never too late for cheese

After some new years chats i really wanted to put together some best of 07 lists for entertainment and hear what others came up with. I realize the cliches and lameness of best of lists but I'm just going to move past that.

The criteria for me was not that these were released in 2007 but that I expierienced them in 07:

Best Albums:
Radiohead In Rainbows-- beautifully mastered album all fits together and has the potential to really affect the listener
Iron and Wine- Our endless numbered days. I realize its a few years old but all I have to say is Naked as we Came
Wilco-- sky blue sky grows on you
Eddie Vedder-- Into the Wild soundtrack. Awesome new campfire songs and a great movie.
M Ward Post-war gets me into that creative feeling state.
Tom Brosseau-- What I meant to say is goodbye. soft. melodic. understated. and he played at my graduation in San Diego
The White Buffalo-- EP. Man I wish this guy had some more music out there

Books:
The Mysteries of Philadelphia-- great book fun story.. soon to be a movie
Dharma Punx-- I read it with my class probably 8 times. It was engrossing the whole way through though
Flight-- Sherman Alexie is my hero
Billy Collins-- the Trouble with Poetry. Accessible but insightful poetry
its sad but I cant think of any other books that moved me this year... maybe more will come

Movies:
Lars and the Real Girl--quiet subtle beautiful
Into the Wild-- of course
Paris Je t'aim-- great shorts but slightly disconnected
Once-- great film about an irish folksinger
Juno-- interesting hot Dialogue
Garden State-- Watched it again for the first time
Across the universe-Beatles musical--good times

I guess my main purpose of posting this was to start a discussion about what your favorites were or about what you thought of these films. I realize most people don't comment on my blog but all you have to do is click on speak your mind here and write a quick comment. Thanks



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Now playing: Greg Brown - I Want My Country Back
via FoxyTunes

Blog on ice

<-- Interesting postsecret card Its the holidays again, such a strange but beautiful time that we all look forward to and then are extremely happy to shrug off as the year continues. Wow, that sounds slightly depressing-- they are also a wonderful time of the year to spend with friends and family but they tend to bring up some difficult feelings in many people around family and death. I know my mom always mentions her son who died; around Christmas time-- even though it was 26 years ago. Then there's that religious problem in a spreading agnostic society it is difficult to understand what the meaning of the holiday really is. The general commercialism has a tendency to destroy anything sacred about the holiday, and the Christian connection can be a problem for some as well (like me). I am interested in learning more about the pagan roots of this time of year. Winter, trees and snow don't have to only symbolize the birth of a religion they can also symbolize the poignancy and clarity of wintertime in nature. On to lighter things--This Christmas, I made a holiday brew that I was pretty proud of. It was a dark ale with a spicy aftertaste. And it had a high alcohol content, the thing I was most proud of was my label. Here is the image I made:
If you had a chance to taste it please comment and let me know what you thought. Ilya-- sorry I forgot to send one home with Kristen.

Listening to KCSM Jazz

Eliot

Any poet, if he is to survive beyond his 25th year, must alter; he must seek new literary influences; he will have different emotions to express.
T. S. Eliot

Guess I have some changing to do.

The Good Willies

“Bearing witness to both the beauty and the pain of our world is a task I want to be a part of. As a writer, this is my work. By bearing witness, the story that is told can provide healing ground… If we choose to turn our backs we’ve walked away from what it means to be human.” –Terry Tempest Williams

I just taught a lesson today that opened with this quote and I was surprised at the response I received. I think it is an utterly true quote, but my students brought it to life with this great conversation about the polarity of life. We talked about how there everything is weighed both ways. Like the quote, beauty wouldn't exist without pain, but more than that; happiness is force that changes and moves up and down through depression and enlightenment and it is far from constant. It was interesting that the girl with the most insight is diagnosed as Bi-Polar.

There is a theory called dialectics that says all of life is a constant push and pull, and when one force overcomes the other, change occurs. I shared this concept with them and they were completely receptive. It was a discussion that gave me chills down my spine. the kind of conversation that I never expected, but was moved by.

These students never cease to amaze me.

Resist Sickness and Social networking!

I guess I don't really have a lot to say. and I'm sure all you avid "lesson learned" blog readers are chomping at the bit.

I have quite the cold. It moved in slowly, making me think it was just a nasal thing, then, before I knew it, it attacked full force. Leaving me displaced in my apartment scowering our empty medicine cabinet for something to make the headache and nose-run to stop. I finally did find it. It was called Tylenol PM. It is quite the wonder drug, I thought maybe this sickness would resist its forces, but before I knew it, it was 6:30 and I was sawing logs in my old man chair.

Needless to say, after a good night's sleep I am feeling quite a bit better. I'm ready to attack one more day this week with my little buggers.

I met some other alternative school teachers today and they all seemed pretty amazing. Just the mention of the things they were doing in their classroom made me feel inadequate. And their staff goes out drinking on Thursdays! We don't do that at my school.

Anyhow, rain has finally made it to Santa Cruz, and Daren has also discovered this incredible social networking tool called Facebook that seems to suck his time away from blogging on a consistent basis. I have connected with some long lost friends along the way, which I guess is pretty cool.

I am teaching a class about activism and writing this term and I am seeing that there will indefinitely be some challenges, especially if I plan on attacking it the way I have been. But its so fun to stir up a little tension in the classroom.

We spent this week talking about oppression. It was very interesting. I also used this poem last week that brought up some really strong opinions:
A moment Of Silence Before I start this poem

I love poetry, but kids are so afraid of it that it can be difficult to teach. But I, gonna try!


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Now playing: Xavier Rudd - Choices
via FoxyTunes

Early snow, Late Post

The weekend before last I had an amazing trip in the central sierras. My friend Tim, his girlfriend and I hiked up to about 10,000 feet and camped by a granite lake called emerald lake.

Hiking in, the weather was beautiful. But after the first nights downpour we were thinking we should get out while the gettings' good. I of course led the decision to stay longer and as we decided, the snow started coming down. That snow didn't really stop until 8 o'clock that night.

But when we woke up the sky was clear and brilliant with stars. The snow was thick on our tents and we were a little bit worried as to whether we would be able to find the trail in the morning.

Needless to say we awoke to clear blue skies and crunchy snow at every step. Not only was the snow crunchy but so were our boots, rain jackets, socks, sleeping bags just about everything that could freeze, did.

As we walked the 6 miles out of our campsite we had a renewed view of where we were and we were humbled by the granite peaks that surrounded us. We were on top of the world, even though it almost swallowed us.

Listening to: Townes Van Zandt


More pictures here at flikr

The Restless Generation

I've been reading a lot of articles and critiques of today's youth (including 20-somethings) and one of the most interesting designations that I've read were those of "The Restless Generation." I think I've also read Complacent and Bored as designators for our generation. These critiques really seem to speak some truth to me.

Technology is booming, electronic communication is so easy and fast. It allows us to create and share so much, but I also believe that it shuts us down and takes away any sense of freedom we might have had without it. In its essence technology makes things easier. Tasks that used to require effort and work require almost nothing now. So now that these small yet meaningful tasks are taken away from us, what do we do? How do we measure our accomplishments, how do we dirty our hands?

Ours is a generation of exercise-nuts and alcohol and drug abusers, a complacent generation if you will, a people who cannot be content because of a painful disconnect with accomplishment. I believe that many of these replaced tasks give us too much and leave us agonizing over the strange place that it truly leaves us in.

I believe that one of the most important things in our lives in community and our connection to other people. We may not be aware of it but we depend so deeply on all of the people around us. We depend on a feeling of accomplishment as well; and technology has inadvertently taken those two dependencies away abruptly.

So where does it leave us? restless, bored and complacent. With so much energy that has to be extinguished in one way or another, through drug abuse, through exercise, through technology, through travel, through anything that is available to us, we don't know what to do.

I am not trying to paint a picture that doesn't include myself, I believe that I am an integral part of this mess, I'm just not sure how to deal with it.

I would love to hear others opinions on the matter.

listening to Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova, "Once" Soundtrack