Into the Wild Wood and Home Again

What a lovely evening it was on Zoom last night! I believe it was nineteen of the former poets in residence at the Frost Place who gathered online to celebrate not only Robert Frost's birthday, but also the 50th year of the Frost Place in Franconia. They all read a favorite poem from Mountain Interval , a full collection that Frost wrote while in residence in Franconia. And each shared funny and sweet memories of their time in the house. It was a lot of fun to listen to. And I knew many of them, as well. It was a poetic reunion that my heart needed. (And it was recorded and will be available on youtube sometime along here.) The news cycle is horrifying and dark and awful. I am left wondering, all too often, what poems can do. And then, these fine folks gathered, and reminded me. It's about community; a place and a group that sustains you, even when you are not there in person. And for me, that's what all of my years associated with the Frost Place have done. They've sus...

We had a super day with Beth Kanell yesterday in both of my classes; I'm excited to follow up on the things the kids started. She is so deeply human/humane, and the kids warmed to her really quickly. OK, the freshmen were mute, but they are often mute when it comes to unfamiliar things, so I'm not concerned about them. They are not my students yet, so I won't be able to follow up with them directly, but I trust their teacher (my fabulous colleague and former student) to make it work.  Then last night, I heard clips from the WH event at which the first lady introduced an AI humanoid robot, and suggested that the future of education is these machines. Good luck having a robot pivot on the fly when a kid has a disaster in their homelife. Or have a robot encourage a shy young writer to explore fanciful topics in her own fiction work, only to have her discover she's really exploring her own budding identity. Those things, and so many more, are why human teachers must be in s...

I'm up, but not quite functional yet. I'm feeling more myself, but the coughing still happens. Not as much, but still-- this is not how I wanted to go into this week. That said, here we are.  The kids liked The Manchurian Candidate ! Let's see what they think of the next film, A River Runs Through It. I think I've hit on something useful to teach defensible thesis/ evidence by showing them these classic films. I'm not as convinced they can sustain their arguments well; the round of Huck Finn papers were ...not the best. They had decent theses, but then the papers wandered off into generalities with little support. We'll get there, but it may be a play at the plate. It seems so unfair that the AP exams are so early (May 6 and 13). This only highlights how important a sequence of preparatory classes can be; I've had some of these kids now three years in a row, and the ones who took things seriously the last couple of rounds are doing far better. Those who wer...

With any luck at all, today I will get my hair cut. I look a bit shaggy, and I'm really excited about not having to glue my bangs with hairspray quite so much. Pray there's a parking spot.  It's dark, cold, and wet outside. Spring is being a bit recalcitrant. I yearn for crocuses to pop up out of the tangle of weeds to herald the season. It'll be a bit longer, I am afraid.  I hope your day is marvelous. Find something to marvel at.  Take good care, and spread love widely! C

UP, and trying to get my brain in gear. Still coughing, so interrupted sleep. This too shall pass, though.  It's dark out, and I know I'll have some clearing of heavy wet snow off my car to do. Yay, Monday.  That said, my APLit kids will be watching the original version of The Manchurian Candidate today; this ought to be interesting. It's a deeply unsettling film, and it seems weirdly prescient in our current times. I don't know if the kids will pick up on it, but it's there, all the same. The news gets deeper and deeper into dystopian threads lately; there's plenty of fodder for conspiracy theorists to go around. But just because it feels like we are living in a movie doesn't mean that a lot of it isn't true. Which is, to be honest, deeply terrifying. For those of us who read history, who have delved deeply into literature, who are thinking humans, we are living, as they say, in "interesting times."  I didn't want to be.  But here we are....

Yes, I did the taxes (after the email server returned from whence it hides). Yes, we owe again. Sigh.  And the weather is garbage. I had to watch Mass on the livestream again, because I'm still coughing, G is getting a cold, and the roads are bleah. That said, Deacon Steve's homily was good; he focused on the story of Lazarus, and how, in many ways, the confessional is like being in the tomb, and when one makes a good confession, it's like being called to "come out" -- new life, free from the burden. I am going to think on that for a bit.  The little birds are going bat-crap nutty today-- must be about 100 of them at the various feeders in the lilac hedge. Yes, we'll have to start taking them in at night, but for today, while the weather is icky, I'd rather they had a food source. And they are so much fun to listen to and to see, all sparring and fluster included.  Minimal house chores are done (thus, the lateness of this post), and I'm procrastinating...