Maybe the revolution will be televised

2007-02-23 - 9:48 a.m.


  1. K gave me this John Waters CD for Valentines Day. (You should really go look at it -- the picture is quite ... well, just go look at it.) At first I sort of poo-poohed it, but then I listened to it over the weekend while I put the last of the Christmas ornaments away, and now two songs are stuck in my head: Johnny are you queer? and Jet boy Jet girl. I know they were in heavy rotation on the local college station in the early eighties when we moved here. Johnnie are you queer is very sweet, and I really don't remember Jet boy Jet girl being quite so obscene. (Smedindy has a little essay in part about the sneakiness of Pop music, but this is not even very sneaky. From the same era I remember a song with lyrics something like "Put a toaster in your butt. Put a composter in your butt. What was that?)
  2. Last night was Back to School night. It was raining, and would have been a nice night to spend at home. Also, some thing I'm involved with wanted us all to meet 45 minutes early to discuss a thing, which we did, but that meant I had to be there even earlier, and it was still utter hell finding a parking place. I think there must be plays on Thursday nights or something. Anyway, so I was already annoyed and the night got worse. This is what I learned:

    • M's English teacher is fantastic. She controls the class, she knows what she's doing, she seriously wants to teach them to write, she believes in depth vs. breadth. I love her. She's black and about 28 and about 6 feet tall and really really smart. M loves her, too. (So does M's friend S, who, as Ms. R told her mother, is nobody's fool.)
    • N's history teacher is great, and this whole AP business is completely out of hand. Nobody can learn anything any more, because they all have to take AP classes so they can get into college. I am serious, and it is nuts, and it's got to stop. They are rushing through American History and learning how to answer multiple choice questions. It makes me grind my teeth.
    • AP Biology is more of the same. What is the point? I hate it. Should M then take regular bio next year instead? The risk is that it may be the class full of troublesome youths not well-controlled by the bumbling science teacher (see: what I learned in M's 5th period science class)
    • N's math teacher is incredibly cute, in that young, tall, darkhaired, really smart way that it's possible to be cute in. Hmmm. He is good, and N should work really hard in that class, because he would write a great recommendation. (Because he's smart.)
    • M's science class is most likely a complete and utter waste of time, although she claims that she has learned one or two things. The teacher is kind of sweet (I swear, her name is something like Miss Raisin) but I don't think she's good at controlling the class. Okay, it's probably okay. It's probably okay to have one class that has no homework. Might have been better to get a gym requirement out of the way instead, though. The thing is, you never know. With a decent teacher, it might have been worthwhile.
    • M's math teacher did not grovel at my feet and say, why yes, you were right! M should have been in honors math. Her 108% average is proof enough. You were right, and I am a bumbling fool! No, instead he had some long boring conversation with some other stupid parent, told us how to get the area of a cone, couldn't listen to K who had figured out a different method for getting the area of a cone because he was again involved with other yucky parent and then said, yes, M should take the test for Honors Algebra. I really tried not to hate him, but failed.
    • Judging by the yucky parents I knew in all N's class, I see why she complains about the yucky kids. I guess the good thing is, mostly I like her teachers, and M has some good teachers, too, although her great art teacher has a terrible student teacher this semester, which is really sad. The famous latin teacher was out sick! (She's never out sick.) But we know her pretty well, having seen her every semester for 3 years, and twice last semester. She is great.

  3. N stayed up all night last night, doing homework and then writing a paper, and then studying for a Bio test. I kept getting up to check on her, and there she'd be -- cheery enough on the couch, typing away. She left early this morning to walk to school with E and sit in the newspaper office reading her Bio textbook. K saw her English teacher and I didn't, but she's quite young, and it's her first year, and I think she doesn't quite realize that giving a paper topic like "Discuss how the author's style creates a tone" for a book they've been reading outside of class, and have never discussed in class is a pretty hard assignment. She seems to think this essay can be written in 40 minutes, but in my experience it seems to take all night. Hmmm. Apparently it's practice for the f%&*$#&)̂$ AP exam.
  4. When I rule the world, there will be no AP exams, and the emphasis will be on actually learning something. Something that's actually interesting.
  5. Stay tuned.

out of print - new releases

find me! - 2008-02-12
where I've gone - 2008-02-07
Where I've gone - 2008-02-05
where I've gone - 2008-02-01
New - 2008-02-01

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