Reading Revisited

Reading, hmmmm.
I tweaked that nerve a bit already. I would rather read than do anything else. Reading along with good music is heaven on earth. It is a creative process which requires the mind to develop scenery, characters and events. I guess the more imaginative and creative you are the more you would find reading a delicious thing to do.
Do I think it is becoming a lost art. Well, let me put it this way, Google is contemplating putting complete books online. I would guess that would be to accommodate the reading public. That may possibly be because the little square electronic devices humans have devised are more attractive than the little square written pages humans have written. I know my kids spend way more time in front of an electronic square than paper ones. My daughter used to love to read, now she spends her time enjoying things other peoples minds have imagined and created, My son told me he likes other people's imaginations better than his own. I'm deeply saddened by this. He likes plays and art, so he is not without culture. He is as fond of music, but books are a pass for him.
In the classroom I do notice a few students who are enjoying the art of reading, so it may not be a complete wash. I do believe as a classroom tool, students who read will also master writing and the language in general.
Historically reading has been a device to aid in the adaptation of conquered nations to the new culture of the conquering nations. Nebudchanezzar was the king of Babylon. He was a strategic master of early military tactics. As a state Babylon was advanced in many ways. Women had rights, such as the ability to own land and divorce useless husbands and still retain control of their possessions. They (the Babylonians) were advanced in mathematics, and we use a form of calendar developed by the Babylonians. They were huge on literature. When a nation was captured Nebudchanezzar assimilated the people he took captive by various means. One tactic he used was to put the best and brightest of his captives into positions of power. In order to indoctrinate these young people to the culture the first thing these youths were required to do was learn the language and the literature of the culture they were now a part of. Literature is more than books, it is the story of nations, cultures and whole of humanity. So it goes.
Here is a web site I was discussing earlier. http://www.EffectiveTeaching.com It is by Harry K. Wong. It's a great resource in case you haven't been exposed to it yet.
Bye for now, I've really babyldon. Love, Love, Love to read, go get'em meanie.

Reading As a lost art.

I have recently read commentaries by well known authors about the dying art of reading. Kurt Vonnegut has a book containing some of his short stories that were published previously only in magazines. In the introduction to Bagombo Snuffbox Vonnegut discusses the demise of magazines that carried his (and many others') short stories. He also discusses the importance of reading.
While discussing the beauty of the short story he says " While I am reading, my pulse and breathing slow down. My high school troubles drop away. I am in a pleasant state somewhere between sleep and restfulness. " He goes on to talk about sharing the story he had read with his harried father and the soothing effect is passed along as the short story passes from hand to hand. Beautiful. There is an absolutely great story called "Thanasphere" to start the book. It's the only story I have read so far but it haunts my mind regularly. Love to read, please read. Hold the book in your hand, there is something so endorphine inspiring in the turning from one page to the next. Your mind takes hold of the words and spins them into the most fantastic natural machinations of the imagination. Very few things in life are as fine as that. So states the mean one.

Quotes for music lovers

I just found this out today, yes it is a literary misadventure, I just love misadventure.
"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak." by William Congreve (no, not Shakespeare) from the Mourning Bride 3.8. It is savage breast and not beast. And as I can imagine most folks of the male persuasion enjoy the imagery of the savage breast, I'm quite sure it is intended to mean the savage or wild heart. In other words the restless, tormented and unruly soul. Savage=not domesticated:wild, not civilized, ferocious, primitive. Breast=definition#3 the seat of affection and emotion. You do the grammar. Peace to you, the mean one commands it.

Web Pages

Bernie wants to know how I would use web pages for my classroom. If I should ever figure out how to create one, I would use it to make an attractive page that would hopefully attract my students to read. I would make book critiques and recommendations. I would list all banned books, I think young people are enticed by what they are not supposed to look at. I hope by viewing my pages the students would learn the differences between fiction and non-fiction works, and that non-fiction can be fun. I hope they learn to love science fiction and fantasy, children's lit and cross-cultural works. I think Bernie likes to read. I think he would like Andrahati Roy, She is an East Indian writer and activist, she rails against nuclear proliferation. She and I are pacifist. Her book The God of Small Things was her first fiction work. It won the Booker Prize in GB. I like to listen to her talk. I plan (if I ever have free time again), to read her non-fiction stuff, if I can find it here. A wonderful piece of non-fiction, if you haven't read it, is Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. I laughed out loud, and learned a lot. It's one of the few books my husband read through to the end ( he hates to read the end of books, he likes to make up his own ending). He also found himself laughing out loud.
News from the six-disc. I'm listening to Sinead Lohen's No Mermaid. She is an Irish songstress, her music is very liquid, watery if you will. I have a water spirit, so I really love this CD. What is it with Irish people and water? Another favorite Irish group The Waterboys. Now if you like Irish stuff and punk rock you should give a listen to Flogging Molly. I'm not as fascinated with the Drop Kick Murphys, but my son Zachariah loves them. I enjoy Clannad and some of the Chieftains stuff. But my new all time favorite Irish stuff can be found in the world section of the music store, and that is the Afrocelt Sound System, or the Afrocelts as they have taken to call themselves. I have all of their CDs. Love, love, love their unique sound of African tribal music and traditional Irish mixed with some rock. Wow. They even sing in the Celtic language. I don't understand a word, but I don't need to. They have mostly English lyrics especially on their second CD which showcases collaborations with Peter Gabriel, Eric Clapton (I think) and Robert Plant. The first CD has some tunes with Sinead O'Conner (love that girl). Anyway I'm really going off here, have a nice day world.

Nabokov

I know I said I was going to look at Maguire, but he is a fairly new author without much history. Soooo , Bernie , I'm going to do my author study on Vladimir. I have actually studied him and he is fascinating.

Maguire

Gregory Maguire wrote Wicked; The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. He's written several children's books. Wicked is not one of them. He wrote Mirror, Mirror, a political satire (I hear, have not read). He also examines the life of the evil stepsisters. Wicked looks at the tale of Oz from the Wicked Witch's pov. It's not a new concept. there is a children's book that explores the three little pigs from the wolf's pov, and of course Grendl the monster's pov from Beowulf. So there it is the idea for my author study.

Ah the Vileness

I am indeed feeling rather vile today. I'm not sure I really exist.
I did enjoy my classes today. The kids were great, the classroom management was superior, even with a sub. Best of all I seem to have gained the trust of the students. They are very relaxed with me. I surprised a few of them with my limited Spanish. We watched part of a film, a silly comedy. The kids paid good attention and mastered a lot of the details they were required to observe. They really appreciate when you acknowledge how well they are catching on, especially in the light of learning something so complex as a new language. It's almost like me trying to learn all of this new technology. It's like learning a new language and a new culture. Anyway, the students are great. I'm glad I found these particular classes. I would love to teach at this school. I'm sure you all know Wong, (I'll add the link to his book later) I think this school has memorized his book. You know what? It seems to work. I haven't decided on my author yet, but I'm leaning toward Gregory Maguire.

For Bernie

I have some questions about the author study. I would like to do a study on Gregory Maguire.
gregorymaguire.com. However, he is a fairly recent author. Does that matter? Do poets count? I'm an admirer of Christina Rosetti, and I have often wished to study her, and her work, further. Will the study be a blog? So many questions, hmmm.

How Literature applies in real life

I talk a lot about driving in my car. Like Jim Dixon, the protagonist in the book Lucky Jim, I tend to "pull faces" when I don't like the way someone drives. You see old Jim couldn't come right out with his rebellious thoughts, so if some like the professor displeased him Jim would react by making faces behind that character's back. If you happen to be in front of me driving like a pure defined fool (fool=one who is deficient in judgment, sense, or understanding) You can be assured I will not curse you or scream wildly at my windshield. I will, however, take a page from Jim Dixon, and from behind you "pull" faces in direct proportion to the stupidity of your driving maneuvers.

P.S. I find my definitions inThe American Heritage Dictionary. Strangely enough this dictionary has been banned within the boundaries of the US at some time. I do not understand it, but there it is.

Lucky Jim is written by Kingsly Amis, and it is a hilarious read.

Side note: And for you aspiring teachers, I found this book to be an excellent read, True Notebooks by Mark Salzman.

For Bernie: There is an article on blogging in the San Diego Union Tribune, Sunday Feb. 20, page A4. Maybe you have already seen it.

Some Links

I thought as a footnote I would add some interesting links.
http://mizzerahzap.tripod.com/zap
http://www.nickdrake.com
http://www.nillara.net/bio
http://foxsearchlight.com/gardenstate

How could I forget?

Well I left off last time and I did not recall the last two CD's in the six disc. Comes of having a mean brain I guess. ( Mean=low in quality or grade) At any rate the last two are New Order's Republic, ( kind of 80's dance club stuff) and the soundtrack from the movie Garden State. I don't know how I could forget that. I love that CD (and the movie). Zach Braff (Scrubs) made a little movie about the effect something as small as a broken plastic latch can have on your whole life. The music in the film is exquisite. The Frou Frous are just astounding. Nick Drake, now here is a musician who was pathologically shy and never went on tour. He created his music in the late sixties and early seventies. He died at age 24, I believe in 1974 ( not positive about dates). The cause of his death is not published. You can hear his influence in British music all across the board, from Led Zeppelin to Peter Gabriel. I heard one of his songs on a Volkswagen commercial and researched until I found his name. The song was Pink Moon. This singer/songwriter is one of the most phenomenal I have ever heard. Zach Braff used one of his songs in the film and it is on the soundtrack. I feel a musical kindred spirit in Braff. I don't know if he influences the music on the sitcom Scrubs, but I was just floored one day when they played a song by Nil Lara from his self titled CD. I thought I was the only person on the earth that knew about that CD. The song played on the show was "Fighting for my Love". My personal favorite is "Bleeding" This CD has a lot of Latin numbers on it, but the music transcends language. Well I wandered a bit, but by now maybe you can tell I live for books and music. I cannot produce either, but I can consume both ravenously. Ta Ta from the desktop of the mean one.

Thoughts from a mean little red machine

Hi out there in never never land. I have a lot of thoughtful moments when I'm driving in my car. I've really been giving this web journal thing a lot of thought. I'm still a little nervous about putting stuff out there. I mean is there some protocol? Anyway I thought the best thing to do would be just to share some good stuff.
The other day I worked with some students who had no English. They are the best. I'm so impressed with them. One of the greatest challenges in my academic career has been to learn another language. Even with the best instructors I am English bound. So maybe you can imagine my delight in these young people who grasp onto English with both hands and pull themselves into it with such ease. Marvelous.
I like the idea of multiple intelligences. I can recognize in my own system of learning my strengths and weaknesses. As a result, I can strongly recommend applying them in the classroom. (For Bernie: I am strong in language, music, kinetic and naturalist. I am weak in logic, so so in interpersonal{a little shy}, but better in intrapersonal {just so you know}.
Sooo, as I stated with, I was driving along in my environmentally polite vehicle when I gathered a few ideas for this thing. First a live experience:
I went to Henry's and parked near a car that must belong to an employee, because it's always there. On this car is a vinyl detail piece of the profile of Malificent ( The wicked woman of Snow White). I covet that artwork every time I see it. [Covet=to desire that which is rightly another's] As Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Says, "So it goes". It just is not to be (mine that is).
In my long journey through Englishhood I have pondered the use of language employed in the phenomenon of Bumper Stickers. Some one letting you know who or what they are via a small plastic strip on their vehicle, hmmmm. I did apply one once, being such an English maven I could not resist the J.R.R Tolkien quote, "not all who wander are lost." That's me, That's me. But being so high minded I have looked down on more self defining sayings that let me know you are a "Gun Toter" (I'm a pacifist) or "spoiled" which I take to mean reliant on external sources of joy in one's life, ( a precarious way to live). So I tend to make instant judgments on these folks right or wrong. Is that mean? [Mean=to be defined as.]
As I was driving along I thought it would be nice to share.
Sharing #1 I loved two particular books I have read in the last few months. The first is Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Such a beautiful book. It uses men as a footnote to the strangely and beautifully woven examination of several extremely intelligent women. And surprisingly it is written by a man. I don't think any male author has captured the beauty and essence of female intelligence as well as this. I hope it's not a fluke, it would be nice to have achieved such realization by a man. (I do not claim to be a feminist, but I've been accused of it).
The other book is Life of Pi. It is deliciously dark, mmmmm, dark. That is all I am going to say about that book, but it is absolutely a must read.
One more thing to share. I like to listen to music in my little car. Here is news form the six-disc. Now playing: "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" by Wilco. ( maybe some military expert can tell me what that title means) Next, Led Zeppelin III, now you younger people might snicker about that, but you should give a listen, this CD is timeless in its appeal. "7 Worlds Collide" is a Neil Finn (Crowded House) collaboration. It's nice, a little heavy on Eddie Vedder, but I like it. U2 "Joshua Tree (a classic) hmmmm I can't seem to recall the other two off hand. I'll get back to you on that. Gotta go to work. I do love my job, but it would be a nice day to stay home.

Amateur Hour

Well here we go. It's been a day learning all of this new info. I remember a long time ago in a network galaxy far far away a friend who created his own website. He is a biker, so of course his site had lots of cool biker stuff. He was also in the process of practicing sobriety. As a result he had quite a few old adages spoken by many sober twelve steppers. Along with this he had links to his favorite sites. I take it that was the earliest form of blogging, I found it amusing and signed his guest book.
So here I am learning new things in a new age. Help is always appreciated.
I enjoyed tutoring at the high school today, and I find my students fascinating. They are a cross cultural group, so I am learning as much as I teach. Amazing.
Wait!
Not much in the realm of meanness. Well, I have learned mean is relative, and can be used as an endearing term by your very close relatives. I like word play and playing with words. Mean can be a fun word to play with. So have fun with a favorite word today. Better yet learn a new favorite word.