Langston Hughes

This happy looking dude is Langston Hughes. A fantastic African-American poet who lived from 1906-1967. He's very assecible. Anyone could read his poetry, and appreciate/understand it. The most common theme dealt with in his poetry is racism and the African-American identity. I recently read all of his written poetry and fully enjoyed every moment. poets.org has an awesome recording of Hughes reading his poem, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers" which is one of my favorites.

I, Too, Sing American (probably his most popular poem)

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.
They send me to eat in the kitchen
When company comes,
But I laugh,
And eat well,
And grow strong.

Tomorrow,
I'll be at the table
When company comes.
Nobody'll dare
Say to me,
"Eat in the kitchen,"
Then.

Besides,
They'll see how beautiful I am
And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

If you're interested in expanding your knowlege of poets/poetry, Hughes would be an awesome start.

Homework

Have you ever woken up at six in the morning just dying to do homework? Me neither, that's why I'm wondering if I'm sick or something.

This morning I got up, suddenly anxious/excited to write my ten page critical analysis of the recent Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland. It was a weird emotion...particularly weird because I've already written the paper once but decided last night that I wanted to re-write it. I've felt anxiety plenty of times in regards to homework but never excitement. Maybe this whole "secondary ed" program is rubbing off on me...

What was even weirder is that I wrote the entire thing in one sitting. I already had a bibliography and a few pages of "loose notes" (b/c that's what my professor wanted). Even so, usually it takes a couple tries for me to get it all out, but this time it just flowed. Which leads me to believe that the more you write, the easier it is. Or maybe I should always do a bibliography/"loose notes"/write a cruddy version of the paper I want to write first.

Why am I always so surprised when I actually learn something from school?...

Anyhow, I've also been thinking about the phrase "homework". I don't know about all y'all, but doing homework at home is like trying to read a book while skate boarding. It just doesn't work. There's too many distractions. I think when I'm a teacher I'll call it supplemental-work, or busy-work, or maybe work-you-don't-want-to-do-but-have-to-do-if-you-want-to-pass.

That is all.