Because Yes, Adam, Sometimes They Do Notice The Contrast of White on White

Okay, the first person that comments on what song and lead singer of what band I am referencing in the title of this modest post gets a nickle and a hug from me. I know, it is a pretty easy one for anyone that has at least a basic knowledge of this band but maybe I just like to give out nickles and hugs. Did you ever think of that? I have plenty of them available in this 8th floor penthouse suite of mine. If you want, you can decline the huggage and just request the loot but I have to advise you though that I am having a pretty good smellin week. Honest, I even got witnesses to prove it. Two different students (note - not the same student at different times) told me during one-on-one conferences that "I smelled good". I probably should have corrected their grammar but what kind of an a-hole does that after a compliment? Not sure if their comments translated into I usually smell like sweat and fear and this week is an exception, but I ain't gonna think like that, peeps. Like I said before, I try not to be that a-hole gal. I am just gonna take it and ride that good time wave. So to rap this intro up, it would probably be your loss not to cash in on the hug factor, but on a footnote -- I also believe and honor rainchecks.

I was going through the grocery store tonight after class thinking about how how truly perfect class was tonight. I can't say enough how much I honestly love my job or how much of a rush it is to see a student find improvement and success with their writing. Sure, I may moan and groan, himmmm and haaaaw a bit when it comes time to do grades, time consuming end of year/beginning of year ppwrk and grading stacks of research papers but in the grand scheme of things it really is a small price to pay for the exhileration I get from teaching. And sometimes, on some very rare and spectacular occassions, you are given the chance to have one of those classes that sets a new pinacle for you as the teach.

As some of you know (and if you don't, I am sure as hell gonna lay it on you now), I like to teach Tim O'Brien's short story "The Things They Carry" in both my regular comp. class and foundations (the students with a wee bit of troubles in the reading, writing and comprehending areas). The department fully supports and respects my choice to showcase this work in the reg. comp class however, they are a bit hestitant to endorse it for my foundations class. You see, they are a bit gun shy and believe that text might be too over the heads of the students and it would result in frustration, subpar assignments turned in related to the text and an overall waste of class time that could probably be better spent, at least in their eyes, underlining prepositons and drawing circles around adverbs (or correcting this run-on city sentence). However, when push comes to shove, they let me go with it. They probably just think "Well, I guess their are worse things that this young kid could be doing with her class." or they are just fearful that if they deny this youth charged and rebelous teacher for too long that she will have to result in Kevin Bacon's ways of teaching the kids to.... dare I say it.....DANCE! Too bad the Mr. Penn could not come in to guest lecture on that halmark day. R.I.P Wilbur.

So tonight I had the class dip into the great unknown of "The Things They Carried". And with me, as unfortunate as it is, I carried with me the aprehensions of the powers that be. I piggybacked the notion that the class, except for a few bright twinkles, would not get the gist and the supporting points that make this story the masterpiece that it is. I even decided, for good measure, to spice it up and throw in a few extra things that Steve, Paul and I were tossing around the table discussion this weekend.

The result.... one of the, if not the, best classes that I have ever taught. These students took it in, ate it up and spit back some impressive commentary that knocked my socks off. Well, not really my socks off since I sported summer sandles tonight with the evening dean being out of state for course review. So the comfy sandle wearing teach that I am was diggin what the students were dishin out tonight. Here are just a few of the areas that they Judo chopped tonight.... And keep in your shirt pocket that the educatees either brought up or totally took the ball and ran to the endzone with a majority of this subtopics...

~ Examining Martha as a virgin and a whore. How her innocence and contamination influence the mental state of Jimmy
Cross.

~ Disecting the relgious implications of Jimmy's last name, Cross.

~ The reasons why soldiers used humour to deal with the frequency of violent death.

~ A detailed listing of mental items carried as well as the implications of those items on the individual soliders and those
around them.

~ The comparison and contrasting of environment for Jimmy and Martha.

~ The positives and negatives of Martha not being a physically visible character in the text.

~ The innocence of Jimmy's attempts to court Martha.

~ The treatment of the word "love" as a sense of comfort and a sense of torment for characters.


Way to go my students. You left me a little prouder than normal tonight.