1. This week I held my first 'Classic Cinema Showcase' after-school meeting. The idea is to cultivate students' taste in cinema and fiction by showing them classic films and then explaining what makes them good. Our first film was Back to the Future, which they had all seen and liked, but when I started explaining … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Back to the Future and Shikata ga nai
Life
New Year Flotsam
1. Happy New Year! 2. This marks a new low in that I’ve procrastinated through the whole weekend and the flotsam is going up on Monday. I wish I could say there was a good reason for that, but there isn’t, unless it’s reluctance to talk about the year that is passed. One of my … Continue reading New Year Flotsam
Friday Flotsam: Christmas, ‘Avatar’ and ‘Rebecca’
1. A Merry Christmas! 2. It's been a very laid back, half-hearted kind of Christmas on my end, keeping with the whole of these past few months. The experience has been (so I imagine) similar to that of a functional alcoholic; there are good days and bad days, and a kind of fog over everything, … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Christmas, ‘Avatar’ and ‘Rebecca’
Saturday Sundry: Gods of the Copybook Headings and Ten Years of Misery
1. I had my students read The Gods of the Copybook Headings this week (it's almost exam time and I didn't want to start new lessons, so we're just reading Kipling poems). It's really amazing that this was written in 1919, when its subject matter and thesis are a pitch-perfect match to the present. But … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: Gods of the Copybook Headings and Ten Years of Misery
Friday Flotsam: Legend Haven, More History, and Some Storycraft
1. Legend Haven, the friendliest fiction convention in the galaxy, is happening this weekend, and I will be there! The con runs from Saturday to Sunday, but all my stuff will be on Sunday, the 19th. I will be hosting an open booth, ask-me-anything from 12-3 MST (so, 3-6 EST), followed by a discussion / … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Legend Haven, More History, and Some Storycraft
Friday Flotsam: Last Fortnight’s Post
1. This post was originally going to come out a couple weeks ago, before the shadow intervened. So, back-date every reference by a couple weeks. Only update is that I'm back in Arizona and back to work. The main persistent after effect is that I'm very tired most of the time. 2. Movie night the … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Last Fortnight’s Post
Winning at Life
A curious comparison occurred to me in the days around my mother's funeral. My mother was one of those rare people who was really loved by everyone she met. She was about as kind and loving as it's possible to be, worked with groups like St. Vincent de Paul to help those in need, personally … Continue reading Winning at Life
Sunday Sundry: Short and Unfocused
1. A family crisis is currently occupying most of my attention, so this will have to be brief. Those who read this, please offer prayers on our behalf. 2. At the same time, the school year starts this week and I still have prepping to do, meaning I'm pretty much in survival mode. 3. The … Continue reading Sunday Sundry: Short and Unfocused
Saturday Sundry: On Gods, the Ocean, and Bad Books
1. Still in Maine, but about to head home. The next three days will be travel, one way or another. 2. Spending a week by the sea was a fascinating experience; to look out to the very edge of the world, to watch the tides rise and fall, to hear the waves crashing against the … Continue reading Saturday Sundry: On Gods, the Ocean, and Bad Books
Friday Flotsam: First Year of Teaching Over and a Word on Audrey Hepburn
1. My old apartment is almost bare, and my new one is nearly looking like something livable. Furniture goes tomorrow. 2. My first year of full-time teaching is officially over! Some takeaways: 3. It took me a while to figure out what I could actually ask of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, and I'm still … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: First Year of Teaching Over and a Word on Audrey Hepburn
Serpent's Den 