If you haven't stumbled across Glen Hansard in this spectacular little movie yet, you should definitely go trip over it repeatedly. The short summary is this: a Dublin street musician meets a pretty young lady, who happens to also be a musician and singer. Then they talk about relationships, and record an album. There's no story, no resolution, slightly better-than-average acting, minimal cinematography, and absolutely no costuming... And yet...there are moments in which the characters sing onscreen that redeem everything. Glen Hansard's carotid arteries repeatedly threaten to burst as he lyrically claws his way through broken relationships; Marketa Irglova bursts into tears during one performance, and I'm not at all sure she's just acting. These are songs that will hollow your chest, performed by people who appear to have vividly lived every moment they're singing about. Recommended for anyone who sings, plays, or listens to any music of any kind. [Parental Concerns: language...that's about it. Apparently Dublin street performers don't conform to all the niceties of suburban America's linguistic expectations. Go figure.]
I can't get my students off of facebook during school. I see this as a problem, because it's difficult to parse CS Lewis explaining the interplay of God, humanity, and the stream of time while you're updating your status from your iPhone.
·Additionally, I get a call roughly every other week from some parent who saw some kid's facebook account and didn't like the language / drug references / inappropriate pictures / death threats, and thinks I should summarily kick the kid out of school.
·Which got me thinking...
·Social networking and self-adoring websites have insinuated themselves into every sphere of human existence. Families track relatives, adults track college buddies, businesses tweet (or twit), universities issue exam schedules and weather warnings...all to some degree through social media.
·It's not going away.
·From an individual perspective, that means this. My college friends are sometimes surprised at information revealed on facebook about my current life. My students and family members are sometimes surprised at information revealed about my college life. My high school buddies struggle to appreciate the fact that I am now a football coach, and my current students can't get their brains around my love for Brand New and Mewithoutyou.
·It is now impossible for me or anyone else to engage the world around us while simultaneously compartmentalizing life into "the people I work with" and "the people I have fun with" and "the people I can't swear in front of." In a bizarre and completely unexpected way, facebook and myspace have killed hypocrisy.
That may be hyperbole, but you can't deny--they have made it nearly impossible for our personalities to have multiple, context-dependent flavors. Which is a good thing, I think.
Okay, not me specifically. But some people, apparently. I've noticed lately an alarming number of people who are convinced that they deserve a more pampered existence than the rest of us, simply by virtue of being themselves.
At the ballpark where my son practices tee-ball, I would estimate that our fair city has provided upwards of 200 parking places. There are a lot of Saturdays when the parking lot is crowded. I don't get irked on those days.
But on a random Tuesday practice, when less than 30% of the lot's spaces are filled, there are still a few wonderful beings who choose to park against the curb, directly next to the park's entrance, thus minimizing their total walking experience and caloric expenditure. (I suppose it would be very, very easy to link this upward trend to worrisome rates of obesity in the ballpark parent population.)
Discussion Questions 1) What makes a person so certain that a whole different set of rules applies to them? 2) Would it be wrong for me to take a six-iron to the headlights of these vehicles?
Jay Adams...
...teaches and coaches at Cornerstone Christian School. On the side, he runs 36 Language Studio--writing, editing, and consulting for masses of people who don't like to read or don't have time to write.
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