Letters to the Editor
chrispy
Published Letters: 10
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I Taught High School English For Years...
[Read the article: Building a hate for learning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]...and I retired two years ago. I could not agree more with the Nancy Kalish. The very competitive district (suburban NY) in which I taught insisted on plenty of homework, but my memories of feeling sick over the stuff as a kid myself were still with me at the beginning of my career, thank God. And over the years, I learned to assign work more fairly, respecting vacations and weekends whenever I could.
The most successful class I ever taught was a writing workshop. It was ungraded, and self-contained, which is to say no homework. By the end of the year, my kids were excited about the work they did, were reading more, and were writing more clearly and--most importantly--more happily.
I can hear the traditionalists griping about happy-clappy teachers who don't teach grammar skills, but what I learned in running my workshops was that the grammar (and syntax and diction) followed naturally when my students felt that they had ownership of their poems and first-person essays. Were there kids who took advantage of the freedom? Absolutely! But what happened in the workshops was that peer pressure gradually shifted around to kids being serious about their writing. Kids got published in the rather large young adult magazine market, and they loved that. Blow-offs simply weren't cool. I can remember days when we met together, discussed an idea for writing, and there was no sound after that except for kids pounding computer keys and printing out drafts to show me. It was magic.
Homework would have ruined everything.
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Amen, brother
[Read the article: The upside of terror]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This is what scares me more than anything.
And I think the Bushies are more than capable of doing exactly that: suspending the whole dern Constitution along with everything else and moving into their DC quarters for keeps. It raises the hair on the back of my neck.
It horrifies me even more that stuff seems to go on just the way it always did. A dictatorship? No biggie. TV newscasts get broadcast as if none of this is important. A local murder gets more attention than the rape and plunder of the most basic beliefs of our country.
Bush and his minions have not planned for a Democratic takeover of the House. I heard Rove on NPR tonight sounding like the whole mood of the country (which I'm receiving as Throw The Bastards Out) is beside the point. We haven't seen ALL the polls, he said. Not like him.
I'm inclined to think what we haven't seen is exactly how a number of shadowy figures are going to put the fix on the various voting technologies.
Dear God, I hope I'm being a flaming paranoid.
Chris Potter
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Courage!
[Read the article: I'm a doubting teenager]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know whether I'm more impressed with your ability to think clearly or your ability to write clearly, young doubter! Both of those talents are great gifts, and will serve you well as you continue to grow and mature. And that's what you are doing: you are growing and maturing. There's nothing at all demonic about that!
I'm a Christian, too, and very liberal socially and politically. The parts of the Gospel story I love are when Jesus appears to the women after his resurrection, and the Magnificat, Mary's Song, which is one of the most radical pieces of liturgy I can imagine. Mary, having agreed to bear Jesus, understands that her decision will "fill the hungry with good things and the rich will be sent empty away". I have doubts all the time, but I try to hang on to the most important part of my faith when such things haunt me: that God didn't make garbage, that he loves us, and that even if we make mistakes, we are automatically forgiven.
I don't see how any of this has to do with who you may choose for a mate, how you feel about sex, or anything except your responsibility to care for and love your fellow human beings. I am enraged by how the term "Christian" has come to mean someone who would, for example, automatically oppose a woman's right to reproductive freedom, or vote for laws that would make the plight of an undocumented worker in this country even more difficult than it already is.
There is nothing wrong with your curiosity or your doubts. You are a bright and eloquent young woman, and I am grateful for the chance to offer what I hope has been a little reassurance. I'm a retired public high school teacher (English, creative writing), and I didn't often get to offer what amounted to spiritual advice this directly--there's a little matter of the separation of church and state, which by the way as a card-carrying liberal older gal, I absolutely support!
Go with God!