To thine own self be true

live, up close and in-person, chatting with her, having her sign several items, and thanking her for the super concert at Festival Place. Recalling all this today while watching an excellent tv special: Janis Ian: Live from Grand Center. (Ironically, I taught in Grand Centre, Alberta for three years to start my teaching career.)

Ms. Ian may well be my favorite female-folk-singer-and-composer of all time. She plays a strong guitar and piano, and her songs are straight-to/from-the-heart. Poignant, sensitive voice. A delightful survivor and inspiration in the wide world of entertainment.

“I wish you joy, I wish you joy.”–“Joy”

(signed copy of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead)

Tom Stoppard’s ‘masterpiece’ Arcadia, a play currently running at Citadel here in town, sucks. It is a monumentally tedious, patronizing, ‘academic play’ that endlessly talks down to the audience, only connecting with it when using occasional bits of pandering coarse humor (which doesn’t say much about modern audiences, incidentally).

The ‘writing’ per se ranges from flatly weak to pseudo-intelligent. The various theories are just mumbo-jumbo thrown periodically at the audience to make it feel that there is a truly ‘significant’ mystery here as well as hifalutin ideas buried beneath the genuinely boring plot set in two different historical time periods (itself a tired, failed gimmick). All of this is supposed to make the audience feel ‘smart’ and ‘privileged’ (A painfully obvious appeal to theatrical snobbery.) A Lord Byron mystery??!!

It is difficult to feel anything for the 12 characters; none of them are particularly likable, nor interesting, mainly because Stoppard is himself is too lost in the ‘clever ideas’ of the play to care about any of them except the two pontificating male characters. None of this is the actors’ faults; they simply have so little to work with. The preachy vehicle and the flat writing are to blame.

This is easily one of the worst productions Citadel has staged in memory. Having suffered through an hour and forty minutes of the painful opening act, my friend and I abandoned ship and headed for the exit along with many other patrons who didn’t need to be, likewise, patronized rather than coherently and convincingly entertained.

The patently self-indulgent Arcadia is, finally, also a very far cry from the playful brilliance of Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead which remains a comic masterpiece (with the audience in on the jokes). But this 1990s amorphous, ‘abstract’, mind-numbing play is simply a waste of time, money, and effort posing as actual brilliance, cleverness, depth, and wit.

A Buried Life

O brave new world,
what fools these mortals be!
They found me under a car park
several feet down–Richard.
A gentle woman’s touch
released me from my private peace.
A slow, loving process
I had never known before.

Conniving and entitlements,
I once wanted it all.
Little did they who found me
know I wanted to be left
alone where I could not be hurt
again, to suffer more indignities.

And so they boxed and dated me,
then stood around my bones
in dark sterile rooms
wondering who I really was.
It was just a matter of more time
till technology and speculation
would have their way with me,
my puzzle bones and their agendas.

They rejoiced to restore me
(or so they thought),
missing every inner bit that mattered
of feeling, dream and passion.
A life, a man, being so much more
than identity and mere evidence
that I was once was and still am here.

(above: a signed book on film by Siskel and Ebert; Andrews & McMeel, 1991 )

This excellent Steve James documentary on Roger Ebert is a must-see, especially for his many fans, film fans everywhere, people who want to know more about him, and those who want to see an inspiring film about someone dealing with cancers and related major health issues. One cannot but help to conclude that this film critic led a remarkable, unique life that shows us all how to live life fully.

There is much to like and enjoy about the film; no doubt, many viewers will find the sections about his relationship with Gene Siskel (the two formed the most film critic duo of all time) to be quite powerful with a mix of jealousy, competition, respect, and love.
This is a candid warts-and-all documentary so Ebert’s battle with the bottle, his less flattering characteristics, his dirty jokes or limericks, the meanness to Siskel are all shown. In addition, we also witness his great character changes as he finds love in a late-in-life interracial marriage to his beloved Chaz and finds graceful, humorous ways to cope with his awful tragic illnesses which deprived him of speech.

He could also be especially generous and kind to friends, who included filmmakers such as the grateful Martin Scorcese, Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, and Steve James, all who contribute their personal thank-yous during the film.

Although the movie contains scenes from the hospital, various setbacks in Ebert’s medical news, and Chaz’s mixed feelings on Roger’s last moments, the atmosphere and tone are generally balanced with a fair bit of humour and upbeat moments such as the posthumous release of his new major website of movie reviews. Life Itself is, overall,  truly inspiring celebration of a special person’s life, every bit as interesting as Errol Morris’s landmark documentary on Stephen Hawking A Brief History of Time.

With the ‘brave new’ approach, there will be no sameness of relatively common curriculum throughout a province or, generally, across Canada. There will be no commonly agreed-upon subject matter; instead, a bunch of worksheets and multiple-choice tests with all the limitations that implies.

There is a real illusion in this new approach that kids are smart, really learning, and can teach themselves how to reflect, focus, think, organize, and crap-detect. I don’t imagine all the ads and corporation sponsorships will maintain neutrality of info and info delivery.

The worksheet approach is basically a lazy, money-influenced sellout to rigid, dumbed-down ‘learning’, not autonomous, critical-thinking, authentic learning. (Which fits the times in which the majority can’t/don’t think, or want to.

True, teachers are or will become mere techs, facilitators of machines working. I don’t imagine students will be interested in going beyond the ‘facts’ they learn online. Critical thinking is potentially dead-in-the-water for Social and ELA. Other humanities subjects need not be taught; same as at u these daze.

Already there has been a serious decline in educational/classroom conversation/s. Too many languages, cultures; each one basically ethno-centered. Great relativism has crept in and authority is, likewise, dead-in-the-water. Standards? An olde school big joke.

AB PCs are already cutting ed. budgets, letting schools rot or packin’ ’em in like Orwellian rats. This is precisely what they want. Less money spent on building, maintenance, and teacher salaries. Letting schools nickel-and-dime for more technology in order to survive. Schools shall finally/soon close and give way to a handful of regional tech centres with low-paid techs (who know zilch) waiting to ‘service’ any kids who want to see a live human adult.

Significant live, in-person-presence/informed subject-matter experts will go the way of the dinosaurs. Some kids will miss the olde-style teachers and characters (c.f., Isaac Asimov’s “The Fun They Had”), but it’ll be way too late.

Thus, we are down to the obvious small minority of significantly-informed, deeper adults who actually know something about learning, critical thinking, teaching-learning methods, and the actual world, in order to facilitate kids’ learning at home, be they parents (good luck finding more than 15% of available, interested parents) or some grandparents.

the best gifts are the Gifts of Self we selflessly give one another, naturally and freely.

(signed Roger Corman book, (with Jim Jerome) Random House, 1990–highly recommended book on an unusual auteur)

(the original rare Caedmon LP, now available on CD–Forum: UK)

The above two from my film and vinyl record collections.

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And the three new arrivals are:

Corman’s World doc on the King of the B-Movies–Roger Corman. Very well-done, funny, strange, interesting. Some gross, over-the-top, politically incorrect, and cheezy outtakes from his movies included.

CD of Hurd Hatfield (who played the protagonist in the movie of The Picture of Dorian Gray) reading the book (originally an old out-of-print/now rare Caedmon LP–cf. above image). Very effective voicings of the main characters and the atmosphere of Wilde’s original text.

Life Itself documentary on the late Roger Ebert–described on the CD blurbs as “deeply enthralling”, “tremendously moving”, and “a remarkably intimate portrait of a life well-lived”.

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Recall what I said earlier elsewhere in this blog about the importance of life-long learning on one’s own (terms) and ‘putting (back) in’ when new info, true entertainment, and positive stimuli are required to move us forward.

“The difference between almost the right word and the right word is a large matter–it’s the difference between the lighting bug and the lightning.”–Mark Twain

At an early age we repeat what we hear whether phrases (like swearing) or clear complete sentences spoken by an adult.

Choosing words carefully and consciously is centrally important; words chosen express who and what you are.

The most significant frustration or failure in life is an inability to understand others or to make yourself understood. (This can really be a problem when people from different cultures with different mother languages try to communicate with one another.)

If language and language usage are mutually similar and comfortable between persons, there will be much mutual communication, delight, understanding, and appreciation. The enjoyment may be so great that it leads to friendship or other deeper relationships.

Thinking before one speaks or writes is always a good idea. It gives more meaning, purpose, and focus to the communication, and ensures accuracy of expression.

Whether fair or not, ‘poor’ or incorrect grammar often does affect people’s opinions regardless of message and depth of feeling or thought.

Language always depends on context, pure and simple.

Language has and needs rules because broken rules and/or ambiguity can skew meaning. E.g., Let’s eat Grandpa vs. Let’s eat, Grandpa.

Standards are a basis of civilization, civility, communication, and Truth in homes, schools, workplaces, and public venues. There are definitely many places, times, occasions, and reasons for good grammar, punctuation, and usage.

If each person makes up his or her own rules for communication, there’d be chaos and no guarantee of communication at home, in schools, at work, or in public places. Only agreed-upon general usage keeps things running smoothly and efficiently in our society.

Driving safely is only possible because of adherence to commonly agreed-upon rules. Driving ‘ok’ and surviving without injury or damage is not enough per se. Effective communication in a language depends upon an analogous following of general, common rules and usage. Less harm and fewer misunderstandings will happen to people if they follow these.

Careful language use has the potential for Truth and Truth is badly needed these daze.

Grammar and ‘proper’ usage were never a detriment or impediment to talented creative writers, even the great ones like Shakespeare and E.E. Cummings.

The joy of language is knowing the recipe and playing with the recipe.”–RJL (much like jazz musicians need to know the rudiments of music before they can fully and effectively improvise)

I would say that by 3, children have clearly developed personal will. By this time, they have encountered many adult choices and rules made for them, and it is only natural that they soon become aware of what they want or would prefer. Examples of this can be found in eating, sleep times, and preference in play activities.

I believe children initially enjoy supervised structure and a sense of parents being within sight, but that changes as they feel a sense of being supervised or controlled too much. Day care might be one of those things which has a feel of external control not necessarily of their own choice.

And so it is important that children experience episodes of freedom where they are allowed to pick their activities and allowed to play on their own at times within that freedom. Generally, if kids choose an activity like reading, it can be happily be done with grown-ups, but it is best if it is their choice of books from whatever is available. This is also true of collaborative play such as with crayons, paints, play-doh. These possible activities can be made available to children, but it is always best if they choose if they want to do these or something else.

When an adult plays with children or has a conflict with them at this age, the adult experiences, periodically, their will, as in “This is what I want” and sometimes “This is what I need” (in more aware children). For them, there is nothing more frustrating than in not being understood when they speak. That and the abrupt imposition of will by a grown-up out of the blue are often natural sources of conflict.

The best parenting I’ve seen in these collisions of will occurs when the parent gives the child choices as in “You do this or this or this”, then letting the child decide. That approach, if done early on, gives children a more supportive sense of choice and support for personal will and preferences. especially, when one of the choices is “We’ll just do what I (the adult) want or think is necessary.” Children will nine times out of ten pick one of the other choices that reflect their interests or selected whims of the moment.

Ultimately, toddlers can be as self-willed as adults, and, like adults, they make choices just like ‘the big people’. They are that developed, that early on. Something there is that longs for personal freedom and its accommodations at and from a very early age.

With (family and) three very good, close friends, I don’t bother too much about ‘social mixing’ these daze. The conversations that we four have are deep, comprehensive, and cover everything imaginable.

But when I venture out into public, I find there are interesting people who literally pop up that are more than willing to talk about themselves, their views, and their life. Such was the case with DK who drove me home from the car dealer yesterday morning.

As we walked to his van, D said “You’ll have to finish that book [I’d been reading] later.”

I said “Sure, there’s always lots of time and there will be other times.”

“Let me know how it comes out.”

Well, you know that you’re with someone interesting with a sense of humor and irony when you start a conversation this way.

It was the most entertaining, informational ride I’ve had in a long time. D talked about how the city is changing, where he lives and had lived, where he had worked in my area as a mailman. He spoke of his son and daughter who each had a son and daughter.

“Sounds like fate,” I said.

“Genetics, for sure,” he answered.

“Slow down here to 30,” I said. “It’s one of those school zones.”

“Yeah I got a ticket in the dark this winter, near the end of the time restriction. Just breezing through. No kids around though,” he reflected on that subtopic.

When he drove me up the driveway, I was surprised. No one had done that for me for a while. I handed him two toonies and a loonie. “Well, thank you for making my day,” he said pleased and surprised.

“Yes. Well, the price of coffee has gone up lately.”

Banter. The old back and forth. One topic after another. Entertaining and a good workout. It helps, though, to take an interest in people, to ask them questions to find out what you’re truly curious about. Virginia Woolf used to be the same as I recall.