The Daily News
1 Tabula Rasa.
2 Blank tablet.
3 Let's begin, clean slate. Tabula Rasa.
4 I used that term in yesterday's DN, but deliberately disguised it.
5 I knew schooled readers of this probably "got" the forced chuckle.
6 Tempus fugit.
7 Indeed.
8 I'm exhausted.
9 I like that when I look up words these days, a great many of them have baby references.
10 I always loved the concept of Tabula Rasa. It can be used on many levels.
11 The definition for you non-Latin-speaking sorts is this, and it comes to you courtesy of Dictionary.com, not always a good source, by the way, but readily available:
tabula rasa
tab yuh luh rah suh
noun
1. a mind not yet affected by experiences, impressions, etc.
2. anything existing undisturbed in its original pure state.
12 Clearly a baby reference, right?
13 Dictionary.com put a bunch of plurals next to the word "noun" and was inconsistent in using italics in the pronunciations.
14 In most cases, it manages to produce nice, clean definitions, but I've found errors over the years.
15 Heaven forbid if anyone who works there ever gets hold of some of my utterings.
16 Nice not having to produce handouts anymore.
17 And it is comforting to know that I can now sidestep what was going to be the next part of today's DN.
18 I like beginning with a blank tablet, because it gives me time to get into a groove.
19 It keeps me honest.
20 Here, for example, is what I started to put as item 9 before I rescued myself:
9 I was never a huge Jackson Browne fan, but I always enjoyed a few of his better lines.
21 Seriously.
22 It made me almost wish that my non-robber yesterday had torn down the door and slammed me on the floor a few times.
23
24 Yes that was an allusion to...
25 And now I have to run a few errands. It's yesterday, so fear not: I'll be back.
26 Annnnnnnd...
27 I'm back.
28 More exhausted than normal.
29 I won't bother anyone with it. Just trying to get things working that refuse to work.
30 It's THAT sort of exhausted.
31 Moving On, Part One: Did some of you enjoy seeing Mr. Censor make his presence known today?
32 Who IS Mr. Censor, you ask?
33 He is a fellow who helped me to keep the literature I taught safe and free from degradation. As most anyone knows, I am of high moral fibre.
34
35 Here is the story of how Mr. Censor arrived on the scene: Most literature I chose came from a list of choices given us by the District. Some pieces of lit are mandatory, while others can be our own choice.
36 For me, it is all about Shakespeare. And the gateway to Shakespeare is Romeo and Juliet. What many people forget is that Romeo and Juliet is bawdy, right out of the shoot, but students don't always get that. I used to lead them carefully through all that opening mish-mosh between Samson and Gregory. It is a delicate walk, to say the least.
37 Here is a taste of Act 1, Sc. 1. Listen: Samson and Gregory are from the house of Capulet, Juliet's family. In the opening scene they converse about how they will not take any nonsense from the Montague's, Romeo's family, who are in a grudge running back to ancient times with the Capulets.
They enter into this convo. I pulled this down from a copy of Spark Notes, No Fear Shakespeare. This is their translation of that portion of the opening scene. I do this so you can see the Shakespearean words on the left, and the modern English translation on the right:
For the record, "poor-john" is a shriveled, dried-out fish!
38 Also, I would not have explained it quite that graphically, although I know many teachers who don't mind doing that at all. I would suggest things, and then tell the students that they could get things explained in a bit more detail if they use the No-Fear Spark Notes. Most of them wouldn't take note of that, knowing they have a bunch of other classes, as well as other things going on in their active lives: the diversions of friends, being young, having all sorts of emotions going on, as well as having the glitz and glamour of social media lopping off one of their hands. I see it as their choice. I tell them plainly that these guys are being a bit nasty.
39 Over the years, I tried teaching things that are reasonably age-appropriate for high school freshmen and sophomores. Inevitably Shakespeare rears his head, and I am instantly on a tightrope.
40 As we go scene by scene, I would give enough hints that you could hear a few snickers travel through the class room. That's fine. I don't think people who run the District fully understand that yes, Shakespeare is that bawdy. And that is also what makes it all fun to teach. We shared stories with one another at English meetings, sometimes to the point of tears, and I'm talking tears of laughter.
41 The tricky part is the films, particularly the Zeffirelli version of Romeo and Juliet.
42 Way back in the day, we used teevees instead of LCD projectors. During the scene where R and J went under the covers, I used to stand near the teevee and wait. The second Romeo hopped out of bed and threw his buttcheeks at the camera, I would slap a piece of printer paper on the teevee, and the static electricity would keep it there.
43 I also knew that each sheet would eventually fall to the floor, so I stood with several sheets, a complete Chaplin move.
44 "They're just talking about birds!" I would say, and of course the room would always turn all ears and braces.
45 Up at Evergreen, I had an LCD projector I used my first year teaching full-time English, and I used it for a number of things, as we all do. My lamp went out, and I wrote that on my list and sent it in, but lamps are expensive, and sometimes computers and projectors can fail at key times.
46 So I stubbornly used the teevee. That schtick worked with every class. One year, on a whim, I drew Mr. Censor, the cat that you see hovering above all this.
47 He was an instant hit. He was the first sheet of paper I would put over Romeo's buttcheeks, and I would follow to the end of the scene, as well as the scene when Olivia Hussey almost falls out of her gown.
48 At the end of the period, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, I would tell the students to let their parents know that I stood up for morality, for God, for America, and for apple pie.
49 And therein lies the history of Mr. Censor.
50 After I moved up to Sacramento, I put a bunch of school stuff in the office area of my house. A few days ago, I started back in trying to organize the place, and stumbled upon a bag that had a familiar piece of paper in it.
51 It was a bag of stuff I prepared for when I might get back to writing this nonsense, and their, peering out from under an old newspaper, was Mr. Censor.
52 I knew I wanted to get his brief story into the DN before I put it to bed for good.
53 I also wanted my students from the past couple of years to know I think about them, and that they will always have a special place in my heart.
54 So let it be written, so let it be done.
55
56 I gottago.
57 Have a GREAT day.
58 We'll see you again.
59 Peace.
27 I'm back.
28 More exhausted than normal.
29 I won't bother anyone with it. Just trying to get things working that refuse to work.
30 It's THAT sort of exhausted.
31 Moving On, Part One: Did some of you enjoy seeing Mr. Censor make his presence known today?
32 Who IS Mr. Censor, you ask?
33 He is a fellow who helped me to keep the literature I taught safe and free from degradation. As most anyone knows, I am of high moral fibre.
34
35 Here is the story of how Mr. Censor arrived on the scene: Most literature I chose came from a list of choices given us by the District. Some pieces of lit are mandatory, while others can be our own choice.
36 For me, it is all about Shakespeare. And the gateway to Shakespeare is Romeo and Juliet. What many people forget is that Romeo and Juliet is bawdy, right out of the shoot, but students don't always get that. I used to lead them carefully through all that opening mish-mosh between Samson and Gregory. It is a delicate walk, to say the least.
37 Here is a taste of Act 1, Sc. 1. Listen: Samson and Gregory are from the house of Capulet, Juliet's family. In the opening scene they converse about how they will not take any nonsense from the Montague's, Romeo's family, who are in a grudge running back to ancient times with the Capulets.
They enter into this convo. I pulled this down from a copy of Spark Notes, No Fear Shakespeare. This is their translation of that portion of the opening scene. I do this so you can see the Shakespearean words on the left, and the modern English translation on the right:
| GREGORY
The quarrel is between our masters and us their men.
| GREGORY
The fight is between our masters, and we men who work for them.
|
| SAMPSON
'Tis all one. I will show myself a tyrant. When I have fought with the men, I will be civil with the maids. I will cut off their heads.
| SAMPSON
It’s all the same. I’ll be a harsh master to them. After I fight the men, I’ll be nice to the women—I’ll cut off their heads.
| |
| GREGORY
The heads of the maids?
| GREGORY | |
| SAMPSON
Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads.
Take it in what sense thou wilt.
| SAMPSON
Cut off their heads, take their maidenheads—whatever. Take my remark in whichever sense you like.
| |
25 | GREGORY
They must take it in sense that feel it.
| GREGORY
The women you rape are the ones who’ll have to “sense” it.
|
| SAMPSON
Me they shall feel while I am able to stand, and
’tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh.
| SAMPSON
They’ll feel me as long as I can keep an erection. Everybody knows I’m a nice piece of flesh.
| |
| GREGORY
'Tis well thou art not fish. If thou hadst, thou hadst been poor-john.
|
For the record, "poor-john" is a shriveled, dried-out fish!
38 Also, I would not have explained it quite that graphically, although I know many teachers who don't mind doing that at all. I would suggest things, and then tell the students that they could get things explained in a bit more detail if they use the No-Fear Spark Notes. Most of them wouldn't take note of that, knowing they have a bunch of other classes, as well as other things going on in their active lives: the diversions of friends, being young, having all sorts of emotions going on, as well as having the glitz and glamour of social media lopping off one of their hands. I see it as their choice. I tell them plainly that these guys are being a bit nasty.
39 Over the years, I tried teaching things that are reasonably age-appropriate for high school freshmen and sophomores. Inevitably Shakespeare rears his head, and I am instantly on a tightrope.
40 As we go scene by scene, I would give enough hints that you could hear a few snickers travel through the class room. That's fine. I don't think people who run the District fully understand that yes, Shakespeare is that bawdy. And that is also what makes it all fun to teach. We shared stories with one another at English meetings, sometimes to the point of tears, and I'm talking tears of laughter.
41 The tricky part is the films, particularly the Zeffirelli version of Romeo and Juliet.
42 Way back in the day, we used teevees instead of LCD projectors. During the scene where R and J went under the covers, I used to stand near the teevee and wait. The second Romeo hopped out of bed and threw his buttcheeks at the camera, I would slap a piece of printer paper on the teevee, and the static electricity would keep it there.
43 I also knew that each sheet would eventually fall to the floor, so I stood with several sheets, a complete Chaplin move.
44 "They're just talking about birds!" I would say, and of course the room would always turn all ears and braces.
45 Up at Evergreen, I had an LCD projector I used my first year teaching full-time English, and I used it for a number of things, as we all do. My lamp went out, and I wrote that on my list and sent it in, but lamps are expensive, and sometimes computers and projectors can fail at key times.
46 So I stubbornly used the teevee. That schtick worked with every class. One year, on a whim, I drew Mr. Censor, the cat that you see hovering above all this.
47 He was an instant hit. He was the first sheet of paper I would put over Romeo's buttcheeks, and I would follow to the end of the scene, as well as the scene when Olivia Hussey almost falls out of her gown.
48 At the end of the period, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, I would tell the students to let their parents know that I stood up for morality, for God, for America, and for apple pie.
49 And therein lies the history of Mr. Censor.
50 After I moved up to Sacramento, I put a bunch of school stuff in the office area of my house. A few days ago, I started back in trying to organize the place, and stumbled upon a bag that had a familiar piece of paper in it.
51 It was a bag of stuff I prepared for when I might get back to writing this nonsense, and their, peering out from under an old newspaper, was Mr. Censor.
52 I knew I wanted to get his brief story into the DN before I put it to bed for good.
53 I also wanted my students from the past couple of years to know I think about them, and that they will always have a special place in my heart.
54 So let it be written, so let it be done.
55
56 I gottago.
57 Have a GREAT day.
58 We'll see you again.
59 Peace.
~H~
fin.
No comments:
Post a Comment