Many Voices, Many Rooms: Week 5

-
Highlight of the Week

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz - The New York Times book review calls this, a “mesmerizing, poetic exploration of family, friendship, love and loss.” I call it a heart-warming read and a book I can’t wait to share with my students. From the acclaimed author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, which I also read and loved, my favorite quote comes from the Dad (Vincente), “No extra credit for being a decent human being.” In other words: just be a decent human being. Great advice for these troubling times.

Other Highlights
 
Closer Than They Appear a podcast featuring Carvell Wallace - The tagline for this podcast is, “If America is an estranged family, this podcast is our awkward holiday dinner,” but I found it softer than that. At once honest and hopeful, I am going to let two quotes from the podcast speak for themselves:

     "Hate and anger are guard dogs to fear." --Carvell Wallace
   
     “That is the challenge that we have as human beings - that the easy thing to do is always to divide people based on a problem. The hard thing to do is to unite people based on a solution." --Van Jones (episode 5)

A worthwhile listen for trying times, personal or political.

Community - Complex, critically acclaimed, and inclusive. This sit-com, while still Anglo-centric (see “Jeff Winger”), shows us how multi-culturalism can benefit us all. This is our family’s summer binge. Features a young Donald Glover as part of a great ensemble cast.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wisdom from Raul Julia

-
"...[L]ife itself is a meditation."  --Raul Julia I have always loved Raul Julia, since I first saw him as the sensitive married man having sexual tension with Susan Sarandon while solving a murder in "Compromising Positions" (the cast of which also included the always entertaining Judith Ivey - I love her voice and demeanor so much I think I could watch her in anything). He went on to play defense attorney Sandy Stern in "Presumed Innocent" and of course the beloved patriarch Gomez Addams in "The Addams Family."  His was one the first celebrity deaths - in 1994 - to really effect me. He always seemed to have an undefinably quiet strength and grace. I get it now - he saw his life as a meditation - and that makes all the difference.  I hope someday to be remembered for my quiet grace and thanks to Raul I have one more clue about how to do that. Thanks Raul. For everything.
Read more

Quote of the Week - May 21, 2012 - What happens for one...

-
“On this earth we are connected one to another....to another....to another....to another...to another....to another....to another...such that whatever happens to one of happens to all of us.” -- Anna Grossnickle Hines from her book, "Peaceful Pieces" This is a poem called "Dominoes" that my younger son's class read last week on Friday for " Poetry Aloud ." They read it together as a class, one child starting and each child in turn saying "to another," "to another," "to another..." As I listened, the poem came alive for me. The idea of the poem came alive for me. I saw once again that we are all connected, we are all One and that whatever happens for one of us happens to all of us. Did you notice the Freudian slip there? I wrote, "whatever happens for one of us happens to all of us,"  when what I meant to write was, "whatever happens to one of us happens to all of us." But both are equally tr
Read more

28 Days of Kindness: Day 25

-
Every generation is a life-and-death struggle between wisdom and ignorance,  and there is no guarantees wisdom is going to win.  We have to try to be as human as we can be,  and as kind as we can be, and detach from our need for results.  -- Peter Coyote  ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ Be as human as you can be. Practice kindness. 28 Days of Kindness .
Read more