ENG213 students:
The following are links to some of my favorite “This I Believe” essays. Each one has text you can read, plus an audio recording of the author reading the piece. I suggest listening as you read. Dozens more are here.
Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne: “I believe we have the power to create our own happiness. I believe the real magic in the world is done by humans. I believe normal life is extraordinary.”
Dancer and choreographer Martha Graham: “I believe that we learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same. In each, it is the performance of a dedicated precise set of acts, physical or intellectual, from which comes shape of achievement, a sense of one’s being, a satisfaction of spirit. One becomes, in some area, an athlete of God.”
Jazz bassist Christian McBride: “I believe people have become tighter, meaner and less tolerant than ever. I never remember people being so uncool.”
Former Boston deputy arts commissioner Catherine Royce: “I believe that I always have a choice. No matter what I’m doing. No matter what is happening to me. I always have a choice.”
English professor Sarah Adams: “If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: ‘Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it’s good luck.’”
San Francisco Chronicle editor Jon Carroll: “I believe in the power of failure.”
Discussion/study of In Cold Blood for the past month or so has gotten me to a weird point in my thinking, and one that has repercussions across everything I teach. Basically, I reached a crisis point. I passed out copies of the book, started reading it with the Am Lit Brigade, and then realized: there’s really no way to “teach” this book. Like, there’s no point in discussing plot, characterization, setting, theme, &c, all those good old-fashioned Englishy things, because the book is a work of journalism. Capote obviously took some liberties (especially in recreating the Clutters‘ last day alive), but the book is a full-length work of nonfiction. And I realized, too, that this is the first nonfiction work I’ve taught since I was in an 8th grade US History classroom.
It’s been very liberating.
Dispensing with the basic questions (”Which one’s Dick and which one’s Perry?” “Who’s Bobo?” “Where’s Kansas?”) quickly, we moved on to the more imporant questions of ethics. Was Capote right in hiring a lawyer to prolong these guys’ lives? Is it okay for him to have made a ton of money off of this story? Did he get too involved in the case to be an objective reporter? Why do we feel such empathy for Perry, when he obviously is a monster? Watching the film Capote opened up a lot of questions and has been invaluable to our investigation of Capote and the Clutter case.
I’m beginning to understand what it feels like to engage in real discussion of books with teenagers. The Clutter case is fascinating, yes, and the book is really well-written. But the side conversations, the tangents, the explorations, have been even more gratifying. And I can’t help it, every once in a while, when I feel like the students are feeling it too–feeling like they’re getting at something true about themselves, and about our culture, that is only catalyzed by the book, not dependent upon it.
The question becomes, though, if this can really be done through the study of a more traditional work of literature. Will they becomes so bogged down in the characters/plot specifics of Death of a Salesman to notice the wider implications of the play? Will we be able to figure out if there is a difference, and what that difference is, between how we read fiction and how we read nonfiction?
I haven’t started the Am Lit Brigade blogging yet, but I plan to very soon. I’m going to try Clay Burell’s new strategy with them–response to reading questions on my blog, but keep their own thoughts/explorations/etc on their own blogs.
So good old Akismet caught this most excellent piece of spam today:
Godday,
I don’t post often my things over the net, but sometimes there are circumstances that makeme doing it. This afternoon I feel to write while I listen to hip hop music and search for download music [this was a link]. Today is my day off from my job, and being monday, it’s nice to do nothing at home while most of the people are at work. I realize I am gonna take a nap. Please do not hate me too much.
Bye
