tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post7077067602098210439..comments2023-09-26T03:53:17.142-04:00Comments on Pentimento: Music and Memory, Back to School Edition: Artificial PearlsPentimentohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-43162180384805662052014-09-23T17:52:59.266-04:002014-09-23T17:52:59.266-04:00It's good to hear from you both, GretchenJoann...It's good to hear from you both, GretchenJoanna and Enbrethiliel. I honestly don't know how much good I do my students, and I'm painfully conscious every day that I'm not only casting artificial pearls, but that I have poor aim and throw like a girl. I think a lot of teaching is putting your game face on and faking it. It certainly is for me.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-45510751215108684252014-09-23T14:30:13.141-04:002014-09-23T14:30:13.141-04:00+JMJ+
Your story about your dissertation adviser...+JMJ+ <br /><br />Your story about your dissertation adviser reminds me of a similar relationship I had with an old family friend. But my mentor was a lot pushier and more direct: when I finally disappointed her (which didn't take long, people's high expectations of me making me prefer to bomb badly than to achieve only 99.99%), I <i>knew</i> it. <br /><br />What I had liked about the short golden period of her favor was knowing that someone believed in me, when most other people seemed not to. But at the same time, I chafed under her vision of what my life should be. It took me a long while after our falling out to be able to answer directly when people asked me what I do for a living. Even now, I have to consciously remind myself that if they, like her, think my perfectly decent job is "beneath me," that's not <i>my</i> problem. <br /><br />The twist is that at the moment, I'm considering going back to teaching--something I had thought I would never do again. My first teaching experience had been like casting pearls (both real and artificial) before the entire cast of <i>Animal Farm</i>; my main takeaway was a sense of the absurdity of it all and the ultimate futility of my actions. But I keep running into things like Mrs. Darwin's post about reading <i>Jane Eyre</i> for the first time with her daughters, in which she writes about the safe space she has created for them to experience what it is like to deal with some terrible examples of humanity, and I remember old ideals that I hadn't even realised I had forgotten. I don't know if I will ever be able to do, in a classroom setting, what she is doing in her home . . . but I suddenly long so much to try. <br /><br />Oh, by the way, I'm studying German these days! I'm still very much a beginner, but I think I can definitely get more out of <i>Komm, Lieber Mai</i> now than I would have been able to last year. =) Enbrethilielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03414765854670926854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-33290599403950364582014-09-13T05:47:37.025-04:002014-09-13T05:47:37.025-04:00I will be musing on that pearls/swine quote for a ...I will be musing on that pearls/swine quote for a long time, I think.<br /> It speaks of the love of our Father that He gave you this gift of music...and how wonderful that you are able to offer it to your students.GretchenJoannahttp://www.gretchenjoanna.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-20378047624728402802014-09-08T16:03:05.417-04:002014-09-08T16:03:05.417-04:00Oh, I love this story.
I read that when Dame Nel...Oh, I love this story. <br /><br />I read that when Dame Nellie Melba toured southern Africa at the turn of the 20th century, at one stop the Zulu audience sang "Home, Sweet Home" to her, in her honor. It must have been beautiful.Pentimentohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17161146891505294679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5554498168264477884.post-22653781284241299222014-09-08T14:48:42.593-04:002014-09-08T14:48:42.593-04:00When I was very small, in Africa, we had only a fe...When I was very small, in Africa, we had only a few cassette tapes--Classical guitar, and Shaharazad, and the Lark in the Clear Air. And then, when I was a teenager, and we had a little CD player run through the solar power charged car batteries. Carefully preserved recordings of Mozart's Requiem, and Von Williams and a few others. And yes, they hold body and soul together.Annehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06944928044277724293noreply@blogger.com