Kiss more (and longer), Drink a Latte

...and moreIdeas from a Newsweek article for New Year's Resolutions.

Immersion Journalism

Here's an Essay by a U.S. Teen who went to Iraq over Christmas Break, and the story about his "secret" trip and dangerous adventure.

What if more students were this passionate at some point in their lives about something they learned in English class?

our first christmas tree

Emerson got to come along, on the condition that he wore his Santa hat.

Emerson loves the snow

I like our neighborhood, and that it feels like a house in the woods--with Manito Pond just a few blocks away. And the small, old house is now warmed by an oil-sucking Hercules furnace. I wish there was a more economical and environmentally sound way of heating, but the gas fireplace and space heaters are not much better. The temperature gauge outside the kitchen window currently reads 20 degrees.

"In the woods we return to reason and faith." - Thoreau

teacher & education blogs

what i read occasionally and new, recently found blogs:

• for a refreshingly and brutally honest account of teaching in the inner city - Mr. Babylon (has a special link to a NY Sun Times article about teachers who blog)
• Education writer Joanne Jacobs
• Why Homeschool
• Get Lost, Mr. Chips - a substitute teacher's blog

* * *

Imagine

Schools where I might enjoy being part of the English/Creative Writing faculty:

* Interlochen Center for the Arts - Michigan: Philosophy..."Interlochen Arts Academy's creative writing program offers students with little or no prior training in literary craft an opportunity to engage in intensive study of both the theory and practice of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, playwriting and screenwriting. The goal of the program is to help young writers cultivate their talents, to broaden their command of technique, and to introduce them to both traditional and contemporary masters in various genres. Central to the curriculum are the Workshops and the individual critiques - the former enabling students to meet in small groups to discuss one another's work, the latter bringing individual students into an intensely focused critical discussion with the published, professional writers who serve on the faculty. In addition to both workshop and literature classes, the program brings to campus distinguished writers who work with the students to enhance their studies and to provide them direct contact with the world of contemporary writing."

* The Beacon School - NYC: "The Beacon English Department explores literature through analysis and creative writing. Our purpose is to help our students realize that literature reflects certain universal truths that allow us to see others and ourselves as part of a larger whole. While literature can be understood as a product of the time in which it was written, it is a timeless reflection of life that facilitates discovery and fosters empathy. Because of this, we believe that literature is democratic and humanizing.Students are required to pass eight semesters of English. In each academic year students will be asked to present one project to demonstrate a particular form of composition emphasized during that year. In addition each year at the PBA presentation thestudent will present a creative project that explores literature through the creative process. This can include creative writing and/or non-written projects (such as video, visual art, dance etc.). Whenever possible, a teacher other than the classroom teacher will assess or help assess the portfolio piece. // Creative writing will be emphasized each of the four years." ... The school also has unique sports team--including Ultimate Frisbee, Bowling, and Fencing. Plus fun clubs that reflect the intellectual diversity of the school community: Live Poets Society, End of the Tunnel Press, and The Catalyst (an undgerground poetry magazine) are just a few.

* The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

* a Charter School? . . . unfortunately, Washington State hasn't been successful in establishing these yet. (Another site about the charter school movement in WA, http://www.wacharterschools.org/.)

Who's your Kindred Poet?

Poetic Intellectual

You're a poetic intellectual.


What Sort of Intellectual Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

The Bark

A great article, if you run with a dog...or just like running or dogs...from The Bark.

An excerpt...
"I’m not a religious person, but trail running with my dogs has helped make me a spiritual one, developing in me a deep, sustaining connection to them and to nature in all her abundant wonder. My senses have become more acute. I’m more aware—of the dogs, the trails, the mountains, the smells, the rhythms of life and the seasons. Running trails brings me a sense of calmness and peace. There’s awe of the natural beauty and the ease with which my dogs and I glide through it, spiced with a keen awareness that something could instantly go wrong and so nothing should be wasted or taken for granted. A metaphor for life. I recently read that some scientists theorize that humans are “hardwired” to accept, and need, God and religion. I suspect my own hardwiring requires that I worship at the church of nature and dogs, where services occur while running with them on wooded trails. "

Rehab, Holden, and The Scarlet Letter

What do these 3 things have in common?

Well, for the past three weeks I've had the interesting opportunity to be a "guest teacher" (the new term for "substitute") for an English teacher at a local high school, due to her being in rehab. For alcohol. Further proof that it's a stressful profession.

Week 1 was a scramble, as there were no lesson plans, no attendance sheets, no gradebook or planning book...nothing to give me a clue as to what the teacher's goals and expectations were for the class. (Previous to me arriving, there were 8 different substitutes in and out.) Even the AP class didn't receive a syllabus! I got a little help from some of the other teachers, and the dept. head (who was there on my 1st/2nd day) then has been gone since due to her own health situation--totally not related to rehab or anything.

While the AP kids have been working on and now finally giving group presentations on The Scarlet Letter, I've managed to scrounge up materials either found in messy file drawers or random drawers (the poor teacher was totally unorganized, reflective of her downward alcoholic slide) to at least help with curriculum for The Catcher in the Rye. It's one of my favorite novels to teach; however, my files (and marked up copy of the book) is in storage at my parents 300+ miles away. So I've resorted to using basic comprehension questions the teacher had in a file (which I only finally found on day 4).

The district, unfortunately, uses ability grouping for their English classes. And according to Myles I. Friedman's book No School Left Behind: How to Increase Student Achievement, this is one of the things that schools are NOT supposed to do. So 5 and 6th periods is "Integrated Communications"--seniors who have either failed the regular ("College Prep") course the previous year(s), or who chose the course (or it was chosen for them by a counselor) either because:
a) didn't want a challenging English class/don't care about going to college
b) is ESL
c) can't read/write
d) a and c

Despite the handful of respectful, cooperative, genuine nice kids, there is an obnoxious group of 3 or so boys (it's always the boys..17/18 yr old high school boys are an odd breed...one is even 18-1/2, will be 19 in May and he says he's coming back next year b/c he can't pass any classes) in each class. They put cell phones in their crotch (to hide them from me), throw empty plastic water bottles across the room to the garbage (and miss), ask to go to the bathroom every day, don't bring their book, refuse to use one available for loan, and are kids that don't have jobs outside of school because they are not skilled enough, nor professional enough to even follow instructions and complete tasks, provide cordial customer service, and respect a boss. I'm not being cynical. I'm admitting the reality. I'm done being an idealist teacher. That would be so "first year teacher"! I taught them a new word today: asinine.

As in, "It is asinine to throw a pencil across the room at your friend."

It's a weird world there. And of course, being a "sub" (despite the work we actually have been doing and the quizzes/work being graded) doesn't allow me the time to build relationships with the students, or establish my own clear boundaries and expectations for behavior (my attempts on day 2 were somewhat helpful, but there was no real way to reverse their habits after a random string of subs and the disorganization and lax accountability they were previously held to).

Other crazy things: someone writing the word "penis" on a window with lip gloss, a snowball thrown across the room (by the almost-19-yr-old, who also wears red eyeliner and a fur-lined green plaid coat), and a kid freaking out because he didn't want to sit in his assigned seat. Like, freaking out and yelling obscenities.

So other than having a room of semi-Holdens (except they aren't passing English), there are a couple classes of College Prep juniors and we've been going through Transcendentalist writers who are in their glossy 4" thick American Lit. textbook. Emerson's "Self-Reliance" and "Nature", tomorrow some "Walden" excerpts. Unfortunatly, their writing skills are pretty weak, so it makes literary analysis questions/responses difficult, because they need so much guidance, coaching, immediate feedback, correcting, and with 30 students with the top 10% who are great writers, then the next 10% who get bored easily waiting for others...well, they have a ways to go to be prepped for college, so good thing they are only 11th graders.

Positive highlights/observations will appear in the next post, for now I can say that this re-introduction back into teaching HS English at a 1,600+ student school, on a 6 period/day schedule has helped me make the decision to not seek a FT position teaching at the secondary level...even if the rehab goes longer.

Friedman excerpts:
“Well educated students are those who know how to think critically, how to solve problems, how to work well collaboratively, and how to innovate. But children must want to learn what they are being taught; they must be active partners with their teachers. Students control what they are willing to learn.”

“In the middle school years, however, schools begin teaching more abstract concepts. Students are less able to see how these concepts help them . . . Learning becomes less interesting, and students become less motivated. From this point on, a student’s success depends largely on the values of the family. If the family places a high value on education, students will force themselves to push through the boredom and irrelevance of their lessons.”

Hermione's Yule Ball

The fog has been thick and lingering long in Spokane lately, making for ideal conditions in which to venture out to see the newest Harry Potter movie. My husband and I went to the 6:40 pm showing last Saturday night at the Imax Theatre. We got our tickets an hour early, and pe0ple were already lined up to be the first ones in the theatre. We left and got some calzones at a small local pizza place, and got back in just enough time to get the last two seats in the last row. Seeing it on the Imax was definitely the way to go, and although my husband has read none of the HP books and only see some of the first movie (he fell asleep!), he still enjoyed it. My favorite scene was the Yule Ball, and it was nice to not see fat Dudley or Harry's muggle aunt and uncle.

It is definitely not a kid movie. "Sequences of Fantasy Violence and Frightening Images" make it PG-13. Of course, that didn't stop some Spokane parents from taking their small children. The four-year-old sitting in front of us was riveted and scared at various points during the movie. Poor little boy is still probably having nightmares. I understand that some parents feel like they are doing the right thing, but really...that little child probably would not have cared if his brother saw the movie and he didn't. I was especially surprised that when we exited the movie at 9:20 pm, there are so many children in line with their parents waiting for the 10:00 showing. Dressed in pajamas, I wonder how many actually stayed awake for the entire 2-1/2 hour lenght of the film. Again, these parents were probably acting more out of their own selfish interests than their children. May I remember this when I'm a parent someday.

Super-Normal

"Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted."
- from the Bhagavad Gita
. . . inscription on Sylvia Plath's tombstone in Heptonstall, Yorkshire in England

"...when Sylvia was seventeen and a senior in high school, she had mastered the art of achievement so well that she herself was deceived into believing she was super-normal."
- Anne Stevenson, from Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia Plath - (c) 1989

Do any kids today believe they are "super-normal"?

If only there were more high school students like this today in the public schools--those that are creative and unique, who possess a genuine interest and respect for learning.

I spent Tuesday teaching 9th and 10th grade Science as a substitute teacher. During my free period, I went to the library to ask the librarian if there was anything I could help with. (Though I would have rather found a quite place to read, my classroom was used by another teacher during that time and I wanted to show I was a "helpful sub".) As I put away stray books and tidied up the shelves, I was saddened to see what poor condition the books were in. Most seemed fairly well-used, with cracked corners on the spine. Yellowed pages and out-of-date covers. I suppose the condition is indicative of the general lack of consideration that students take when checking out books, but the books in these non-fiction shelves were generally not the latest, most interesting books. I remember how I've seen HS kids treat their library books, and it was mostly while they were in the library because the non-Honors kids didn't want to check out books. Mostly because they figured they would lose them and didn't want to have to pay the fine (which eventually caught up with the kids because they wouldn't be able to receive their transcripts if transferring schools or their diplomas upon graduating).

Jane Austen

"Sometimes the last person on earth you want to be with is the one person you can't be without." (movie tagline)

I'm excited to see the new Pride & Prejudice movie. I first read this novel in the summer of 1999, bought on a whim from a bookstore in the Frankfurt, Germany train station. I had finished the two books I had brought from home, and knew that in less than a week I'd be in London for the last leg of my European backpacking trip.

Austen did not disappoint, especially while reading her in the English garden of a B&B in the Cotswold, and eventually touring Bath and visiting the Jane Austen Centre there.

That next academic year, I taught the novel to my 10th grade Honors English classes. Overall, they loved it. The boys were a little less enthusiastic, at first...but once you start discussing gender issues, class, family dynamics--just about every adolescent becomes interested in the discussion. I livened it up and showed the novel's relevance to today with clips from "You've Got Mail". We also watched a bit of both movie versions that were available at that time--the BBC Colin Firth version, and the black/white Olivier one. Because these kids LOVED drama, we also had our own in-class version of "The Gerald Springfielder" show, where select students dressed up and got into the mindset of their designated character to "face off" on the set of our imaginary talk show. Of course, they also had essay responses, reading journals, etc...all that rigorous academic stuff because it is Honors, afterall. However, those more creative, non-traditional lessons are so fun to do with a group of responsible students who don't push the boundaries too much. They knew how to have fun, without taking advantage of the situation to goof off and ruin the spirit of the lesson.

My 14-year-old niece is currently reading the novel. I gave it to her as a junior-bridesmaid gift this summer. I can't wait to have a "book group" discussion with her. My sister tells me Jessica is savoring the book. This makes me so happy.

I'm tempted to read the novel again this weekend.

"New Music Throwdown"

Christopher Williams won! If he's coming to a venue near you, I recommend you go.

Trick-or-Treat Report

First: 2 teenage girls
Next: a group of 3 teenagers in non-descript costumes (one might have been going for the “80’s look” be the style of his windbreaker, but I actually think it wasn’t a costume). They also had a dog with them—a Bull Mastiff-Black Lab mix, dressed as a “ghost” (raggedy white t-shirt)
Then: pink butterfly (a cute little girl who redeemed my faith in the trick-or-treating tradition)
After that: various other groups of kids . . . little preschoolers dressed as animals, a duo from Lord of the Rings …Gandorf (which I initially thought was Moses with his staff!) and the shadowy villain from LOR.

The Treat: juice boxes—100% juice. (Judd remembers getting this as a kid and loved it because he always got so thirsty while trick-or-treating.)

Reviews: One girl exclaimed to her mother as they were walking down our path from the porch back to the sidewalk, “I got juice!”

Beatnik Jack: “That’s the coolest pumpkin we’ve seen tonight!”, from a group of middle schoolers—including one who said she was dressed as a “runner at night…it was a last minute thing”. (Costume: reflective vest, headlamp over a knit hat, plus other embellishments…creative.)

Back-up Treat: sour Skittles (tantalizingly sour!) … and one of Judd's favorite candies.
Reviews: big hit; preferred over juice, of course. I suspect word spread fast on the sidewalk which houses had the good stuff. Since Judd shopped for our treats at Costco, I was giving out 1.8 oz packages.

(Clarification: I had solo duty, because Judd worked late at the hospital—though he only found out about his schedule on Friday. We were disappointed to not commemorate our “First Halloween as a married couple giving out candy in our house”.)

Back to the Skittles . . .
There was the “transition group” where I was ran out of juice boxes and had to grab the Skittles. But then some of the first kids from this group wanted to trade in their juice boxes for candy. As the last girl was finished, one really little boy (age 4?) from the group came back up to me at the door with a forlorn look, clutching his juice box with both hands. I squatted down to his level and asked him, “Would you like candy instead of juice?” But he just shook his head, and turned away. (Some kids know that sour candy can be a wild party on the tongue!)

Resurgence of “older” participants: including a very developed, post-pubescent male with facial hair. Hmmm…

Interesting twist: 2 teenage girls collecting canned food items for their school club food drive. Young humanitarians.

Shop Closed, porch lights off – Skittles and juice are gone: turned away those still desperately seeking candy…in the 8:00 hour, a little “devil” girl; 9:00 hour, group of 5 gothic looking teenagers.

Total number of Trick-or-Treaters: 55

Emerson’s experience: not willing to keep his witch hat on, went crazy every time someone came to the door.

The Point of writing about this: there is none, really.

Emerson says, "Happy Halloween!"

"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and cauldron bubble. See the little witch hat my mom made me wear? I can't wait for all those little kids to come to our door tonight. This year's pumpkin is pretty cool. It was a 25-pounder!" - Emerson, husky

beatnik poet face

nightcap: a glass of wine, "medium bodied with flavors of strawberry and spice"

Likes:

• cranberry and white chocolate chip scones
• Oregon Chai – instant chai tea latte mix … simple and tasty
• Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (addictive sweetness, similar to but better than their Chai Tea)
• writing with gel pens
• wearing scarves
• sidewalks carpeted with golden-orange leaves
• Rockwood Boulevard
• artsy wine bottle labels

Indifferent:

• Houses with Halloween decorations

Recently spotted within a walk or bike-ride radius of our house -

1. Creative: a historic home with the simple decoration of Dracula’s crooked tombstone next to the stone steps leading up to the house
2. Tacky: blow-up ghosts
3. Cliché: white cotton fake spider web stuff stretched everywhere
4. Freaky: a collection of mannequin heads decorating the front porch (seriously, there were about 15-20 heads!)
   

Dislikes:

• taking I-90 to work and feeling like a “commuter”
• “decrapitating” the backyard (i.e., picking up Emerson’s poo)

* * *

If you come to our house on Halloween you might just get…a juice box or Sour Skittles.

* * *

In the book bag:
Always Beginning – Essays on a Life in Poetry, by Maxine Kumin
Published by Copper Canyon Press (one of my favorites), 2000.

This book is divided into six parts. I’m skipping around as the essay titles interest me. So far I’ve enjoyed:
“Interstices”
“Swimming and Writing”
“Motherhood and Poetics”
“For Anne at Passover” (Kumin’s analysis and explanation of this background personal context of this poem by the same name.)

. . . and I realize now that if I listed anymore essay titles, I might as well list the entire table of contents.

Kumin and Sexton were best friends, although that's not how I became interested in her. I first became interested in Kumin’s poetry after I read an interview with her from an anthology of poet interviews (whose title I can’t recall now). I’ve partially read through her book of poems The Long Marriage (I think is the title)—although I might be confusing Kumin now with Carolyn Kizer in this regard. The essential factor regarding my greater than keen interest in certain poets is when I’ve obtained biographical insight into their lives as writers…what forces breath into their poems, what feeds their writing life—hence my fascination with Sexton and Plath.

In regards to more contemporary poets, Paul Guest is a poet whose work I really enjoy. I read his first book last spring for thesis hours, based on Jonathan’s personal recommendation. I found Paul’s blog, heard an online recording of him reading his poems (from Slate.com), and have had brief email correspondence with him. I look forward to his second book of poems.

Meeting a poet face-to-face also makes a considerable impact on the amount of interest I have in a certain book, or in that entire poet’s body of work. It definitely increases the amount of compassion I have for that poet, whether stemming from my admiration in their accomplishment (as in, “You worked really, really hard to get this manuscript of poems completed and ready for publication”) or my respect for their character (i.e., thought going through my head: “I don’t always understand or love your poems, but there are a few I really enjoy…either way, because you are such a kind and interesting human being, I like your poetry”). I won’t list their names here, lest they someday are inclined to google their name to see who is “blogging” about them. (Yeah, like they have time for that!)

Throughout my limited exposure and intermingling with writers (of both poetry and prose) at readings and/or workshops in Seattle and Spokane, here is a list of the most memorable… Sherman Alexie, Malena Mörling, Gerald Stern, Michael Van Walleghan, Rick Bass, Anne Lamott, Rita Dove, Dorianne Laux, Lief Enger.

I think writers (as a type of celebrity, as opposed to actor celebrities) are the most gracious and kind. Don’t you agree?

I remember my response to a high school student who was questioning why I was making such a big deal (i.e., showing excitement) about Leif Enger reading in Seattle (author of Peace Like a River), and I responded: “He’s like the Tom Cruise of fiction.” Perhaps this was a slight mis-exaggeration, but my point at that time was that Enger’s book was incredible and therefore Enger was cool. His book was becoming more popular (this was fall of 2002), gaining interest from a broad range of literary readers, and I was trying to make a point to this particular 17-year-old that Writers are cool people, too—worthy of our attention…people who have achieved success; who impact our culture, cause us to think, contribute worthwhile substance to our lives.

distractions

"The northern city of Turin [Italy] passed a law in April to fine pet owners up to $598 ( 500 euros) if they do not walk their dogs at least three times a day." - from the article "Rome bans goldfish bowls, orders dog walking"

Death Cab for Cutie on NPR.

More from NPR:

• A Family of 'Vows': The Son of a Priest and a Nun
• Writer Walter Kirn, on a 'Mission to America'

Nebraska poet

Great story on NPR today... Poetry: At Home with Poet Laureate Ted Kooser

Very cozy, touching--and at the end of the interview with Melissa Block he reads his poem "So This is Nebraska".

Kooser, in this interview, discusses his daily writing routine--gets up at 4:30 in the morning and tries to write poetry until 7:00. Yikes! But he does admit that 9 days out of 10, no worthwhile poems result. But that at the end of the year, if he has a dozen good poems, that is good enough. "Be there when the geese come in"... or as Jonathan Johnson says, "It's like money in the bank." That investment of time in writing drafts, journal writing...nurturing the writing life.
Speaking of Nebraska, the summer issue of Prairie Schooner has 2 of Johnson's new poems in it.

quote of the day

"You're not qualified to govern this country at this moment in time if you don't understand the uses of TV. In fact, those in public life should be required to watch it. It's like Google Earth for the national psyche, hovering over the landscape, zooming in."
- Anna Quindlen, Newsweek columnist

Just this weekend I was introduced to Google Earth by my brother-in-law. Very cool.