January | 2013 | bharrington's Xanga Site

Month: January 2013

The Daily News

1 Have you ever watched a football game on fast forward?

2 Last night I decided that I had talked and read about the Niners enough, but wanted to see a few highlights of plays I missed.

3 I had already watched most of the first half.

4 I kept seeing a lot of flags, a lot of chirping, a LOT of Kaepernick coming back from things that would have floored most young quarterbacks, and the 150 mph laser that he threw to Michael Crabtree.

5 His taunting penalty was a sham. It was questionable at best.

6 Best thing that ever happened to the youngster.

7 I also saw a lot of Jim Harbaugh losing respect for the purportedly best refs in the game.

8 Interestingly, I'm sort of walking around not wanting to think too much about the game.

9 What I'm thinking about is how easily Kaepernick managed to shaket it off.

10 Great game, but it is now history.

11 A LOT of flags early.

12 A LOT of money exchanged on these games. You have to wonder.

13 I won't go there. Just sayin'.

14 Moving on, Part One: Yesterday I got to my first class and one of our kindest teachers, this great fellow named Daniel, came into my room. He looks like Santa Claus, and even cultivates the look deliberately, because every Christmas he dresses like Santa Claus, to the delight of everyone.

15 He walked into my classroom yesterday wearing not a Santa Claus suit, but a Packers' T-Shirt.

16 I complimented him on representing. I also told him that even though the Niners wound up spanking the Packers statistically, the Packers managed to keep the score close all the way up 'til the end of the third quarter.

17 It was fun. I have always enjoyed the Green Bay fans. They tend to be polite, and always seem to enjoy the rivalry between these two teams.

18 Two storied NFL franchises. A lot of history.

19 Pretty fun.

20 Moving on, Part the Second: Okay, I'm a sucker for sports.

21 What can I say? People who don't enjoy sports don't quite get it.

22 I understand that.

23 What they don't realize is some of the positive things that come to us through sports.

24 We see life. We see never giving up. We see determination. We see hope.

25 We tend to blind ourselves to the negatives.

26 As a teacher, I like to look at the positives. I realize that as long as I have been teaching, I could still improve. I could improve.

27 Moving on, Part the Thoid: During Christmas break, I was given another great Christmas present, this awesome book called Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer, authored by an excellent writer named Roy Peter Clark.

28 In the introduction alone I picked up on at least five great tips, most of which hadn't even been introduced yet; they were actively happening in the writing. I decided to change my entire lesson in the morning and share some of the things in the book, because I find that I do a lot of them when I write this nonsense each morning.

29 It's a bit of a deadline thing. When you have to write quickly, your ideas tend to flow. That's almost the theme of the entire book. Students sometimes spend WAY too much time thinking that writing is some sort of chore, that it has to be difficult, that it has to be considered.

30 This author blows the roof off that. His philosophy is that you should write the same way you talk. You don't think too much about what you're going to say, so use that same tendency to get things down on paper.

31 You can then go back and take care of spelling, go back and change some dull verbs, go back and add little touches which are in the toolbox that the author of the book provides.

32 He also mentions some of my favorite writing books from which he stole many of these tools.

33 For example, in his introduction he mentions some of the following books about writing:

The Elements of Style by William Strunk "and his student, E.B. White." Yup. The same guy who wrote Charlotte's Web. Small gift-sized book. $7.95 at any bookstore, and a great resource for anyone who wants to write better.

On Writing Well by William Zinsser. Classic.

The ABC of Style by Rudolph Flesch, author of Why Johnny Can't Read. Flesch's philosophy is similar to Clark's, only in The ABC of Style, his main idea is that students should learn every vocabulary word on Earth, every foreign expression,every French expression, every nautical expression, and he insists that you never stop learning words. He also advised to avoid using most of them.

34 My students had trouble grasping that last one. I explained that if a student writes a thousand-word essay that is peppered with polysyllabic verbiage (words that contain a whole bunch of syllables), they will look sophomoric at best, and gimmicky at the worst.

35 As a teacher, and as a self-proclaimed wordsmith, I find any essay filled with vocabulary words just that: I find that the student (or professor!) is trying way hard to impress me. What we get in that instance is a bunch of abstract words that are b-o-r-i-n-g!*

36 I find any essay that is clear and which good word choice a marvelous effort. If the essay drops one or two SAT words in perfectly, I am much more impressed than I am of the student who adds a bunch of unimpressive big words.

37 I usually think, "Well placed, kid."

38 What is good word choice? I can't remember which story I'm stealing this from, but I recall an author of a short story talking about his childhood growing up in Chicago, throwing a snowball at some guy's windshield, and the guy chasing a bunch of twelve-year old boys all over the neighborhood.

39 At one point, he talked of running down an alley, and how "We smashed through a hedge."

40 I pointed out to my students that "smashed" is a much better word choice than "ran."

41 Those are the sorts of tools that are in this delightful book about writing.

42 The book is so good that it prompted one Mark Kramer, the director of the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism, Harvard University to quip, "What a nifty book! It's not only useful, central, wise, rigorous and forgiving, it's also a riot! The author's quirky Buddha-nature shines through."

43 So today's DN isn't about football, nor is it really about writing. It is more about inspiration.

44 You are free to steal these writing tips, and you are at liberty to go on Kindle, Amazon, or hopefully, to your neighborhood book store and make these incredible works a part of your own arsenal.

45 That's all I have for today. It is well into the five a.m. and I must needs grab another forty-five minutes of sleep.

46 Hope you enjoyed the lesson.

47 See you again.

48 Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington

* For the record, I did not split this word at the end of a sentence. Blame Xanga, or Chrome, or whatever is fighting whatever. Irritating! AnywayZ we'll see you again. = )
MONSTROUS!!!

The Daily News

1 I'm speechless, which is a rare thing.

2 Enjoy it while it lasts.

3 Such a GREAT weekend in so many ways.

4 I dragged my hypocritical self to my Dad's for two days of getting drenched in NFL playoffs. With the exception of last night's game, every game was incredible.

5 Even if you're not a Niner fan, there is no denying the intensity of that game, nor of the Kaepernick version.

6 Both days I had to get up in the 5 a.m. and stumble around my house. The reason I had to do that is that I had to drive fifty-or-so minutes to take care of my Dad. This involves loading my traveling desk, which consists of four bags, three regular shopping bags and one huge bag for my papers, of which there were many.

7 I also needed to load all of the paraphernalia that goes with a traveling desk.

8 Always room for error.

9 That being said, one of my favorite things is watching football with my Dad. He has been a season-ticket holder since I was born, which was somewhere in either the Dark Ages, or at least during Picasso's blue period.

10 To say I am a natural-born Niner fan would be an understatement.

11 Ironically, because of the length of the day, I had to leave the other night after the first quarter.

12 So I had to listen to one of the most intense games of recent years on my car radio while cruising down 280 in the dark.

13 It was awesome, in many ways, because I enjoy the Niners' announcers. Ted Robinson in particular is spot on in his play-by-play. It was almost the difference of reading a book and watching a movie.

14 I had my own game going on in my mind, while everyone watching the game saw it from a different perspective.

15 I have known since we drafted him that Colin Kaepernick was a monster. I looked at film of his college career and was flabbergasted. I told everyone and his brother that this guy was being groomed.

16 Whoops.

17 Getting a bit full of myself about nothing.

18 All apologies.

19 But honestly?

20 What a weapon.

21 The only thing that bothers me is that he finally IS the talk of the town. That's a lot of pressure on a young athlete.

22 And Atlanta is listening. That's a bit scary.

23 Still, I got home and got instantly intense, and worried. We kept kicking Green Bay's ass, but the score stayed within seven.

24 I have a lot of respect for Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers. While other people were cheering for Kaepernick, I worried, which is what real fans do. I was at the forty-yard line when The Catch happened. THE classic Niner miracle. I went out of my mind, but within seconds knew there was still too much time on the clock. That's what we do. Football fans, not just Niner fans.

25 After Coin's unearthly run, I relaxed. I then started up with my usual football hubris, telling anyone within range that my armchair strategy for the game was to have faith that Frank Gore would unleash, and that Kaepernick should be our second running back. He delivered.

26 He blew the doors off any statistic in the history of football, carrying sixteen times for 181 yards.

27 For the football laymen, or lay women, the average yards-per-carry for the best running backs in football is usually just a little over 4. Kaepernick's yards-per-carry on Saturday night was 11.3.

28 Freak show.

29 Great performance, undoubtedly.

30 The traditional criticism of a quarterback having a great ground game is that he shouldn't have to run the ball so much, that somehing is wrong with the rest of the machinery.

31 <basketball buzzer>

32 That game was planned from the moment we acquired Sir Colin. Alex Smith was just a pin prick, just an in-between quarterback who was going to start until Kaepernick could be unleashed. I saw it way back then. Had we any other coach than Harbaugh I wouldn't have seen it. But we have Harbaugh. And he is good.

33 Nobody expected Alex to perform as well as he did. His strength became his conservative play, and his almost inability to make a mistake.

34 He did make them, but only when he started to feel he was being used, which he was. I'm sorry, but that's the way I see it.

35 And he was getting paid handsomely for it.

36 Make no mistake: that playoff game on Saturday night was planned long ago, in the event we reach the playoffs, which Jim Harbaugh never doubted.

37 That weapon was kept a bit of a secret, especially once the Niners clinched a bye.

38 That's Harbaugh.

39 He's a madman. He is Dr. Frankenstein, and Sir Colin is his monster.

40 Now that he has been revealed, he has other teams a bit scared. He has the oddsmakers making the Niners three-point favorites going into Atlanta.

41 That alarmed me a bit, because Colin is going into only his ninth professional start.

42 He's still a kid. A freakishly talented kid, but still a kid.

43 His hat was two sizes too big during his interview yesterday. It looked like he was wearing a soup pot on his head.

44 So we'll see.

45 In the meantime, we sport's fans have a lot to look forward to.

46 And a little bit to fear.

47 Either way, it was a fun weekend.

48 I'm looking forward to a fun week.

49 I hope you are too.

50 Have a great Monday.

51 As always, fly low. This week should be fun.

52 See you again.

53 Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington
What's Playin' at the Roxy?

The Daily News

1 Ah, the DN!

2 I forget about it during holidays and times when I'm not in school.

3 It is literally in its seventeenth year, although until 2004, it was really not online.

4 It existed for a while on my old ybdrama.com website, which is now rusting in the weeds due to overcharges by Geocities.

5 It contained a few DN archives as well.

6 I have hard copies dating back to 1996.

7 It used to consist of ten or eleven fast items and out. I printed it on different colors of paper, and used a variety of fonts.

8 The "logo" font was originallyTimes New Roman, which is the font at the top of the page. For the record, I print the copy at Arial 4. The copy started out in Times.

9 It originally had no pictures.

10 For those new to the DN, it began in 1996 as a means of communicating with the company of Guys and Dolls, which I was directing at Yerba Buena High School in San Jose, California. It is difficult for a director to get word out to everybody involved in a play, as things will always change on a calendar. The Daily News was a means of getting word out immediately as tp where the show was headed, as well as any daily changes that might happen regarding rehearsals.

11 This was a few years ago. Email was still not a universal thing. Today it is relatively easy to communicate with casts, crews, musicians, and all the rest.

12 The title is taken from the song Guys and Dolls, which begins with among other lyrics, "What's in the Daily News? I'll tellya what's in the Daily News...story about a man bought his wife a small ruby with what otherwise would have been his union dues...that's what's in the Daily News..."

13 Ah, what the heck. Here are the lyrics to that wonderfully brilliant song:

What's playing at the Roxy?
I'll tell you what's playing at the Roxy.
A picture about a Minnesota man falls in love with a Mississippi girl
That he sacrifices everything and moves all the way to Biloxi.
That's what's playing at the Roxy.

What's in the daily news?
I'll tell you what's in the daily news.
Story about a man bought his wife a small ruby
With what otherwise would have been his union dues.
That's what's in the daily news.

What's happening all over?
I'll tell you what's happening all over.
Guy sitting home by a television set
That used to be something of a rover.

That's what's happening all over.

Love is the thing that has nipped them.
And it looks like Nathan's just another victim.

NICELY (spoken) Yes, sir!

When you see a guy reach for stars in the sky
You can bet that he's doing it for some doll.
When you spot a John waiting out in the rain
Chances are he's insane as only a John can be for a Jane.
When you meet a gent paying all kinds of rent
For a flat that could flatten the Taj Mahal.
Call it sad, call it funny.
But it's better than even money
That the guy's only doing it for some doll.
When you see a Joe saving have of his dough
You can bet there'll be mink in it for some doll.
When a bum buys wine like a bum can't afford
It's a cinch that the bum is under the thumb of some little broad.
When you meet a mug lately out of the jug
And he's still lifting platinum folderol
Call it hell, call it heaven
But it's probable twelve to seven
That the guy's only doing it for some doll.

(interlude)

When you see a sport and his cash has run short
Make a bet that he's banking it with some doll.
When a guy wears tails with the front gleaming white
Who the hell do you think he's tickling pink on Saturday night?
When a lazy slob takes a goody steady job,
And he smells from Vitalis and Barbasol.
Call it dumb, call it clever
Ah, but you can get odds forever
That the guy's only doing it for some doll
Some doll, some doll
The guy's only doing it for some doll!

14 Frank Loesser wrote that incredible song. The original script was by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows and was borrowed from two short stories by author Damon Runyon: "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" and "Blood Pressure." It was a bit of a hit on Broadway, for its time, and it won a Tony award in 1950 for Best Musical.

15 In 1951, Guys and Dolls won the Pulitzer Prize for drama. Unfortunately, playwright Abe Burrows had a run-in with the House Un-American Activities and was blacklisted. The Trustees of Columbia University rescinded the award that year, and subsequently no award was given for Drama.

16 In 1955 a film was made featuring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine. It captures the entire Runyonesque world of thugs, dolls, and wiseguys, and helped make the musical a classic. A revival in 2009 brought this delightful show back to the masses, and it remains a gem to this day.

17 And it started all of this.

18 The Daily News was originally a communication vehicle for the show. In my own way, I couldn't hold back from making commentaries and goofs on daily living. It became a morning ritual.

19 I would make a simple hard copy, arrive at school early, and post it on the wall in the entrance hall to the Performing Arts' building. Ponch and I would then tank down some of his performance-enhancing coffee, and listen to the giggles and discussions.

20 It was always laughs, and a great way to start the morning.

21 It is still going, right here in the 3 a.m.

22 Moving on, Part the First: The DN as a topic of the DN is a rarity. I do this occasionally for the benefit of the newly initiated.

23 I have no idea what drives me to keep composing this drivel, except that it keeps a bit of history alive for a lot of people who have worked on shows with me.

24 That is a LOT of good times, to be sure.

25 In 2004 I discovered Xanga. Remember Xanga?

26 Xanga was one of the earliest means of building a website without having to learn HTML, which to me was like learning Martian.

27 Once people caught on to Xanga it became this explosively creative means of expressing themselves. People posted thoughts, feelings, recipes, poetry, artwork, and photography in what was at the time a smorgasbord of creativity.

28 I absolutely loved Xanga.

29 Like anything, the success of Xanga invited cheaper offshoots. My Space came down the shoot with a focus on music. It became the next hip thing. I wasn't at all a fan, because it was more a gimmick, and all of the freshness and fire of Xanga dampened into shorter pieces and snide remarks. It did have people posting some of the same sorts of things, but it wasn't nearly as creative, nor as explosively fun as was Xanga.

30 And then came Facebook, originally a place for people in college to post short remarks to each other.

31 Facebook looked intelligent to me, but I eventually became somewhat banal, with people posting random thoughts in short sentences, a far cry from the explosively creative days of Xanga.

32 Facebook morphed into the odd creature it is today. It invented its own language and style, and while it does allow for all sorts of creativity, most of it is cheap shots on news feed.

33 It also has recently become a loudspeaker for blowhards and opinionated sorts.

34 I won't say I avoid it like the plague, because it is sort of fun to scroll around and waste time.

35 I remember distinctly when I first hopped on the Facebook train. Christine Choi, who played Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, wrote me this when I first arrived: "Hey H! Welcome to Wastebook!"

36 You gotta love it.

37 Moving On, Part the Second: Where is all this leading?

38 I never know. It's always done in the middle of the night. Once I start, there is no turning back.

39 If it takes me too long, Phoebe wakes up and thinks it's meal time. Sometimes she wakes up two or three times, wiggles around, barks, and wants to go outside.

40 I usually have to think of what to put down here, and then I'm off to the races.

41 I awakened last night at 1:59 after almost five hours of sleep. It is now around 3:30, and I am still at it.

42 I have always maintained that I don't write this. It writes itself.

43 I will maintain that this morning as well.

44 Moving on, Part the Thoid: I began this with writing about the DN. What caused it was the fact that Xanga isn't keeping up with the times.

45 The fonts continually change. The pictures don't appear on some people's computers. Highlights appear in the print. I give commands and they no longer work.

46 Things change.

47 I Googled Xanga concerns, and a lot of people have the same stuff happening. Evidently Xanga has no answer.

48 Sidebar: I love that "Google" is a proper verb, one of the only proper verbs I could think of in the 3 a.m.

49 AnywayZ...

50 I worry about the DN. As far as I'm concerned, it is my companion. It writes itself, and it has a relatively good following. People glance at it, avoid it, and then give in and read this stuff. And they chuckle.

51 The next day they think, "I'm not going to waste my time reading that guy's stuff!"

52 And then they take a look, and then they chuckle.

53 It's coffee and oatmeal. It's a nice way to start your day, especially if a guffaw causes hot oatmeal to fly out of your nose.

54 It's a nice way to start your day. Hmmm. Nice slogan. Think I'll adopt it.

55 Meanwhile...

56 Xanga has to take care of those concerns. It isn't a huge issue, but if the fonts are shrinking and things getting highlighted; if the pictures aren't showing up or loading in too slowly, then I may need to change to another "blogging" place.

57 I never saw the DN as a "blog." I always thought of it as the DN, my own little whatever that I don't really write. I see it more as a world that has decided to ride along with me and enjoy the goofiness.

58 So a piece about a piece.

59 Works for me, I imagine.

60 Well, despite Xanga's best efforts not to cooperate with the artistic integrity of this folderol, I will continue to put this stuff out, using Xanga.

61 It's sort of a part of the past that I intend to keep, and to bring to the present.

62 Time to go. I have some old movie playing on TCM, and it clearly has a bunch of Damon Runyon sorts talking the wiseguy talk.

63 And I would be remiss in my duties as a lifelong 49er fan if I didn't wish they and their fans all the best this weekend. Mark me: they are statistically a better team than the Packers. They don't need to beat the Packers. They need to beat the Packers' quarterback.

64 The TCM film that is on is called Love is a Racket. I just looked up and saw a guy reading a newspaper that started on fire.

65 It was the New York Times.

66 Thank goodness for small miracles. Sometimes it's nice when a coincidence doesn't happen.

67 Think you.

68 Have a great weekend, and go Niners!

69 Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington
DENIED!!!

The Daily News

1 The great elephant has walked into the room. Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens were voted down yesterday as inductees to the baseball Hall of fame. In fact, nobody was inducted into the Baseball's Hall of Fame.

2   Thanks guys, for giving me something about which to write. The above pictures tell more about the story than any words I could write. It is painful. It is surreal. It is in our face.

3   Bonds.

4   Barry.

5   As a guy who has worked around sports for years, I can honestly say that when Barry Bonds burst on the Giants' scene in 1993 I stood absolutely amazed.

6   Local boy, son of a Giant, and already storied.

7   That season, Barry Bonds was beyond any player I had ever seen, with the exception of Willie Mays.

8   Intelligent, well-trained, quick instincts, power. Son of Bobby Bonds. Developed natural instincts by the likes of Willie Mays and Willie McCovey, guys who would clearly not give him advice to "juice."

9   I became a HUGE Barry fan. I saw his skills, and his baseball savvy. He needed steroids like Shakespeare needed an English teacher.

10 A lot of baseball people didn't like Barry because of his arrogance, and for his disdain for journalists.

11 I saw one of the greatest baseball minds ever to play the game. He was a shoe-in for the Hall.

12 Then came the Game of Shadows, a book by San Francisco Chronicle writers Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams.

13 <whisper whisper whisper whisper>

14 At the time, I didn't want to believe that Barry would cheat.

15 That book was explosive. It blew the lid off not only baseball, but all sports. This is historically recent. The year was 2006.

16 Barry threw a friend under the bus, and these two journalists who broke the story were almost put in prison for not revealing sources. He owns that, to this very day.

17 I found it difficult to back the guy. I supported him for years. I loved every crack of the bat. He was a hero to me. I listened to every pitch in the 1993 103-win season when the Giants and Braves fought like Titans. The Giants came away with nothing that season, but it was a season beyond torture.

18 A little over a decade later came Game of Shadows. It blew the lid off an entire era in baseball history, and it continues to blow the lid off where we are with sports at this very minute. One needs only to whisper the word "Melky" and people cringe and shoosh.

19 I publicly railed against Bonds, and I railed earlier than most.

20 I had felt betrayed. I bought into his lies.

21 I still have trouble with his idiocy, and his allowing a friend to rot in jail for him.

22 And yetg I also see him as a scapegoat for a much larger issue.

23 How do I put this? Well, I just say it, I suppose. Americans love living in fantasy worlds.

24 We enjoy sports. We enjoy watching human beings working hard to do extraordinary things.

25 These extraordinary athletes have become our super heroes.

26 Then some guys write a book that is sure to be a best seller.

27 They expose several sports' figures as steroid monsters.

28 Barry happens to be the biggest target because of his personality, and because of his incredible natural skills.

29 Most people know that the world of sports is rampant with such nonsense, but it remains the great elephant that sits in the room.

30 Yesterday's denial of Bonds, Sosa, and Clemens was a tepid means of saying, "Let's wait 'til America comes to its senses, and all this stuff blows over, and then let's give these guys their place."

31 I'm not sure if that will happen, or if it will turn into an annual ritual, like seeing if Susan Lucci will ever receive an Emmy (she did), or wondering if Oswald acted alone.

32 In 2013, I am in denial about the rampant use of steroids in sports. Barry is just the tip of the iceberg, if I may be so cliche.

33 I'll say this once. I hate to break it to people, but sports is teeming with monstrous use of steroids. It is beyond comprehension, but watch any NFL game and tell me that those guys aren't juicing.

34 Should we just "out" the entire thing? What sort of message are we sending to young athletes who wish someday to go big? High school students have died as a result of steroid use.

35 As a teacher, I see it as a huge issue.

36 Where does it head?

37 Are we going to make this an enormous issue, or are we going to bury our heads?

38 I think we all know.

39 For years the Hall wouldn't allow people of color in.

40 Should the people who controlled that be taken out of the Hall?

41 Lots of issues.

42 My guess is that the world of sports will throw a few athletes under the bus, and then continue with business as usual. That's the American way.

43 To be honest, I didn't even want to approach this issue, because if we blow it open, there will be no sports.

44 We want Titans. We want Avengers. We want Heroes.

45 And so we will have them. We will pretend that this stuff will go away.

46 I will pretend that the 49ers are all clean. I won't really believe that, but as long as nobody points to it, I will enjoy the playoffs.

47 But make no mistake.

48 It the world of sports in 2013 were an emperor, he would be wearing no clothes.

49 What a painful thing to have to confront.

50 Fortunately, I am a hack journalist, and a fraud.

51 I want to get back to writing about how sweet my students are. I don't want these sorts of stories.

52 They bring out the hypocrisies and nonsense we all experience on a daily basis.

53 So I'm not going to follow this story, nor talk too much more about it. I am a hypocrite and a coward. I want this issue to disappear. I want it to stay in the shadows where it belongs.

54 As a guy who writes, I had to address it. Somewhere in here you can probably read my thoughts.

55 I suppose it is now on some sort of public record, at least in my frabjous mind.

56 For now, I'm putting this sad, sad story to bed.

57 It's Thursday. That's always a good day.

58 Go about your business and smile.

59 There are good things.

60 Have faith.

61 There are good things.

62 Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington
The Daily News

1 So...Yesterday I came home and deliberately tormented my dog.

2 I got home early, and she looked up at me wanting either to go for a walk or to have an enormous snack.

3 It was early afternoon.

4 Grades are due today at 4 p.m.

5 On the Dogometer, this is an insignificant concern.

6 Grades are due, and my dog wants a walk, and has gone zany.

7 Grades are due. Semester grades.

8 I loves me my dog, but grade deadlines????

9

10 To a dog, however, going for a walk is a MAIN concern.

11 Sometimes I make the mistake of over-feeding my lovely Pheebz.

12 Just to quiet her down. I don't always do that, but last night I had to.

13 We're talking semester grades. That's huge. It requires significant concentration and accuracy.

14 I'm pretty sure she understood.

15 She has a sort of sixth sense that way.

16 So I tormented her into at least a stall. If you have a dog, you know what I'm talking about. When they get pushy, you stall whatever it is they want, and deliberately. This way they know who is in charge. If you don't, they'll own you.

17 I gave her a snack, and a bit of water.

18 That was the extent of my torment.

19 I eventually gave her a light dinner, which she fully appreciated.

20 Grades were still due, mind you. But she owns me.

21    I set up shop, which takes at least fifteen minutes. I have to organize when it comes to crunch time, and I have to make sure everything is nearby.

22 What a lot of people don't realize is that there is no such thing as an "office" for a teacher. We are nomadic, and carry our "offices" everywhere we go. The trunk of my car is my "office."

23 I carry staplers, lit books, dictionaries, multi-colored paper clips, pencils, pens, staplers, and tons of papers from one place to another. Students' papers get tattooed with muddy shoe prints, spilled coffee, salsa, and mustard.

24 I have spent two different New Year's Eves working up to ten hours grading and checking for accuracy.

25 And it all comes down to when the semester grades are due.

26 At times it becomes slap-happy.

27 This year I stayed all over it. I had no real social life, but I knew that staying all over it was going to pay off by the time grades were due.

28 I fear hubris here, because there is always that one stack of papers I might have missed lurking somewhere at someplace.

29 Even being all over it doesn't really mean that you have been all over it.

30 Fortunately, I have been posting my grades the entire semester so that students, parents, and administrators could have a peek.

31 I have given it my all, and I am still into the 2 a.m. checking and re-checking.

32 I went to sleep last night at eight. I have mastered the fine art of insomnia. If I am exhausted after school, I can do a little grading, eat, torture the dog, give in and give her about twelve Pupperonies, have a couple of Crystal Lights, and then hit the hay.

33 In between all of this, I type up this nonsense, just to relax. And I do manage to eat.

34 Today I'll be back to sleep somewhere in the four a.m. and still be tanned, rested, and ready for whatever the day might throw at me.

35 It is a different lifestyle, to be sure. But for me, it works. Especially at crunch time, with a barking, eager dog.

36 I did play with her, and she turned into a puppy again, even though she must be around two-hundred year's old. She's my Charley. I caved yesterday and played around with her, just because she just is.

37 Grades can wait.

38 She has the sweetest face. Sometimes nothing in life is more important than a dog's sweet face.

39 So yeah.

40 I caved.

41 Moving on, Part the First: Anyone lookin'?

42 I think it was yesterday that I posted about my sister Gayle's Christmas gift, which was this wonderful book of my Mom's recipes, complete with pictures of her hand-written recipes as well as with pictures of us all from very young to very dynamic.

43 Did I put that well?

44 Ah, who cares?

45 AnywayZ...

46 I texted Gayle yesterday during class telling her that I brought that wonderful book to school to share with my students. My students saw me texting, because they were taking out their homework, and I looked up and said, "I'm texting my sister, who put together that book of my Mom's recipes. Say 'Hi!' " Of course they did. She didn't really hear it because it was a text and not a phone call. But the thought was there, if the thinking wasn't.

47 I decided to set the tone for the second semester. Rather than listen to every change that the educational pendulum throws at us, I decided to put absolute heart into this new year.

48 So far, it has worked. I just have to side-step all the nonsense and theories that change every three years, and teach with the same soul I have always taught with. With which I have always taught.

49 This year I am going to try to own my own classes, and teach with heart. If I start with my family, and especially with my Mom's soul, I don't see how it won't work. I've reached a point in life where I want to give teaching everything I can, as long as it no longer takes from me.

50 Yesterday I was lecturing like a madman, trying somehow to make words like "participle" "gerund" and "infinitive" sound like "chocolate" "whipped cream" and "pizza."

51 I told my students that whoever invented the language must have done a study on sleeping habits of your average citizen, and must have come up with the most boring names for all things grammatical. I told them that if they have sleep issues, and if they awaken in the middle of the night with night terror, that they should just say the word "gerund" five times and they will drift right back to sleep.

52 I'm not sure that it worked, but the kids who were still awake got it.

53 During my last class of the day, I felt I had most of them engaged. Sometimes I let my students' friends who don't have a class sit in my class, because they are supposed to leave campus. A lot of them don't have rides. They are usually pretty polite.

54 Right in the middle of my lesson on the always interesting topic of participles, this little girl came in, all ears and braces, and quietly sat on the floor next to her best friend. I just smiled and continued. It didn't bother me because she was not only polite, but somehow interested in what I was lecturing.

55 Adorable kid.

56 I timed everything perfectly, and even played a little Disney music after the bell rang. I play music for my students all the time. They all said, "Have a nice afternoon Mr. Harrington!" and "Think you!" That's their version of "Thank you." Sweet kids.

57 Interestingly, the little girl who crept into my class stayed for a second, turned at the door and put out her hand. I shook her hand.

58 She said, "My name is Shirley!"

59 I smiled and gently said, "My Mom's name is Shirley!" She smiled and said, "Nice to meet you!"

60 I said, "Nice to meet you too!"

61 Sweet.

62 Well, I think it is in the 3 a.m. and I might just grab an extra hour of sleep. Charley came out during all of this, and I gave her a couple of more Pupperonies. She lumbered back to her bed for a much-needed slumber, and I think I'm ready for a bit myself.

63 Grades are due, but right now, I don't really care.

64 I'm smiling, watching some old movie on TCM.

65 Time to go.

66 More to come.

67    Have a lovely day.

68    Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington
The Daily News

1 Love my students.

2 Went in yesterday and instantly decided to have a Socratic Seminar, which is the trend in education these days.

3 I told them that I was proud of the work they had delivered on finals, and that the new year should start with a Socratic Seminar.

4 This requires of me the popping up of some music from Ancient Messapopatoes, and my taking my mystical skeleton key and opening up the Doors of Wisdom by having my students collectively come up with four famous quotations. It is timed. They have two minutes to give me some great thoughts. Ancient music plays. It is wisdom, and they could almost smell the incense and intelligence all around them.

5 In order to open the Doors of Wisdom, they have to as a class come up with four famous intelligent quotes by "any means necessary."

6 My brighter sorts understood this to mean that they could use their cell phones, as long as they were discreet about it.

7 I thought it a good idea for the opening of the new semester. Conjuring the wisdom of the ages is never a bad idea.

8 They were pretty good all day, and many of the quotes awesome.

9 Unfortunately, I didn't remember any of them except this one: "Luke, I am your father."

10 I think that one is from the Bible, since it mentions Luke.

11 Anywho, it was a great opening to the new semester. After the Doors of Wisdom (not to be mistaken with the DOW) were opened, I had them get into groups and share stories of what they did during the break.

12 As a wise old owl who has been through it, I realized that no matter what topic I gave them to discuss in groups, they were going to share what they did over the holiday anyway. Why not have a group share? Why do battle when I could incorporate their holiday into a lesson? It's ten-minute groups, and about five-minute debriefs.

13 I kept playing this very strange music of the Sumerians. Sumerian music is mystical and quite syncopated. The music will stop suddenly, and a note will be delayed for two or three seconds. I played it low enough that many though they were hearing things. Their heads turned crooked, like a dog in front of a Bose speaker.

14 They kept asking me what the music was, and I kept looking at them like they had twelve heads, asking, "What music?" I looked deliberately confused, but I often look confused anyway.

15 Fun stuff to begin a semester.

16 Throughout the day I had kids tell me all sorts of things. One girl was in a magazine shoot. Another student had spent five days in Chile. A third had tasted his first Brazlian food ever. One girl ice-skated the entire time, because she is a potential Olympic skater. One boy spent a week in Mexico hunting at night with infra ray something or other. A most dangerous game.

17 Most of the students went to malls, shopped, watched movies, and played video games, all of which gave us all a sense of refreshment, and being revitalized after a zombie first half of the year.

18 They of course asked me what I did, and I told them that I had fallen off my sleigh and cracked my lip open, which isn't at all true. I did slip in the mud and cut my lip, but it's pretty-much healed already. So here was my story:

19 The pic at the top of the page is of my lectern. In the foreground, lower right is Nigel, who also had an accident. To the left and behind Nigel is the lantern I used in the Fall when we had our ghost stories in the Theatre.

20 Behind Nigel is a Hogwarts' sort of book with the names of their groups hand-written with color-coded paper clips, one color for each class. On top of the Hogwart's book is a Renaissance mask, foreshadowing our unit on Shakespeare. The freshmen do Romeo and Juliet, as there is a masque in that one, and the sophs do several plays, but the unit proper features the quite maskesque Much Ado About Nothing. The stage, as they say, has clearly been set.

21 It is all quite mystical, in a tongue-planted-firmly-in-the cheek sort of way.

22 The smaller wooden container in the foreground has the magical Cougar stamp, in Sharks' teal. It is a cougar paw that I stamp with which I stamp their homework. It is a powerful tool that ensures that they got their work done on time. It is the educational equivalent of a receipt.

23 It is all so mystical, isn't it?

24 I decided to enjoy the day rather than acting like most people after a holiday, which is to feel like something the cat drug in.

25 I danced with it. If you have a music, a bear, and masks, how can it go wrong?

26 Two girls in my last class gave me three Starbuck's cards and three chocolate-chip cookies. That's a good day. They weren't trying to bribe me because they have A's anyway. They just brought me a gift, which I quite illegally, and quite willingly accepted. Keep it under your hat, willya? Let's move on to the grand prize.

27 At the very back and left-hand corner of my lectern is a small red book. On the cover of the book is a picture of my Mom. She looks like a beautiful movie star from the forties.

28 After my students shared their experiences over the break, I decided to share my favorite.

29 My Mom passed away a few years ago. She was one of the most awesome, inspirational persons in my life. She was well spoken, and quite intelligent, an artist, and a sensational cook. She was a second-generation Italian, and the greatest cook on the planet.

30 I could go on, but that would be bragging.

31 Great Mom, how's that?

32 This Christmas, we were all at Dad's house, which is the house I was raised in. It's old, but the place hasn't changed ever. Same living room. Same kitchen. Same family room, where we open gifts. Same couch. Same Dad. Same family. Same laughs.

33 There is a bit of "sameness" in my life, as you can clearly see. I count that as a major blessing.

34 Anyway, on Christmas we exchanged gifts. My sister Gayle handled shopping for Dad, so we all came away with being massively spoiled, as always.

35 But Gayle pulled a fast one.

36 Mom used to hand-write her recipes on these wonderful recipe cards, in cursive, a vanishing art. Gayle got a hold of her recipe cards and color-scanned all of them, put them in a book, put pictures of all of us in the book, in chronological order, and had the book bound and copied by Shutterfly. The result is the masterpiece that I shared with my students.

37 It is entitled Recipes From Nonie's Kitchen, and it should have won an award for the best present in my entire life.

38 Each page is a masterpiece. You open the book and it cracks slightly, like a children's story book. The binding has this wonderful corrugated resume-fancy paper, and the first page has a charming cartoon picture of a house with a heart floating over the top, and a man and his wife on each side. In the heart it says "Nonie's Kitchen", and below the couple it says, "Made with 100% Love." Here's the picture, although Gayle had the entire thing centered. I'm into the 4:30 so my work isn't nearly as perfect, but you get the idea.

38 My sister inherited my Mom's artistic sensibilities.

39 Unfortunately I didn't, or I would try to get more pictures of this mini-masterpiece to you all.

40 I tried to take a spy picture of my Mom's recipe for Cioppino, but something in the stars would not allow that incredible recipe to see the light of day.

41 In the middle of the book is a page that has a picture of my sister Gayle sitting under the sink, with the door open, and a picture of my sister Linda staring at a birthday cake that my Mom obviously baked. A third picture features me as a little guy sitting in the kitchen watching my Mom cook. We were all little guys back then.

42 It is too much to try to scan all these at this early hour and get them out to you, but I thought I'd just give you a taste of the best present I ever received.

43 The back cover of the book has pictures of my family, best one featuring all of us in the family room ripping open Christmas presents.

44 I tried taking a picture of it, but got too much glare.

45 Ah, it's just as well. Perhaps some day I could put the entire book on the DN for you.

46 Right now I have to think about departing, even though I'm enjoying my own piece here.

47 There is also a quote floating on the back of the book.

48 This is the quote: "No matter where I serve my guests, they seem to like the kitchen best." --Paul McCartney.

49 So true, of every party I've ever been to.

50 What a way to start a new year.

51 May the merry times continue, and may you have an elegant Tuesday.

52 See you again.

53 Peace.

~H~

www.xanga.com/bharrington
It's
2013!!!

The Daily News

1 Like the new look?

2 We're baaaaaaaccccckkkkkk!!!

3 Hope you had a hoot-n-hollerin' vacay. I'm so hip. "Vacay." Yee-uh!!!

4 I realized a coupla things during this stretch.

5 The first thing I realized was my top two favorite products.

6 The first is the invention of Starbuck's. All things Starbuck's are cool with me.

7 The second, if not the first, is the invention of Downey fabric softener.

8 What's better, I ask you?

9 You could suddenly be on one of the hottest dates in the history of man, but no cologne will work better than Downey.

10 So many men in particular are knuckleheads in this regard.

11 Dude.

12 A woman prefers that a man does his own laundry AND freshens it than they prefer all the Axe in the universe.

13 To them, you're just a piece of Axe.

14 <so sorry!> <groan!> Anyone lookin'?

15 Hey, first DN of '13. Get off me.

16 That makes this...(doing the math) the DN's 17th year in operation.

17 <whistle blowers, buzzers and endless root beers>

18 Think you, think you, think you!

19 <anyone comin' at me?>

20 So I go out to the backyard to begin Christmas breakdown, and the next thing I do is slip and crack open my lip.

21 This was two day's ago.

22 Insta elephant man.

23 I had what looked like this HUGE gash on my upper right lip, right on the kisser.

24

25 Okay, okay. Get off me. Gone are the days.

26 Anywho, I kept looking in the mirror thinking, "You UG-ly dawg!"

27 I wasn't THAT bummed out, because life will split your lip now and again. Just does.

28 When you reach my age, you don't need any added help in looking bad.

29 After around thirty, all you want to do is not so much try to look good, but try to avoid looking bad.

30 So here I am, the day before school starts, with a map of Russia hanging off my upper lip.

31 I put some sort of anti-bacterial balm or other on the it, but expected no results.

32 I decided to get out of the house and do a little shopping, or anything, just to see if the citizens would begin screaming, "KILL THE MONSTER!!!"

33 I went to Lowe's, and Helene wanted to look at virtually everything in the joint, and I don't blame her. We remodeled last year, but never really completed the task, so it was like a fun thing to do at the end of the vacay. Vacay, baby.

34 At one point though, we walked down the bathroom mirrors' section. Mirrors surrounded me. Mirrors gave that wound 10X optical zoom. I was mortified. Some store helper who looked like Rod Serling asked me if I was finding everything I needed.

35 I punched him in the face and ran into an aisle that was...a mirror! I crashed through the mirror only to realize I was just in another aisle, that there was no Rod Serling, and that I was just having a moment.

36 I got home, looked in the mirror, and it remained a map of Russia. I swear to you. I put some sort of Neosporin concoction on it and watched a little football.

37 I was really upset, because I knew that tomorrow students would be saying, "Mr. H, what happened to your mouth?"

38 I thought of all sorts of answers.

39 "I fell out of my sleigh."

40 "Get thee to a nunnery."

41 "You oughta see Tyson."

42

43 Okay we'll leave that third one out.

44 At around 3 p.m. yesterday I watched a little football, and accidentally touched the thing.

45 It slipped away. Disappeared at my fingertips. It now looks like I maybe sniffed a rose and it scratched me.

46 The surface of the wound slipped off and went straight into the garbage. I instantly washed <and washed, and washed, and washed!> my face, my clothes, and my entire soul.

47 Washing hands is pretty close to soapy praying. I was elated!

48 AnywayZ...

49 I just looked into another mirror. My face is clean and purty, like always.

50 I still look a little like a kitty scratched me, but it is vastly improved.

51 No stopping these rugged good looks.

52   Moving on, Part the First: So the NHL is back.

53   Think everyone is going to protest?

54    Maybe, but I highly doubt it.

55   San Jose is rejoicing, and I'm glad that a lot of people's jobs are going to be back.

56   And it is a fun sport.

57   But first we have NFL playoffs. I may be going to Saturday's game.

58   And pitchers and catchers report in February.

59   Lots to talk about, but I have to get back to work.

60   Happy 2013. Let's make this year rock!

61   See you again.

62 Peace.

~H~

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Month: January 2013

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