Movie Review: THE SQUID AND THE WHALE

• Directed & Written by Noah Baumbach
• Rated R for strong sexual content, graphic dialogue and language.
• Awards - lots of nominations and wins in multiple categories
• Keep an eye out for Anna Paquin - Rogue from the X-Men films
• Jeff Daniels gives an excellent performance, especially compared to his recent films

The Squid and the Whale definitely falls into the category of "indie film." It's a relatively dark movie about two brothers, a preteen and teen, who are dealing with their parents decision to divorce. Both parents are writers, leading the film down the "artsy" path. The father is a wash-up; a top-selling author turned professor, with a major victim complex. The mother has recently "discovered her voice," publishing a book and even landing an excerpt in the New Yorker, and also has frequent unconcealed affairs. Walt, the older son, views his father as a god among writers, the all-knowing. He so respects his father's opinions that he never reads any literature; he merely memorizes his father's commentary. He blindly conforms to his father's ideals through most of the movie...we finally see the root issue towards the end. Frank, the younger son, willingly accepts the title "Philistine" - a person his father describes as uninterested in the arts, especially literature and film. Frank wants to be a tennis pro. He also despises the fact that he has his father's bone structure.

The Squid and the Whale is true to form for "artsy" movies in that it provides no clear solution/ending; however, it leaves you satisfied enough. The movie is dark, mostly as a result of the way the parents manipulate their children, however we see a glimmer of hope towards the end.

And I guess if we're going to pull one important lesson from the movie, it would be the tagline: Joint custody blows.

Despicable...

Saw this on Michele's blog, figured I'd post the link here as well. This is absolutely horrible. Apparently two elderly women took out big insurance policies on a couple of homeless men, then killed them to collect the money. There were 2 hit and run cases 5 years apart, and these women were the beneficiaries. Thankfully the police department noticed. It really breaks my heart.


Click here to watch the clip on CNN

hip hop is more than weed...duh

I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea to go into that last post a little more. There are obviously lots of ways to incorporate hip hop into education. You can rap multiplication tables, use song lyrics to teach poetry, etc.

There has been some pretty heated discussion in my class...a lot of it racially based - imagine that - a class that is pretty evenly mixed with African Americans and Caucasians (if we're going to use the fancy words...) about hip hop.

Either way, I thought I should just make the point that I definitely do not see drug abuse as being unique to hip hop, and that when I think of hip hop, drugs aren't the first thing to come to mind. I grew up in the backwoods of Florida - Bay County has often been called the "Meth Capital of Florida." There are lots of stories I can tell regarding the drug abuse among the poor white kids I went to school with, but I don't know that it's even necessary.

I have lots of stuff that I'll eventually add, but right now it's a bit of a mess in my head.

marijuana as a teaching tool

I'm taking a summer course right now called Hip Hop Culture. It's quite interesting so far. All of our "class discussions" are conducted online using blackboard.

One of our questions to discuss was the appropriateness of teaching hip hop in the classroom/using hip hop as a teaching tool. Some folks have said only in high school, others have said, hey...the kids already hear it, why not use it in elementary school. Why not? Well, here's what one classmate said:

"I agree that they may hear it in everyday life but teaching fractions and measurements using marijuana isn't exactly appropriate for a school system to use. Even though kids would probably pay more attention and learn more if we did it that way, it is still not sociably acceptable and parents would be outraged." -LA

Worship Dance Night

Come see my girls dance!!



Dance Worship Night
Saturday, May 20, 7pm
Elim Christian Fellowship
Greensboro, NC
Westover Terrace/Aycock Street
(across from Grimsley High School)

Summer Reading List

I visited Ed McKay's the other day...definitely came out with more books than I expected, but I'm excited.

Well, here it is

Dayna's Summer Urban Reading List


Bronx Masquerade, Nikki Grimes


Prostitution: On Whores, Hustlers, and Johns


MONSTER: The Autobiography of an L.A. Gang Member, Sanyika Shakur, aka Monster Kody Scott


How the Other Half Lives, Jacob A. Riis


There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America, Alex Kotlowitz


Children of the City: At Work & At Play, David Nasaw

It was founded in the foundations

Lyrics from Mat Kearney's Girl America, from the album Nothing Left to Lose

My girl America is just a youth in this world
Her smile is more precious than the sparkle of pearls
And though her age reads she's just a young girl
The age behind her eyes show the pain that she's swirled
Through the hand that's been dealth though it's quiet as kept
The weight was all felt last night when she slept
And as she crept into the dreams of the things of her past
Seems to have grown so fast, way beyond her own class
Though they're right there with her, her brothers and her sisters
A natural born leader even when her peers dis her
My girl, she's at a crossroads, people praying for her
Some are preying on her magazine ads, sex, drama
Smoking marijuana, longing for a father to call her, 'daughter'
She's part of a generation longing for reconciliation
And this future that they're facing and this poision that they're tasting
My girl, I know this love that you're chasing
/
My girl America's crying when she's lying on her bed at night
I can see that she's screaming when she's dreaming for her freedom
My girl America's dying while she's trying just to stop this fight
Don't stop believing, my girl America
/
Boys with hungry eyes have been beating her door
Telling her that's what she's for, trying to rob at her core
Then leaving calling her a whore, but still she knows there's more
I know she knows there's more because there is a voice she can't ignore
'Cause it was founded in the foundations, from the day of her creation
In God we trust engraved on the treasures of her nation
And the void that the boys can't fill
With the tipping of the bottle or the popping of the pill
But still most of her friends don't care as they glare
Ready to drown down the funnel as they frown down the tunnel
They stumble and they tumble breaking down into the rubble
My girl America, stop can't you see
It's not the circumstances that determine who you're gonna be
But how you deal with these problems and the pains that come your way
It's for you that I pray with hope for a brighter day
And so I say, your deliverance is coming
//
Faith like a child from your first birth
You left it in the dirt on your worst hurt
And I see each tear and every scar
The hands that have held you where you are
And I can see we've strayed so far
A king born under that morning star
As a crown of thorns was placed to erase
Each tear that's touched your face
And his palms and sides where pierced with spears
He hung in love just to draw you near
My girl, out of this world
Can't you see this is where we started
//
My girl America's crying when she's lying on her bed at night
I can see that she's screaming when she's dreaming for her freedom
My girl America's dying while she's trying just to stop this fight
Don't stop believing, my girl America

The shot heard 'round the world

Hmph... Someone got shot at the park by my house Friday night. You can read Marshall's post about it, too.

How about it for another male role model.

Deal...or No Deal

On my way home from class today, I walked past what I think may have been a "significant" drug deal. I say this for several reasons - first, the two guys were in a secluded gravel parking lot, next to the train tracks behind a building that people rarely go to; also, most deals that happen in our neighborhood occur out in the open - no secrets in Glenwood. It's not just that they were chillin in the parking lot, there was an obvious "trading of goods" going on.

The small deals don't really catch my eye anymore...they're pretty routine (as sad as that is...). The thing that really struck me this time is that I thought about calling the police, then quickly convinced myself not to. See, the two men definitely saw me look at them, and I feel pretty sure I know who one of them is. I rarely feel scared in my neighborhood, but today, I thought about what would happen if the police did arrive just minutes after our exchange of looks. The man definitely knows where I live, and while I don't have any reason to think that he would do anything, I still wonder. And, I mean, why shouldn't I call the police? Drugs are illegal, right? Drugs are the thing that are ruining so many of my neighbors' lives, aren't they?

Still, no calls to the police today. Instead, a prayer for the two men involved in the trade, and for clarity as to what to do in future situations of this nature.

New blog...

"The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood." John 1:14 (MSG)

Yes, even the forgotten neighborhoods. The ones riddled with prostitution, drugs, neglected and angry children - but at the same time filled with caring grandmothers, people trying to make an honest wage, friends hanging out in front yards. The Word has moved into my neighborhood, and while many people may not be aware yet, I see Him everyday. I think we're called to see God in the small things - in B, who relentlessly quotes scripture, and talks about how he could be and do a lot of things one day, if he could just quit the booz - in J, who admits to lying to get what he wants, and is tired of the street, but just can't quit - in L, an angry and confused little girl who wants to fit in to the culture forced on her by her peers, but struggles with knowing that God has called her to be so much more.

They are worthy, loved, precious, important, fearfully and wonderfully made.