February 20, 2012

Thoughts on Ray Bradbury

O.K., this video I’m linking to here, don’t open it when there are children around, or when you’re at work or anything.  In fact, you probably shouldn’t open it at all unless you a) are a science fiction fan and b) have a seriously smutty sense of humor.

Ray Bradbury

Meanwhile, I will use this column for a few comments on Ray Bradbury, since the singer in the video seems to like him so much.  When I was about 11, Bradbury (who is currently 91 and still alive) was one of my favorite writers, largely on the strength of a short story called “The Pedestrian” which was as much a commentary on modern American life as it was science fiction.  The Illustrated Man is also pretty awesome, as is Fahrenheit 451, but then I read the Martian Chronicles.   I just don’t see how that can be considered a sci-fi classic.  It struck me as pretty much a total misreading of human nature.

It’s nowhere near as good as Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy, or anything by Arthur C. Clarke, or even Robert Heinlein’s highly overrated Stranger in a Strange Land.  They all wrote some good stories, which entertained me in my youth, but things have changed a lot since then.

Science fiction has divided into two types.  There is Cyberpunk which, I am embarrassed to say but it’s true, is just way over my head.  I’m glad that genre is out there, I’m glad that present day hard core sci-fi fans are smarter than me (or at least more knowledgeable)  because that gives me some hope for the future in this grim, evil world.  But I have never been able to get through a whole book by William Gibson.

Then there are those who write speculative fiction, and often set their stories in the future or on other planets, and usually include a bit of humor.  It’s not as educational, as far as science goes, but it’s a lot more entertaining, and those are the favorites of my adult life.  Vonnegut, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, people like that.

Vonnegut never liked being classified as a science fiction writer, but he was one.

My favorite science fiction writer of all time, though, was a guy called R.A. Lafferty.  A lot of his short stories had a gang called the “Institute People” who were the greatest minds in the world but there were a couple of people excluded from this group by the “minimal decency rule,” which, like the 3 seashells in Stallone’s Demolition Man, was never explained.

But, whatever the minimal decency rule was, I think the young lady singing in this video may have violated it.

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February 19, 2012

Words Have Meanings

“We’re stupid, but we’re not dumb” Senator John McCain said in explaining why Republicans voted for an extension of the payroll tax cut.  He added “Some of us are downright moronic, a few are mentally deficient, a significant number of Republicans are bonkers, quite a few are not

Trees in Michigan, in February

playing with a full deck and a couple of us are senile.”

O.K., the 2nd sentence I made up, that was a joke.  But he really said “We’re stupid, but we’re not dumb.”  This is like saying “I’m not tired, I’m just worn out” or “I’m not angry, I’m just pissed off.”  It’s  sort of the political equivalent of “I love you, but I’m not in love with you.”  What the hell does that even mean?

In order for McCain’s statement to make any sense at all, you have to either change the meaning of the word stupid or the word dumb, because they are about as close to pure synonyms as you can get.

The problem is, he wasn’t really even trying to make sense.  He was just trying to say something that sounded nice, that wouldn’t alienate voters or commit him to anything.  Another example of political garbagespeak spilled from the mouth of Mitt Romney a couple of days ago.  “I love being in Michigan,” he said. “Everything seems right here. You know, I come back to Michigan; the trees are the right height. The grass is the right color for this time of year, kind of a brownish-greenish sort of thing. It just feels right.”

I get what he’s trying to say, I really do, and I’m sure Michigan’s a lovely place, (Hemingway loved it) but “the trees are the right height???”  Seriously, Mitt, are they taller or shorter than the trees in Massachusetts?  Do you have some objection to the California redwoods?

The right height for what?  A tree house? Climbing?  Swinging from the branches?  Picking fruit?

It was just an absolutely meaningless statement, designed to sound pleasant enough without actually saying anything at all about issues or policy, because he’s learned that whenever he opens his mouth to say something political, he gets attacked.  He can’t deal with the attacks because he is an empty suit, a paper tiger, a man with more money than ideas and no core convictions whatsoever.

So, he talks about trees.  Everybody likes trees, right?

 

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February 18, 2012

The Mind of the Body and the Body of the Mind

I just read a very interesting articleover on Huffpo, about a research study which proved that people are more likely to be impressed by a piece of abstract art if they were afraid.  There were 5 groups in the study.  One was shown a short, scary video.  Another was shown a short clip with

Kendall Eskine

babies and puppies, to make them happy.  A third group had to do 15 jumping jacks, a 4th 30 jumping jacks, and the control group didn’t do anything in particular.  Then, they walked through an exhibit of abstract art.  The group that had been frightened was, by a clear margin, more likely to respond to the art in some way.

Now, I must confess, I generally am completely unimpressed by abstract art. You walk through the museum and you look at the pieces, and you wonder what they mean. I generally look at the plaque to see if I can get some clue, and 90% of them are titled “untitled,” and I think “Well, if the bloody artist doesn’t even know what it’s about, how the heck am I supposed to?”
But, one sentence jumped right out of this article and grabbed me.   The researcher, Kendall Eskine, said “The body is not just a vessel for the mind, it is the mind, it’s all the same stuff.”

He’s done some other experiments to prove his hypothesis.  In one he had subjects hold hot or cold cups of coffee and then introduced them to a stranger.  Literal warmth translated directly into personal warmth.  In another he had an audience watch a performance, and one group of subjects were asked to actually sit on the edge of their seats.  They found the performance more exciting than the other group.

I’m not exactly sure what this research portends for the future of mankind, as we evolve into homo cyberensis or whatever, but it’s sure shaken up my view of reality.  Which was overdue for a good shake.

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February 17, 2012

I Tried a Little TPR Today – and I Liked it.

TPR means total physical response, and it is a teaching method.  Especially language teaching, although I’m sure there are other applications.  In fact, if you’re coaching somebody on a musical instrument or in a sport, it’s TPR by definition.

Plus, it makes for an enjoyable class

The idea is that if you explain something, half of the class isn’t even listening to you.  If you ask them questions, the smart ones may get it but most of them will forget as soon as you move on to the next person.  If you get them to write something down, your odds improve but it still doesn’t necessarily lock in.  If you get them to do something, though, some physical movement, then it’s locked into the neural memory.  Plus, it makes for an enjoyable class, people forget that learning is supposed to be difficult and they let down their barriers a little bit.

I’ve always used it a bit with little kids, mostly to try and wear the little monsters down at the beginning of the class so they’d sit down and shut up, but it’s not always enough and the older I get the harder it is.  A classroom of 7 year olds  can beat me down in ten minutes, and they’re still raring to go.

But I used it for a different purpose today.

See, one of my big problems as a teacher is I can’t remember names.  I have these students once a week, some classes just once every two weeks, and remembering names was never my strong suit anyway.

Today, I had a class of well over twenty 3rd graders, I think they’d put two classes together.  I didn’t want to go around the room taking attendance, because that would take for ever, some students get upset because they think I should know their name and I don’t, and a lot of them sound alike to me – in one class I have an Eliška, an Anečka, and an Alice (pronounced a-lee-tze).

So, I got them all to stand in a circle and throw a ball.  The person throwing had to say “What is your name?” and the person catching had to give their name, then ask and throw.  It took about 5 minutes, they were entertained and they learned how to ask somebody’s name.  The purpose, and the side advantage, was that I got everybody’s name and didn’t have to call roll.

In fact, it worked so well  that I decided I’m going to start using TPR a lot more.  At least up to 4th, maybe 5th  grade.

You might be able to use it with adults, if you’ve got the right adults, but I don’t think it will work with my 6th through 9th  graders.  They all think they’re far too cool for that sort of thing.

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February 16, 2012

Say it ain’t so, Paul!

Sir Paul McCartney, one of the most popular musicians of the 20th century and a big personal favorite of mine, has announced that he’s giving up marijuana.  He is 69.

Paul McCartney with current wife Nancy Shevell

Here is his statement:    “I smoked my share. When you’re bringing up a youngster, your sense of responsibility does kick in, if you’re lucky, at some point… Enough’s enough — you just don’t seem to think it’s necessary.”  Paul’s daughter Beatrice (with his second wife, evil blood-sucking parasite Heather Mills) is 8.

He also has four adult children from his first wife, Linda.  Her daughter Heather  (who he adopted) and Mary, Stella and James.   He smoked pot while they were growing up and they all turned out O.K.

But, he’s 69 now and maybe it’s all just a bit much.

I remember one incident shortly after Sam was born.  He was maybe a month old and we had some friends over to see the new baby.  A couple of us had just stepped out to the balcony to smoke a big, fat joint and when I came back in, I was handed the baby immediately.  I held him for a moment and then said “Uh, I think maybe I…uh, may have smoked a bit too much.”

Everyone looked at me strangely and then somebody said “Do you mean somebody else should hold the baby?”

“I think that would be a good idea,” I said.

That was 9 years ago, and I’m 12 years younger than Paul.

One commenter over at Huffpo speculated that maybe he had to make that statement due to an ongoing custody battle with Gold Digger Mills, and he’ll probably still have a secret toke now and again.  Maybe.

Truth is, it doesn’t matter.  Paul has had a tremendous career (the Guinness book of World Records lists him as the most successful rock musician of all time), and if he feels that it’s time for him to give up smoking pot, that’s his choice.

I’m still going to love his music.

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