The Daily News1 I LOVE showing the Zeffirelli version of Romeo and Juliet to my students. I always inform them early that Juliet is thirteen, according to the Nurse and to Juliet’s mother. Her appearance in the balcony scene tests that theory, and each time that scene comes on, freshmen giggle like crazy. You will inevitably have some boy say, “She’s not thirteen!”
2 Yesterday my best-behaving class, which is filled with girls, was more giddy than usual. I was grading papers and not really paying attention, because it was the third go-round with the film, and I could get caught up with grading.
3 But it was one of those days where they were all talking and commenting first on Romeo lurking around the balcony, then on Juliet’s first show of massive cleavage.
4 The giggles continued, as I tried to look over my glasses and shush them, but it was so hilariously edgy that I broke into a semi-smile myself, shaking my head.
5 Finally, one girl blurted out, “She has HUGE boobies!”
6 The place exploded, and I just laughed myself.
10 It’s funny, because right before the scene, I gave a pretty grand lesson on how beautiful the language and poetry were, and how I once met a director who said, “I don’t go to see a Shakespeare play; I go to hear a Shakespeare play.” I taught them all about the heartbeat rhythm of iambic verse, as well as to listen for the beautiful imagery of stars and roses and all.
11 Once the obvious was made more obvious by the girls outcry, it was all over for HEARING anything! Normally a brilliant, polite class of honors’ kids, they had quite time laughing at every moment. They especially loved Romeo’s tree-climbing and subsequent joyous dash through the forest in gleeful rhapsody.
12 Crowning moment of the school year. These were my shy, wonderfully well-behaved kids, completely giddy and out of control.
13 I LOVED it. I’m now WAY worried at the nightingale/lark scene, in which we see not only those high beams for a millisec, but also Leonard Whiting’s buttcheeks. I used to draw a stick figure of a guy named “Mr. Censor” and would stick it on the television screen, using static electricity to make it stick. Always worked like a charm. Frisky boys would sometimes lift the bottom of the sheet, or try to peek from the sides, but it AWAYS got a laugh. We’re using LCD projectors these days, so I just take my reading glasses and put it in front of the lens. Works like a charm. They inevitably giggle and laugh, but what can you do? That’s the classic, and it must be seen.
14 <sigh> Olivia Hussey/Leonard Whiting = Occupational Hazard.
15 Moving on, Part the First: I have this idea that we should get a whole bunch of people to sit across the street from the Tea Parties and have Coffee Parties. Nothing political, mind you, just so that we could sorta goof on the movement. Maybe just sit in the sun, talk, write some poetry, and enjoy what we have.
16 I think it would be a perfect excuse to cut work, get some Starbuck’s, and chill with friends. The idea would to be perfectly apolitical, and to sit outside the world for a minute with friends and goof on some odd things.
17 If I’m the first to suggest it, I’ll toss it over to someone else to start it all and to organize it. I don’t take the Tea Parties too seriously, to be honest. Maybe I should, but I’m just too busy these days to take notice. Seems the whole thing stems from frustration anyway.
18 Random thought: It’s Friday, and we have STAR testing next week, so it should be a fairly easy weekend. STAR testing is the great strain, but really, my room works nicely: it’s spacious and a comfortable place to test. It’s always quiet, most of the week, and once the test is over, we teach just two to three classes.
19 I won’t bore you with the details; let’s just say it makes for a fairly easy week.
20 Moving on, Part the Second: Ya gotta love TMZ sometimes. The Merc News hasThe Star Report, which is TMZ stuff. In a buzz about Larry King cheating with his wife’s sister, it was brought up that some friend of the King’s said that about a year and half back the couple were “punching each other.”
Here is the next part of the buzz, verbatim: “Larry King is 76. Who punches Larry King? A butterfly landing on him the wrong way could knock him unconscious.”
21 And then there was this series of snitches: “Mel Gibson…has parted with girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, and Melisssa Etheridge…has split from her partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels Etheridge. Paris Hilton also broke up with boyfriend Doug Reinhardt, but nobody cares. Not even them.”
22 Ah, ya gotta love it.
23 Not much else coming down from the ol’ DN. It’s early, woke at 4:20 again, even without a bark from ol’ 4:20 herself. Think I’m going to try sleeping for another hour, and then I’ll launch this off to y’all.
24 Have a great weekend. You oughta rent Romeo and Juliet; it’s really a lark. Coming up shortly: The Taming of the Shrew, the classic ending to the school year.
25 Can’t wait.
26 See ya soon!
27 Peace.
~H~
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