Matt’s Notes
Welcome to the first in another two-peat of sorts; linked as they are thematically, we’re running headlong into an exploration of success and failures in education… notionally, conceptually, and anecdotally. We’re glad you’re along for the ride! Please click below to get the thing entire, versus the gist of it!
Here’s hoping our overall enthusiasm is conveyed vis-à-vis the audio also!
I will own that much of the delays in production… the irregularity… have been in part to my commitments with this show, and with the other… that punk show… we have a backlog of excellent content for both shows, and I’ll be danged sure we’re getting it out the door between now and the next few days!
Spring is springing… it’s a good time to be in Atlantic Canada! Or wherever you happen to be checking this from! I will maintain that this has been a challenging topic for me… from a notes standpoint! Late on Saturday night and/or Sunday morning it occurred to me… keep it simple… and so, a few thoughts on the late American Genius Cormac McCarthy…
The Passenger & Stella Maris
I’ve been thoroughly and utterly flattened by these two books… one about a brother… one about a sister… I read the one about the sister first… it’s shorter… and deceptively simple as a dialogue between Alicia and her middle-aged male psychologist at a metal health facility in Wisconsin in the mid-70’s.
The book about the brother took me much longer… it is one of Cormac’s great Southern novels… set in a late 70’s and early 80’s world… still recognizable… yet pinwheeling backwards into the chasm of forgottenness… it contains passages which literally had me putting the book down to bust a gut laughing… some of his finest secondary characters spring to life like few confabulations I’ve encountered in narratives minor, major, and middling…
Blood Meridian
I can’t put it any better than Brendan Kelly, the Lawrence Arms, or especially Ben Nichols (Lucero). But God knows I tried…
The Road
I read this before I became a Dad, and I can’t remember if I’ve picked it up in its entirety since. Its spare, and unsparing… the reality of Cormac’s destroyed world is tangible in texture and plausibility… there is no end to humankind’s eventual and inevitable total debasement, and yet this is an extraordinarily optimistic novel.
And let’s be sure to remember that John Hillcoat’s film featuring Viggo Mortensen is a profound emotional journey which does justice entirely to the novel… Hillcoat’s involvement adds to how and why the forthcoming Blood Meridian film promises to be a cinematic event the likes of which I’ve been waiting for for as long as its been since I read that novel…
The film features a soundtrack by no less than Nick Cave and Warren Ellis… prophets of some kind of sad bastard doom if we’re going to go there…
No Country for Old Men
Another instance of a book and movie enhancing one another.
I’ve read the book at least twice and have lost track of how many times I’ve watched the film.
It’s masterful in everything that it aspires to. The novel was originally meant to be a screenplay, and it shows in the prose. Utterly spare and probably the most conventionally pulp-like of all Cormac’s works I’ve encountered thus far… this is basically the highest compliment I can pay to a work of narrative, given my background & interests over the years…
Child of God
I feel like there should be a preamble here:
It’s a novel about a ghoul. Straight up. A necrophile in the hills of Appalachia in the 1960’s or thereabouts… based as I recall reading on an actual person and circumstances, loosely…
What’s concerning about it is how readable it is… how enjoyable the prose is, and how… without moralizing an iota… it makes a clear-eyed case against violence… by persons and institutions of the state…
It’s a short, intense read… my closest, easiest comparison is to Of Mice and Men… the bucolic, sinister, country vibe… the spare prose… the emotional punch… but, you know, with a necrophile ghoul as the main character…
The Counsellor & The Sunset Limited
It’s an interesting thing. For all the successes noted above I am amazed to report that The Counsellor… directed by Ridley Scott… based on an original screenplay by Cormac… featuring Michael Fassbender and many other significant actors… including Javier Bardem AKA Anton Chigurh from No Country… the Counsellor fails in every single way as a film… that was my initial response… that it is among the worst Ridley Scott movies I’ve seen… but that was some ten years ago… and so perhaps it would be better now… I’d like to think it’s possible…
*I will also add that I think this may be a case where reading the thing as a screenplay could be a worthwhile endeavor… so… maybe I’ll just redact the entire preceding…
AND… for all that… Tommy Lee Jones directs and stars in a profoundly talkative, existentially-fraught NYC parlour room stage drama… I believe from an original stage script by Cormac… to pretty good returns… also starring as it does Samuel L. Jackson… there is much pleasure in seeing these veterans act their damned faces off in what amounts to a real-time drama of manners between two profoundly weird middle-aged men… I mean… I can dig it, as I’m a middle-aged dude! Who rules the world? ANYWAY… it’s worth checking out in and of itself for many reasons…
Doug’s Notes
Celebrating success in education
Celebration is about acknowledging special moments in people’s lives — both personal and professional — that are important to them.
An atmosphere of “all going well,” when facts warrant it, creates more energy in small children as well as in adults.
Myers, G. C. (1927). Education of Young Children Through Celebrating Their Successes (No. 26). Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education.
While it is a time honoured ritual, the presentation assembly has evolved into a generally broad, inclusive ceremony that reflects our comprehensive enrolment.
Mulheron, M. (2012). We must celebrate what is achieved in public education. Education, 93(12), 16.
… it is important that celebrations also strengthen the cognitive aims of the curriculum and provide a successful learning environment with a sense on joy and social participation.
Niemi, P. M., & Hotulainen, R. (2016). Enhancing students’ sense of belonging through school celebrations: A study in Finnish lower-secondary schools. International Journal of Research Studies in Education.
… demonstrate that campuses lack a robust Celebration, Appreciation, and Recognition (CAR).
There is a vast body of research that demonstrates that CAR improves motivation, morale, and performance within organizations.
Kezar, A., & Elrod, S. (2020). Taken for granted: Improving the culture of celebration, appreciation, and recognition in higher education. Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 52(5), 29-36.
Word of the Podcast
Celebrate
Phrase of the Podcast
Pretty damn high-quality and current!
Question of the Podcast
How shall we guarantee success to be celebrated?
Or playing in a band
And getting out of school
Meant getting out of hand
Was this your celebrated summer?
Was that your celebrated summer? #ednontech
Thanks so much for joining us! It’s not summer yet… but it’s gonna be!
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