Some urban wisdom today, found written on the city. This graffiti writer (above) pens phrases all over West Hampstead and environs, including on our street. I think "Kill the Poor" is meant not literally but as a comment on how society treats poor people. Medication and incarceration are frequent topics, too.
I found an earth-friendly sticker on Finchley Road...
...and a mysterious message on Billy Fury Way. I'm not sure what this means -- unless it's a video game allusion, as in playing a new level. With every change comes an unexpected problem?
Yesterday was madness in the library. We had six classes of 9th Grade English students coming in to choose character-driven fiction for their October Break reading. I'm a bit vague myself on what that means. I take it to be a book in which a central character changes or evolves over the course of the work, where the person is the story rather than the events that occur: "The Catcher in the Rye," for example. It seems to me almost every book contains evolving characters, but some evolve more than others. Anyway, the head librarian had a solid sense of what the teachers wanted so we set out special displays and let the kids choose (or find their own books on the shelves).
It meant moving around dozens and dozens of books, but we got a lot checked out, which is a nice change -- high-schoolers are often so busy they don't have a lot of reading time so they can be a tough demographic to serve. I remember reading less in high school myself, outside of assigned reading for classes, though I pretty much always had a book going. I know I read several of those Dana Fuller Ross potboilers about westward expansion, with titles like "Utah!" and "Idaho!" (Cover blurb: "The towering saga of rugged men and tempestuous women carving out America's future from a savage and perilous land." There are several reasons that phrase would never pass muster now.) I think I was in high school then but it might have been college.
Last night Dave and I had my former boss Karen (who's working at the school as a substitute) and a former co-worker, Chris, over for drinks and idle gossip. We ordered Lebanese food and they stayed pretty late. It was a fun evening.
Today Dave, Olga and I are off on a little adventure for a few nights. I'll still be blogging, and hopefully I'll have a chance to catch up on other blogs and comments and all that. I know I'm woefully behind.
I like the graffiti them you chose today. Can't wait to hear about your little adventure.
ReplyDeleteI thought character-driven fiction was where the main character was what the story was about. But at least I still read. I have a niece who proudly declares she hasn't opened a book since leaving school.
ReplyDeleteAre you sure it's not you writing those pseudo-philosophical remarks upon the mean walls of West Hampstead? I have got a good one for you: "Today is the first day of the rest of your life". I just dreamed it up this morning. Have a lovely break from the city - wherever the three of you are going.
ReplyDeleteThe last painted slogan is surely political. It is good to see what revolting youth think.
ReplyDeleteDo English people know what land they came from?
Hard work at the library by the sound of it.
A holiday adventure! What fun. I look forward to the details.
I believe in confronting the racist and calling out their stupidity. Sometimes saying nothing is a sign of acceptance.
ReplyDelete"Rugged men and tempestuous women..."
ReplyDeleteTempestuous? Well, maybe. I visualize more of a woman beat down by life and child bearing and a husband who is absolutely sure that if they just cross the savage lands, there will be gold in the streets. Meanwhile, a sod house in North Dakota sounds okay, right?
I like those graffiti. At least there is thought behind them.
I hope you have a very nice get-away.
The one about new levels appears to be religious according to Google.Hope you enjoy your getaway!
ReplyDeleteIt's all about promoting reading and selling reading to the kids. There are many competing interests and sometimes reading gets left behind.
ReplyDeleteThose books you mentioned reminded me of James A. Michener books, like "Hawaii". I remember going through a phase and reading those. I always loved finding an author and then reading as many of their books as I could.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely getaway.
That's fun graffiti and thoughtful. It sounds like a nice evening last night -- and always fun to be headed away for a bit of a break. I'm so glad they are pushing the kids to read. It's so important and I don't think it happens as much as it did when we were young -- too many visual distractions!
ReplyDeleteracism is stupid. strip off the skin and look inside and there's no difference between a white person and a person of color. I read some pretty large tomes in high school beside the required reading.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the graffiti tour! As I recall I was sneaking & reading my mom's romance novels in high school - have mercy they were spicy! Talk about rugged & tempestuous (I'm fanning my face even now). I also read murder mysteries, and all of Ivanhoe, which took a minute.
ReplyDeleteHave fun this weekend!
I like those quotes. I took the level and devil one to mean that wherever one is or goes, there are negatives. It sounds like a fun catch up evening. I need to schedule one with my former colleagues.
ReplyDeleteDo you remember the books of collected graffiti? They were hilarious. One I remember from a public lavatory was "Man was born free but everywhere is in chains. Smash the cistern."
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your little adventure. It's always nice to have an adventure on the horizon.
ReplyDeleteI like the top photo of graffiti, though I'm not sure how I feel about the racist part. Ellen A's comment makes me think of a t-shirt I have. It shows five skeletons labeled "white, black, straight, gay, pirate". Of course the pirate skeleton is missing lower leg bones on one side.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing about your adventure!
Tempestuous - yep, that's me (NOT!). I pretty much agree with Ms. Moon's comment re pioneer women.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, sounds like a good assignment for those older students.
Enjoy your getaway, and give Olga a scritch from me.
Chris from Boise (the capitol city of Idaho)
Some thought provoking graffiti there.
ReplyDeleteYour evening with friends sounds lovely.
Enjoy your wee break. Stay safe.
Living on a farm during the winter months with no television, my brother and I were prolific writers all through school. The school would often have a reading contest where the school was charged with a goal of so many minutes read for a month by the entire student body. My brother and I alone would probably read 75% of the goal with the rest of the student body comprising the remaining 25%.
ReplyDeleteMitchell: I'm always noticing peculiar or interesting graffiti.
ReplyDeleteRiver: Yeah, I think that basically IS character-driven fiction. I can't imagine not opening a book, but then, I can proudly boast of not having done algebra since I left school!
YP: So original! LOL
Andrew: I guess we all came from the same land, in the general sense.
Bob: Yeah, I'm not sure I agree with his sentiment, but it IS true that letting a racist speak allows him to show his stupidity.
Ms Moon: I know, what the heck does that mean -- "tempestuous"? As in, annoyed that they're being dragged across the great plains in a covered wagon? I'd be tempestuous too.
Ellen D: Interesting! Does Google say where it comes from?! Still sounds like a video game to me.
Red: Especially these days. The kids are all on their phones.
Pixie: I tried to read Michener in high school (because my mom read them) but I don't think I ever got through one. He was so long-winded.
Jeanie: Reading is definitely a tougher sell these days. Technology!
Ellen: Absolutely, racism is stupid. No question. It's basically our instinctive skepticism of difference in others taken to extremes.
Bug: I read my mom's books too, as well as Agatha Christie and Kurt Vonnegut.
Margaret: That's a good interpretation!
Tasker: Ha! That's a good one. I used to have some graffiti books but I left them in the states.
Sharon: It is indeed! I always feel better when there's a plan in the future.
Kelly: Ha! That sounds like a cute shirt.
Chris: We have skritched Olga in your name, O tempestuous one!
Caro: Thanks! :)
Ed: Nowadays you'd have been online, probably! As would I. That's the main thing kids struggle with now, I think -- distractions from technology.