Usually they're for the kids, but one of the great joys in my life is watching my kids open presents.
Well, today it was Dad's turn.
Of course, any joy I feel is mitigated by my kids' disappointment when they know it's for me . . . but I let 'em tear it up.
So, today brought:
Paul Gilbert, Fuzz Universe.
You may remember him from my wall (east side of the room, between the big cabinet & the week's-agenda white board).
This guy flat-out gets it.
One of the most gifted guitar players who ever graced this planet, he can do it all.
& it's way too soon, after a few listens, but I will call this, his 3rd instrumental album, the best.
& to get that "free super-saver shipping," one must place an order for over $25, so to fill in that blank I also got this:
These 17 essays come from a DFW conference held last year in England.
ULTRA-NERDY LITERARY SCHOLARSHIP INFATUATION ALERT
Those of you who pay attention know that I have mentioned David Foster Wallace as my absolute favorite author, ever (he unseated the tie of Don DeLillo & Milan Kundera just last year).
I have read it all (except Broom, Lizzy--I'm holding out for a while, cuz after The Pale King next tax day there will be no more DFW).
This is what we literary scholars do--we read & re-read & then read what others have to say about their readings. I, like Rubel, live for this kind of stuff, & we try to impart the love of reading & thinking.
& sometimes, it works.
My latest goal: when I head back to grad school for my PhD, I'm going to study post-modernism & the late-20th-century novel, w/ a focus on David Foster Wallace's writing, fiction & non-fiction. (He would not agree w/ the "post-modern" label, but that's the closest we have now)
Which means a trip to the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin to check out his archives.
Yep, I want to read the syllabi & writing assignments from his teaching days, some of which are available to sample online. I also feel the need to see the words he checked off in his dictionary as well as his annotations to books like The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe & The Silence of the Lambs.
In the coming years, I will re-read everything that he has written & all that has been written about him.
Seriously, you should see my bookmarks bar . . .
Please, take this time to consider an author or artist you'd like to study, to become an expert in his or her field. There just may be a bonus-point opportunity in the coming weeks. . .
END ULTRA-NERD PORTION OF OUR PROGRAMMING
. . .& as for class . . .
Today's music:
Pete Droge, Find a Door
One of the most underrated roots-rocking singer-songwriters ever.
Also, extra-large pic because the cover os way cool.
Another one-hit-kinda wonder, you heard his song "If You Don't Love Me (I'll Kill Myself)"; it is cute & all (it's on his 1st record, somewhat-ironically titled Necktie Second).
& you heard it because it is in Dumb & Dumber, which you had to see, right?
This album is much better, & everything he does just simply works.
I implore you, check out some Peter Droge!!!
I even employ the exclamation points!!!
Juniors:
You engaged in a seminar.
Some of the time, thought occurred, followed by the careful articulation.
Some of the time, not so much.
Seminars provide wonderful opportunities to engage in argumentation, the kind on which I have created a 1st career & look toward another.
A seminar on Swift? Man, this could go for weeks.
But we'll do it in 2 days.
So, let's do this.
More tomorrow.
Sophomores:
You got your Antigone books (The Oedipus Cycle, to be precise).
You took the postponed vocab quiz, & I showed you the format for the review.
REMEMBER: definitions & antonyms due WEDNESDAY, & completing sentences & analogies due THURSDAY.
Also, no OR update for 2 weeks.
So, let's get our Greek mythology on!!!
be cool!!!
You're great McB.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, you should listen to this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Qbs3i3w1g
Yeah, it's big band jazz. which I am normally SOOO not into. But we're playing this in jazz A, and we're pretty much (well, sort of) rocking it.
Honestly, once I saw the word "phat," I almost closed the window, but you have earned my trust.
ReplyDeleteQuite nice, & the wife gives a bug thumbs-up too.
Huzzah!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I have your trust.
so one day I can send you audio-anthrax
I LOVE Anthrax--I'll take them over Metallica any day.
ReplyDelete( & yes, I know that's not what you meant, but I had to take the opportunity to plug one of my favorite bands)
Phat band = most-amazazing-jazz
ReplyDeletejust saying
love their albums
NOTE TO THE WORLD:
ReplyDeleteSaroosh is one cool guy, and has some awesome insights into life in general.
Those who differ may feel free to talk to a good friend of mine known as retribution, close cousin to vengance, and justice.
He will find you.
love the phat band.
ReplyDeleteso. kinda off topic, but does anyone know what the purpose of high school is? Maybe I am just sick of it, but I just feel done. Forget APs, forget honors, shouldn't we just go and meet the people that are actually going to be able to get us somewhere in life? Because I would love to meet the high school students who actually feel fulfilled by high school. The friends are cool. I myself like the teachers and I don't mind doing the homework. The tests, while they are not fun, are...expected. The best part of high school so far is being able to talk with students about something not related to high school, like the themes in Gulliver's Travels. And not even with a full class (because i'd rather talk with some few friends that can provide insightful stuff, like Chloe). THAT is more fulfilling than the 11 years of school I've been through. I mean, come on. WHAT is with all the DRAMA? Rumors so-and-so did this over the weekend. Who cares?!? The only difference in high school from elementary school is instead of: Jimmy got a new toy this weekend and I didn't. It's Johnny held Jamie's hand! oh my! So...high school? What is the point? Is it just a covenient place for adults (who aren't teachers) to stick kids in while they go off and work?
^^HEY YOU. yeah. I appreciate that :D
ReplyDeleteBut I think we might be going to different High Schools. Or maybe I'm just impervious to drama. I agree that the main point of high school is babysitting, however, I think much of the unpleasantness can be cured through selfishness. Because I'm not sitting in my classroom wasting my time for the good of other people, I'm doing it in hopes that I will one day be payed for the time I spent here (via a high-paying job). So who the heck cares if Sally-somebody and Joe-Schmo are having a kid at 15? Actually, that's better for me. Less competition.
who's "Soroosh"?? sounds like my kinda guy
ReplyDeletealso, remember back when the year started & the 1st bonus question was, "what is the purpose of public education"?
got some pretty decent answers back there
also again, when done properly, all education is a great thing . . . sadly, it ain't done properly all that often
that's what we're here for!!!
viva la revolucion!!
let's take back our education!!!
again w/ the !!!!!s!!!!
School, in my opinion, is not to “educate” people. I can do that on my own time. It may have been intended to teach people at some point, but no longer. I mean, at some point, I’m sure that students were actually taught addition, how to add small numbers and the like. Little Johnny needed to count so he would know if all the cows were in or not. Schools don’t even do that any more. My proof? Remedial CAHSEE classes. I mean really? REALLY? Because there isn’t enough teachers to actually teach something, all they can do is present the materials, or for math, walk through a problem (figuratively, not literally walking). Those who have the mind to understand the material get it, and pass the tests. Those who don’t get it, then go and teach themselves, and pass the tests get it. Those who don’t get it, and don’t do anything, and fail the tests, don’t get it. There is no actual “teaching” so to speak. So what is school then? It’s the Lord of the Flies people. High School is the daycare for the single parents who work all day, or the parents who both work. It’s a convenience. For those of us who actually go there, its…well….is hell too strong a word? High school is the post-modernist’s version of heaven. (maybe a little exaggeration) Morals are relatively existence, you can do anything you want, anywhere you want, with any thing / person you want. Just don’t’ get caught. Everyone is right, since truth has been made abstract. Freedom of speech, only if you are politically correct. If you have character values, keep them to yourself. Life is about finding yourself, with the exclusion of everyone else, and at their expense. High School is the Coliseum (actually, that is spelled right) of life. The world dumps the people in, and watches who emerges. A blender of every kind of person. High school is the place where you can experience everything before having to engage in life. Betrayal, hope, love, “love”, friendship, drugs, lies, torture, suffering, kindness, frustration, panic, terror, pain, irritation, food, jobs, people, *ahem* other things *ahem*, et al (and all the rest, translation courtesy of Dave)
ReplyDeleteWhy do I still go here? Why haven’t I given the bird back to the administrators, and moved to Minnesota to live on a farm? Well, honestly, I can really defend that choice. However, I would miss my friends terribly, and I would never move to Minnesota unless my friends went there.
ReplyDeleteBut, some dunder-head had the bright idea of making people go to high school (see great depression era, high school became mandatory to get the “teenagers” [that term was coined by Readers Digest in 1945] off the streets, and let the adults get all the jobs), and, not only that, but give “standardized” tests that would magically determine who was smart. The world doesn’t need a billion smart people, it needs people who are resourceful, creative, imaginative (that wasn’t redundant) and able to interact well in society. School doesn’t look for that, it looks for good test takers. And, those tests determine your ability to get into a college (usually) unless you are the best athlete ever! Yes, ever, you know who you are. Without taking a plethora of tests, and doing well, and then paying exorbitant fees for a piece of paper with a sticker on it, that says hey! I can get a job now! But you can’t do that either, cus you forgot that there are no jobs! Ha! Loser! You lost the game!
So, to senza, and every other irritated school go-er. No, I don’t see any real reason for going to school that is legitimate, other than you have to jump the hoops of bureaucracy. Fun yah?
Personally, I never learn at school, I save that for my own time. Also, I appreciate the teachers who put up with this system, knowing full well its faults. There are a lot of jerks in life, and they have to spend their days with a lot of them/most/all.
yah, it was too long for one post. And, its not "Michael", it's Dave.
ReplyDeleteDave & senza & whoever else is caring--I have always thought of high school as the "hyper-real" world. I mean, everything you will ever experience later happens at some level there.
ReplyDeleteIt's a microcosm of the "real" world people so often tell us we have yet to enter.
Spoiler alert: it's all as real in school as it is out there.
Everything you all mention exists at the"workplace," too, but it's not teenagers doing it, so it's even more sad.
& I'd say you are already "engaging" in life.
Later, you simply have no more curfew & you have to pay your own bills. That's the big difference.
Many people have told me I am "too smart" to teach in a high school, & on the bad days I agree w/ them. But there are good days, too.
& there are really, really good people, like those who post on this blog.
A wise man said (up above): "The world doesn’t need a billion smart people, it needs people who are resourceful, creative, imaginative (that wasn’t redundant) and able to interact well in society."
Now, I'd like more smart people out there, & some of them do benefit from school, but the creative & imaginative ones are the ones a lot of us really like.
I warned my sons as they entered school that they were smart enough to be bored every single day they'll be there. I sure was. but it's what you do w/ that boredom, how you entertain your own mind, how you learn to function in this society that may be the best benefit.
& by the way, all this talk has made me change my mind, postpone The Waste Land a few days, & pass out David Foster Wallace's Kenyon College commencement address, commonly known as "This Is Water."
In it, he says--much better than I can ever hope to--what I have ben trying to say to students for about 12 years now.
& on a side note, you people rule, & I hope you are aware of that.
If you forget, or if someone makes you feel like that ain't the truth, come by room 57 & I'll remind you.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteResponding to Senza:
ReplyDeleteI, for one, am, if not entirely "fulfilled by highschool", at least mostly satisfied with with my time spent at Alta Loma. [Is that grammatically correct? I hope so, being in the presence of an English teacher.] Yes, some of the time I sit in class wondering why I'm wasting my time. Yes, most of the time I struggle to finish my homework just because I don't want to put the meager effort forth.
However, I can provide at least a solid reason why high school is beneficial (at least, to me). Maybe it's not what you want, or expect, but you cannot argue that this, at least the second part of it, is not true.
Here, I paraphrase the quote hanging in Sra. Funk's room: Perhaps the best part of education is that it forces us to do what we need to do, when we need to do it, whether we want to do it or not.
I was in the same place as Senza last year. I struggled to finish the last month of school. I had no purpose. Most of my classes were too easy to keep me interested. But I sucked it up and did it, and now I have a purpose. School did not provide it, I did. High school simply provides me with a method of fulfilling it.
Drama is drama. It tears relationships [staying away from the lies/honesty issue for now] apart, but only if you let it get to you. Ignore it. Chase butterflies.
Responding to Dave-goes-by-Michael:
I disagree. (:
Read above if you haven't, then read below.
Sure, if people learned in the first place, they wouldn't need to be remediated. But sometimes it's not just that people "don't get it". Not everyone learns easily, but that doesn't mean we have to give up on them. I know many of the people waste everyone's time, and just don't give a shtick, and it's easy to give up hope. But if a 5 out of the the 20 people in a seemingly hopeless English or remedial CAHSEE class finally figure it out after a few tries, I think it's worth the effort [As long as they don't get in my way, being the selfish human I am]. Furthermore, two of my favorite teachers at Alta Loma teach remedial classes and are excellent teachers that actually "teach". I know it's different when you're sitting at your computer at 2am compared to when you're dealing with little Johnny [I personally haven't decided yet whether or not I want to be a farmer; I love cows. And chickens.], but I think we're all too pessimistic.
School may be corrupted, but I think it still does, at the heart of things, attempt some form of education.
The one thing I do agree with you is about high school being a blender; but I see it in the best way possible, like the FREAKING optimistic person I am. (:
Responding to McBride:
Yay! Your last post [that I can read] was... not pessimistic. It was kind of happy, and not because you were making fun of someone or society. When a self-proclaimed cynic like you can find such hope in the world, I know things will be okay. c:
Valerie: wow, close to grammatical correctness . . . & this is great: "High school simply provides me with a method of fulfilling it."
ReplyDeleteAlso: I will now say "don't give a shtick," & I'll at least sometimes give you credit for it
& this: "School may be corrupted, but I think it still does, at the heart of things, attempt some form of education." This is kind of my mantra, in that folks like Rubel Talbot & Beeley & I do a pretty darn good job w/ what we have.
The system is broken, but many of the parts still work.
(note: I am also certain others do great work, but I do not get outta English often at all)
finally: which post? also, go back & read some of the other posts . . . I like to say how cynical I am, but I see more optimism throughout my writing here than I honestly would have expected when I began the journey.
& you all are a huge part of the reason
Acknowledged:
ReplyDeleteThere is still remnants of education left in school
It is worth it for little johnny to struggle to find the answers
There is still purpose to be found (note: may require extreame digging, or other forms of search)
Blenders can be used to make fruit smoothies or neopolitan shakes, so yes, not all bad there either.
We have the same teacher who is awesome (Mr. McBride is also awesome as i've said many times, this teacher has a differant type of awesomeness)
teaching remedial classes, and i am amazed at his level of patience with those students. I was speaking out of frustration of dealing with those students. (Each of them is worth the effort though, in the sense of being morally/humanly responsible for others)
Note: Ranting is fun, (within reason)
(I have chickens, the duck was eaten by a raccoon(sp) though)
Going by Michael is not my choice, preferance, or wish. And i have no control over it, and I am sorry, but i can't explain why.
Trust me.
--Dave
(the butterflies were too full of themselves, so instead i chase firefly/ladybug combo's)
(yah, they exist)
I had wanted to comment on this post days ago, but life got in the way. The great thing about that, is more incredible insights have appeared.
ReplyDeleteI will say one thing for the current state of education . . . some of you folks are so aware, profound and enlightened . . . you make the young version of me hidden deep inside feel quite inferior. Maybe it's an east coast/ west coast thing, or just a generational thing, but the abilities and dedications and your willingness to take a stand that you may have discovered on your own . . . well, you certainly make the optimist in me content.
And I realize that you don't all agree, and I love that too. Because we live in a multi-faceted world where many questions have multiple correct answers, and the "best" one varies for the person answering.
To touch briefly on the "drama" of life, as you grow, you learn
(sometimes in a difficult and painful way) how to weed that out of your daily living. You find peace and contentment and you find you don't have the energy to be bothered with that stuff. Sure it's rampant still, maybe at work, probably within the family and neighborhood . . . but when you are able to really find fulfillment ( happiness ) with who you are and where you are, that other kind of nonsense seems to fade into background noise. And hopefully you find out how to make that happen sooner rather than later.
Life --and High School, as a teacher, or a student -- has lots of Sisyphus-y times. You just gotta know when to let it roll.
And Valerie, you'd think that being with an English teacher for 15 years would make you impervious to grammatical error . . . but it doesn't. So don't sweat the possibility of an error ;)
McBride have you seen the South Park episode about Jersey Shore? -Classic.
ReplyDeleteR R--yes, I have, & though I proudly have never seen a second of 'Jersey Shore," I thought the portrayal of Snookie was spot-on
ReplyDelete