Kudos if you get the reference.
Ah, spring. The time of year when you get to relax a bit and everyone is still in a good mood because the weather is warmer but still not horribly hot.
Except in Phoenix. HAHAHAHA.
Okay, now that I've gotten that out of my system, it's time to talk about books! Hooray! I have been getting more work done at work and been giving out less homework as it is, so I've gotten a chance to do some reading recently. This weekend being excluded, but until pictures get posted to Facebook I don't think I'll write about that just yet.
I may have talked about this before on this blog and I'm sure I could go back and check, but the act of reading a book again can be a powerful one. The way I see it is that people are fundamentally the same day to day. We are who we are and the majority of things stay the same. I have been a Beatles fan since I was two. But the minutiae of who we are is different every day. For example, which Beatles's song will appeal the most to me today when skipping through my iPod while driving to work? I also think that every couple of years we recognize what major changes we have gone through. We rediscover who we are and what makes us joyful. Change is good. Change brings new life. I think people are always afraid of changing and drifting farther apart from one another. I'm excited to share changes, whatever they may be, and drift closer to people.
(It always reminds me of the scene in Ed Wood where Johnny Depp's character finally tells the girl he's interested in that he likes to wear women's clothes. She responds by taking off her sweater and offering it to him. I wish more people were like that. Just accept and support. I think my only exceptions to this are substance abuse and most illegal activities. Like murder. Not cool to blame that one on personal growth.)
Anyway, as we change in small ways and in big ways throughout the years, we should give books another chance. Or not, if your memory is wonderfully rosy-colored and you want to keep it that way. I recently showed one of my friends a scene from Fern Gully; she used to watch it as a kid but had forgotten that Robin Williams is a voice talent, so I showed her the Batty rap scene. She got very disturbed and began to wonder what else from her childhood no longer had that hue of adorable.
Sometimes, though, if you're lucky, the book you reread changes in positive ways. You notice things you didn't before, subtleties pop out at you, metaphors and emotions garner more meaning. I recently reread The Giver and The Great Gatsby.
The Giver I originally read in middle school. I'm not sure if I was simply having a horrible time in middle school or if I truly didn't enjoy the book, but for whatever elusive reason I hated The Giver. A burning white hot passion, if ever there was one. I was disgusted with it. And now I can't even remember why. The 6th graders at my school were reading it, and all the other teachers were commenting on how much they had enjoyed it and continued to do so, even as adults. Since I was curious and I respect my colleagues (and was vaguely incredulous), I decided to reread it. Wow. I wouldn't say it was a stunning new approach to literature. The plot was interesting in a sort of predictable, regular dystopian kind of way. Content child growing up in what he thought was a normal environment suddenly discovers, through the help of a mentor, that it is much more sinister than originally thought. Not exactly the freshest idea on the planet, but the execution was well done. That was what I think I missed the first time. The first time, I was so focused on the plot, which I found at the time to be slow and uninteresting. Now, I knew the plot pretty well, so I could appreciate how well the story itself was woven together. It's hard to convey that kind of emotion in a simple, quick novel. Lois Lowry did it surprisingly well. I still don't really care for Number the Stars, however. I prefer just going whole hog and reading The Diary of Anne Frank. Hmmm. Been a while on that one, too.
The Great Gatsby I read in high school. Junior year with Mrs. Miller. Boy, I sure did like Mrs. Miller, but I didn't really like any of the books I read that year. Except Brave New World (which I hate now), and The Grapes of Wrath, which no one else liked. Our summer book was East of Eden, and everything about that book made me feel hollow and unloved. It was like nothing in the world was nice. Then, we read The Scarlett Letter. Meh. If I were to read it now, as an adult, things would probably be different. But back then, naive and young, it was very overwrought. The last, other thing we read was Gatsby. If I remember correctly, we listened to it in class off of old tape cassettes. Haha. I think this was the case because I vaguely remember the narrator singing the excerpt from "The Sheikh of Araby". Which now seems definitely racist. I remember our teacher gushing about it but really feeling dissatisfied. Kind of like, "okay, what's the big deal, again?" And I sure couldn't identify with any of the characters. They were all rich, spoiled children. Big creepy brats. It all seemed so wasteful and pointless. No one really struggled and everything was in vain. There was no real meaning to life. Now, reading it, there's almost too much meaning. Everybody feels deeply but either can't or won't give in to their feelings and expression. They choose the easy and comfortable option while knowing that their lives will never have true happiness or meaning. But what is true happiness? It is the green light at the end of the dock. We always want it, but when it comes our way it's lost its appeal and we no longer have it. It's an illusion towards which we always strive and never arrive. Plus, I hate to say it, but actually having been in love and having someone for whom you would literally sacrifice anything really changes your perspective about characters in love. I now sympathize quite a bit with Gatsby, even if he was misguided, because I can understand that pain of separation and jealousy and forbidden love. Even if my life has none of that. Haha. So thanks, Mrs. Miller. I get it now.
Whew. I have about four hours to kill before guests come over for dinner and an evening of Game of Thrones. Yes, I should make the bed and pick up the bedroom, but I don't have any grading to do. What should I read now?
East of Eden.
Just kidding, I think I'll pick up Reliquary, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. Who doesn't like monsters loose in NYC?
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Brain Candy
Ah, April. Such an interesting month.
Things that are awesome:
1. Spring is finally here!
2. The stuff I planted is actually growing.
3. Our anniversary is in April and we have big plans.
Things that are not so awesome:
1. Parent of students problems.
2. AIMS
3. The end of the school year is almost here but not close enough.
Now, on to the actual blog bit.
So, I like to read. And I like to challenge myself. Doesn't that sound pretentious? For the most part, though, it's true. At least, when I was in the dawn of my reading life. I was the kid who 1984 for fun in 8th grade. The kid who read her English textbook for giggles sophomore year. The kid who freaked out when the summer reading list got passed out at the end of the year. Sad but true. When I got to college, I challenged myself not with the novels I was reading (rarely was one of actual interest -- way to go, Sexing the Cherry), but with the non-fiction I was reading. I had never been much of one for non-fiction, and suddenly my college degree depended on it. Since then, I always feel like I challenge myself with non-fiction, even if I also try to enjoy it. Oooh, I got a whole bunch of neat, free non-fiction books in the mail the other day! They are so cool, and originally meant to be used as textbooks, so they have documents and stuff included in them, for example. Definitely started the Darwin one already. So fascinating.
Despite all this, sometimes you just have to let the challenge go, let your brain go, and read something just for giggles. Recently, I've been achieving that by reading thrillers: Sphere, by Michael Crichton, The Ice Limit and Relic by Preston/Child, etc. Entertaining, and relatively easy to get through 500 pages in a week or less. Those I don't feel too bad about, though, because they're not awful. In fact, often, they're pretty good. But they're not a treatise on African religion mixed with Islam and the resulting heterogeneous culture in the late 11th century by the famous Dr. Reese.
However, I've sunk to a new low. I don't even necessarily want to tell you the name of the book. It's that bad. It's like Twilight, except without the force of popularity vaulting it into college classes. The good thing is, it's almost exactly like any supernatural YA novel, with hardly any variation.
For example: There are two young people who fall in love almost immediately, with no real reasons behind it. It's almost as bad as The Little Mermaid, where Ariel sees Eric, thinks he's cute, and less than twelve hours later is spewing absolute inanities like "But Daddy, I love him!". Somehow I don't actually believe you, honey pie. There's a major secret that one character is hiding, which turns into a huge conspiracy. The person who doesn't know what the major secret is spends all his time trying to wheedle it out of the secret-keeper by saying things like, "it's destiny". Whatever, dude. Plus, I do not believe the protagonist. He is supposed to be a teenage boy. I so do not believe it. I think I met one boy who was like that at 15. I'm not saying it's not possible, I'm just saying it's wildly improbable. There's this weird trend, too, where crap writers think they can elevate their work by mentioning classic literature, as well as making their protagonists seem brainy and better than everyone else in the book. In Twilight, it was Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and any other cliched teenage girl novel you can think of that was published before the 20th century. This book's choice of classic literature to attempt to lift it out of YA purgatory is To Kill a Mockingbird. How clever. Choose the most visible book about Southern culture that also just happens to be anti-racist. It must have been so hard to find it, what with it being on every school reading list in the United States, on Oprah's Booklist, and an award-winning movie. Oh, and they regularly mention Gone with the Wind. Also, super original. It's like the authors have read two books only based in Southern culture. That must make them experts.
Needless to say, when I actually finish this book, I will have a lot to say. Why am I reading it? Well, because every now and again, it's nice to read something that reminds me that there is an actual difference between good literature and bad literature. You have to know the bad to appreciate the good. Here I am, reading the bad so I can laugh at how horrible it is. Hopefully, this way, too, I will recognize the bad among the touted-as-good. Haha, we'll see. Like I said, pretentious.
Any other terrible teenage books I should be reading?
Things that are awesome:
1. Spring is finally here!
2. The stuff I planted is actually growing.
3. Our anniversary is in April and we have big plans.
Things that are not so awesome:
1. Parent of students problems.
2. AIMS
3. The end of the school year is almost here but not close enough.
Now, on to the actual blog bit.
So, I like to read. And I like to challenge myself. Doesn't that sound pretentious? For the most part, though, it's true. At least, when I was in the dawn of my reading life. I was the kid who 1984 for fun in 8th grade. The kid who read her English textbook for giggles sophomore year. The kid who freaked out when the summer reading list got passed out at the end of the year. Sad but true. When I got to college, I challenged myself not with the novels I was reading (rarely was one of actual interest -- way to go, Sexing the Cherry), but with the non-fiction I was reading. I had never been much of one for non-fiction, and suddenly my college degree depended on it. Since then, I always feel like I challenge myself with non-fiction, even if I also try to enjoy it. Oooh, I got a whole bunch of neat, free non-fiction books in the mail the other day! They are so cool, and originally meant to be used as textbooks, so they have documents and stuff included in them, for example. Definitely started the Darwin one already. So fascinating.
Despite all this, sometimes you just have to let the challenge go, let your brain go, and read something just for giggles. Recently, I've been achieving that by reading thrillers: Sphere, by Michael Crichton, The Ice Limit and Relic by Preston/Child, etc. Entertaining, and relatively easy to get through 500 pages in a week or less. Those I don't feel too bad about, though, because they're not awful. In fact, often, they're pretty good. But they're not a treatise on African religion mixed with Islam and the resulting heterogeneous culture in the late 11th century by the famous Dr. Reese.
However, I've sunk to a new low. I don't even necessarily want to tell you the name of the book. It's that bad. It's like Twilight, except without the force of popularity vaulting it into college classes. The good thing is, it's almost exactly like any supernatural YA novel, with hardly any variation.
For example: There are two young people who fall in love almost immediately, with no real reasons behind it. It's almost as bad as The Little Mermaid, where Ariel sees Eric, thinks he's cute, and less than twelve hours later is spewing absolute inanities like "But Daddy, I love him!". Somehow I don't actually believe you, honey pie. There's a major secret that one character is hiding, which turns into a huge conspiracy. The person who doesn't know what the major secret is spends all his time trying to wheedle it out of the secret-keeper by saying things like, "it's destiny". Whatever, dude. Plus, I do not believe the protagonist. He is supposed to be a teenage boy. I so do not believe it. I think I met one boy who was like that at 15. I'm not saying it's not possible, I'm just saying it's wildly improbable. There's this weird trend, too, where crap writers think they can elevate their work by mentioning classic literature, as well as making their protagonists seem brainy and better than everyone else in the book. In Twilight, it was Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, and any other cliched teenage girl novel you can think of that was published before the 20th century. This book's choice of classic literature to attempt to lift it out of YA purgatory is To Kill a Mockingbird. How clever. Choose the most visible book about Southern culture that also just happens to be anti-racist. It must have been so hard to find it, what with it being on every school reading list in the United States, on Oprah's Booklist, and an award-winning movie. Oh, and they regularly mention Gone with the Wind. Also, super original. It's like the authors have read two books only based in Southern culture. That must make them experts.
Needless to say, when I actually finish this book, I will have a lot to say. Why am I reading it? Well, because every now and again, it's nice to read something that reminds me that there is an actual difference between good literature and bad literature. You have to know the bad to appreciate the good. Here I am, reading the bad so I can laugh at how horrible it is. Hopefully, this way, too, I will recognize the bad among the touted-as-good. Haha, we'll see. Like I said, pretentious.
Any other terrible teenage books I should be reading?
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Little Victories
So recently, a lot of things have been bad/going badly.
1. We had a massive, annoying snow last weekend and a snow day on Friday.
2. It's the end of the grading period this week.
3. It's the week before spring break this week (kids = insane).
4. There have been some unusual and (for professional reasons) unmentionable issues at school.
5. I've been having trouble sleeping.
But today, I felt good.
Like, really good.
So I decided, I was going to look for little victories I could celebrate. I know I am always looking for stuff like this, but it makes it no less relevant if I repeat myself or rediscover these same truths over and over again. Sometimes the best truths are the ones that come to you over and over again, just in different situations each time. The universe is basically always trying to remind me that I'm a worry-wart and a negative person and I need to remember to see the good. The good is everywhere, if only we look for it. So here is a list of my small victories recently:
1. The snow day gave me a nice, relaxing day.
2. The end of the grading period and the week before spring break means the kids don't have any homework, which means I don't really have homework.
3. I love my coworkers. They're genuinely awesome.
4. I cut back to one (maaaaaaaaaaybe two) cup(s) of coffee per day which is helping the sleep thing.
5. I finished two books in two weeks. Yes, they're cheesy thrillers, but still.
6. I figured out that "Floo Powder" is named that because they travel through chimney flues. I am too old to just be realizing this now.
7. I lost 3 pounds.
8. I ran for 7 minutes straight today. As a secret fat kid, that was awesome.
9. I mentioned a book in class a couple of weeks ago, and one of my students who struggles with Language Arts is reading it. And it's definitely above his level, so he's voluntarily challenging himself. And told me, again voluntarily, who his favorite character is. Teacher win. I think I teared up.
10. I wrote a Game of Thrones quote on the board randomly a couple of weeks ago because I thought it was great and at least 5 kids copied it down into their vocab packets.
In case you're wondering, it went something like this:
The mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.
--George R. R. Martin
1. We had a massive, annoying snow last weekend and a snow day on Friday.
2. It's the end of the grading period this week.
3. It's the week before spring break this week (kids = insane).
4. There have been some unusual and (for professional reasons) unmentionable issues at school.
5. I've been having trouble sleeping.
But today, I felt good.
Like, really good.
So I decided, I was going to look for little victories I could celebrate. I know I am always looking for stuff like this, but it makes it no less relevant if I repeat myself or rediscover these same truths over and over again. Sometimes the best truths are the ones that come to you over and over again, just in different situations each time. The universe is basically always trying to remind me that I'm a worry-wart and a negative person and I need to remember to see the good. The good is everywhere, if only we look for it. So here is a list of my small victories recently:
1. The snow day gave me a nice, relaxing day.
2. The end of the grading period and the week before spring break means the kids don't have any homework, which means I don't really have homework.
3. I love my coworkers. They're genuinely awesome.
4. I cut back to one (maaaaaaaaaaybe two) cup(s) of coffee per day which is helping the sleep thing.
5. I finished two books in two weeks. Yes, they're cheesy thrillers, but still.
6. I figured out that "Floo Powder" is named that because they travel through chimney flues. I am too old to just be realizing this now.
7. I lost 3 pounds.
8. I ran for 7 minutes straight today. As a secret fat kid, that was awesome.
9. I mentioned a book in class a couple of weeks ago, and one of my students who struggles with Language Arts is reading it. And it's definitely above his level, so he's voluntarily challenging himself. And told me, again voluntarily, who his favorite character is. Teacher win. I think I teared up.
10. I wrote a Game of Thrones quote on the board randomly a couple of weeks ago because I thought it was great and at least 5 kids copied it down into their vocab packets.
In case you're wondering, it went something like this:
The mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to keep its edge.
--George R. R. Martin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)