Poetry is a bird; prose is a potato ~ Billy Collins

I heard this quote over the summer at an AP conference and fell in love with it. It seemed to unfold the more I thought about it–as does all great poetry.

Sitting in my classroom deciding what to do for the first couple of weeks, I decided that I wanted to begin/end every class with a poem this year. To get the class started and thinking about poetry on day one, I created a Prezi to start a discussion with my class. Each class had the same discussion and focused on surface level observations. Well, I kind of manipulated that with the addition of the videos in the Prezi. I ended up getting them to think outside of the word “bird” and “potato” to where I believe Collins was wanting his listeners to go. We then talked about what I now call “chicken poetry” versus “eagle poetry.” We’ve all read poems that speak to us and somehow crawl into our skin and live there for the rest of our lives. Those poems help us to fly and take us to places we never want to leave (eagle poetry). We’ve also all read poems that are–for a lack of a better word right now–nasty (chicken poetry). Those poems are usually the ones our teachers made us sludge through (or in my case, the teenage “love” poems that a high school English teacher must sludge through). They are the ones we want to forget and never read again.

I challenged my students there that I would do my best to never give them “chicken poetry.” I admitted that I could never please everyone, but insisted that instead of dismissing a poem upon first read, the students take the time to see a poem for what it says and then what it really says. Therein, I believe, lies the heart of what makes poetry so great.

Click here to see the Prezi presentation.

I believe Glenn Beck is a man of integrity and should be honored.  I don’t believe that it is his place to be sanctimonious and preach about a God he doesn’t know personally.  Yes, I know he is Mormon, but I stick by my last statement.  Mormon’s lecturing Christians is the equivalent of the Britain lecturing America on democracy.  Close, but one toy short of a Happy Meal.

Anyway, click on the link above for Dr. Moore’s take.

“Stories are the only things worth dying for.”

Tommy Taylor is not just a fictional kid of magic. He’s modeled after the author’s real son Tommy Taylor. Up until recently Tommy has had to live in the shadow of his fictional clone. Things begin getting strange when a woman approaches Tommy at a convention and suggests that his entire childhood and past is made up.

I first heard of this series from an article found on Relevant (here) and, as an English teacher and proponent of great storytelling, my interest was piqued. After spending the summer reading up on one J.R.R. Tolkien and his thoughts on fairy tales (of which I highly recommend), I thought this was going to be a venerable goldmine of literary treasure.

I wasn’t disappointed, but felt a little underwhelmed by the story. Did I build up my own anticipation for reading it? Perhaps, but it felt like the first arch was over almost as soon as it began. One shining moment was a companion piece in the back that follows Rudyard Kipling as he must deal with an Illuminati-type organization that will either make or break him. He gains popularity by writing pro-imperialistic propaganda and once he refuses to live under the Illuminati’s might, his writing becomes still-born. It isn’t until his son dies that he’s able to pick up the pen and begin crafting animal tales as a metaphor to his disenfranchisement. Along the way he has a few run ins with Mark Twain and not-so-directly with Oscar Wilde. I think you can now tell which part I enjoyed the most.

Great read and a good beginning to a promising tale. I do have the second volume and will read it as soon as I’m caught up with grading or just can’t wait any longer–whichever comes first.

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This is a great new album by an awesome band.  Check them out when you can!

March 27, 2007

I’ve known anberlin ever since I got my hands on a Tooth and Nail sampler a few years ago.  I had really high hopes for their first album Blueprints for the Black Market and wasn’t disappointed.  By the time their second album, Never Take Friendship Personal came out I was officially a fan.  While not always spinning in my CD player, I’ve been hooked ever since like a kid to Fruit Loops.  The pop sensibilities of every song are complimented by the various aggressive instrumental voices.  Cities, anberlin’s newest offering, is no exception.  Musically anberlin has matured in the way every band should.  Their first album was extremely polished; their second, the antithesis of the first; finally, Cities is the culmination of both.

The disc starts out with the track, “(Début),” with its ambient instrumental noise and city soundscapes that quickly build and then move right into one of the albums more driving songs, “Godspeed.”  The drums of, Nathan Young, are the major driving force behind this track and keep it going full bore until the end.  The poppy and infectious chorus to “Adelaide” will have you singing along without even thinking about it. It appears to me that all of the songs finally lead to the last two tracks, “Dismantle.Repair.” and “(*Fin).”  The phrase “patron saint of lost causes” runs through both songs giving the listener a sense that both of these tracks should be listened to together.  The sentiment echoes that of the writer of Ecclesiastes in questioning what this world is all about.  The overall lyrical feel of the album is one that seems to plague lyricist Stephen Christian.  He seems to be caught in a world where he is not “Christian enough for Christians and too Christian for the secular world.”  I wonder if there’s a pun in there somewhere…  The Special Edition (S.E.) boasts three extra tracks (and thus is well worth the extra moolah).  Two of which are covers: “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” (The Smiths) and “The Promise” (When in Rome).  Both decent in their own right but not far from the originals.

Cities is a dichotomy of a concept album.  There is no overt overarching theme present for the whole disc, however, the messages and unique voice of each song creates an array of characters that seem to thread everything together like a patchwork quilt.  It is as if Cities is about the struggle of man in a concrete jungle.  I had to listen to this disc a few times to adequately perceive its message and quality and my appeal to you is to do the same.  With several sessions under my belt I feel safe to say that every track deserves to be here and is wonderful in its own right.  Some tracks have clung better to my brain’s inner soundtrack than others, but as a whole this offering is nearly flawless.  I will be shocked if this disc doesn’t make it on many “Best of 2007” lists come December.  I know it will probably be on mine.

Pick tracks: Dismantle.Repair.; (*Fin); Whisper & A Clamor; Reclusion

anberlin is:

Stephen Christian – Vocals, Guitar
Deon Rexroat – Bass
Joseph Milligan – Guitar
Nathan Young – Drums

anberlin – Cities Release Date: February 20, 2007

Track listing:
1. (Début)
2. Godspeed
3. Adelaide
4. A Whisper & A Clamor
5. The Unwinding Cable Car
6. There is No Mathematics to Love and Loss
7. Hello Alone
8. Alexithymia
9. Reclusion
10. Inevitable
11. Dismantle.Repair.
12. (*Fin)

Special edition bonus tracks:
13. Uncanny
14. There is a Light that Never Goes Out (The Smiths Cover)
15. The Promise” (When in Rome Cover)

anberlin Related links:
anberlin official website
Cities official website
anberlin
Tooth & Nail Records

With that said, my mother loves watching Wheel of Fortune. I think she gets the shakes if she misses an episode. She’s even got something called a “wheel watcher number” that is taped conveniently on the left side of her computer monitor. Me, I’ve never been a big fan, but I have been known to watch an episode once in a while. Now that I’ve read this article by the WoF host, Pat Sajak, I think maybe I should watch his show more often. Maybe I’ll get my own wheel watcher number.

You can find the article here.

Leave your comments if you got them. I’d love to hear ‘em.

Here’s a little taste:

“Does anyone decide which candidate to choose based on the recommendation of a TV talk show host or a singer/actress? If any group of citizens is uniquely unqualified to tell someone else how to vote, it’s those of us who live in the sheltered, privileged arena of celebrityhood. It’s one thing to buy an ab machine because Chuck Norris recommends it (he’s in good shape, isn’t he?) or a grill because George Foreman’s name is on it (he’s a great guy, so it must be a great grill!), but the idea of choosing the Leader of the Free World based on the advice of someone who lives in the cloistered world of stardom seems a bit loony to me.”

and…

“I suppose anything that gets people engaged in the political process is a good thing, but the idea that a gold record, a top-ten TV show or an Oscar translates into some sort of political wisdom doesn’t make much sense to me. Trust me, one’s view of the world isn’t any clearer from the back seat of a limo.”

I like to think that I’ve got a nice little comic book collection going. Most of it is recent stuff because I can’t afford the old expensive issues. I came across this great story over at newsarama.com where an old couple, cleaning out their attic, found a copy of Detective Comics #27! For those of my  readers not wise in the ways of the fanboy, DC #27 is the first appearance of Batman in a comic book. In mint condition (of which there are none known) the skrilla this puppy could pull in is about 500 g’s (that $500,000.00). *sigh*  — what I could do with that money (more comic books anyone?).  Anyway, it’s a great story and I can only hope to have it happen to me one day.

Click here for the story.

Today in comic book shops all across America, fanboys everywhere were stunned to find that Steve Rogers, aka Captain America was assassinated by a single bullet to the head by a sniper as he arrived to federal court.

Steve Rogers was recruited in 1941 by the U.S. Government’s then secret Super Soldier Program.   After defeating the Red Skull and toppling the Third Reich, Steve Rogers was later discovered by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, encased in ice and floating in arctic waters. Captain America was best known as the New York City-based global defenders, the Avengers. Most recently, he and Iron Man, Tony Stark, had waged an all out superhuman civil war across the globe and the Negative Zone. At press time no super-powered human was available for comment.  For more information please visit www.newsarama.com Feel free to pay your respects in the comments section.

We will never forget…

December 7, 1941

September 11, 2001

March 7, 2007

Walking at midnight,

I am

blindfolded.

Snowflakes strike

my face and soon melt.

I am

led

deeper into the woods.

I trip

on a rock

and then a root.

Farther

and farther

into the woods.

I stop.

Silence

deafening as a hundred trumpets.

Broken.

Two shots. One

piercing my lung,

the other, lodged

in my aorta.

I fall

into the snow.

Snowflakes strike

and soon melt into
crimson.

The background is we had to write a poem after reading a newspaper article. I found one about a man who was found dead in the mountains. He had been there during the winter and died of two gun shot wounds. At the time no one knew who he was. I thought it would be interesting to write about what happened when he died.