Three Beautiful Things 10/02/07: Fast Lane, Night School, Popcorn Mountain

1. I teach in a program at LCC geared to help students in their first quarter of college learn effective study skills and get on course in their attitudes about themselves and about school itself. It's my third year teaching WR 121 in this program and after meeting with my "Fast Lane" students three times, I'm very excited about this new group. Today they nailed aspect after aspect of the film we watched ("Family Tree") and I love the perfect blend in the class's population: Iraq war vets, fresh faces out of high school, men in their early twenties who are just starting school, and older women who are transitioning out of one life into another. Today's class meeting gave me goose bumps.

2. I felt more goose bumps during my night school WR 121 class meeting. This is a class of students I have come to expect when teaching night school. They embody why I volunteer to teach night school. They are mostly older students, some wary of returning to school, but being older students, they have a receptiveness to learning and discussion that I can hardly wait to work with throughout the quarter. I did not want to dismiss them last night at the end of our two hours. I wanted to take a short break and meet for another two hours and listen to more of their insights and ask them more questions about "Family Tree". But, alas, school is set up like a factory and we teachers don't have the luxury of pursuing learning without regard to time. We have to stop when the whistle blows.

3. Just for the hell of it, when I came home during my afternoon break between my day and night classes, I popped a mammoth bowl of popcorn and drank iced glasses of Diet Pepsi from a 2 liter bottle.

Three Beautiful Things 01/29/07: Catharsis, Deportee, Soda

1. Matt plays the Duke in Othello. He's done early in the play. He watched the play tonight past his departure. He wept three times during the production. He wept as he told the cast how powerful he found their performance. He said people who saw this production would be better human beings. We witnessed catharsis taking place in our fellow actor Matt.

2. I might be able to help Vasil not get deported to the Republic of Georgia.

3. During our dress rehearsal tonight I changed out of costume and put on my street clothes so I could go out to the pop machine and purchase and drink a Diet Pepsi. We are not to leave the building or drink anything but water while in costume.

Three Beautiful Things 01/24/07: The Boss, Connections, Slurpy DP

1. At the end of the Research Writing/Literature of the American Working Class course two years ago, I dropped Sam a note and offered him my Bruce Springsteen LP's. I never heard from him and forgot I made the offer. I ran into Sam today outside the Blue Door Theater and he asked me if the offer still held. You bet it does. We'll make the transaction soon.

2. I enjoy the way we are seeing how Martin Luther King, Jr., the writings of Thich Nhat Hanh, and the writing and thinking of Robert Grudin and the idea of copia all interrelate in WR 122. I'm hoping my students begin to see that when ideas are profound, there's a way they have deep commonality.

3. I purchased a Diet Pepsi from the machine that sits outside near the theater. The machine is subject to the elements. My Diet Pepsi was slushy and I pretended like I'd bought a slurpy and enjoyed the icy can of soda.

Three Beautiful Things 12/14/06: Photos, Upload, Popcorn

1. I drove to rehearsal, was not needed, and so shot 111 more pictures on the campus of Lane Community College in the wind and the rain.

2. I successfully uploaded on to youtube.com my slide show "Lane Community College at Night". I'll post on this blog as soon as I can.

3. I realized that drinking Diet Pepsi while eating popcorn is like having a caramel, citrus, and cinammon popcorn ball without the trying corn syrup bonding agent that makes popcorn balls difficult for me to eat.