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  • The Daily News

    1   I'm pretty sure Pope Francis will be one of my favorite popes.

    2   Unlike many others, I take Poping quite seriously.

    3   Some people aren't very Popesque. 

    4    I'm interested in a Pope who chose a name that is both a talking donkey AND Sinatra's real name. 

    5   He has chosen the best name ever.

    6   I remember being younger and my friends wondering why we never get more interesting names for Popes.

    7   We had a running gag that there has never been a Pope Gary, for instance.

    8   I mean, the guy has to think about his Pope name. Who gets to do that? We all can change our names, but who HAS to change their name because they got a new job?

    9   If you became Pope, what name would you choose?

    10  And how come in the entire history of Pope-ism have we never had a female Pope?

    11  Imagine.
    12  Pope Susie. Or Pope Sandy. "Look at me I'm Pope Sandy!"

    13  Ain't happenin'.

    14   Pope Francis is probably the closest we'll ever get to a woman's name. 

    15   Why would the guy choose a name like Francis?

    16   I approach this topic as an expert. 

    17   My middle name is Francis. I don't know if I was named after St. Francis of Assisi, my favorite saint, or Frank Sinatra. Or Francis the Talking Mule.

    18   There are rumors that I was named after a guy named Beano, but that's a family secret.

    19  I sure as hell hope not. 

    20  If that were the case, and I somehow became Pope, imagine the outrage if I said, "Boys, I wanna be called Pope Beano."

    21  I was actually named after my father's brother, who died in the war. I wear that handle proudly.

    22  Some drunk relative or other told me the Beano story at some party or other.

    23  That woulda been cool though. I have no idea how a guy gets to be Pope in the first place.

    24  He has to be a follower. 

    25  And he has to like wearing strange garments and ridiculously tall, neck-breaking hats. 

    26   That alone would be enough to drive a guy crazy.

    27   He has to believe that there are creepy guys hanging out in every nook and cranny where he lives. 

    28   He must be unaware that his bank has a history of ridiculous corruption.

    29   Allow me to let this leak out: the Vatican is perhaps the most corrupt entity on the planet. 

    30  I KNOW. I KNOW. I've nothing against Catholics, I do believe in something much bigger, and I respect everyone's religious beliefs. The Vatican, on the other hand, is corrupt beyond anyone's imagination. 

    31   I'm always amazed at people who get all flustered any time I make a bold statement like that. 

    32   Learn to read. You don't have to go very far. Read David Yallop's scary book In God's Name. Just Google it if you are short on time.

    33   It blows the lid off all this tomfoolery. It is an investigative report into the murder of Pope John Paul I, and reveals the entire corrupt boushit that has been the Popecy since the dawn of man. 

    34  Ladies and Gents, the Vatican bank and its entire history is one of massive corruption that has resulted in the killing of lots of people. 

    35  The Vatican helped literally thousands of Nazi's escape persecution. Google Nazi rat line.

    36   It is not a nice place. 

    37   Never mind the mini-scandals we see surrounding this mysterious change of Popes. 

    38   That's just smoke and mirrors. 

    39   The Vatican is a world business. And it is a corrupt world business. A sudden change in Pope's deserves at least one question: Why?

    40   If you don't like that I say that, then stay ignorant. It is a pretty important question.

    41   Most people who read and have any sense of intelligence would know most of this. It was even brought up several times in the Godfather trilogy.

    42   Just Google Yallop's book. It was a blockbuster to me. It is called In God's Name. Or Google these names: Paul Marchinkus. Licio Gelli. Roberto Calvi. The Banco Ambrosiano scandal. Here is a link to Marchinkus that might get you started:


    43   So the smoke-and-mirrors nonsense this past week made me laugh. 

    44   Sinful. The Vatican has a new puppet.

    45   So if I throw a few laughs at all of that silliness and phony baloney stuff, I'm sorry. I can't get past the history of corruption and fascism that has not really even been covered up. It's out there; people just don't want to believe it.  

    46  Just educate yourself. This is not a "conspiracy theory." Look into it. 

    47  It's painful, but it must be exposed. 

    48  It won't. 

    49  When a Pope steps down, or is stepped down might be a better way of putting it, somebody who is replacing him is a puppet who is probably being steered by corrupt financiers who enjoy roomfuls of untaxed  monies.

    50  There is an agenda, especially if it has happened this swiftly.

    51   There is a reason that when John Paul I "passed away" that Marchinkus, the Vatican banker, mysteriously disappeared. 

    52   Bodies started falling off buildings, and guys who committed suicide were found with two bullet holes to the head. Calvi was found hanging from Blackfriar's Bridge in London.

    53   So sorry. 

    54   I'm not buying into any of this stuff. Something fishy is happening as we speak. 

    55   Just educate yourself. I have mentioned in here before that the Papacy is very much like the home of Scrooge McDuck. Somewhere there is a vault where you could go off a diving board and jump into gold. 

    56   There's massive history, and massive evidence. Sorry to burst your bubble. Educate yourself. 

    57   Still friends?

    58   Hitler wasn't nice.

    59   Neither are these guys. They share his values. 
    60   So I'm not celebrating. 

    61   I'm just wondering what just happened. 

    62   As intelligent people, we all should.

    63   Gottago. But take a look. Google P2. It's a doorway. Just don't be ignorant. Read. Be literate. It's all there. 

    64   See you again.

    65   Peace.

    ~H~



    xanga.com/bharrington










  • a a a streetcar 2


     a a a streetcar 3 reality vs illusion

    a a a streetcar 1 vivien leigh as blanche dubois The Daily News

    1   Into the four a.m. watching Streetcar.

    2   Marlon Brando eating chicken and making a pig out of himself.

    3   So Stanislavski.

    4   Great movie.

    5   Moving On, Part One: I love calling movies movies.

    6   Ironically I don't often go to the movies.

    7   No time.

    8   I watch old movies in the middle of the night. I don't usually watch them from beginning to end, because I never know when the dog's cold nose and jingle/jangle awakening will open my eyes.

    9   I often Google the plots.

    10  It ain't quite the same, but I do get to see a lot of pictures.

    11  Pictures.

    12  That's what people in Hollywood call them.

    13   What's great about Streetcar is that very much of the original Broadway cast was retained in the movie.

    14   Man.

    15   These people have issues.

    16   When I went through college majoring in English, I majored in pondering about reality vs. illusion.

    17   Running theme of all the professors at the time.

    18   Running theme of life, I imagine.

    19    Meh.

    20   I just try to stay a length-and-a half ahead of reality.

    21   I embrace illusion.

    22   It's healthier in so many ways.

    23   Moving on, Part the Second: Last week I went out to lunch with my family and ordered an ice cream sundae.

    24   I've been on this health food diet lately, so it was fun breaking away from all of that.

    25   I don't think I've had an ice cream sundae in ten years.

    26   I have this illusion that I'm constantly on a health kick.

    27   I've been obsessed with eating weird stuff like blueberries and kale.

    28   I've a confession to make.

    29   I don't like kale. How politically incorrect is that? It is bitter and interrupts the flavor of my trendy health foods.

    30   All the rest of the trendy health foods I like.

    31   It's difficult to eat well, because first you need vegetables that don't taste like poison. That's almost an impossibility.

    32   I lean towards farmer's markets and Trader Joe's, but I know I'd be better off having organic stuff delivered.

    33   I really wish there was a company that could deliver ice cream sundaes.

    35   Yeesh.

    36   Moving on, Part the Thoid: I wonder if I should make Wednesdays ice cream sundae days.

    37   Brando just shook up a beer and let it fountain over his head.

    38   Quintessential Stanley Kawalski.

    39   He'd do better having some kale and blueberries.

    40   When did it ever come to this?

    41   Moving on, Part Four: Vivien Leigh plays crazy with the best of them.

    42   Brando plays a great healthy slob.

    43   You could smell the beer and garlic coming out of his face.

    44   Vivien Leigh just hopped on one of those old telephone's shaped like a black daffodil.

    45   I wonder what Streetcar would look like with cell phones and computers.

    46   Somewhere in all of this we've lost something.

    47   Maybe I watch these movies so that I could look through a window into the past.

    48   I don't want to live there.

    49   I do enjoy watching it though. I'm an old fool looking through a window into the past. It's an strange image. It is a reality.

    50   Moving on, Part Five: I heard a radio show talking about how every television show, movie, and anything else is flying through outer space. I used to think about that when I was a kid.

    51   I used to goof on how the light from the different stars is showing us different times. The light from each star is reaching us at historically different moments. Likewise all the light coming off the Earth is flying through space; each moment racing to infinity.

    52   Somewhere in the far reaches of the universe, some space alien is probably watching old I Love Lucy's.

    53   Somewhere even further, some culture might be watching Streetcar, and Blanche DuBois. Somewhere in vast space someone must have technology better than ours.

    54   Somewhere.

    55    Time to leave.

    56   See you again.

    57   Peace.

    ~H~


     

    www.xanga.com/bharrington

  •  
     
    The Daily News

    1   "Hey stupid! This thing ain't gonna write itself."

    2    My own mind hollered at me while I was dreaming into the three a.m.

    3   "Hydrate."

    4   That's the first thing I do. I drink around a quart of Crystal Light, let the dog out, and sit down to write this balderdash.

    5   The process of writing the DN is interesting.
    6    I first hydrate. I've been on a health kick lately, so salad with lots of veggies and vitamins, and then early to bed.

    7    Something always occurs to me right in the middle of dreaming, and by the time I awaken, this stupid thing is already written.

    8   <basketball buzzer>  No, it isn't.

    9   I then go to my laptop hoping it will fire up.

    10   It often doesn't. I use wet matches, flicking lighters, flint and steel, and kicks in the pants before it finally decides to turn on.

    11   When did it ever come to this?

    12   I go to my  age old-AOL account to see if I have any emails. I have about thirteen bazillion, all from people trying to sell stuff to old people. 

    13   I spend the first ten minutes of each morning deleting.

    14   I also look for top stories, like what dress Tori Amos is wearing, or how North Korea almost obliterated us yesterday. 

    15  Or how the Niners acquired some guy whose parents named him Anquan. 

    16  I almost named Nicole that, but thought better of it. 

    17  Once I realize I've wasted half my morning looking at fake news, I go on Facebook. I go on Facebook mainly to see if there are any pictures of me doing a cannonball into a swimming pool. I have a hair-trigger delete button on my puter.

    18   I have to be vigilant about that, because even the thought...yeesh. 

    19   I must needs obliterate any picture of myself, for the most part. I am convinced that every picture I take captures me in transition from human being to horse. 

    20   I then think of topics.

    21    Writing the DN is a continual race against time. I have the middle of the night to produce these mad ramblings, and then I need to get back under the covers for a final hour of sleep. 

    22   In between I must think of things. I try during the day, but I'm usually too exhausted to come up with anything worth a darn.

    23   Because this goes through Xanga, I get this message each morning:

    24   "You have no friends."

    25  


    26    I always laugh. I don't work this thing as a "blog" with all it's links and stuff. 

    27    I just write it, send it out, and have no idea who the heck reads it. 

    28   If I have no friends, so be it. There's this little area that says "Friends." Each morning it says, "You have no friends." It always gives me a chuckle.

    29   For the record,I don't feel lonely at all. 

    30   That always make me laugh.

    31   "You have no friends."

    32    Poor little guy.

    33   I do have readers. 

    34   That much I know.

    35   I am so gangsta.

    36   I'm a O.G.

    37   Original Gangsta.

    38   I even bought an Original Gangsta hat yesterday.

    39   I got home and it was too small for my Original Gangsta head.

    40   It reminded me of my daughters' story about when they danced at some school recital wearing tiny cowboy hats. 

    41   I have to return it. Nice hat. Too small for my noggin. 

    42   Today I'll replace it with an O.G. hat that fits. I'll angle it just so.

    43   Moving on, Part One: TCM is flickering a special about Greer Garson. Keith Carradine narrated the following:

    44   She was a blazing inferno. 

    45   She was just plain sexy.

    46   Nothing short of magical.

    47   Those are the words of Keith Carradine. 

    48   He always struck me as a tad creepy.

    49   That is why I didn't put a picture of him.

    50   Small children might look at this and be scarred for life. 

    51   Greer Garson, on the other hand, was beautiful, at least from the right side. It is difficult to see her left cheek in any pictures. She must have had pimples or a rash or something on her left cheek, because all her pictures face the same way. 

    52   Moving on, Part Two: "STOP! NOBODY CARES ABOUT GREER GARSON'S CHEEKS!"

    53   We have awakened my frabjously idiotic mind once more. 

    54   It is usually true. I couldn't care less about Greer Garson's cheeks. 

    55   I believe it's time to put this baby to bed.

    56   I can't get more sleep today because there's a Greer Garson flickering at me. 

    57   Meanwhile, this thing isn't going to write itself. 

    58   Moving on, Part the Thoid: If you wait a half hour past sunset tonight, and if you look to the West, you should see a comet. That's the best thing I could share on this lonely Tuesday. 

    59   Look to the skies. 

    60   "Cheeky." ---Paul McCartney, A Hard Day's Night.

    61   See you again. 

    62   Peace.

    ~H~


    www.xanga.com/bharrington









  •  

    English Rocks.

     

    The Daily News

    1   My first encounter with Pinterest. Corny English jokes.

    2   All corny English jokes are courtesy of my beautiful daughter Caitlin.

    3   Ya gotta love it. English rocks and Stonehenge are my own. Used 'em before.

    4   Whoops. Dog's awake.

    5   You see, I'm into either the one a.m. or the two a.m.

    6   Daylight Saving Time.

    7   The last thing an insomniac needs is DST.

    8   The very last thing a dog needs is DST.

    9   The last thing I need is DST.

    10  Don't get me wrong. 

    11  Once it's in place I like it. 

    12  It's just the initial adjustment causes a lunatic insomniac like me even more lunacy.

    13  As usual, there is a coincidence attached to this morning's revels.

    14  TCM is playing Howard Hawks' The Big Sleep.

    15  Sometimes the planet turns in strange directions.

    16  AnywayZ

    17  Happy Daylight Saving time.

    18   What do ya want me to do, count three like they do in the movies?--Philip Marlowe, any time someone has drawn a gun. 

    19   What a movie. In the movie, there are two different times a gun is drawn. Each time, that line is pointed, and it somehow works. 

    20  I swear that movie is all about Bogart and Bacall.

    21  It just ended and after having watched it at least nineteen times in my life, if you put a gun to my head I couldn't tell you the plot.

    22  You'd have to count to much more than three.

    23   Moving on, Part One: I am thoroughly convinced that I am now well into the two a.m. DST. It messes with you, that's for sure.

    24   The dog got confused and went back to sleep.

    25   Whew.

    26   At least that part is over. 

    27   Daylight Saving Time.

    28   Yeesh.

    29   Moving on, Part Two: There is some boushit short on right now about the discovery of America, and of immigration. Evidently only Europeans immigrated to America. I never knew that. They all came from England, Scotland, Germany, Sweden, etc. I always thought that most immigrants came from Mexico, Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iran, etc. How'd I get that one wrong?

    30   Walking directly toward the camera just now were two oxen in a yoke.

    31   "Yoke" was one of my vocabulary words the week before last.

    32   I even put an illustration of oxen in a yoke on my English 2A list.

    33   I told my students that should the yoke ever crack, it would be a bad yoke.

    34   My students started throwing fruit at me. 

    35   Can't blame them. 

    36   In yet another coincidence in a year of incredible coincidences, the bit at the top of this piece about Why English is Hard to Learn has oxen in the second sentence. Thanks for that piece, K.T.

    37   Moving on, Part the Thoid: On Friday, three or four other teachers came into my classroom after school, just one of those water-cooler meetings one has with colleagues at work. The topic of meetings came up, a recurring DN theme.

    38   I brought up that English meetings are usually the worst because English teachers majored in pondering. Want to hear a yoke?

    39  How many English majors does it take to screw in a light bulb?

    40  Does it have to be a light bulb?

    41  Or

    42  English majors don't screw in light bulbs. That's the problem.

    43  M' bad.

    44  Anybody looking?

    45  I can say all this because I'm an English major. 

    46  It is now into the three a.m. I'm quite certain of it. 

    47  In just a bit the sun will be up, and I will need to go outside and milk the oxes.

    48  Oxen. Pardonne-moi. Did I spell that right?

    49  People are going to read this and storm my home with torches and loud shouts, especially French people.

    50  I think I'd better quit while the quittin's good. 

    51  It's Monday.

    52  Fly low. 

    53  See you again.

    54  Anybody looking?

    55  Peace.

    ~H~

    www.xanga.com/bharrington








  •  
    The Daily News
    1   Anybody looking?

    2   <yeesh>

    3   Coffee's perking.

    4   Slept in.

    5   Liking myself because of it.

    6   Writing fragments. Stonehenge. English rocks.

    7   Left eye just about open.

    8   <struggle sounds>

    9   There.

    10  Moving on, Part the First: I'm up. 

    11  I can't wait to see what putting on my socks is going to do to me this morning. Always a horrific moment.

    12  You shouldn't stay up late. It's idiotic.

    13  What a lot of people don't know is that I'm pretty much a creature of habit. I'm an early-to-bed guy. I don't do late.

    14  I'm very secure living like that. 

    15   I don't like change too much.

    16   Don't get me wrong. I do like natural change that occurs as we roll along.

    17   I don't like change that attacks and bites like a mad dog.

    18   I do like routine, as boring as that might sound.

    19   I like stability. It is a part of who I am, which only I care about. Nobody else gives a darn. Don't blame 'em. 

    20   I don't search for chaos. I like stability.

    21   I think it keeps people around me stable. 

    22   Moving on, Part the Second: Anybody looking?

    23   The DN has gotten popular, at least by its own standards.

    24   I have no idea why, but it has always had a stable amount of views, and they have tripled in the past month. 

    25   It's strange.

    26   They give me this little "views this week" chart that I glance at every now and again. It is usually consistent and stable. 

    27   This week it tripled. 

    28    How? Yesterday it hit an all-time high, which isn't much, but it tripled. No explanation.

    29    Day-um.

    30    Must be my rugged good looks and ability to throw the kitchen sink at life.

    31    

     

    32   Uh, yeah.

    33   Didn't think you'd buy that.

    34   Must be the horse gave it away.

    35   Who knows?

    36    Back to fragments, and depending on pictures of goofy guys in cars whose wheels have flown off. Maybe that's it. America loves stuff like that.

    37    Cheap gimmicks and flashy pics.

    38    I have finally tapped into American entertainment.

    39    <dancing an Irish jig in his pajamas>

    40   Anybody looking?

    41   The image, the image! It shall burn green in your mind for eternity.

    42    Moving on, Part the Thoid:  A group did a skit yesterday, and the skit had a leprechaun in it. 

    43   Cute skit. Cute leprechaun.

    44   It contained rainbows, giants, fairies and unicorns. 

    45   The rainbow was a girl dressed in red and white with a paper rainbow taped to her shirt, and with about twenty or so bags of skittles taped to her arms. 

    46   I had noticed this group the other day when I glanced over and this other girl had a neon unicorn horn on her head, complete with flowers and rainbows. I couldn't tell how it was attached, but it was fun to look up and see that.

    47   It stayed perfectly on her forehead for around fifteen minutes. Sidebar: some guy on the radio just sang "Over the Rainbow." Just now. The name of the skit I'm writing about was called "Over the Rainbow."  I don't make this stuff up. I swear to you. They're still talking about it. 

    48   Right Back to It: During the actual skit yesterday the unicorn's horn kept falling off. She never let it bother her, and continued the scene knowing her lines and staying in character. 

    49   Great laughs, and a fun time. Sidebar the Second: The radio just talked about Alice in Wonderland. She has been appearing in a few DN's lately, and adorns the top of this page. Just now. I'm going to call a priest, I swear. 

    50   Right Back to It: At the end of the day I saw a small piece of tape with the word "leprechaun" on it. It was lying on the floor. Leprechaun.

    51   It was spelled correctly.

    52   I have to guess that only two to three people on the entire planet could spell "leprechaun" correctly if you asked them. I'm one of them. That leprechaun is the second. She wrote the skit. Leprechaun is a spelling demon. 

    53  Most people I know have trouble spelling "restaurant."

    54  When I was young, I decided early that I would master both those words, just to impress other people later in life. 

    55  Over the years it has become one of my favorite hat tricks. 

    56  When you major in English, this kind of thing amuses you. It's sort of like those guys you run across every now and then who pull a pack of cards out of their pocket and say, "Pick a card." They always do something like say, "Put it back." And then you do. And then they say, "Go over to that trash can and look inside." 

    57   And you know darned well it's going to be in a Solo cup in the trash or something. 

    58   You wander over, look in, and see a Solo cup with the Jack-of-Spades in it, or whatevs. 

    59   And the guy gives you a wry smile and a sly wink. 

    60   I usually say, "Yeah? Spell 'leprechaun,' bitch! "

    61   Nah. I don't say bad words. You know that. I am of high moral stature.

    62   Anybody looking?

    63   Time to bounce. I hope some hot oatmeal went through your nose this day.

    64   Have a GREAT weekend.

    65   See you again.

    66   Peace.

    ~H~


    www.xanga.com/bharrington











  •  
    The Daily News
    1  Do you ever get mad at your dog for doing normal dog things?

    2  Yesterday afternoon, I came home from school and let Feebz out.

    3   She instantly did what she needed to do, and then started rooting in the grass.

    4   She sneezed.
    5   And then she sneezed again.

    6    When I was younger, I would yell at her, shouting things like, "Stop doing that! Whataya nuts???"

    7   She looked at my like I was nuts. I've mellowed with age.

    8   Dogs.

    9   I swear to you.

    10  Moving on, Part the First: Yesterday was another fun day. It began with the students putting vocab sentences on the board. We had some wonderful sentences because the words were from Shakespeare. 

    11   We had peradventure one of the nicest days of he year. Peradventure means "perhaps." I say we bring it back.
    12   I began each period as yesterday I said I would by playing David Crosby's rare gem Music is Love. 

    13   In my last class, a student pointed his finger at me as if to say, "Whoah! I KNOW that tune!" I was amazed.

    14   Other songs I played throughout the day changed with the wind. The students worked on scenes; I corrected papers, walked around, and enjoyed the day immensely.

    15   Background music during the workshops included I See the Light from Tangled, a song my sister sang at my daughter Caitlin's wedding reception, A Whole New World from Aladdin; Beauty and the Beast, Part of Your World, and several other Disney tunes. For no reason, I threw The Beatles' obscure Ask Me Why into the mix. Maybe it was because of the "you-oooh-woo-woo-woo" line. I dunno. It was followed immediately by the world recording of All You Need is Love. I also brought in the Temptations My Girl and Just My Imagination (a song that would have worked perfectly for Romeo and his idiotic crush on Rosaline), Marvin Gaye's Let's Get It On (student request), George Michael's Careless Whisper, prompting one student to stand up and play air sax, and I finished off with Otis Redding's Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa (Sad Song), Try a Little Tenderness (live), and the immortal local tribute Sitting on the Dock of the Bay.

    16   I was not only a teacher, but a DJ for the day, kickin' it Old Skool.

    17   I asked a student if I could say things like "kickin' it Old Skool" and he said, "You could, and you could laugh with us. But we wouldn't be laughing with you; we'd be laughing at you."

    18   I smiled a Joe-the-Bear smile. 

    19   Guy's right. He smiled too.

    20   I ended the entire day with Total Eclipse of the Heart by One Direction, their performance on the X-Factor.

    21   The kids swooned to an old tune by a new band.

    22   Rare day indeed.

    23   I'm feeling a bit woozy today, stuffy nose and stuff, nothing huge, but I'm going to take a rare day off while the students rehearse before a sub. They were all doing pretty well yesterday, making unicorn horns, rivers, arrows, and streets out of construction paper, laughing, and enjoying the wonderful world of skits and drama, and dancing and singing to wonderful old songs. 

    24   I think they're in good hands.

    25   Moving On, Part the Second: I dozed off a bit right after I wrote that last part, and was quickly awakened by Phoebe's cold nose. She wanted to go outside and root in the grass. I opened the door. It was raining.

    26   She sheepishly came back in and tacked her feet back to bed.

    27   I'm up.

    28   Moving on, Part the Thoid: Having a nice cuppa and watching another old TCM film called Angels Wash Their Faces starring Ronald Reagan, Ann Sheridan and the Dead End Kids. Great wiseguy stuff. A kid gets framed for burning down a building. Because of political crookedness, a bunch of rich crooks buy the trial. 

    29   The kid goes to jail while the perpetrators walk. 

    30   A great plot twist is that a bunch of kids get to be mayors, city councilpersons, and people in power for a civic awareness week arranged by their school. 

    31   They send the real fire crooks to jail, but they aren't in for thirty seconds when they are released due to corruption. 

    32   They can't be arrested on those charges anymore, so they appear to be freebirds.

    33    Right when everything looks hopeless, a girl rushes in and announces that the two crooks have broken two old laws still on the books: one law is that it is illegal to spit on the sidewalk, and the other is that it is illegal to bowl on Sundays. 

    34    With the help of Ronald Reagan, they find that the punishment for these crimes is public humiliation. The kids have the two crooks put in pillories.


    35   Hilarious stuff. The kid eventually gets freed, and the crooks put behind bars.

    36   Great way to start the day!

    37   Moving on, Part Three: Not much on the books today.

    38   I'm gonna rest a little so that I don't get sick.

    39   I hope you think about some of those awesome songs today.

    40   When I got home yesterday I wanted to hook up my guitar and mic and play the heck out of them. When I got home, Phoebe wanted to go outside and root around, began sneezing, and quite soon, the idea of playing some live music disappeared, papers stared at me, and dinner waited to be cooked. 

    41   Sometimes it just happens that way.

    42   Maybe later today.

    43   Who knows?

    44   Anyway, I think I'll tuck this put this DN to bed, and maybe even close my eyes for a piece before jumping into today.

    45   If I don't get awakened by a cold nose, I just might have a good day.

    46   You have a good day too.

    47   See you again.

    48   Peace.

    ~H~


    www.xanga.com/bharrington






  •  


    The Daily News
    1   So...my sniffles walked into a bar...

    2   They sometimes do that.

    3    It is amazing at how out of whack we become after a day off from work.

    4    Here's a secret.

    5     I do not like being absent from my students, even for a day.

    6     I must confess that I worried about taking time off to stay healthy for the huge storm that approaches.
    7    It is a marathon, not a sprint.

    8    When you teach, you are all about your students.

    9   Oh, there were other things.

    10  But staying healthy and strong at this point in the year becomes essential.

    11  As a result, I'm back to work in a day.

    12  I think.

    13   Moving on, Part the First: I think.

    14   I was going to say something right after "I think."

    15   I forgot what it was.

    16   I then looked back, and realized I had already said plenty in two words.

    17   That's probably what gave me the sniffles to begin with. I think. Sometimes I think too much. 

    18   I'm feeling much better now.

    19   Moving on, Part the Second: The other day I was going through some tremendously serious stresses when a friend of mine came up to me and asked me how I was doing.

    20   I turned my head, looked at her, and said, "I'm a fighter. When life throws stuff at me, I strengthen; I walk tall, and I bash it in the face. Throw it at me and I will wrestle it to the floor and win. While everyone else weakens, I refuse. I want to light up the end of this school year; I want to face every challenge and come out on top every time!"

    21   She looked up at me with a huge smile, because most teachers at this point in the year have trouble opening their left eyes in the morning. When it's on, it can really become overwhelming sometimes. You work all day and all of the night when it's on. 

    22  No lie.

    23   It's like being perpetually in grad school, or like being a cop or a doctor.

    24   You can't teach and leave it on the field at the end of the day. There are physical deadlines you have to meet. You have to know what is happening with each student, and you can have well over 150 students. 
    25   My friend has been working on the committee preparing a visit from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, the people who put an accreditation stamp on our school.

    26   You know how meat companies have to have people come in and put a stamp of approval on meat?

    27   These guys do this for schools. They walk through watching everything we do, looking at data. writing notes, and finally, they give us a report telling us how many years of accreditation we receive.

    28   It stresses the entire staff out, because we want six years. The best we have ever done is three, even though we have the highest test scores in the district. 

    29   It is crunch time, because they are coming through next week. They will ask some of us questions about abstract things that are nearly incomprehensible. 

    30   People are stressed beyond belief. On top of everything else we need to do, we have to go to meetings and read massive amounts of things that are ridiculously convoluted, and that add hours of stress and nervousness.

    31   So when she saw me being positive and strong, she broke into an enormous smile.

    32  As I walked away, I turned and saw her smile.

    33   I then gave a parting shot: "Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have a complete and total nervous collapse right now." She broke into laughter.

    34   I smiled. 

    35   I smiled and walked off knowing that she thought I was kidding.

    36   Good.

    37   That's probably as it should be. 

    38    A large part of it was true though. Seriously. 

    39   Moving on, Part the Thoid: Hey, in 2013, just getting up and walking around is stressful for most of us. 

    40   In my lifetime I've never been through a stranger or more stressful set of years. 

    41   I tend to think of myself as that strong person. I have always needed to be a rock for people. 

    42   And yet I sense the stress everyone seems to be going through.

    43   It's funny because when I said those words, I was trying to be facetious, yet when I walked away, I felt stronger just by hearing my own words. 

    44   It was all sort of odd. 

    45   You are what you pretend to be, I imagine.

    46   Moving on, Part Four: You are what you pretend to be is a paraphrase of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. As I recall, it has a corollary that goes something like this: "So be very careful about what you pretend to be."

    47   Oh, I imagine.

    48   He wrote those exact words and used them all the time.

    49   Oh, I imagine.

    50   I understand those words much more now, and I understood them pretty well when I was a younger lad. 

    51   Maybe I am that strong. 

    52    If I pretend to be strong, and to be an inspiration and a rock in times like these, then am I strong, inspirational, and rocky?

    53   Oh, I imagine.

    54   <lion yawn>

    55   Good times, good times.

    56   I think I'll put today's DN to bed. I hope it made someone out there strong, inspirational, and rocky.

    57   Live life.

    58   Love life.

    59   Stay strong.


    60    Peace.

    ~H~


    www.xanga.com/bharrington



  •  
     
     

    The Daily News
    1   Some fun.

    2   My classes are working on skits. I get to do a mini-drama unit every spring, and each year I forget how fun it gets. 

    3   We're also well into both Romeo and Juliet AND Much Ado.

    4   It is difficult to believe that my freshmen by and large know nothing about Romeo and Juliet. 

    5   As we get older, it seems that everybody walking around knows the plot of Romeo and Juliet. 

    6   As I gave them a vocab lesson on the words in the play, I also told them the story that contains the words. I looked out, and saw them riveted by the story. 

    7  They were all ears and braces. 

    8   Their skits are due on Wednesday, so after a brief lecture and some desk work, I turned them over to art supplies, group work, and fun music. 

    9    I watched and listened to them workshop scenes. Many already had scripts written. They were pretty excited. Lots of fun collaboration.

    10   My job became providing background music as they created. 

    11   I began with a rare jewel of a song: You and Me and Rain on the Roof by the inimitable Lovin' Spoonful. Lovely little song on a cloudy day. 

    12   I kept the volume a little low. In a way it was my own sound show to the day. I graded papers, answered questions, walked around listening to the different ideas, and enjoyed a rather relaxing Monday that was filled with laughter and great music. 

    13   I played Daydream, just for good measure.

    14    Fine old tunes. The students didn't know if they were old tunes or young tunes. 

    15    I didn't know if I was old or young. 

    16   Sometimes it all blends. The setting worked. A love of drama, and a workshop of skits. A lot of music. Good mix.

    17    I thought that I'd bring the music up to the twenty-first century, but what turned the corner was Michael Buble's cover of a fine old song called Put Your Head on My Shoulder.

    18   In an instant, one student pulled away from his group and ran to my desk.

    19   "Is that Paul Anka?" he asked. 

    20   I smiled big. "Michael Buble, but good guess!"

    21   He smiled big and ran back to his group. 

    22   They kept working and enjoying the day. Why do Mondays have to drag? We had absolute fun the entire day.

    23   Each period I played the same tunes. 

    24   Toward the end of the period I began bringing the music a little louder, deliberately causing a bit of chaos and excitement. I put on Buble's Haven't Met You Yet and a bunch of students knew the tune. Nearly every period I would hear one kid or another shout, "I LOVE this song!"

    25  I finished the period off with Home, commenting in my morning class, "This is a perfect Monday song." A few chuckles.

    26   Because it was overcast, I was able to keep my curtains open and use some daylight as my lights for a few periods, making everything more pleasant. My windows look out on the lush East Hills of San Jose. During my second class, I randomly put on the Beatles I Will, another jewel of a song. One girl lit up, saying, "My gramma used to play this for me." I used to sing it to Caitlin. This was the first Beatles' song I ever played for my EV classes.Timeless. 

    27    Really fun day, and it should remain a pretty fun week full of music, laughter, and skits. 

    28   I work these guys hard during the first part of the year. We have fun, but a lot of it is all business. I teach them to write using the rules of grammar. You don't say, "I seen this dude..." in my class, for instance. They realize I am serious about speaking correctly. I realize they are serious about speaking correctly as well. It is truly a two-way street.

    29   It is pretty difficult work. They must learn a bazillion rules of the language. I sometimes tell them that even a baseball player has to know the rule book. 

    30   Somebody needs to answer why the English language rule books have disappeared from our schools, and have been replaced with cheap substitutes. 

    31   During November and December they wanted to die. I pushed grammar and conciseness like a huge broom. 

    32   I confessed to constructing lousy analogies too, making me turn human. 

    33   Beginning on Valentine's Day, I turn it all around. The theme becomes love, and I introduce them to Shakespeare on Valentine's Day. I teach seasonally.

    34   And then I begin my drama unit. 

    35   It is so full of enrichment, fun and music that I look WAY forward to going in each day. 

    36   Today they will put vocab sentences on the board, probably to Jack Johnson tunes from Curious George. That album tends to be the anthem album for my classroom. Upside Down in particular rocks each class. 

    37   Today when they workshop I think I'll begin with David Crosby's rare gem Music is Love. 

    38  Then go Motown. 

    39   Kickin' it Old Skool.

    40   Music.

    41   Love.

    42   Skits and fun.

    43    Smiles. Cuteness. Ears and braces. Intelligence.

    44   And we still have to move through the Shakespearean plays, and THEN we have to move through poetry before they get bombarded by state testing. 

    45   And visits by the WPC.

    46   White People with Clipboards.

    47   In the midst of really reaching kids, we always have people out of the classroom coming in and making sure that everything is copacetic.

    48   That's a Robert Hunter/Jerry Garcia word. 

    49   God I'm old. 

    50   And wise.

    51   The two really do dance fancifully. 

    52   I planned all of this carefully, and it works. When students climb all over each other with ideas, when students share ideas enthusiastically, when I hear laughter and comfort flowing through my room, I know that something is happening. 

    53   And I smile big.

    54   Gottago. 

    55   Live life.

    56   Love life.

    57   Peace.

    ~H~


    www.xanga.com/bharrington










  • The Daily News
    1   I love my job.

    2   As exhausting as this week was, it was just fun and soulful.

    3   Occupational hazard.

    4   I'm into the three a.m. and Chaplin's The Circus is flickering back at me.

    5   Appropriate.

    6   I spent the entire week as a drama teacher once again.

    7   I came to one conclusion.

    8   I don't think I would want to go into it again.

    9   The workshops were pretty fun this week.

    10   I'm pretty sure my students enjoyed the workshops as well. Let's face it: they beat gerunds and infinitives all to heck.

    11   Just to clarify, when one teaches English, one eventually teaches Shakespeare, poetry, and drama.

    12   I almost wrote "dreama."

    13   Twice.

    14   Had it happened once I'd have ignored it. 

    15   If it's in the three a.m. however, one must take these sorts of things somewhat seriously, in a pseudo-Freudian way, quite naturally.

    16   AnywayZ...I guess I am sort of a dreama, but a beautiful one. <feel free to groan if you got that one.>

    17   Moving Rather Speedily on, Part One: I brought in the VHS of my Godspell and used it to teach nearly everything this week.

    18   It drew the students in.

    19   I let them get into groups to work on their own skits, but left Godspell playing in the background, all day. 

    20   Anyone who knows me knows I don't tend to visit the past too much.

    21   Dangerous place. 

    22   So is the present.

    23   The Godspell VHS that I showed was closing night.

    24    Those who were there will probably never forget it.

    25    That little show became dramatically emotional that night.

    26    It holds up well, let me tell you. Amazing show.

    27   What's funny is that when I turned on the television last night, in the three a.m. the first words I heard were "Day by day..."

    28   My left eye hadn't even opened yet. 

    29   I guess that was just a coincidence.

    30   Long live God.

    31   Moving on, Part the Second: Sometimes you have to move on. The Chaplin film is still flickering here in the three a.m. The heater just went on. Things are cozy and warm.

    32    Chaplin is suddenly Professor Bosco, Magician. He has doves and geese flitting around him at the circus.

    33    Enter the girl, Merna Kennedy.

    34    Really odd film. Chaplin was going through all sorts of life crises at the time. 

    35    The film went on to make a ton of money.

    36    It is really a strange piece of work. 

    37    A scene with a lion.

    38    Chaplin climbing a pole to escape the lion, and then doing a bit of ballet when Kennedy shows up.

    39   Flirtation in the hay. A kitten scares both of them. 

    40   Despite it's weirdness, this film suddenly turns sweet. Chaplin's boss comes up, interrupts the romantic scene, and tells Chaplin to get to work. Chaplin walks a practice tightrope. His shows are on the wrong feet. The guy is amazing.

    41   We are reporting this live. 

    42   It just said The Next Show.

    43   I imagine. 

    44   Moving on, Part the Thoid: Why did the teevee say "day by day" to me?

    45   Why is there a Chaplin film playing?

    46   I will make meek adjustments and write all of it off as the beginning of my Friday.

    47   The past is calling. I wrote that last night. I heard on the radio this morning that it is Roger Daltrey's birthday today.

    48   It's all pretty scary. Back to the film. Really weird clowns just entered the picture. 

    49   Fortunately, Chaplin and Kennedy keep everything classy and cool. 

    50   With that, I feel safe and snug climbing back under the covers. 

    51    I'm comforted. 

    52    It has all been some sort of distorted dream. 

    53    I can live with that. 

    54    The Act Over. 

    55    That just flashed on the screen. 

    56    Thank goodness. 

    57   I'll take that as a welcome end to an exhausting, but interesting week. 

    58   See you again.

    59   Peace. 

    ~H~

     

    www.xanga.com/bharrington







  • COME SING ABOUT LOVE!!!

    a a a Giants 9 The Kid a a a Strong Bad 1 I Use Technology a a a sanfranpsycho 2 nostradamus a a a avengers 1 two of 'em a a a avengers 2 all of 'em a a a avengers 3 concept art  a a a King Kong 1 Fay Wray a a a King Kong 2 Empire State Building attack a a a King Kong 3 Fay Wray a a a Baby Peggy in Captain January a a a avengers 1 two of 'em 001 (2) a a a starbucks 2 downey radiance collection a a a starbucks 1 a a a stonehenge a a a music 10 Music is Love Dajana Whoevuhz

    a a a dn 1 a a a Alice 2 Alice a a a Alice 1 Cheshire cat a a a liza 1 mein herr a a a robin 2 springtime 105

    The Daily News

    1   I don't know about any of you, but I managed to dodge the Wednesday bullet!

    2   Yee-HEEEEEEEE!

    3   Wednesdays we have meetings.

    4   As most of you know, I LOVE meetings.

    5   Except when I have to go to them.

    6   Meh.

    7   I am going to risk all sorts of things by saying this: most meetings are a complete and total waste of time.

    8    For the record, this one wasn't.

    9    I became engaged in all sorts of multi-colored papers telling me what I should be doing in order to improve education/

    10   Normally, I hate meetings, but this one: omg.

    11   Wah-la.

    12   We teachers should always soldier to the findings of people who either have been out of the classroom for years, or who have simply never taught.

    13   As most of you know, I'm all ears when it comes to amateurs telling teachers how to teach. Like most of you, I am happy to have people who have no idea about my work tell me how to do my work. I think it's a grand idea. Let us expand:

    14   Maybe we should have the citizens tell the cops how to police. Personally, as a citizen, I think police should put their guns down and try to communicate, using zen, chi, and mysticism. Maybe we should have moviegoers tell film directors how to direct.

    15   Or maybe we should have the families of doctors tell doctors how to doct.

    16   What a story!

    17   Yeesh.

    18    So yes, it was quite a good time having a fifteen or sixteen-page document outlining things that we have to do, written by people who have either been out of the classroom for years, or by parents who have never taught, or by teachers who might have remained silent because other voices intimidated. The result: this fifteen or sixteen-page document outlining things we have to do. A camel is indeed a horse created by a committee. Living proof.

    19   There were some amazing things they asked us to do, like magically make test scores for low achievers improve ten per cent.

    20   I'll try that. How did I never think of that? So simple! Why not shoot for a hundred per cent, by next year?

    21   The entire state of California's teachers have been unable to do that for a bazillion years, but I can imagine we could achieve that goal. I just need to envision it.

    22   So I'm excited, just for the record.

    23   I can't wait to see how our school can improve things that much by next year.

    24   I'm proud to be a part of that process.

    25   Moving on, Part the First: On a better note, yesterday I did a few things that were fun. As always, I had my students write vocabulary sentences, and the had the groups write the sentences on the board.

    26   As always, when they approached the board, I played some songs from Curious George. Jack Johnson's wonderful Upside Down has become the anthem of my classroom. They always enjoy this, and I always enjoy going through this vocab ritual.

    27   I was excited to get that done. Earlier in the morning I stumbled upon a dusty VHS of Godspell, arguably the best show I ever directed. When I first arrived at YB, I did musical direction for that wonderful show, but I never directed it. When we finally got Ponch and Shawna, I decided to go in. The result was one of the most charming shows we ever did. And yesterday morning I found the VHS, which had disappeared for a few years. I was pretty happy.

    28   I got to school early in order to set up the video.

    29   After the vocab sentences, the students were ready for more drama lessons.

    30   I put on Godspell. I told them about how Godspell is a series of creative skits telling the Gospel story according to St. Matthew. I told them how when my cast did the song Save the People, they went into the audience and painted the faces of all the kids. It was adorable! The cast dazzled those kids.

    .31   I told my students about how Godspell used what I used to call Uncle Sluggo's, skits in which a narrator would begin narrating, and the people in each skit would act out the narration. Here is basically what I said:

    32   "For example, if the narrator says, 'Once upon a time, in a  beautiful forest , the sun came up faster than usual.' " I then said, "A performer could suddenly pop up from behind a chair, spread his or her arms, and break into a huge smile. They would be the sun!"

    33   They loved it. Continuing.

    34    "The narrator could then say, 'That same day, a beautiful young girl named Little Red Riding Hood skipped through the forest and looked up at the early sun.'

    35    <girl comes out skipping wearing a red hooded sweater> Back to the narrator:

    36   "She looked up at the sun and said, 'Oh, what an early sun! I think I'll get some goodies together in a basket and go visit Grandma!' "

    37     The key to an Uncle Sluggo is that once the narrator says, "She looked up at the sun and said..." that the narrator stops, and it is Little Red Riding Hood who says, "Oh, what an early sun..."

    38    The skit could then continue. Performers could become the sun. They could become cathedrals, trees, or even jails. Godspell showed my students that sort of outside-the-box creativity.

    39   So I showed them bits and pieces of Godspell.

    40    I showed them songs. I showed them Gabe and Jeremy, and Raul, and all the rest of that magical cast.

    41    I don't know if they were as dazzled as was I, but it was pretty fun watching that small miracle playing in the background of my lessons all day. 

    42   The copy was pretty good, and I put the sound through my Altecs. We used microphones beautifully in that show. Considering it was a VHS, the sound quality was relatively good

    43   I really wanted the students to understand that imagination and creativity are paramount to critical thinking. 

    44   When Rhonda sang Day by Day, the classroom fell silent. The connection was Stephen Schwartz, who did the music and lyrics to Wicked. The lighting swirled and twirled, the tree silhouetted, and the cast loved.

    45  Yesterday the past and the present connected.

    46   I fully intend to bring more Godspell into these lessons, because we are well into a drama unit. 

    47   I don't need a fifteen or sixteen-page document outlining things that we have to do.

    48    I have the past. I have former students teaching present students through singing, dancing, acting, and being soulful and being filled with love.

    49   Godspell traveled through the years of the Drama Workshop, and still rains its magic over all of us. When Jennifer and the cast made it rain by snapping fingers, pattering knees, and stomping floors, a rain storm happened. 

    50   Come sing about love.

    51   I can't wait to get to school today. As always, I am well into the four a.m. and will now go back under the covers. I may show On the Willows, We Beseech Thee, and the Finale.

    52   When I awaken, I'll edit this stuff, and then go in. 

    53   I may even let you know when I awaken.

    54   Have a GREAT day. I know I'm going to. I'm awake. See you again.

    55   Peace.

    ~H~

    a a a cool guy 1

    www.xanga.com/bharrington





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