Under our surfaces

I spent a glorious hour or so Sunday watching BBC's The Life of Mammals from which the above video originally comes. (I watched it on BBC America) You can watch more spectacular animal footage at the Best of Attenborough YouTube channel. If you missed this BBC series, you can watch live streaming videos of it here and here. Additionally, the series host David Attenborough is terrific, an articulate and indefatigable narrator who interacts as closely as possible with the animals in the show.

Attenborough take you across land and water to learn with whom we share this planet. I found the episode about water mammals most interesting. For example I learned that there are river dolphins in the Ganges River, and because the water is cloudy, this creatures can't see. They navigate solely by sonar. And what life inhabit our oceans, which comprise 71% of the earth. Do we have even a vague clue what resides in our world's water? I don't even know all my neighbors on my street.

Holiday spirits...

When I was a kid, I'd often pull out Christmas albums in July and play them...only a bit. My mother, dismayed as she was by this, tolerated my dancing around to "Sleigh Ride" or "Toyland." To be honest, I'm not sure I could put up with such antics.

You see, over the years my relationship to the "holidays" has changed. What I used to love---the songs, the TV shows, etc---now grates on me. It has to be because we are inundated with Christmas before Halloween. Fake trees with tinsel and baubles hang out with fake pumpkins and curios at the local Menards. I've suggested to some that the two holidays be merged and that we take the icons of each and meld them into one....one might trick-or-treat with a small creche, a porcelain baby Jesus inside. But I've learned that blasphemy, even quasi-blasphemy, isn't always the way to go when it comes to changing attitudes.

I've also suggested that Christmas could come once every four years, like leap year or the Olympics. That way, we'd probably start to long for the songs and the TV shows, the melting moments and the divinity....

As of now, I'm still thinking about the right (or rather apt) way for me to think about Christmas at this point in my life. And I've got a couple of days to figure it out.

Writing teacher

Control, control, control—how often is that the hidden subject of our writing? How often are we trying to be someone else on the page?
(Paul Lisicky on writing at his blog)

and it isn't only
the failure I admire.
(Greg Miller at Poetry Daily)

I spend much of my working hours trying to help high school students write better. And I love teaching writing nearly as much as I love writing. Most of my students are without pretense, so they have no compunction whatsoever about sharing the struggles they have getting words on paper.

Mostly, I tell them not to worry about rough drafts. This frees up a few, and those few start writing. Others don't. (We've worked on a number of writing strategies and craft elements, so they're not operating totally in the dark). I'm often reluctant to start my own writing, fearful that what I put on the page will be stupid and pointless and that what I write about has been written about by someone else, someone who did a much better job of it than I could ever do. Often, I can override my own negativity. How? I think the above linked texts explain to some degree.

But the above linked texts remind me that, as a writer, I could let go quite a bit more...

English lesson?

See more funny videos and Music Videos at Today's Big Thing.

I didn't first find this at Today's Big Thing, but, I can't seem to locate the blog where I discovered the above entertainment.

Teasers from the Academy of American Poets

The website for the Academy of American Poets is a stunner. And the best way to explore the many resources there is to click around a bit and enjoy. I've baited you with a few links to a bit of what's available at the website.

The Academy of American Poets was founded by Marie Bullock


Abrams publishes Poem in Your Pocket anthology; Academy celebrates 75th Anniversary

Click here to view A Poet's Guide :75th Anniversary Booklet

"We're here to celebrate the power of words," President Obama said. Words "help us to appreciate beauty and also understand pain; to inspire us to action, and to spur us on when we start to lose hope; to lift us up out of our daily existence—even if it's just for a few moments—and return us with hearts that are a little bit bigger and fuller than they were before."

Tonight on Fox

So You Think You Can Dance - Let the Drummer Kick - More free videos are here

Sytycd Sabra And Neil - Watch a funny movie here

Tonight on Fox is the season finale of So You Think You Can Dance. Yes, the above clips are not from this season, but they typify why I love this show so much: great dance and interesting choreography. Yet, I think the best part of the show is that people are pushed way out of their comfort zones; that is, dancers are asked to perform dances that aren't the genre in which they specialize.

This season has brought together the best dancers thus far. But this season has also brought us a new, slick stage (not sure it beats the old one) and new choreographers sans Mia Michaels.

Even if you haven't watched this season, treat yourself to the finale.

The master

Mikhail Baryshnikov has been on random TV shows I've glanced at lately. I can't even name which shows, but seeing him reminds me how terrific it is to watch him dance. The above clips show a young and even younger Baryshnikov.

Glee-full...I wish that were possible

Really I'm pining for Glee's final episode...the whole darned season of Glee. And I cannot believe I've got to wait for April for new stuff. How can this be?

For Glee-lovers, go here to watch full episodes online. You can also find clips like what's below. (The clip is a pretty good recap of Glee events, in case you haven't started watching the show and need to catch up)

What do I believe? What can I believe?

To cover his flank and look tough in the next US election, Obama is expanding the war in Afghanistan. To look strong in front of swing voters, he will sacrifice the lives of hundreds of US soldiers, allow many more to be horribly maimed, waste a minimum of $30 billion in public money and in the process kill many thousands of Afghan civilians. (Christian Parenti at the Nation)

The above excerpt links to the most cynical thing I've seen or considered in ages. I read the whole piece a few days ago at an online blog or news site; then I found it again at the Nation, its original home. And I don't know what to think of it...any of it.

I want so much so support Barack Obama, to believe in and trust that his judgments are guided by love of country and not the advancement of his own political career made ultimately manifest in his re-election. Yet I'm not naive enough to believe that wanting makes something so.

But I want to be that naive, or should I say that full of idealism. (I'm talking about how we use the term idealism in our culture to mean belief in the best of someone or something not idealism in its purest form) I want to think it's not out of the ordinary to believe that our elected leaders are trying their darnedest to do what's best for the country. You see, I don't have the resources to follow up on the actions of each to see that those actions are well-intentioned; I've got no choice but to believe....The best? The worst? Something in between?