Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Know Thyself


Lately I've been having moments of extreme clarity. When I say "clarity," I mean that moment when you're stuck in gridlock, bumper-to-bumper traffic and you suddenly think about something and it makes perfect sense. While some people despise the stop-start nature of Calgary traffic, lately I've been having some of my best meditation in my car as I wait for the traffic to move along.

Some of the things I've come to realize are:

  1. India fascinates me. I used to be afraid of it's foreign spirituality, but now I think I'm ready to walk in the foothills of the Himilayas and wade in the Ganges. I would like to watch Yogi's meditate, and I would like to surf in the Indian Ocean.
  2. I am afraid of Africa. I want to experience it, but I fear what I will find when I'm there. Will I be able to live with this knowledge hereafter?
  3. I think I could be a fascilitator of learning for the rest of my life. I like teaching English so much that I wonder what it would be like to teach Social Studies again.
  4. I want to take my students on a field trip to a place that will blow their minds. They need to experience the world.
  5. If I want to take my students on a field trip that will blow their minds, I should start the legal paperwork now and than maybe it might happen in ten years.
  6. I think "Life of Pi" means more to me now then when I read it the first time.
  7. I will never give another person "the" finger for driving in an inappropriate manner. I realize after watching this scene play out from a neutral perspective that an action like this does not solve anything.
  8. I have so much to learn about adolescence.
  9. I have so much to learn about adulthood.
  10. I'm not ready to have children of my own.
  11. I know that there are some spots out there that we're bound to meet up at.

Monday, December 11, 2006

Sunday, December 10, 2006

"Pi" and "Baraka"

Recently, I had a startling learning experience. With my grade 11 classes for the last month I've been going through Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I previously read this book 2 years ago, and I thought it was decent enough back then. However, now that I've read it again from a teaching standpoint, I've been learning so much about the nature of metaphor and the human condition. I must say that the title has never meant so much to me; the meaning could really be "Life of Life".

We started this unit with an in-depth look at an excerpt from Northrop Frye's The Educated Imagination, getting the students to start recognizing metaphorical thought in their daily lives through the "Motive for Metaphor" chapter. I wasn't sure how that was going to go over with the students, but to their credit they stuck with it and I think it benefitted them in understanding the novel and themselves.























Once we'd really dug into "Pi" we watched a film by Ron Fricke entitled Baraka that takes the viewer through an "epic non-verbal... journey of the earth's evolution." We took a long look at our interconnectedness in relation to one another and our impact on the earth.




The students were blown away by the scope of the film. On that note, the students were able to see this novel study as something all-together different from what it started out.

I have to show Kirsten and Justin when we're together over Christmas.

























Do each of us have a Richard Parker in our lives in one form or another?









Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Have your cake and eat it too!!!



RECENT RANDOM PICS




"The Artist" of the family... Hayley the brilliant one!

MY Classroom at Lord Beaverbrook on August 28.

The group of mountains in the middle of the picture is "Top of the World" provincial park. The site of the infamous key incident.

Cold Green Tea Frapps.

YAMNUSKA






Sunday, September 24, 2006

Kensington Wheat

Have you ever...

...just hung-out on the phone with somebody? Without really needing to have a conversation? In fact, you still go about your business doing other stuff while you are just hanging out... on the phone... I just did that today. My sisterKirsten, my wife Lisa, and myself hung out for probably 45 minutes today... on the phone, but just hangin' out. It was nice...

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Book Titles... That Work... or not...

Well, I've been thinking that I should expand my literature circle to encompass a more diverse literary pool. With that said, here's a funny list of titles I found while surfing.


Get Out of My Life, but First Could You Drive Me & Cheryl to the Mall: A Parent's Guide to the New Teenager, Revised and Updated by Anthony E. Wolf

$10.01 Used & New from: $5.95



I'm Not Mad, I Just Hate You! : A New Understanding of Mother-Daughter Conflict by Roni Cohen-Sandler

$10.78 Used & New from: $3.42



I'm Okay, You're a Brat! : Setting the Priorities Straight and Freeing You From the Guilt and Mad Myths of Parenthood by Susan Jeffers

$9.72 Used & New from: $1.95



If You Can't Live Without Me, Why Aren't You Dead Yet by Cynthia Heimel

$9.24 Used & New from: $0.93



When Your Phone Doesn't Ring, It'll Be Me by Cynthia Heimel

$8.47 Used & New from: $1.00



If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? by Cynthia Heimel

Used & New from: $0.01



But Enough About You by Cynthia Heimel

Used & New from: $0.01



The Positive Power of Negative Thinking: Using Defensive Pessimism to Harness Anxiety and Perform at Your Peak by Julie K. Norem

$10.78 Used & New from: $2.66



Running with Scissors: A Memoir by Augusten Burroughs

$10.78 Used & New from: $2.95



Even God Is Single, So Stop Giving Me A Hard Time by Karen Salmansohn

$8.95 Used & New from: $1.07



Mr. Right When You Need Him by Karen Salmansohn

$9.72 Used & New from: $0.75



How to Be Happy, Dammit: A Cynic's Guide to Spiritual Happiness by Karen Salmansohn

$10.17 Used & New from: $1.99



How to Change Your Entire Life By Doing Absolutely Nothing: 10 Do-Nothing Relaxation Exercises to Calm You Down Quickly So You Can Speed Forward Faster by Karen Salmansohn

$9.97 Used & New from: $1.95



Stop Smiling, Start Kvetching: A 5-Step Guide to Creative Complaining by Barbara S. Held

Used & New from: $0.01



Women Are from Venus, Men Are from Hell by Amanda Newman

Used & New from: $1.46



Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons (Ballantine Reader's Circle) by Lorna Landvik

$10.74 Used & New from: $0.75



The Between Boyfriends Book: A Collection of Cautiously Hopeful Essays by Cindy Chupack

Used & New from: $2.39



Bleachy-Haired Honky Bitch : Tales from a Bad Neighborhood by Hollis Gillespie

Used & New from: $1.49



The Knight in Rusty Armor by Robert Fisher

$7.00 Used & New from: $0.97



Beyond Burnout: How to Enjoy Your Job Again When You'Ve Just About Had Enough by David Welch

Out of stock



It Could Always Be Worse : A Yiddish Folk Tale by Margot Zemach

$5.95 Used & New from: $2.58



An Untitled Book About Things to Think About When You Think You'Ve Thought Enough by Leonard M. Foley

Used & New from: $5.17



Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl-A Woman's Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship by Sherry Argov

$9.72 Used & New from: $7.75



I Hate You, Don't Leave Me : Understanding the Borderline Personality by Jerold J. Kreisman

$6.99 Used & New from: $3.48



It's My F---ing Birthday : A Novel by Merrill Markoe

$9.20 Used & New from: $0.05

Saturday, January 07, 2006

THE 2005 MEMORY HOLE



2005 will be remembered for 20 things;

20. The frequently asked questions, "Should we write this down?" and "Will this be on the test?" by students in every class I taught over four months.





19. Jeremy Gabery in drag. Though he did show up to teach in dress pants, dress shirt, and tie at the start of that day, somehow he got into the costume props of the school play.

18. Students and cell phones


17. Drinking Guinness at O'Hanlon's.


16. Drinking Guinness at O'Hanlon's with Patrick.
15. Drinking Guinness at O'Hanlon's with Dan.
14. Drinking Guinness at O'Hanlon's with myself.




13. Brent and Angela... just because they're the beautiful people...






12. Scott's birthday party in Saskatoon (neither of these two are Scott).






11. Scott's b-day party in Saskatoon (not Scott).








10. Scott's birthday (not Scott).






9. Scott's b-day party (SCOTT)







8. Meeting "The Don" for the first time at the Summer wedding.





7. Though technically fixed in 2006, new detailed analysis shows that this leak probably started in 2000. $2400 later...







#6 to 1 are all a blur anyway....



















Halloween 2005













































My 28th birthday and the first annual Alm backyard "roast"...


The Lake, two weddings...




Yep, it was an interesting 2005.