[JCO:786] majors

[Oehling, Rick]

I majored in Studio Art in college. Drawing is my first love. I often feel like an Art major who is unaccountably allowed to teach English classes. (Without a PhD, no less.) Oates' wonderful book about the American painter George Bellows suggests she has an affinity with visual artists. Solstice (painting), Middle Age (sculpture), The Barrens and Because It Is Bitter and Because It Is My Heart... (both photography) all use visual artists as protagonists. And "Beasts" features artists as antagonists (?) agonists?
Anyway, it all goes in the same stew. Right now I'm listening to Ellington, and the Duke is much more likely to generate an insight into fiction or painting in me than if I were reading a lit crit article. Besides, I've grown so accustomed to reading lazy reviews of Oates that I now expect to be disappointed by them. That's why I like this discussion. Nobody sounds lazy or patronizing. Anyone have any favorite reviews of Oates? I liked James Carroll's review of What I Lived For in the NYTBR. Yikes, now I feel like God with Sodom & Gomorrah as that review was like 20 years ago, man.
Rick
________________________________________
From: tonecl...@googlegroups.com [tonecl...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Max Alberts [maxalbe...@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 10:01 AM
To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
Subject: RE: [JCO:782] Students

The film was broadcast originally on CBS at 8:00 p.m. I suppose that's why the queer stuff was modified. Imbeciles.

--- On Thu, 4/29/10, Oehling, Rick <oehl...@uww.edu> wrote:

> From: Oehling, Rick <oehl...@uww.edu>
> Subject: RE: [JCO:778] Students
> To: "tonecl...@googlegroups.com" <tonecl...@googlegroups.com>
> Date: Thursday, April 29, 2010, 12:33 PM
> Excellent suggestions. I think you're
> right that they tend to find what interests them in small
> group discussions.
> Now that we have finished the film, the atmosphere seems
> better. I think the combination of Gemini and an
> abortion in one segment was a lot.
> Interesting in the film that they had to tone down Cass
> & Eddie's homosexual bond. Can't have Dr McDreamy
> typecast too narrowly. In fairness, I think the acting
> in the film is superb, including Dempsey's. The very
> best performances, however, are Patricia Richardson's
> Gladys, Skye McCole Bartusiak's young Norma and, of course,
> Poppy Montgomery's.
> But the last third of the novel is telescoped into a few
> scenes.
> Rick
>
> ________________________________________
> From: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> [tonecl...@googlegroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Marie Kabala-Rejment [rej...@bredband.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 2:12 PM
> To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [JCO:745] Students
>
> Hi Rick,
>
> I teach English at a Swedish high school and we read "Rape"
> with year 12
> students. Wonderfully controversial and provocative. A lot
> of guys hate it
> and find it unnecessarily vulgar. What I found works best
> is to get them
> prepare and ask questions for discussion in a small group.
> That way they
> talk about things that interest them and have their own
> perspective on them.
> Only if I think they do not probe deep enough, would I ask
> a follow up
> question. It really is a very successful format that works
> and keeps them
> talking for at least 30 minutes.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Marie
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Oehling, Rick" <oehl...@uww.edu>
> To: <tonecl...@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2010 3:58 AM
> Subject: RE: [JCO:718] Childwold, NY
>
>
> I think you're quite right.
> I made them read Lessing's The Golden Notebook in the fall
> semester. That
> book is very sexually frank (and morally complex) but
> Lessing's narrative
> methods are less shocking than Oates's. However, one
> female student did say
> to me: "No, the book wasn't pornographic. But Professor
> Oehling, when you
> started discussing penis size, I had to ask myself, 'Where
> are we going with
> this?'"
> R
> ________________________________________
> From: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> [tonecl...@googlegroups.com]
> On
> Behalf Of Jeannie Dyar [paw...@att.net]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 4:05 PM
> To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [JCO:706] Childwold, NY
>
> They're shocked because an adult knows all that stuff..I
> haven't read
> "Blonde" (I've read most of her stuff...don't yell!) but I
> have taught teens
> ....seniors in high school, almost as good as college
> freshman...They think
> you're supposed to be as sexless as they assume their
> parents are...at
> present....It is my opinion, that after they adjust and
> stop thinking you're
> a perv and giggling at dirty stuff, they'll
> participate..After all, their
> high school teachers probably had to tap dance around
> anything
> too...errr...controversial...They're making the
> adjustment..Don't you think?
> Jeannie
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Oehling, Rick" <oehl...@uww.edu>
> To: <tonecl...@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 4:55 PM
> Subject: RE: [JCO:701] Childwold, NY
>
>
> Hello all
> I am currently teaching the film version of Blonde to
> college freshman. We
> already covered Ingmar Bergman (Smiles of a Summer Night),
> As You Like It
> and the Romantic poets, so Blonde was supposed to be their
> end of Spring
> semester reward. I'm enjoying it immensely and I feel the
> film holds up well
> to re-viewing. I've got plenty to say. (No surprise
> there, huh?)
> However, the students are shocked by the film. Each
> time I turn the lights
> back up, I feel like I'm confronting a pasture full of
> "deer caught in the
> headlights."  (It is Southern Wisconsin.) I don't
> watch TV anymore but I
> could have sworn that in this era of "South Park," these
> students couldn't
> be (shouldn't be?) shocked by anything. They make me
> feel like they are all
> 49 and I am the 19 year old.
> And they are not saying anything in discussion.
> Is it the bi-sexuality of the Gemini? The abortions?
> Is Oates's brilliance simply stunning them into temporary
> imbecility?
> I would be curious what the group thinks. Is Blonde a
> shocker? Can you
> think of ways I can turn this around so I'm not doing all
> the talking?
> Rick
> ________________________________
> From: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> [tonecl...@googlegroups.com]
> On
> Behalf Of adva1 [adva...@netvision.net.il]
> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 3:40 PM
> To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: [JCO:698] Childwold, NY
>
> Fans and biographers pursuit of "the writer's mind, sources
> and
> inspirational objects" can be often misleading, erroneous
> and even
> ridiculous, I always thought so, but apparently fans and
> biographers like
> nothing better than doing just that, and dismantle as much
> as possible their
> favorite writer's mind... or am I wrong?
>
> I confess to enjoying this too, but on a more serious note,
> generally I
> think it is better for the "science" of literature to
> concentrate on the
> aspects of the work of art en mass, how it affects us, what
> it does to us,
> what it is saying to us and so forth.
>
> Adva
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:tonecl...@googlegroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Virginia Bucci
> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 7:22 PM
> To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [JCO:690] Childwold, NY
>
> Here's a p.s.-- accidentally noted in a google search
> that there is a small
> town called Childwold, NY in the Adirondacks near Tupper
> Lake... curioser
> and curioser!
>
> Ginny
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Virginia Bucci<mailto:ginn...@comcast.net>
> To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com<mailto:tonecl...@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 11:40 AM
> Subject: Re: [JCO:688] Childwold
>
> Adva, you are on. This is another key item I've
> somehow missed. I'm going
> to hunt it down & read it-- we can compare notes.
>
> Ginny
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: adva1<mailto:adva...@netvision.net.il>
> To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com<mailto:tonecl...@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 4:58 AM
> Subject: RE: [JCO:672] Childwold
>
> Cyrano, thanks for the input. I did not realize Childwold
> is an antique. I
> was under the impression that it was much newer novel.
>
> thanks for the explanation of the name. you may know that
> there is a lovely
> place in England called Cotswold which (I visited there)
> has somewhat
> similar landscape as the word denotes, I am pretty certain
> that JCO borrowed
> the title of her novel from the English name.
>
> anyhow, I am raring to read the book now.
>
> Adva
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:tonecl...@googlegroups.com]
> On Behalf Of Cyran...@aol.com
> Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 1:52 AM
> To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [JCO:671] Childwold
> Hi, Adva. I read Childwold when it was published in
> the early 1970s and was
> surprised by the poetic beauty and affection for its women
> characters (the
> narrator/protagonist Kash I found tiresome.) I
> originally read the title as
> child world (a childlike slurring of "world"); formal
> definition of "wold"
> is treeless, rolling highlands. I remember reading a scene
> in which the
> young heroine (Laney?) and her mother are unpacking
> groceries in their
> kitchen and enjoying it very much, and I thought: Wow,
> ordinary, everyday
> pleasure in a JCO novel, now there's something new.
> Since then, she has
> become more practiced at it.
> Best,
> Cyrano
>
> In a message dated 4/26/2010 11:27:41 A.M. Eastern Daylight
> Time,
> adva...@netvision.net.il
> writes:
>
> What would be your take on Childwold if you happened to
> have read it, a book
> I hope to read if I can get it one of these days, and what
> does "wold" mean
> if you happen to know?
>
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
>
> Adva
>
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[Caldarera, Leslie]

Okay, so after all that encouragement, perhaps I can comment briefly on "After the Wreck,I Picked myself Up, Spread My Wings, and Flew Away." I will mention the ending, so if you haven't read the book you may not want to read further.

A young adult book, "After the Wreck" is about Jenna, a teenage girl who is in an accident with her mother who is killed. Jenna feels, though she isn't sure, that she may be to blame. Jenna's life begins spiraling out of control "after the wreck" as her loneliness and guilt lead her to make dangerous decisions involving drugs and alcohol abuse.

Refreshingly, this teenage character doesn't blame everyone else in her life for her problems and it's evident she feels powerless to pull herself together. When she finally makes a decision to help someone else, she also takes control of her life and finds unexpected help from a motorcycle riding, tall, dark and handsome "Crow." It's no accident that he's named Crow, because throughout the book images of birds are integrated with Jenna's wish to fly away into "the blue".

I admit at first I was disappointed that the Crow came along, with his typical dangerous good looks and sex appeal, characteristic lately of many male YA novels. When I started reading about him I was thinking, Ms. Oates, please don't disappoint me with this character. And of course, she didn't, how could I have doubted her? JCO doesn't allow Crow to become the typical hero; he helps Jenna, but he doesn't "save" her. He has his own demons which he ends up admitting to Jenna and even when Jenna realizes he is far from the perfect guy, she still wants a romantic relationship with him, but thank god JCO doesn't allow the two of them to develop an obsessive love for each other. Instead, both Crow and Jenna, though remaining friends, must individually follow the path their choices and life circumstances have made for them. JCO portrays them sympathetically as "accident prone" young adults who find within themselves they are individually strong enough to deal with life.

"After the Wreck" is an example of a novel with something important to share with kids, in contrast to one that's purpose is solely to entertain. Of course teenagers must have access to all types of YA fiction and there's definitely room for fantastic, sexy vampires who save girls from other exceptionally evil vampires and wonderfully, hunky werewolves. God bless Stephanie Meyers for writing great, long books for kids who otherwise would never have attempted anything over 50 pages, and hopefully, feeling successful with their long Gothic fantasy, will go on to read something, maybe not as long, but definitely more substantial. Who knows, maybe one of them will ask me, "Miss, do you have any books about real teenagers?" Now I have just the right one.

Looking forward to Freaky Green Eyes, Sexy, and Big Mouth,Ugly Girl her other YA books. The pile is getting higher.


Leslie Caldarera
Teacher Librarian
National Board Teacher
Edison Middle School
LAUSD

"You see, I don't believe that libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reasons for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians."
Gorilla Librarian, Monthy Python's Flying Circus

[Jeannie Dyar]

Leslie, I am so glad you reviewed that book for us because I no longer read
YA novels since I am no longer teaching...I had a class at university my jr
year that required all of us (English majors) to read 75 of them and write
reviews! Most of the ones I read were totally forgettable so I'm certainly
glad that JCO writes for that segment of society as well.....I like what you
said about value vs entertainment...I get very bored with anything that is
solely for entertainment purposes and am always stunned at how some people
enjoy just sitting and being amused...especially when there are actually
writers, movie makers, and activities that do both....Jeannie

[Keith D]

I second in thanking her for the good and thorough review! I wasn't
even aware the JCO wrote in the YA category, so I'll have to
investigate it further and in particular, the above reviewed book.
Thanks!

> Behalf Of Max Alberts [maxalberts2...@yahoo.com]

> Sent: Monday, May 03, 2010 10:01 AM
> To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: RE: [JCO:782] Students
>
> The film was broadcast originally on CBS at 8:00 p.m. I suppose that's why
> the queer stuff was modified. Imbeciles.
>

> --- On Thu, 4/29/10, Oehling, Rick <oehli...@uww.edu> wrote:

>
> > From: Oehling, Rick <oehli...@uww.edu>
> > Subject: RE: [JCO:778] Students
> > To: "tonecl...@googlegroups.com" <tonecl...@googlegroups.com>
> > Date: Thursday, April 29, 2010, 12:33 PM
> > Excellent suggestions. I think you're
> > right that they tend to find what interests them in small
> > group discussions.
> > Now that we have finished the film, the atmosphere seems
> > better.  I think the combination of Gemini and an
> > abortion in one segment was a lot.
> > Interesting in the film that they had to tone down Cass
> > & Eddie's homosexual bond.  Can't have Dr McDreamy
> > typecast too narrowly.  In fairness, I think the acting
> > in the film is superb, including Dempsey's.  The very
> > best performances, however, are Patricia Richardson's
> > Gladys, Skye McCole Bartusiak's young Norma and, of course,
> > Poppy Montgomery's.
> > But the last third of the novel is telescoped into a few
> > scenes.
> > Rick
>
> > ________________________________________
> > From: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
> > [tonecl...@googlegroups.com]

> > On Behalf Of Marie Kabala-Rejment [rejm...@bredband.net]

> > Behalf Of Jeannie Dyar [paws...@att.net]

> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Virginia Bucci]

Hey, Rick. On the art thing, I sure can relate. School-wise, it was always
lit. I didn't know my art thing was good, just drew all the time, took
lessons sometimes, but mostly hid it under a bushel. Began to break out in
end-of-college (Romance Lit major, natch) intro to painting course, learned
oil painting, but eventually under pressures of teaching & otherwise trying
to make a living, the art went back under the bushel... Here's a strange
thing. As a consequence of a serious car accident in my mid-40's, I "threw
a clot" (basically it's a stroke w/short-term after-effects)... & soon
noticed the visual world had a new/old spin-- everywhere I looked, I saw
color/ line/ texture, as when young only more intense. Shades of Oliver
Stone. Soon I took lessons at the local art lab & began completely new
media for me; what has stuck is water color-- tho I took a summer's break &
learned acrylic via a floor cloth!! It was a wonderful decade-long
sequence. Quickly realized I've never operated on all pistons unless
art-making was in the mix. For me, that puzzle was solved in making my own
preK for-lang curricula, as kiddies that age need visuals, visuals, & more
visuals. & of course when really bored & lazy, making Sculpey-3 earrings to
match my teacher-togs :-)

How exactly does fine art fit into your present activities?

p.w. the Duke, OK we relate on several levels! Do you play piano?

[Oehling, Rick]

Hi Ginny et al
A lot to think about here!
Re: The Visual. I have always been fascinated by Oates' description of how her running relates to her writing. It sounds like the stories run through her head while she is running and she later "sets them down." This practice invites a painterly method, I think, because those pictures generated while jogging need an avenue of release. I feel this is absent in a writer like Beckett whose imagination does not seem crowded with visual stimulai but more like an empty stage. I love those passages in Oates that are just about the material world as it is and as it will survive us. Skies, rivers: things are are constant but changing. I sometimes wonder if those moments aren't memorializing those lost moments of awareness we have as we flash past beautiful (or ugly-beautiful) landscapes. All that useless beauty. And, more and more, all that useless ugliness.
The effects of your "clot-throwing" are fascinating to me. Especially what you say about operating on all pistons. I have a dear friend, a neurologist, who began drawing at 55 when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's. Her drawings are beautiful and her mind is unusually keen for one who has had the disease as long as she has.
I find there are satisfactions to making visual art that I rarely enjoy as a writer. No written piece of mine ever feels done, but like Lily Briscoe with her paint-brush, there is always a moment with a painting where I can say: "It is Finished."
And funny that Duke Ellington should provide the soundtrack to this conversation. If you look over his song titles, they read like a box of paints: "Mood Indigo" "Blue Serge" "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" "Azure" "Blue Harlem" "Black & Tan Fantasy" "Black Beauty" And I could go on...
Rick

________________________________________
From: tonecl...@googlegroups.com [tonecl...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Virginia Bucci [ginn...@comcast.net]
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2010 7:46 PM
To: tonecl...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: [JCO:790] majors