Something About Daisy

Daisy at risk of a Winterbourne frost

Yesterday I had the very best discussion of Daisy Miller, the novella by Henry James, that I have ever had with a class of juniors.   I have had this book on my reading list six times, and it was this year that the discussion was lively, honest, funny, and unlimited.

Why?

I can think of a couple of different reasons why this year was different.  Immediately prior to assigning the James we read another nineteenth century text, Ragged Dick: or Street Life in New York with the Boot-Blacks by Horatio Alger.  We are going to read The Great Gatsby next, so you can see my drift here – Crossing Social boundaries: how’s that working for you?

My students loved the Alger and felt just a bit cheated when Dick’s success comes not from his hard work and ingenuity but from a chance occurrence and his reaction to it.  And now they have read three of four chapters in the James.  It was clear from the discussion that no one had read to the end (one more chapter!) .  One young man asked if this was a cautionary tale and did Daisy end up in bordello somewhere.  Cautionary?  Probably.  Bordello?  No.

The big reason this year, I think

My class is made up of twelve boys and three girls.  Yes, that’s right.  Twelve very different thinkers and learners with lots of different strengths, but definitely male.  We were talking about idioms and euphemisms the other day, and one brought up the Bud Light “cut the cheese” commercial – which he enacted for me as I am television-challenged.  I laughed so hard I looked like Tammy Faye Baker, and he, of course, had to find it on YouTube to show me.  That’s my boys!  Well, I guess I’ve always thought that Daisy was a Chick Story because it is all about social mores and this girl who either doesn’t get or won’t try to get how she is scandalizing the American ex-pat community.  There is a lot more to the book than that, but that is usually where the class starts. Two years ago, in a class made up of thirteen über-smart girls and four boys, the girls all decided that Winterbourne was “a creeper.”

But it’s not a Chick Book.

It’s a Guy Book.  They totally identified with Winterbourne.  They completely got how baffled he was by Daisy – how attracted and repelled, how teased and unsatisfied, how jealous yet unwilling to pay the social cost to secure her affection.

I had the best time in class, and who would have thought it possible at 2:00 pm on a freezing Friday afternoon at the end of the first week of the new semester?

Daisy photo by flickr member aussiegall

 

Cross Posting – Pie Wisdom

This was originally posted on my family food blog, but I thought that I should have it here as well. If you’ve already read this there, please pardon the redundancy:
Paul C over at quoteflections asks:

What is your skill which has been developed through practice and experience? You have respect for this skill and are always open to refinements.

I make pies. And in a nod to Garr Reynolds at Presentation Zen and his reflection on the artistry of jazz, my reflection on Pie Crusts.

Twenty-one things I’ve learned from pie crust

Plenty of Pie for all

• A good recipe is the best road map.
• Never try to double a batch. It makes sense to stay small.
• The harder you work it, the worse it tastes.
• Enjoy getting messy.
• Simple is best, but flashy has its moments.
• It’s about the fruit.
• Create for more than the taste. It should smell and look amazing, too.
• Too many pies and they are no longer special.
• It’s possible to make a classic with a twist.
• It doesn’t matter if your pie crust isn’t perfect; don’t be afraid to just roll one out.
• Broken pie crust tastes delicious, too.
• You have a taste for a pie? Make one!
• Sure, it’s cool if you don’t need a recipe, but those that eat the pie can’t tell the difference.
• Pretentious pie might as well have come from Baker’s Square.
• Enjoy the process – eat a slice of apple coated in cinnamon and sugar if you want.
• Invite someone to share the pie with you – it tastes better when you share.
• Simplicity is supremely delicious; avoid the lure of too many flavors.
• Empty pan means a full stomach.
• Fruit, sugar, flour, heat.
• If you think you have mastered the crust, you’ve probably begun to compromise.
• Bake, bake, bake.
• Generosity and curiosity are your greatest gifts; nurture them in yourself and in those who share your table.

 

99 things meme

I’ve seen this in a few places the last few days – at Susan Sedro’s blog most recently (and she references Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog where I was immediately intimidated by his revision of it).

THE 99 THINGS MEME

Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to – leave in plain font

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity. (Heifer International)
7. Been to Disneyland/world.
8. Climbed a mountain. (how high? – I have been the to the highest point at a number of locations)
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child. (I like Doug’s though - Adopted a pet from a shelter.)
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37.Had enough money to be truly satisfied. (Make that, wish I could find a way to be satisfied with the money I have -  but with three daughters…)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie. (film)
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason. (also given)
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating. (I’m going with Doug on this one – fish and bivalves are, for the purposes of this exercise – animals)
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a lawsuit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.

Been there done that, got the t-shirt: 55
Wish I had: 24
No desire: 20

I’d like to add two things still on my wish list:

Learned the foxtrot, waltz, and Latin salsa dances.
Learned to play the viola & fiddle

And things that aren’t there that should be:
Performed music with a group of other friends and musicians – not a band but a chorus or chamber ensemble
Taught yourself to make food you usually only eat in restaurants.

I am not a risk taker by nature.  This is all very interesting to me.  What risks have I taken?  Sailed across the Atlantic, hitchhiked to Buffalo with my boyfriend, had children as I neared 40, moved to Boston with $5 in my pocket, eaten the cookie dough with raw eggs.

There are more, but not for this space, I think.

 

The Wordle Challenge

Paul at quoteflections tagged me on this one, and it has taken me a bit of time to get to it. I created the wordle last week hoping I would get to it – here it is:

The Blog Wordle

I use Wordle in my classroom to help make abstractions more concrete.  My favorite way to do this is to ask my students to make a list of at least 10 images, ideas, themes, characters & symbols that are top of mind, right now, when they think about a text (novel, short story).  We then put them all in one long list and put the list of words (with its expected duplicate words) in a wordle and see what rises.

With Beloved

The last time I did this, a colleague was using the lab after our class, and the way she reacted to the students’ finished wordles was a little embarrassing for all concerned – she gushed about how beautiful they were, and the kids were embarrassed because for them it seemed like a fun, easy project – use the words, wordle, and your own own color/font/shape preferences to make the themes and ideas from Beloved emerge for you.  I was embarrassed by her effusiveness because it really was an exercise to help kids who are making steps every day up the abstraction ladder stay firmly on another, higher rung by reinforcing their ideas with a concrete visual not an exercise in creating something to hang on the bulletin board.  But of course, they were beautiful and hangable.

My Blog Wordle

My blog wordle reflects the focus on family and memory that I have had lately.  This is probably because of the convergence of two things in two different classes – the stories told in Beloved and the idea that there are some stories that you don’t hand down the generations with my memoir and autobiography class.  We have been unlocking stories, and those stories are finding their way here.

My principal wants me to write a piece for the Schools journal that we publish.  We have had a number of conversations this year about my advisees (all at MY request) over parental pressure and separation anxiety, binge drinking, cognitive challenges and building friendships, and asking parents to parent along with conversations about my switch to the upper school from the middle school and the knowledge that I bring about my students after having advised and taught them in seventh grade – and add to that the perspective that I bring as the mother of twin sixth  grade girls and a high school freshman.  He sees this all as a web of psychodynamic energy.  I see an enormous amount of pain.  Pain + thought and effort  = beauty.  I wish that it was as easy to create beauty out of words, connection and real anguish as  wordle can with words and abstraction.

So, to continue the meme:  I was tagged by Paul who was tagged by Andrea Hernandez.

1. Create a Wordle from your blog’s RSS feed.
2. Blog it and describe your reaction. Any surprises?
3. Tag several others to do the same.
4. Link back to the two taggers before.

I would like to tag  – Julie Squires and Antonio Viva (but it seems as though Antonio just wordled his blog, sigh).

 

Life Long Kindergarten

Yesterday I had a wonderful conversation with my American Literature class about playing with books.  I told them that I had spent a day at the MIT media lab two summers ago, and I was impressed by Mitch Resnick and the folks there at the Media Lab because they had this great problem solving model:

Imagine=>Create =>Play=>Share=>Reflect=>Imagine

The Lifelong Kindergarten Group (which is what the folks at MIT call themselves) believes that we are at our most creative in Kindergarten when we are allowed to construct meaning for ourselves.  Imagine a city at the beach, build a sand castle with moat and village, play for a while, invite friends to play and build, think about how it could be better, imagine a new city on the beach…Or stomp through it and start over.   I asked my students how we could bring this model to the study of American Literature.   Their ideas were both complimentary and challenging.

• They liked the fact that we don’t do the same thing every day.
• They like the fact that there is not always an analytic essay at the end of the reading of a book.
• They liked working on sentences yesterday – real sentences that they wrote, not to correct them but to improve their focus and sophistication, to look clearly at verb choices and parallel structure, to look at audience and intent.
• They like different modes of response.
• They like that everything doesn’t need to have a grade assigned to it, that they can PLAY with ideas and not set them in stone.
• They like building on each others’ ideas.
• They told me that I am one of a few teachers that recognizes how hard it is to focus on Friday at 2:00 and that the application of chocolate is an excellent addition to the class at that moment.

These are all exciting things that seem easy in the abstract but complex in the execution.  How is it that playing with books, words, and ideas can be so complicated?

 

Lick and a Promise

That’s what my grandmother always said was that just for show attempt at something you need to or want to do. So here are the things that I want to write about but haven’t had a moment:

• My advisory and the Billy Collins poem “Another reason why I don’t keep a gun in the house.”
• ISAT testing
• Yesterday’s fieldwork day – we took 10 girls to a policy discussion on the cost of teen pregnancy – the money aspect -so we are talking cost cost not opportunity cost.
• The college application process
• Student publications – the literary magazine and the school newspaper

I promise that I will come back and write about these things. Promise. Cross my heart.