or not

okay, no serialized story for me. i tried to start one, but the pressure was immediately too much. the only way i can do a serial story is to just write the whole thing, then break it into pieces and post it. only after it's all done. so, okay, i chickened out.

it's beautiful and cold (for LA) today with clear skies and winds and lots of sun. this is when i feel lucky to live in LA.

and on itunes right now, Birdland by Weather Report because Rylan is getting into some jazz with his music lessons and so i am geting a lesson in jazz from him. i like it. just wish it had words.......

retreating to fantasy

okay, i give up. i have had enough of political blogs that go over (and over and over) the things McCain says about Obama, the poll numbers, and the miserable state of the economy.

time for some Tolkien or Pullman - perhaps i will re-read the Dark Materials books. or perhaps i should be writing and go back to my days of writing fantasy with elves and demons and magic. isn't that what you do when times are bad? escape into fantasy? isn't that why The Wizard of Oz movie was such a big hit at the end of the 30's?

my students were assigned to write a story using lines from Richard Hugo's triggering town essay. so i am now assigning myself the same task. maybe i will post it here - serialize it, a little bit every day.....

okay now i really have some work to do!

racism in america

wow, that title might be too strong for me. but it's what i've been thinking about all week. Sarah Palin is making veiled racist attacks on Obama, playing to the fears of voters who don't want a black man for president. Voters in some southern states are saying that if Obama is elected, the blacks will get "uppity." I hope (really really hard) that Obama is elected and then i hope we have four years of discussion about race and racism. it's time to move forward.

we left overt racism behind with the civil rights movement and have devolved into a subversive racism that is secret and silent and pervasive, but is never spoken about. yeah, i'm a white middle class woman, but i worked for years in South Central with young black men and women who had dropped out of high school and wanted that diploma - after time in gangs and in jails. does this qualify me to be an expert on race? no. but it means i have spoken to young people who feel so far removed from mainstream society that they operate in a different world and can't even imagine that they could be a part of the mainstream, that they can contribute.

Obama can go a long way to healing that without being too "scary" for most white folks. a dialogue on race, with lots of talking on all sides of the issue, can be painful and brutal and ultimately helpful and even, perhaps, uplifting. and it is so, so necessary.

songs with names

yeah, names. as in the name of an individual person. a student of mine, Giulia, had never heard the Beatles song, Julia. So I played it for her and she was pleased that it was such a beautiful song.

what do i get? Amy - "Amy, what you gonna do. I wish I could stay with you for a while, maybe longer if i do." band was the Pure Prairie League, a country-rock band in the 70's. it was corny and i hated it. still do.

i have better luck with my middle name. it's Lola. So I get "whatever Lola wants, Lola gets," from the Damn Yankees. And from the Kinks, "L-O-L-A, Lola, lo-lo-lo-lo-lola." you know, "she walks like a woman but talks like a man, oh my Lola."

i like those. those are good. now if only someone would write a better Amy song.

new addictions

damn. i just discovered facebook. so many of my students are on it, and i thought they would like to be on without teachers looking over their shoulders. but then i saw that a number of my colleagues are on it as well. so i had to join the party. and now i am checking it obsessively (like email) to see if anyone has written anything on my "wall." i will have to pace myself.

and now to sarah palin. my addiction is to read everything i can about her, to confirm that she is a horrible person. there isn't much because she just hasn't done that much which points to her lack of experience. is that a faulty argument? if she had more experience she would have done more evil things. actually, i think it's true. the longer she stays in office as governor, or heaven forbid becomes vice president, the more damage she will do. she is clearly vindictive. she clearly does NOT know how to compromise and work in cooperation with people who have different ideas from her. that's where McCain, Biden and Obama all have experience by having worked in the senate. she just bulldozes people who don't do what she wants. that's an autocrat, not the leader of a democracy.

i read about her in the Guardian and i cringe. What do people in the UK make of us that such a person could become the next vice-president? let's see: wants to teach creationism in schools, but not birth control, against all abortions, doesn't believe global warming is man-made, against gay marriage, and is for drilling in the Alaskan wilderness.

i want a bumper sticker that reads "another mother for Obama"

sigh. i have to stop reading about her. it's making me ill.

must end on a happy note. let's see . . . i will go get a bowl of ice cream. that will help.

flotsam

school has started and i think i'm going to be okay. the new ninth grade class is perky and sweet. the monster as metaphor class is small (and rylan is in it) and the discussions look like they will be interesting. The postmodern lit class is wonderful, filled (really filled) with lots of smart kids and a couple of divergent thinkers who always give thought-provoking opinions.

then there is creative writing. a large class, but sincere. what i like most about this class is that i have to be creative with them!

i am still on radiohead time. whatever that is. i keep playing "in rainbows" when no one is in the classroom and i have my computer background screen set with photos from the concert.

here is a line from our illustrious president, captured by one of my students: "His arm is broken but not his honor."

huh???

another day i will tackle the sarah palin thing but i can't stand thinking about her right now.

end of summer

my brain is full of radiohead and i can't believe i have to start teaching on tuesday. i have had the laziest summer ever - at least since i was a kid and had no responsibilities. really, all i want to do is go see radiohead play once each week.

but school starts and i have to admit that i'm a little bit excited to teach my "monsters as metaphor" class, in which i will have students read Doctor Faustus and Frankenstein and Heart of Darkness. All elderly books from another era which means i will have to sing and dance to get the students to like them. then a more current book - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - narrated by a 9 year old boy whose father died in the Twin Towers. haven't read it? please do. it isn't at all what you might expect (although of course i have no idea what you might expect). it is written by Jonathan Safran Foer who also wrote Everything is Illuminated.

so, yeah, sort of excited. but really, laying around and playing on the computer and going to see radiohead . . . can't beat that.

omg radiohead

i don't even think i can write about it. the concert was breathtaking. the light show was incredible and played out the music in fabulous visual ways. the music, wow. every band member is so good and the songs were tight and expansive at the same time - deviations from the recorded versions but everything worked and was beautiful.

highlights:

Thom and Jonny singing Neil Young's "Tell Me Why" with acoustic guitars.

The first notes of "Talk Show Host" made the crowd go wild.

These three songs back to back: Jigsaw Falling Into Place, The Bend and National Anthem - more rockin' out than any rock concert i've ever been to. then followed by - take a deep breath and slow down - Nude.

Planet Telex and Fake Plastic Trees from The Bends album

Thom forgetting how to play Cymbal Rush

and the grand finale - Idioteque with an amazing light show and an outpouring of energy from the stage and back to the stage from the audience.

i wanted it to never ever end.......

TOMORROW IS RADIOHEAD

yes. today is sunday. they are playing at the hollywood bowl today, but i have tickets for tomorrow and i am SO excited!

a report will be typed in on tuesday.

The Shack Up Inn part 2

some other shots - interior and exterior