Replacing the Four-Letter Words
August 17th, 2008 by polliwog
In my youth I had a childhood friend and idol who for some reason attracted mischief to himself like fies to honey. He usually found the quickest way to get into trouble was to reel off a herd of four-letter words at just the precise instant for them to be clearly heard by those both near and far. If he shocked and embarrassed just enough people, it actually made the subsequent beating he received well worth the price. I often wondered how he cultivated his ability to project his voice and perfect his sense of timing. While most of us couldn’t hold in the blush or nervous incoherent laugh before the word ever fully crossed our lips, he was obtaining his Masters Degree in vulgarity and starting the thesis for his PhD.
Now I am grown, and I have discovered the four-letter words of my youth that once brought terror in the hearts and souls of the adult population, no longer contain the sharp sting that once put the burn in your eyes, the lump in your throat, and the cramp in the very pit of your stomach. They have been replaced by a single new word. One that is so terrible that a mere four letters are not worthy enough to explain it. The now common four-letter words had to step aside and make room for a new king; the six-letter words. Words capable of shaking the very foundations of all we hold as sacred. At the risk of evoking the censorship authority, for your own good I will acknowledge one of these dreaded words. The word? CHANGE!!
Change is an evil contrary beast. It gnaws at the very fabric of our normal existence and makes us do such hideous things as think, rationalize, reason, and heaven forbid – advance. It jars us from all that is comfortable and for what good gain? Growth! Yes, growth. Another six-letter word!!! It may be just as evil as change, for both imply we must leave our comfort zones and venture into a new world. A world where the familiar is missing and we are not as confident of our actions. We might actually have to take a chance in this new world, which brings us to another six-letter word. Chance! When you take a chance you must risk. Risk failure where before you lavished yourself in the luxury of success. Why would we as sane beings risk?
Perhaps it is because, deep down in the place we try to hold secret, we want to chance. We want personal growth. We want to change. Columbus could have stayed in Spain. Pioneers could have ignored the notion of manifest destiny. Neil Armstrong could have left the moon in the sky. We risk! So why do we then resist? Because it is hard. It is uncomfortable. It does imply possible failure. These realities are just too hard for some to bear. So change is bad.
Unlike the the four-letter words of my youthful buddy, the six-letter words presented will never rate the attention of the censors. However, in many settings they still illicit the same reaction of burning the eyes, putting the frog in your throat, and twisting your bowels into knots that would bring envy to a sailor. As my school ventures into working with technology and placing related advancements into the field of education may we be strong enough to take a chance, make a change, realize growth. Without it, we are all another six-letter word. DOOMED!!!
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Th1rteen R3asons Why
July 6th, 2008 by polliwog
Do you remember Rod Serling and The Twilight Zone ? Were you a fan? If so, Th1rteen R3asons Why by Jay Asher is a book you have to read. Just as Serling brought out the “human” traits we would rather stay hidden, Asher supplies his modern twist to the same story. Indulge me as I use poetic license to alter the cover lead-in to reflect the style “ala” Rod Serling.
Imagine, if you will, a high school just like any one in a million in the USA. You have two weeks of school left until summer vacation. You arrive home one afternoon and find a box on your front porch with nothing on it but your name. Inside you discover several cassette tapes recorded by a classmate who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Her voice explains that there are 13 reasons why she committed suicide. You are one of them. If you listen, you will find out why.
This book should be a “must read” for everyone in high school. It is a blending of Newton’s Third Law of Motion with Six Degrees of Separation. Only 288 pages, it is a quick read. But like the story, be ready to hold on through the night until completion because you can’t stop reading. Asher skillfully takes you through a roller coaster of emotional ups and downs that can make any one of us upon personal reflection say “There by the grace of God go I.”. Thirteen people’s otherwise unrelated stories tied together in a ball that picks up momentum until it’s fatal explosion. A tragedy no one saw coming despite the signs.
The use of Hannah Baker’s recorded voice blending the past into the present takes on an eeriness that compels you to move on through the pages just as the lead character, Clay Jensen, is compelled to move through the cassette tapes. To keep things from being too confusing, Asher creates a neat twist of strategically placing icons from a tape recorder (stop, play, pause symbols) between the “listened to” words of Hannah and the actual circumstances, thoughts, and emotions of Clay in “current time”.
Not since reading Crossing the Wire by Will Hobbs and Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer have I felt such an emotional experience. Even though Th1rteen R3asons Why is a book of fiction, it tells of an unfortunate truth that plays out, all too many times to this conclusion, in countless schools across many nations. For a first-time author, this book is so fantastic you wonder can he have anything left. Jay Asher spins his web with realistic truths and despite what he claims, you can’t help but feel the characters are indeed real. If just one person is changed by this book, it will be well worth his efforts.
I hope you find this book as honest as I do. Just remember…….
You can’t STOP the future
You can’t REWIND the past
the only way to learn the secret……….
is to PRESS PLAY.
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Hello world!
June 23rd, 2008 by polliwog
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