PART 2: Grass
“You shall no longer take things 2nd or 3rd hand…nor feed on the specters in books.”-Walt Whitman
Who is Margo Roth Spiegelman? Is she a popular elite brat? Is she a culturally hip closet poetry nerd? Is she a deviant runaway? Is she a selfish drama queen? Is she damaged goods? Or is she just a tangled up girl whose strings are broken?
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“Doing stuff never feels as good as you hope it will feel.”
Part 1: Strings
John Green’s novel, Paper Towns, soon to be a film, can be read as a kind of spiritual parable. With the exception of TFIOS, his three other novels seem to follow a similar formula: Eccentric yet normal teen boy falls for unattainable and eccentric girl because she is such a mystery, and she becomes a puzzle for him to solve as much as a love interest to pursue. Academic references must follow. Were it not for the occasional sexual controversy, Green seems to be begging for his books to be taught in school, pushing aside bulky classics less relevant to teens.
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10 Reasons I am not a Hipster:
1. My bike has gears, and the maintenance I do on it consists solely of pumping the tires.
2. I did like the Avett Brothers before they were cool, but I also still like them, and do not believe they have sold out.
3. I have never voted Democrat, and just because I’ve been fair to Obama doesn’t mean I like him. Continue reading
Recall a few years ago when those Facebook posts were popular: “My 30 Favorite songs” or “20 things you don’t know about me”. One I have yet to see is this:
20 random, seemingly insignificant, yet nonetheless vivid moments in your life that are not at all monumental. The idea behind it is this: If you made a list of such memories, would you be able to find a common thread, a sustaining narrative, that would explain you through these small moments in your life? What was it that made you remember them? Was it just scents and sounds? Or was it some underlying significance?
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“I’m thinking of going into the ministry,” said a friend once.
Or multiple times. Many of us have heard it. It usually comes as good news, even if a whispered announcement of a notion that might go by. Whether as friends, parents, or church leaders, we like to hear young people (or even adults seeking a change) seriously consider dedicating their life in service to God.
But there’s where it strikes me as funny. When someone considers what we are usually referring to as the “job” of preaching, we are taking a single kind of service to God and labeling it as THE ministry.
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I haven’t read Winter’s Bone. Neither have I seen the film. But I took a small chance one day when I purchased a copy of Woodrell’s short story collection for only a dollar. I came away with something worth more.
It was their first time in Blacksburg, and mandolinist Jay Lapp’s birthday. It was a special night to welcome The Steel Wheels to our town.
“Stand up for what’s right.”
Occasionally somebody somewhere urges you to “do the right thing” in the form of “taking a stand” or “standing up” for whatever is good, right, or the truth.
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Whenever I introduce a poetry unit to my high school students, I always begin by reviewing a list of literary terms, with an example song (usually “Colorblind” by Counting Crows) that uses many devices. I then have them identify as many literary terms as they can in a song they select on their own. I trick them into admitting that they like poetry…as long as it’s mostly rhyme and rhythm accompanied by music.
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CALEB COY 