol. Look at his blog.
That a traditional high school show hit him so hard seemed to surprise him as much as his blog post surprised me:
The highlight of my Edinburgh Fringe as an audience member was undoubtedly Tater Tots of Love, this is an American high school musical. Trust me I was as shocked as you might be to hear this.
Essentailly the experience shook me to the foundations of my artistic practice: you don't need experimentation and the attendant obscurity, what you need is show tunes, big smiles and the ability to hit the high notes. Even better the whole things was probably the best response to Faust that I've seen.
I have included an audio sample of the finale for your enjoyment.
Thanks to the lovely Chloë Courtney for sending me the link.
