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In praise of Regency melodrama as a reprieve from the news...

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Apparently, my mind is craving period drama as a retreat from the horrific firehose of terrible news items that are threatening to engulf us all. I can't directly impact any single thing that is making my heart hurt, but I can, in fact, temporarily immerse myself in Regency period films that dip into melodrama.  Last night, after Jeopardy (yes, I must be getting old-- I'm making it a habit to watch daily), I clicked into Britbox after making sure the Red Sox were not imploding in the first inning. They were not, so I was safe to venture into drama/melodrama/comfortably slushy film. I chose Mr Malcolm's List , which was delightful. Not one serious thing about it, really-- it was purely enjoyable, the costumes and settings were lovely, and I went to bed precisely at 10pm, having lost myself for a short time in an era that was ruled by high manners and minor scandals.  See why I like it? The horror show that is the news cycle today offers little to no reprieve; disasters, dang...
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Another new series to watch on Britbox

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 Sunny? Yes, cold-- slight frost again last night (reminder that it's still early spring, eh?)--  And it's Friday. And payday.  Last night, I watched the first few episodes of The Other Bennet Sister on Britbox. It's quite good. I highly recommend it-- it connects with the things we all know from Pride and Prejudice, but the focus is on Mary, the sister no one ever seems to remember. The mother is vain and sometimes cruel, the younger sisters are still brainless, Lizzie is hardly even involved, nor is Jane... but they are there, and they are as we have come to expect them. Mr. Collins is as odious and cringey as usual, too. But Mary gets to speak! She has hopes and dreams, and a terrible sense of unworthiness rooted in her mother's suffocating behavior. Mary is becoming more independent, though, so this newfound courage and sense of self is refreshing-- even as it is thwarted, time and again, by social rules and her domineering mother.  And I'm only in a few episod...
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A Netflix series recommendation, and that poor naked dog we have...

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Sigh of relief.  My students felt that the AP Lit exam was okay. We will debrief today, but then leave it in the rear view mirror.  I finished binge-watching a really complicated but well done thriller/mystery series on Netflix called Bodkin . The premise is that a man and his assistant, accompanied by a journalist who is in a spot of trouble, head to a small town in Ireland to track down an old, unsolved disappearances story for a podcast he is producing. Every step leads to deeper, darker secrets, and things get really sketchy fast.  I enjoyed it immensely! It's not my usual fare, but I'm glad I gave it a look.  And that all said, I'm hopeful that today won't be rainy. What a deluge we had again yesterday. I hope we are not getting the entire season's worth of rain in May. The drought last year was awful, and many areas are not even caught up yet. I do hope to get into my garden boxes to weed and so on this weekend, but the weather looks iffy. I'd like to prun...
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...can't wait til the AP testing weeks are done...

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Today's the day. Do or die.  Well, it's not that earth-shattering, but my students will be the first ones ever in Lisbon's history to take the AP Lit exam.  Then we'll have to wait until July for results.  Agh.  In the meantime, though, I'll have gutted classes (kids taking AP exams for other courses) here and there over the next week. We will do what we can, but mostly, it'll be marking time. Which, to be honest, I don't care one iota. We are continuing on with The Odyssey in Creative Writing, then moving immediately into drama. And in AP Lit, we'll be finishing up poetry, then moving into drama there, too. All plays, some on video, some read aloud in class.  And NO ONE IS GONNA GIVE A DAMN. Except me, of course. So, maybe we can lighten up and have a little fun.  Next Wednesday, my AP Lang kids will have to confront the hydra that is the AP exam-- I am hoping that they practice in the meantime. It's not an easy test. None of them are, but I've ...
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Imposter Syndrome-- the woes of an AP English teacher

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I don't know if it's my usual imposter syndrome rearing its ugly head and butting into my teaching life (usually it's restricted to my writing), but I will be so darn glad when the AP tests are all done. For better or worse, it will have ended. I know I'm a good teacher, but these tests are looming over everything I say and do, forcing me to make decisions I'm not as sure about... ugh. And this is why I didn't want to ever do AP. I don't fully believe in it. There are good things that have come out of it, such as a laser focus on the why of things when it comes to analysis, but geez. And the kids don't seem to give one minute of care to it.  They don't care. And that makes me both sad and angry. Maybe a few do, but even so, their attitude is one of "o well, we'll give it a shot, probably gonna suck"-- and yes, that is likely the result for a lot of them. And honestly, one test (or even all of them) will not determine their lives in any...
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Monday, 32 degrees. Back to work...  Today, we'll see if any of the kids want to review for next week's AP Lang exam. I will try to help them, but seriously-- I feel like I'm working a helluva lot more than they are.  But that's beside the point. I have my own "to-do" list:  write a book review start gathering poems to work on a full collection manuscript think about what "next steps" I want for myself as a person and as a writer I think part of why I'm feeling so out of balance is because I've invested a ton of time into the teaching gig this year, and add to it I've had a lot of "Holly time" (which is good, but it's time spent), and I have not carved out any meaningful time for me to write, read, or just be . It's critical to my mental well-being to have some quiet time, and to be honest, I'm kind of looking forward to the hour between when I get home and when I have to pick up Holly today. Having G home for the we...
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Rainy Sunday and thinking about going back to work tomorrow...English teacher woes...

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Rainy Sunday.  Maybe it'll clear a bit later-- sure hope so, because this is dreary. We had a glorious week weather-wise until the weekend, of course.  Celtics lost (I don't follow basketball, but still), Bruins lost (sigh), Red Sox are on life support. The weather matches the collective mood, I guess. Still, the daffodils are drinking it all in, the grass is glowingly emerald, and the birds are flitting around in the lilac hedge, playing hide and seek with the new leaves.  There, I switched the tone of the post. lol  Because it's Sunday, and vacation week is over, I am thinking about what's up next for my classes. Tomorrow, the AP Lit kids will be watching a version of Hamlet . They will be a/ disengaged and on their laptops, no matter if I tell 'em to shut them, b/ sort of watching, but talking about sports, prom, or lunch. A select few will watch. They will all have a written response to do, and some will do well, and others will be clueless. Nothing much is goin...
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