Those friends of mine who smoke (read: 19th generation) talk a lot about the variability of great highs. For some reason I am on a pretty whizz-bang caffeine high right now. It's pretty hypocritical of me, because I tell people how I hate being chemically altered by alcohol, nicotine, or marijuana when there I go I flipping my shit for one morning without coffee. I wonder if making a great cup of coffee is comparable to rolling a great joint, or if it just happens by circumstance and context.
Thomas introduced me to Arrested Development this week. I'd seen ten minutes of an episode once and I didn't get it. Now I get it with a vengeance. It's funny though. Everyone I know outside of Chicago watches an alarming amount of TV. I used to think I was doing something inherently but vaguely healthy by avoiding watching it. Now I'm not so sure I'm not missing out on what those shrill magazines call a new golden era of American television. I've never watched an episode of Lost, Alias, The Sopranos, The OC, Laguna Beach, Project Runway, Six Feet Under, etc. no matter how fervent a pitch I get for them. And frankly, that's a lot of catching-up couch time I've already lost to reading all those damn classic texts to show up the other pretentious humanities kids I hated and emulated.
Anyhow, the point may be moot anyhow. Nobody I know gets cable (legally) in Chicago. Our apartment has a TV and a good DVD/VCR, but the nifty antennae that came with it always failed to receive any local networks. We discovered why when we found that the antennae needs to be plugged in, but whatever AC adapter that once accompanied it must have skipped town long ago. We still keep the device on top of the television because, like the Goodman Theater fake log, the rubber fish lamp, and the David Mamet model clipper ship, it is aesthetically harmonious with our lifestyle.
I've been talking to friends and family about teaching. I'm not in love with the idea of doing it, getting my MA and such, but I think if I did it the only students I'd want to teach would be inner city public school kids. I've gotten a stunning amount of negative reaction to that. My dad says it's because I'm young and idealistic (he also scoffs at the idea of "non-profit theaters"). Yet I'm really turned off to teaching privileged suburban high school kids. Does that come from latent self-loathing? Maybe it's because I still dislike the notion of teaching because it feels like it would be a cop-out for me, and if I did it, I'd want to really do something worthwhile with it. Barrel of Monkeys teaches mostly at the worst schools in CPS because they deem those are the only places where they'll make the most impact, and I guess that rubbed off on me. But that's a tough job to do, and where other people wonder why I would do it, I'm primarily concerned with how I would do it. My Off-Off friend Ramiro, who basically grew up on the far south side and is training to be an urban teacher, says that you start by grappling to the small group of kids who show some promise or enthusiasm, and only when you've staked your reputation do you start really connecting with a larger number of students. When he said that I realized that you really do make a career out of teaching those kids, and if you set out to change people, you have to set your goals in the long-term and not expect to really change every kid's life in your first class. But that's what I want in spite of myself. At camp this summer 90% of the kids were easy-going, brilliant, talented, cooperative, engaging, but it was those 10% who weren't that I ended up wanting to spend the most time with and the 10% that disappointed me most when they didn't get what I was trying to teach them.
I'm the library again. There's a baby in the library today. One of us must go.
Thomas introduced me to Arrested Development this week. I'd seen ten minutes of an episode once and I didn't get it. Now I get it with a vengeance. It's funny though. Everyone I know outside of Chicago watches an alarming amount of TV. I used to think I was doing something inherently but vaguely healthy by avoiding watching it. Now I'm not so sure I'm not missing out on what those shrill magazines call a new golden era of American television. I've never watched an episode of Lost, Alias, The Sopranos, The OC, Laguna Beach, Project Runway, Six Feet Under, etc. no matter how fervent a pitch I get for them. And frankly, that's a lot of catching-up couch time I've already lost to reading all those damn classic texts to show up the other pretentious humanities kids I hated and emulated.
Anyhow, the point may be moot anyhow. Nobody I know gets cable (legally) in Chicago. Our apartment has a TV and a good DVD/VCR, but the nifty antennae that came with it always failed to receive any local networks. We discovered why when we found that the antennae needs to be plugged in, but whatever AC adapter that once accompanied it must have skipped town long ago. We still keep the device on top of the television because, like the Goodman Theater fake log, the rubber fish lamp, and the David Mamet model clipper ship, it is aesthetically harmonious with our lifestyle.
I've been talking to friends and family about teaching. I'm not in love with the idea of doing it, getting my MA and such, but I think if I did it the only students I'd want to teach would be inner city public school kids. I've gotten a stunning amount of negative reaction to that. My dad says it's because I'm young and idealistic (he also scoffs at the idea of "non-profit theaters"). Yet I'm really turned off to teaching privileged suburban high school kids. Does that come from latent self-loathing? Maybe it's because I still dislike the notion of teaching because it feels like it would be a cop-out for me, and if I did it, I'd want to really do something worthwhile with it. Barrel of Monkeys teaches mostly at the worst schools in CPS because they deem those are the only places where they'll make the most impact, and I guess that rubbed off on me. But that's a tough job to do, and where other people wonder why I would do it, I'm primarily concerned with how I would do it. My Off-Off friend Ramiro, who basically grew up on the far south side and is training to be an urban teacher, says that you start by grappling to the small group of kids who show some promise or enthusiasm, and only when you've staked your reputation do you start really connecting with a larger number of students. When he said that I realized that you really do make a career out of teaching those kids, and if you set out to change people, you have to set your goals in the long-term and not expect to really change every kid's life in your first class. But that's what I want in spite of myself. At camp this summer 90% of the kids were easy-going, brilliant, talented, cooperative, engaging, but it was those 10% who weren't that I ended up wanting to spend the most time with and the 10% that disappointed me most when they didn't get what I was trying to teach them.
I'm the library again. There's a baby in the library today. One of us must go.
2 Comments:
If it makes you feel better about your concerns, mine are that I would be too mean to the stupid kids. I told this to Ms. Davis. She said, oh, but every now and then, one of the stupids writes something half decent, and you feel so proud.
What do you have against illegal cable?
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