Azinger Again

In  千と千尋の神隠し (Spirited Away, here in the US), there’s this great scene where this stink god walks into the onsen where Chihiro is prison working as a prisoner.  Everyone is grossed out as his large, blobular, stench is killing all plant life that it comes near, but Chihiro, being the new kid on the block, is forced to take him to his bath and wait on him as he sees fit.  Eventually, the stink god takes her in his hand in his dripping, mucky, disgusting hand and brings her near what looks like a handle.  She realizes that she must remove this handle and whatever it’s attached to.  So with the help of most of the staff, she pulls and pulls until finally a mountain of garbage is vomited out.  It turns out that it wasn’t a stink god after all, but a river god that was covered in disgust.

This scene is amazing for two reasons–first, it’s such a simple, yet strong allusion to the problem of pollution.  Few have made anti-pollution, be good to the earth sentiments so subtley poignant as the director Miyazaki has.  When something as beautiful as a river god has been turned into something as disgusting as he is portrayed, how can a person even think about dumping trash and waste into our water?  He makes taking care of the world we live in seem inherent (as it should be), not some new fad that the GAP is selling on a t-shirt.

The other reason it is a great scene, especially now, is because of how much I stink–no wait, I mean, because of how I too feel like sometimes all I need is someone or something to unplug the mountain of crap that has been collecting inside of me.  Lately, it has been a few things: actually working on a paper/project before the last minute and receiving such helpful advice and commentary, having a friend take the time and energy to visit us from very very out of town, Seijiro being back on a normal sleep schedule, and knowing one of the best friend of a friend that I could have ever hoped to luck into, oh yeah, and having a student-less week.

I honestly, physically could see the stress leaving my body on Friday night, sitting around with Masayo and Ryoko, Seijiro fast asleep in the next room.  For once, I wasn’t worried about getting it all done (though I started to get a little freaked out today since I still have to finish my discussion section which is hiding behind this window even as I type) in time.  I had, gulp, planned ahead and made sure to get most of my plan done during the week off.  This is a totally new thing for me, and I think I like it.  For the last 30 years I have been stressing until the last minute, frantically trying to get everything done in time.  It has helped immensely that we have had so much “class time” to work on it (seriously, I can’t imagine having to work on the project as well as other assignment–were that the case, I’m sure that this post would have a different tone).

Anyway, I’m almost done, but have to get this over to CTER before midnight–have to get my free Dr. Pepper as well!!  Thanks for reading this, and have a great week!!

I keep writing assignment descriptions for my students in prose–you know good old fashioned sentences and paragraphs?  And when I share them with my colleagues, one of whom I respect greatly and am happily planning curriculum with this year, they want to whittle them down to bullet lists and ‘rubricize’ them, for if the students know what we are looking for then they can give us what we are looking for.  Thinking that checklists are easy for students and let them know just exactly what it is that we are asking of them, I guess I never really gave it much thought.

Until tonight.  Over the last three years, I have slowly been transforming my teaching away from literature units and into non-fiction analysis.  I know it sounds boring (and, as an English major, so totally not what I signed up for) but I a) really think it is more important for my students to read an article from Time magazine and be able to understand it and talk about it and shape their view of how they should be in society and b) it’s almost more fun extracting meaning from non-fiction that may have been written yesterday (and in an election year!!) than coercing students to appreciate the blue flowers that Simon finds in Lord of the Flies. They are far more excited reading about drugs at parties, wives, and latino style–at least my students are.

Having had time to think about school this week, I sat back, snow falling down outside my window, trying to decide why I was bothered by the rubrification of my project descriptions.  Here’s what I came up with:  we are asking students to read and understand pieces of non-fiction text on a daily basis so that they may better understand pieces of text in the future.  And yet, when we give them a description essay (ok, maybe not an essay–I’m just trying to make a point here), we take all of the ‘need to analyze’ requirement out of it.  Sure it may be more challenging for students to read through 700 words to figure out that a definition essay may use a formal definition, synonyms, negation, etc–but isn’t that what we’re teaching them to do in the first place?  I think that, from here on out, I’m going to ask my kids to read the 700 words and make their own darn checklist.

Speaking of making checklists resulting from reflection, I am so, so happy to have submitted a draft of my essay to both Professor Bullock and Kona this week, and am so, so grateful to have recieved excellent feedback from both of them.  What a lucky man am I!!  I was pretty sure that I had most pieces written, so it was nice to get some affirmation about my progress!  I am equally excited about this week-to revise and complete my draft, to get feedback from my peers, and to begin my presentation–I have ordered my spandex body suit and ribbon on a stick and have been practicing such moves as “reaching for butterfly” and “weeping softly while it rains”–shoot, I think I’ve said too much.

Seriously, however, I really ended up having a lot of fun working on my final sections of my paper, and am exited to present in a couple of weeks!

I’ll be happy to write next week, surely with many adventures to share, as our friend from Japan will be here on Tuesday for 2 weeks.  We are so excited we can’t wait!!  Have a great week everyone, and thanks for reading.

I’ve missed my deadline…nuts.  Oh well, I’ve been hard at work this weekend getting in a little bit of everything, so I guess I don’t feel too terrible.  But, since I’m the last one awake in the house at the moment, I’ll make this quick:

474.  It has been amazing to have a light load the last week and a half or so.  I was able to take a much needed step back from class, focus on a few other pressing things in my career life (grading papers, anyone?) and return to my evaluation renewed and refreshed.  In fact, as I have spent the last few days rewriting my introduction section and working on my results section, I have felt a sort of cohesion that had een missing from the start.  I mean, I guess that is to be expected when writing a plan one step at a time–but the fact that I was able to work it all out in my head and rewrite accordingly was very nice.  Yay for school

Baby.  For some reason, just two days after explaining to our pediatrician that our baby goes to bed at 7 ish every night–falls asleep right away until 11, eats, falls right back asleep and is out for the night, he has decided that he doesn’t like going to bed–not one bit.  This translates into screaming bloody murder for a good hour or so.  The only good thing is that once he’s asleep–he’s down for the count.  He’s getting better, for sure, so hopefully this is just a phase (brought on no doubt by the recent round of vaccines that has been pumped into his body–I’m caught between not trusting the vaccine vendors and not wanting our son to get meningitis–it’s a tough spot to be in).

Baby 2.  Also, very excited that Ryoko and I splurged this weekend buying books galore for our son!  Ryoko was able to find some wonderful selections at the local Sanseido bookstore.  I trolled Amazon because, even though Better World is such a better, more socially conscious place to shop, we can’t pass up the “32% off” on every book we buy–even moreso when we are buying a bundle of books.

Collaboration.  I am working with another teacher this year, and I love it.  I mean I have planned here and there before, and have shared ideas with other teachers before, but this year, my colleague and I are actually sitting down and planning lessons and days and weeks and months together.  For the first time in five years, I feel like I am actually teaching the way teaching should be.  I love it.

Ok, the clock reads 1234, so I’m going to 5 my way into bed.  Night.

Ugh.  I got it.  I’m not terribly surprised, really, but I always try to beat it–I always try to convince myself that if I don’t act sick, and I keep up the same pace, same schedule, same everything, then I won’t actually become sick.  Like Monica says on Friends, only weak people get sick.  Surely one look at my plate would convince anyone that a meal that big could never fit in the body of a weakling.  Yet there I was, trudging through school barely able to make it up the stairs without a breather, then white spots in front of the class, then a sweat-box style break.  And that was just the first day. So maybe, just maybe, I’m not as strong as I thought.

And while that thought originally bugged me, it has kind of been nice.  Our son has been a champ, and will sleep about 8 hours at a time now.  This has been great, as I have been able to stay up into the wee hours working on any number of things.  But the last few days, I have had to use my free time to sleep.  Sure I didn’t plan very good lessons, but they didn’t flop either.  Sure I didn’t grade everything that I wanted to, but the kids will be ok for another week or so.  And sure I didn’t get around to finishing my last pieces of my evaluation project, but I have a whole week ahead of me–a week I am entering with more rest in my body than in weeks, so my head is high and hopes are up that progress will be great.

Thankfully I spent time early in the week working on revising my previously completed pieces, making them more cohesive.  This should allow me time next week to work on my results and discussion sections.  I am really excited to get one on one feedback in two weeks from Prof. Bullock or Kona, so that is motivating me to keep on working despite the ‘no class this week’ status that is flashing in neon in my head right now.

Sometimes, in a given situation that finds me on the spot, I think of just the right thing to say…two days later.  I’m afraid that’s how my questions and comments for this week’s blog post will end up.  I’ll have a great series of questions, poignant concerns, and intelligent commentary–after the class is over.  I promise to try and use my powers of foresight to find something really good for next week’s blog.

as a break-up song plays in the background, I am, for some reason, and not because I am breaking-up with anybody or anything, reminded to think about how everything is, really.