I debated whether to post tonight - and decided I should. I fall victim to the slippery slope phenomenon (there you go Mr. K. - I used that term outside of the classroom!) far to easily; if I didn't post tonight, then tomorrow I probably wouldn't either, and the next day I would procrastinate and end up putting it off till Sunday, and before I knew it, I would have ended my blog with only four posts. Isn't it wonderful to know yourself, or at least to know about yourself? I suppose, yes, if knowing actually makes you take a different path than the one you would detrimentally and weakly default to.
Speaking of character – my brother Dan, next in age to me at 17, is in grade 12 this year, and currently enjoying ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne. If you knew Dan, you would understand why ‘enjoying’ is italicized above. His latest assignment was to write an essay documenting the character evolution of Roger Chillingworth. Of course his first recourse (that’s fatigue speaking, ‘course’, ‘recourse’) was his big sister, who comes in handy when English is the issue at hand.
So, having procrastinated a full six hours, I sat down at 9:30 and proceeded to come out with a rough outline for above mentioned character growth summary. I actually think this is a good assignment, although I probably would have hated it two years ago, when I was digesting Hawthorne’s masterpiece.
I read ‘The Scarlet Letter’ for my own entertainment when I was 14 or 15 (I’ll come back to this topic some other time), so when we got to it in Grade 12 English I was ahead of the game. But still, even after two or three readings, recalling it after a couple years of virtual brain sabbatical was tricky.
But I think I came up with some reasonable suggestions – and thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process – because after all, not only was I getting back to literary criticism and analysis, but I was telling my little brother what to do!
Now, before I get too transparent, and start revealing the true degree of my controlling nature or ranting on why Dan had to come to me to figure out this English assignment and why hasn’t the twelve years of the public school system he’s already withstood prepared him to write a character evaluation – to quote C.S. Lewis in ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, “Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?” – I think I’d better sign off.
Speaking of character – my brother Dan, next in age to me at 17, is in grade 12 this year, and currently enjoying ‘The Scarlet Letter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne. If you knew Dan, you would understand why ‘enjoying’ is italicized above. His latest assignment was to write an essay documenting the character evolution of Roger Chillingworth. Of course his first recourse (that’s fatigue speaking, ‘course’, ‘recourse’) was his big sister, who comes in handy when English is the issue at hand.
So, having procrastinated a full six hours, I sat down at 9:30 and proceeded to come out with a rough outline for above mentioned character growth summary. I actually think this is a good assignment, although I probably would have hated it two years ago, when I was digesting Hawthorne’s masterpiece.
I read ‘The Scarlet Letter’ for my own entertainment when I was 14 or 15 (I’ll come back to this topic some other time), so when we got to it in Grade 12 English I was ahead of the game. But still, even after two or three readings, recalling it after a couple years of virtual brain sabbatical was tricky.
But I think I came up with some reasonable suggestions – and thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process – because after all, not only was I getting back to literary criticism and analysis, but I was telling my little brother what to do!
Now, before I get too transparent, and start revealing the true degree of my controlling nature or ranting on why Dan had to come to me to figure out this English assignment and why hasn’t the twelve years of the public school system he’s already withstood prepared him to write a character evaluation – to quote C.S. Lewis in ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’, “Bless me, what do they teach them at these schools?” – I think I’d better sign off.
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