Sicker than the Dog

OK,
A full year of going non-stop, day and night, as a teacher of some of our district's most challenging teenagers. Then, three hard, back-breaking days of cleaning out a decade of teaching materials in my 90 degree classroom. Now, full time teaching in two different summer school programs. One is NOT organized AT ALL. And, this blasted heat. All of it has brought on a summer cold that is making me exhausted, crabby, and ready to scream at any little thing some general idiot does on the street. I need a vacation and a really strong margarita.

The Hollywood Librarian Trailer

Librarians Rule!

The times they are a changin'

Well, I took the plunge. I will not be teaching at my high school next year. My dream job came along. I applied and got it!

Imagine the happy dance!

More later.....

Weather

It's just too damn hot. Don't think for a minute that I'm going to do anything more than guard this doorway. I'm not walkin'. I'm not going to chase a tennis ball. I'm not even going to bark at the mailman. Nope. Just going to chill right here.

It's been hot hot hot in Wisconsin. The weather people promise a cooler day tomorrow. I'm going to chew up something if it's even close to 80 degrees tomorrow.

Dracula Lives

The pictures posted here are part of a school project about which I recently posted. Students used their historical and folkloric background readings to inform their understanding of Bram Stoker's Dracula. They completed tasks in groups (character portrayals, vocabulary discovery, key passage selections, theme exploration) and individually (chapter artifacts representing themes and characters, as well as creative final projects). I have been very pleased with their commitment to the class and to their own learning success.

Many of the students' artifacts and collaborative contributions are posted on the wall outside of our classroom.



The wall is fairly expansive.



Vlad Tepes background.



Notes from Dracula -- the novel's only authentic, primary documents in the Count's voice. Dracula is ever the honorable and generous host (until Harker violates guest etiquette).


An image of The Demeter (Dracula's transport ship to England). A bottle with the ship's log inserted provides the ship captain's final words. (Hint: heavy duty velcro is a reliable display resource.)



The skeleton keys to Dracula's new properties in London--representative of the new economic order of property, class, and legal guidelines in Stoker's "fin de siecle" world.



Shorthand from Mina....translations, misinterpretations, encoding. Back-in-the-day instant messaging?



The last lost box of native soil.



OK, I have to explain ... this is NOT real blood. That would just be wrong. I think the student used dyed water. (No animals nor students were injured to create this artifact.)



The final journey in hunt of the vampire. Mapping out the journeys in Stoker's novel was not easy for the students--even with maps dated from the 1890s.



Are we well protected? How do we negotiate our contemporary struggles of science and faith and trust?



An interesting interpretive approach. (See earlier posts for more on soundtracks and creative response projects.)

All in all -- another teaching success.

More Vampire Stuff

I am so proud of my students. They've completed a closer reading of Stoker's Dracula than I ever expected. They were enthusiastic about it. They did their best to complete the work and reading on schedule (which for my students is a miracle). And, their final creative projects were absolutely beautiful. Projects included:

*soundtracks for the book--each holding student personality in the choices
*a "treatment plan" to integrate Dracula into our contemporary society
*a quirky therapy session transcript in which Dracula shares his lonely perspective
*a poster of the different major media representations of Dracula
*letters Stoker would have written to his publisher and his mother explaining his text and his intentions
*a card game focusing on character quotes that illustrate the personality and tone of those personas
*a board game of text trivia (events, character details, quotes, etc), complete with modeling foam game characters and dice

We've had great fun with presentations and final text discussions. The games were especially hard and showed how close their reading has been.

I did my own project this year -- a soundtrack -- track list is as follows:

Bram Stoker’s Dracula

1. People Are Strange – The Doors – Greatest Hits – 2:12
This piece fits nicely with Jonathan Harker’s view of the Eastern European “primitive” people as he travels to Dracula’s home in the Carpathians. Harker’s biases (and perhaps Stoker’s) posit Western ways of science and understanding over older traditional views relying on faith and superstition. It also represents Harker’s inability to understand and respect Dracula.

2. Bloodletting – Concrete Blonde – Bloodletting – 6:06
Three female vampire brides and Jonathan Harker in Dracula’s ancient castle. This song has a heavy, dark, driving beat that expresses a bit of the sexuality presented in this section of the text. It may also give a fleeting glimpse into the minds of those women. It foreshadows the effect that Dracula will have on other female characters in the text. It is also the quintessential vampire song.

3. Bat Out of Hell – Meatloaf -- Bat Out of Hell – 9:52
A seemingly endless song (fitting for the slow pace of Stoker’s novel), it represents the movement of Dracula to England. The higher-pitched preface, intense piano, and complementary lyrics portray a wild, forceful, angry, and almost-desperate journey.

4. Moon Over Bourbon Street – Sting – The Dream of the Blue Turtles – 4:00
Sting’s song provides a sympathetic look into the lonely mind of Dracula. Stoker provides only two minute glimpses into Dracula’s mind through written primary artifacts. All other perspectives of “the monster” are filtered through the lenses and voices of the other characters. As Mina holds empathy for Count Dracula later in the text, so too may the reader.

5. Watch Out for Lucy – Eric Clapton – Backless – 3:20
Clapton’s fun romp of a tune reminds the audience of Lucy’s ability to influence the men in her life--through her youthful sexuality and new-found way of being as “nosferatu.”

6. Tombstone – Suzanne Vega – Nine Objects of Desire – 3:09
Vega’s song takes the listener into the cemetery with the Seward and Van Helsing in search of information about Lucy. It has a consistent light comical tone, yet the content of the lyrics remind us of the heaviness and darkness of the events facing the men and the UnDead Lucy.

7. Cruel to Be Kind – Nick Lowe – Basher, Best of Nick Lowe – 3:28
The men must save Lucy’s soul. To do so, they must “kill” UnDead Lucy properly by staking the body and cutting off the corpse’s head. While gruesome, it is necessary to prevent further destruction by the vampire. As the rightful husband and best man, Arthur Holmwood must be the one to “stake” his beloved.

8. You’re Beautiful – James Blunt – Back to Bedlam – 3:32
Another possible glimpse into the lonely mind of “the other” / Count Dracula as he sets his sights and intentions on claiming Mina Harker.

9. Intercourse with the Vampire – Inkubus Sukkubus – Thee Vampire Guild – 4:44
This song parallels the increasing pace of the novel, as well as the growing knowledge of the vampire hunters as they piece together the pieces of Dracula’s plan. The intensity of the music represents the timing mistakes of the male hunters who unwisely leave Mina alone, uninformed, and vulnerable to Dracula’s power. The lyrics of this song “invite” Mina to enter Dracula’s world, psychologically, sexually, physically.

10. Fallen – Sarah McLachlan – Afterglow – 3:47
Mina has “fallen” into the arms and world of the vampire. She has exchanged blood with Count Dracula and has started on her journey as his bride. She will struggle with the spiritual and cultural meaning of that passage. This song fully represents the significant difficulties fin de siecle women faced in negotiating cultural views on The New Woman.

11. When You’re Evil – Voltaire – Devil’s Bris – 3:47
This tune begins with a mournful and serious tone, but turns light and comical. At the point in the novel where the vampire hunters corner Count Dracula in one of his properties, Stoker shifts his tone toward the vampire to a comical, one-sided character who no longer holds mystery. With this shift, the vampire then loses narrative power. The reader’s sympathies are fully allied with the men whose interpretations of the events are represented in the text artifacts.

12. Bridge Over Troubled Water – Simon & Garfunkel – Greatest Hits – 4:52
This song represents the vampire hunters’ pledge to Mina to do everything in their power to save her soul from eternal damnation as a member of Dracula’s harem. Its sentimental tone parallels the narrative tone of their promises. The song also brings to mind the passing water limitations Dracula faces on his homeward flight.

13. Vampire Hunters – Antoni Wit, Cracow Philharmonic – Kilar – 3:04
This song was borrowed from the film Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Its driving intensity represents the chase of the vampire toward his home. Timing is everything.

14. The End – The Doors – Greatest Hits – 11:44
The journey ends. We believe the vampire is destroyed. This song, however, represents the darker side of the story. It raises questions about cultural perspective and societal “progress.” Has Mina truly been saved? Has humanity? Does “the other” live on? Note the line “The West is the best. Get here, and we’ll do the rest.” No other song could represent the darkness of the vampire.

15. For Eternity – Vlad Janecek – Thee Vampire Guild – 3:04
A fitting closure to make the audience consider the “living on” of the vampire and all he represents. Dark, consistent, sorrowful, yet with light piano notes to illustrate the possibility of Count Dracula’s survival among the living.

What have I learned from returning to this curriculum after several years sabbatical? I love vampire literature. I enjoy teaching difficult literature. Students will never cease to surprise me.