Corn Harvest

Good day! I'm feeling much better than when I last wrote, thanks for asking, although I am as busy as ever. Now that I'm in the process of dropping one of my little pharmaceutical habits, I expect to regain control of my mornings, and thus my teaching life. Although I must admit I've grown rather fond of sleeping!

If you chase two rabbits, you will not catch either one. — Russian proverb

I found an interesting music survey on the web the other day. Here is one of the questions, along with my answer:

Is there any song that you just can't bear to listen to because of the memories? (If so, what + why?) "For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her" by Simon and Garfunkel: August 8, 1986. Nothing to do with the poet. Always keep your piano in tune.

Now I'm curious who knows the story behind this. Any takers?

Meanwhile, I've created a fabulous iMix... Tart Pops! Here's the track listing:

Pop Music, M
Precious and Few, Climax
Cruisin', Gwyneth Paltrow & Huey Lewis
The Power of Love, Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Strut, Sheena Easton
'65 Love Affair, Paul Davis
This Little Girl, Gary 'US' Bonds
All Touch, Rough Trade
Tiny Thing, Jenson Interceptor
My Wife with Champagne Shoulders, Mark Isham
Tokyo, Bruce Cockburn
Get Closer, Seals & Crofts
Don't Pull Your Love, Joe Frank Hamilton And Reynolds
Spirit Of Radio, Rush
Lady Marmalade, Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink
You Think You're a Man, Full Frontal (I've been unable to find Divine's version in digital form, sigh)
This Wheel's on Fire, Siouxsie and the Banshees
Maniac, Michael Sembello
Too Shy, Kajagoogoo
(I've Had) The Time of My Life, Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes
Boy Inside the Man, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider (the original single, not the later acoustic version)
Love the One You're With, Steven Stills
Ball of Confusion, Love and Rockets
Hush, Deep Purple
How Do I Make You, Linda Ronstadt
You Can't Win, Murray McLauchlan
Let Go the Line, Max Webster
Burning Buildings, Elton John
Kiss You All Over, Exile

Two hours of aural pleasure, ironic and otherwise. And some selections are excellent for loud play while driving to work and elsewhere. Enjoy!

The reward of mastering something is the mastery. — Jerome Bruner

Another music survey question:
What band/artist have you been playing the most this month? White Stripes. They've even started to show up on my blackboard, argh.

I'm currently reading The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler as part of an assignment for the course I'm taking. My professor raved about this book, saying that if you enjoy reading, you must own it; I haven't finished the novel yet, but I don't feel quite as enthusiastic so far, although I can appreciate the literary technique. I much preferred watching Bend It Like Beckham and Bride and Prejudice, also part of the assignment. But the book contains this lovely Mark Twain quotation, which I know some of you will appreciate: "Jane Austen's books, too, are absent from this library. Just the omission of Jane Austen's books alone would make a fairly good library out of a library that hadn't a book in it." And speaking of Twain, here's some good advice for writers:

Substitute 'damn' every time you're inclined to write 'very'; your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. — Mark Twain

In the news: Earlier this year Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez printed 1 million copies of Cervantes’ Don Quixote to be handed out in public squares to mark the 400th anniversary of the Spanish-language classic. Chavez encouraged everyone to read the book, which includes a preface by Portugese author Jose Saramango, so as to “feed ourselves once again with that spirit of a fighter who went out to undo injustices and fix the world”.

One more music survey question:
If you had a band, what would you call it and what would be your role? I make up band names all the time. The latest is Shaggy's Green Shirt. I would play keyboards, duh!

... And you read your Emily Dickinson / And I my Robert Frost ...

Be obscure clearly. — E.B. White

Later,
L