May

12

Now that’s what I call democracy!

May 12, 2007 |

Go vote for the Chosen One: USPS Jedi Master

I’ll be honest and say I voted for Darth Vader. What can I say? I’m a purist with my modern mythology, and in the Joseph Campbell sense, he is the hero of the series–not just the last 3 prequels but the whole thing as an arc. It’s only right that he’s the representative of the story in this little slice of history trivia, too.

Speaking of history: About a month ago, I took my students through the introduction to the Declaration of Independence and promised that I’d give a copy of the full text to anyone who was interested. Only one guy expressed interest at the time, but last week two others asked about it. Next week’s lesson will be on essay writing basics, so I think I’m going to go out on a limb, bring in the full text, maybe some more reading-level-appropriate supporting/explanation materials (my students are grade levels 4-early 6, the text alone is a little intense for that–and, hell, for plenty of people in college, too) and ask them to get together a small paper on it. It’s a step and a half above the regular worksheets and writing assignments, but I am a classic American history geek and if they’re interested, I’m happy to integrate more Revolution-era texts into the lessons as we go along.

Anyway, what a week. Wow. I’ve just been trying to keep it together. I’ve also been listening to the most horrid and entertaining Mexican rap since cinco de mayo, and it seems unlikely that this trend will stop anytime soon. Clearly Inwood is rubbing off on me. But hey, at least it’s not the particularly atrocious reggaeton they’re always blasting on the streets out here. I’m not that far gone yet.

I finished The Testament of Gideon Mack this week and have to take a minute here to highly recommend it. It’s a sly, funny and insightful look into how faith and belief work (differently and dangerously) in our communities and in our minds. I empathized a lot with Gideon, for his constant confusion, his need for sense and order, his simultaneously false and quixotically earnest insistence on telling the truth about his experiences as he understood them. It’s anything but a beach read, but it will suck you in. If you’ve got time this summer, pick it up and check it out.


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