Phone book

hee hee hee… Okay. So I’m easily entertained. But “Phonebook” is now available at Dreamspinner. The reason I’m so entertained is that, in spite of being the worst edited blog on the web, that title up top is NOT a typo. It seems that the only way they could get the damned thing to post is by putting a space in the title, and, for some reason, that makes me giggle. It’s like our smart machines outsmarted us, and for someone as TOTALLY right brained as moi? That’s frickin’ hysterical.

In other news… Well, I linked my blog with my Goodreads feed, and now I’m wondering if that’s such a splendid idea. I mean, it’s okay with all of you– you know I say things like ‘fuck’ and ‘fuckity bugger fuck’ and ‘vainglorious prickweenie’ but I’m not sure if the rest of the world needs to. But then, I guess if they don’t like me swearing, they’re not gonna be so thrilled about my books, so maybe this is a good way to break folks into the awful truth easy. (We all remember Mate’s reaction to the book on tape, right? “Jesus, Amy, don’t you know any other words? I thought you were an English Major!”)

And speaking of Mate… Mate cleaned the living room this weekend. (Ah, he is a good mate, and I cherish him in many ways.) Anyway, Squish got home today and took a puzzled look around the living room. “Mom, what happened?”

“Daddy cleaned the living room.”

Suddenly she starts running in circles and laughing. “Look at me! I can run because there’s no things in the way!” (And for anyone who doubts my house is usually a pit, that right there should speak for itself.)

And, back at school… Okay. I’ve bitched about my students this school year like you can’t believe. (Okay. You’ve been reading along–maybe you can believe it.) And I still maintain that as a whole, I’ve yet to meet a more scattered, disrespectful, irritating lot of kids. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some truly awesome human beings in that group– and some very funny moments today, the last day before finals.

Moment first: A kid who has become one of my favorite students came running in a little late today.

“Ms. Lane, here’s Season Two of Supernatural. Do you have Season Three?”

“Another student is bringing it in 4th period.”

“Good. I’ll wait.”

“Sweetie, it’s second period.”

“Yeah–do you have your iPod–I’ve already done my cheat sheet and written my rough draft. I want to watch the eps on your iPod.”

“Uhm, but don’t you have to do somewhere for second and third period?”

“Why? I already cut first to watch the last disc on Season Two. My day’s shot!”

And sure enough, not only did the kid huddle in the back of the room for third period, hunched over my iPod like a snarling dog (which is probably as safe as an iPod has ever been in my room) he managed to talk my fourth period into an insurrection, and while they were supposed to be writing THEIR cheat sheets, there we were, watching Jus In Bello.

But the funniest part of this bizarre little addiction I’ve managed to share?

Well, Ray left to go suck the juice out of my iPod, and I turned to the awesome kid sitting next to me, waiting to give his book report, and said, “I’m sorry, Carlos– go ahead and give your report now that he’s occupied.”

And he said, “Sure, Ms. Lane– but first, I’ve got a question.”

“Shoot.”

“Well, I’ve been taping episodes from TNT and they only go to the end of Season 4. What happens after that? Do they live after the devil gets loose? Don’t give me the whole thing–I just need to know if there’s a complete season 5.”

*sigh* You know? I should hang my head in shame–and for about thirty seconds I thought about it. But then I started listing the concepts I’ve used my boys to teach–and this isn’t all of them, either:

One sentence summaries (Okay, that’s a softball– but they did a better job with the tv show than they did with the Bradbury story.)
Tragic Hero archetype
American Romantic hero archetype
Romantic hero archetype
Gothic hero archetype
The entire CONCEPT of a ‘type’ that is NOT a stereotype!
American Gothic Literature, including William Faulkner and Shirley Jackson
American Romanticism, including: William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allen Poe.
Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman
Importance of setting
Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey
Five methods of characterization
Symbolism
Foreshadowing
Flashback
Tropes
Motifs
and the list goes on.

So, yeah. I’d rather they remembered “The Raven”. But at least now they can look at the world and the media around them and try to find the NEXT Raven, because good writing is good writing, no matter what the genre or medium, and isn’t our job to not only teach kids skills but to teach them to apply those skills someplace outside the classroom?

Uhm, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.