this journal blug

and a good thought from suzannagig jig:

"I like to point out
I am my own best
unfinished project "

worth considering from fait accompli:

"'If you don't think of
everything, you can't think
of anything.'"

should should should... be processing paper... be writing this journal's weekly... be mourning the loss of daylight... be conspiring against my worser self...

we won the football game... forty to something... now there's just one more for the state title... that's pretty cool...

rushed out this morning... for gas and cat litter, toothpaste and t-shirts, a funky warm sherpa hat... some posting and some banking...

so i could get back in... cuz today's the next Big Game...state semi-finals... us against minooka... here... access to my auto will be denied... at least through 4 p.m... they park in front of our garage doors... how thoughtless...

tonio is taking off... godspeed

they ask... if fish have only one lobe on their tails, why do mermaids have two... they say... the science teacher just said "mermaids don't exist"... so they came and asked me... i said it probably has something to do with our two legs... the drawer of mermaids was trying to suggest the transformation of that lower part of us... two legs... two fin lobes... i said... maybe you should investigate the iconography of mermaids... there's probably a life's worth of study in it... or at least a book... if it hasn't already been done... i said... she says to him as they leave... see, i told you he'd have something to say about it...

we're talking about how comedy works... in a.p... but i don't know how comedy works... not really... it is so complex... when bad things happen in tragedy we cry... when they happen in comedy, we laugh... what is that... context and timing... character depth... aristotle and goldsmith talk about social class... tragedy for those above us... comedy for our peers or those below... how does a democratic culture warp this dynamic... one student can't bear to watch i love lucy... can't bear to see things go so terrribly wrong for lucy... as she knows they will...

Alceste. These matters, sir, are always more or less delicate, and every one is fond of being praised for his wit. But I was saying one day to a certain person, who shall be nameless, when he showed me some of his verses, that a gentleman ought at all times to exercise a great control over that itch for writing which sometimes attacks us, and should keep a tight rein over the strong propensity which one has to display such amusements; and that, in the frequent anxiety to show their productions, people are frequently exposed to act a very foolish part.

Moliere, The Misanthrope

fait accompli

Most poetry feels hackneyed &
cliched to me now- also, a
lot of what I write. This is a good
thing in that it increases my
awareness of what
something new might *not* be like.

It is energizing to turn away from
unsatisfying attempts- this increases
hopes for real success.

exactly, nick... the new... will not be wearing clunky shoes... or have bad breath... the new will shine... shine... shine

ran off a mess of student surveys this evening... for them to take... we love polls in america... it's all about democracy i guess... then we'll send them back to wyoming... and students there will write research papers... about us... and others...

apes are performing scenes from she stoops to conquer... kind of funny... damn funny play... they get ten minutes to practice now...

and no one in america can say "assiduity" with a straight face... but they can get away with it in england... i think...

in fact... have you ever heard an american say "assiduity" in any natural speaking circumstance?

what we want in writing and reading... stuff... it has to be some kind of elegance... or some kind of crude immediacy... energetic... or some kind of profound spiritual insightfulness... or funny... but it had better not be stupid or blind or arrogant... because...

sure... now that the tech guy is here to view the corpse... tv decides to be fine...never felt better... ready for a few dozen tapes... a couple dvds... any old thing...

o... my big screen... o my hdtv... yr dead... o... woe...

department meeting on curriculum development reminds me that i am not a great teacher of english... i don't know how to fit in all of the things (especially with speech and composition) my colleagues do... (can i learn... do i care enough)... and all the things we are now... apparently... about to be required to do...

how many minutes in a day... this is brtom turning old... before your very eyes

aren't british voices intrinsically funny to us yanks... listening the other day to in-class reading... it seems to me that they don't make distinctions between upper middle and lower class dialects... which ends up being kind of funny in itself...

AP is working on scene selection and rehearsal for bits of She Stoops to Conquer... funny british voices all over the room...

and... other irons:

a 5-8 page essay on the close reading of a poem

a ten-minute class presentation on that same poem

reading As I Lay Dying