It was picked up at my mother-in-law's house Tuesday evening. It usually takes 5 days, and to be safe, they tell us 7-10 days. We will have the car soon!! Possibly by the end of the month.
I was thinking about it--that car has travelled farther than the mileage will ever indicate. It was barged from Seattle to Anchorage and then flown to Nome. Now it was barged all the way back from Nome to Seattle, and then put on a truck all the way to Central Illinois. That means, roughly, it has travelled an estimated 6,000 miles or more that will never show on its odometer.
Midland High School is celebrating Banned Books Week this year. I mean, we are going all out and celebrating it. We are pushing the banned books list. We are telling kids to read and then read some more.
I started by telling them the fact that Harry Potter books have been challenged in 25 schools in 17 states, and they are aghast at the situation. Good. They should be aghast.
(Reprinted word for word, mistakes and all, from a note found on the floor. Only the names have been edited out with ****:)
This school is boring. I still like D****. Its really cool to C him sober he's a lot more...different! I dn't know what it is about him that makes me like him I just do. I want to go to that psychic some time. I woner what she'll say. I wish there was a person out there that can give me all the answers I'm looking for. N*** is not my type. He's not good either. I'm goin to stop liking him so much cuz it ruins friendships. So therefore I can also be single and have fun. I feel like a slut when I like more than 1 guy. I wish A***** was here so I could talk to her about this. She'd B able to tell me what do. I wish I had a lot of money so I can get the shit I want to get. I can't wait till Elendorf. It's gonna B so much fun! I kan't wait till the Superbowl either! Go Bears! I promised myself I wouldn't let a guy make me cry but me and my sis were tlking and she got me thinking about Cocksuckin Asshole Retarded Fucking Liar. And go fuking figure! I cried. I won't do it again I'm not goin to be soft anymore. I'm going to B a bitch. There's only a couple ppl who won't hate me for it because they know what I went threw. I hate him w/ a passion! My arm hurts so I'm going to quit for a while.....I really don't want my dad to put Carl in prison so I hope he signs the title....
Hey Ashleigh,whats up Nuttin U? Nota Kool! yea Yea! how is life? suckey Where's your blue purse? In my locker Can I borrow this weekend I have to empty it Do you want it Monday and use it for the week No. this weekend how I am I getting it to U I have 2 go 2 Iowa Tonight NM Monday I might see Travo 2 who? my cuz
The Darth Vader 500th figure special edition. This is the cool one where his helmet goes up and down with a switch, showcasing that itty bitty five seconds of screen time where we saw Darth Vader's head/brain/whatever-it-was. Those five seconds really fueled our imaginations.
Vintage R5-D4, 1978.
Treebeard, from The Lord of the Rings. Even though this one is actually Amy's figure, I really dig him too. (And then that is my William Shakespeare figure in the package behind him.)
Vintage Darth Vader, 1977. Boy, I wish I had the lightsaber to complete this one. I'm just happy it still has its cape intact.
I don't know who this guy is, but he is copyright Kenner 1997.
Vintage 1977 figures, Stormtrooper and Death Star Commander.
XEVOZ dragon. I love this one.
I have most of my toys up on shelves in our living room. I love toys. Some of them showcase an aspect of my childhood. Some of them are just darn cool.
Morgan turned 13 years old today. Both her grandmas showed up to celebrate. Grandma Lindsey came in from Washington and Grandma Cathy, along with Aunties Heather and Sarah with Hannah and Alex, all went out to lunch at T.G.T.Friday's. Then some of us went home for cake!
Unfortunately, she did not blow out all the candles. She will have to gain greater strength in her lungs for next year!
My grandmother clipped this article from her paper recently.
"Day and night, drunks can be seen staggering along Front Street, slumped against buildings, and passed out near the tourist shops or along the seawall on the Bering Sea. Police cart off the worst of them to dry out at the hospital, where the emergency room often has as many as eight drunks at a time vying for beds.
Some never make it out of Nome alive. They drink themselves to death or pass out in the below-zero cold, where they can count themselves lucky if they merely lose some fingers or a limb to frostbite. Many simply vanish, presumably swallowed by the icy waters of Norton Sound.
'The level of alcoholism is intense,' said Greg Smith, who runs the Norton Sound Health Corp.'s outpatient substance abuse program. 'The most dangerous pattern of drinking is binge drinking and it is firmly entrenched here.'"
Actually, this article unfortunately places the town in a very negative light. It is like talking about Chicago and still referencing the Capone gangster problem, or talking about Seattle and saying it still rains all the time (it's a different, light rain, and not all the time, as any Seattle-ite knows the truth).
Yes, it happens, but it is a small amount of the population. Very small. If the author (or AP) would actually check their facts, I bet they would find drunks on the bar streets of their own town. I betcha. It's harder to hide in the small town of Nome.
And then this guy referenced here: "Newman Savetilik comes to Nome to quench his thirst for whiskey. Savetilik, 50, lives in the village of Shaktoolik, 130 miles from Nome. 'When I come to Nome I got alcohol problems,' he said with eyes half-shut. 'I'm not like that in Shaktoolik.'" Umm, first of all, that is a bad example. It sounds like he can't handle himself when he visits Nome, like some people go crazy at Vegas. The town of Nome does not stand at the airport with bottles of booze and hand them out. This guy does it to himself.
Yet the article makes it sound like it is all of Nome. Not only is it unfair to Nome, it is unfair to native Alaskans.
Just another reason to use critical thinking and reading skills when reading any and all media.
And another thing: "American Indians and Alaska Natives have a 550 percent higher rate of alcohol-related deaths than nonnative Americans, a disparity blamed in part on inadequate health care." I would just like to say that almost all of the "American Indians and Alaska Natives" receive FREE health care at Norton Sound Regional Hospital. True, there is no tank to dry them out, which needs to change. But when this article does not reference who is BLAMING in that statement, I wonder what the hell is going on.
If this is professional journalism, with unattributed blanket statements, I worry about news media.
I saw this commercial last night and haven't laughed so hard at a commercial in a long long time. I think it is brilliant--it completely does its job, almost subliminally, and you have to be quick to get the little jokes.
But at the end, when the truck is "dumping a load of bricks," it truly brings an intelligence to potty humor. I will buy All-Bran because of this!
Funny thing happened on the way to work this morning...
I was listening to an old Jack Benny program from April 1933 and it was a time they were collaborating with Chevrolet and giving away thirty cars. That's a big deal. To enter, you apparently had to explain why you liked Chevrolet so much.
"A lot of entries spoke of how ECONOMICAL a Chevrolet was, getting 20, 22, 24, sometimes even more, miles to the gallon."
What the hey? So in seventy years they have not improved the gas mileage of cars? Maybe, they've gotten a bit better on some models, but we still talk about cars getting 20 or so mpg.
Computers have gotten faster and better. Everything technical has gotten faster, better, and more economical. But cars still get the same gas mileage? Or is that the limit? Was it truly perfected to start with?
USA Today published an article from AP about the reopening of the debate of the authorship of the plays attributed to Shakespeare.
"Acclaimed actor Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance, the former artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London, unveiled a "Declaration of Reasonable Doubt" on the authorship of Shakespeare's work Saturday, following the final matinee of I am Shakespeare, a play investigating the bard's identity, in Chichester, southern England."
The part that floors me is that my favorite actor of all time, Derek Jacobi, is part of the cadre. With his in depth knowledge of several plays, many from the perspective of multiple characters (like both Hamlet and Claudius is different adaptations of Hamlet), he actually probably knows what he is talking about.
"I subscribe to the group theory. I don't think anybody could do it on their own," Jacobi said. "I think the leading light was probably de Vere, as I agree that an author writes about his own experiences, his own life and personalities."
Is it possible that Billy, as I affectionately call him, doesn't exist as we think? Is it possible that one of the main reasons I entered the field of English is the seventeenth century equivalent to Milli Vanilli?
"The declaration names 20 prominent doubters of the past, including Mark Twain, Orson Welles, Sir John Gielgud and Charlie Chaplin."
Orson Welles also shocks me. But it also makes a bit of sense. Couldn't Shakespeare be one guy? Does that limit artistic genius? Why can Mozart write symphonies at the age of 4 but Shakespeare couldn't write these things? Could Billy not encompass more than his own meager experiences, life, and personalities? What does this mean to us all?
I never would have gotten through Eragon in novel form. I just finished it the other day as an audiobook, listening to it during my commute. I borrowed it from the library.
I had started the novel a year or so ago. After 70 pages of nothing really happening, I just never picked it up again. I would never have gotten through all the slow bits just reading it. I may be getting used to the audio format.
However, I liked Eragon. The world seemed familiar, like every other fantasy novel. But the new twist with the Dragon Riders was interesting. Also, I kind of liked the whole quest, especially his training a la Luke Skywalker. Many elements seem borrowed or transfixed from other stories, but they are tied together well. The climax was good--a big bang with enough left over for other books.
Now I have to get the audiobook of the sequel, Eldest.
These are pictures of the kids at my mom's today. My grandmother and grandfather were up from Florida and we were able to see them. Pics of Madison, Hannah, Alex, and my ugly mug.
Dad had a picture fixed. This is what it looked like originally:
And this is what it looks like touched up:
My great grandfather. I do remember him vaguely from when I was a kid. Vaguely. Of course, not at that age in the pictures. I think the photos Dad always had around the house made me remember him more.
Why do I read all of these crap novels? Why do I still read more little paperback fiction than any other piece of literature other than comics? I have a Masters Degree in English, for Pete's Sake!
Because they are fine escapist fare. I just finished Conan the Invincible by Robert Jordan, and I liked it fine.
No, I am not going to say it is the epitome of great literature. But it worked. I wanted a sword and sorcery tale that wasn't necessarily as deep as The Lord of the Rings. I tried a few months ago to read a Terry Goodkind novel, but after five chapters and five different protagonists and points of view, I was done.
Conan. Got into trouble. Met a couple of beautiful damsels. Beat the sorcerer. Nothing better.
Now that they found the "right" director, 300's director,
"Filming has begun on Watchmen in Vancouver. Billy Crudup, in blueface, filmed a flashback scene of Doctor Manhattan meeting John F. Kennedy. Look alike actors were on hand to play JFK, Jackie, and JFK Jr. " (From the Atomic Comics newsletter, 11 September 2007)
This is amazing to me because, with the richness of Watchmen, I believe that more comic books and graphic novels will become treasure troves for the cinema. It all started with Sin City and then 300. Comic book movies can look good. They need not be campy and playful, but deep and dark at times. Tim Burton tried to capture that with the 1989 Batman, but truthfully, that movie does not stand up after repeated viewings. And with the success that was Batman Begins, we can see true superheroes hopefully, now that the technology exists to make them look good, not like Burt Ward and Adam West "scaling" the buildings in that Batman TV show.
And if they could just come up with a good script for Superman, he would be the king of adventure again. The studio should root through the best of the Superman comics, capturing the best stories, or even combining them, for the best movie(s). I couldn't understand why the screenplay and story idea were by writers I had never even heard of. There is a gold mine of excellent Superman stories out there.
Butcher; Boucher (French); Beccaio (old Italian) These terms date from the thirteenth century as a term denoting the person who prepared and cut up any kind of meat. Previously it meant a specialist in goat's meat (see bucolic), often salted because it was tough--this fact indicates how low the consumption of beef had been in the Middle Ages. Previously the French word maiselier, masselier or macellier, from the Italian macellaio--a term which never entered into English--was used for the person who slaughtered and cut up creatures of any species as required, and who often kept a kind of tavern. Around the thirteenth century, as the term boucher was starting to be used in the more general sense, the term maiselier came to mean only "innkeeper."
Incidentally did you know that, in French, the original occupation of the boucher seems to have been the slaying of he-goats. An old French ordinance states that the bocher “shall not cast the blood of goats in public ways, nor slaughter the goats in the streets.”
I am in a football pool at work (which isn't for money, just bragging rights) where you just pick the winners each week. I went 10-6 for opening weekend. Not bad.
But then I figured it out that another teacher just picked all home teams--straight home teams--and went 10-6 as well.
Home field advantage. It is amazing how, statistically, the home team wins more than 60% of the time.
First of all, these tests are harder than they let on.
I came out of both tests on Saturday knowing I didn't score 100%, but at least feeling that I passed (Knock on wood). They give you a ton of scenarios of how to teach and then ask you a multiple choice question (which, if you ask me, says there is only one right answer when we teachers know that exploration and many right answers are possible on the "right" way to teach something). However, the questions basically make you fall into the fact that there are multiple ways.
I think the hardest were the very specific English content questions. They asked very specific questions about the contributions of such as Ernest Hemingway and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Why pick such specific authors? Where was a question on the life and times of Shakespeare, or Fitzgerald? To be honest, I have never studied Ernest Hemingway my entire life, other than The Old Man and the Sea. And I learned that book to teach it at Bremerton; I did not learn it in college, or on my own.
And they picked very tough poems to analyze and interpret, multiple choice of course, which is the very "new critic" way to say that poems only have one interpretation. They picked poems that, if you ask me, could take a week and a full paper on analyzing the things. There was even a very specific question on the difference between Shakespearean and Petrarchan sonnets--uh, if I really needed to remember the difference, I would go and look it up. I think they forget that in this test. So I think I missed a blasted Shakespeare question because I may not have remembered the difference.
The worst part was the time factor to the tests. It said quite plainly on the admission ticket, "Reporting time: 7:15 am." I don't know about you but that says to me to make sure your butt is there by 7:15 am. We were herded like cattle into the foyer of the junior high school in Normal, waiting until 7:15 am, then we were released to go into our specific classrooms to take our specific tests. There, they checked our ID and took our thumbprint for the test. Our classroom was done with this procedure by 7:35. This is the part that made me fume as I sat there: we waited for two people that hadn't shown up yet. They were told to administer the test at 7:50 am, thinking that the thumbprinting would take longer than it did. However, that was supposed to be for people already there and waiting, not coming in late. One person came in at 7:40 am; another came at 7:48 am. We literally had to sit there, as we weren't allowed to bring anything into the classroom for test security. I was fuming that we were waiting for late-comers, absolutely livid. If they had said the reporting time was 7:15, then they should be there at 7:15, especially for a state-mandated test. I felt penalized for being on time, I really did. I only lived a few miles away, so I would have waited until quarter til 8 if I had known. I forced myself to calm down before my test. Then the same sad thing happened for the 1:30 test--we didn't start until 2.
For each test, we were allotted five hours. The English test I took in the morning was 125 multiple choice questions. It took me two hours, roughly a minute per question. That is a loooooong test. I honestly don't know why it has to be that long. The afternoon test on secondary teaching was 120 multiple choice questions and two essays. That took me two and a half hours. That was a brain-exhausting day.
I think the hardest thing to swallow was that there was nothing specifically to study. The test on secondary teaching has the vague expectations as its basis, like "Understanding how kids learn," and not the actual specifics, such as the difference between norm-referenced and criterion-referenced tests. I mean, how exactly do kids learn? What do they want me to study? I think this would have been harder coming straight out of college than it is now, with five years of experience. With the English content test, shouldn't they tell me to make sure I know the difference between the sonnets than the vague "Understand the forms of poetry in history"?
So, knock on wood, I passed both tests and don't have to worry about them anymore. I understand that they are trying to make sure we are effective teachers with a good knowledge about our subject. I just think they are going about it wrong.
Ah, what a nostalgic slice of American life. The Sandwich Fair 2007. We met up with my mom Sunday morning and headed out for a day filled with corn dogs, rides, and animals.
There is something distinctly wonderful about a fair like this. The showcasing of farm life at its best, and the people like us who appreciate it all. Walking around amongst the crowd and exhibitors and it's amazing how friendly everyone can be.
I first went to the 99th Sandwich Fair before my family ever moved to Somonauk. We would then attend the 100th Fair as residents of Somonauk. Now, my family all get to experience it, this the 120th Fair. And it feels like all the others--and that's the wonderful thing about it, knowing that the good things stay the same.
One difference between Nome and Central Illinois I have noticed that has really struck me is the music taste.
Nome kids listened to a lot of hip hop and R&B and rap. Central Illinois kids listen to more rock and roll and alternative.
Amy says this is because of the lack of radio stations in Nome. They listen to what they see (or their friends see since not everyone has TV) on MTV and other TV. Central Illinois has a variety of music radio stations to fit tastes, music stores to browse, and even more variety on TV.
When I started this year, I started with a little summary article on that rapper Kanye West and the future of hip hop. Thought I was being "hip" and giving the kids what they wanted. Only two kids had even heard of him. The next article was on Fall Out Boy. They all heard of that group.
I am not even excited about this upcoming weekend. I have to take my Illinois Teacher Certification tests, one on English subject matter, the other on actual teaching strategy stuff. It starts at 7:15 am on a Saturday, and the second one starts at 1:30 pm. That's all flippin day! I have to take the practice test in the next couple of days, just to get in the swing of things. I can't believe that I have to take these tests actually. There is a way around it, if I wanted to videotape my teaching and stuff but that sounds like even more of an inconvenience.
I know they have to make sure that we have the skills as teachers, but they make it so hard. There are so many hoops to go through just to be here. Step after step after step. I even have to accumulate all of these professional development hours, called CPDUs, over the next year, and I have to keep track and have them certified. I have to spend the whole day on Saturday taking certification tests.
I complain because I work hard each and every day. I am always on. Six periods a day, I'm always either up in front of the class or walking around helping out individually with assignments. I'm always thinking about what's going on in school. When I wash my hair in the morning, I'm going over what's on for that day. Now I won't be able to grade the freshman essays over the weekend because my Saturday is gone. Now it's time away from my family too.
I mean, look at the tests I have to take, essays and everything: ICTS testing site.
I am a big complainer but I hate having to prove myself. But unfortunately, I know that it is a necessary evil for all those bad teachers out there. (Hey, they passed the test.)
This is almost one of those maniacal jokes around the house anymore. Don't talk about the car! When we do we feel frustrated again about the fact that it was originally going to be in Seattle by the end of June. We were supposed to drive it across the country and be in Illinois by the Fourth of July.
However, it is finally coming. It is on a barge right now and is supposed to be in Seattle in just a couple of weeks.
Thank goodness! Amy will be able to stop riding the bus. I'll be able to just use my truck to go to and from work, especially since I drive 45 minutes each way. I also won't have to drop Madison off and add 15+ minutes to my commute each way, and actually, Madison won't have to go to preschool/daycare at 6:45 am and stay there til 4:45 pm. She would be dropped off by Amy about 10 til 8 am and get picked up at 4:30.
But it is coming! The car is almost here! Then we can work on getting a refund for this debacle that the shipping company made. But I am going to have the car in hand before I ask for my refund.
There's not much there but voiceover but at least they sound like they got the premise right. And if this is half as good as Batman Begins then we are in for a good time.
We read the short story "The Most Dangerous Game" in class this week. It's about a hunter who falls off a yacht and reaches an island run by a maniacal hunter who hunts human prey. I teach it from the standpoint of understanding the basic plot structure. There are definitive complications for the rising action and a definite climax. We also start a basic discussion about THEME, one of the hardest literary devices for students to get. It is bascially the central idea of a work of literature. Why was it written? What central idea about humanity is the story trying to get across? In Romeo and Juliet, theme could be expressed as, "Love is more powerful than hatred."
Three of the students, when asked what the theme of the story was, said, "Don't fall off a boat."
Ugh.
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"Colony Three" episode of Danger Man starring Patrick McGoohan was on the latest DVD of the series I rented from Netflix. I am extremely curious now as to when the seed of The Village was planted in McGoohan's mind.
Even though it is listed as "Season 1, Episode 3: Colony Three Original Air Date: 27 October 1964" on the IMDB page, for some reason it is on the third disc of the collected series. In this episode, John Drake (McGoohan) must infiltrate a base on the other side of the Iron Curtain that is set up to resemble a quaint British village, so the spies become acquainted with the atmosphere before their infiltration missions. Drake must help them become acclimated to the British way of life. The obvious parallels between my favorite television show, McGoohan's own The Prisoner, abound for any fan of the series.
First of all, it is called "the village" several times. The British workers there are told they will never go back to the real world. There are cameras and listening devices all over. At one point, McGoohan says that he only "looks after number one" in reference to himself. It was also interesting to hear McGoohan say, "Come on, back to the village!" to the one guy that was trying to escape.
This episode was written by a Donald Jonson, who wrote some TV shows, according to IMDB, and several episodes of Danger Man. I am wondering how much input he actually had in the idea, or if he deserves more credit than he's been given. It is just extremely obvious to me, with my many years of watching and studying The Prisoner that this is one of the seeds that started growing in McGoohan's mind.
Random thoughts about all that I can muster. As William Shatner once said, "Get a life!"
The Butcher Shop
Name: Matt Butcher Home: Normal, IL, United States About Me: An English teacher with a zest for life. Family. Comic books. Stuff. See my complete profile
"If it don't kill you, it only makes you stronger" --Nietzsche by way of Bruce Willis
"I am not a number, I am a free man!" --Number Six
"For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crost the bar."
--Tennyson
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
--Shelley
"Coffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and as sweet as love."
--Turkish Proverb
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in the old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal-temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
--Tennyson
