otoh

It has been a while since I posted one of these. I was adding some quotes recently and realized that I have a quote in here from the recently deceased Kurt Vonnegut. (As a bonus, it sort of ties in to global warming too….) There are many authors that I enjoy reading. There are a few that also inspire me to write. Vonnegut is one of those.

Some of these quotes are unattributed. I simply don’t recall where I got them. Or I made them up, but I’m not certain enough of their originality to claim them as my own…. In any case, at least one of these may give you something to THINK about.

I march to a different accordion.

Nothing is more dangerous than an idea when it is the only one you have. ~ Emile Chartier

I made a mistake once. I thought I was wrong about something, but it turns out I was mistaken.

I had a thought once. It died of loneliness.

Wanna know what my first thought was this morning? I’ll let you know when I have one….

What we think, we become. ~ Buddha

Thoughts are the shadows of our feelings - always darker, emptier and simpler. ~ Nietzche

I tawt I taw a puddy tat. ~ Tweety

Information isn’t wisdom. Information isn’t learning. If information were learning, you could be educated by memorizing the world almanac. If you did that, you wouldn’t be educated. You’d be weird ~ David McCullough

What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness? ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau

All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl. ~ Charlie Chaplin

You’ll never find rainbows if you’re looking down. ~ Charlie Chaplin

I remain just one thing, and one thing only — and that is a clown. It places me on a far higher plane than any politician. ~ Charlie Chaplin

Man’s greatest tragedy is that he can conceive of a perfection which he cannot attain. ~ Jerome McGann

There are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up a pen to write. ~ William Makepeace Thackeray

Anti-war books are as likely to stop war as anti-glacier books are to stop glaciers. ~ Kurt Vonnegut

I was a late bloomer. But anyone who blooms at all, ever, is very lucky. ~ Sharon Olds

You haven’t achieved equality until you’re a legitimate target for humor. ~ Scott Adams

There have never in history been so many opportunities to do so many things that aren’t worth doing. ~ William Gaddis

I overdid everything as a matter of course. ~ Henri Matisse

The previous parts of this series are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here. (If you’re keeping track, there are 290 quotes in rotation now and I’ve posted 240 of them in these entries.)

I’d understand if you think that everything reminds me of a joke because it’s basically true. Except, of course, when I’m feeling particularly cynical. Then everything is a joke. I was reminded of this story while watching the performances of Godspell.

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”

Jesus said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Just then a stone came sailing over their heads from the back of the crowd.

Jesus turned, looked, and said, “Oh, Mom!”

If I’m going to hell, I’m going down laughing….

This very entertaining post by Lime reminded me of an old story. You should go read her post first — not because it makes my story any better; you just should.

A graduate student in anthropology brought a young co-ed up to his apartment. While he excused himself to the kitchen [probably to open a new box of wine, but that wasn't in this story when I learned it -- I just like the digression] she perused the decor in the tiny living room. On nearly every horizontal surface there were… anthropological artifacts.

“What are these?” she asked.

“Those are phallic symbols from different cultures around the world,” he explained.

“Oh, thank goodness,” she sighed relief. “You know what they look like?”

Bah-DUM-bum….

I was SOOOoooo worn out when I got back yesterday from chaperoning the drama kids at the State Festival. And I was there only two days — the other chaperones and the kids were there for four. One of our students earned a scholarship. One of our groups got a superior rating on their performance of a number from The Lion King. Three of our kids were invited to perform improv following the closing ceremonies. I don’t have the full list of achievements with me right now….

I saw a production of Thoroughly Modern Millie that had gorgeous sets and lighting, really good performances, and a few technical problems. And I watched the Bests of Show closing night and saw some really awesome talent.

The theme for the Festival was “Got Drama?” and the T-shirts feature that slogan and the face of Shakespeare with the white smear on the upper lip. I never liked those milk ads — they were creepy in a porn money shot kind of way. But they don’t ask my opinion on such matters and I would never say anything like this around the kids….

It occurred to me that if you get thousands of teenagers together there will be drama — we might as well try to channel it in a positive direction. There is a difference between drama and drama. I hate drama in my life, but I really like having drama in it.

I’ve been helping the drama department with set construction. We just finished a production of Godspell. I’ll have photos of that up soon. (There are already some photos of the construction posted. If you care about such things you can mosey over to the the new BooneDrama site.) This weekend I’ll be helping to chaperone as some of the kids go to the Florida Thespian Festival. I also helped at the Regionals a couple months ago when we we got these T-shirts. I had to modify mine:

I’m much more comfortable behind the scenes just as I am more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it….

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Television, that vast (or at least half-vast) wasteland, does occasionally live up to its promise of being able to deliver thought-provoking entertainment rather than mindless drivel. I found one of those bright spots in Iconoclast on the Sundance channel. [I don't want to give the impression that I am opposed to mindless drivel. I have the TV on a lot, even when I'm not really watching it. And I enjoy guilty pleasures of watching, or at least listening to, drivel on a fairly regular basis. But that would be a different post.]

Iconoclast brings together two well-known people who may at first glance appear to have nothing in common. We get to watch them find common ground and open each other to new ideas. Their website describes the show as:

In this original series, leading innovators and creative visionaries come together to discuss their passions and creative processes to provide viewers with an inside glimpse into the inspiration and motivation that made these iconoclasts who they are today.

I’ve watched three episodes so far: Isabella Rossellini + Dean Kamen, Quentin Tarantino + Fiona Apple, and Dave Chappelle + Maya Angelou. And I’m hooked.

Dean Kamen is a hero to me. I mentioned him in this post recently. He’s probably best known for the Segway, but he also invented the iBOT wheelchair, several medical devices, relatively cheap and simple devices for purifying water and generating electricity, and he started a robotics competition to promote the study of science and technology. I know of Rossellini mostly from her film work, although I do recall the flap when she was fired by Lancôme. I learned that she trains service dogs and is involved in charitable work. The two share an interest in humanitarian causes yet have very different ways of contributing.

Apple and Tarantino had met before filming their episode but they hadn’t seen each other in five years. I’m not a big Tarantino fan. [Okay, I find him annoying as hell. Will someone please adjust his meds?] I respect his determination to work outside the mainstream Hollywood system, though. I love Fiona Apple. She is… yummy. She has a similar attitude toward the music business as Tarantino does toward Hollywood. While I could watch and listen to Fiona for hours [or days], this was the least satisfying of the three episodes for me.

The most interesting episode for me was Dave Chappelle + Maya Angelou. Dr. Angelou appeared regal, almost magical. She has a quiet dignity and grace and unparalleled life experience. She is a civil rights activist and was friends with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. She is a writer and teacher and a friend to world leaders. When Chappelle was approached about doing the show, he asked to be paired with her. Even though (or perhaps because) they are from two different generations, there was obvious respect and really interesting connections between them.

How much did I like this show? So much that I just did something I’ve never done before. I added premium channels to my cable subscription. I’ve never subscribed to HBO, Cinemax, or any other premium channel. (I have a hard enough time paying for TV at all.) But today I added a package that includes the Sundance Channel, Independent Film Channel, and Encore movie channels.

At a professional gathering tonight, a woman announced that the Easter Bunny brought news that she is going to be a grandmother in October. And I immediately thought, “The rabbit died? The Easter Bunny is dead?” Amazingly and fortuitously, my filter actually kicked in before I said that out loud.

I don’t know why people say, “It ain’t braggin’ if it’s true.” Of course it is. If it weren’t true, it would be LYING!

You might have guessed I could pass an 8th grade science quiz since I was so all over that lunacy stuff….

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Does this mean I’m smarter than a 5th grader too? Wait, that’s a different quiz. To be fair, I have to admit that I guessed on one of the answers. But I am a geek, you know. (I even belonged to the science club for a couple years in high school. Yup. Just as popular then as now….) I also spotted one typo. If you take the quiz, I’m pretty sure they mean to ask, “What’s the electric charge of a neutron?” not, “What’s the electric charge of a neuron?” I’ll spare you all the geeky tangents I want to follow on that!
I rarely do these blogthings things. They’re silly [insipid, inane, see insubstantial...], but silly was a refreshing change for today. Um, it was a change, right?

I guess I shouldn’t have been so surprised. After all, it was an experience I had in college that helped fix in my mind the phases of the moon. But I’ll come back to that.

To recap, I wrote:

In a recent National Education Association publication they state,

Not everyone agrees that multiple-choice is the biggest problem. H. D. Hoover, principal author of the Iowa Test of Basic Skills for 40 years (and recently retired), thinks they can be every bit as thought-provoking as open-ended questions.

Case in point:

The full moon rises at midnight…
a. always b. usually c. rarely d. never

That question stumps a lot of adults — and it’s too tough to put on a state test. Figuring it out depends on really understanding why the moon has phases, and then applying that understanding — not bad for a 10-word item.

It amazes me that that is not simply a recollection of fact. And I wondered, do you know the answer to that question? If not, could you figure it out? [No fair looking it up.] I know the answer and I happen to know why as well. But I’m not normal….

First a couple digressions: I remember seeing a really bad werewolf movie on late-night TV several years ago. A group of people were stranded on an island with the creature and were attacked during the full moon… five nights in a row! Now, I can suspend disbelief about the existence of werewolves, but on this planet we will never have a full moon five (or even two) nights in a row. But it was set on a tropical island and there were girls in bikinis so I didn’t turn it off right away….

I have heard that Cat Stevens (now Yusuf Islam) wrote the song Moonshadow after he visited a small town in Spain. He had lived in cities like London where the lights of the city outshined the stars and the moon. He had never seen the moon cast a shadow. [I haven't found independent verification of that story though, so it's possible I misunderstood or was misinformed. Still, it's a good story....] And with that type of light pollution being so pervasive not just in our cities but increasingly in our suburbs, I suppose that most of us never really get to see moon rises on a regular basis or appreciate the brilliance of a full moon. Unless you are a farmer or frequent hunter, fisher, camper, etc. you probably are ignorant of the moon’s regular passage.

One spring break when I was in college a group of us spent the week in Florida. We spent the first few days camping on a small island in the Keys. One night we sat on the beach and watched the sun set over the water. Actually, we did that several nights that week, but on this particular night one of my friends jumped up and said, “It’s a full moon tonight and it’s going to come up right over there,” pointing behind us. And we walked a short distance (it’s a very small island), sat on the beach, and watched the moon rise over the water…. Really cool.

As a result of that and a few other experiences I have no trouble remembering a few simple facts about the phases of the moon. Even if you don’t understand why this happens, it’s not hard to remember what happens very regularly.

1. The full moon rises at sunset, passes its highest point in the sky in the middle of the night, and sets at sunrise.
2. There is about one week between each of the four phases.
3. The moon rises and sets about an hour later each day.
4. It takes about 29.5 days for it’s cycle to repeat.

The first of those is all one needs to know to answer the question and it is a simple fact, not something one needs to “figure out.” I wonder if anyone fully understands why we see full moons regularly [if we're looking] (and thus could figure out the answer to the question) without knowing that fact? On the other hand, even without knowing why the moon phases occur, one could use those facts to figure out that:

1. The new moon rises at sunrise and sets at sunset.
2. The first quarter moon rises in the middle of the day and sets in the middle of the night.
3. The third quarter moon rises in the middle of the night and sets in the middle of the day.

All of which are also true. [It's good to know that my insomnia is good for something.] Although you might not be able to figure out why we call it a quarter moon when we see half of it lit up. And we haven’t even got to what the heck a waning gibbous is yet….

I’ll get back to the moon in my next post. I have to share this.

I teach high school drafting classes and I sometimes play music while the students are drawing. I have a set of four CDs of Disney music and for the last couple years I have played one of those on Fridays. Yesterday one of my students asked to borrow one of the discs because she likes a particular song on it.

While we were looking for which disc has that song she commented on how listening to Disney reminds her of childhood. Well, that’s part of the reason I play those songs. (They’re also safer than some of the music I would listen to on my own and a break from the classical music I often play in class.)

Then she said [and I refrained from laughing with difficulty], “I like the old songs better than the stuff most kids listen to today. You know, from the nineties.”

Ah, the perspective of youth….