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Words Are My Matter Book Review

Author: Ursula K. Le Guin

My introduction to Le Guin came at an early age from reading A Wizard of Earthsea. It was a great fantasy that was probably responsible for my foray into an entire decade of love for the genre (The Chronicles of Narnia also gets a serious nod here).

Largely forgotten until my University years, my professor assigned “The Dispossessed” for our course on science-fiction. It was then I not only appreciated her genius, but her literary prowess. I proceeded to read much of her collection that year.

As things go, this collection of essays peered out from the shelves of the public library, begging me to go back into her world. If I had to summarize what I read in just one sentence:

She’s a genius and a rockstar with words.

The depth of her thoughts and the way she articulates her strong arguments begs for people today to study and emulate her. I couldn’t help but smile every time she tore down the ivory towers of the literati who claim only certain genres (and authors) are “true” literature.

My favourite is her passing remark about Cormac McCarthy’s, “The Road,” gently reminding readers that science-fiction writers were writing about solitary individuals crossing barren wastelands for decades beforehand. It reminded me of the minor detail that Hemingway was a subscriber to the pulp fiction magazines and much of his style (and process) was modeled after the pulp writers.

Although she has passed away, she still might be happy to know the idea of genre itself is transforming (and almost disappearing)–still kept alive, however, by academics needing to justify their existence. Teachers, too.

Everything she has written about the state of the publishing industry, to whether people ever read as much as we think they did (they didn’t), to a message of assurance that writers will always find their audience, was spot on. It felt like she managed to take my thoughts and translate them into words I could never put together.

It’s sad to know our world will no longer hear from her.

The book reviews at the end, while nicely written, felt like padding demanded from the publisher. I skimmed and skipped most of it.

When Your Gut is All You Got

It’s hard to trust superfluous research with small sample sizes, bias from the researcher and correlation instead of causation as a conclusion. It’s even worse when attached to a clickbait article with such misleading endings as “…according to science.”

In many cases, the author misunderstands science or is purposefully misleading readers.

Put that in the arena with an overwhelming amount of research that contradicts with each other and provides conflicting conclusions and you end up at a loss. What are you supposed to do?

Sometimes you need to laugh.

My favourite research study in education showed that students who pay attention in class, do their homework and follow up with their teachers do significantly better than those who do not. Over $100K was spent to uncover this remarkable conclusion.

A simple phone call to any teacher in the world would’ve saved them a lot of grief.

Other times, you need to trust your gut.

Your own experience and intellect has gotten you to this point and you should not take it lightly. Good ideas will always come your way, but your gut has a way of filtering the wheat from the chaff.

It can keep you on the right track if you understand the field you’re in. It can also keep you delusional if you don’t.

In an age of information overload, trust it as best as you can.

It’s the Week Before School

I’ve spent a summer building,
reflecting,
thinking,
creating
and waiting.

Letting the ideas simmer
and stir.

I’m an educator
who never stops thinking about education.

Always wanting the best ways to serve,
to inspire,
to challenge,
to uplift,
to push my students
and push myself.

Everything is a lesson
because learning doesn’t start with me.

My goal,
ever year,
is to get students to see,
to challenge
and to recognize
they are the arbiters
of their destiny.

I can show them doors to their future
once they walk through mine.

I’m setting up my classroom
and I pray,
as I do every year,
the students I have the privilege
to be with,
to teach
and to learn from,
will become the best versions they can be.

They Both Die at the End Book Review

Author: Adam Silvera

Okay, it kind of sucks having the book spoiled for you in the title, but it really works here. It’s also comforting in knowing nobody will ruin the ending by giving it away.

Imagine having a service that calls you at midnight to tell you this will be your last day on Earth. In the timeline of this story, “Death-cast” is such a service and is always accurate. However, many services have also been offered to those who have been served their notice (they are called “Deckers”). The prominent one in here is an app called “Last Friend,” allowing a decker to connect with someone on their last day.

Although the story centers around just two characters (Mateo and Rufus) who meet each other through the app, Silvera does a tremendous job interweaving many storylines together. There’s nothing forced into this web, nor does it feel like any characters act out of convenience for the author.

He also stays away from the existential question of betraying your own destiny (which subtly plays in the background) in favour of looking at the human condition in the face of death.

How do you face it?

What do you regret?

Is there still a chance for you to grow?

As you connect to the characters as they face these questions, a part of you develops a hope that maybe the title will betray what happens. Then you get to the end.

And I bet you can guess what happens…

The Passive vs. Active Life

Life can go an infinite number of ways, but it will be led by an active of passive participation in it.

Those who live a passive life have things happen to them. They go with the flow and see where life takes them, but mostly, they live the same cycles over and over again. They say this is the way life is and that’s all there is to it.

Those who live an active life make things happen for them. They make decisions that will put them in the most favourable position for later in life, even if it means (and it always does) having to suffer for it now. While there’s always circumstances out of their control, they determine where their head is going to be at all times.

Those with passive lives either wish they took action, accept their position (which may be a good one) or point fingers elsewhere.

People with active lives do it to have a better passive life later.

Through the Eyes of a Child

My routine for shopping (and by shopping, we’re really talking about running errands) is to get into the store, beeline for what I need and get out as fast as possible.

It’s also my mantra for getting to wherever I’m going: set the course and make it there quickly.

It wasn’t until I started taking my kids with me that I forgot what it was like to see things through the eyes of a child. They have no concern for what the quickest course of action is, nor do they care about the destination.

They’re mesmerized by all the other details along the path and will take in everything.

A walk to the park requires endless stops to admire pebbles, bugs and sticks. Let them linger there long enough and they’ll have names for each of them.

These experiences are new and different. They spark curiosity.

It’s a reminder that even the most mundane can be utterly fascinating.

And it’s helpful when they see a box of sugared cereal that I love and is on sale.

Really? The 80s?

One of my favourite activities to do in Math class is a break-out room where students are trapped in the 80s and must escape.

I always preface the lesson by telling them the 80s weren’t as great as people think and it baffles me why there was (is?) so much nostalgia for it. They need to get out as fast as possible.

Colleagues argue that it was a great decade amidst my eye-rolling.

Even Stranger Things doesn’t bring back any glorious “wanting to go back” moments, despite it being a fun show to watch.

It’s just another example of people thinking there was some golden era in the past that we’ve lost and today is worse than it has ever been. We must never forget the wisdom of the past, but its purpose is to guide us in the best time we’ve ever had–which is today.

We’re not a perfect society and never will be, but we’re way better than where we were.

In Canada, I can eat an avocado in the middle of winter then video chat with my parents, for free, with a device that fits in the palm of my hand.

In the 80s my mom bought me a box of Cocoa Pebbles. That and I was medically misdiagnosed and suffered lifelong consequences over something that is routine knowledge today. Whoops.

I don’t always understand change, but I don’t let fear prevent me from embracing it.

Every decade had its moments, but we’ll never have it better than right now.

Still Inching Forward

Many years ago, my roommate and I hid an exchange student in our apartment. His parents were looking for him, hunting him, in order to bring him back for the travesty he committed.

What was his crime?

He told them he was gay.

They locked him up in his room and drugged him so he couldn’t leave, while also cutting off his communication to the world. They sent in psychologists, exorcists and prostitutes to “cure” him.

He finally got a message out and student groups got him the funds to get a plane ticket back. All he had to do was escape his room and get to the airport.

Thankfully he made it and stayed with us long enough to get on his feet, provide a list of names to the embassy of people they should not allow in the country and figure out his next steps. He was quite the character and last time I checked, he was doing really well.

Today I took my kid to a story time event for children that ended with two adults heckling the story teller and causing a ruckus, upsetting some of the kids who were there. Many parents intervened.

What was the heckling about? What crime did the story teller commit?

Take a guess.

I thought the days of hiding people in your home for fear of persecution ended after World War II and we’ve come a long way since then.

We have in many regards, but we’re still inching forward in many others.

Still inching forward.

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise Book Review

Author: Dan Gemeinhart

I wish this book wasn’t labelled as young adult or juvenile fiction.

People were raving about this book and after falling in love with the cover (it kind of reminded me of Into the Wild), I picked it up. After reading the first few pages, I really wished this book wasn’t labelled for a younger audience.

The writing is beautiful, the story is compelling and the characters are rich. I blasted through this book in no time and recommended it to my wife before even finishing it (we rarely recommend books to each other unless we know for certain the other person would enjoy it).

This book is an enjoyable and heartfelt tale that takes you through the heart of family, friends, loss and the open road. It seems simple on the surface, but there’s so much in here for any audience that it’s worth recommending to anyone–especially if you love road trips.

Yes, there’s some suspension of belief that’s needed for this story to work and Gemeinhart literally packed every social issue on one bus, but all fiction has an element of escapism that’s anchored in the surreal. It’s all about whether you’re willing to let your imagination go along for the ride.

In this case, it’s worth it.