With temps pushing (passing?) 90 this week, my headline question is not entirely unironic. I mean really, is this kind of heat necessary at this time of year. If it starts dipping under 35 in October, then this summer to winter with nothing in between thing will start feeling really old.
The hell with the weather ... tomorrow the calendar turns to October, and the Red Sox are still playing. All is balanced in the universe! We match up well against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (and is that really the name of a team you want to cheer for?). With Beckett throwing up to twice in that series, I like our chances. The Evil Empire (aka the Yankees) draws the Cleveland Indians in this round. And I like Cleveland's chances. C.C. Sabathia is one scary dude on a baseball mound.
I recently got to two of the best movies since last season. You will hear about these in the next Oscar season. La Vie en Rose is the story of Edith Piaf and the young lady in the lead role is absolutely phenomenal. A very well made film, with maybe too much cutting from past to present. But her performance is not to be missed.
Into the Wild has the makings to be what The Departed was for me last year. In other words, my favorite movie of the year. First, I have to say I adored the book. I read it twice. And I think this movie does it justice. It captures everything it needs to. Sean Penn provides some steady direction. The landscapes are beautifully filmed. Catherine Keener is good in a supporting part, and Hal Holbrook is even better in his supporting part. And Emile Hirsch is brilliant in the lead. After seeing the movie, I am inspired to read the book again.
But I probably won't do that too soon. My reading time is pretty booked at the moment, pretty much exclusively by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. I am taking an English grad course this fall to keep up my certification. And the reading is intense. I must say I am developing a greater appreciation for Hawthorne, especially as a short story artist. I have always liked The Scarlet Letter, which we're covering later. But there's some powerful stuff going on in the likes of Young Goodman Brown, Ethan Brand, My Kinsman Major Molineaux, and The Maypole of Merrymount. I have never been too keen on Melville, but I must admit, I have never actually read Moby Dick (covered at the end of this course). I was quite taken by The Encantadas, his collection of tales set on the Galapagos Islands.
Meanwhile, the school year is off to a fast start. In my role as an MCAS administrator, I have grown to despise state standardized tests (at least this one) even more. It is the one thing that makes my job as department chair unenjoyable. I used to argue that testing in itself is not a bad idea, but that this method is not the right one. My work on this in my current capacity has led me to change my mind. Not only is this test bad, but the philosophy it is built on is pretty faulty too. In the past, I worked with kids who were assured to pass (even my most standard of standard kids really had nothing to fear). Now I work with the failures. And I use that word because that is how the state labels them. And none of them really needs the anguish that this label is causing them. They come from broken families and the poorest neighborhoods. Most are black and/or have Hispanic surnames. A good number have severe special needs. Each of them is the kind of kid we struggle to get to school let alone keep them there. And then we have to tell them in mid-September that they didn't meet the state's testing requirement, some of them for the third or fourth time. My latest experiences have shown me that these tests make those that should be good look good and those we hope to help look good look bad. Simple as that. Oh, and they keep a few thousand bureaucrats employed too.
Okay, so that's my rant on MCAS. And probably the end of this installment. Cheers.
