I hope I didn't just give away the ending

New Radicals, Maybe you've been brainwashed too.

Yep, that's how the dude capitalized & punctuated.

Also, after his one hit Gregg Alexander decided to quit the business so he would not be a one-hit wonder.

(!?!?!?!).
This dance-funk-groove record sold a few back in '98-'99, thanks to that one hit, "You get what you give." (Again, album-cover capitals.)

I will warn you here, too: the dude wrote some pretty good lyrics.

& the album features a back-up singer named Danielle Brisebois, who had been a child "star" as Edith's niece Stephanie.

How about that for some trivia?

You 're welcome.

(oh, & the post title is another song title.)

NON-POLITICALLY-CHARGED REFERENCE TO A (SADLY) POLITICALLY-CHARGED TOPIC ALERT:

I just today finished reading Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman.

Wow.
The book was written by Jon Krakauer, whose Into the Wild you were supposed to read last year

I had a grandfather, an uncle, several neighbors, & various other folks in my life fight in wars, & I have never done enough to thank them.

At the base level I probably think of Veterans Day & Memorial Day as barbeque days.

Let's all be honest: how often to we stop for a moment to think of those who, as we say, "gave all"?

Here's a guy who gave up millions to do the right thing, to stand up for what he felt was right, to defend the freedoms we like to discuss. Anyway it can be parsed, that comes out as "hero."

There's a book about him because of his fame as well as the horrific lies that were told in a cover-up of the facts of his death.

There are thousands of others who get no books, just mourning relatives & friends.

LIFE-LESSON TO BE LEARNED FROM ALL THIS ALERT

I honestly do not care what one thinks of the wars--& sadly, I think too many of us do not think of them at all--but I do care that all of us realize the sacrifice that goes on daily by those who wear the uniform.

This is in no way a "left" or "right," "liberal" or "conservative" issue.

It's a human issue.


Juniors:
As we read The Waste Land, let us ponder,as Eliot did, the horrors of war.

Great things can come from war, but no sane person can say that war is great.

Great things arose in class today, as I asked you for a key line you had noted or a line you happened upon when opening the book this morning.

Some examples:

Memory and desire

Winter kept us warm

A heap of broken images

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Fear death by water

Are you alive or not? Is there nothing in your head?

Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you

Here there is no water but only rock

Shantih shantih shantih

Sophomores:
You took an open-book quiz on the material we read aloud in class yesterday.

Many of you did very well, mixing the CDs & the CMs.

You analyzed the chorus's response to Antingone & Creon.

You discussed Haimon & Creon, how the son is just like the daddy in many ways, especially rhetorically.

We have finished a big chunk of the play, & we will do more Monday.

Also, next week TUESDAY will be unit 4 synonyms, THURSDAY will be unit 4 completing sentences.

Soon, you will be submitting those quotations you were assigned, 4 from each scene, including the ones we did in class, from the Prologue as well as Scene 1.

Until then we march FORWARD!!!

be cool

he was what he is

Frank Zappa, Joe's Garage

I could write about this one for hours.

Days, maybe.

But I won't.

It's brilliant in its insanity, insane in its brilliance.

My wife & I saw it performed on stage at The Open Fist Theatre (now, seriously, is that not a great name?!) 2 years ago, & it absolutely rocked.

The Zappa Family Trust gave the OK, it was performed straight through as a musical w/ a live band . . . & the lights went down for the album's version of "Watermelon in Easter Hay."

It was amazing.

That was the song that had sold her on Zappa, & that was the moment we just sat there in the dark ruminating on life & taking it all in.

"Beautiful" is the word here, I believe.

As for the play as a whole, I wrote up a review if you would for some strange reason be interested.

As for the song--which FZ stated he originally titled "Playing a Guitar Solo With This Band Is Like Trying to Grow a Watermelon in Easter Hay," it is 1 of my 5 favorite guitar instrumentals (that makes 2 I have mentioned thus far--anyone paying attention? 5 bonus points to the 1st to identify the other in the comments below).

PMRC WARNING ALERT:
Dude was an absolute musical genius, but had a bizarre, some would say "obscene" sense of humor, & it manifested in his lyrics. So, listener beware.

Also, come & see me for advice if you are interested, because FZ has something for (almost) everyone.

Juniors:
I played Zappa today because he, like T. S. Eliot, is a difficult artist, one who demands from his audience more than many want to offer up.

I love these guys, many cannot stand them, & I can pretty much understand why.

I believe art should challenge our beliefs, make us examine all that we hold dear, help us to re-establish ourselves or re-imagine ourselves.

Zappa & Eliot do just that.

They will take you places you may not want to go, definitely out of your comfort zone. They will make that journey worth every gut-wrenching or side-splitting moment.

They will frustrate & amaze w/in about, oh, 3-5 seconds.

Man, I LOVE this stuff.

We went over the concepts of poetry & art, using Marianne Moore's "Poetry," the 1st line of which I do not believe. As usual, many of you had great ideas, today about the "meaning" of poetry & communication in general.

Sophomores:
You were asked to re-think the characters of Ismene & Antigone.

1 has changed, the other not so much.

We read scene 3 of Antigone.

Haimon learned from his daddy, I tell you: same rhetoric, same process of argumentation.

Oh, & Creon went from "kill her" to "kill her no, in front of him" to "take her somewhere where she'll die."

Sets up the coming scenes.

I LOVE this stuff, too.

be cool

yours, mine, truth

Extreme, III Sides to Every Story

The "subtitle" to this one is "Yours, Mine, & the Truth."

I love that.

I love this album.

Also, the idea is fitting, given the conversation we have had about Houyhnhnms & the DFW piece & the idea of "truth" in general.

I may prefer Pornograffiti on certain days, but this one hits me in the head as well as the heart.

[SIDENOTE: any Guitar Hero players still around? The band's "Play With Me" was 1 of those "hardest-songs-ever," up there w/ Buckethead's  "Jordan"  & Dragonforce's "Through the Fire & Flames."]

"Yours" is the rockin' side, w/ "Politicalamity" continuing the band's creation-of-words motif; "Peacemaker Die" includes an excerpt of King's "I Have a Dream" speech, & "Cupid's Dead" just flat-out rocks.

"Mine," the mellower, ballad-y side, has 1 of the the funniest love songs ever written, "Tragic Comic."

& "The Truth" is a progressive tour-de-force, a 3-part, 20+ minute epic. It's called "Everything Under the Sun," & the parts are "Rise n Shine," " Am I Ever Gonna Change"  & "Who Cares?"

A fantastic, highly underrated near-masterpiece by a great band that never got a real foothold because of

(a) the length of their hair,
(b) the advent of "grunge," &
(c) their one big, huge monster hit, "More Than Words," which made people think they were Simon & Garfunkel & not a funky metal band.

Also, Nuno Bettencourt is a genius.

Yeah, I said it.

Later you'll hear more of his stuff, but if you're interested now, check out Mourning Widows (my favorite of his bands), Dramagods (bog melodic rock), Satellite Party (w/ Perry Farrell), & Population 1.

& how may I  connect this w/ you young'uns?

How about this: he toured as Rihanna's guitarist this year.

A lot of metalheads were quite angry.

I thought it was way, way cool.

Juniors:
You struggled to listen as my speakers struggled to give the amazingly quiet rendition of Eliot reading his own work.

I got a few words for you:

"O O O O that Shakespeherian Rag"

(& yes, that's how he spells it.)

If you didn't know it, you heard stuff from Hamlet, Greek mythology, the Upanishads, the Fisher King, selected plays, poems, stories, & myths.

It's all a heap of broken images.

& that's why it rules.

Sophomores:
An in-class open-book quiz on the stuff we had previously read aloud in class.

Many of you did quite well . . . & a few of you continue not to try.

We then looked at scene 2, in which things get downright conflict-heavy.

Creon's gonna kill Antigone.

Now Ismene wants to die fro the crime she did not commit.

(Wait--what!?!?!)

Antigone says, bring it on, big boy.

Will he kill his son's fiancee?

Will Antigone find a loophole in the law?

Will the sentry return?

Tune in tomorrow, same Greek time, same Greek channel.

(Also, bring your unit 4 definitions.)

&

be cool

the chairman of the board

Frank Sinatra, Duets

Great, great album cover, huh?

For some reason I just had to buy this the day it came out back in '93.

Pretty sure it's the only Sinatra I own, & it's well worth it.

Highlights: "I've Got You Under My Skin" w/ Bono . . . "The Lady Is a Tramp" w/ Luther Vandross . . . "Witchcraft" w/ Anita Baker . . . "All the Way/ One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" w/ Kenny G . . . "Guess I'll Hang My Tears Out to Dry/In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning" w/ Carly Simon

Ol' Blue Eyes.

TEACHABLE MOMENTS FROM THE REALM OF SPORTS ALERT:
The Rangers have won every inning of this series except 1, but they are up just 2 games to 1.

(I hate the Yankees, so this annoys me.)

My son Aodhan is a fantastic keeper, but about 5 seconds of loss of focus cost him a goal Saturday. But he had the chance to make it up, & he did.

Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand remains hospitalized, paralyzed from the neck down after a vicious helmet-1st hit on a kick return. He may never have a chance to walk again.

What I think when I think about stuff like this:

We have to focus at all times, & maybe we have to be a little lucky or blessed by god or the universe.

We often have the power to make the proper choices, but sometimes maybe we have no power at all.

We need to embrace every moment, to, as Thoreau said, "live deep and suck all the marrow out of life."

Remember all those words of wisdom from DFW & all of your colleagues last week.

Send out some positive vibes.

Juniors:
Mary Karr rocks.

She shows you "How to Read 'The Waste Land' So It Alters your Soul Rather Than Just Addling Your Head."

You shared some opening thoughts on poetry, &, as has happened every year I have taught poetry, to every class, some said, "yeah!!!' some said "NOOO!!!" some groaned some cheered some like free verse some only like rhyme Dr. Seuss Shel Silverstein Emily Dickinson free association.

Oh, & 3rd period met my wife.

So, 3rd period wins the day.


Sophomores:
Units 1-3 vocabulary big quiz.

Ode 1 read out loud--remember, we control everything . . . except death

More Antigone quotations, this time from scene 1.

Back to the reading, scene 2 tomorrow; 5 of you will volunteer to read.

Unit 4 vocabulary definitions due Wednesday.

be cool

it is (not is) water

Was (Not Was), What Up, Dog?

Yep, another "one-hit wonder, the band had its hit "Walk the Dinosaur" & released this album back in 1988.

Yep, the year I graduated high school.

You may have heard Queen Latifa's cover  in Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.

Another genre-bending band, into jazz, funk, disco, & rock.

Don Was went on to record & produce artists like The Black Crowes, Garth Brooks, Poison, Ziggy Marley, Barenaked Ladies, Bob Dylan, & about a million others.

Yes, "eclectic" is the word.

Juniors:
More "Water," some of the greatest words of wisdom ever.

By demand, a DFW recommended-reading list is coming.

Remember, get out of your own head for a while when possible, re-configure your "default setting."

Because of fantastic discussion of the ideas w/in "This Is Water," we will get back to the "Forward" part of Friday 22 October.

Sophomores:
Forward!!!

Active voice.

Sounds familiar . . .

be cool

(that sounds familiar, too?!?)