Melodrama, Modernism & Myth
Yesterday I was in a state of utter gloom about my least favorite day of the year, and the typically awkward, basically "nice," (a word which should be pronounced in this case with a slight hiss), yet ultimately unsettling conversation with my father did nothing but exacerbate my melancholy. I'm particularly upset about the news I received late Saturday night - my beloved maternal grandfather, the only man I knew as an actual "Dad" during my childhood, has a serious heart condition (something involving a heart valve) and the entire family's worried. My mother drove all the way up from Santa Fe, and I was characteristically the only person in four (five?) generations not present (my mother and I are the only two to have successfully escaped the horrors of Spokane, Washington). I'm extremely upset - even though my grandpa's a "pretty damn tough ole cowboy" the doctors are afraid to operate, since he is 80 (and eighty-year-old who still has the energy to wake up every morning before 6am to feed his last remaining horse, but an eighty-year-old nonetheless). I'm extremely concerned and distressed, but I can't do anything until we find out his latest test results on Wednesday, which may have to go back for a week before I start work the second week of July. I therefore spent most of the day praying to an assortment of healing deities (Asklepios, Hygeia, and Paian Apollo - destroyer and healer hear!) and to my spiritual father, Poseidon Earth-Shaker, to spare us when the big earthquake comes (California has had five sizable earthquakes in the last *week*).
Then today came and my mood was transformed. Wildstar and I have the house to ourselves for the first afternoon since we arrived. I received the final confirmation that I passed that exhausting test with the school board last month (five hours, 100 multiple choice questions, six essays), which should speed up the hiring process with the district and facilitate getting me trained (and *paid*) soon. And then, like a boon from above, I was (beware of the inordinately vast amount of superlatives that fill the remainder of this post) uplifted, delighted, and genuinely moved by the most interesting, wonderful, thoughtful, perfect, witty, and even practical care package I've ever received. Thank you sakuraigirl!!!!! And thank you evilcupcakes!!! I can't even imagine WHERE sakuraigirl found all this great stuff . . . it's a box filled with fabulous treats for this soon-to-be English teacher, many of which will be spicing up the decor of my classroom:
Shakespeare Magnetic Poetry Kit
Shakespearean Insults Coffee Mug (every high school teacher needs a good coffee mug)
Shakespeare Bobble-Head Doll
William Faulkner and Dorothy Parker (!) shot glasses
James Joyce and Franz Kafka finger puppets (?!?!)
Oscar Wilde fruit candies
Teacher-themed Post-It Notes
Notebook emblazoned with a pithy Einstein quote: "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
Feng Shui for the Classroom
Not Another Apple for the Teacher: Hundreds of Fascinating Facts from the World of Education
Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon our Language
The absolutely hilarious book of Gay Haiku (hey, the sonnet and the haiku are two of the most important poetic forms!), including my favorite:
Teens now: out, proud, and
Ignorant of Auntie Mame.
Pyrrhic victory?
And the icing on the cake - three fantastic DVDs, the perennial classic Dead Poets Society (my school actually has one of these!), and my two *favorite* examples of Shakespeare in the Movies: Julie Taymor's incomparable Titus with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange, and something I haven't seen since college and yet remains, for me, the most exquisite example of a Shakespeare caught on video: the filmed play (small cast, minimalist set and props, theatre in the round, stunning performances) of Sir Ian McKellan and Dame Judi Dench in the Royal Shakespeare Comany's version of Macbeth, directed by Trevor Nunn.
There's also a deck of flash cards about literary terms from The New York Public Library, entitled Melodrama, Modernism & Myth, three words which are so completely appropriate to my life and my interests that I'm changing my livejournal subtitle to that name. Hell, I should write a book with that title . . .
Once again, THANK YOU Camille! You brightened my day.
Then today came and my mood was transformed. Wildstar and I have the house to ourselves for the first afternoon since we arrived. I received the final confirmation that I passed that exhausting test with the school board last month (five hours, 100 multiple choice questions, six essays), which should speed up the hiring process with the district and facilitate getting me trained (and *paid*) soon. And then, like a boon from above, I was (beware of the inordinately vast amount of superlatives that fill the remainder of this post) uplifted, delighted, and genuinely moved by the most interesting, wonderful, thoughtful, perfect, witty, and even practical care package I've ever received. Thank you sakuraigirl!!!!! And thank you evilcupcakes!!! I can't even imagine WHERE sakuraigirl found all this great stuff . . . it's a box filled with fabulous treats for this soon-to-be English teacher, many of which will be spicing up the decor of my classroom:
Shakespeare Magnetic Poetry Kit
Shakespearean Insults Coffee Mug (every high school teacher needs a good coffee mug)
Shakespeare Bobble-Head Doll
William Faulkner and Dorothy Parker (!) shot glasses
James Joyce and Franz Kafka finger puppets (?!?!)
Oscar Wilde fruit candies
Teacher-themed Post-It Notes
Notebook emblazoned with a pithy Einstein quote: "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
Feng Shui for the Classroom
Not Another Apple for the Teacher: Hundreds of Fascinating Facts from the World of Education
Anguished English: An Anthology of Accidental Assaults Upon our Language
The absolutely hilarious book of Gay Haiku (hey, the sonnet and the haiku are two of the most important poetic forms!), including my favorite:
Teens now: out, proud, and
Ignorant of Auntie Mame.
Pyrrhic victory?
And the icing on the cake - three fantastic DVDs, the perennial classic Dead Poets Society (my school actually has one of these!), and my two *favorite* examples of Shakespeare in the Movies: Julie Taymor's incomparable Titus with Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange, and something I haven't seen since college and yet remains, for me, the most exquisite example of a Shakespeare caught on video: the filmed play (small cast, minimalist set and props, theatre in the round, stunning performances) of Sir Ian McKellan and Dame Judi Dench in the Royal Shakespeare Comany's version of Macbeth, directed by Trevor Nunn.
There's also a deck of flash cards about literary terms from The New York Public Library, entitled Melodrama, Modernism & Myth, three words which are so completely appropriate to my life and my interests that I'm changing my livejournal subtitle to that name. Hell, I should write a book with that title . . .
Once again, THANK YOU Camille! You brightened my day.