In English 102, we read Sharon Olds’ haunting tribute to Marilyn Monroe’s mysterious death. It’s a poem that focuses upon the immediate aftermath of the famous starlet’s suicide. What if you were called upon to take the body away? What would happen to the image you have of her in your head? In English 008, students researched Marilyn’s life, and they compared her tragedies with those of Rhianna and Linsey Lohan. They defined and examined the term “sex symbol.” 50 years after her death, they explain why we still look to Marilyn with love and admiration.
We love Frida Kahlo’s paintings, but we are awed by the story behind them. As a young teen, Frida was involved in a terrible accident when the bus she was on collided with a tram. Several people were killed right on the spot. A piece of railing drove right through Frida’s spine and punctured her uterus. Doctors didn’t know if she would ever walk again. Frida was confined to bed for three months, but that’s where Frida’s artistic vision grew. Her father built her an easel and fixed it to the bed. Frida learned how to paint lying on her back. Her art reflects empty, cold and lonely rooms; her lonliness and despair. Look here for cause and effect writing – students explore how her pain affected her art. How her art affected her love.
At the end of each semester, students combine their love for music with their appreciation for literature. From their personal music vaults they create a soundtrack for their reading. In English 110 we read The Tortilla Curtain, a story of desperate Mexican immigrants pursuing the American Dream. Many students like to write with a Nortena beat, and they draw upon the lyrics of Los Tigres del Norte. More often than not, they choose” La Puerta Negra,” a song about impossible love. They break down the words and analyze the theme. Everyone agrees. This sad song fits the novel like a glove.
David Bowie? He sings China Girl. Playwright Henry Hwang references the lyrics to this song in his introduction to M. Butterfly. Edgar Allan Poe uses clown imagery in his Cask of Amontillado, but there is little to laugh at in this story . Patti Smith? She wrote just maybe one of the most beautiful memoirs I have ever read.
Join Now! Come inside Jay’s Museum of College Writing and see what our students have to share.
Lefty “El Zurdo” Mendieta is the complicated homocide detective featured in the Elmer Mendoza novels I read in both English and Spanish. I describe him as complicated here because on the outside he appears handsome, competent and confident, but in Culiacán, Sinaloa, that doesn’t mean all that much. Appearances can be deceiving. The entire region is infested with Narco-Traficante violence and crime. In Mendoza’s novel, La Prueba del Acido, Lefty is caught in the middle of a major drug war between the Mexican government and the Narcos. Everywhere Lefty turns, someone is lying to him; whether it is a woman, man, friend, or foe. Nothing, he knows, is going to get any better. The violence and corruption is only escalating. He knows he will never know what love is from a woman. He knows he is dependent on alcohol, pills, and a psychaitrist that is never there when he needs him. In this novel, he's called to a crime scene to discover that the victim is his most recent lover. Not only has she been murdered, but she is mutiliated and left to bleed out in an open field. “Dark days are coming,” warns a cartel mafioso. Lefty could have said something back, but what is there to say in Culiacán, Mexico. Darkness is his business.
It's hard not to like Lefty. In this book, he has reached a point in his career where people know him and respect him. That’s because he is good at what he does. Somehow, he’s learned to develop a style and attitude to get things done and stay alive as everything crumbles around him. This may be because he hasn’t drifted far from the neighbohood he grew up in. Many of his friends he ran with as a youngster have moved into and upwards in the Narco trade. He maintains his connections. He knows it could have happened to him. His older brother, who he loves very much, disappeared from his life at an early age after being forced by gangsters to murder a priest. The brother crosses over to the United States never to be heard from again. Until now. In this book, Lefty, doesn’t learn the complete story of his brother until late in his life. It doesn’t matter. Sinaloa just doesn’t make sense.
Deep down, Lefty is Bad Ass. Macho. Violent. He’s not one to shy away from a fight from anyone. But, at the same time, he shows love and respect for the women in his life. When the mother of his teenage son pops into his life, he’s ready and willing to provide the support she needs - even though she had left him for the United States while she was still pregnant with the baby, never disclosing to him that they were Mother and Father. Gris, his partner in the Homicide Division, is young and beautiful, so she is always hassled by pendejos in the office. Lefty, who found her in the Parking Division, seems to admire her more for her courage and dedication to the job. He’s ready to step in and defend her when needed. He also wants her to be HAPPY. Trudis is his housekeeper and spiratual guide. She’s from the neighborhood. She knows what’s up when she finds him beaten up physically or mentally. For all the Macho, in Lefty, he listens to what she has to say.
In this novel, the woman that draws most of Lefty’s attention, is Mayra Cabral de Melo. She’s a Brazilian stripper, prostitute that works in the local Narco clubs. We don’t know how close or how long they were together, but Mayra occupies a special place in Lefty’s heart. She’s well-read and writes poetry in her diaries. You have to imagine that Mayra moves Lefty a long distance away from the violent world he lives in. That’s until he finds her dead and naked behind a warehouse in the middle of a tomato field. One of her nipples has been sliced off with a knife. Lefty is clearly DEVASTATED at the crime scene, but he can't let it show. He tells no one he was involved with the murder victim. This is when Lefty stops eating the delicious chicharones that Trudis prepares for his breakfasts and instead feasts on pills and whiskey.
I’m not writing a book report here. I can't write much without spoiling the story. I can say this: Lefty's complicated nature makes each of these novels a GOODREAD. Five years ago, when Covod first hit, I read in the New Yorker that the sales of guitars were rocketing through the roof. That’s because people felt trapped at home. They needed an escape. Music was the way. They learned how to occupy their free time by learning new chords on their guitars. I've been there and done that; instead, I chose to read Spanish-language novels. I like reading the Spanish version simultaneously with the English version, or vice versa. I usually read entire chapters at a time, and then go back and forth to confirm my understanding. On the cover of my Enlish-language Acid Test, Elmer Mendoza’s name is followed by “The Godfather of Lit." This may be true. He knows his way around Culiacán. I was first introduced to him by reading La Reina del Sur – the Queen of the South – a Spanish-language novel that followed the rise of a young woman from the streets of Culiacan to the top of a powerful Narco Drug Cartel. Author Arturo Arturo Pérez-Reverte credits his consultations with his friend Elmer Mendoza for the grim reality of the story.Since reading La Reina del Sur, I’ve read 4-5 Elmer Mendoza novels. TWICE – Once in English, and Once in Spanish. I can say I have read LaPrueba del Acido THREE TIMES, since having discovered how to download the Spanish version on Itunes.
La Prueba del Acido took me a long time to read. Whatever I read in Spanish version of a novel, I try to annotate in my English version. This way, I find myself more focused and organized in my Spanish learning. I try to underline, circle, star(*) words and phrases I may be able to incorporate into my everyday language. I'll read a chapter in English, before I read in Spanish. Both my English-language and Spanish-language copies of my novels are marked up, HIGHLIGHTED, beyond recognition. But, poco a poco, I transfer my favorite phrases to my notebooks. Lately, I'm reading a lot of Elmer Mendoza. I see the same vocabulary and characters pop up in my reading. I'm using the dictionary less. I 'm sharing what I read with the Mexicans I know. That's a sign I'm immersing myself in both the reading and the culture.
When I’m not preparing lessons or grading student work, I’m studying Spanish. I take this time to get far away from my computer as I can. To avoid online distraction, I take my books and pens to a coffee shop, or VIPs, a nearby gasolinera; this place works for me. I like the large tables they have inside where I can spread out my study materials and drink my coffee. It’s not rare that I meet someone there from Sinaloa. When, they see me highlighting my books, they ask me if I’m studying the bible. Jaja. That’s when I tell them, “No, estoy estudiando Sinaloa.” This is where my real Spanish-language practice begins. We talk about Elmer Mendoza, Culiacán, and Narco Traficantes. I share with them knowledge I’ve picked up from my reading. From my novels I know about the food, music, culture, and the beaches in Mazatlán. I like talking to the Sinaloenses. Many of them have spent the greater parts of their lives in Mexicali, but their hearts remain in Sinaloa. I’m not sure they are all too conscious of it, but when they talk of their homeland they beat their chests two or three times in each conversation.
I often wonder about my favorite detective, Lefty Mendieta. In each novel, he is threatened, beaten, an on occasion, blown up. I often wonder why he doesn’t get the hell out of there. I mean, for him, it’s DARK. He just can’t leave. He can’t live anywhere else. I realize from Sinaloenses I meet here in the Gasolnera, it doesn’t matter how much Spanish I learn, as a Gringo, I will never feel or understand what they do. I can read it in their faces.
For me, Joel Selvin’s Hollywood Eden begins and ends with Jan and Dean. In 1958 Jan Berry, was smart, handsome, athletic, ambitious, and devious. He must have been Big Man On Campus at his University High School when there were plenty of Big Men to go around. This school – like 5-10 minutes from the beach - was full of West Los Angeles rich kids who drove their own cars with their surfboards sticking out a space where the rear window should have been. Beautiful girls. TWO GIRLS FOR EVERY GUY! Jan played on the football team, earned the highest grades, and loved listening to R&B ( they called it BLACK) music right before the explosion of Rock ‘N’ Roll. While still at University, he began writing his own songs, some of them which would help establish a new Surf Music genre. He became Jan -- of Jan and Dean. He drove fast cars. He married a beautiful woman. Became rich and famous. This was all detailed in the book Hollywood Eden up and until 1966 when Jan recklessly plowed his Corvette Stingray into a parked car not too far from from the spot he featured in his hit song “Dead Man’s Curve.” Jan didn’t die, but he endured brain surgery and two weeks in a coma. When he tried to make his comeback, he found coudn't remember the lyrics he himself wrote for his famous songs. For each performance, he had to re-learn the words from scratch. Author Joel Selvin follows the rise and fall of Jan Berry through eight important years of Rock ‘n’ Roll that would forever change the way we listen to music.
I know of author Joel Selvin because I grew up in the seventies near San Francisco. He had a column that appeared each Sunday in the Pink Section of the San Francisco Chronicle. I’m not sure it was officially called the Pink Section, but the pages were Pink, while all the other pages in the newspaper were White. This layout made it easy to find Joel's music column; You just pushed the White pages away. He was the first music critic I remember that wrote about the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Rolling Stones, and everything else thereafter with a beat, even though I stopped reading the Pink Section into the eighties. He later wrote a full-length book about the Free Stones Altamont Concert Disaster - this is the story of a young black music fan stabbed to death by Hells Angels thugs just feet in front of Mick and Keith. What a Rock ‘n’ Roll life did Joel live. He is not so far away from Jan Berry in age. He dropped out of Berkeley in the sixties to become a copyboy at the Chronicle just when San Francisco was becoming the Mecca of the Hippie Movement. Back then no one at the Chronicle had realized how serious rock music was becoming, and they would send young Joel with a press pass to the free concerts in Golden Gate Park and Billy Graham concerts at the Filmore West. Joel couldn’t believe it. He was actually being PAID for something he would gladly PAY to see. From what I read, Joel spent time in the late fifties near the campus of University High, enough to develop a love for Electric Guitars, Fast Cars, and the Beach, but just like me, his Heart remains in San Francisco.
The book moves quickly from the late fifites to the early sixties. Frank Sinatra's daughter, Nancy, was a popular figure at University High the same time Jan was there. Selvin knows his way around the music business. He has the insight and connections to detail Nancy's rocky road to stardom with her one and only hit, "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'." Soon, the Beach Boys are front and center. Los Angeles, it's a Big City but a Small Town. Jan and Dean constantly bump into members of the Beach Boys at one studio after another. Joel takes the time to describe Brian Wilson, both his GENIUS and his NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. Kathy Kohner, you may never have heard of, but she was a University High School student who fought to be accepted as a female surfer by grungy locals at a near-by beach. Kathy wasn't really good in school, but she was hot stuff on her surfboard. She wrote about her experiences in her diary which was later converted by her screenwriter father into a movie series. She put the 'G' in Gidget.
But let me take you back to Jan. At University High School, he was smarter and more ambitions than anyone deserves to be. (Later, while leading a Rock Star Lifestyle, he enrolled in UCLA's prestigious School of Medicine.) Everyone who knew him must have seen what was to become of him. At age sixteen, he just couldn't get enough music. He didn't have the money or the access to purchase the records he really wanted, so this is what he did: In his school's journalism department, he printed up his own fake letterhead with the logo "KJAN - Voice of Bel Air Hills," and he requested record distributors across the country send promotional material (albums) to his radio station, KJAN. AND HIS SCAM WORKED. Soon he was receiving more than FIFTY records per day. His father, who at the time worked for the millionaire Howard Hughes, seemed very supportive. He would bring back from work advanced electronic recording equipment to help Jan create his own recording studio in the family garage. This is where Jan and Dean cut their first hit single, "Jennifer Lee." At school, they would play Jan and Dean over the intercom. Soon, Jan and Dean were performing on Dick Clark. Jan and Dean were living the dream. Their success only motivated them to work harder. Not suprisingly, Jan's Garage became the place to be for high school parties. TWO GIRLS FOR EVERY GUY!
I can't remember if Jan and Dean mentored the Beach Boys, or if it was the other way around, but my favorite part of the book might be Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson's creation of the song, "Good, Good, Good Vibrations." In a way, Joel draws a straight line between Jan and Brian, for they both displayed obsessive-compulsive personalities. At a certain point in the rise of the Beach Boys, Brian became incapable of touring due to his constant panic attacks and/or nervouous breakdowns. When the Beach Boys took the road, Brian remained at home in the studio. This is where he developed a new sound and style that rivaled the innovation of the Beatles. Deep in the recesses of Brian's memory was his mother once telling him that dogs are attracted to some humans for their "Good Vibrations." At first, the notion freaked Brian out a little bit - the concept of invisible waves traveling through the air - but then when he thought about it, those "Good Vibrations," just may be what brings together two lovers. This was 1966, after Brian first began using LSD. With this song, Brian envisioned a way combine his love for classic music from the past and traditional pop hits of the day. His friends, family, producers, and up to an including his Beach Boy bandmates, told him it couldn't be done, but night after night, he sat at his piano, high on acid, and created a new layer to his "psychedelic symphony," watching it take shape. Eventually, "Good Vibrations" became a perfect wave in his life and the career of the Beach Boys: A Number One Hit; The Center Piece for their Number One Album, Pet Sounds.
In March 1966, Jan was at the peak of his fame and success when he was called in for an appointment with his draft board. This was just before things were getting HOT and HEAVY in Vietnam. Like with everything else he did, Jan felt LUCKY. Already, he had experienced a severe leg injury due to a violent movie set mishap. He was nearly crushed by a runaway train. In his mind, he couldn’t possiblly pass a physical examination On top of that, he was scheduled to begin medical school at UCLA in the fall. Jan had asked the board to reclassify his draft status for multiple reasons, but his appeal fell on deaf ears. The authorities sitting across from him at the draft table probably didn’t listen to his music. Jan was told he could be expected a call to duty within 90 days.
Jan left the meeting in a fit of anger. In his Green Corvette Stingray, he blasted down Sunset Boulevard, moving through traffic and changing lanes, as if the rule the other drivers were following didn’t apply to him. On a quiet residential street, Jan accelerated to speeds byond 80 m.p.h, and eventually lost control before he hit a curb and swerved into a parked truck. First responders found Jan wedged into the floor of his Stingray, his face covered with a sea of glass. Joel Selvin said that his head was split like a coconut. The doctors and nurses who wheeled him down the hallway of the emergency ward thought he was already dead.Here are lyrics from one of Jan's biggest hit songs, "Dead Man's Curve": (Dead Man's Curve) is no place to play/ (Dead Man's Curve) you'd best keep away (Dead Man's Curve) I can hear 'em say/ Won't come back from Dead Man's Curve.
Jan drove like he lived. He wrote the song that forwarned his own destruction. But, his eyes were always focused beyond the next bend.
Today I share my most recent classroom blog - Jay's Bloggin' in the Wind.
If you are wondering about the title, well, you will have to read the first few posts.
Each semester I try to create a new blog to represent our work in the classroom - Below you will see posts that describe writing projects my students can expect to see this coming semester. You will also see student writing from the previous semester. My students in Fall 2024 engaged in the same assignments my students will see on Canvas, Spring Semester 2025.
WHY DO I DO THIS?
My goal is provide my students with a vision for where we are headed. NO SURPRIZES. Let's eliminate these tired questions about WHAT are we doing? or WHY are we doing it? I encourage my students to read a few of my past student essays published on the pages of Jay's Bloggin' in the Wind. Maybe they will pick up some ideas and/or understanding for what they will want to write about this semester. I'm happy with my students' writing. They write with PURPOSE and INSIGHT. They have all chosen to explore topics that are important to them.
I've chosen a blog style that allows me to publish excerpts of my posts. This means to read my blog, you will see the first 150 words or so before you are asked to "Read more." By clicking on the "Read more" link you will be taken to the COMPLETE post you have begun to read. Here, I mark the "Read more" link with a red arrow.
I've divided the Blog into FOUR pages - To navigate from one page to the next, you will need to look for the "Next" link at the bottom of each page.
Each semester I try something NEW. I mean, that's how you learn stuff. Above, I share my Table of Contents. If you are in a hurry, you can click on a link below the table of contents to find the page you desire.
PAGE ONE:
On Page One, I combine my instructor posts with my student essays.
My first Community Profile assignment is due Jan. 31 - For the purposes of this project, I decided to model an essay about Teen Pregnancy. I once had a friend that had to drop out of school when she became pregnant. I was able to incorporate HER EXPERIENCES side-by-side with ACADEMIC RESEARCH. I'm glad to see things have changed in 50 years for young mothers.
Jay's Note: If you are reading this, and you are taking an ONLINE course from me, I will not be able to assign or collect your Project Binders. Relax. That's one less thing you will need to do.
Here is a student writing sample:
I'm HAPPY with this assignment. This time it's PERSONAL. I ask my students to look into their communities for an important story to share. You will be responsible for the INTERVIEW with your COMMUNITY PROFILE. That's fun. Your grade will be heavily influenced by the quality of your supplementary research.
Jay's Tip for his students: CHOOSE YOUR SUBJECTS AND TOPICS WISELY - It's on YOU - If you need help, please contact me: [email protected]
PAGE TWO
The COMMUNITY PROFILE project will take us FIVE WEEKS to complete. Througout, I teach important new skills STEP-by-STEP.
Upon completion of our COMMUNITY PROFILE we will dive into our CLASSIFICATION ESSAY.
I know, I know FEW of of my students have ever been asked to write a CLASSIFICATION ESSAY, but that's what makes this assignment FUN.
From the beginning to the end, it will tax our CRITICAL THINKING and ORGANIZATIONAL skills.
Here is the FUN part: My students CHOOSE their OWN TOPICS!
Here is a SNIP from one of my INTRODUCTORY ASSIGNMENTS - Before we GET STARTED, we START BRAINSTORMING topics:
Here is a student sample essay from last semester:
PAGE THREE:
This is how this instructor ROLLS - Each week my students will see multiple announcements on Canvas that will help them SUCCEED with their assignments.
I provide Step-by-Step Instructions, Graphs, Charts, Tables, Teacher's Models. Sample Submissions...
Most often, it takes me longer to PREPARE a Canvas Announcement than it does for me to TEACH a class in real time. Jaja. TRUTH. But it seems to WORK.
I try to eliminate problems before they start - I practice my own submissions to help me anticipate the challenges my students will face with each assignment.
For example, I strive to help you format your quotations in your essays - We use a writing tool called the Quote SANDWICH
I expect you to provide complete INTRODUCTION and ANALYSIS for your quotations - DON'T DROP YOUR QUOTES INTO YOUR ESSAYS - LIKE A BRICK.
You will need to display PERFECT PUNCTUATION and SOLID DOCUMENTATION SKILLS - Don't Worry - Everyone does it - I mean, we will WORK TOGETHER.
At the time I created this assignment, I was reading a memoir written by Deborah Harry, the legendary singer of the 70s group Blondie. I found a FUN quote. You can check me for my format and punctuation.
PAGE FOUR
For our Final Exam, no one will see a two-hour essay exam; instead my students will be asked to share their SEMESTER READING MVPs and SOUNDTRACK SELECTIONS- It will require them to combine their MUSIC and their READING PLEASURE - All I ask is for them to display a few of the new academic skills we have developed over the semester. QUOTE SANWICHES are GOOD. MLA DOCUMENTATION is GREAT.
I'm not going to lie - By the end of the semester we will have done our share of writing - Many of my students will be worried about your other exams - Some of them will be TIRED - I'm going to be WASTED! - This assignment provides them with the opportunity to WRITE WHAT THEY WANT TO WRITE ABOUT - Just as long as THEY are able to DISPLAY their CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS for their FAVORITE READING of the semester. IT WORKS.
Last semester, I chose a passage from Paradise Travel as my READING MVP - I searched the novel for an idea, scene, character, event that TOUCHED MY HEAD and MY HEART. I followed up my MVP discussion with a Frank Sinatra song, "New York, New York." You'll get it when you read it.
Many of my students choose their music form Hip-Hop, Heavy Metal, Musica Norteña - IT'S ALL GOOD - but that's because they can JUSTIFY their selection - What makes it the PERFECT SONG to represent their MVP?
Here is my Frank Sinatra post from my previous classroom blog - Jay's Writer's Paradise.
Here is a sample Final Exam submission from one of my Fall students - She found her MVP in the very first story you will read this semester - "Only Daugher" by Sandra Cisneros.
Jay's Note: I refer to this Final Exam Project as a "CELEBRATION OF STUDENT WRITING"
I look forward to READING and WRITING with my NEW STUDENTS in SPRING 2025.
Let's All Plan to Publish our Best Writing in Jay's Next Blog - SUMMER 2025!
At my age I enjoy listening to the music of Bob Dylan more than ever – it’s been like fifty years now - but I have to admit I understand his lyrics less than I ever did before. Take your pick: the Old Stuff and/or the New Stuff. I’m just not that smart to follow his poetry. I know, I know if I was writing an essay in a music appreciation class, I would get it. I’ve met the challenge for my share of Shakespeare and French Poetry teachers. It’s a different story, though, when Bob’s voice comes out my car stereo. I try and try, but I can rarely piece his songs together in my head so they make sense. His lyrics fly around my head like wrappers in the wind. It's like I can't grasp hold of anything. In one of my classroom discussions, I bring up the short story “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue” because the author, Joyce Carol Oates, dedicated it to him after hearing this song on the radio. I do my best not to lie to my students. I don’t explain to them I know much about the song, in the same way I let them enjoy the story without my analysis. Who am I to say? I do like Bob’s gravely voice. I love his (changing) style. He has lived his life and led his career like no one else before or since. From the very beginning he shaped his own legend when he arrived in freezing cold New York City with nothing than a guitar and fifty dollars in his pocket. He was about the same age as most of my students are now. But at age nineteen, he already carried himself with VISION. AMBITION. NO FEAR People in the coffee houses and bars where he played in the early sixties must have felt they were looking at a YOUNG man from another planet. He sounded so different from anything they had ever heard. I don’t know who he is singing about in “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue.” I doubt Joyce did either. Everywhere I look, someone says something different. His songs are EMOTIONAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, POLITICAL, WEIRD! More questions than answers! He’s a Sphynx. Like a famous philosopher said in a famous movie I saw, he’s like "A Mystery Wrapped In A Riddle Inside An Enigma!” That’s why I LOVE him, I tell my students. In several of my classes, we write research papers on the sixties. I hope I can convince a few of my students to write about Bob Dylan. Without him, the decade would have been a whole lot different.
Recently I read Dylan’s The Philosophy of Modern Song. Here Dylan writes like he sings. I’ve noticed he doesn’t like to explain his own music, but as a writer of prose, he sheds important insight for the songs of others. He knows what to look for. He gets to the heart of the music. I doubt that I will ever see or hear a fraction of what he does, but reading his book, is like listening to his songs, I just want more.Early in this post, I identified the Joyce Carol Oates dedication to Bob Dylan for her story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” This is high praise coming from a Pulitzer Prize Winner for Fiction to a Nobel Prize Winner for Literature. Joyce knows of what she speaks. But who can Bob Dylan possibly look up to. His passion for music precedes him wherever he goes, on stage and off. From reading his Philosophy of Modern Song, it’s clear to me that he loves the music and craft of others as much as he cherishes his own. Just thinking about it makes me recall the Jimi Hendrix cover of “All Along the Watchtower.” You know, “Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.” Bob released this song on one of his more obscure albums called John Wesley Harding. When Jimi heard this song, he made it his. He took a dense, complicated folk tune and electrified it the way he only can. It just might be TRUE that more people identify “All Along the Watchtower” with Jimi than they do with Bob. Jaja. Bob might be included. He has repeatedly credited Jimi for bringing it to life. For those who are counting, Bob has performed live “All Along the Watchtower” more than any song in his canon. He plays it more in the style of Jimi than Bob. It’s his TIP of the HAT to an artist he loves and respects.
This book, The Philosophy of Modern Song, goes out to all the songs and artists Bob Loves. When I was 14, I played basketball fourteen hours a day. I grew up reading about North Carolina Tarheel Phil Ford and LSU Tiger Pete Maravich in Sports Illustrated. These guys were my b-ball heroes. I’m not sure if I remember reading much about their attitudes or their philosphies, but their dedication to their craft inspired me to leave the house early and not come back until dark. At the age of fourteen, Bobby Zimmerman must have heard Elvis for the first time on late-night AM radio signals drifting up from St. Louis. I have a feeling he put as much time into his music as I did my basketball, but he must have intuited a better understanding for the songs he listened to. I mean, at this time in the mid-fifties, he may have had little support or confirmation for the music he chose. He grew up in an all-white region of Minnesota’s Iron Range. There was a reason he wasn’t hearing Elvis on mainstream radio stations. To me, Phil Ford and Pete Maravich were basketball magicians. There weren't enough hours in the day I could practice to be like them. Bobby, however, was in a different place. When he listened to Elvis, he heard things inside his head that no one else did. He felt the magic.
In his Philosophy of Modern Song, Bobby Z analyzes everything from rhymes to syllables to the history and culture of each artist and songwriter in each essay. For Bobby Darin’s “Beyond the Sea,” he shares the French origins of the songs, the sub-context of the lyrics, and Bobby D's phrasing. This is DEEP. I would have never known or understood. But, Bobby Z doesn’t confuse me like a music teacher – instead, he can explain what he hears from the song in terms I can understand: “He [Bobby Darin] keeps it simple even when he’s singing about nothing. The sea, the air, the mountins and the flowers. It all floats. It never touches the ground (89). My favorite chapter in the book may be about the song “On the Street Where You Live” by Vic Damone. Bob understands the story behind the song. The lyrics convey a broken-hearted man who stalks the girlfriend who has abandoned him. I know Vic Damone from his marriage to James Dean’s girlfriend Anna Maria Pierangeli. In one moment, James planned to marry Anna, and in the next he was sitting on his motorcycle across the street from the church where she married Vic. Just like in the song, James must have felt pulled down a street where he didn’t belong. All the money and fame that came with is iconic Hollywood legend couldn’t compare to the loneliness of losing the Love of his Life.
The Philosophy of Modern Song begins with a full-page picture of Elvis visiting a record store. From where his eyes are directed, he looks like he's studying a Harry Belafonte album. Just below, I can see A Tribute Record to James Dean. This seems very apropos. Bobby and Elvis are kindred spirits. If Bob was to choose an Elvis photo to lead off his first book in twenty years, I can understand why he shows Elvis in a record shop rather than on stage. Without these types of visits, neither of them would become the world-changing legends as we know them today.
The book is dedicated to Doc Pomus. THIS I UNDERSTAND. My students are not going to know this name, but his influence on Bobby Z may have been on a par with Elvis. Doc was born with the name Jerome Felder and grew up in Brooklyn. Like Bobby, he was a Jew that changed his name to something HIP to to escape his dreary surroundings. At age six, sadly, he contracted polio. This was before the invention/institution of polios shots – when a large percentage of young children either had their legs amputated or they died as a result of complications. Young Jerry became a cripple and an outcast. He was bullied for being a Jew. He was beaten for his defenseless nature. He was ostracized for his love of black music. Somehow, like a story in the movies, Jerry grew up to be one of the most influential songwriters of the fifties and sixties, for he turned his misery into beautiful songs that we all can connect with it. This was a guy who for most of his an adult couldn’t walk without braces or crutches. In fact, he spent much of his time writing his songs from a wheelchair. Probably, he wrote his most famous song “Save the Last Dance for Me” at his own wedding. Who takes the time to work at his own wedding? That would be Doc Pomus because his disability prevented him from dancing with his own bride.
Anyone who hears the song will understand the anguish of Doc watching his bride happily dance with one man after another, when all he could do was watch. Sitting there at a table, he borrowed a pen and wrote out the song on the back of a wedding invitation. It took him about a half hour, but when he was done he had written the story of his life.
I like reading about the ways Graham Greene makes his writing happen. To many he is known as a travel writer, having written many of his novels and short stories on the road. Upon touching down in a foreign country he seems to have a sixth sense for the lay of the land. He knows his way around an airport bar; this is where he begins making contacts and developing ideas. In this year alone, I’ve read about his journeys deep into Mexico, Cuba, Viet Nam, Haiti. All these books open my eyes to exotic and hidden cultures and politics. I don’t know how he does it. How does he commicate? Maybe his most powerful novel, The Power and the Glory, caputres the intense division between the rich and the poor in Mexico. Greene doesn’t speak Spanish. Nada.
This week, I read his first widely-successful novel, Brighton Rock, published in 1936. You can’t really call this one a travel novel, for Graham G didn’t have to venture too far from home in London. He had his nimd set on writing a noir thriller set in an English beach town. According to today’s travel guides, it’s an hour-and-a-half trip by train to Brighton. This worked! He could maintain an office or a hotel room in Brighton and escape all personal and professional distractions. He shared his address and phone number with no one but his wife. This is how he may have established his routine of typing up 500 words per morning and drinking the rest of the day. In between bars, he would make his obversations and develop his plots. From his propensity to consume martinis, it’s pretty clear he was attracted to the dark side of life.
In Brighton, he stumbled upon a true-to-life news story about a gang of street thugs that staged a bloody attack on a group of horse-racing bookies. Their modus operandi (MO) was to slash their opposition with straight razors. On occasion, they splashed acid in the faces of their rivals. Brighton Rock is the story of a street urchin named Pinkie that rises to the top of his gang at age seventeen. He becomes the gang leader when his mentor’s throat is slashed. Pinkie is the logical choice for gangleader. He is a Scarface Jr. type. He is violent, psychotic, devoid of any human feeling. Most of all, He’s hellbent on revenge for his mentor’s murder. This was the only man he ever respected or loved. Nothing was going to get in his way holding him back. In Brighton Rock, Graham G comes up with the idea of pitting Pinkie against an all-Jewish gang who looks to take over the city. Pinkie is not going to let that happen. There is an innocent young woman that gets in the way. Her name is Rose, and she is only sixteen. Pinkie is probably going to have to kill her before he gets to the Jews.
At this point, there may be a few reading this that wonder why does Mr. Lewenstein seem to love the work of an apparent anti-semetic author. This isn’t the first time Green has portrayed his Jewish characters in a nasty light, nor will it be the last. In Brighton Rock, upstart teen thugs visits a Jewish crime boss in a luxurious hotel. Pinkie feels the poison rush through in his veins when he senses Jews looking at him from all sides. In the lobby, he he sees two “Jewesses” giving him the eye. The author refers to them as “little bitches.” This encounter did not pass me by, but I’ve read enough history to know that the attitude directed here to Jews was not unusual. Brighton Rock was published early in 1938. Later that year in November – on the night of Krystallnacht – Nazi leaders initiated a series of pogroms on German Jews. Some 30,000 Jews were rounded up and shipped off to concentration camps, while the world watched and did nothing.
Famously, or infamously, In 1939, 900 Jews paid the Nazi regime everything they had to escape the country with their lives on the ship the S.S. St. Louis bound for Cuba. I read about this harrowing event in a novel called The German Girl. The story of the St. Louis is a nightmare everyone should know about. 937 Jews made the trip but upon arrival to Cuba, corrupt government officials demanded an extra 500 dollars a head to debark. Of course these Jews didn’t have the money because they gave everything they had to the Nazis. The United States and Canada had strict restrictions for the acceptance of European refugees. Shanghai, maybe the only port in the world that was taking Jews, was now occupied by a hostile Japanese force. The world turned its back. The St. Louis was forced to turn back to Europe. Of the all the Jews on the boat, more than 600 of them eventually died in Nazi concentration camps.
I’m sure many readers out there may have wanted their authors to speak out against Jewish persecution. Nowhere in Brighton Rock does Greene call out for the killing of Jews as a people, but it’s clear he pushes the ugly stererotypeof the greedy Jew in his narrative. Pinkie hatred is rooted in a Jewish gangster moving in on his territory. This Jew has an italian name, Colleoni. I don’t know why Greene couldn’t bring up the image of “Italian bitches.” Maybe Green was anti-semetic. Maybe he wasn’t. He did have a keen eye for detail. In 1938, everywhere you went you may have seen animosity directed against a Jew.
I, for one, feel a little bit queezy when I see people label my favorite authors based on a small percentage of their writing: Grham Greene, Ernest Hemingway, Roald DahlI, etc. In fact, I don’t like anyone telling me what to read or what to think; like critics, journalists, and TEACHERS. I see a problem with reading levels and enthusiasm of our current generation of students – they have come up in a system of standardized education answering questions out of the back of a chapter. They all know that their best answers will mimic what the teacher says. Teaching English has become BORING, for I see many students who have lost interest in thinking for themselves. They wait for someone else’s messaging.
In my mind, Graham is is a literary GREAT. Let me say that here. He writes on multiple levels. In Brighton Rock, there is a couple of ugly Jews, and there are a lot of failed Catholics. Each time I read a Graham G novel ONCE, I will read it a SECOND time. In Brighton Rock, Graham G has created a tight crime thriller. Others will examine the religious questions he integrates into the narrative. My students love to speak to me about PSYCHO-KILLERS they see in their movies. Pinkie, the ironically-named main character in Brighton Rock, will give them a run for their money. He is devoid of feelings and/or morals. He has plans to KILL the young girl he MARRIES. The only reason he marries her is to protect himself from a murder prosecution. He found out that a wife cannot testify against her husband. He associates LOVE with PAIN. Jaja. The problem Pinkie finds in this novel, is the more AWFUL he treats his wife, the more she LOVES HIM. She is a devout Catholic. She tells him that she would rather burn in Hell than lose him.
This is why I read every Graham Greene novel TWICE. At times this books will be violent. Other times they will be funny, historical, psychological, religious, but always complex. There is so much going on in this novel, I have to think that many readers forget about the depravity of the characters and start to ROOT for them. (I'm reminded of the Brad Pitt character in the film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. This is the one Brad P won the Oscar. We all love Brad! But if you saw this movie, do you remember that he KILLED HIS WIFE?)
My favorite character in this novel is a big-breasted lounge singer that enters the picture. Her name is Ida Arnold. My mother's name is Ida. Both these women are relentless when they cling on to an idea. There is no way you can avoid their grasp. Ida Arnold has a drunken moment with Pinkie's first murder victim. Whens he finds that the police are doing nothing to find his killer, she takes on the case herself, as amateur, big-breasted drunk detective. In her quest to find the murderer, she stumbles on Rose who may be a witness to the crime. She finds out that Pinkie has married her to keep her quiet. Both Pinkie and Rose hate her. She follows them like a dog. Pinkie and Rose will never have a moment's peace as long as Ida is on their trail. WHO IS THIS CRAZY WOMA?, they say. Neither of them knows. In the middle of a wicked plot, Ida provides comic relier. Graham G probably met up with Ida on a real-life drunken afternoon in Brighton. Let's call it research. That's how Graham G rolls.
The other Ida is my mother. She will never find anything funny in a Graham Greene novel. Her family escaped religious persecution in Eastern Europe at the turn of the twentieth century. They travelled by foot with whatever they could carry. Graham Greene wrote Brighton Rock in an atmosphere of Fear and Hatred. Everyone knew what was being done to the Jews, but few did anything about it. As I write this, President Trump’s anti-immigration language during his campaign looms heavily over our heads. Will he really impose his program of mass deportation for undocumented Mexicans? We are only weeks away from his inauguration He said he would make his move on Day One. There is nothing FUNNY about this guy, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention.
My students next semester may not recognize the name Elizabeth Taylor. We will be reading a sixties novel and writing sixties research papers. I myself just might write a practice essay on Elizabeth Taylor to serve as a model paper that I can post on canvas and/or my classroom blog. Here is Liz's identifer: in 1964 she was often referred to as the most beautiful woman in the world. She was a child star turned Hollywood icon. At age 32, she was making an unheard-of one million dollars per picture. Maybe that’s because her fans were hypnotized by her violet eyes. That was their real color. This was before the invention of contacts. The color had something to do with the amount of melanin in the iris of each eye. Liz had recently starred as Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile. Paparatzi chased her wherever she went. Fans lined the streets to see her movies. She may have been the most famous woman in the world.
This is when she was offered the role of a frumpy, angry, fifty-year-old alcoholic wife in the film version of Who’s Afraiid of Virginia Woolf. Liz had read the Edward Albee play – it was a major hit on the Broadway stage – but she had never seen it performed. What she didn’t understand was why would a major studio offer this role to her. She would have to age twenty years and put on thirty pounds. Martha, the role she would play, was clearly psychotic, and Elizabeth was known for her reticence and control on the big screen. She intimates with her eyes, not her mouth. She would have to wear wigs, protheses, and ugly costumes, but screenwriter/producer Ernest Lehman must have known what he was doing. He has said, “I had seen a photograph of Elizabeth angrily point her finger at her [then] husband in a manner I immediately saw as Martha-like.” Her new and current husband, Richard Burton, agreed with Lehman. The role of Martha would present Liz with the chance to show her true screen magic. It would be transformative. Her fans would look beyond her beauty and see her talent as a serious actress. Martha would become her Hamlet. Richard, in fact, would become her George, her henpecked husband in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
This play/film turns the tormented, middle-aged marriage of a frustrated college professor and an angry housewife - like inside out. They are at each other's throats from the beginning to the end. They terrorize a young couple who they have invited to the house after a late-night faculty party. The drinking is hardcore. The screaming is off-the-hook. Liz and Dick not only nail the roles of George and Martha, but they become George and Martha.Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a veritable horror show. Moviegoers of the 1960s, clearly unprepared and jolted by the performance, walked out of theaters trembling, while Liz and Dick laughed all the way to the bank.
I’m not writing a book report here, but I enjoyed reading about the behind-the-scenes story for how this movie was made. Edward Albee’s play hit Broadway at the heels of 1950s. This was the "I Love Lucy" era in American entertainment. Nothing on the stage or on the screen was remotely approaching the complexities of what goes on behind closed doors in a tormented marriage. At least not with this vigor and honesty. In "Lucy," the networks prohibited their writers to use the word "bathroom" in their scripts. In Virginia Woolf, characters are puking their guts out on the bathroom floor. Emotion is laid bare. Edward Albee grew up as an adopted child by parents he felt didn’t love him. As a young man, when he recognized he was gay, he broke ties from his adopted family and moved to New York City. In fact, it was in a Manhattan gay bar, he discovered someone had written in lipstick, “Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” on a bathroom mirror. This was a transformative moment in his life. Living an openly gay lifestyle was nothing like it is today. Until the 1970s, homosexuality was still considered ilegal in many states in this country. At the time Edward A. may have felt anbandoned, persecuted, angry; in 1961, his play came to him in stages. The secret lives of George and Martha called out to him to write!
Although Edward A's Virginia Woolf would become a huge success on Broadway, there would be much industry trepidation for it's conversion to a feature film. In the mid-sixties, these were the run-of-the mill, successful romance films to capture the public imagination: Pillow Talk; Kiss Me, Sutpid; The Parent Trap... Not a lot of stories about brutal, vulgar hateful arguments between two middle-aged spouses. Most business plans developed by the major movie studios weren't focused on making their audiences uncomfortable or sick. The language from the original play was not yet to be heard inside a movie theater. The themes of the play up until then were mostly kept in the dark. Who would want to see two parents engage in a violent argument over the death of their child? Rock Hudson and Doris Day, this was not! Ernest Lehman, the screenwriter, had made a name for himself in adopting Broadway hits for the movies, such as The Sound of Music and West Side Story. He had recently enhanced his reputation by converting his own novela to the screen, The Sweet Smell of Success. Not a F-Bomb to be found in any of these. No one could know what to make of first-time film director Mike Nichols. His success was based on recent Broadway hits with names like Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, and Luv. Something tells me that, despite their proven track records, neither Lehman or Nichols had ever approached the challenge of working with Liz and Dick.
In real life, these two were tour-de-force alcoholics.Dick, who was born to a Welsh mining family, began his drinking at age eleven. This was his life. His father worked in the mines from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., six days a week, seeing the sun only on Sundays. His father was a boozer. Dick grew up in a small village where the drinking was constant and cheap. Fortunately for Dick, once he stepped on the stage in a prep school drama program, the people around him immediately recognized his genius. They pushed him to pursue a career in the arts at the highest levels. The failed to recognize, however, his nearly suicidal drinking problems. By the mid-sixties, Dick boasted that he could drink a half gallon of cognac or a fifth of whiskey during one night’s stage performance. At the time of Virgina Woolf, he was drinking 3-4 bottles of hard alcohol per day. Dick was not only a mentor to Liz in her acting, but he also became an inspiration for her drinking. Liz was proud that she could keep up with her husband, or anyone else for that matter.
My favorite story in this book features the first meeting between Dick and Liz on the set of Cleopatra. It was in the studio commisary/dining hall. Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, meets Marc Anthony, powerful Roman General. They were both in full costume. Dick was dressed in his mini-tunic. Liz's eyes were shaded with thick, stormy blue make-up. It was clear Dick was suffering from a severe hangover. From where Liz was standing, she could see gin blossoms exploding across Dick's face. When he tried to raise a cup of coffee to his lips he shook so badly, that his drink spilled right down his costume. He asked Elizabeth for help. “Hold this, love, will you hold it to my mouth?” Liz must have fallen for his vulnerabiltity. She found someone she could care for. The feeling was mutual. “I fell in love at once,” Richard said later. “She was like a mirage of beauty of the ages, irresistible like the pull of gravity.” It was the beginning of a beautiful and stormy relationship.
For me, this is the most engaging part about Virginia Woolf: beyond the clear and present violence in the marriage between George and Martha, you can’t avoid seeing the love and need they have for one another. It’s COMPLEX. From the beginning of the movie, they are obsessed with hurting each other. In the opening scene, when Martha askes George for a kiss, he rejects her; Not because he has any bad feelings for her in the moment, but it’s that’s part of their game. Their marriage is a painful power struggle between a fat wife and a loser professor. For two more hours of the movie, their behavior will only get worse."I cannot stand it," George shouts at Martha. "You can stand it," she shouts back. "You married me for it!" Everyone assoicated with Virginia Woolf knew they were they were involved in a huge gamble, for no one could honestly predict the reaction of the audience. George and Martha were terrifying on screen. They were relentless. TOTAL WAR!
Liz and Dick were married for ten years. They divorced and then remarried. For this time period, they were the most famous couple in the world. Maybe for all time. Their fans were desperate to know of both their loving and their fighting. Considering who they were, and what they drank, their passion overflowed in the public imagination. There is one scene in the film, where George and Martha are fighting outside a roadhouse in the parking lot. The scene calls for physical abuse, and George appears to lose all control and slams Martha against his car. Liz's head goes CRACK! Dick reveals a true expression of fear for what he just did. Liz, the million-dollar superstar, demands to do the scene again, but harder. Director Nichols keeps the scene in the movie. Liz slumping to the ground like a bag of potatoes. Dick standing there dumfounded, not knowing what just happened. Two artists at the top of their game forever capture the Ugly Truth of their marriage on celluoid.
In the end, Virginia Woolf gave audiences what they wanted. It was the third highest grossing film of the year. All four of the main characters were nominated for Oscars. Liz came home with best actress statue. Somehow, somewhere, whatever Liz and Dick were saying, what ever they were yelling, they seemed to connect with their viewers in the dark. So much of the darkness of thier marriage was being illuminated on the screen. Of all the people associated with the production of Who is Afraid of Virginia Woolf Liz and Dick knew most what the play was truly about.
In Tortured Artists, we learn the sordid details of Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death. When she first began living the life a Hollywood legend, she of all people probably knew she would soon become a dead one. As a famous star, Marilyn lived her life under enormous scrutiny and criticism. Drugs became an avenue of escape. Sadly, she already had a history of mental illness in her family. The combination of pressure, drugs, and anxiety took her down a dark road for which there was no return. For example, at the age of four, Marilyn’s mother was placed in an asylum. Marilyn grew up in an orphanage. Later she found out her own grandmother had committed suicide. She must have thought mental illness ran in her genes. At age thirty six, when she felt herself losing her looks, she intensified her drug use. She didn’t know who she was anymore. She didn’t know if she was Norma Jean or Marilyn. The writer makes little comment about Marilyn’s suicide or murder. Instead, the writing reinforces the image of Marilyn’s living a life underneath a microscope. What may have pushed Marilyn to her death just may have been us – a public that didn’t want to see her grow old.
I'm not sure WHEN or HOW it happened, but my students listen to me a lot more closely when I'm talking about Marilyn Monroe. It was an ACCIDENT! In class, I had shared what I read in a book titled The Last Days of Marilyn Monroe by Donald H. Wolfe. The author begins his book by painting a detailed crime scene. On Saturday, Aug. 4, 1962, West Los Angeles Police Sergeant Jack Cleamons took the call at his watch commander desk. He was told to immediately report to the home of Marilyn Monroe. The famous movie star had been found face-down, naked, and DEAD in her own bed, apparently from a drug overdose. When Cleamons knocked on the door, he sensed something was wrong. Marilyn's housekeeper had answered the door. She apologized for making him wait, but she had been in the back of the house doing laundry. This was like at 4:30 a.m. The housekeeper's name was Eunice Murray. She had been washing sheets while the person she worked for was dead in her bedroom.
When Eunice led the sergeant to see Marilyn's dead body, Sergeant Cleamons was surprised to see two strange men in suits at Marilyn's bedside smoking cigarettes. They introduced themselves as Marilyn's doctors. They were psychologists and they shared the conclusion that Marilyn's death was a suicide. They showed him the empty pill bottles next to her bed. They explained Marilyn's history with depression and suicide thoughts. They also revealed they had discovered the body THREE HOURS before they reported Marilyn's death to the police. While they were filling in the sergeant in on Marilyn's most recent background, Eunice's nephew was replacing a broken window in the same bedroom where Marilyn lay dead. The doctors told Sgt. Cleamons that Marilyn's door was locked and they had to break the window to gain entry. Sgt. Cleamons was a seasoned professional. He saw bruises forming on Marilyn's body. She lay prostrate, like she had been moved. This wasn't Sgt. Cleamons' first suicide scene. Marilyn didn't look like the type of victim that would have swallowed more than fifty pills. Cleamons expected there would be signs of vomit and stress. Before Cleamons could extend his inquiry, he was replaced by a superior and told to go home. It wasn't going to be his case, he was told.
In several of my classes, my sharing of Marilyn's Death Scene has inspired many of my students to write research papers on the Life and/or Death of Marilyn Monroe. Of course, I ask them to write a summary of a research article. I'm happy for them to discover an important historical icon. They write about her childhood. They define her femininity. Did you know that Marilyn was at the forefront of the Me Too Movement? She was one of the first Hollywood stars to speak out about sexual harrassment in the workplace. I know that because I read about it in a Gloria Steinem memoir. A few years back, EVERYONE in my classes chose to write about Marilyn. They all chose different facets of her life. Later I titled the semester, of course, Jay's Project Marilyn.
I encourage students to explore their topics in a way they find the most INTERESTING. From the beginning of the project, they maintain their research articles in a project binder. Maybe, the third week or so, we annotate our articles and summarize them for use in our research papers. Below I share something they might see in a a canvas announcement or a classroom workshop. I try to model my summary for a Marilyn research article I found in an antholgy here on my shelves in Mexicali:
I tell my students THIS: There is no ONE way to write a summary of a research article, but a summary of a research article will go a long way to building credibility with YOUR readers. It shows you have done your homework. You care about what you are writing.I plan for my students to arrange their summaries high up in their research paper - Probably the THIRD PARAGRAPH. Share their most important/interesting research. The charts WORK for them. They often struggle with WHAT TO KEEP IN and WHAT TO LEAVE OUT. Focusing upon 5 W's and a H makes for a good beginning.
These days, en estos dias, I devote a chunk of each day to follow a Spanish-language telenovela on Netflix. This one is called Hache. From Spanish, Hache translates to the letter ‘H.’ In this case, H is for Helena, the protagonist of the series, a desperate single mother, who will do anything to provide a safe and meaningful life for her young daughter. Helena lives in the city of Barcelona, Spain in the 1960s. Her labor union leader husband has been wrongfully sentenced to prison for alleged communist activities. With little chance of taking care of herself or her daughter, Helena fatefully hooks up with a local Mafia leader. His name is Malpica and he controls the (H for) Heroin that is smuggled into the port of Barcelona. Helena finds herself up to her Head in drugs and murder.
But my title refers to my READING. I bring up this series Hache for my appreciation of the principle actress, Adriana Ugarte. She plays the desperate young mother who is forced by circumstance to enter a sleazy and violent underworld. Man, I want so bad to learn Spanish. I've never been much of a television viewer or moviegoer, but I've developed my own system of learning to suppement my Spanish-reading with my viewing of Spanish-language telenovelas. I enjoy watching Hache on Netflix, for I can stop the computer to replay anything I don't understand. I've seen Adriana U. before, maybe twenty years ago. She starred in a World War II spy series called El Tiempo entre las costuras. I found the novel in both English - The Time Between - and Spanish. I read them both as I watched the series. Later, I did the same with another Adriana U. series, Las Palmeras en la nieve, based on a novel by Luz Gabas. In this story, Adriana U. is a young woman who takes a dangerous journey to Central Africa to find the truth of her family history. For me learning Spanish is difícil. My progress is painstaikingly slow. I'm so happy I've found a Spanish-speaking actor to follow. Often, in my classes, I ask my students to share their film knowledge in group discussions and activities. They write about their favorite actors, and explain to me WHY and HOW they connect. They share poignant scenes they remember featuring Michael J. Fox, Scarlett Johanssen, Jennifer Lawrence. When they ask me about my favorite actor, my go-to now is Adriana Ugarte.
I feel my Spanish-speaking self has grown up with Adriana U. Recently, I came across her name in a Spanish-language Almodóvar film, Julieta. I don't know or understand much about Pedro Almodóvar, but this was a good find for me because I have the Alice Munro short-story collection on my shelves, Runaway, that inspired this movie. Jaja. If you thought Almodóvar's films come from Spain, you are correct. Alice Munro and her stories are based in Canada. I read that Almodóvar originally began production of his film in Vancouver, but he soon realized that his English skills were not advanced enough to capture the trauma of a Canadian protagonist. He soon retreated to España. That's where he picked up Adriana U. I suppose Pedro M watches the same telenovelas I do. Adriana U. is a brilliant actor. I've never heard her speak in English, but she knows how to exude despair on multiple levels. In Julieta, she plays a classics literature professor that loses both her husband and daughter. Her fisherman husband dies in boating tragedy. Soon thereafter, her teen-age daughter leaves her behind, runs away, without a word or a trace, never to return. Almodóvar chose to base his film on three consecutive short-stories from Alice M's work: "Chance," "Soon," and "Silence." I find the title of the third story the most meaningful. As a PhD in the classics, Julieta is obviously a deep and complex woman. This may be one reason she feels so lonely from the beginning of the film to the end. She's so passionate about her work, she may be numb to everything else around her. Julieta's deep hearbreak comes from the silence that overcomes her character when she enters emotional confrontations. When her husband cheats on her with her best friend, she has nothing to say to him, and when he washes up dead on shore, it's way too late to say anything at all. Her daughter seems adverse to this part of Julieta's personality. Like many teenagers she doesn't feel she gets the attention she deserves from her mother. At a certain point, she runs away to join a cult where her she can satisfy her spiratual needs.
I’m pleasantly surprised for the enjoyment I get in re-reading books off my shelves here in Mexicali. I guess I have become older and wiser. I feel I connect better with the characters in Alice Munro stories than ever I have before. Maybe it’s the SPANISH in me. One of my students this semester wrote a research paper about the benefits of language acquisition. He argued that learning a foreign language helps you develop muscles in your brain you may rarely use. I probably will be the last one to know if I am any SMARTER. My head doesn’t feel any BIGGER. But, I can tell you I like Alice Munro MORE twenty years after I first read her. I read her this time before I watched the movie. B.A. Before Angela. My favorite story in the book comes after the Julieta triology. It’s called “Passion.” It's about a young girl's quest for a "taste" of life. She's kind of cute, real smart, and here is the most important point: she's really bored with who she is, but she doesn't know who she wants to be. I'm stunned an old man like me can relate with young Grace, the girl who didn't want to be the way girls were supposed to be like. In fact - as a young boy of her age - I could have related to her stubborness. Munro gives us the best of both worlds. She has the ability to take us in and out of time. In doing so her writing touches both our heads and our hearts.
In "Passion," Grace goes back to a scene in her life that she is never going to get back. That seems pretty clear. From the time she is an ambitious high school student thinking about teaching herself Spanish, Italian and German, to the time she brazenly chooses a sloppy alcoholic love affair, Grace had shown a courage to go her own way. The story ends with the insight of an older woman.The older Grace retraces a key event in her life when she was able to leave her farmtown and work as a waitress in a lakeside restaurant. Grace paints a picture of a young girl soon to become a woman. She learns a new culture from the family she lives with. She learns of love from her first serious relationship. She approaches a sense of self-identity through the process. After all these years, we learn that Grace doesn't go back to this scene for any great memory of love or fufullment. She goes back to realize finally what her high school principal once told her before she began her adventure: what does learning have to do with life?
In this story she learns the hard way when at a crucial turning point in her life she abandons the reliable, lover in exchange for his sad, but drugged-out doctor brother. One was predictable. The other offered a "taste" of life. What does Grace know. What did she know. Everybody who reads the story knows what was going to happen when chooses to hop in the car with the drunk and leave the other brother behind. My favorite part is the end of the story. The older Grace narrates with such sharp disappointment that it turns the landscape gray. No matter how smart she is now, she can't go back... She's lucky to be alive, and he's dead.
At my age, I can now say I can connect much better with the characters Alice M offers in her stories. They are smart and beautiful, but they are hardly free. In the story “Chance,” the author writes, “In the town where she [Julieta] grew up, her sort of intelligence was often put in the same category as a limp or extra thumb and people had been quick to point out the expected accompanying drawbacks.” In “Passion,” Grace scores very high marks in high-school Chemistry, Trigonometry, Geometry and Biology. Her school doesn’t offer Greek, Italian, Spanish, and German, but in each, she learns to speak compentenly on her own! Her parents loved her, and her teachers admired her, but no one was pushing her to seek out high-level academic education. Alice M's characters grow up at a time where real success is to be sought out in marriage and motherhood.
I feel the depth of depression in both Julieta and Grace. Alice M deftly brings us inside her characters. Pedro A paints a story on their faces. My Spanish had deepened my empathy for other cultures and perspectives. There are a lot of scenes in these stories where women characters in all stages of their lives sit alone on busses and trains, and stare out the windows at their lives passing them by. It doesn't matter if it's in Canada or Spain. I think I get it now. These women want to feel some control of their own destinies, but their lives won't allow it. Their only place to run away is inside themselves.
It’s not to difficult to figure out WHO this book is about. The first chapter is titled “Big Angel’s Last Saturday.” The first words to the novel: “Big Angel was late to his own mother’s funeral.” In Spanish, Big Angel translates to Angelote, I mean, if I were to look it up, that’s what I would find, but I’m not sure if the definition does Angelote justice. Angelote is the in the center of everything. He is the patriarch of his family on both sides of the border that separates the United States and Mexico. From the beginning to the end of the book, he sets rules and expectations for how his friends and family are to act and behave, but apparently these rules don’t appy to him. I mean, he was LATE to his OWN MOTHER’S FUNERAL My mother doesn’t speak much Spanish, but she knows a lot of Yiddish. In Yiddish they would call Angelote a “Makher,” someone who thinks he/she is overly important. In Spanish, I think they call people like Angelote a “Cabron!”
I’m not writing a book report here, but I enjoyed this book so much, I read it TWICE: once in English, and then again in Spanish.It’s like the third or fourth Luis Urrea book or novel I’ve read. Like many of my students, Luis has lived on both sides of the border. Luis’s father was born in Sinaloa and his mother comes from New York. I’m not sure where they met, but Luis was born in Tijuana and raised in San Diego. In all of his books, he devotes ample time to his vision of The American Dream. From the beginning to the end in House of Broken Angels, Angelote has been on a mission to create a better life for his family. He has been estranged from his younger brother, also named Angel, but referred to in the novel as Little Angel (or Angelito). Angelito has always despised his older brother for his Old-School, Macho ways. Angelito is like a New-School Chicano, more sensitive and worldly. Where Angelote is shown to scratch and claw for everything he has ever believed in, Angelito abandoned the family early to pave his own way. The author’s BIG IDEA is to bring everyone together one last time before it’s too late, and spoiler alert: HE DOES.
If I were to run in to Angelote, like at work, in the neighborhood, Starbucks; I’m afraid I would never get a chance to know him very well. I would keep my distance. From my sideways glance, I can see he’s got an attitude, like he thinks he’s Bigger than Life. He has something to say to everybody, even the most casual of strangers. In the first chapter, he throws party a for himself. TO CELEBRATE HIMSELF. Because it’s his party, he talks down to everyone. I’m sixty-five, and he’s closing in on seventy. The difference in age is not that much, but I would always get the feeling he’s talking down to me. Like I just don’t know anything. How can I? I’m a gringo. He has lived his life with a chip on his shoulder. He has fought his way up from poverty in Mexico to live the good life just north of La Jolla. For forty years, he he has worked for Pacific Gas and Electric. He’s now an executuve with his own desk. He’s a boss. He's a jefe. This is the guy who takes great pride in his wristwatch. It’s BIG. That’s so everyone can see it. To be exact, it's a 43mm Invicta Dragon Lupah watch. The kind you might see on the writst of a bomber pilot. He liked to tap it. Like it was a musical instrument. I don’t think he’s making any fashion statement here, but he’s telling the world that he got to where he is now by coming in early and leaving late. He wants to make sure everyone knows that. It doesn’t matter that no one really knows what he does all day. That’s beside the point.
I DON’T LIKE WATCHES. I do not carry a cell phone where I can access it so easily. For me, once you begin thinking more the time of day, you think less of what you should be doing. Watches are a distraction. The symbolism is lost on me. In college I studied Kafka. Kafka super-power was his writing. He is now considered a literary genius, but during his lifetime he felt overwhelmed by his own misery and loneliness. From what I read about his writing process, he could create a brilliant sentence in one minute and want to throw himself out a window in the next. Wearing a watch could throw him off the deep end, for he would constantly check the time to see how long he had been sitting there at his desk pen-in-hand without writing anything substantial. I found this poem about Kafka in a book written by another one of my literary heroes, Raymond Carver. It’s called "Kafka’s Watch." Kafka may have been the polar opposite of Angelote, but for me their relationships to their watches will always remain significant.
I feel the pressure of the full eight or nine hours even in the last half hour of the day. It’s like a train ride lasting night and day. In the end you’re totally crushed. /You no longer think about the straining of the engine, or about the hills ofl at country, but ascribe all that’s happening to your watch alone. / The watch which you continually hold in the palm of your hand. Then shake. And bring slowly to your ear in disbelief.
But nevertheless, I LOVE Angelote.I take full responsibility for going off track here with my Kafka/Carver reference. But I can’t stop myself. In reading and re-reading The House of Broken Angels, I begin to see the sadness that Angelote carries deep inside his heart. At first, I couldn't help thinking that Angelote was all about Angelote, but after 300 pages I see that his love for his FAMILY is bigger than his love for HIMSELF. This is the way he rolls. He embeds himself into the lives of his family and friends, whether they like it or not. He CARES, but in seventy years he hasn't really learned how to show it. In his mind, getting everyone in one place for one last party is the best of all worlds. Only a few people know this: He has terminal cancer, and his doctors have told him he only has days to live. He's bound to a wheel chair. He is suffering so badly, his daughters need to help him bathe and go to the bathroom. This has to be a painful ending for such a Macho-Man. But, he's not going to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing his pain. That's why they call him Angelote.
In the night before he dies, Anglelote feels good about everything he has done at the party, and for that matter, feels immense pride for everything he has done in seventy years. NO REGRETS. This leads us to a tender and naked moment he spends with Perla, his beloved wife. Of course, he is on so many medications that prevent him from performing in bed, but that is not really his objective either. He wants to tell his wife on this night, Perla, how much he loves her. This is a tear-jerker, because the book begins with a chapter that describes the day he met her. It’s a poetic moment. This follows maybe 24 hours of difficult conversation with his little brother, Angelito. They reminisce about pain and sorrow of their ongoing separation. Their stories are different, but truths are the same. FAMILY is EVERYTHING.
I’m sorry I may have implied Angelote was a cabrón. Too few of us will understand what it was like for Luis Urrea to grow up in poverty-stricken, violence-ridden Tijuana, or for that matter, what it was like for Angelote to provide for his family in third-world Sinaloa. This book is full of sorrow and frustration. Grief, sadness, regrets. In the end, yes he does miss his own mother’s funeral. He can’t stand on his own two legs. He’s confined to a wheelchair. He’s not Big. He looks Small. But that doesn’t mean he will not push forward. In the dawn’s early light, Angelote sees his American Dream come to fruition. His family gives him the strength to do so. Today, he believes, and on to tomorrow. Luis Urrea writes, ”This is the prize: to realize, at the end, that every minute was worth fighting for with every ounce of blood and fire.”
Writing for enjoyment is something we should all be doing in the classroom; like, I don’t mean we should dumb anything down to make writing EAZY, but we should look for ways to make writing FUN. This semester, I have this queazy feeling in my stomach that many of my students not only hate writing, but they fear it. I can see them shiver when I introduce my assignments – like a cold wind suddenly blows through the room and across their faces. As a teacher, I try not to let their reactions scare me. If they see frustration on my face, things are only going to get worse. I mean, we are all in this TOGETHER. How can I convince them of that?
It came to me this morning, maybe at 4:00 or so. I was out on the streets for my daily walk in Mexicali (I can’t run anymore because of a damaged hip) and two cyclists came up from behind me out of the COLD and DARKNESS . Their lights were flickering and their mouths were moving. I think they were laughing. I suspect they were on their way to cross the border for an extensive workout before their days get started. They were talking to each other as if they were at a Starbucks or in a cantina. They paid me NO attention. In Mexicali, I often see groups of bike riders taking on extreme workouts in the early mornings. I wish I could join them. They look like they are having FUN.
Jaja. I bet they felt the COLD a lot less than I did.I thought how could I integrate the animation I heard in their voices into my classroom workshops? Upon arrival to class, I suspect many students gear up for a SLOG. For them it’s set in stone - they think wrting has to be hard work; otherwise it’s won’t become good work. My students sit STIFF at their desks, like they are waiting for a flu shot. But, this week it’s going to be DIFFERENT. I’ve Invited them to a Proofreading Party. Food. Drink. Cheery Conversation. Instead of writing in isolation, my goal is to get them to share their work. ENGAGE. I bring in colored pens an amusing article about Chinese food to read. I teach them how to identify errors in the text through the use universal proofreading symbols. This week we to take ONE STEP CLOSER to SUCCESS in their English 110 courses. Peer Review offers them the opportunity to provide and receive constructive feedback on their Research Projects. Below, I provide the following information to help them engage with their classmates:
Peer Editing Comment prompts
Highlighting Instructions
Jay's Sample Peer Editing Sheet
Jay's Tip: I know. I know, many of them may have little experience sharing their work with their classmates, but in my experience, it's always the BEST PART of the class. In Peer Review, my students find themselves writing for an audience. SOMEONE THEY KNOW IS ACTUALLY GOING TO READ THEIR WORK AND RESPOND.
THIS IS WHAT I TELL THEM: Listen to the feedback. Make the changes. Feel more confident for the next assignment. When I know someone is going to read my writing, I feel more FOCUSED and more MOTIVATED to get it right. I want to get better with each assignment!
The purpose of peer review is to help each other advance beyond the current draft toward the finished paper.Writing is never done in a vacuum, and peer reviews demonstrate the way in which all writing is social, part of a community dialogue, and subject to change based on the responses of the particular audience. There is a triangular relationship among writer, reader, and text, with each contributing to the balance of the whole. Peer reviews make this dynamic happen. At the same time, through peer reviews, students learn effective writing strategies to apply to future papers.
Jay's Tip to Students:LEARN A PROFESSIONAL SKILL!
Learn to become an ACTIVE and PRODUCTIVE participant at your job or in your future workplace.
Your ability to provide positive feedback will enhance your value to the company or organization you work for.
Please use the writing prompts listed below that will help you focus on effective questions or commentary to help your classmates.
THIS IS WHAT WE ARE GOING TO DO:
In small groups, let's first talk about our Community Profile Topics. Introduce to your classmates WHAT you wrote about and WHY it was interesting to do so. You should have something INTERESTING to share. Like, what did you learn? What will be important for your classmates to know?
This is when you will pass out PRINTED copies of your work to your classmates - Each individual of the group will read the first THREE paragraphs of his/her essay - OUT LOUD.
This way, your classmates can read your work while you do - They will be able to identify your most important points and best writing.
Advice for Peer Review Participants: Don’t focus exclusively on grammar and mechanics. Your goal is not to edit but rather to offer constructive and helpful feedback. Use a positive, encouraging tone, explain why a change should be made, and offer suggestions for effective revisions!
For starters, When you share your work, the FIRST THING to do is review the FORMAT of the work:
MLA heading is in order: student name, teacher name, hour, date (written out)
Title is unique
Title is centered and is in 12 point times font
Paragraphs are indented
Paper is double spaced with no extra spaces between paragraphs
Parenthetical notations are included
Below, I provide a few Peer Editing Prompts to help student feedback:
Title: What do you think of the title? Is it interesting, informative, and indicative of the
writer’s stance? Is there an appropriate subtitle. Did the writer make effective use of the colon?
* What would you say this essay is about. Do you have a clear sense of why the writer is writing about this topic?
* Now, do you care? What is written here that may appeal to you or others in the class? Is there something that grabs your attention?
Quote Sandwich: Has the writer made a good choice with the selected quote. I mean, does it capture your attention? Is it interesting? Now, do you want to know more about the topic? Does the writer explain the significance of the quote?
Did the writer provide a little background for the quote?
Is there an effective SIGNAL PHRASE to introduce the quote?
Please check for PUNCTUATION. Quotations marks. Periods.
VERY IMPORTANT - Is there an in-text citation that follows the quote?
Does the writer explain the significance of the quote?
Jay's Delayed Thesis:
Does the writer present an effective Research Question?
Before the thesis is presented, does the writer share bits and pieces of what he/she has read.?
Don't Forget: An in-text citation needs to be inserted to inform the reader where this informatin came from.
Does the THESIS appear at the end of the second paragraph - Is it in BOLD FACE - Has it been underlined?
DOES IT MAKE SENSE?
In your own words, can you explain the author’s thesis or main idea?
Summary of a Research Article or Research Idea:
Does this paragraph begin with a topic sentence - Is the main idea stated clearly inthe first sentence of the paragraph?
Does the writer identify the title of the article and the name of the author?
Do you see specific reference/explanation to the WHO, WHAT, WHY, HOW elements of the article.
Do you see appropriate IN-TEXT CITATIONS that inform you where the information comes from.
OK, Now you know what to look for - Please use your HIGHLIGHTERS to identify key elements of writing - Like this:
( Use your own choice of colors - Use what is available)
Last but not least, LEAVE A POSTIVE COMMENT - What is the best part of this paper? Did you learn something new. Did you appreciate the effort? What can you say to support your classmate?
Below, I share a Sixties Research Paper for Janis Joplin
I used Word Annotations because it was easier this way for me to present a model of Peer Review on Canvas
I took a SNIP of the first paragraph - I tried to follow my own directions the best I could.
YOU should be able to leave at least FIVE comments for your classmate.
TAG! - YOU ARE IT! - Use the following Peer Editing Suggestions to Complete your Peer Editing Assignment - to be submitted on Canvas.
For me, the worst part of a writing class is having to write what the teacher wants you to write, not what you want to write. That’s so boring for the students. That’s even worse for the teacher. Everything looks and sounds the same. This semster my students have chosen their own subjects and topics for a Community Profile project. Their writing about Teen Pregnancy, Immigration Struggle, Broken Homes. My goal this week is to provide a positive, trusting atmosphere for my students to share their work and collaborate at their tables. They will discuss important issues that affect their lives. LESS of ME. MORE of THEM. From what I’ve read so far, my students will have more insight into each other’s topics than I will. This is the FUN part of writing: when students have the opportunity to explore their personal thoughts and feelings, and know someone will listen and care.
You are what you read.The first week of the semester students take the time to introduce themselves through their reading. We call it “Book Out of Your Past.” Instead of the brief mention of their hobbies and pets, they reflect upon a memorable literary experience. They post their fondest memories and greatest discoveries. We don’t really care what the book was about, but we want to know how this reading experience affected them. Often is the case, they find they are not alone in their appreciation of their selection. You might not judge a book by its cover, but here we learn what is often hidden inside of others.
The Sixties were a time of change. We saw new hope with the election of John. F. Kennedy. The Civil Rights Movement created forward progress in diminishing racial injustice. The Beatles inspired an entire generation with peace and love. However, we also witnessed great tragedy. The assassination of President Kennedy and the escalation of the Vietnam War would forever alter our trust in our own government. The deaths of Marilyn Monroe, Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King are clouded in conspiracy to this day. We look at Woodstock as an iconic event of the decade, but we will never forget Manson family massacre. My students follow the upheaval of the times through characters in the novels they read in class. Their research papers compare a seminal moment, event, person, or idea of the Sixties with a present-day counterpart. On the following pages look for students reflect upon the effect of hippie culture on today’s hip-hop culture. Have we learned anything from our experience in Vietnam? Look for writing that focuses upon our role in the Middle East. Can you see a relationship between JFK and Barack Obama? The Feminist Movement and today’s Gay Rights Movement? Janis Joplin and Taylor Swift? My students are going back to the future.
This is not your father’s essay. Not your mother’s, I tell my students. Not your typical English 101, five-paragraph essay. With this “Faces in the Crowd,” assignment, students profile an interesting, important figure in their own community. We use our writing to open up a greater discussion of social and political import. With first-hand research of an uncle’s minimum-wage job experience in the fields, for example, a student can better address the issue of worker rights. An interview with a former teacher can lead nicely into an insightful paper about educational reform. Here is our goal: to provide our own commentary, questions, interpretations, clarifications or even feelings of what we have read and heard. In other words, we take possession of our source and establishing our presence in our papers. The writing here reflects the diversity of student interest and concern regarding important issues in our community.
Girl, Interrupted speaks to our hearts and minds. When we read this memoir during the semester I notice more students arriving earlier and leaving later. Everyone seems to have something to say. Author Susanna Kaysen writes of her turbulent teen-age years when she was creative, intelligent, and uncontrollable. We know that. We can see the beauty in her writing and also the anger. The closer people try to get to her, the more distant she becomes. Ultimately her parents commit her to MacLean Mental Hospital. This is the true-to-life story of a young girl who had it all and threw it away. No one knows why. Not even Susanna herself. Do you know anyone like that? My students seem like they do. In the following pages, they write with compassion and insight.
Can you explain sacrifice? I mean how far are you willing to go? Ok, we all know sacrifice is the performance of an unselfish act. But, it’s not just about giving; it’s about giving everything. Did you see what Jack did for Rose at the end of the Titanic? How do people completely lose themselves to the need for revenge? Where does it come from? Where does it lead? It’s worse than an addiction to crack cocaine. Most people bent on revenge can’t stop until they’ve completely destroyed themselves and everyone around them. Have you experienced true love? It’s the craziest thing ever. It’s like getting hit by a truck! Who could possibly explain it, but when you feel it in your heart you know exactly what it is. Think of Allie and Noah in "The Notebook." Here, students have been asked to define an idea on their own terms. Instead of looking to the dictionary, they look to the big screen. They analyze, evaluate, and interpret their favorite characters and scenes. They write about true meaning.
”I wish someone knew what I was going through…” Too many of our young people are suffering in the shadows. We hope our classroom research and writing will contribute to a “safe zone” on campus where students, staff and instructors can develop understanding of complicated mental health issues. Our goal is to break the negative stigma associated with mental illness. For starters, we look to create a cross-the curriculum dialogue of anxiety, depression, drug addiction, and suicidal thoughts. Over time, our posts will offer information relative to disorders, diagnosis, and treatment information. Let’s face it. None of us by ourselves is trained or confident to identify or alleviate extreme emotional trauma, but the writing in our Mental Health Encyclopedia may help facilitate important discussion. We believe a knowledgeable community plays an important role in helping students express themselves.
Tattoos are visual arguments, personal statements. They tell us where a person stands. Here, students have been asked to develop a critical analysis of a tattoo of their choosing. Like in all of their writing, they will consider context. What do they know of the design? How does the tattoo impact the perception of the person wearing it? How does the tattoo connect with the person’s life? Who is the target audience? In answering these questions, writers will pay close attention to shapes, colors, and details. What are the first visual elements to catch the eye? What is the relationship between the image and any text that might accompany it?
Most of my students argue tattoos are an important/interesting form of self-expression.
OK. What is the wearer of the tattoo trying to say?
Tortured Artists put it all out there for all of us to see, but with great art often comes great misery. The pressure to generate or perform can create inner turmoil and volatile personality. Our discussions in class on this subject began with Judy Garland who played Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” After bursting on the Hollywood scene as a child star, she spend the rest of her life on drugs and alcohol trying to come down. At age 27, Kurt Cobain blew his head off with a shotgun. His suicide note implied it was the Ritalin he took as a child for attention-deficit disorder that propelled him to a life-long battle with heroin. Vincent van Gogh characterized his mania as a mixed blessing. His intense emotion spurred him on to produce a painting a day. He also chewed on tubes of oil paint and cut off his own ear. Here, we are inspired by the insanity of creativity. In the following pages our students explore the troubles that lie just beneath surface of our favorite artists.
Life is a mirror and will reflect back to the thinker what he thinks into it. Ernest Holmes said this, but now its my students' turn to reflect. They are writing visual analyses of images associated with their research papers. Did you know the average American woman is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 140 pounds, but the average American model is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 117 pounds? My students write about pressure and anxiety inflicted on us by the media. Rarely are women completely satisfied with what they see in the mirror. In this environment, they develop unhealthy obsessions with their bodies that can lead to tragic circumstances. Our posts encourage young women to challenge these constraints, and be able to feel comfortable in their own bodies, no matter what. Others approach bipolar disorder, depression, teenage suicide from a variety of different angles. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Tortured Artists put it all out there for all of us to see, but with great art often comes great misery. The pressure to generate or perform can create inner turmoil and volatile personality. Our discussions in class on this subject began with Judy Garland who played Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” After bursting on the Hollywood scene as a child star, she spend the rest of her life on drugs and alcohol trying to come down. At age 27, Kurt Cobain blew his head off with a shotgun. His suicide note implied it was the Ritalin he took as a child for attention-deficit disorder that propelled him to a life-long battle with heroin. Vincent van Gogh characterized his mania as a mixed blessing. His intense emotion spurred him on to produce a painting a day. He also chewed on tubes of oil paint and cut off his own ear. Here, we are inspired by the insanity of creativity. In the following pages our students explore the troubles that lie just beneath surface of our favorite artists.
Perfectly Imperfect - from Lemec Torres - English 110 In English 009, Lemec explored the stigma of mental illness in a class research paper. In English 110, she developed a community profile for a unique subject living in nearby Slab City. You will see a little bit of everything here in her Perfectly Imperfect blog
Deep EcoMatter - Cindy Huguez - English 009 It's been three days since the accident and I still can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I can hear the sound of the train approaching us, getting closer and louder, the wheels scraping on the metal train tracks, the pessimistic look of despair on their faces, and worst of all, the piercing scream that still haunts my ears
The Realist - Juana Bustos - English 009
My mother, the only parent I know, is both a mom and a dad to me. Both of my parents would work, but even then my father would demand for my mothers paychecks. He'd use that money to get totally wasted, and it went on for a while like this....
Brandy's World - Brandy Moya - English 008 In the book “Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility” the most valuable part is when Chuy offered a ride to Yoli on his motorcycle through many places of the San Diego city. no. Yoli thought she hadn’t heard him right...
Sonia's - Sonia Sanchez - English 009 On November, 1993 both my father and brother started the Richard McGee Correctional Basic Correctional Academy....
English with Jay - Edna Romo - English 110 For America in the novel The Tortilla Curtain, Being married to Candido is like carrying a backpack full of bricks all day long....
COEXIST - Alejandra M. Lopez - English 009 My mother had struggled her whole life to make us happy. Being a single mother of two with two jobs was almost impossible yet it was her daily routine....
Lesly's World - Lesly Tirado - English 008 My father's addiction has had significant effects in my life. My father's alcohol abuse has made me realize what I want in my life and what I don’t want....
Queen K - Karissa Gomez - English 009 After the bell had rung, I quickly got to my seat, of course being tardy was probably a bad first impression because as soon as I picked a desk to sit at my teacher was glaring at me. He then began to yell at me saying how it was an essential to be on time to his class. This was my first encounter with my economics teacher and I already knew it was going to be a long year. Little did I know that Jack had a specific purpose in my life and although he was scary to me at first, he soon became my strongest adult in my life. As the years went by, I got to know Mr. Little and we became the greatest of friends. Once Jack Little passed away, I had a different perspective on the little amount of time we all have to live...
Lorena's Blog - Lorena Diaz, English 009 After living three years in this country, it was important for me to realize that I needed to go to school to learn English. I was feeling like I was illiterate and deaf. When my husband was in work I was afraid to answer the phone, or afraid to go outside. I remember the day when I had my first daughter, I was in pain in the hospital and my new born daughter was crying; the hospital was cold, with a pale color on the walls, and its smell was like alcohol. There were nurses walking on the long and bright hallway. You can hear the nurses talking morning and night. I couldn’t express myself and talk for my daughter that was crying...