Times Were Changing

 Like many of my generation, I found my way to a movie theater on Christmas day to see the opening of the new Dylan film, A Complete Unknown.  I'd read many of the reviews and seen the interviews with the actors, so I expected that the performances would be first rate, and the music would be worthy of its objectives.  It was.  We're going to see a few Oscars here before all the reactions die down.  I knew that this film only represented some critical years in the rise of Bob Dylan and was glad that it didn't attempt to be a complete biography.  I knew, too, that Dylan, himself had given his blessing to the film and wasn't critical of anything.  

When history becomes a movie, many liberties are taken and facts altered for various reasons.  Fortunately that didn't happen here.  Yes, there were some changes made, and poetic license was taken here and there.  But at its core, the film is sound and solid.  For someone my age it can't help but be sentimental.  It was such a heady time when the country was about to enter a full-time war in Vietnam and the Civil Rights movement was full swing.  

To hear those topical songs, sung with the authenticity of acoustic instruments, was powerful.  We suddenly went from novelty songs, early rock and roll, and teen idols to something so serious and true that the impact was revolutionary.  Transformative, to be sure.   Going electric was not that big disappointment for me and many of my friends. We loved Al Cooper's organ sound on Like a Rolling Stone.

So many of us picked up harmonicas and guitars and joined the movement.  Our ethos had a sound tract now.  We had new idols and most of all, the world was changing right in front of our eyes.  

For me, the controversy of Dylan going electric was overblown.  He still wrote and performed his music and that was all that mattered.  Yes, there were purists who wanted folk festivals to remain acoustic and unsullied, but the times demanded much more.  The film's color pallet is as warm and inviting as many of those small clubs and coffeehouses I recall from those days.  I'm overjoyed that new generations will now be introduced to Bob Dylan and his music.

Body of Work

 

Hey Mr. Tambourine Man,

    A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall,

Like A Rolling Stone,

    with no Shelter From the Storm,

To uncover the Masters of War, who make Desolation Row,

    and Don't Think Twice, with God on Our Side,

The Ballad of a Thin Man, got

    Tangled Up in Blue, from a Hurricane, that left My Back Pages

Blowin" in the Wind.

No Restless Farewell, the Times They are a Changin'

and I Shall be Released from the Gates of Eden.

    A Simple Twist of Fate, left you Knockin' on Heaven's Door,

Shouting I Contain Multitudes, 

    And It's All Over Now Baby Blue,

   Yes, it's getting late, but it's Not Dark Yet,

I Read Banned Books

 I see my home state is at it again. Book banning at some schools in Grant's Pass, Oregon.  his overprotective, curiosity killing sport lives on.  Funny thing is, though, all that ever results from attempts to keep books from readers is that they find other ways to secure the forbidden material.  Even funnier, however, is that some fairly well-known and award winning titles continue to make it onto the "Frequently Banned Books" list.

I'm rather proud that about 60% of the books I taught to high school Juniors and Seniors are on those lists.  No, my classes did not contain books that were objectionable because of vivid sex scenes or radical political theories.  Yes, there was some violence, some expressions of affection for self and others, and certainly political statements.  There were also some Nobel Prized winners in the group as well.

Today the offended school boards and their supporters are complaining about books that deal with themes of gender identity.  This is to be expected, given where we are with the emergence of young people declaring themselves non-binary.  But it's only natural that people would write books helping young folks who struggle, mostly aline, with these issues.  Lives are often in the balance so you'd think that even the squeamish would welcome some assistance in this department.  But no.  Onward they go banning left and right, often books they have not even read.  

Of course the old standbys continue to be banned.  Even titles like The Grapes of Wrath, The Color Purple, Beloved, and yes, The Catcher in the Rye are off limits for some high school students.

Also high on the list is Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye.  That is a book I taught for over 25 years with as much success as anything I ever did.  The offending portions are some passages, quite lyrical I might add, where the young protagonist  self pleasures in discovering her own body.  Hard to see how this can offend people, but nevertheless they scream about it.  No matter every person deals with these issues at some time in their life.  The real treasures in the book are the discussion possibilities about standards of beauty, the power of self hatred, the power of media images, and the consequences of emotional and physical abuse.

I would have loved to have testified before a committee about how I taught The Bluest Eye.  The emphasis would have been on how many important themes, topics, and issues would be lacerated from the curriculum if that book were unavailable.  I recall one particular group presentation in one of my English classes where a small group of African American girls.  They discussed and demonstrated the many hair straightening and skin lightening products available to Black women.  Pecola Breedlove, the book's main character is bound up in thinking her worth is in her beauty and what is beautiful is white skin, straight hair, and blue eyes.  Not only was this particular presentation eye-opening for my students, but even more so for one particular student who was challenged by this Honors class but after this experience felt much more comfortable with her peers.

I should mention too that the ethic make-up of a class goes a long way in determining the quality of discussion and the life experience that students bring to a work of literature.  I'd be happy to elaborate on that, with illustrations, should anyone want to know more.  Simply contact me through the information on my Blog profile.  

So, what gives someone the authority and agency to suggest banning a book?

Reading Aloud (Allowed)

 I must have done 35 Back To School nights in my teaching career.  Like an open house, a Back to School night occurs after the first month or so of the new school semester and gives parents an opportunity to meet their child's teachers and learn a bit ab out the expectations and curriculum for the school year.  Of all the post presentation comments I ever received from parents, the most memorable came from a parent who whispered something in my ear and then walked away.  Apparently her need to tell me something was greater than to stand in the modest line and wait her turn to talk with the teacher.  

Still the comment did not fall on deaf ears.  "Thank you for reading to your class," she said. "Especially at this level." That latter comment meant that she believed just because they were high school Juniors in an Honors class, they weren't beyond being read to.  In my view, she gets it.  Reading aloud is a vital part in educating a person.  Language, in all its rhythm and flow, needs to be heard out loud.  

Research tells us that parents and people who read to kids model important skills and help insure lifelong reading.  Given that we live in a country where half the people did not read a book in the last year, this is significant.  I'd wager no reading in the last 10 or even 20 years for most.  Scary, no?

With the increasing impact of technology, that figure isn't going to improve any time soon.  Maybe audio books will have an impact, but they compete with so many things that are available.  I guess listening to something whether it's music or pod-casts or audio books is time well spent, but does it reproduce the experience of personal engagement with a text and the various skills that develops.

I recall having a class of virtual non-readers.  It was a small group of mostly teenage boys who started the academic year late.  Some came from Juvenile Hall, others had been expelled from one school district to another.  Still others had moved recently. All were seen as students with low skills that were reluctant readers.  Quite a challenge.  This came at a point when I was a fairly young teacher and did not have the classroom library I ultimately developed over 30 plus years.  I had only the materials that were available to me.  This group consisted of 14students, of which 11-14 showed up daily.  Mostly male, African-American, and low skilled.  I chose Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea to start the year for a couple of reasons.  It involved fishing, and it was there in the textbook room.  Ever aware of meeting the needs and interests of all my students, male and female, diverse ethnic groups, all skill levels, I often supplemented other genres of thematic literature while teaching a novel.  Could be a poem, a sone, a short story, or even a film.  

We read that Hemingway novel together.  Every word, aloud in the classroom.  I'd read a while, and then ask for volunteers.  While I'd read for 15-20 minutes at a time, students would usually read for 5-10 minutes.  If there was a lag, I'd emote, vary my voice inflection, pause for digesting a particular poignant event.  I gave that novel all I had in me.  As a friend of mine would say, "I taught the hair off that book."

For some in that class, it was the first time they'd completed an entire adult book.  By that I mean a piece of literature rather than a child's book.  I like to think it set a tone and made reading other books by that crew possible.  People like a good story.  They like being told a good story.  Isn't that what happens when we mature readers sit down with a good book.