Spoiled Rich Kid, Saves World?

Trump is looking stronger in the polls, which might imply Americans seem focused more on not re-electing the typical DC politician who speaks "political-ease" and "newspeak," those who've mastered the art of "plausible deniability." The latest polls show that many Americans admire Trump, not so much because of what he is actually saying, but because he seems to speak "truth to power." Whether one agrees with his claims, which is a minor area of dispute, what's most admirable--in many Americans' opinions--is that Trump doesn't kiss DC tail. He actually seems to enjoy stirring up the hornet's nest. It's a sort-of "Spoiled Rich Kid, Saves World" meme.

"They Are All Gone Into the World of Light!" by Henry Vaughan

I'm thinking of putting together an anthology of poems on the theme of light called Poems to Light the Way. Here's one by Henry Vaughan (1622-1695).
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"They Are All Gone Into the World of Light!"

They are all gone into the world of light!
And I alone sit lingering here;
Their very memory is fair and bright,
And my sad thoughts doth clear.

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast
Like stars upon some gloomy grove,
Or those faint beams in which this hill is dressed
After the sun's remove.

I see them walking in an air of glory,
Whose light doth trample on my days;
My days, which are at best but dull and hoary,
Mere glimmering and decays.

O holy hope, and high humility,
High as the heavens above!
These are your walks, and you have showed them me
To kindle my cold love.

Dear, beauteous death! the jewel of the just,
Shining nowhere but in the dark;
What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust,
Could man outlook that mark!

He that hath found some fledged bird's nest may know
At first sight if the bird be flown;
But what fair well or grove he sings in now,
That is to him unknown.

And yet, as angels in some brighter dreams
Call to the soul when man doth sleep,
So some strange thoughts transcend our wonted themes,
And into glory peep.

If a star were confined into a tomb,
Her captive flames must needs burn there;
But when the hand that locked her up gives room,
She'll shine through all the sphere.

O Father of eternal life, and all
Created glories under Thee!
Resume Thy spirit from this world of thrall
Into true liberty!

Either disperse these mists, which blot and fill
My perspective still as they pass;
Or else remove me hence unto that hill
Where I shall need no glass.

(1655)

Was Cormac McCarthy's Judge Holden Inspired by the "Horror of it All"?

     In Cormac McCarthy's novel, Blood Meridian (1985), there is a character called Judge Holden, who represents the horror of 19th century expansion of settlers into the Texas-Mexico borderlands.
     As a white, bald, philosopher of war, Judge Holden, (a.k.a "the Judge") argues throughout the novel for a "might makes right" view of the Wild West, exemplifying a sort of Nietzschean "will to power." This will to power seeks to cease judgement by crushing judgment, thus creating an ironical passing of judgement on all those who cross the warrior's path.
     In Francis Ford Coppola's film, Apocalypse Now (1979), there is a character, Colonel Kurtz (based on Joseph Conrad's character of the same name in Heart of Darkness), who closely resembles Judge Holden in appearance and philosophy. Also large, white and bald, Kurtz is depicted by the actor, Marlon Brando, who channels a monologue on violence, often called "The Horror of it All" speech. In his speech, Brando muses on the inability of the American soldier to win the war in Vietnam, mostly because the American soldier doesn't have the will to win; not like the enemy, who not only has the will to win, but has the heart to be as ruthlessly violent as necessary to win, as well.
     Though it is well-known that McCarthy found inspiration for Judge Holden in Samuel Chamberlain's My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue (1956), in this blog post, I explore the similarities between these two characters and propose the possibility that Cormac McCarthy found inspiration in Brando's improvised performance of Colonel Kurtz, and used this monologue as the model for Judge Holden's character in Blood Meridian. To find a possible connection between McCarthy's inspiration for Judge Holden, it might help to look at Brando's inspiration for Kurtz.
     As reported by Dennis Hopper and Francis Coppola in an interview on the Making of Apocalypse Now, Marlon Brando didn't read Heart of Darkness. I don't consider it as inspiration for Brando's interpretation of Colonel Kurtz. However, in considering the recent release of the documentary "Listen to Me Marlon," which explores the practice of talk therapy, whereby Brando would record his own voice, seemingly to help himself talk through his problems. Though this is a believable interpretation of Brando's talk sessions, it could possible be that this practice of recording himself may well have incidentally helped Brando brainstorm his subconscious in search of Colonel Kurtz. It could have been a sort of character identification, a tool of method acting whereby actors get closer to the character they are trying to portray. But, that's a secondary point I'll develop in a future blog post.
     It is my contention here that Brando may have been exploring his subconscious mind via the recorded monologues, during the time of the filming of Apocalypse Now, and the effect creation was Colonel Kurtz. He relied on his intuition on the set, which produced much consternation and conflict with other actors and the director. He knew, after many years of successful acting, to rely on his instincts. He knew how to explore a character. Even though some have alleged that "he was crazy" (Rita Moreno), it may be possible that this was a technique Brando used to delve deeper into character. Brando refused to confine his creativity to the script. At one point, Coppola even decided to just roll tape during all of Brando's improvisational monologues, hoping for a few gems to keep for the final cut. After sifting through tapes of recorded film, Coppola decided on the following lines.
     In a conversation between Brando's character, Colonel Kurtz, and the lone soldier sent to kill him, Brando states, "Have you ever considered any real freedoms, freedoms, from the opinions of others, even the opinions of yourself?" It seems here that Brando is focusing on the problem of conscience in the mind of a mass murderer. Later on, Brando/Kurtz, speaks of the violence of the Vietnam War:
     "I've seen horrors, horrors that you've seen. But you have no right to call me a murderer. You have a right to kill me. You have a right to do that. But you have no right to judge me. It's impossible for words to describe what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face. And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and moral terror are your friends. If they are not, then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies. I remember when I was with Special Forces, seems a thousand centuries ago, we went into a camp to inoculate the children. We left the camp after . . . and this old man came running after us and he was crying. He couldn't see. We went back there and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile, a pile of little arms. And, I remember, I-I-I cried. I wept like some grandmother. I wanted to tear my teeth out. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And, I want to remember it. I never want to forget it. I never want to forget. And then I realized, like I was shot, like I was shot with a diamond...a diamond bullet right through my forehead...And I thought: My God...the genius of that. The genius. The will to do that. Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we. Because they could stand that these were not monsters...These were men...trained cadres...these men who fought with their hearts, who had families, who had children, who were filled with love...but they had the strength...the strength...to do that. If I had ten divisions of those men our troubles here would be over very quickly. You have to have men who are moral...and at the same time who are able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling...without passion... without judgement...without judgement. Because it's judgement that defeats us."
     As Kurtz is killed by Willard, Kurtz utters his final words, "The horror. The horror."
     Imagining Cormac McCarthy saw this film, and was deeply moved (I haven't asked him, so I only presume this happened), he might have modeled Judge Holden on the powerful presence portrayed by Brando's Kurtz.
     In Blood Meridian, the narrator describes Judge Holden's band of scalp-hunters as “A legion of horribles . . . death hilarious, all howling in a barbarous tongue and riding down upon them like a horde from a hell more horrible yet than the brimstone land of Christian reckoning.”
     When the Judge declares, “It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way."
     “A man seeks his own destiny and no other, said the judge. Wil or nill. Any man who could discover his own fate and elect therefore some opposite course could only come at last to that selfsame reckoning at the same appointed time, for each man's destiny is as large as the world he inhabits and contains within it all opposites as well. The desert upon which so many have been broken is vast and calls for largeness of heart but it is also ultimately empty. It is hard, it is barren. Its very nature is stone.”
     “A man's at odds to know his mind cause his mind is aught he has to know it with. He can know his heart, but he dont want to. Rightly so. Best not to look in there. It aint the heart of a creature that is bound in the way that God has set for it. You can find meanness in the least of creatures, but when God made man the devil was at his elbow. A creature that can do anything. Make a machine. And a machine to make the machine. And evil that can run itself a thousand years, no need to tend it.”
     “He never sleeps, the judge. He is dancing, dancing. He says that he will never die.”
     “Whatever exists, he said. Whatever in creation exists without my knowledge exists without my consent."

     What is this monster, the Judge? Who is this Col. Kurtz? I will further compare these two characters in future posts. 

Is Metadiscourse Possible? (A Flashback)

Here's something I wrote in 1998. Looking back on it now, I wonder what in the world I was thinking. I obviously had a limited understanding of point of view.
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Andrew Keating
Rev. Rechtien
EN 3362W
November 2, 1998

Is Metadiscourse Possible?

      When characters within a story engage in the anomaly of metadiscourse, they can easily get caught in an infinite regression. This regression can interestingly be guided by other characters within the same story. In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Polzunkov” a man and his audience discuss this very notion; they talk about the way the man is telling a story.
      Characters in a story may get caught in a brief regression as they tell a story of their own. An infinite regression is what philosophers call “the method of infinite descent.” For the purpose of this analysis, an infinite regression is when a character discourses the plot of one story within the framework of another story, which inevitably leads to the telling of another story within the original story as well. As confusing as it may seem, similarly, in mathematics this concept applies when “it can be shown that for any number, if [the original number] satisfies the condition then there is a lesser number that does also, the method of infinite descent then allows the inference that no number satisfies the condition” (Flew 174). Within one story may contain the intriguing subsumation of infinitely many stories (numbers).
     The regression can and must be guided by other characters within a story or metadiscourse to be effective. When talking about the discourse of a story while still inside the story, a character is doing what one might do when standing between two mirrors; the person’s reflection (metadiscourse) may seem to go on forever. When the man--Osip Mihalitch--finally begins to tell his story, a crowd gathers around giving him responses as to how to tell the story. For instance, Osip begins his discourse with: “gentlemen, allow me to tell you something. I can tell you a good story about Fedosey Nikolaitch” (432). The crowd responds with: “tell it, Osip Mihalitch, tell it” (432). The crowd responds with the demand and guideline of “no puns!” (432). It seems the characters in the audience serve are a heuristic guideline in that a pun--a humorous use of a word to suggest another that sounds the same--should not be used, otherwise Osip’s story will continue to go on forever.
     Dostoyevsky’s story is about a character--Osip--who tells a story about how he is going to tell his story, wherein another character within Osip’s story will begin to do the same, and so on.

Salvation Comes by Keeping Faith: An Analysis of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown”

This paper was written sometime in 2002.
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  The Holy Bible, which was probably the most important text to the Puritans, declares that a woman is “saved through childbearing–if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety” (1 Timothy 9-15). Nathaniel Hawthorne, a nineteenth century romantic writer, explored the theme of salvation by faith in his short story, “Young Goodman Brown.” The story contains literary elements, such as symbol and personification that help to elucidate the process of faith and its subsequent process of sanctification that might have been in the mindscape of some Puritan men and women.
    Sanctification is a religious term that means “to consecrate, to make holy or to purify.” It is a sort-of spiritual cleansing, a washing away of a person’s sins after accepting as truth the sacrifice and resurrection of Christ. Today, when a person becomes a Christian, he or she takes a sacred oath to obey the laws of God. This is how the Christian proves that he loves God. In return, God blesses the faithful Christian with His love, which is an overpowering force of goodness within the heart of the Christian. It is a heavenly state wherein the faithful is “heaved up” into the realm of happiness. Because of his or her faith, the trusting Christian becomes a servant ready to reap the rewards of providence. Presumably, the Puritans believed the same process to be an important part of their religious life. Without faith, sanctification could not be possible.
    In “Young Goodman Brown,” a Puritan husband meets an ambiguous character in the wood, who forces him to question the fidelity of his wife, Faith. In this work, Hawthorne, a man who persistently reflected upon his own ancestor’s dealings with the devil (he was the great-great grandson of a judge who persecuted women for witchcraft) seems to explore the process of sanctification by which one comes to have faith in a higher power and how one can flee the bondage of sin.
     The Puritans were a group of people trying to escape oppressive Anglican persecution. One of their points of contention was that (wo)mankind can attain salvation by having faith in God and that salvation did not come through works or by the sanction of men, (an institution such as the Church of England). They believed The Geneva Bible was the divinely inspired Word of God, which meant that everything in it was the absolute truth. Therefore, it is consistent to assume the Puritans in Hawthorne’s works believed that “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrew 11:1). In other words, in order to be considered a faithful servant of God, a Puritan such as Goodman Brown must not waver between belief and disbelief. The very color of his name, neither black nor white, but somewhere in between seems to suggest he is in-between being faithful and unfaithful.
     In this sense, Faith is a personification of the concept of biblical faith in “Young Goodman Brown.” It is the object with which Brown struggles. In the literal sense, Faith is the flesh and blood wife of Mr. Brown. She embodies everything he cares for, everything he loves. She is his wife. According to the Puritans, when a man and woman join in the sacrament of marriage, they become one flesh, one person; their identities merge. They have both committed to a bondage to one another, what the Bible calls “being yoked.” Though some may argue this kind of bondage to be imprisoning, most believing Christians know that this is a type of bondage that is merely restricting, built upon the Christian virtues of faith, hope and love.
     In the figurative sense, Faith serves as a symbol to the biblical concept of faith, the assured confidence that God’s grace is real and a blessing conferred upon mankind for the redemption of sin. It isn’t a prison but a paradise where the walls of love protect inhabitants from the lures and snares of evil. Unfortunately, though, for those who waver, like Brown, they have not yet found the assurance needed to be considered one of God’s elect for salvation. Instead of trusting in God, the waverer is in a sense, still in bondage to distrust and doubt. In modern evangelical terms, he is still in bondage to sin, the Devil’s weapon of manipulation.
     The theme of this literature course was to focus on “captivity narratives,” wherein Puritan “wom[e]n st[oo]d passively under the strokes of evil, awaiting rescue by the grace of God” (Kirby) as if there should be some question to the Puritan avenue of salvation. In “Young Goodman Brown,” the husband, after seeing his wife’s ribbons in the woods, seems to question his “Faith.” He seemingly “falls” to evil within the woods. He doesn’t literally fall unto the weight of gravity per se, but the gravity of sin. He falls out of heavenly faith, that place of “heaved up happiness and contentment” into the hellish realm of doubt and despair.
     Upon looking up the etymology of the word evil in The American Heritage Dictionary, one notes that evil comes from the Old English word yfal, which one might say evolved into “I fall” or “I fell,” which phonetically sounds like “evil.” For instance, the word fell also comes from Old English fellan or fellen, which today means felon, “one who commits felonies” or “an evil person.” When applied to Brown, the “felony” he commits is merely falling from faith into the sin of doubt.
     It is interesting to note the article by Paul Hurley. He states that some readers might infer the man in the woods to be the devil: “I believe the reader has every right to wonder if the townspeople are actually cohorts of the Devil” (Hurley 2). If so, the kind of evil in Brown’s mind must be a kind of tempting for him to attend some kind of dark gathering in the dark places or back of his mind, whether in reality or through some dark subconscious fantasy. “The man of integrity [faith] walks securely, but he who takes crooked paths will be found out” (Proverbs 10:9). It seems Brown’s excursion into the wood may be apt, especially when Hawthorne writes that Brown “passed a crook on the road” (Hawthorne 540).
     If merely fantasy, one might say Brown’s thoughts are wanderings through a mind scape of dark caverns of his own discord and distrust. He is wondering about the fidelity of his wife, really projecting onto her his own infidelities. “His [Brown’s] visions are the product of his suspicion and distrust,” (Hurley 2) which indicates that he has not only questioned his wife, Faith but also the grace of God. Just as the devil was cast out of heaven and fallen to the earth, and as Adam and Eve fell from the Garden of Eden, it seems the point of Hawthorne’s narratives is to explore the process of moving from trust to distrust, and to show how a person may fall to the temptations of evil and lose faith. Hawthorne includes much of this in his text.
     In the beginning of the story, Brown and his Faith depart. She pleads for him to stay home, because “A lone woman is troubled with such dreams and such thoughts that she’s afeard of herself sometimes” (Hawthorne 540). Brown then asks her, “ . . . dost thou doubt me already, and we but three months married?” (Hawthorne 540). Both of these comments seem to foreshadow the wanderings of the mind from faith to doubt. The comments seem to allude to man’s general tendency to slip into sin, to take for granted the truth of salvation in faith. Then, as Brown turns to see Faith watch him leave, Brown thinks to himself, “Poor little Faith,” (Hawthorne 540) as if to say to himself in guilt, “I have such little faith (in God),” whereby “his heart smote him” (Hawthorne 540). It is that term, “smote” that indicates the heavy descent of man into sin, wherein “Goodman Brown felt justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose” (Hawthorne 540).
     In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne claimed to write “the truths of the human heart.” Yet, “the heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. I, the Lord, search the heart and examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve” (Jeremiah 17: 9-10). But, the heart of Goodman Brown is mistaken; it is fallen into the felony of sin. The very name “Goodman Brown” seems to be an anagrammatic allusion to the blasphemous taking of the Lord’s name in vain. Moreover, the name “Good Dame” is also an allusion to the same cursing of God. It seems Hawthorne is merely alluding to what lurks beneath the mind of mankind, clouded in the sub layers of language.
     When Brown enters the wood, he begins to imagine fearful things: “‘What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow!’” (Hawthorne 540). It is this fearful imagining that seems to have conjured the devil in Brown’s presence, whether mentally or physically. Hawthorne seems to show that it is at the crucial point wherein fear replaces faith that mankind begins to fall. When Brown passes a “crook of the road,” (Hawthorne 540) Hawthorne is writing ambiguously, stating in one sense the “crook” is a bend in the path, but also a “felon” of sin, the devil. When Brown notices the man dressed in “grave and decent attire,” (Hawthorne 541), again the play on words indicates a deeper level of darkness in the character on the road.
     When the old man, who is presumably the devil states that Brown is late, the latter responds, “Faith kept me back awhile” (Hawthorne 541) indicating that faith in God was what delayed Brown’s fall to the devil’s grip. All things considered, Hawthorne’s short story is really an allegorical tale of mankind’s tendency to fall to evil. It is the call of the elect to decide whether to allow their faith in the things unseen to keep them in the arms of Christ or to let the devil of doubt deter us from the Lord.
   

Works Cited

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” Concise Anthology of American Literature, 2nd Edition. Ed. George McMichael. Macmillan Publishing Company: New York, 1985.

Hurley, Paul J. “Young Goodman Brown’s Heart of Darkness.” American Literature. Vol. XXXVII, No. 4. January, 1966, pp. 410-19.

“Proverbs.” The Holy Bible. The New International Version. International Bible Society: New York, 1984.

“Jeremiah.” The Holy Bible. The New International Version. International Bible Society: New York, 1984.

El Mendigo del Mendios y Mimado Chiflado con Oliver Twist

Yesterday, while doing a lecture on why one should study serious literature, two characters were born, Mendigo del Mendios and Mimado Chiflado.

As I explained to students the differences between popular and serious literature, I searched for examples of "depth of character," or characters who struggle with the human condition. We spoke much on the popularity of Harry Potter, and read an article by Harold Bloom showing how Harry doesn't really struggle much in his cozy middle-class life.

In contrast, I tried to explain the need for a character to engage in the human condition in a way that is relevant to students who may not have read the Potter series. I conjured up the memory of a little boy in Matamoros who is taught to beg, lie and steal from a very young age. Sometimes he sells chicle to lure them in; other times, he approaches tourists and pretends to be destitute, eliciting sympathy for money. (I remember encountering children like this on occasions, when I used to go to Mexico to Garcia's restaurant.)

In this improvised story, I told students about how Mendigo is taught to lie to people and to expect others to take care of him, especially and including his older brother, a bad youth who bullies him into doing these heinous things.

One day, however, Mendigo comes across a nun, perhaps at a soup kitchen. She sees what he's going through and feels pity for him. She sees past the lies and tells him that he needs to learn to read. So, she finds a way to bring him to her parish, begins teaching him how to read, and becomes a quasi-surrogate mother to him. As the boy finds ways of sneaking away from his older brother and stays with the nun, he grows in his new literacy via the redemptive power of true charity; he begins to acquire language, which causes him to reflect.

One day, while in the safety of a church van, he drives past the city trash dump, where he sees his brother and their friends sifting through detritus, looking for scraps. He thinks about the resonating words his mentor has planted inside. While a tear runs down his cheek, she places her hand on his, snapping him out of the cold spell. He begins to realize he must crawl out of that crab pit, that he must learn to believe in himself, and continue to think and reflect. With the nuns help, he enrolls in a U.S. school and undergoes an intellectual growth spurt.

And, yet, to emphasize the fact that the human condition not only applies to those at the bottom of a social class, those who struggle with economic forces, it also applies to the affluent, the other character of this story was born, Mimado Chiflado.

This little boy grew up in one of the nearby country clubs. His parents have taught him that the only way they prove to him that they love him is by buying him everything he wants. For example, one day, he demanded a new gaming system for his birthday. Because his parents didn't get him the one with the correct colors, he threw a fit and refused to play it.

As the two boys go about their daily lives, they happen to come across one another, perhaps on the first day of school. They attend St. Joseph's Catholic School, one on scholarship, the other on paid tuition. In this meeting, they realize they look very much alike. So, after a brief conversation, they decide to switch places, the poor boy to see what it's like to live comfortably, the rich boy to see what it's like to be truly loved. Yes, I know this sounds like Twain's "Prince and the Pauper," but I add a Dickensian twist to it to make it multidimensional.

As the two boys switch places, the rich boy happens across one of the poor boy's old beggar boys and his older brother who taught him to lie, cheat and steal. The Beggar Boys are illiterate, so they don't have much depth of thought. When the rich boy enters the poor boy's world, the older brother abducts him and takes him to the Beggar Boys' Den (a veritable den of thieves), where he and the other older boys bully him into pulling a dangerous job, much like in Dicken's Oliver Twist.

Anyway, the overall point of these two characters is to illustrate the need for characters to engage in struggles that change them, that force them to reflect. If a story only moves through action and plot, it most likely is meant for entertainment only. If characters have to struggle to resolve conflicts, then most likely the literary text should be respected, it should be "looked at again and taken seriously."

Teaching English Learners to Be Self-Reliant

"Are they my poor? . . ." (Emerson, "Self-Reliance").

When I taught ninth grade English, I had a second-generation immigrant student that got slapped at home whenever he spoke English to his Spanish-speaking parents. Notwithstanding this "discipline" may have occurred as he engaged in back talk, his story is not uncommon among immigrants who seem to be resistant to learning English in the public school classroom.

Growing up along the southwest Texas border, I've heard countless stories from older Mexican-American immigrants who, well into the 1960s, had their hands slapped for not speaking English in the classroom. It seems when it comes to language acquisition, the immigrant experience is a sort-of "schizophrenic impasse." It seems English Language Learners can't win for losing.

While teaching English along the southwest Texas border, I've witnessed first hand the challenge and resistance of English Language Learners (ELL) to adopt a language not native to their families or cultures. To them, this is not only an exchange of "linguistic currency," but it is also an exchange of "linguistic identity." In a sense, it's an exchange for one's identification with family, the thing held most dear, for identification with Ralph Waldo Emerson's "American Ideal," wherein lies the "infinitude of the private man."

Taking it for granted that much of one's personal identity is very much wrapped up in one's cultural identity, it would seem reasonable to assume that those who are in-between cultures are also in-between personal identities.

Instead of seeing this as an "exchange" of one identity for another, ELLs should be taught to see the adoption of the American Ideal as an "acquisition," where the culture and identity of one language is preserved and maintained, while the essence of the Self is also awakened and enhanced. Isn't this at the very heart of bilingual literacy, to allow students the room to maximize their own potential? Students don't have to lose their cultural identities to assimilate into the American Ideal. But, they might want to shed tradition, if tradition is holding them back.

At first, I wondered why there was so much resistance to adopting the native tongue of America. Why don't all immigrants just learn English? It would be much easier for them if they surrendered and assimilated into society, right? Heck, why wouldn't I think that? Aside from being semi-literate in Spanish, I'm pretty much monolingual. I don't have but one linguistic identity, so I don't really know what it's like to have to exchange who I am for who I am not (culturally speaking). If we follow Emerson's edict to resist history and tradition we might begin to see the "genius" within, we might begin to shed dependence upon cultural traditions and begin to rely more on one's self.

In "Self-Reliance," Emerson wrote, "If . . . a man claims to know and speak of God and carries you backward to the phraseology of some old moldered nation in another country, in another world, believe him not." He's referring to man's general tendency to adhere to Tradition; so much so, he turns it into an idol. In relation to immigrants coming to America from predominantly Catholic cultures, where Tradition is king, where the masses are taught to not question the Church, to passively believe in a dogma that prohibits critical thought, it seems "coming to America" turns this all upside down.

As Americans expect people to take care of themselves, the immigrant, raised in a dependent value system or a value system of "dependency," it seems some conflict is inevitable, considering cultural illiteracy is to blame.

As I thought about it more, though, I became more sympathetic toward the immigrant experience. After looking more globally, more deeply at other cultures who have had the same challenges and resistances to English language acquisition, after looking at what the Irish have gone through, I started to better understand why those who come from Catholic countries have the hardest time adopting the American Ideal. "Whence then this worship of the past?" (Emerson, "Self-Reliance"). Due to its resistance to change, the Catholic Church has created scores of dependents who struggle to adopt Emersonian values. as such, "The centuries are conspirators against the sanity and authority of the soul" (Emerson, "Self-Reliance").

I particularly like when Emerson writes, "On my saying, 'What have I to do with the sacredness of traditions, if I live wholly from within?' my friend suggested--'But these impulses may be from below, not from above.' I replied, 'They do not seem to me to be such; but if I am the Devil's child, I will live then from the Devil'" (Emerson, "Self-Reliance"). He encourages us to rely on our better judgement, to transcend the ideas and values of those  who seek to control us. In essence, this is the American way, a way the immigrant has to learn.

For centuries, the Irish have faced many of the same struggles Spanish-speaking populations face today. As economic crises forced them to flee their native homelands, the Irish have had to assimilate into the English-speaking world. And, just like the Spanish-speaking immigrant, there has been a resistance to adopting the native tongue of England and America. Even today there is still a persistent struggle to adopt the King's English.

Not many people know this, but the Irish have had a language of their own that dates back centuries. Over time, as English became the language of commerce and education, due mostly to British occupation, the Irish have lost much of their native tongue and cultural heritage. Because of this "exchange," the Irish have been able to see the gradual decay of their identity affect the way they view the world and how they interpret history.

When poets like W. B. Yeats came along and taught the Irish that they've lost the "magic of their Celtic ways," mostly because they gave in to English occupation, the Irish grew increasingly resistant to English rules (referring both to the government and the language). As a result, Irish resistance has fomented lots of ire; it has fomented a lot of "troubles" in the North. Thanks a lot, Yeats!

Because of this resistance to English rules, the Irish have faced years of harsh discrimination from the English-speaking world, including in America, where many Irish could not find jobs, mostly due to their manners of speaking. It is very difficult to understand the Irish when they really ramp up a thick brogue. For the most part, because of their "functional illiteracy," the Irish have been targets of English jokes and the scapegoat for many social ills.

To be functionally literate, however, is to have a great enough literacy level to be able to get along in society. Without it, the immigrant is at a great disadvantage; he can't read a newspaper, he can't read a job application or an apartment lease, but, most important he can't interpret laws. As a result, the immigrant, no matter his country of origin becomes an sort of "indentured servant," held at the mercy of the justice system and governance of the society to which he emigrated. If any individual is functionally illiterate, s/he cannot fully function in society. It's not enough to live by the laws and values of an immigrant's homeland. When prisons in America are filled with inmates who are 70% functionally illiterate, it goes without saying language learning is at the core.

I understand that it's not realistic to ask an entire society to change it's way of life, to change its laws for the incoming immigrant. But, it is possible for teachers to explain to students that they can still maintain their heritage and culture, while also learning the new tongue and that this new language acquisition is necessary to ease their transition.

If it wasn't a Mexican-American kid getting slapped by his mother, but an Irish-American, would I have seen it differently? Would the mother have slapped him for not speaking Gaelic? She probably would've done something much worse like flog him with a sheleighleigh.

Timing and the Right Fit

If you’re in the market for a new teaching job, and the fish just don’t seem to be biting, don’t lose hope; it all may just be a matter of timing and the right fit.

Keep in mind principals and human resources personnel are, well, human, with biases and prejudices the same as everyone. It can definitely be a harrowing experience trying to get into teaching. It can be especially difficult for those coming over from another profession (I switched over from Federal law enforcement). Some might argue there’s a wall of bias you have to push through, but once you're in, and you finally get to show them what you can do, it gets a lot easier.

Back in 2013, when I first applied to a local ISD, I attended and passed two interviews but subsequently had my nomination blocked by a human resources person. She claimed, in a calm, dismissive voice, "I can't verify any of your references." Hmm...I had about twelve to fifteen listed on the resume, and not one would pick up? When I called her to inquire about why she (a human resources person) blocked my nomination to the school board, she said, "We're looking for the right fit." The right fit? I grew up two blocks from that high school! Nevertheless, I started to question whether I even belonged in the community within which I was raised.

The right fit?

Sometime later, at a different school, I met a newly appointed female assistant principal, who ended the interview with the all-too-human remark, "It's unusual for a man to be applying for an English teacher position; they're usually women." Even though that made me raise an eyebrow, I walked out of that school building wondering, “Maybe she was congratulating me on getting the job, and that it was a remarkable feat, since most English teacher applicants were women, and I happened to break through.” Yeah, right, stop kidding yourself, Andrew.

Just for grins, I checked online when I got home, and noticed the high school's entire English Department was and still is full of women (around ten or so). Well, that solves the mystery. Now I don’t have to suffer the pangs of disappointment. I’m definitely not getting that job. That school, too, was looking for a particular "type" of English teacher.

The right fit, huh?

In every one of these jobs, I went back to see who the administration hired instead of me, and each time it was a young, fresh out-of-college white woman, with less education, fewer certifications, between the ages of 23 and 27. And one of the teachers that beat me out didn't even have an English degree. Carpe diem, lads!

After these experiences, I temporarily came to the conclusion that admins are biased, (they're human after all) and that there must be a stereotypical English teacher, and Mr. Keating isn't it.

Like all good men of letters, I decided to wait. Maybe it was all just a matter of timing.

The job I finally did get I shouldn't have. I was scheduled for an interview in Brownsville, Texas, a town where I wasn't familiar with the streets. Because there are two streets with the same name, and my car's GPS is infallible, I wound up at the wrong school, some twenty minutes away from where I needed to be. I called the school I was supposed to be at and told them what happened, and that I would be running late. They agreed to meet with me, anyway. Not only did our interview turn into a nice conversation, they actually gave me a job, not the one I had applied for, but a better one. And, they'd never seen Dead Poets Society!

Though this was a public charter school run by Turkish immigrants, it was/is very conservative with a predominantly Muslim administration. Perhaps they missed the workshop on the stereotypical English teacher and decided to give me a chance. Maybe they were just desperate to fill a gap. Don't know. Didn't care anymore, since I got a job.

With 100% of their graduating seniors attending college, I’d say they have the right formula: A very diverse group of teachers committed to student success. Whatever they're doing, it's working in the best interests of the students. As far as those other schools, which are failing at state standards and that don't have the same formula?

Well...

Timing and the right fit, I guess.

Teaching Novel Writing to High School Seniors

This school year, I plan to have high school seniors write a full-length novel as a project-based learning assignment. Since I've never tried this before, I anticipate many challenges.

What's most challenging, I anticipate, will be getting students to consistently imagine, to get them to make up stuff for their story. So, I might have them write a novelization of a movie they've seen or have them write separate short stories that are related, like a series. They can have a main character proceed through each of their stories.

There are several ways to help students write a full-length novel throughout the school year, and have them publish it on Amazon.com.

I'll reflect on these ways, here in this blog.