From Ugliness to True Beauty at CiRCE

No, not my Circe.

I spent half of last weekend in the company of the CiRCE Institute's president Andrew Kern, his lovely wife, and one of their great speakers, Vigen Guroian, discussing three fairy tales (Annika, you would have loved this--a taste of the course they no longer offer at Sewanee). Those who know me know that I place a good deal of emphasis on the story (see what I did there?) as education, and fairy tales were a big part of our curriculum, even on the high school level. To hear these men speak from their hearts on matters so close to my own was sheer pleasure.

It was beyond amusing to hear Mr. Guroian open with the story of Nasreddin's sermon, with which I have also occasionally opened a talk. N.B.:  He tells it better than I do.  At the 2013 CiRCE conference Mr. Guroian spoke on King of the Golden River, one of my favorite fairy tales. The story is available in this anthology, and on Kindle here. Mr. Guroian's CiRCE talk on the story is here (check out the many other worthy selections as well).  So few people I know have read this story that just meeting someone who has was nearly enough for me.

But CiRCE offered far more on that rainy day. Three classic fairy tales, The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, and Grimms' Cinderella, were given the CiRCE treatment--studied, not deconstructed; valued, not devalued; imagined, not re-engineered--to the delight of the fortunate attendees.  And no feminist lenses blurred the gimlet eye as we searched for beauty in the texts.  We read, they read, and we all simply talked about the stories.

It would take a better memory (and ears, frankly, for the audience was not on mic) than mine to do justice to the erudition of the audience, but it thrilled me to be among them. The gentlemen themselves presented the stories to us passage by passage in close reading to help us find the good, true, and beautiful in each story. We read plenty of ugly in each tale as well, but through the ugliness we see beauty, don't we?

The sessions were rather like drinking wine with experts. One tastes, takes notes, and hopes he might recall the details later. But one also enjoys the moment when the wine first hits the palate, the moment it warms in the mouth, and the finish as you reflect and anticipate the next draught. This meeting resembled a vineyard afternoon. We drank the literature deeply, and savored the flavor together.

 A few highlights: The notion of surrendering to beauty in The Ugly Duckling; the idea of sensitivity in The Princess and the Pea; and the truth of the communion of saints in Cinderella. Want more? Check out CiRCE's audio library. Much of the content is free, and most of the rest is a mere pittance. Perhaps these talks will be made available, but similar talks are on the website.

Please, reread these stories in good translations, not simplified versions, to find the details in full. A picture book version, while beautifully illustrated, will often, at best, dumb-down the text for children, or, at worst, sanitize the text, removing all the beauty along with the ugliness, rendering the story meaningless.

Edited to add:  The Usual Suspect has a tag line in class, "Just read the book," which is his answer to just about everything we ponder. Of course, it has become a bit of a friendly class joke. Wish he had been there to hear Mr. Kern say the very same thing...

Smart Stuff on Imagination, plus Books for Parents and Others

First, whet your appetite with a few lectures of interest, and a discussion of the fate of the picture book.

And now...
Finally, released for your reading pleasure!

Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of your Child.

Anthony Esolen's new book describes the ways in which society and schooling are harming our children.  Yes, I know you have heard that before.  So have I, and I have seen it both as a student and a teacher.  But of the many, many books, magazine articles and lectures on the matter with which I have become familiar, this book sums up my thoughts most completely, and rather more eloquently (he even shares my distaste for the term "play date").  It's one of those books that I fill with scrappy bookmarks and quickly scribbled margin comments.  Professor Esolen's playful reversal--like Lewis' Screwtape, the author expounds upon the worst of  imagination-killers as though they were the most worthy methods--reminds us of our own complacency, of how the unnatural has become the norm and the natural the enemy, unnoticed.   Read this and see if you agree. (I suspect I have much more to say about this, and  I may discuss this in depth here at a later date.  Stay tuned!)

Even if you have no children, don't miss Professor Esolen's wonderful Ironies of Faith.  I think it would be an excellent guide for a small book club reading group.  Ah, to have the time and company!

Also, fans, new and old, of Professor Esolen's work may also enjoy the quite wonderful Touchstone magazine, and the companion blog, Mere Comments.

More published anecdotal thoughts on raising children:

Saving Childhood by movie critic Michael Medved

Weapons of Mass Instruction by education critic John Taylor Gatto

Why Gender Matters by Dr. Sacks (I don't agree with everything here, especially his ideas on giving "mature" teens birth control, but overall his observations on gender differences are sound).

And for the young man, grown and introspective:  The Compleat Gentleman by The Catholic Thing (website) editor Brad Miner.

NASA Tries To Remain Relevant

...by finding alien life on earth.

OK.  Not the best headline (that honor goes to blogger Michael at Deeps of Time, surely!), but with more interesting goals moved to the back burner, and the burden of being a government entity, a NASA press conference on astrobiology (a field, my astronomy professor told me, that was a bit limited, when I expressed an interest) caused a good deal of  speculation on the 'net.  Just google for some of the speculations...life on Titan, life on Mars (there is legitimate research going on to study both environments), and, of course, there are folks like this (youtube link) who know they are out there.

But it turns out that a bacterium in a lake on earth can use arsenic instead of phosphorus when it needs to do so.  That's interesting.  As a biologist with an interest in exobiology, I love this sort of thing.  But I also feel a bit cheated by NASA.  I mean, they let the rumors fly; it just seems a bit unprofessional.

Do read the synopsis at Deeps of Time.  It's a Catholic blog worth a book mark.

Can I possibly post on this without a few book recommendations (just for fun)?  Not likely.  ;)

Red Planet
Starman Jones
Dune
Out of the Silent Planet
Rendezvous with Rama

When Does a Library Cease to Be a Library?

Annika is at the library. I dropped her there, though she usually walks the 6 blocks, as it is a delightfully oppressive 101 degrees outside. Our library is commonly known as the coldest place in the village, with air conditioners pumping hard to keep the reading areas at about 55. No kidding. Annika will head up to the young adult reading area, where incredibly comfortable chairs are placed among the shelves, and where no young adults are ever seen lounging, unless they are my young adult children. I kid you not.

I love our library. I love the librarians, the volunteers, the pages who work there, and for the most part, I like the book selections that are available. I have been a "Friend" of the library from time to time, and when the children were younger, they participated in many programs, from story time for the youngest, to various crafts (filling in for the lack of craftiness here at home), to the babysitting class for 12 year olds that frightened Libby out of her wits with tales of choking babies and bleeding toddlers. When the children were very young, our library had a small concert series featuring a local quartet.

The stories were read by the paid librarians, but I believe the other programs were run by volunteers. As I understand, anyone may present a program at a public library, as long as the program is open to the public. And perhaps these are services that a library should provide.

In the next village, which no doubt received a massive state grant for its library, the facility includes a 300 seat theater, two smaller recital rooms, and more. Programs for everyone, from babies book time to senior driving refreshers are taught. Full theatrical productions take place. Professional musicians give educational concerts with pre-concert talks. Oh, and they have books, too. In fact they have one of the largest collections in the area.

But a typical library is not just a place to find books anymore. There are DVDs. Where our local library used to charge a nominal fee--usually a dollar--for borrowing a DVD, all media are now free. The librarians complain to me about grandmas dragging children out of the library with an armful of DVDs, while having told the children firmly that they may not take out books. I have witnessed this myself. I have seen children run to the shelves only to be told, "No books today!" No books?? Isn't this a library?

***

Related:

Just read this online at School Library Journal: Cuts Hit Library Serving Kids With Autism. It seems that New Jersey's Governor Christie has proposed to cut the state budget's contribution for libraries in NJ by 74%. Draconian, or not? Should states be funding local libraries? And what precisely needs to be funded? (A librarian once told me that all fines and fees go into the local village budget, just like parking tickets and meter money, not back to the library...perhaps that ought to change?) It seems as though the library ought to have few expenses: Staff, maintenance, and purchasing. Volunteers back up the staff and work on other programs, right?

The library in the SLJ newsletter provides services for an unknown number of autistic children. The library director claims, "Our work with individuals on the spectrum will continue despite our need to balance our budget." (Good on them!!) The folks working in this program are volunteers, many of them on the autism spectrum themselves. Heck, their book club for autistic teens doesn't even meet in the library...it meets at Panera. So, the program is run by volunteers, and does not meet in the library. How will the program suffer from cuts in the state budget?

The library in the piece has had to cut back in some areas, including staffing, but is dealing with the cuts in a reasonable way. It is clear from the emotional headline, though, that SLJ has a political agenda. But for those of us who do read past the headline, there really is nothing related to the autism service that will be harmed. So perhaps SLJ has ceased to advocate for reading, and is simply advocating for money, using people with autism as an emotional tool to push their politics. After all, if one can read, one knows that the headline distorts the truth. So, have libraries ceased to be places that encourage reading?

Wishing for Wizard World

The NY Times highlights the new Wizarding World at Universal Studios in Orlando, the Harry Potter themed experience, with a brief article. The article, as one might expect, highlights the economic crisis that has hit the theme park industry (ticket sales are down), and the hopes Universal has for the Potter park to draw crowds. But what caught my attention was this passage:

Blythe Passantino, 21, followed with a tearful admission of her own: “I really wanted to live here; it was so much better than our real lives.”

Really? Let's consider the problems Harry encounters. His parents are killed by a demonic entity. That same demonic entity hounds him throughout the story. Other wizards plot to hurt him in horrific ways. Harry and his friends get hurt; some die. Die! Harry gets himself into all kinds of trouble--very frightening trouble, if it were all real. Is Blythe's life really worse than that? I doubt it.

What Blythe really wants is what only a fictional character can have: Control. Whatever is so bad in Blythe's life (and it is possible that her life is really quite dreadful, or just common and humdrum) cannot be wished away with spells. Ultimately, she will have to make decisions that change the bad things in her life, seeking real life help if she needs it. No magic will help her, but a good grasp on reality might.

Or maybe I am missing her point, and she just wants to work in a theme park?

A Tale of Two Veils

These two articles got me thinking about the difference between Catholic or Jewish head-coverings, and Muslim burkas.

Your Thoughts on Headcoverings

The Politics of the Veil

More on Graduate Education

This time, literature in particular is the topic of an essay. This piece, from The Chronicle of Higher Education, suggests that literary criticism or "readings" may impede our own personal interpretation of an author's idea, and ruin the effect the writing ought to have on us individually. Stick with him through the example of Marx as literary critic, and see if you agree in the end.

Rational Science Reporting from National Geographic

Not.

Here's the headline:
Alien-like Squid With "Elbows" Filmed at Drilling Site

No sensationalism here, folks. Just the facts. And the word "Alien" coupled with "Drilling Site."

>sigh< The video is way cool. Take a look...I won't tell anyone.

Bottum's Opinion

Children's Books, Lost and Found at First Things.

It's always fun to visit other opinions, especially on the topic of children's books. See if you agree.

The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs

I love it when a great blogger who is also a way better writer than I am writes the blog post I wanted to write but didn't, as I have neither the time (it would take me months) nor (especially) the talent to do so. Besides, I don't post on political topics; she does:

Funnily enough, C.S. Lewis best described the frustration conservatives feel when trying to communicate to minorities the benefits the conservative political system has for them. As you may know, The Last Battle, which is the last book in the Narnia series, envisions a Narnian Armageddon. During the eponymous last battle, which pitches the forces of good and evil against each other, the dwarfs peel off and form their own coalition: “The Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs.”

No kidding. Read the whole thing. It's discouragingly accurate.

Overparenting

Yikes:

"Because the test results are rendered in numbers—and can thus be compared with the norm, the ideal, and the neighbor’s kid—ambitious parents may, at this point, begin hiring tutors. According to Marano, there is now a four-billion-dollar tutoring industry in the United States, much of it serving elementary-school children. (Some of the coaches sent out by Princeton Review, a leading tutor-provider, charge close to four hundred dollars an hour.) If tutoring doesn’t do the trick, enterprising parents can argue with the school that their children, because of special needs, should not be held to a time limit in taking standardized tests. In 2005, according to Slate, seven to nine per cent of students in Washington, D.C., were given extra time on their [tests]. Their scores—which were sent out to colleges, with no notice of the dispensation, alongside the scores of students working against the clock—were, on average, well above those of others."

From book reviews on the subject at the New Yorker. Read it all. You'll laugh before you quake in your boots.

Clearly, I'm not doing enough for my kids. Or maybe, just enough. Or maybe too much? Who's to know until it's too late??

Seriously, though. We know a student who "founded" a charity at age 7, plays an instrument, does research on brain surgery over the summers, has written two books, etc. How can one compete with that when it comes to college admissions? Or do colleges have a clue, and catch on to these things? I mean, I am raising renaissance kids, but I like to believe that their interests in many subjects are real, and that if I do facilitate their research and help them find summer programs and all that, I'm just doing what they need me to do, and no more.

How much parenting is too much parenting? I think that as homeschoolers, we can overparent in a more subtle way sometimes, or, as T says, we can benignly neglect our children and call it unschooling. Of course, his tongue is firmly in his cheek when he says that. So where is the balance? When does facilitating become intrusive?

A Word About the Box of "Required Reading"

...in the sidebar on the left. I just want to clarify: I often put links in that box that are a bit irreverent (like P.J. O'Rourke's column reflecting on his cancer diagnosis), or links to articles with which I do not agree but which make for good conversation with my teens. Most of the time, the articles are just interesting to me...the most common categories are music, science, politics (as close as I get to posting on such matters!), and religion, or some combination of all of these topics. Please know that some articles are from sources with advertisements which are offensive, and some of the articles are in fact offensive in themselves. That's why they are left in the box, and not put on display or quoted on the blog proper.

Just wanted to make that clear. Enjoy the afternoon.

Dickensian Post on First Things

In response to the 2007 National Endowment for the Arts report that (shocking!!) teens and young adults don't read (much):

How then should Dickens be taught? As with all of literature, he must be taught with affection, with enthusiasm, with patience, and with a taste for eccentricity. A more fitting introduction for young minds might be found in the reckless youthful energy of Nicholas Nickleby, with its hero who descends to fisticuffs in defense of a downtrodden drudge or attacks strangers in defense of his sister’s virtue. It is perhaps easier to relate to the trials and tribulations of young Oliver Twist than to sympathize with Pip. The death of Nancy is far more dramatically accessible than that of Sydney Carton, and with the former there is the advantage of a cast of colorful, evocative characters—Fagin, Bill Sikes, Nancy, Jack Dawkins, Charlie Bates, and, above all, Bulls-Eye, unite to make the novel one of Dickens’ greatest achievements.

We need to recover the lost art of enjoyment—enjoyment that is not simply mind-numbing intoxication or drooling appreciation of a television hero. Through the classics, a proper appreciation for virtue (classical and moral) may be effectively cultivated.

Read the rest. I, for one, am glad that the story of Dickens being paid by the word is apocryphal.

ETA: Try this link to the First Things article. The other is just not working, for some reason...

If You Dig a Hole...

Seriously fun mapping tool will let you know where on Earth you'll come out if you dig a hole directly to the opposite side of the Earth. Dig straight, now, y'hear?

Mongolia to Argentina, right through the center of the Earth. Yeah.

What Happens When the LHC is Acitivated?

Funny thing is, scientists have theories, but they don't really know. It's pretty exciting stuff, at least from a physicist's point of view. Steven Hawking does not think we'll see the so-called "God's (Higgs) particle." I say, Bosons for all!! But what will we really see? We may learn something very new about mass.

Trip, speculating after reading the news, suggested that it was a good thing the collider is under France...and a better thing that the Swiss are involved. I wonder what he means? ;)

Starry Sky Reflections on Curriculum

From Kim's excellent blog:

This seems to be the most difficult concept for most adults to grasp. Surely there must be a correct order in which to teach history? Nope. I tell you truthfully. Nope. If you are skeptical then order catalogs from several major publishers and compare the scope and sequence of each. You will discover that one begins with the beginning of time in grade one and moves forward in strict chronological order each grade. Another will begin with local and family history and move outward to more abstract information. Others begin with American history and give world and ancient histories a nod in junior high. All will assert that their way is critical to success and may even suggest that failing to adhere to their system will lead to disaster. This is just not so.

Right.

That 100 Species Challenge

When I came across this on Lissa's blog, I cringed. First of all, I am not a botanist. Second, projects like this are like making a patchwork quilt: I admire the workmanship, but I would not have the time and patience to pursue the project myself. Best to leave it to others, I thought. Plus, the usual muddle about common names was off-putting; and anyway, I can never remember the names of half the plants I see; and how will I blog this without it taking over the whole blog? Nope. Not me.

Then I went for my daily 2 mile walk around the village. Despite my concerted effort to listen to the Confessions of Saint Augustine (unabridged, of course) on my mp3 player, I kept looking around and identifying plants against my will. I had just passed through the childhood reminiscences of the great saint when I realized I was up to a mental count of 57 species. And I wasn't even trying. But still...reading through the rules for the rest of the project, it just seemed a bit too much for me to take on.

Then, as so often happens when I'm walking, inspiration struck (Ha! I was so thrilled with the inspiration that I forgot to stop walking until mile 3!). Instead of taking the photos myself, I would hand my camera over to the two kids who would be studying biology this fall, and let them take the photos. We could work to identify each species together. And (this is the best part!!) it took them less than 20 minutes to take photos of over 100 plants!

Here are the rules:

1. Participants should include a copy of these rules and a link to this entry in their initial blog post about the challenge.

2. Participants should keep a list of all plant species they can name, either by common or scientific name, that are living within walking distance of the participant’s home. The list should be numbered, and should appear in every blog entry about the challenge, or in a sidebar.

3. Participants are encouraged to give detailed information about the plants they can name in the first post in which that plant appears. I'll take the easy way...I'll post a list of species in one post, and link to the photos with captions via Picasa. I may include info about the edibility of each plant, just to keep my own interest.

4. Participants are encouraged to make it possible for visitors to their blog to find easily all 100-Species-Challenge blog posts. This can be done either by tagging these posts, by ending every post on the challenge with a link to your previous post on the challenge, or by some method which surpasses my technological ability and creativity.

5. Participants may post pictures of plants they are unable to identify, or are unable to identify with precision. They should not include these plants in the numbered list until they are able to identify it with relative precision. Each participant shall determine the level of precision that is acceptable to her; however, being able to distinguish between plants that have different common names should be a bare minimum.

6. Different varieties of the same species shall not count as different entries (e.g., Celebrity Tomato and Roma Tomato should not be separate entries); however, different species which share a common name be separate if the participant is able to distinguish between them (e.g., camillia japonica and camillia sassanqua if the participant can distinguish the two–”camillia” if not).

7. Participants may take as long as they like to complete the challenge. You can make it as quick or as detailed a project as you like. I’m planning to blog a minimum of two plants per week, complete with pictures and descriptions as below, which could take me up to a year. But you can do it in whatever level of detail you like.

Thanks for this, Lissa! 8-P

And away we go!

Worth Reading Today

Just a few links to online reading for today. I wonder, though...does online reading count as reading? They are questioning this at the NY Times, too.

Either way, check out these interesting news bits:
Take a Look at the New New Mass
Little House: The Musical
Make the Election Come Alive with Paper Dolls? (Dover Books)
Haystack Full of Needles Discussion
Brideshead Eviscerated

'Nuff for today, I think.