Pub Thoughts (My Back Pages)

The Great Gatsby (maybe)

2009-02-24T16:31:00.000-08:00

High school students are still in the process of moving from concrete to abstract thought. An example from today:

Me: What makes Gatsby so great then?
Student: The book is named after him!
Me: (silence)

I wonder if UPS is hiring.

From West Egg

2009-02-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

"...for the intimate revelations of young men or at least the terms in which they express them are usually plagiaristic..."

Fitzgerald was right. Too often the pouring out of one's soul is framed in the words of another, lacking the very characteristic that the revelation is aiming for: honesty.

Emerson was right. "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."

(And yes, I am aware of the irony is all of this.)

Unlike Nada Surf

2009-02-10T15:14:00.001-08:00

I caught wind that a student of mine started a Facebook group about me. An "Official Fan Club" or something along those lines. I found the student and asked if it was true, received conformation, and set out to find this group. Before moving on I should mention that I am rather unconcerned about being liked by my students. As I told them on the first day of school I do not need new friends, let alone friends who are 16/17 years old. Respect is a bigger issue when you teach, but I will leave that for another day.

The reason I needed to find the aforementioned group was because I had a fear that some of my off-the-cuff comments could be taken out of context. My suspicions were confirmed and I asked the student who created the group to either (a) delete the group or (b) delete the out of context quotes. He thankfully obliged and today asked me to seek out the fixed group page. As promised, I was no longer out of context.

I was however called a rather lovely name. One of my students, who I felt I had a rather decent rapport with, left the follow remark on the group wall:

really?
yeah, lets all idolize some egotistical prick,
but he's right, you guys are too stupid to get that he thinks he is better then all of you.

Awesome. At least everything was spelled right. Of course "then" should have been "than" and "lets" should have been "let's," but I am just being an ass-hole now.

Political Thoughts

2009-02-04T13:20:00.000-08:00

Finding a hand-written note in the day and age of text messages is a special occurrence indeed. Today was such a day with such an occurrence. While the note I found is generally stupid (high school drama about friends and boys and a fair share of "lol") it did contain this gem of a line:

"And I didn't even know what the inauguration thing was until today."

Yes we can.

Current Favorites

2009-02-01T14:20:00.000-08:00

A few things in favor with me at this moment:

1. American Literature
2. Dark Beer (Blvd Bully Porter, Guinness, 1554)
3. Liverpool FC
4. Ok Computer era Radiohead
5. "Man on Wire"
6. Green Shoes
7. Gray Suits
8. Grilled Salmon w/lime and salt
9. Fresca
10. Indoor Soccer

Haiku

2009-01-29T13:56:00.001-08:00

I am in the midst of a poetry unit at school and recently assigned my students the task of writing five original haiku poems. I had the typical crap high schoolers write about--girls, boys, bands, being sad and misunderstood--but I had one student who decided to be non-conventional.

Little people kiss.
Midget lips collide at once.
True love knows no height.

Awesome.

Thoughts from Behind a Pint Glass

2009-01-26T18:55:00.001-08:00

I find these cold days perfect. The stillness of the entire morning as the sun struggles to rise; the silence of every footstep; the tingle of blood rushing around your veins as your body tries to keep warm. Everything feels right in winter.

Especially simple, quiet music.

I purchased Bon Iver's most recent EP "Blood Bank" this morning and have been soaking in its beauty all day (such a pretentious, ass-hole thing to say, but the truth nonetheless). The name of the band is simply the icing on the cake on this silent winter night. The following verses carries a lot of weight and has been rolling around my head all day.

That secret that you knew
But don't know how to tell
It fucks with your honor
And it teases your head
But you know that its good girl
Cos its running you with red

--------

On a very different note a student tried to argue that Dylan Thomas' poem "Do Not Go Gentle Into that Good Night" was about man's struggle against the government today.

Awesome.