I looked at some Scarlet Letter parody videos on the link--I would love to use some of these first to enable the students to appreciate and understand irony a little better, and second to laugh a little at the book many of them dislike so much. Unfortunately, we cannot view the entire video on the Google link, but I can go to You Tube to embed them (I think!). I found a funny one there earlier today and will go back.
I want to embed a couple on my blog to demonstrate to the students that even English teachers can laugh about works they love!
I didn't really find anything I wanted to post on the Scarlet Letter--all were student produced, and I would rather have one by my own students.
Though I have had my share of blows and buffets, I feel I have led an enchanted life. I have rejoiced in glorious friendships, the intensity of motherhood and grandmotherhood, and now a wonderful companion to share adventures and a beautiful house with.
I grew up in a small town in western Oklahoma, small enough that we never locked our door or took the car keys inside the house. I rode around on my bicycle stopping in parks or a wonderful quiet place called "the agricultural station" where I would daydream under pine trees and imagine myself inside a fairy tale.
Or I played with my dolls and paper dolls in my room, involving them in scenarios fed by my relentless passion for the technicolor extravaganzas I saw at our local movie theater. Living in a building with a doorman in New York City and attending cocktail parties seemed to me then to be the height of sophistication.
Movies actually changed three times a week in that innocent time before television, and I saw nearly everything from the late forties into the fifties and sixties--with my family, and later with friends. Our parents would "drop us off" at the theater, as it was perfectly safe for children to go alone. It cost ten cents for a child under twelve to see a movie.
I also loved cowboys as my brothers and I went to see westerns every Saturday morning. When we were little we had run around the yard shooting pistols at each other and taking turns playing the comic character Gabby Hayes as we could not think of enough heroic cowboys. When I had two sons of my own, I felt completely at home watching them run around making explosion noises with their mouths and crashing toy planes into the floor.
I loved reading too, of course, as I grew up to be an English teacher--Little Women was my favorite novel--and I read it again and again. Later in life, I began to see the thread of characters and stories weaving itself through my whole life down to the stories I buy for, and read to, my grandchildren, and the ones I love discussing with my AP students in high school.
Thing #5 Emily Dickinson in a quilt
Three things I love glommed together: poetry, colors, and a quilt.
Random favorites
Art museums
Tea and macaroons at La Duree in Paris
English novels set between the two world wars
Fred Astaire's dancing and Ginger Rogers' dresses
Creating a serene and nurturing environment in my house and in my classroom
I am currently passionate about Murakami novels--reading Kafka on the Shore
Names of flowers--gloxinia, hydrangea, phlox, peony, heliotrope, bougainvillea, frangipani ....
Great musicals--just saw The Drowsy Chaperone
Fairy tales and names of fairy tales: Rapunzel, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Juniper Tree, The Three Feathers...
Lavender: the scent, the herb, the flower... and, oh yes, the color
Divine Nonsense, see the next favorite:
Oscar Wilde, and the next:
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Wearing hats
Teaching my classes--AP English, Shakespeare, and Film Studies
Breakfast cappucinos
D.H. Lawrence
Reading anywhere
Diane Johnson novels
Studying French
Playing with and reading to my grandchildren
John Keats' odes
Spending time and taking trips with my boon companion and beau, Hu
Daydreaming about my childhood...daydreaming period
Crocheting scarves and baby blankets for my family
Cooking for my family
Playing with interesting color combinations
William Butler Yeats, especially "Among School Children" and "A Prayer for my Daughter"
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