Wow, I just heard this read out loud

I am working around the house, doing laundry, working on my paper, and listening to the radio. Just heard a poem read out loud, by a soldier who was deployed in Iraq. It made me think of my student sitting over there right now, burning time. It got to me.

A poem by Sharon Olds

The Clasp
by Sharon Olds

She was four, he was one, it was raining, we had colds,
we had been in the apartment two weeks straight,
I grabbed her to keep her from shoving him over on his
face, again, and when I had her wrist
in my grasp I compressed it, fiercely, for a couple
of seconds, to make an impression on her,
to hurt her, our beloved firstborn, I even almost
savored the stinging sensation of the squeezing,
the expression, into her, of my anger,
"Never, never, again," the righteous
chant accompanying the clasp. It happened very
fast-grab, crush, crush,
crush, release-and at the first extra
force, she swung her head, as if checking
who this was, and looked at me,
and saw me-yes, this was her mom,
her mom was doing this. Her dark,
deeply open eyes took me
in, she knew me, in the shock of the moment
she learned me. This was her mother, one of the
two whom she most loved, the two
who loved her most, near the source of love
was this.

Meet bell hooks

Here is a good link to information about bell hooks, the author of Justice: Childhood Love Lessons.

In light of our increasingly violent society, I think we should look at reducing the amount of violence in our lives and in the lives of children. Why is it OK to hit children, but not OK to hit adults? There are consequences when we hit adults -- in school, at work, in a public place. But it's OK to hit children? I personally don't get that.

When Kids Get Life

Here is a link to the PBS site we were looking at in class today.

Cartoons about juveniles and the death penalty

I found this site while doing some forensics homework and it seemed like something interesting to check out...

Oxnard School Shooting

Kids, in the recent Oxnard school shooting, prosecuters are trying to charge the 14-year old shooter as an adult; defenders are trying to move the case into juvenile court. This article in the LA Times had, at the time I looked at it, 174 comments. Opinions run the gamut. Check it out. Comment. How to serve justice in this case? The shooter is a good student with no record, 14 years old...who shot a kid because he was gay. Remember how homophobic kids are in middle school?

Proposition 21

Here's the League of Women Voters information on 2000's Proposition 21, which is always a very reliable place to gather information on issues and candidates. They work hard to present both sides of an issue completely and fairly...

But what I discovered is a simple Google search of Proposition 21 yields many good hits. Get some background information before Chief Rogers comes into class tomorrow! I liked this link to the Leherer News Hour segment.

Make sure you do some thinking about this, and prepare a good question for Chief Rogers. Be an excellent audience.

Frontline of Discovery

This is another great publication from National Geographic. As the title says, this book is about major breakthroughs in recent technology. I should start off by telling you NOT to read this book unless you're into stuff like how composite materials are constructed, different kinds of cancer, REM sleep....I read this more for the medical part, which it deviates from after the first few chapters. I love the medical field, and I hate fiction, so I wanted to read something that was easy enough to understand but still had pleanty of good information. This was also at a used booksale for 50 cents, and anything under a buck can't be beat. This book loses some credibility too, because it's about 10 years old. Some of the medical devices it talks about are a little out dated, but not by much.

Notice how I said that "I" hate fiction. Now by no means am I trying to down fictional literature, it's just that I don't believe in spending so much time getting to know fake people in a made up story. Which is kind of ironic, because I love film. I was talking to Patricia awhile ago about this, and she said something along the lines of "There are somethings that can only be taught through reading about the experiences of others, rather than facts." I agree with that to an extent. If you wanted to know more about mountain climbing for instance, you'd probably do best reading a Jon Krakauer book. Remember that name? You should. We read one one his books in 10th grade. I should also mention that he is a NONFICTION writer, which is exactly the point I am trying to make. Anything you can learn from a fiction book, you can probably learn the same thing from a nonfiction book.

The only fiction books that really stick out to me at all are the ones that are either (a) notorious for having some kind of extreme content, or (b) have made a huge social impact. That's why I always like hearing Ms. Fletcher talk about her stash of "banned books". Those are the ones I find appealing.

But hey, that's just me.

The Soccer Seniors

Look at these smiley faces!

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

Bel Canto is a book that for almost a year now i had been ignoring. I remember Ms. Fletcher telling us how amazing this book was and it never really sparked my interest. But while at the library i saw it there and i decided to read it because i couldn't find anything that i felt like reading. After reading the first suspenseful chapter i was hooked. The one thing i never thought would happen was that it could get any better but it did. The book starts off with the thoughts of one of the main characters Mr. Hosokawa a CEO of Nansei company in Japan. The book takes place in the middle of a South American country where Mr. Hosokawa was invited to celebrate his birthday in hopes that he will decide to build a place for his company there. In the beginning all of the lights go off and no one feels that something has gone wrong because this sort of thing happens all of the time. Mr. Hosokawa feels somewhat jealous because Roxane Coss has just been kissed by her accompanist after her amazing performance. Roxane Coss is a world famous Opera Soprano and many feel that talent like hers is something amazing. Right after the lights return the windows are broken and in comes the terrorist group looking to only capture the president who luckily never arrived. Once the terrorists realize that the president isn't there they decide to take hostage the entire party. After one night the terrorists realize that they have too many hostages and decide to release all of the workers, women, and the ill. All women but one Roxane Coss when her accompanist realizes that she is not outside he rushes back in to save her although he is extremely ill. The hostages and the terrorists soon learn to get along and soon nobody wants this to end. With the exception of Simon Thiabault who is in love with his wife and wants to return to her. There is love in the story too but it ends just as quickly as it starts. This love emerges towards the end and the captivity of the hostages ends like everyone thought it would. There are a few unexpected deaths toward the end but the book still ends beautifully.

My Dog Says...

My dog is sitting here with her head in my lap, looking up at me with soulful eyes, begging me not to go back to work. She likes me right where I am, in my chair, petting her ears and her bumpy doggy noggin.

I just went through and added the blog grades...I was happy to see all of the comments! Keep it up, Seniors. SSR on Monday! Bring a book.

Fledgling, by Octavia Butler

Yay! I get to be first blogger in 2008.

The first Octavia Butler book I ever read was Kindred (fantastic), which then lead me to The Parable of the Sower, which was also a very cool book (although I never was able to get energized to read the follow up novel, The Parable of the Talents). The first (and best) female African-American author of science fiction, Butler writes science fiction novels that unflinchingly take on the issues of race, politics, gender, identity, and religion. She creates worlds that are not our own, but they are recognizable -- turns out the problems that dog us in this world are active in other worlds as well.

Fledgling is a vampire novel. A vampire novel! I can't tell you the last time I read a vampire story...maybe never, because really, who cares about vampires? Creepy night dwellers going around drinking blood, living forever...they don't seem real to me.

But last year, I got Courtney Dada to read Kindred, and she loved it, and then she went off and started reading other books by Butler, and then she brought this book to my attention. If I remember correctly, she said something like, "Oh, Ms. Fletcher. You HAVE to read this. It's SOOOO good." So one night I was at Borders with a gift certificate, and I thought, well, what the heck? I like Butler and I like Dada, so maybe I'll like vampires.

And I DO like vampires -- or at least I like Shori, a genetic experiment -- that is, a young, female, brown-skinned vampire whose dark skin helps her to tolerate the sun a little better and stay awake during the day -- who has been and continues to be the target of vicious attacks against her and her network of symbionts (humans who live in close, intense relationship with vampires, providing both blood and companionship). The novel opens with Shori broken and near death, regaining consciousness deep inside of a cave. She struggles toward life, slowly regaining strength but not her memory...and we learn along with her who she is and what has happened to her -- she is a vampire, an experimental brown-skinned vampire, and her entire family has been wiped out in a well orchestrated attack against the community -- her mother, her aunts, her entire female family of vampires and symbionts have been murdered, their property burnt to the ground. As she seeks to reconstruct her life, and build a new community of symbionts, she continues to be targeted, endangering the lives of the people around her. The book unfolds as we learn more about Shori, her family, and her enemies.

It was a tense and exciting read. It took me about three chapters to get hooked, but once I reached that point, I ended up reading until 3:00 a.m., and when I woke up again at 9:00 a.m., I read until I was finished. I liked it!

When I first started the book, I thought, "Maybe I could get this for my nephew for Christmas," but it didn't take long before I realized the book was far too sexual for me to give to a 13-year old reader. This is definitely for a mature reader -- nothing really explicit, but when a vampire feeds on its human symbiont, it is a very sexually charged experience -- and because symbionts may be male or female, an open mind would be best.