You Know You Could Have Been a Candle

Today's popular songs don't contain the lightheartedness, lyricism, and easy-going fun of the Motown era of the mid to late 1960s. Truth is, the songs of the 70s didn't, either. Politics, civil rights, the woman's movement, the psychedelic era quickly turned many Motown songs like the Marvelette's Forever ("I'll be your slave for the rest of my days") and Mary Wells' My Guy ("I'm sticking to my guy like a stamp to a letter") into anachronisms, at least thematically. College students plugged into protest movements looked for more meaningful music ( CSN &Y's Ohio--"This summer I hear the drumming/ Four dead in Ohio) beyond the love ballads (Temptations, My Girl), love tributes (Tops, Bernadette), and love breakup/makeup songs (Tops, Shake Me, Wake Me; Supremes, Back in My Arms Again) that Motown offered. Feeling the pressure, Motown itself, changed, packed up for the left coast, and produced (or overproduced if you will) songs more in tune with the times: Temps, Psychedelic Shack, Ball of Confusion; Four Tops, Still Water for Peace; Marvin Gaye, What's Going On?, Supremes, Love Child; and Freda Payne's, Bring the Boys Home (From Vietnam).

Still, nowadays when I go to an affair that offers music, it's those inescapable songs of the 60s that exert the strongest gravitational pull, drawing everyone immediately toward the dance floor. Tone deaf aunts and uncles suddenly become lip-synching superstar vocalists, point at each other and smile during key moments of the song. Motown songwriters like the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland and the one-man show himself, William Smokey Robinson, cranked out hundreds of two and a half minute masterpieces, just long enough for you to stomp, shake, shimmy, or slow jam with the partner of your choice.

As I take a break from grading student creative journals with figures of speech dancing in my head, I present you with a song that might give you a temporary cure from Testcycleistis or Teacherscramitinus. It's a Smokey Robinson written, Temptations performed classic, that puts the metaphors where they sound best--in the lyrics of the cool pop song--The Way You Do the Things You Do. For best effects, of course, find a copy (download a file?) of the song and play it til you start to feel the fun spread by the clever lyrics and smooth Temptations' harmonies. I challenge you to submit your own oldies song that's filled with figurative language, like the one that follows. Bonus point if it's Motown.

Here's the song:

You got a smile so bright,
you know you could've been a candle,
I'm holding you so tight,
you know you could've been a handle.
The way you swept me off my feet,
You know you could've been a broom,
The way you smell so sweet,
You know you could've been some perfume.
Well, you could've been anything that you wanted to
And I can tell...The way you do the things you do,


As pretty as you are,
you know you could've been a flower,
If good looks cause a minute,
you know that you could be a hour,
The way you stole my heart,
You know you could've been a cool crook,
And, baby, you're so smart,
You know you could've been a school book.
Well, you could've been anything that you wanted to
And I can tell...The way you do the things you do,

You made my life so rich,
You know you could've been some money,
And, baby, you're so sweet,
You know you could've been some honey.
Well, you could've been anything that you wanted to
And I can tell the way you do the things you do,
The way you do the things you do.(The way you do the things you do.)You really swept me off my feet.(The way you do the things you do.)You made my life complete.(The way you do the things you do.)You made my life so bright.(The way you do the things you do.)You made me feel all right.(The way you do the things you do.)

Real American Heroes

Rosa Parks passed away the other day at the age of 92. On December 1, 1955, when she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, she was arrested. This simple act of civil disobedience trumpeted the start of the civil rights movement, the beginning of the end of Jim Crow laws.

The notice of her death was afforded a few scant columns at the bottom of the front page of the Wilmington News Journal. The murder of a Wilmington drug dealer "with a heart of gold" a few days earlier earned bigger press. The dealer didn't quite make the paper's front page, but instead he was featured on the page one of the Local section in a strange article of misguided reverence. Apparently, the dealer earned community icon status in the Riverside projects, spreading around his wealth, taking old women to the supermarket, buying sneakers for high school basketball players, setting off fireworks displays, and the like.

Mike Williams, a 6th grade teacher at P.S. duPont Elementary, noticed that some of his students missed school in order to attend the funeral of the popular criminal. When they returned the next day, Williams had a lesson all prepared for his class. He had snipped out two NJ articles for his students to compare side by side--the obituaries of both Rosa Parks and the dead thug. He showed the articles, and then asked the question," Whom do you admire more?" Don't look for things to get worse from here. Williams noted that all 34 of his students gave the right answer. A few even criticized the dealer. Which offers some hope, I guess. By the way, Williams is a 1985 graduate of St. Mark's teaching in a poor inner-city school (information used to write this entry came from a NJ column by Al Mascitti on Oct. 28).

St. Mark's Volleyball

The girls' volleyball team hosts Ursuline this Sunday afternoon at 4? (check that time) in what could be a sneak preview of a state tournament final. Our girls took the Raiders to 5 games in the last meeting before narrowly falling in front of a partisan Ursuline crowd. I look for our team to turn the tables in Sunday's meeting. How do I feel so confident about our team even though I haven't seen a game this year? For one thing, I can read the papers like anyone else. Ursuline had its long winning streak broken by Cardinal O'Hara a few weeks ago. Our girls then went up to Delaware County, represented Delaware and the Catholic Conference big time, and handled O'Hara. Later in the season we snapped our Padua jinx and thrashed the Pandas at home. Even so, we are still ranked #2 and are carrying the "underdog" label, which keeps the real pressure squarely on the shoulders of the top-ranked Raiders.

What else favors the Spartans? History. I'm not talking about Thermopylae, either. (check the link for esoteric historical allusion). It's about time for the Raiders run to end, and it's about time for the Spartans to rise again to the top. Losing two great hitters from last years team, Ursuline is not THAT much better than everyone else anymore. That means the Spartans, who always get better as the season progresses because of their great defense and coaching, have now narrowed the gap and are ready to return the state crown to Pike Creek Road.

I apologize in advance for not attending the game. What makes volleyball so thrilling to most fans actually keeps me away. Competitive games might last close to three hours, counting warm ups, side changes, times out, substitutions, high fives after every point, etc. However, that shouldn't prevent any of you students from getting out to cheer on your classmates as they play their last home game of the season in the Spartan Dome.

What Do You Want? Good Beer or Good Taste?

Here's the story of the recent controversy involving the Real American Heroes Ads by Bud Lite (printed in Wall Street Journal 10-24-05).

Airtran Airways says it may stop serving Anheuser-Busch Cos. products on its flights to protest a radio ad for Bud Light that ridicules discount airlines and their pilots.The ad, part of the "Real Men of Genius" campaign created by DDB Chicago, is a comic tribute to discount-airline pilots, commending them for their "minimal experience" and for putting "the fly in fly-by-night." It also questions the safety of low-fare carriers: "Sure we're concerned for our lives," the announcer says - "just not as concerned as saving nine bucks on a round-trip to Fort Myers."

Anheuser-Busch, in a statement, offered an apology. "This campaign was meant to poke fun at slices of everyday life, but this execution clearly crossed the line and is in poor taste," said Michael J. Owens, vice president of sales and marketing.

Most of the ad campaign's targets aren't corporate. Ads pay homage to "Mr. Basketball Court Sweat Wiper Upper," "Mr. Bathroom Stall Dirty Joke Writer," and "Mr. Hot Stock Tip Giver Outer." Last year, a TV spot in the series, "Mr. Really Bad Toupee Wearer," drew complaints from the American Hair Loss Council. Anheuser-Busch refused to pull it.

Question: Do you think the Bud Lite ads are in bad taste? Or should we "lighten" up? Are certain subjects too serious and off limits to satire on nationwide TV? Or are we losing our sense of humor at the expense of political correctness?

Slam Dunk-- This is Bad Writing

A NY Times article this Sunday began, "Must lawyers write badly?" Bush's newest nomination to the Supreme Court, lifetime lawyer Harriet Miers, was cited for breaking the laws of clear expression:

"We have to understand that achieving justice for all is in jeopardy before a call to arms to assist in obtaining support for the justice system will be effective."

Huh? Try to figure out what she means. The article explains that many lawyers adopt the style of what they read (judicial opinions, legal briefs, etc.), eventually perfecting lawyer speak, a mumbled jargon of verbose and unclear writing.

Lest I sully the reputations of barristers even more (they are already, after all, the butt of many terrible jokes), let's say that:
1. their job is the law, not writing
2. all lawyers are not bad writers
3. lawyers are not the only bad writers

(See, students. By doing this I am avoiding a lawsuit). I know an easy target when I see one, and Miers' bad sentence qualifies as a barn door-sized bullseye. Don't make your own writing so easy for me to strike with my red pen.

Coming real soon: good writing.

Journals Due & First Test Friday

Don't forget that your journals are due this Friday. Six entries, neatly submitted in a folder, one of each entry type.

You're responsible for this information for your first major test on Friday October 28:




Info on which you'll be tested

Favorite work of art writing assignment handout
fiction notes
John Updike interview, posted Oct. 4 on blog
The Lucid Eye in Silver Town and notes
notes on The Born Writer
notes on scene, summary, and description
An Old Fashioned Story and notes
notes on storytelling techniques
Fish Cheeks and notes
Jimmy Buffett selection and notes
scene from The Sun Also Rises and notes
scene from Pigeon Feathers
Old Man at the Bridge and notes
Patricia, Edith, and Arnold and notes
notes of effective dialogue

terms/definitions: fiction, scene, summary, mimesis, selection, detached autobiography, first person subjective narration, iceberg theory of Hemingway

"random" discussion topics/class activities in class reg. the stories: Vermeer vs. Degas; Superman by Five for Fighting, etc.

Test format

a. definitions
b. True-false (read them carefully--any one thing that is false makes the answer false)
c. fill-ins (lists, etc.)
d. short answers

Updated St. Mark's Teacher Page

Woo hoo! The St. Mark's Techno Dept. has updated my TEACHER WEB PAGE . Use this link and bookmark it or go to the St. Mark's website and visit the teacher pages.

My page is very basic--it includes a somewhat recent photo (2 years old), a brief bio, my e-mail addresses, and 10 links to school and cool sites, including this blog. I'll soon post my daily school schedule in case you need to find me during the school day. In any case, this page is sort of one-stop shopping directory of all things critical to Creative and Critical Writing.

Check October Archives for Updike Interview

The fact that an October 4 entry has already been buried into the archives proves that I've been prolific, if nothing else. If you're looking to read the John Updike interview before Friday's test, check the October archives for the "Seeing the Extraordinary in the Ordinary" entry. Read and follow the link and directions.

Don't Waste Your Time Reading This

WARNING! REREAD THE TITLE OF THIS ENTRY

Today, more than a year after I switched long distance telephone carriers from IDT to Verizon, I unexpectedly received a check from IDT that officially closed out my account. The windfall does not qualify me to bring donuts into school for my crew. The check was for eleven cents. Apparently, IDT had incorrectly billed me for their service even after I made the big switch. I made a two minute phone call one day, and the charge, you guessed it . . . Eleven cents.

This entry is beginning to remind me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer sets up a re-creation of The Merv Griffin Show in his apartment and interviews Newman about his eating generic wax beans to save money.

Newman says, "I rip off the label and I can hardly tell the difference."

"We've officially bottomed out," responds Kramer. "We've got to shut down and retool."

No retooling plans here, though. I warned you NOT to read this. This is a story about nothing.

What do I do with the check? It'll cost me more money and time just to GO to the bank. I'm embarrassed to even sign the thing. Of course, if I throw it out, I'll feel hopelessly wasteful.

My check crisis is only symptomatic of a deeper problem. Walking around St. Mark's, I spot discarded change on the floor all of the time. I can't walk by without scooping it up--a quarter, a dime, a nickel. Yeeeees. A penny. No. I'm proud to boast that I quit picking up pennies years ago, using sheer will power. No therapist, no hypnosis, no intervention of friends.

This entry is a part of my self-imposed therapy. Feel free NOT to respond. I don't want anyone else wasting his time on my weird obsession, unless, of course, he cares to share his own.

One Scene With Extra Cheese, Please

Nothing tastes better than Velveeta, the processed food substitute that outcheeses the real thing. And nothing sounds better than a great cheesy movie line. Come on. Admit it. You wait for these cheesy movie lines each time you watch your favorite cheesy movie and you laugh. Or smile. Or give a big "awwwww." It doesn't matter that the lines seem so unrealistic, so contrived, so sometimes out of character. They still work.

"You had me at hello." Did the Renee Z character really get over so easily the way Jerry Maguire jerked her around ? All it took was Jerry remaking the image of some spoiled football star to show her that deep down, he really did have a heart?

"No one puts Baby in the corner!" (one of my blog responders is going by this moniker. Who are you?) Wow, man. Chill. OK, we'll find a better seat for Baby. No, you're not going up on stage to dance, too. You're a wild man. Swayze continues: "I do the last dance every year, and I'm going to do it again this year. Except I'm going to do it my way." (quotes are very much approximated).

"I'm the King of the World." Right, Leo. Tomorrow morning you'll still be with the rest of the hired help. Or going down with a sinking ship.

Even mobster movies aren't exempt. In The Godfather, for example. "Leave the body, take the cannolis." I like cannolis, too, Clemenza, but after you just blew someone's brains out, haven't you lost your appetite just a little bit?

And my favorite, of course. "I'm just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her." World famous movie star Julia Roberts lays this one on a simple British bookshop owner, Hugh Grant, who then turns HER down. Double unrealistic.

Dialogue in movies, drama, and prose, for that matter, isn't always very realistic. Still all of the aforementioned movie lines have their appeal. Good dialogue may sometimes get a little cheesy, but at least it is NOT ordinary. To me, the trick is to write extraordinary, fascinating, or at least, interesting dialogue, and make it SEEM entirely natural for the situation. The pros, in any profession, make the difficult look easy. Barry Bonds hitting a home run. Pavarotti hitting the right notes. When you read, watch drama, film, or TV, listen carefully to the dialogue and then think about what it does. It creates character, conflict, dramatic tension, moves the plot along, and makes us laugh, cry, and get angry. It sounds real although we know it's completed fabricated. It bears many burdens. It's hard work. That's why writing dialogue makes or breaks a good story. Even if it IS a little heavy on the fromage.

Feel free to leave me some fresh cheese in the comments.

Rock Riffs Ripe for Writing Ideas

Wanna get creative and have fun with some of your favorite songs ? Then try "rock riff writing." There are no hard and fast rules. Choose a song that you really enjoy and use it to write a description, scene, dialogue, character sketch, or story (or film?) treatment. I've included lyrics from a song that you might know by Billy Joel called Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. It's a story song already that involves two fairly well-defined characters, Brenda and Eddie. Read over the lyrics below:

Eddie were the popular steadies /And the king and the queen of the prom /Riding around with the car top down and the radio on / Nobody looked any finer /Or was more of a hit at the Parkway Diner / We never knew we could want more than that out of life / Surely Brenda and Eddie would always know how to survive. / Brenda and Eddie were still going steady in the summer of '75 / when they decided the marriage would be at the end of July / Everyone said they were crazy / "Brenda you know that you're much too lazy/ and Eddie could never afford to live that kind of life." / Oh, but there we were wavin' Brenda and Eddie goodbye. / Well they got an apartment with deep pile carpets / And a couple of paintings from Sears / A big waterbed that they bought with the bread /They had saved for a couple of years / They started to fight when the money got tight /And they just didn't count on the tears.

OK. From here, your opportunities to write are endless. Describe your favorite Italian restaurant, from soup to nuts. Or write a scene at their wedding, perhaps, that foreshadows their eventual breakup. Or compose a dialogue in which Eddie proposes to Brenda. Maybe have Brenda proposing to Eddie, which might explain how Eddie wasn't ready to get married in the first place. Character sketch Eddie. Dress him appropriately, have him talk, act, react, etc. the way he should. Mix together dialogue and your narration to sketch Eddie. If you're really ambitious, come up with a story or movie treatment. I would define a treatment as a basic plot road map with some interesting explanatory comments sprinkled in. If you're casting the movie, who would be your first choices to play the roles of Brenda and Eddie? Mine might be Marisa Tomei and Nicholas Cage.

If you're daring, you can post your rock riff on this site for comments from your classmates. Of course, that post will count as a journal writing. By the way, the photo is of Caffe Napoli on Mulberry Street in New York's Little Italy.

Every Picture Tells A Story, Don't It?

Bruce joined Bono and the Boys on stage last night for a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready. Unbelievable!

Shut Up and Listen

Tonight U2 hits the stage for the first of two sold-out events at the Wacko Center in Philly. Somewhere in the middle of their twenty-something song set, U2 will pause to let their leader and spiritual center, Bono, address the crowd. What he will say is sure to go beyond the normal "Glad to be in Philadelphia etc." banter that most rock groups can only muster. Instead, Bono will be sure to talk about one or more of his following causes: Amnesty International, Greenpeace, the Chernobyl Children's Project, the Free Burma campaign, DATA's working to ease the debt of third-world nations, or the ONE program to fight AIDS in Africa.

It's become popular thes days among both so-called rock purists and right wing convervatives (what a strange pair!) to write articles calling for Bono to "shut up." Why should he? Bono and U2 have taken rock and roll to a higher ground, rescuing it from the modern flood of the lip-synched, the prefabbed, the angst-ridden, the rap-angry, and the sexually explicit. Surprise. U2's music is powerful, lyrical, melodic, explosive, emotional, uplifting, intelligent, political, spiritual, yet accessibly simple and universal enough for everyone. U2's POSITIVE music always presents life as a half-full glass. It offers the entire world a hearty draught, and miraculously enough, the glass hasn't emptied in over 20 some years. Here's to you, lads.

Rockin Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

I'm scared about this avian flu thing. It's being forecast by some to be a pandemic. I always thought an epidemic was bad enough. I guess a trip to www.dictionary.com is in the near future to get a clear distinction and to scare me even more. Today my friendly neigborhood AOL front page linked to Top Ten Ways to Avoid Catching the Avian Flu. One way was frequent handwashing. How long should one wash for effective cleansing? In true AOL form, they suggested the length of time that it takes to sing "The Alphabet Song." How lame. Help me out here. Can't we think of a cooler song to sing? Suggest a substitute tune of 16 seconds (the time it took for me to sing "The Alphabet Song") in order to assist the worry-worts of the world like me. I mean, do we really want people all over the world humming "The Alphabet Song" to themselves?

I'm Sinking To Their Level

This is a photo of the University of Delaware football team after their win in the mud against Hofstra. KC is the guy in the middle holding up his championship ring. They lost that game? Oh, sorry.

I'm not proud of my feelings, but it's hard for me to contain my glee that the University of Delaware's beloved football field has officially reached quagmire status. University officials have pampered and protected their turf for years, and I'm not just talking the grass on Tubby Raymond Field. Try using any of their facilities and see how they don't facilitate anything for you, at least, not without you paying up the nose and doing things their way. Any complaints? No field for you! No track for you! No BOB for you! One of the most egregious acts of arrogance in recent history occured in the winter of 2002, when a November blizzard postponed the state football title game and had DIAA officials scrambling for a field. Tarped before the storm, the university field was the logical choice. "No, the field is closed for the year. It needs rest after the long, hard, football season," remarked one university bureaucrat (note: quote is made up. It's my blog and I can do this). Anyway, they refused. The game between William Penn and St. Mark's (Penn won) was played in Seaford before about 700 die hard fans. Someone had the nerve to give out University of Delaware bleacher cushions before the game. I took one, still have it, never use it. It's a cherished memento. It's the only thing Delaware has ever given away for nothing.

I'm getting in my licks now because I know that this misfortune for Delaware will be only temporary. I'm absolutely sure that the current field condition will lead to the funding and construction of a turf football field real soon. A field, of course, which the Turf Nazis will hoard, protect, and defend from intruders as the Germans did after they gobbled up Europe. As for me, I'm outta here. And I'm NOT exiting up.

Essay # 2 / Final Draft / Please Don't Read to Class!

Six weeks after the retina sprang a leak, I began to prepare my lessons for my first days back to school, so I looked at my old plan books. Two of the pieces that I had often used as examples of my favorite works of art dealt with vision loss. Hmm. One was a Springsteen song, I Wish I Were Blind. The other was an Updike story, The Lucid Eye in Silver Town. As I consider them today after I survived a threat to my 20/20 vision, each has a different look.

The heartsick narrator in the Springsteen song sings to a former lover, "I love to see cottonwood flowers in the early spring / I love to see the message of love that the bluebird brings / But when I see you walking with him down along the strand / I wish I were blind when I see you with your man." Of course, the English teacher in me always had recognized the hyperbole of the narrator's wish to be struck blind. The romantic heard the sadness in the singer's voice. Today as I still recover, I shudder at the new-found power of the poetic image.

In Updike's story, a precocious, self-absorbed young boy travels to NYC to purchase an book of portraits by his favorite artist, Vermeer. He is momentarily blinded as he looks upward to the skyscrapers. The somewhat comic resolution to the story finally enables him to see what he never could--his father's intelligence and his own pigheadedness. Though clouding my physical vision, my own accident has enabled me to see other things in my life more clearly, too.

In the Stephen Crane story The Open Boat, a war correspondent shipwrecked at sea in a tiny dinghy remembers a poem from his school days about a soldier of the French Foreign Legion who lay dying in Algiers. At one time, "it [the poem] was less to him than the breaking of a pencil's point." Cast into the raging sea and faced with his own mortality, "it quaintly came to him as a human, living thing. It was no longer merely a picture . . . in the breast of a poet, meanwhile drinking tea and warming his feet at the grate; it was an actuality--stern, mournful, and fine. . . He was sorry for the soldier of the Legion who lay dying in Algiers."

Good poets, good writers, good songwriters, use good images, tell good stories, sing good tunes. Their works identify and explore universal truths, evoke honest human emotions and provoke serious thoughts. Of course, Springsteen and Updike weren't writing just for jilted lovers or obnoxious children. Or just for an audience for whom vision is a daily worry. In the instance, though, when a great writer does tap into someone's shared experience, the work takes on a real life on its own and resonates in importance.

And so it was with Earl Holland, a NYC ambulance rescue worker nearly traumatized himself by witnessing the carnage of September 11. Yet he performed his duties valiantly in the hours of his city's need. Riding home from work one night, he heard the song, Superman, by Five for Fighting. The words reminded him of the responsibilities of own job; the words reminded him of his co-workers who had died in their rescue attempts:"I can't stand to fly, I'm not that naive / Men weren't meant to fly with the clouds between their knees. . . .It's not easy to be me." For Holland and the rest of NY's finest, the lyrics perfectly expressed the heroic and tragic qualities of their professions. Superman was no longer merely a pop song, "no longer merely a picture . . . in the breast of a poet."

Be True to Your School

The excitement and hysteria during the Spirit Week Pep Rally appeared to have reached a new height, at least on the production of decibels. My protective earplugs were tested beyond the limits. Before next year's event, I'll be contacting NASA to see what they dispense to the astronauts.

I have to admit that I don't get Spirit Week anymore. I'm don't understand how dressing up like Sesame Street characters or Bourbon Street revelers translates into school spirit. I'm likewised confused about some of the other Spirit Week traditions into which students pour lots of time, effort, and money during the week. Before I write another line, I will also be first to admit that I represent the vast minority opinion. Probably 98% of the student body (the other 2% populate the top part of the gym bleachers during school assemblies) would disagree with me. So would most teachers. Ones who have spirit, anyway. I know that I'm one of the few who doesn't get it, even though I think I have lots of Spartan pride.

Hopefully protected by my admission of ignorance, here goes my rhetorical rant that will go no further than this blog. Not that I could change anything anyway. This Week is way bigger than me or anyone else, for that matter. The genie is out of the bottle. Elvis lives.

First--why does Spirit Week need a different theme other than rooting for good ol' St. Mark's? How about this theme? St.Mark's School Spirit. I know how creative and talented our students are. Even with so "limited" a theme, I'm completely confident that our students would outdo themselves coming up with novel ideas year after year, all in celebration of St. Mark's. I'd like to see this Spirit Week spent in the education, honoring, and cheering of St. Mark's history, tradition, and ongoing commitment to excellence.

How about a song? Well, we could have two official songs. Our alma mater and our fight song. Could we try to take a more dignified approach to the singing of our alma mater? I don't know if we have tried hard enough to do this. Go to a college football game. Watch 100,000 rabid Penn State fans grow serious as the first strains of the alma mater are heard. They're Penn State Proud. Before our students graduate, let's remind them about the significance of their attending St. Mark's, which we hope they will realize one day after they graduate: "Winds of time whisper on, now the foundation's laid strong."

What about getting a real St. Mark's Fight Song? Students should WANT one. College and professional athletic fight songs are immensely popular today. Fly, Eagles, fly. Hail to the Victors. Cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame. With every victory or score, the band, cheerleaders, and fans could launch into a rousing rendition of our very own fight song. If I were a senior who had an ounce of musical talent, I'd be writing my fight song right now and passing out the lyrics and sheet music as soon as I could. Talk about starting a tradition. And while we're at it, how about getting those cheerleaders doing push ups for every football touchdown, too?

Sure, we can keep special dress-up days. But Pajama Day? New York Day? Huh? I want School Color Days, every day, wearing the Green and Gold, throughout the week and to the all of the athletic events throughout the week. Wear your Green and Gold team uniform, club shirt, band hoodie, whatever. As long as it's Green and Gold.

The Beach Boys song, Be True to Your School, remains an anthem to high school spirit. Here's your homework assignment-- go find a copy of the song and play it five times. I guarantee it will get you singing along, maybe transporting you back to a more innocent, fun time when it was just plain cool to be proud of your school. You didn't need to masquerade behind Mardi Gras masks, either. If you're singing along by the fifth time, reconsider what I've had to say.

So be true to your school now / Just like you would to your girl or guy / Be true to your school now / And let your colors fly / Be true to your school

P.S. I give credit where it's due. Even though I'm out of the loop, I have to agree that there was lots of excitement, talent, and spirit to spare at the pep rally. I know, so why all the fuss?

Seeing the Extraordinary in the Ordinary

Your first assigned short story, The Lucid Eye in Silver Town, is a partially autobiographical account of its author, the young John Updike. Jay, the young boy in the story, was from some "hick town" in PA, as his father said in his sad, self-deprecating manner; Updike himself hailed from Shillington, a small town close to Reading, PA. Even at 73, Updike is reading and writing as much as ever. However, his first artistic dream was to become a cartoonist. After finding that career had reached a "ceiling," he tried his hand at fiction. His description of his first effort to write should encourage those of you who are intimidated or insecure in your own ability: "It's like sort of a horse you don't know is there, but if you jump on the back there is something under you that begins to move and gallop. So it's clearly a wonderful imaginary world that you enter when you begin to write fiction."

Visit this webpage and read the Updike interview. Pay special attention to his belief in the American Dream, his advice to would-be writers, and his theory that writing about ordinary people fits perfectly well into a democratic society.