Motorcycles and Bull Fights or How the Semester Ended and Summer Began

The semester is finally wrapping up for me. I am set to graduate again on Thursday, but I won’t be there. Wednesday, as many of you well know, we will be taking off on a marathon vacation. It is my intention, if all goes as planned, to be able to blog about the trip as we go. My magic brother Nick said “abracadabra” and a power cord/AC adapter that should fit my laptop appeared in his office. He sent the cord to my buddy Mike in Pasadena with whom we are staying on Saturday night this week. (Again,) If all goes as planned, the cable will be retrieved and will provide the spark necessary to power said laptop and we will be in business. So—those in the blogosphere who are anxious for a play-by-play—get excited (and cross your fingers that the cable works—and thanks be to Nicky).

This post is to get you up to speed on the two most recent books that I read. Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance and Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – Robert Pirsig

First a bit about Zen. The question is, what bit? I am torn about how to report on this book. I really liked it, but I really had to slog through it. The good parts were enough to keep me slogging as well as the fact that the book had been highly recommended to me by one of the smartest people I know, my mission buddy Brian Hall.

Here is the breakdown: As I mention in an earlier post, Zen is a travel narrative interspersed with intellectual bits about Pirsig’s philosophy of Quality. Defining what Quality is in this short post in a way that would justify how Pirsig defines it (or admits to its in-definability) is impossible. Basically, and to use his motorcycle maintenance metaphor, we, our lives, and the way we view those around us, are the motorcycle. That motorcycle, while being operated, is in a constant state of deterioration. If we don’t do anything about that deterioration by maintaining the quality of the machine, the machine will first cease to operate smoothly and eventually quit all together. Quality can be defined (in this simplistic analysis) as that spark (to use that word again) that motivates us to maintain. If we maintain the motorcycle, we will find that this maintenance (and not necessarily the object maintained) brings us joy.

So there you go. The tough thing about the book is that Pirsig seeks to carve out quality as a kind of missing link in western philosophy. So, he goes about describing the threads of this thought very thoroughly and very intellectually. This high-brow intellectualism can be daunting to the reader and, if you are just a casual reader, frankly get pretty boring. You really have to pay attention.

Two things kept me moving. The travel narrative is top-rate. The narrator and his son start in Minnesota and end their road-trip in San Francisco. The description of that journey, which includes a significant stop in Bozeman, Montana, is lovely. I really wish there was more to it.

The other thing that kept me going is that the narrator is a rhetoric professor. I had no idea that this was the case when I started reading. Much of the novel focuses on his own back story—told in a weird, third-person sort of way in which he names himself Phaedrus (there is a good reason for this, but you’ll have to read the book to find out). Phaedrus was an English professor at the University of Montana and a lot of the story is about his experiences teaching rhetoric—which, for me, is fascinating seeing as that is what I will be doing with my life as well.

So, do I recommend it? Yeah—I can’t not. Will I feel bad if nobody takes my recommendation? Not one bit. (Do I enjoy asking myself questions and then answering them?—definitely. I picked it up as a wrapping-up strategy from my mission president. Charming, huh? Yes it is.)

The Sun Also Rises – Earnest Hemingway

I just finished this novel, my first full length Hemingway. It was interesting, to be sure, and I think I would like to read another. Published in the early 20s, The Sun Also Rises was Hemingway’s first commercial success. Most of us have read The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald was Hemingway’s contemporary and friend (and later, competitor). This might help those of you wondering what the style of the writing is like. It has the same kind of bleak, spare, beauty that is present in Fitzgerald’s work, but pared back even further. Hemingway is famous for his short, non-flowery sentences and the long, simple, uninterrupted dialog of his characters.

Hemingway and Fitzgerald, as well as many other American writers and artists in the 20s, were expatriates living in France. Hemingway was a World War I veteran and was a part of what Gertrude Stein called “The Lost Generation.” The Sun Also Rises is a thinly veiled autobiography, in that sense. It is about a veteran writer living in Paris, trying to come to terms with the aftermath of the war as well as his own sense of self. He is lonely. War wounds have left him literally emasculated (eek) and the woman he loves (and who loves him) won’t settle down with him for this reason and spends her time roving.

The novel takes the reader on a trip to Spain and I guess is the reason that the running of the bulls and bull fighting became well known in America.

Like Fitzgerald novels, the characters in Sun are seldom seen not drinking. This is a part of the pathetic loneliness that pervades the novel. However, the characters in the novel use a funny word for “drunk.” When a character is drunk, they will often refer to themselves as “tight.” I thought this was kind of a funny way to express that unfortunate condition and it also shows how the use of slang changes over the years. When I was growing up the word “tight” meant something akin to “awesome.” I might say to Andy Hunt: “Dude, those shoes are tight man. Where did you get them?" I guess there are other meanings: “tight-wad” means something quite different than awesome or drunk.

Can this wise readership think of any other words that have come to mean something other than what they were originally intended?

***

I’m currently reading Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent and C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity (at Michelle’s suggestion)—so far so good.

Attempt at some interaction--the Favorite Three

When I was a freshman in high school, me and my best buddy, Andy Hunt would lay on his living room floor and try to guess the next song that would come on the 5-disc CD changer that his parents had recently purchased (and let me tell you--that thing was high technology!). You got points (it was never determined how many) if you got the right artist (there were always at lest two discs in the changer by the same band--usually The Cure or Morrissey), more points for getting the album right, and then the closer you were to the actual track--you guessed it--more points. If you actually chose the song--well, I don't know that it ever happened. Perhaps the room would have been sucked into a new dimension.

That cute story from my past aside, I know that there are several of you who read this blog who have a favorite group or maybe even a few bands or singers you like. Here's how you play this game. Think of a group that you like and then post a comment that has your top 3-5 songs by that group (I know how hard it can be to boil it down) and some words about why (optional). Then we can post in agreement or disagreement with words of our own.

I'll start:

Ben Folds is probably my favorite songwriter of all time. Yes, even more so than Robert Smith or Billy Corgan. Here are my top three songs by him:

"Selfless, Cold, and Composed"- I already have a soft spot for songs in 6/8. This song came out in the months before I left on my mission and it (as well as "Missing the War" and "Evaporated") had just the right forlorn twinge that suited me then and suits certain moods of mine now (though the other songs I mentioned were more acute back then--"Selfless" has jumped in the rankings since). It is, for me, the consummate Ben Folds tune.
"Army"- you know you can't resist those horns! This song starts off with a swear that I can't condone (though for some reason when BF swears, I can't help but smile usually--kinda like your dad swearing. It's funny!), "Army" is Ben Folds Five at their best. Harmony and Horns--that's all you need (and fuzz bass).
"Trusted"- this tune in on Ben Folds's most recent solo album. I love it. I love how he can be super funny on one track and then super serious on the next. This is one of those serious moments. When I heard this tune I knew my boy Ben would be around for a long time.

Tina and I are going to see Ben Folds and John Mayer together this summer (you got John Mayer, Nick? Tell us your fave three!). It is sure to be magnificent.

The End of an Era..?

About a year ago, my buddy who hosts jonstone.com for me (Mat Richins) got an email from Jon Stone offering $500 bucks for the domain. Yes, there are many other Jon Stones out there, I guess, and this one has his eye on my site. I scoffed when I heard--HA! I am the only Jon Stone who really matters (except that dude with the big beard who was the writer for Sesame Street before he kicked the bucket). I laugh in the general direction of your $500!

A few months later he upped the ante to $1000. My pride bubble grew--dollar signs in my eyes. If i sit on this long enough, I thought, it could be my chance at millions!

Well, as we tabulate the costs of moving, paying a rent deposit, going on extended vacation, etc., that $1000 bucks is looking a bit more appealing. So- I offered the dude $1500. He was all over it. (Man! should have offered it for 2K!). I have to give him time to drum up the cash, but it looks like jonstone.com is in its final stretch.

Fear not, dear family! I will be able to very easily transfer all of the happiness on the site to a new domain. Unfortunately, most of the good ones (stonefamily.com, thefamilystone.com, jonathanstone.com, and on and on) are taken already. Right now, the best I can do are thehouseofstone.com and jonstonefamily.com. So--your job, should you care to participate, is to vote on either of those or use your creative juices to come up with another site with an appropriate title to host the picture vault that is currently jonstone.com. You can check and see if that domain is available by plugging it into a domain availability search engine like the one here or here.

I actually like thehouseofstone.com It has a nice ring to it and works well as a place where many of us with stone connections can post pictures of our families. I don't doubt in your abilities to come up with something better, though. Go for it!

Gathering Blue & Messenger

I just finished the second and third book in the Lois Lowry series that begins with The Giver. I posted earlier about my affinity for The Giver but about my frustration at its length and failure to offer any real closure in regards to the central conflict in the novel. This tradition continues into the second novel, and (while not as prevalent) is also present in the third. These problems do not outshine the warmth and quality of these latter two novels, but still leave the reader wanting (maybe that is the point though).

The second novel in the series is titled Gathering Blue. I should mention, however, that the series is not really a standard one as series go. There are no characters that appear or speak in the second novel that were in the first. The only reference that we get to the other story at all is a mention of a young man with pale blue eyes who lives in a different village from that of the protagonist. We assume that this pale blue eyed fellow is Jonas—though he is no longer referred to by that name in the second or third book.

The third novel is titled Messenger. Because the books are both so short, I will keep a rehashing of plot elements to a minimum—what is important to know is that both books take place on the same “world” as The Giver did—a post apocalyptic Earth. Each introduce and describe different utopias in this world, though each are vastly different from each other (which is kind of cool since they are all on the same planet). Each book, like The Giver, centers on a protagonist with a special power that can be used to serve others. The books are all about how these young people come to terms with their inner power and how they learn how to use it for good.

The thing that I like about these novels is that the “broad strokes” (there’s that term again!) are colorful and bright. The picture that they present to the reader leaves much to the imagination—in other words, the reader is really only told a few details about the environments in the book and is left to fill in the blanks. Unfortunately, these broad strokes are where the novels are lacking for me as well. Lowry introduces (in all three books) potential antagonists with which a detailed conflict would be very interesting and then never uses them. It’s a bizarre choice for me, dramatically. Gathering Blue has almost no conflict in it at all—so the story arc ends up a little weird. Like The Giver it seems to end just when it starts to get good. This is alleviated a bit by the fact that Messenger deals with many of the same characters as Gathering Blue does, so we get a bit of closure on some plot points (plus the Jonas character gets a supporting role). In a word, the books are soft. If you like that kind of thing (and I am thinking particularly of you, Dad), you should really enjoy them. I did—though they all left me a bit hungry.

I should also mention here that I am halfway through Pirsig’s famous Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. I really like it—though it is a very different kind of book. It is ½ philosophy theory, ¼ self-help, and ¼ travel narrative. The theory gets a bit complicated and thick at times, but the self-help stuff is well disguised and isn’t preachy or toot-your-own-horn-y like some self-help stuff I have read. The travel narrative is the part of the book that I wish there was more of. I love reading about places and scenery—I guess I am just at the part of my life right now. Anyway, more on this book in a few weeks when I finish it.

Come on feel the Illinoise

Sears Tower pictures
Chicago looking northeast

north
Champaign church (Stake Center)
English building at UIUC

place we will probably live...(still working out the details here--notice the picture changed)

broad strokes from the heartland...

Tonight is my last night in Illinois for a few months. It has been a wonderful time. I only wish that my family could have been here to experience it with me. I have been promising detailed descriptions to help fill in some of my "broad strokes" but I guess I can't promise that tonight. Here is what I can promise. When I get home I will post all of the pictures that I took. Then you ask me for details and I promise to give them--ok?

A few moments stick out--but one overarching theme. It can be summed up by the first moment. The Art Institute of Chicago was one of the single most amazing two hours of the trip. Of the literally hundreds (maybe thousands!) of pieces I saw, I couldn't believe the difference of looking at masterpieces in person rather than in a book. This Renoir painting, for example:
I have seen it over and over again in books and on the cover of Impressionism books. Not until you see it in person can you know what it is really like and feel the power of the blue in those flowers and in the smaller girls eyes. It is incredible.

This has been the case over and over again on this visit. Sure, I saw a picture of campus on the website, I looked at the map of the towns online--but it wasn't until I was here and could experience the details of the place did those broad strokes (thanks for that term Dad! it is coming in handy!) and impressions begin to form images that were more literal in my mind. I had another moment inside the English building where I will be spending so much time over the next years. I think when wonderful people inhibit beautiful spaces, those spaces become that much more beautiful. That is how I felt about my visit to the campus. Aesthetically, it is gorgeous...but it was the people that really made it glow for me.

Finally, I would be remiss not to comment on the closing song tonight in the priesthood session. Since I was hard charging around looking for a place to live, I wasn't able to see any of the other sessions today, so I was lapping up the spirit in tonight's meeting. The "new" Be Still My Soul tonight was one of the most beautiful pieces/arrangements that I can remember EVER being sung in a priesthood meeting. I was touched.

I can't wait to return to this town. I wish that we could move out tomorrow. It makes me excited that I get to raise my kids in such a neat town. I think it is going to be wonderful for them.

February Books (and a first Fighting Illini post)

I have been holding off on this post until I finished with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, but with all the excitement of late, I couldn’t wait any longer—I only have 15 pages left anyway. First things first…big news! Most of you know by now that I was ACCEPTED to the Writing Studies MA/PhD program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I couldn’t be more relieved and excited. The U of I has a top twenty English department—which basically means that, in a relatively competitive job market, I should have my pick of universities to begin my career at in 6-7 years when I finish. Yup—you heard that right. It will take me about two years to complete the Masters and then another good four to get the PhD done (which basically equates to about 2 years of coursework beyond the Masters and then 2-3 years to write the dissertation). It all sounds very nebulous to me at the moment—but it’s true. It’s hilarious to me that when I finish I am going to have been in school pretty much continuously for nearly 14 years. Class of 2013. Ha! I guess that is what I get for taking 7 years to find the right bachelor’s degree. Anyway—that is all the groaning you will hear from me on the subject. Sure, I will be 6-7 years older than most of my classmates—but who cares? Tina is happy because Illinois has a great basketball team, and I was perfectly content and pretty much set on going when I found out that Champaign has a Chipotle. Yes!

This entry is meant as a book review. I have four more books to talk about that I have read over the last month and a half or so… here goes:

The Gift of Asher Lev- Chaim Potok

This is the sequel to the book that I read earlier in the year, My Name is Asher Lev and while not delivering in as complete of a way that the first book did, Gift was a great book, and a great continuation on some of the themes that are first addressed in Name. Asher Lev is now a middle aged man, living in France with a wife children of his own. He has experienced a bit of exile from his community in New York due to the controversy of his art and while embittered by this fact, he remains a devoted Hasid while continuing his (still often controversial) work oversees. Gift is about Lev’s return to his home community, a mid-life crisis he goes through trying to remain “fresh” as an artist, and to what extent he is willing to sacrifice a part of himself to his God.

The Gift of Asher Lev is great and I had read that it was the second book in a series of what was intended to be three books but that Potok hadn’t yet written the third. The plot of the second book is left wide open at the end and almost begs a sequel. Imagine my disappointment when a little research uncovered the fact that Potok died of a brain tumor five years ago.

The Handmaid’s Tale- Margaret Atwood

I saw a copy of this book on the shelf of one of my former professors. I had very much enjoyed the class and trusted her judgment on books and so, because the fame of this novel also precedes it anyway, checked out a copy of it from our campus library. I’ll say right up front that this isn’t a novel for everyone. I can’t recommend it. But it was an interesting dystopian look at the future. Basically the gist is this: World War III (or whatever you want to call it) has occurred and what the US government is defunct. What remains is a throwback to Old Testament traditions and culture—very patriarchal and debasing towards women. It goes much deeper than this—there are very strict rules that must be lived by, only the elite have access to media and what media there is controlled (1984 style) by the government, etc. etc. Anyway, the story is about a handmaiden who is assigned to a family as a concubine to the man of the house. Many of the men and women of the community have become sterile due to the radiation of the war, so such measures are put in place to stimulate the population growth. The Handmaid’s Tale is an accounting of this society and tells of the escape of the protagonist to an Underground Railroad kind of asylum. Anyway—very interesting—some questionable content—you could probably skip it and be ok.

The Pearl- John Steinbeck

The Pearl is another novella, much like the Red Pony, and despite it being very widely read in jr. high/high school, I never read it. So, I read it in a few hours (it’s really short—I am not a fast reader). It is a great book! Definitely read this one. The novel examines a classic theme: what in life is of true worth? The book is about an indigenous Mexican tribe who live in huts on the beach. One blissful and perfect morning (blissful and perfect because of its complete and total lack of remarkableness), the protagonist’s infant son is stung by a scorpion. Having no money, the man takes his son into town to the doctor who refuses to treat his son (indirectly) because he has no money. When the frantic father finds a large and valuable pearl in the bay close to his home, what should be new found fortune turns quickly sour and the family finds themselves struggling to understand the true weight of monetary wealth.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn- Mark Twain

Even getting an English degree from a major university didn’t ensure that I read this book from cover to cover. Seriously, sometimes I think that I was terribly undernourished as a high school English student. Don’t you usually read Huck Finn as a sophomore or something!? Anyway—I can’t believe it took me this long to read such a marvelous, tragically sad, bitingly satirical, and heart-warmingly (warmingly?) moving novel. If you haven’t read it, you must. If it’s been since you were a sophomore that you read it, read it again. Anything I try to say about it here won’t be able to justify how good it is. Huckleberry Finn is a walking paradox. He is at once the most stupid and the wisest person in his universe. His decisions and actions are completely ridiculous, but totally logical. He has no moral compass, but he is consistently the character with the most morals in the book. I love it; I love it; I love it! Can’t wait to read more Twain.

Riddles

Well, I read Bourne Identity for about 100 pages... eh. I'm sure it's a great book. I just kept thinking--I'd rather just watch the movie. Pretty lame for those of you who might have actually read it through. Oh well.
I've switched to the Asher Lev book and must say that I like it much more. The protagonist doesn't wield any handguns with silencers and there haven't been any car chases yet, but--well--what can I say? I get just as much excitement from a book about religion and art. Snob? Probably. The book has more great stuff about the paradoxes in life--especially religious life. It mentions riddles on several occasions and one that I liked was this (each phrase has a different answer and each has to do with life):

One I don't know
The second I don't see
The third I don't remember

I'd be interested to hear some of your guesses. I am horrible at riddles, but I know there are some smart people in this family. I'll post the answer in a day or two.

As most of my readership (of 4) knows, I got an unofficial acceptance from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York today. I was telling Tina this evening that RPI is probably tied with UT Austin for my top choice as their program emphasizes nearly every aspect of rhetoric and communication that I find most interesting: visual rhetoric, graphic design, web design, etc. The riddle here is that tuition is over 30K a year, so we can't afford to go there unless we get funded; we might not. Only 6 students are offered funding of the 12 or so admitted. There are other riddles: Troy, NY is part of the Albany 2nd Branch (gulp) and Troy is 2,500 miles from Tucson and 2,200 miles from American Fork. The move alone would be a monumental undertaking in and of its self.

But can I just say this? I got accepted to something prestigious. It feels really good.

Guide to books- January

I must say that I have enjoyed the recent surge of Stone bloggers. It’s fun to keep up with my siblings in their almost daily posts. I am enamored by Michelle’s wit and frankness and also by Nick’s sense of humor and interest in film and audio stuff (not to mention, Brandon's debut post basically proving how smart he is :)). They are good people and I am glad to be their brother. Keep it going!

I have been meaning to do a book report, as the count of books read since I began student teaching has now reached four (in three weeks—ain’t bad!). I have thoroughly enjoyed each of the books for various reasons—though I don’t usually keep reading a book that I am not into (Angels & Demons by Dan Brown was near exactly the same story as The Da Vinci Code plot element-wise—I was glad that I read the second story in the series first because I quit reading A&D, no offense Brown lovers.) Anyway, what follows below is a brief accounting of the four novels and what I liked about them.

My Name Is Asher Lev- Chaim Potok

I have been hearing about how great this book is for a long time now. A couple in my ward whom I respect go as far as to say it is their favorite novel of all time. All I had heard about it before (and before I read/listened to Potok’s The Chosen over the summer) was a bit of controversy when Nick’s high school English class read it and a few parents were offended. Anyway—as I mentioned in my last post—I really enjoyed the book. It explores the conflict and paradox of clashing traditions: in this case, the tradition of orthodox Judaism and the equally dense and multilayered tradition of fine art. The story, in essence, is how this paradox plays out in the life of Asher Lev—an prodigical art genius and a strict Hasidic Jew. While the book appeals to me on many levels, I was particularly struck by the fact that Asher manages the paradox. Many successful stories (and I hope that this doesn’t give the book away—I don’t think it will) might center on how one piece of a persona must be sacrificed in order to let another flourish. In Asher Lev’s case, the story might have written so that either religion or art might have to be (difficultly) sloughed in order to become something more true—a real artist or truly devout. But Asher remains, unequivocally, both… even though the decision to do so requires significant sacrifices. The Chosen deals with a similar theme, though in this case it is intellectualism instead of art and the character does seem to make a choice.

Anyway as a man of devout, religious convictions but also as a man with strong feelings and opinions about the beauty and importance of art (and the importance of intellectualism), Asher’s story was one of inspiration. Managing the paradox is possible though it requires significant discipline and maturity (which I often lack). For some reason it rings the same chord as a conversation that I have had with my dad a few times about the importance of understanding the exceptions in life. Anyway, a good friend of mine recently read the book as well and though we usually agree about books, she didn’t care for it as much as I did. So, though I recommend it highly, I recommend it with that one caveat.

The Red Pony- John Steinbeck

After reading East of Eden a few years ago, my dusty, freshman memories of the Grapes of Wrath and the lingering adolescent distain that it left could no longer be justified. I was a bonafide Steinbeck fanboy—so much that I thought that maybe Steinbeck could be my focal point for graduate school. I subsequently bought all the Steinbeck novels I could find at used book stores and am only now getting around to starting to read them. Red Pony is a novel that I think most people read as a young student—maybe even in middle school. And I can see why—its short, and could even be classified as a young adult novel since it centers on the life of a pre-teen Jody. But it really is a great book—and surprising. For those of us not into lame books about a boy and his animal and the coming of age that is sure to happen because of their tender relationship, no worries—this isn’t that book. In fact, the book is episodic and each of its four or five chapters is different stories that aren’t really connected. They could be read completely autonomously. The red pony is only present in the first story. What is present in all of the stories, however, is Steinbeck’s lush and beautifully familiar Salinas California-in-the-early-twentieth-century landscape. Familiar because he tends to set a lot of his book there (Salinas could be thought of as its own separate character in East of Eden). The Red Pony is a quick but poignant read and would be a great book for you book clubbers out there who want your classics in small dosages.

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Other Stories- Stephen Crane

When I mentioned in my “best of 2006” entry that I had discovered Stephen Crane, and that he had become one of my favorite writers, I admit that I was making this declaration after only reading two of his short stories The Open Boat and The Blue Hotel. I have still yet to read his most famous work, The Red Badge of Courage, but will—oh yes—I will. The stories that I had read as a part of my American Lit after 1860 survey class were striking in their imagery, language, and their stark sense of reality. Crane is a realist and his stories are portraits of life at the turn of the twentieth century as it really was—no gloss or silver lining. The stories, however, often center around a character who is exhibiting courage and the majority of the stories in the Maggie collection are of this type. I admit that Crane is, for me, advanced reading. I have to sit with my Oxford English dictionary close at hand to look up all the words that I don’t know (a habit I have tried to get into since my vocabulary baptism of fire while studying for the GRE). But the reading is rewarding and the stories are memorable. One of my favorites in this collection is titled The Monster and is about a free black man who is severely burned while saving a woman and her son from a burning house. He doesn’t reemerge into the town until after the hubbub of praise for him has passed and when he does reemerge he isn’t recognizable any longer as the fire has burned off his face. He’s also gone a little coo-coo. So it ends up being one of those funny/sad/ironic stories as the burned guy goes around unknowingly terrorizing the town who has just finished praising his name.

Twilight- Stephanie Meyer

I have been meaning to read this vampire book for a few months now as it was one of the books that were praised often last semester in my Young Adult Lit class. Two things hastened the process. I did a little research on the author and discovered that she is a BYU grad and lives in the Valley here. So that was the first thing that got me interested—an LDS author writing vampire books!? But Meyer is so charming! Read a bit about her here and you too will think the same thing. Second, Tina’s book club decided to read it—so I checked it out. I am kind of embarrassed by how much I liked it because it is definitely a romance and also definitely for a target audience of teenage girls…but I found it fascinating—for one reason in particular: on many levels it is a book about abstinence. Consider this: Girl meets boy. Boy is nearly insatiably attracted to girl—he’s a vampire after all. Girl finds out that boy is vampire, but a “good” vampire who is lives with a group of other vampires who have all decided to give up biting people and feed rather on animals (“Fish are friends, not food!”). Boy struggles mightily to first not start relationship with girl and then (because of course he does) to not bite her! It sounds kind of cheesy as I write it, but seriously: it’s a good, fun, book set in both Washington and Phoenix (two of our favorite places!). And the abstinence thing is subtle—I don’t even know if it was intentional, but it still adds some extra depth to the story. Read it, especially if you like long, detailed descriptions of really attractive dudes (you know I do!).

So that’s it for now. I have picked up the sequel to Asher Lev called The Gift of Asher Lev but also thought I’d give the Bourne series a try. I haven't done much action/adventuring in my reading endeavors, so I thought-Why not? I really like those movies and have heard that the books are different and well done. I started The Bourne Identity last night.

Tales of a 7th Grade Nothing

I'm back in full swing with student teaching, working at the center, and bishopric duties--all at full tilt. It's going well, but the all day--often 12 hour--schedule is pretty rough. The kids in my classes are pretty good though and it's funny to remember middle school. It is SO much different than high school. Here is a funny conversation I had with a student in my 4th hour class (keep in mind that this is 7th grade):

"Did you know that my brother and sister are models?"
To which I replied, "Hmm... that sounds an awful lot like a brag to me, wouldn't you say?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well--it's kind of like saying 'My parents are really rich!'"
"Oh. Well, my parents ARE rich!" she said with a giggle.

Silly girl.

My own son said this to me on my first day of being gone from 7am-9pm. He was in my room trying to fall asleep on my bed (this is the current protocol as the kids have a hard time falling asleep in the same room--they just talk to each other--so we just move Seth into his own bed when he falls asleep) and this is what he said when I told him I had been missing him all day:

"I've been missing you too, Daddy--'cause you are a really great man."

At least somebody thinks I am.

He said something else funny a little while ago that he must have seen on a commercial for Go-gurts. He said that he really needed to get them because (and then he quoted from the commercial exactly) "kids on the go need Go-gurts to grow, Daddy."

I thought that was pretty funny.

One good thing about my student teaching situation at the moment is that since its 7th grade and there is a heavy emphasis on reading, the kids spend a lot of time in class doing required silent reading. I have already finished one book in the four days I've been here because of this extra reading time (My Name Is Asher Lev--I'll comment more on this book later--I absolutely loved it) and am almost finished with a thin Steinbeck novel (The Red Pony). It's nice to just read. It's also awesome that my mentor teacher is so chill and doesn't make me pretend to be doing something more productive when there isn't anything to do. In fact, I am typing this during our third hour prep. While very time consuming, this semester should be pretty low-key...which is exactly how I wanted it.

Guide to 2006

I wanted to get my two cents in on my greatest influences in music, film, and books during 2006 as it seemed a year of shifts and new experiences. You may or may not notice that many of these things were not new in 2006, rather they were new to me in 2006.

Music:

1. Alison Krauss and Union Station featuring Jerry Douglas- I posted about my discovery of this great singer and bluegrass band earlier in the year and my respect and love for the music, especially as egged on by Dave Bertoglio, has only grown. Alison Krauss and her band have been around forever, so they are nothing new, per se, but for some reason, their music just clicked for me this year. It’s funny, because there were inklings years ago that I might like this kind of music when Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? and their song “Man of Constant Sorrow” came out way back in 2000 (There exists a video tape of me and Nick singing this tune together at my parent’s house in Laramie). But it has taken me this long to jump on the horse (as it were). And while I really love Alison’s signature voice, it is really the other elements of the band that have grabbed me. I have to admit that I have become quite the bluegrass fan and can’t help but perk up whenever I hear a banjo and though I now know the instrument that Jerry Douglas plays is called a dobro, I didn’t know at first and thought that he was making a regular guitar sound that way. I have since also learned that he is considered the best dobro player in the world. I have enjoyed seeing him play with and sans Krauss on such programs as the wonderful James Taylor tribute concert that aired on PBS over the holidays and playing with Garrison Keillor’s band during his New Year’s Eve special. I look forward to seeing them in concert someday.
2. Sufjan Stevens- At the end of 2005, I had only just begun listening to the radio program All Songs Considered and was officially hooked on it after listening to their annual “best songs of the year” countdown. Sufjan’s 4^th album Illinois was consistently being ranked in the number one spot, so I knew that I better hop on the bus and see what the fuss was all about. It is safe to say, now, that Steven’s (a former creative writing major) sometimes pop, sometimes not music was very much the soundtrack of my year. I have listened to the songs on each of his albums (as well as all of the songs from his Christmas songs collection) hundreds and hundreds of times. I wonder if it will be hard for me in the future to listen to his music and not think about Norton Anthologies and the ASU shuttle. I am now (as well as every other kid in America) a life long fan and can only hope that he completes his 50 States album project. Check out this performance from Austin City Limits. This too.
   
3. Iron & Wine- One of the shifts that occurred for me this year was a shift toward more quiet, acoustic music. In addition to the five groups listed here, I have found myself listening to more classical and jazz music and spending much more time with my own acoustic guitar (I even bought a new one this year!). Iron & Wine is, essentially a guy named Sam Beam. And while he is in the same genre (maybe) as some of the other artists that I have mentioned here, I think that he is very different. His music is almost like a whisper when compared to these other groups. I love it. His collaboration with Tucson’s Calexico and the album that they produced (In the Reins) along with Beam’s 2004 album Endless Numbered Days got top spots in Ipod consumed tunage this year.
4. Jose Gonzales- Gonzales was a late entry for me, but he stuck fast. I don’t quite know what it is about his 2005 album Veneer that moves me—especially since I am usually not very complimentary towards overly short albums (his clocks in at just over 30 minutes). But it does—move me, I mean. The songs are short and soft, but they are intense. His guitar playing, which is entirely done on a classical guitar, is droning and full and his voice is melodic and has a comforting quality to it. Besides Alison Krauss, his music is the easiest for me to recommend and it has almost universal likability. I missed seeing him in concert at a very small venue in Tempe last autumn—mostly, I think, because I had only really head of him when he came through. I didn’t know!
5. James Taylor’s complete catalog (instead of just his ever-present Greatest Hits album) has come to be much more meaningful to me this year(especially songs like: “Don’t Be Sad ‘Cause Your Son is Down” and “Frozen Man” but with new respect for “Sweet Baby James”). I have always been a fan, but JT has now moved to everyday listening status.
6. The Decemberists- In a lot of ways, Collin Meloy is, for me, this year’s Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie/Postal Service). The dudes look like they could be brothers, but this added to the fact that they both sport high tenor voices and front post-Indie rock bands kind of seals the deal. The two artists’ music, though, is quite different. The Decemberists are to Irish seafaring folk music what the Postal Service are to the Pet Shop boys. My dad would be proud to know that with the help of bands like the Decemberists, the accordion is making a comeback.
7. John Mayer’s “Stop this Train” Off the 2006 album Continuum (also a big album for me last year), might just be my favorite song of the year. For some reason, the lyrics to this song got to me. I think it may have something to do with the fact that John Mayer and I are nearly the same age (he is only four months older), share the same first name (which he refers to in the third person in this song), and it is a song about getting older and not knowing what to make of it. Plus it is one of those songs that you can listen to over and over without getting tired of it. John Mayer is consistent—but he always manages to be innovative as well. I loved his Trio album—who can’t get behind a lyric like “Gravity is working against me; gravity always gets me down”?—and (maybe minus “Waiting on the World to Change”) really love Continuum. I also just found out that he was nominated for 5 Grammys this year.
8. Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”- Is Gnarls Barkley a fad band? Probably. Was “Crazy” one of the best songs of 2006? Absolutely.

Movies & TV:

I don’t know that I can go to one or really even a group of movies as being stand out for me this year, but thought I should mention that due to the amazing Tivo ability to search and record any movie you may have ever wanted to watch in your entire life—ever. So, this year, I have tried to watch as many of the classics as I could find.

Tina and I have also enjoyed 24, Lost, Heroes, Scrubs, and only recently (technically not qualifying for this 2006 report) the Office.

Books:

While you might think that a Literature major would have read a lot of books in the past year…well you’d be right. I read like crazy last year. My favorites were: Moby Dick, Empire Grill, Cold Mountain, The Chosen, Life of Pi, and the Giver. I also discovered a love for American author Stephen Crane, English legend John Milton, and found out what the big whoop is about Mark Twain. I have also tried to start reading my Best Short Stories series and made it through 1989 and can’t wait to read the rest of them.

Websites: see my “Waste Your Time on My Dime” entries below.

Let's go away for a while...Holiday update

Tonight, finally: a lull. It has been a busy season. Classes ended for me on the 15th, and with what I thought would be another successful semester in the hole (and it was! Straight As and summa cum laude are now mine!), I started the process of—one by one—finalizing my applications for graduate school. Wisconsin Madison, Pitt and the U of A were all due on the 15th, Rensselaer was due on the 1st and I tossed the application for Texas in the mail this afternoon (hoping that the Ford holiday doesn’t foul up the postmark requirement). It has been a good time here in Tucson—though it’s hard not to miss my family during Christmas. Here is an excerpt by Dave of a letter to Scott on his mission that sums up a lot of the holiday activities:

Well, we had a snow adventure yesterday. With all the rain (and consequently snow) recently there was a bunch of snow on Mt. Lemmon. We had gone up to Mesa Friday for a doctor appointment for Maryn and went to the temple. On the way back to Tucson, we stopped at Matt and Mindy’s house and they loaned Tina a few things for the snow; boots, gloves (“glums” Seth calls them), bibs and a cool sled which is like a boogie board with handles. So we left home about 3:30 and passed hundreds of cars pulled off the side of the road as low as Bear Canyon picnic area. We trudged on up to the Mt. Bigelow road to the meadow there. There weren’t as many cars there but the road was icy and we drove up as far as we could and then parked and walked a hundred yards or so. You might recall that the meadow is in the shade and when the wind blew, the snow on the tree branches came down on us. Yeah, it was cold. But Seth loved it and rode down the hill on the sled with Jon several times (he made a snow angel with Rachel too). He would dig his heels in at the bottom to stop and spray them both with snow. I took Maryn down a short version of the hill and she liked it too. Jon HAD to start at the road above us and go all the way down by himself. When he hit the first bump he caught some glorious air and landed hard on his coccyx (pronounced “kok-kicks”). He was injured… injured bad… and is sore today. Carlie and Trevor came up and met us there and Trevor rode down the hill a couple of times. It was very fun but Seth was very sad that we did not build a snowman. But it was getting colder and dark (and Mom and the sisters had about had it) and the snow was pretty powdery. Besides, we pretty much had had all the fun we wanted to have. At one of the pull outs someone had made a very cute snowman and people were lining up to have their picture taken beside it (On the ride down we drove into the sunset up to a long line of cars lined up at the Houghton/Catalina highway intersection. Maryn screamed the whole way. My theory is sore ears from altitude change. But when we got home Mom made TWO kinds of soups to warm us up (clam chowder and ham and potato). Yum.

We have been doing some serious chillaxing here these days. Playing Mexican train (a domino game), Settlers of Catan, Apples to Apples, watching DVDs, playing Nintendo (including Mom’s favorite, Tetris), staying up late, getting up late and eating… a lot. On the Jon Stone Coke Zero can count, he is currently at about 35 for the vacation. He is hoping for a record. He also is rockin’ on Picmin 2 (a game he claims he bought for you last time they were down—it was only $10 at Circuit City). This week we are going to paint over the drywall repairs that Handy Manny George made for us and probably put the decorations away. Seth loves to play Nintendo. Just give him a controller (plugged in or not) and he will have a great time. He also loves the DVD “The Polar Express” and we have already watched it while drinking hot chocolate. It’s his new favorite movie.

Anyway—back to Mesa tomorrow. The Illinois application is due postmarked by Friday and then it starts again on the 15th. Writing these letters and spending so much time looking at the University websites and faculty articles that have been published is making me excited at the prospects of getting in somewhere. Every school that I have applied to has its virtues and so far I haven’t felt like I have wasted any time or money (though the money thing is huge—I figure that by the end of the process it will have cost us as much as a semester in school costs to apply to grad school.). It’s hard not to dread the possibility of not getting in anywhere. Another seminary-like rejection. We found something out, though, recently that helped to curb some of that dread. We discovered that school districts in Texas hire teachers for almost 10K more per year than they do in Arizona (around 38K a year) and housing there is half as expensive. This perked me up a bit—all that I have really wanted in all of this is to have a job that I enjoy that pays enough for us to be able to buy a house and not have Tina work. So, it looks like we have a very viable plan B.

So that is the update. Stay tuned above for the best of 2006 entry. Coming soon.

Radiohead dissertation pipe dreams

I haven't posted in a while. I have been so busy with life and school and such. As I am finishing up the first two of the fifteen graduate program applications (University of Wisconsin, Madison and University of Pittsburgh: both due Dec 15), I came across this posted on one of Madison's student's web logs:

And I’ve often had the nagging thought that one could, if one wanted to, place the trajectory of Radiohead’s career up against my maturation as a reader. Not unlike the recording of the sounds in Brandon’s room as they wound up superimposed over Pablo Honey. (These are the thoughts of super-fandom—thoughts that, once written down, aren’t just cringe-worthy, but are downright sickening). I’ll admit it, I’ve thought to myself: “The narrative impulse behind the traditional rock formula that drives The Bends speaks to my realism-driven style of reading, one that requires texts to be clear, well-framed windows onto a coherent, objective event. You know, like folksy, narrative rock songs. OK Computer complicates this in interesting ways by not only providing a commentary on our contemporary hyper-media-saturated frustrations, but by also experimenting with more expressive and performative venues through which to enact those hyper-media-saturated frustrations. Kid A messes with this even further by embracing the artificiality of our hyper-media-saturated historical moment and providing opportunities to occupy expressions that are simultaneously deliriously happy and frustratingly violent within that constructed environment. Meanwhile, Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief ask us to shape responsible ways of living within those hyper-media-saturated conditions.” Oh, yes, these are the artifacts of super-fandom.

All this is to illustrate the shape of the Radiohead essay I’ve always wanted to write. Since I’ve been thinking about dissertations a lot lately, I’ve thought about the essay in even grander ways: a book with chapters each dedicated to one album, unpacking each song in ways that provide a method for reading that we would be able to see a younger Adam beginning to shape. It would be BuildungsRoman meets critical theory. Then I blink those thoughts away.

Not until I recently read an article by Mark Greif in n + 1’s third issue (an older issue, I know, but I’m slow to these sorts of things) did I think I could write that essay in a way that would make anybody care. I found myself reading his essay, “Radiohead, or the Philosophy of Pop” with skepticism at first, thinking to myself, dammit, why didn’t I write this?! Then, on second read, I began to see some of the approaches he makes toward Radiohead as, well, downright honest, tiny gems.

There’s an unrest present in Radiohead that many are quick to notice. They have made an art out of packaging panic and using the soundscape of popular rock against itself, while trying to identify what sort of will listeners can retain while complicit within that soundscape. My results often end up something akin to a cynical shrug: yep, contemporary pop music is damned, so I might as well go down with the ship. Rarely do I get the satisfaction Greif manages to carve out in his essay.

He puts his finger on it, I think, when he uses Hail to the Thief to illustrate how Radiohead tries to coax the listener into not just commentator on, but as active participant in the political ramifications inherent in a media-saturated culture mediated by the artificiality of the modes used to provide form to cultural artifact. Radiohead isn’t just saying “look at how screwed up it all is;” they’re also saying, “learn how to ‘consume’ responsibly.” I find this very helpful when listening to Radiohead on the bus, after a long day at work, using their music as a form of escapism.

I’m just wondering, though, if such a philosophy comes equipped with a methodology coherent enough to provide way(s) of navigating such consumption. Or if its enough for a philosophy of pop merely to point out that we must, in some nebulous way, be more responsible consumers. I’m uneasy with both of those positions, but feel as if the repercussions are far-reaching and important, well, necessary to fashioning a philosophy of pop. All this is to say: how can a philosophy of pop provide a method that doesn’t expire with the relevancy of the pop (music, culture, etc.) used to construct it?

This is the kind of stuff that I hope to one day be able to write. Even though he is almost in jest--it's still awesome.

Waste Your Time on My Dime (part two)

Today is the music edition of Waste Your Time on My Dime (part 2, I guess). I am currently going through a gigantic list of vocabulary words—trying to study them for the GRE that I am taking in three weeks. I can’t believe how quickly it has crept up on me…so anyway, this is my noontime reprieve.

NPR’s All Songs Considered

Since discovering this show as a podcast a year or so ago (in fact I think that it was last Christmastime’s “Best Songs of the Year” show that got me hooked), I have listened to it almost every single week. Today as I have been studying, I have been catching up on the last several weeks of the program and am again reminded how much I enjoy it. Bob Boilen, the host and DJ of the program, is a musician himself and unlike most radio personalities, his genuine tastes and interests are articulated in a way that make the listener want to be fans of the songs that he plays. His show is a wonderful mix of the old and the new. He takes time to give histories and make musical connections—often genealogies—of the songs and artists that he plays. This week’s show, for example, highlights the work of contemporary folk musician M. Ward. The show is awesome, though, because first, M. Ward himself is a guest DJ. Bob Boilan, a genuine fan of M. Ward asks questions of the musician that fans would want to know. M. Ward is also given the opportunity to play music that interests him which leads to an exploration of songs by Roy Orbison, the Beach Boys, My Morning Jacket and others. But again, the show is great because it peels the musical layers that are always present in recorded music back and allows the listener to peak into the cracks. Also, the concert series is both extensive and supurb. Really, really cool stuff.

Last.fm

Last.fm is many things. First and foremost it is an audioscrobbler database which means, basically, that, with your permission, it collects information from your computer’s audio player (WMP or Itunes) as you play your music and tabulates which artists and tracks you are listening to most and organizes this information in a fun format on their website. The fun part of this process is that it then connects you with people who share your same musical interests and you can check out the groups that they are listening to that you may not have heard of—so it is a gateway to finding new music. Also, you can have “friends” which allows me to see what my buddies are listening to. (Who would have thunk that Aaron Bell was a Justin Timberlake fan?) Finally, if you are away from a computer that has all of your music on it, you can listen to last.fm radio which plays tracks that it thinks you might like based on the music you are listening to that it has collected. Amazing! View my profile at http://www.last.fm/user/jwstone/

Pitchfork Media

Pitchfork is a music news site that focuses on—well—I don’t really know how to describe it. It’s not really what I would call an “indie” music website, although the majority of what it reviews and critiques might be considered independent. Honestly, I am not familiar with the majority of the bands that are highlighted by Pitchfork (I am not very cool, you know), but I do know that when I am familiar (or want to become familiar) with the bands, the writing is excellent and the reviews are fresh, honest and often really funny.

KEXP

KEXP is a Seattle based independent radio station that it just completely and totally cool. The website has a live, streaming radio feed which makes it a great place to hear new bands and old favorites.

Finally, there are a few (usually fan produced) band websites out there that I consider to be exceptional.

Chain of Flowers is the most comprehensive web source for Cure fans that I have ever come across. During times of high band activity, there is something new and cool almost everyday on the site. My favorite things about Chain of Flowers include the news section (of course) but also include things like the database of what has gotten played during specific tours and tour dates over the years. Anybody wonder what songs they played during the Phoenix tour of the Prayer tour? Chain of Flowers will tell you.

Green Plastic is a Radiohead website that allows for more straightforward access to Radiohead information than their official site allows. It is well done for many of the same reasons that Chain of Flowers is well done.

Ben Folds's official site is one of the few label based websites that I really like. The best part about it are the pictures that have been taken by Ben and his band on the road.

Weezer.com is another really great label based website. The only reason that it remains to be so good is that it is still written and maintained by Weezer side-kick Karl Koch. It used to be better—back when Weezer used to be better—but it is still a reliable source for the =w= fan in you. I do miss the old "Karl's Corner" days, though.

Finally, I have to mention Myspace’s one good quality. When Jon and I were playing around town with Lancaster a year or so ago, Myspace became a very useful tool of local music discovery and networking. There are some really great bands to discover in the Valley (and in your city too) if you look around a bit. Can’t say that I am really into Myspace as a social networking tool, though. Too much stupid crap out there that I don’t want to look at on people’s sites.

Waste Your Time on My Dime (part one)

I was thinking today about some of the magical things on the web that serve to distract me from doing productive things. This will be the movie edition of two other such posts to follow.

IMDB- If you love movies and don’t know about this site, then you should be ashamed of yourself. IMDB is the ultimate. You can search for movies by actor, director, writer, you name it! My favorite thing about IMDB is the trivia section that gives, well, trivia about the filming, script and behind the scenes factoids that movie nerds may be interested in. Dave Bertoglio loves the “goofs” section. It has rewards for the close watcher: continuity problems, on-screen set pieces, missing or mis-robed costume pieces (For example: When the Millennium Falcon is inside the worm and a tremor makes Princess Leia fall on Han Solo she says, "Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited", Han Solo is mouthing her line. The original trilogy is absolutely rife with mistakes.), etc.

Dark Horizons- A movie junkie’s haven. This site has information on new movies, deals, trailers, interviews, rumors, etc. The writing is clever and well done and the focus is on the art of film making rather than the “stars.” In other words, this isn’t Access Hollywood or ET.

Kids in Mind- For those of us fed up with the MPAA’s twisted and corrupt rating system, this site gives the reader a break down of the movies content in three categories: Sex, Violence and Language. Each of these categories receives a rating from zero to ten (zero for nothing, ten for a vast abundance of). Pirates of the Caribbean received a 3.7.2, for example, whereas Nacho Libre got a 3.4.3. Then, each and every potentially objectionable part of the movie is explained (sterilely) so that an educated decision can be made about the movies appropriateness for varying audiences.

Rotten Tomatoes- We love Rotten Tomatoes at our house! This is the end of the line when it comes to the movie critical mass. Basically, the idea here is the collection and distribution of professional critic’s opinions of a movie’s watchability. Is your time better spent, as my brother-in-law Brandon is known to say, staring at a blank wall? Each review is assigned a positive or a negative value and a percentage is tabulated based on those numbers. If the total percentage exceeds 60%, the movie is considered “fresh” if it is below that, the movie is, of course, “rotten.” Never waste your money on a crappy movie again!

Whaling in the 115 degree Desert

Its been a month or so since my last post and how I long for lazy summer days. Since my last post, I have finished my summer Shakespeare course (Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Measure for Measure, Henry VIII, and Much Ado for those of you keeping score), and make the trek up to my folk's house in American Fork. A few things about that first:

For the first time ever, I opened my eyes to that gorgeous drive. From the low desert of Phoenix to the forest environs of Flag to the high desert and strange reds, oranges and grays of Cameron and the gaping mouth of ole Grandy herself. Page, Glen Canyon, Kanab, Mount Carmel, oh my! I would imagine that living couched between Glen Canyon, Zion’s park and only hours away from the Grand Canyon would be every cliff junkie’s dream. I love how as you drive up the 89, between Mount Carmel and the 70 turn off, a creek (pronounced in my home town of Logan, UT as “crick”) accompanies you running north for miles and miles, not to mention the grassy mountain meadows and groves. Anyway—I am glad I finally noticed that.

My parents' house was lovely. It was so nice to relax and enjoy their company. Dad took us to see Nacho Libre--a highlight to be sure. "Choncho--when you are a man...sometimes you wear stretchy pants. It's for fun."

Tina and I did something different this trip. We listened to a book on CD. Chaim Potok’s The Chosen to be precise. It was a nice experience, an enjoyable novel and a great way to pass the time. Even better—I can count it as one of my Young Adult Fiction novels in this upcoming semester’s class. I also finished Richard Russo’s Empire Falls—-a great East of Eden-esque family epic. I really enjoyed it. I love books about regular people with regular problems. It takes a talented writer to make those regular things seem important and significant—-a lot like the way that we view our own lives: the significance is in the regularity. Anyway, I recommend it, oh thou thousands of my readership. Russo is the kind of author that inspires young wannabes like me to start writing that novel that they say everybody thinks that they have in them. I actually have what I think is a pretty good idea. Just like everybody else.

Another book I have finally been able to put a significant dent in because of the marvelous invention and never tiring vocal chords of the magnificent audiobook is Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (careful not to forget the ‘r’ in Herman, lest the old coot become He-man, which is actually not a bad nickname for someone with such magnanimous prose-power—“By the Power of Great-White-Skull!”). If you have never read, or never gotten past the first chapter of Ahab’s Monomaniacal Adventure here is a brief synopsis of what to expect: one chapter of excellent, steady moving plot between four chapters of another book titled Everything You Ever Cared To Know About Whaling’s Guide For Suckers Who Thought They Were Reading Moby Dick, One of America’s Treasures. It’s some heavy stuff--seriously, if you want to learn how to decapitate a sperm whale, Melville's your man. But—again, give me an hour in the car and I can knock off a good five chapters! Ahoy me hardies!

In other news, I am back to the grind of the grad school pursuit. I have narrowed my search to 10 or 12 schools and am feeling pretty good about my choices. The kicker becomes this whole GRE thing. I have good grades: a 4.0 over the last two years at ASU of my English and ed. studies, I think that I have a fairly decent writing sample and the ability to write decent personal statements—but that dang GRE! Why must it reveal my averageness when I have done so much to cover it up!? I bit the bullet and have been taking a $400 dollar prep course. As soon as I can actually talk myself out of my deranged osmosis-will-suffice study habits, I may actually make some good use of the money spent there.

Also of summer importance: the Rentals and Ozma—-two of the greatest summer bands of my youth have reunited and are touring the country together playing such favorites as Eponine (yeah, I know that is an ’03 clip, but such editing and sound quality!) and I Just Threw Out the Love of My Dreams (I know, not good editing OR sound quality—but that’s Rachel Haden and she is singing one of my favorite songs of all time with the heart and soul of Weezer, one Matt Sharp [parenthesis within a parenthesis—-yeah! See my "What Happened to Weezer" article--this blog's first post]). Ozma reminds me of being married with no kids which meant still being a kid which was fun but seems so long ago. For me they are the perfect punk-pop band--different from Weezer becasue when I first met them they were just kids. Plus, who wouldn't love a band who write songs about Back to the Future, Zelda, Natalie Portman and cover the Tetris theme? The Rentals remind me of being 18 and being a kid but feeling like an adult—-like I knew everything. Matt Sharp was always the funnest thing about seeing Weezer play. Both are great bands: if they come to your town you should go so you can tell me about it because they are coming here on a Sunday!

Gnarls Barkley= summer fun

Summer time is about harmless guilty pleasures—right ? This summer my guilty pleasure has a name and that name is Gnarls Barkley. Besides having an awesome first album with St. Elsewhere and a completely catchy single in Crazy—with a totally unique video, to boot—they are showing up in public in costumes like this, and with live remixes like this. Man oh man. It’s probably been done before—but I think that the R&B with hip-hop/sampling sensibilities is so cool! That the guys (Danger Mouse and Cee-Lo) have a sense of humor with their costuming and stuff makes the band even better. The other cool thing that I just read about them was that after 9 weeks they had their own single deleted from the top ten (as #1) to keep the public from getting sick of it and to make way for their next single. I don't think that anybody has ever done that before.

I hope to see them live.

How Rindecella Slopped her Dripper: Spoonerisms

Spoonerisms are named after the Reverend William A. Spooner (1844–1930), an English clergyman who uttered them frequently and apparently involuntarily and are the amusing result of the transpositions of sounds in a pair of words or phrases:

He referred to Queen Victoria as "our queer old dean."
"We all know what it is to have a half-warmed fish inside us."
"Is the bean dizzy?"
"When the boys come back from France, we'll have the hags flung out"
"The Lord is a shoving leopard,"
"It is kisstomary to cuss the bride,"
"Mardon me padam, this pie is occupewed. Can I sew you to another sheet?."
"You have hissed my mystery lectures; you have tasted the whole worm."

A couple of other funny ones I found:

Rental deceptionist
Hollow your fart
A lack of pies
Enron: what a crunch of books.
hot Poles
We have a plaster man
you have mad banners
Candle with hair!
well-boiled icicle
Go shake a tower
Tease my ears
bound grief

Mickey Mouse Goes Camping

School is finally out… big phew. I think that I must have spent over 100 hours working on the paper that I turned in today to Dr. Perry (Milton). Today was version 2.0, Friday was the Rhetoric paper and version 1.7—having been through three separate rewrites with Vernon at the writing center (you bet I am going to use every resource). Anyway, I am feeling o.k. about things. If I do well on the paper, I might possibly get an A in Perry’s class and therefore gain access to a good letter of recommendation.

Anyway, two cute things happened this last week with Seth that are worth mentioning. The first fun thing was that I told him that we were going to be able to go camping for our ward’s Father and Son’s outing. I was explaining all of the different things that we would be doing—setting up a tent, going to the mountains, sleeping in sleeping bags. He was so excited. But then he got perplexed and said: “Daddy, what is a sleeping bag?” So cute. So I showed him what a sleeping bag was and told him how we would unroll it and put it in our tent and sleep in the mountains. He then said, “Daddy, if we try to sleep on the mountains, won’t we just slip off?” Clearly this boy needs a good camp.

Second, a few nights ago Seth was walking around with his hand cupped, as if holding something. We asked him if what he was doing. He said that he was holding “Mickey,” as in Mickey Mouse. It was classic imaginary friend material. He would ask him questions, set him down, pick him up, speak for him, etc. So, what do I think about this?

Mickey’s going camping, baby.

Sliding through the last week of the semester

Immersed in Milton and Burke, trying to exert myself in a way that produces some sort of semi-scholarly work, I am locking in for quite a week. My blog diversions have been a way of coming up for air. So, speaking of fresh breaths of that invisible, life-giving chemical:

Check this dude out: Jerry Douglas

I have been listening to a lot of Alison Krauss & Union Station lately (a lovely accent to my almost constant diet of Sufjan Stevens, Iron & Wine, James Taylor and the Shins of late). Douglas is, as you might have already seen, the acoustic slide guitarist for Alison’s band and the guy is amazing. I have been listening to the albums lately and couldn’t put my finger on what gave that unique twinge to the amazing slide soloing going on. When I saw them play on last Friday night’s Austin City Limits, I saw Douglas in action for the first time and was utterly floored. I am a guy who has severely dissed the twang of the electric slide heard in most country music, but this is a whole new thing (and I can stand the former much more these days too). Anyway, I hope you enjoy seeing this guy in action. If you like what you see and haven’t listened to much Alison Krauss, I recommend theses two songs to start you out:

This is from Austin City Limits It shows the bluegrassiness at its best.

Goodbye is All We Have

And if you can find it, Restless is a great song too

NESsy: Our underwater ally

On Only Anything's second album SpaceCapers, Jon Thwaits busted out a cover of a tune from the NES video game Mega Man 3--that was 1994. In 2006 it has become an industry.
You can find Asian prodigies on the net working out the Mario theme on the piano or a guitar, high school bands rocking the "Mike Tyson's Punch Out" theme, and I just stumbled on this today.

Phoenix has the Minibosses. I can barely believe the close harmonies these dueling guitarists pull off (sorry about the swears in that last link, just leave the volume down until the dudes start rockin' Castlevania). I guess Jon and I should have followed that muse.
The Advantage from San Diego are pretty cool too.

What does this all say about my generation's music sensibilities?

I'm sorry, this post just keeps growing (and this is totally unrelated)--but I can't help but love this
(You'll love it too if you are into Ben Folds singing old Wham! songs with Rufus Wainwright)

revisted

The previous post has been hanging ominously at that top of this blog for a few weeks now. I have thought about writing something else just so the announcement of stupidity is subordinated by something else. But I can't help but continue to muse, unhappily on the topic. I do this for a few reasons. The first of which has to do with that feeling again being present today as I sat at the back of my grammar class. How can I feel so lost after sitting in the same class for 3 months with people around me who really seem to have caught on? What makes me different from them? So I can feel sorry for myself about this for a while, and I do.

But then I have to think about it from another perspective: How many students will I teach in the future who will be feeling this same way? Are we a majority or a minority? I think that (due to the same people always speaking up in class) that we have to be at least a small majority. I guess what I am saying is that as long as I don't let the "feeling of stupid" keep me from pressing ahead (which it, sadly, has done at times), then I have to remember the feeling—those of us on the cusp of knowledge, indeed, those of us who feel the chasm, are those who are the most humble and therefore the most teachable.

the feeling of stupid

Part of the paradox of learning is realizing how much you really don't know. It is a scary, empty, cold and echoing emotion- the realization of one's ignorance.

there comes a call...

There comes a call for renewal. For reexamination; for action inducing introspection; for being stronger and taking courage. Over the weekend I felt that call . There comes a time to end equivocation. A time for the beginning of being firm in one’s mind . So I am beginning (v) at the beginning (n) beginning (adv?) now.

My goal is to write everyday (like he suggests)
My goal is to walk everyday
My goal is to read everyday
My goal is to trust everyday
My goal is to play everyday
My goal is to exercise…everything (mind, spirit, body, heart) everyday.

Part of becoming what I am hoping to become requires courage. I remember on my mission thinking the exact same thing—realizing that the success that I was waiting for depended largely on how I spent my time (self discipline) but had even more to do with my own belief in my personal capacity to be successful. Once I made it to that place, I had success. Strange, the arithmetic growth.

As such, this site is going to change again. It can’t just be a place of discussion on one topic. It must be a place for the discussion and exposition of all the various things that I am thinking about. I can’t sit down and write every day about how hard getting into graduate school is going to be—and I want to sit down and write every day. Not that I can publish everything that I want to write here... but at least there is the motivation of that potential.

See you tomorrow.

For all intensive purposes...

Spring break is winding down here at Stone central, and I didn't get as much done as I had hoped. I did get the annoyingly long and busy-workish "Teachers and the Law" final done, which doesn't seem like a big deal now, but would have been a bugger to have to deal with on top of my other school work.
At this point, it becomes a game of deciding what layers of my many responsibilities and preparations get shuffled through and brought to the surface for some attention. I did get a chance, today, to sit down and study a bit about the GRE Literature test. The Princeton Review has a pretty decent and easily read prep book that I have been perusing through (check that html link action!). I have pretty much decided that I will also be taking a general GRE exam test prep class (which will mean that the total amount spent on the GRE after the 3 previous times, the 2 upcoming and the prep class will hover around $1000). I will be talking to Dr. Perry about these things soon, but already think I know what he is going to say: retake it and do well.

One funny thing: While watching 24 episodes this week, one of the characters clearly said "For all intents and purposes..." It blew my mind. I immediately asked Tina if I was the only one that had been saying "for all intensive purposes" my whole life not knowing that it was incorrect. She, of course, didn't make that mistake. I discovered after some internetting that mine is a very common mistake. Much like "supposebly" and a million other ways that we mess the language up by speaking it, for all intensive purposes injured me...injured bad.
Just for fun, if any of the few of you that read this can think of any other mistakes like this, feel free to comment.

Jonathan Stone’s Statement of Academic Goals

(here is the personal statement that I included today in my scholarship app)

Part of the undergraduate experience includes a sort of intellectual flailing in the rough waters of indecision and ignorance. The foil of the equation, namely decision and intelligence (hopefully leading to action) then becomes the rescue boat which, if found, carries the student toward a clear academic agenda. Finding this life boat took some time for me, but after nearly ten years in the water, I’m secure and sailing towards my goal: a tenure-track position in the field of English at a major university.
My experience in the modern academy is extensive, having attended five institutions, taking degrees from two of them, and currently being poised for two more from ASU. Because of sheer time spent, the university has lost its intimidation factor, which has given me the opportunity to view it for what it really is: an intellectual marketplace. More importantly, I see it now as a place where I really do fit; against the odds, I actually enjoy academia. In other words, I have moved from the busy market’s sideline—I now buy and sell everyday.
As a consumer of the academy, I have developed certain tastes. These tastes have been aged and informed by the time that I have invested into the institution. And like any critic, I believe that my tastes are unique, teachable and have a context that is applicable. So, when I say I want to teach English at a major university because I love to read and write, there are a variety of richer subtexts that accompany this somewhat trite declaration.
My experience in the system has led to much more careful choices, which has also led to a more deliberate academic experience than I had in my flailing days. For example, I know that I want to teach literature at an advanced level, but, because I am not yet there, I have sought out select classes that will allow me to interact with and learn from the best intellectual minds that our English department offers. I have moved away from taking classes merely for credit, and now have ulterior motives which have lead me to seek out more rigorous courses, this semester focusing on Rhetorical theory, advanced work in Milton and literacy studies. I find the process of decoding texts to be rewarding intellectually, and the scholars with whom I have selected to study are the expert decoders and deal with some of society’s most complex theories and texts. Likewise, I see myself as an advocate and teacher of writing and its many complexities, processes and theories. Accordingly, I have positioned myself in classes where those theories are taught and in situations where I can practice applying these ideas. Furthermore, I am currently the Online Writing Lab manager for the Polytechnic campus’ writing center and work everyday in person with students both applying these theories and honing my own understanding of composition practices.
I see in academia a need for better teaching, so in addition to my formal English studies, I have begun a diligent study of pedagogy. By the time I enter graduate school, I will have accumulated hundreds of hours teaching in real English settings—something that my peers will only be beginning to do when graduate school begins.
As I mentioned, my studies and instruction have led to an interest in the decoding of texts and a fleshing out of the many writing practices. These activities provide contexts for greater social questions and concerns. In other words, my studies have given me a broader perspective of the world and my place in it. This fact then also gives perspective for what teaching these subjects can do for the students who it will one day be my responsibility to instruct. I am committed to these students’ successes—they need not flail as long as I!
Finally, as I have tried to provide some of the subtexts for my scholarly interests, and speaking to my last point, I find within each of these areas, both writing and decoding texts, very specific needs to advance the academic conversation by the production of meaningful, student relevant research in the varying fields of English. As Barry Brummett, a rhetorical theorist, explains in his article Rhetorical Theory as Heuristic and Moral, A Pedagogical Justification (1984), the first audience of our research will always be our peers in academia, but our primary audience should be our students. They are the ones who will be wandering in their masses out into the society of which we profess to be scholars.
And because I am still on this side of the podium, “they” is still me. Thus, my primary goal after graduation becomes to spend the next six or seven years of my life in a respected graduate program where I can thoroughly gird my learning. But, I am encouraged now because my sail is set; my vision has cleared, my intentions have solidified, and I have already entered the discourse.

From time to time

Intimidation in advanced Literature classes is inevitable. There are always plenty of smarty-pants' as well as genuinely smart people in the class that seem to know more about the subject than I do. Or at least understand the discourse enough to sound articulate when they talk about the literature. I can usually combat this tendency with either becoming a smarty-pants myself, or by actually learning the subject well enough to make meaningful contributions to the academic discussion going on. I am having trouble doing so in my Milton class. If you have read Milton you know that he is prolific, complicated and very dense. My professor, a Harvard man, is a smart guy--and I took the class more because of his reputation than because of a Miltonist impulse. So far, just feel dumb. I don’t feel like I am among friends, and there are probably 50 people in my class, so shining brightly enough to encourage my instructor's praise will be a challenge.
*
Dr. Blasingame wrote me a nice letter of recommendation yesterday for a scholarship. He also mentioned that he knows some publishers in Utah, one of which is very famous, whom he said he would be willing to submit a finished manuscript from me. He has been such a great support to my budding interests in really all things literary. It’s got me thinking again about my short story series about my San Francisco mission experience. He mentioned that in order to submit something to these dudes, I would have to have a finished product...something at least 300 pages. I maybe have 25. Probably not even that, but still, I have started thinking about that again. I would like to significantly expand this work. I think that I will take a creative non-fiction class this summer, in fact I would really like to try to make the project part of my summer activities, among GREing, and finalizing where will be applying to grad school.
Anyway, I really have only written about two areas of the mission (the Mission and Palo Alto), and neither with a whole lot of detail. There is a ton of stuff that I could explore:
Petaluma, Marin, Foster City, the Sunset—let alone the some of the substories: Crabtree, Mclane, Hall, The Great Fall, etc. So anyway, encouragement sure is nice. From time to time.