Three Beautiful Things 10/14/13: Blue-Collar Brilliance, The Book of Air and Shadows, Fun with the Deke

1.  I suppose Mike Rose's article, "Blue-Collar Brilliance" could have been titled "The Hidden Intelligence of Blue Collar Workers".  Every term I have at least one student for whom the work of Mike Rose means a great deal and today I was most happy when Rebecca stayed after class to talk more about Rose's article and her conviction that it should be required reading for everyone so that respect for workers might increase and so that waitresses/waiters, plumbers, and others might increase.

2.  I finished one of the most outlandish, ridiculously enjoyable books I've ever read:  The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber.  It's a smart book with lots of great stuff about Jacobean England and spying and ciphers and other stuff and it's a book that does what I like in novels:  it sprawls.  It has about fifteen or so main characters, goes all over the East Coast and England, with a stop or two in Zurich, goes back in time, involves gangsters from Russia and Israel -- I mean it sprawls.  There's plenty of sex, for old time's sake, and it's a pretty good book on movie making and storytelling.  It sprawls, I'm tellin' ya.  I don't know if I recommend it;  I can only say I had a lot of fun reading it, I learned stuff, and within the Byzantine plots, double plots, triple plots, and intricate twists and turns, there were moments of insight that made me stop reading and stare for a while.

3.  The Deke and I had a lot of fun again this afternoon and on into the evening, starting with some time at Cornucopia and then over to Billy Mac's where we split a plate of blackened Ahi tacos.  We always have a lot on our minds, it seems and we chattered and chattered and made each other laugh and had a great time sharing some laughs with John and Derrick, busy as they were.  They always seem to have time here and there for some mirth.  John was happy to know that when I was helping my students understand Mike Rose's examination of the many kinds of intelligence required to be a restaurant server, I used the staff at Billy Mac's as an sterling example of what Rose writes about.  He volunteered to be a guest speaker!