Why is it that my week always seems to go so much better after the Bengals win on Sunday? It’s amazing how something as meaningless as football can have such an impact on my mood. As a kid I would get absolutely sick to my stomach when the Bengals lost. I don’t get that hung up on it anymore, but Mondays are so much nicer after a victory.
Dad was a devoted Vikings fan (I was for one season - 1987. The previous year the Bengals made the playoffs but lost to the Jets. So I hopped on the Vikes bandwagon after the Bengals did miserable. I might have stayed a Vikes fan - they crushed the 49ers in SF (behind Anthony Carter’s recording setting performance), then they crushed the Saints to set up the NFC title game in Washington. But Darren Nelson dropped a sure touchdown pass and the Vikes choked. I figured I the Bengals disappointed me just as much, so I went back to the Bengals (and they came within a miracle Joe Montana 93 yard last minute touchdown drive of winning the Super Bowl the following year).
Dad would spend 3 hours inside (something Dad was loathe to do, especially on brisk fall days when there was so much to get done) cheering on the Vikes. He spent about 2.5 of those hours in pure bliss. But the Vikes would inevitably squander the game away and Dad would then go out to work off his anger. It’s funny how a silly game can impact someone’s mood.
Look at Chicago’s win on Sunday. Denver had the game firmly in hand. But in the span of two minutes, Chicago pulled it out. I can’t imagine any happy Denver fans for the next few days. Unfortunately, I’ve been there many, many times.
I guess that’s why I love the NFL draft so damn much. Hope springs eternal. Even for the Bengals. For the Vikes? I’m not so sure. I guess one can never give up hope. Even the Packers have turned things around after two or three years of some wretched football.
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Today in Lit and Language 11, we came across this line from TKM - “This time we aren’t fighting the Yankees, we’re fighting our friends. But remember this, no matter how bitter things get, they’re still our friends and this is still our home.” I couldn’t help but think of my Lit and Lang 12 class. Like Atticus, I’m set to fight a battle (teaching boring old British Lit) to some very reluctant learners. (I am just thankful that I am teaching this class now and not before the end of the year when the seniors shut down - in March) I don’t resent them because they don’t want to learn. I could easily do that, but I don’t. I simply have to remind myself of what I was like when I was 17. By no means was I a model student.
I made it through high school with a solid B average. But when it came down to it, if it meant studying for a test or reading part of a novel or going out with friends or watching a football game, I always chose the latter. So how can I expect anything different from my seniors?
I could let my frustration eat me alive, but that would just make this unbearable. Instead, I’ve conceded some to my seniors. I have mixed up our reading schedule of “Dorian Gray.” I have concocted several tech savvy ideas to get them out of their desks and onto the computers. We have listened via itunes to several chapters. I let them read silently and in groups. Today I read to them. Some tuned out and drifted off. So be it.
While I don’t do a lot right as a teacher, one thing I do try to nail is relating esoteric, well, from the student’s points of view anyway, to their lives. This was one reason I so loved the group who did a satire of a country music song. It totally made fun of the current trend in over sentimental country music.
“Dorian Gray” is no exception. There is so much in there that is perfectly applicable to our lives today. For example, as I was reading to the students, we came to the line (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Each man has heaven and hell inside him.” Caught in the moment, and abandoning my train of thought, I rummaged around my desk for the recent issue of “Time” - with its headline “What Makes Us Good/Evil” with its picture of a brain and a picture of Gandhi on one side and Hitler on another. I think tomorrow my seniors will do a bit of good old fashioned writing to explore what they think about this some more. Or I might have them compile a list of stories from the internet dealing with the human propensity for good/evil. Or I might have them create a podcast or imovie.
The above quote from TKM also reminds me of my discipline policies. I never hold anything against a student. Well, I try not to anyway. I may rip into them at the beginning of class and then compliment them on an essay by the end of the class. Like a good cornerback, sometimes a teacher has to have a short memory.
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It’s that time of year again. Tonight Kristie and I take in the first girl’s basketball game of the season. In fact, mid quarter for second quarter is not so far away.
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