My Name

One of the creative writing assignments involved the kids writing about their names. I told them to compare them to numbers, to sounds, to people, to their ethnicity, to colors, to moments, and finally, if they had to choose a NEW name for themselves, what would it be?

Here is one of my favorites thus far....

My name is Megan, my middle name is Alice, so even though Megan boars me; Alice is no fall back name. It appears my mother had a fondness for Meg. Meg of all words! Three letters, no meaning. Megan, sometimes spelled with an H. 

It's plain, blah; it's a pale face with a few freckles. It's a girl who does her work and gets straight As. It's a girl on time, with a planner. A girl with no idea what fornication is, a girl oblivious that there is another sex besides her own. Megan isn't a name you can tease. It's too simple. I don't ever answer to Megan unless it's shouted at me 4 to 5 times. 

If there is anyone worth my time they address me by Asian. It's my ethnicity, but it bubbles. So proud I am about being Asian, but it's not the reason I see myself as Asian. I got my name from Alex. He doesn't pay attention to much of anything, so by the 6th grade the only way to address me was "Asian". 

It could be for the fact that I was the only Asian in the entire school for three years. I smile at that fact. I am easily recognized as Asian on my face, but then in the 8th grade I was known as Asian by my laugh, my smile, and my smart aleck remarks. 

Asian: a small two year old with paint on her face and floor and walls and ceiling. 

Asian: pig tails and glow sticks. 

Asian: head banging and rock music. 

Asian, a nonstop smile, a giggly tummy, and a guilty conscious when consuming gummy bears. 

Asian: fierce with ninja stars and chopsticks. 

Asian: artsy with dragons and calligraphy. 

Asian: pointed out and up front and centered. 

Megan is a name to be written on paper. Megan is meant for teachers and distant family. Megan is meant for formal documents. Asian is for my friends, it's for my art, it's for my music, it's for my tantrums, it's for my air, and it's for my fire. 

Asian is me. Megan is just my Name.

Let me ask you, if you could rename YOURSELF, who would you be?

To...

To the World, to Tomorrow, to Jesus, to My Cousin Who Committed Suicide, to Anticipation, to Taco Bell, to Anyone Who Will Listen, To So and So, To Whom it May Concern, To My Sisters, To Mango Street, To Poverty, To President Obama, To Missy Elliot, To Mom, To Whomever Cares about The Topic of Language, To Miss Benincosa and Hobos, To Those Listening, To Allison, To The Lord's Resistance Army, To The Reader of this Letter, To The Women of Society, To Future Generations, To Expectations, To My Conscience

The past month my classes have read The House on Mango Street. 

They've breathed in the language and seen the power there, they've worked hard on creative writing, on seeing colors and shapes and life differently than before. They had a series of five writing pieces to complete. The final one is a letter. These are just a few of the things that the letters were addressed to. I'll be sharing much more of their creative work this week as my job has stopped feeling like a job. My work doesn't feel like work. My daily existence is spent participating in so many wonderful interactions with humanity. These kids teach me and I teach them. They learn and I learn. I laugh and they laugh. The past two days we just shared our creations and it was with gratitude in my heart that I am able to do what I get to do every single day.

Book Banning 101

(Persepolis--the sad victim of the latest in Book Banning)

Banning Books. Does is still happen? You bet. Does it happen to me??? Um, yeah.

Another name for this post could be "Mormon Mother's in Utah hate my Liberal Guts" or "Please teach your children how to NOT ask questions and to be Sheep" or "I want my child to be Uniformed about the World, thank you."

Ok, I am being a bit cheeky, and I wasn't even going to do a post on this, but it continues to be in my life and it honestly is affecting me to the point where I have been considering a new profession. So, if I've been distant lately from you, my blogger friends, it's because I've been weighed down with some questions and sadness about the closemindedness of my fellow people.

My experience from book banning is as funny as a mother coming into my 8th grade classroom and getting angry that her son had borrowed a copy of  Captain Underpants from a friend of his. I really had to try and not laugh in her face, but in the end, she got the book removed from the library ( It's a tale of a cute, unlikely hero...but the mother never read the book, she just didn't like the word "underpants" ---{and yes, her kid used MUCH worse language than this in the hallways})....this is the type of personality, to me, who uses "special" words for body parts so kids grow up uncomfortable with their bodies.

The next year I had a few LDS mothers up in arms about teaching the kids The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I assume that they were upset because they believed the book taught about witches or witchcraft? I wasn't sure. And they weren't sure either, because they NEVER read it. For those of you who have read this AMAZING novel, it's the story of a young girl coming to Puritan America and because she is different, the town wants to condemn her as a witch. It is a beautiful book of religious tolerance and appreciating each other's differences. I LOVE this book. And I kept teaching it.

This year, I have a mother who is not very fond of me. This started when she saw that I put The Power of Myth on the reading list (as an OPTION!!!). Then, I introduced the Hero's Journey in the class, as a reference for character motivation and plot interpretation. She came in very upset. Of course, she was SO upset that she couldn't even vocalize it. She typed a two page rant about me, my course, the books I chose, and she asked me to read it, while she sat there and watched me. It was seriously awkward. I sat for five minutes and read nasty things about me and my teaching methods while she stood there shaking her head. Then I asked her, when I had finished, "Have you read this book?" 

And the universal answer...No. 

"What is your problem with this book?" 

"It teaches that Jesus Christ is a myth." 

I'm not even going to justify that with a response on my blog. She also wanted to know my religion ( I have found that being 31, single, and a Democrat in Mormon society has often dubbed me as an atheist lesbian...I am NOT being dramatic here!)...which I wouldn't tell her. Then she went on to question many things I did. 

I said to her, "If you are looking for a teacher who is going to sit at the front of the class, hand out work sheets and busy work and never cause a stir, then you are in the wrong place. I am not that teacher. I am a teacher who will get these kids to think, to question, to wonder, to value, to decide, to contribute. They start college next year ( I teach at an early college high school)...don't you think we should prepare them?" 

Most LDS moms I meet don't expect this from me. They expect me to be really sweet and fake and cheesy. They expect me to say "Oh, yes, whatever you say." They don't expect me to return rant for rant. But I do. And it usually comes back to haunt me. She gave me the evil eye and then left. She has now been monitoring every thing her son is asked to do and then reporting to the principal when she thinks it is not right. 

The myth puts you there all the time, gives you a line to connect with that mystery which you are.

Shakespeare said that art is a mirror held up to nature. And that’s what it is. The nature is your nature, and all of these wonderful poetic images of mythology are referring to something in you. When your mind is simply trapped by the image out there so that you never make the reference to yourself, you have misread the image.

The inner world is the world of your requirements and your energies and your structure and your possibilities that meets the outer world. And the outer world is the field of your incarnation. That’s where you are. You’ve got to keep both going. As Novalis said, "The seat of the soul is there where the inner and outer worlds meet."      Joseph Campbell

So, yes, when I am teaching Julius Caesar this week, I make the kids decide their political party. That means they have to research BOTH the Democrat and the Republican parties. They have to decide where they stand on the issues. That means the have to research the PROs and CONs of stem cell research, gay marriage, abortion, the war in Iraq, and etc. The parents have NO problem with their kids researching the Republican party, but wow, I can't even tell you how many have called in upset that their kids have to research the Democrats? Is anyone else trying to keep your jaw from dropping open??? Welcome to my world.

Back to the mother. Today I was informed of her latest rage against me. It is the fact that I want to teach Persepolis, a novel of a young girl coming of age in war torn Iran. Hmmmm, 10th grade is World Literature. We read stories to understand people in general and ourselves in particular. 

Can you think of any culture in the world that American's need to learn about and identify with than that of the Middle East? 

Do we really want to continue to propagate hate and fear and lies and all the things that follow? I asked again, "Have you read this book?"  I am waiting for her response. My only idea of why she doesn't want me to teach this is either A) She thinks it's about Terrorists or B) the title "Graphic Novel" makes her think it will have naked pictures? I really can't understand it.

But, teaching is exhausting me...and it's not even the students, it's the parents.

Some of America's most commonly banned books:

1. To Kill a Mockingbird

2. Huckleberry Finn

3. I know why the Caged Bird Sings

4. The Bluest Eye

5. A Wrinkle in Time

6. The Outsiders

What if Miss Havisham Had a Blog?

Yes. That's right. This is what came to my mind at exactly 6:07 a.m. this morning as I was curling my hair (beauty doesn't just happen people!) and my thoughts were my own...all of a sudden my mind said to me, "Hmmm, what if Miss Havisham had a blog, that would be awesome, I wonder what she would post about? Maybe it would help her connect with other jilted lovers who never see the sun, hate men, and sit around in their yellowed wedding dresses? Then she wouldn't have had to be so lonely, and maybe she wouldn't have caused Estella so much grief." 

(Have I ever mentioned that sometimes a character is so real to me I actually believe they ARE real? Miss Havisham is probably one of my favorite characters of all time....my biggest fear was to grow up and be like her......please, no comments on our similarities...)

Simply put, blogs have opened worlds for people....myself included. What was life like before I blogged? It's hard to imagine it.

Then as I was putting on my make-up (yep, third morning in a row...it will only last until October, then I turn back into a pumpkin at work).. I was thinking of all the things Miss Havisham could say...imagine her movie reviews on Corpse Bride, Psycho, Misery, or Becoming Jane?

Imagine her getting tv and watching Martha Stewart so she finally knows what to do with that old, dusty tablecloth.

Imagine her watching Dr. Phil and  seeing other jilted women echoing her own sentiments-- "Nothing is more painful than realizing that he meant everything to you and yet you meant nothing to him." or "The easy part is hating you, the hard part is admitting I will never stop loving you."   

Would she write about the futility of having expectations at all, let alone great ones?

What else do you see Miss Havisham blogging about?

If you could choose a fictional character to have a blog, who would it be? What do you think they would blog about?

My, My Moliere

This is the program art for "Taming of the Shrew." I fell in love with it!! Look how their souls float about each other and take each other in! Passion, beauty, and in the end, respect!

OK, on to the meat of the blog...


I love art.
I love Moliere.
I love Shakespeare.
I love pretending I am a peasant paying a penny for a standing seat and speaking in a British accent.
I love buying Elizabethan pastries and booing Iago from a replica of the Globe theater.
I love taking my tenth graders to the Shakespeare Festival and seeing them grow and gain knowledge and show enthusiasm and excitement!

Most of all...I love being a tenth grade English teacher, and while giving a funny Shakespeare anecdote, suddenly seeing someone familiar....MY tenth grade English teacher!

I have not seen this woman since I was 15 years old. And there she was. Can I tell you the wonder and excitement of seeing her.

"Excuse me, you were my tenth grade English teacher."

"Oh my goodness! Yes I was! This is amazing, remind me of your name again."

"D'Arcy."

"Yes, I remember you, what an AMAZING, talented, gifted, beautiful (ok, embellished story at this point, what can I say, it's what I do) you were! So, what are you up to?"

"Well, this is SO fun to tell you. But I am now a tenth grade English teacher and these are my students! I have brought them to the festival to learn and enjoy."

The look on her face was priceless...I think the greatest desire of a teacher's heart is to know that somewhere, somehow she made a difference to someone.

"And, because of you, all of these students can quote Anthony's 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen' speech. I made them memorize it, just as you did me!"


The first play we saw was an AMAZING version of "The Taming of the Shrew" (set in Italy in 1946). I have to admit, the first half of this play, with Kate's spunky independence (this one played less violently than Elizabeth Taylor) is so enjoyable! I love the energy, the words, the fun that the two characters have...but it has always made me sad that Kate had to be tamed. I didn't want her to kiss her husbands boots or her lose her wild nature. The morning after I saw it, I woke up early for breakfast at the hotel. I shared a table with two older women..they began to rant against women who don't give their husbands enough. "Feminism has ruined the American family! Women should be more grateful for their mate. What's wrong with waiting on your husband? This play speaks truth." I sat there and took it all in. I had some thoughts. They both looked to me for a comment...I just held up my bare ring finger and said, "I have yet to be tamed." That's all I could get out....it was an interesting perspective. But the play also played it well...great play on words, eh? The director, the only woman director of the festival, really was able to convey not a taming of sorts, but a mutual affection, adoration, and love that the two developed. I loved it.

Monday evening was "The School For Wives". A delightful production. Moliere is the Shakespeare of France! I have quite the crush on him! If I could pick one person from history to have a torrid affair with, it would be him.

“It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I'm right.”
“To live without loving is not really to live.”
“People can be induced to swallow anything, provide it is sufficiently seasoned with praise”

Stunning. We saw this outside in the Globe. It was raining, we sat through it, the actors pretended it wasn't there. We went to a session with the actors the following morning in which they discussed their motivations and the acting process. We were all enthralled. Othello said that he isn't usually a method actor, but that on the death scene with Desdemona, a prop person had forgotten to remove Cassius's hat. It was on the corner of the bed where she was sleeping. He said it really struck him, caused such anger in him while in character that the death scene that night was probably the most intense they have ever done. My students and I were in awe at this tragedy of tragedies.

We studied "Cyrano de Bergerac" last year in school. The students were MOST excited to see this. They had all the background knowledge. They had acted it out. They had analyzed it. And now they were seeing it for real. It was amazing.


I've seen this musical a thousand times, but this magnificent production made it feel like it was the first. I haven't been part of this story in such a way since I was a child. It was a great finale to our trip.


Yesterday morning, before we left, we were invited to see a read through of a new play about Leonardo da Vinci. In it three characters from his paintings come to life. They talk to him and they ask him to justify his art. They put him on trial in a sense, trying to get to the core of what caused this greatest of inventors and thinkers to create and do what he did.

That's an interesting idea I've been thinking about, if the characters I create through writing and painting could come and speak to me, what would they say? What would yours say? Have you ever had a conversation with something you've created?

The Classroom on Mango Street

So, I am here, sitting in an empty classroom, taking down posters, stacking grammar books, and yes, pondering how I can be better at my job next year. How can I share the passion for literature, history, philosophy, politics, and world culture that I feel? How can I make the rising generation of tenth grade teens sit up and take notice of all that the realm of English Literature and Language has to offer?

I have a plan.


A good plan.


Want to hear it? Want to make suggestions? Want to help me mold young minds?


Term 1:

~Short Stories from Guy de Maupassant, Katherine Mansfield, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez (learning MLA format, research techniques, and debate tactics)

~Short novel Iron and Silk--about a young Yale graduate going into Communist China to teach English and learn Martial Arts. Along with this is in depth information (including guest speakers and a martial arts demonstration)about Chinese history, politics, government, martial arts, and the world fascination with learning English (with a bit of statistics thrown in for fun!))

~Follow up with the awesome graphic novel American Born Chinese, and take what they have learned about Chinese culture, pair it with American culture to understand the two together, and explore current stereotypes.

Term 2:

~Julius Caesar--discussing power, politics, honesty, democracy, republics, and the importance of the vote. The will be keeping a close eye on the 2008 election, learning and defending their political stance, and discussing major political issues.
~Pair it with philosophical discussion from reading Plato's Republic and Machiavelli's Prince


~Anthem by Ayn Rand--objectivism, capitalism, communism, socialism, individualism verses the collective. Creating a Utopia. Free Trade verses Fair Trade
~Pair with readings from Naomi Klein and Generation Me

Term 3:

~House on Mango Street--explore and celebrate the customs and culture of Latin America, as well as Hispanic influence on America, immigration issues, and the importance of memoirs.
~Pair it with readings from David Sedaris and the Freedom Writers Diary

Term 4:

~The brilliant graphic novel Persepolis--Middle East past and current events (this could take an entire year, yes? How many of today's kids REALLY know what is going on with the war? With the surrounding countries, with the daily lives of those who live in the Middle East, is it only fear they feel? Why does America seem to foster the idea that American blood is more precious than the rest of the world? see past post about this!)
~Selections from Three Cups of Tea, educational systems throughout the world

~Poetry Unit--if time!

God is a Big God

Poppy knew from when he was a boy there must be a kernel of truth on every avenue. "Does it make sense," Poppy said, "that any God would choose some people and leave the others out? If only Christians or Jews are right, what about most of Asia and the Middle East? All these millions of people are just--extras? Ridiculous! God's bigger than that!"

Why would God want to be only large enough to fit inside a certain group of hearts? God was a Big God. Once Liyana answered someone that way, but it didn't work very well.

"What religion are you?"

"Big God."



--From Habibi

I think I LOVE my Job!!

Ok, I am going to gush! I am going to get gooey! I am going to be completely sentimental. I am going to inspire next year's Hallmark cards--in fact, picture this whole entry in PINK letters with little bears and hearts and rainbows and sunshine!!! I know. It's sick. If I could dot all my 'i' s with little hearts instead of dots, I would, for today only! Yep, I am going to show emotion (as I am usually so cold and pride myself on my Ice Queen attributes!) On this day of Saint Valentine, I thought I'd share some thoughts on love.

Here is what I love: The Salem Witch Trials, McCarthyism, The Crucible, The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne, Communism, Naming Names before the Senate!, Arthur Miller, Young Goodman Brown meeting the Devil in the forest, Personification, Emily Dickinson's brain, "I Hear America Singing" and Whitman's crazy hair, Robert Herrick telling me to "Make much of Time", LORD BYRON...such a bad boy, such a ladies man and I want to ride on the back of his motorcycle, Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind", ee cummings and his desire to never capitalize, The Simpsons version of "The Raven", hyperboles, figurative language, imagery, creating, and on and on and on and I LOVE IT!!! I haven't loved my job this much in years!!! I didn't know it was possible. I didn't know I could be this satisfied. I don't know what it is, but I have this amazing group of students who actually think and create and learn, and I teach at this amazing school, and I have never been happier doing what I love to do....so much so that the whole question of grad school right now seems wrong!

Allow me to share an example--an email I received today:

Miss B,

First of all, hats off to you and this amazing poetry unit!!

I've been really into poetry (and creative writing in general) for a long time, but you're the first teacher I've had in my "educational career" that has gone into depth with what interests me.

So I assume that you're a naturally creative soul as well. Which is why I've decided to ask your advice on something I've been wondering about...

Do you know of any creative writing/poetry contests or something that I could get into?

Well, thanks again Miss B! You're amazing!



If these kids are the future, I hope I live a long, long time!! Yep! I said that! Yep! I am doing a cheer right now! Yep! I am going to have it put on a t-shirt and wear it along with my other two classic tees--"Cupcakes Make People Happy" and "I Heart Atticus Finch!"


sigh.....I went to Valentine's grave in Dublin a few years ago, and you know he is the patron saint of friends, family, and lovers....so despite the capitalistic tendencies of many, today is a good day. And nothing says I love you more than a subscription to The Economist--no roses please!

A Christmas Carol...

Dear Dickens...how do I love thee, let me count the ways through your timeless lessons.


1. He laments “Why did I walk through crowds of fellow beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!”.

2."There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all out kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us."

3. And it was a very uncommon kind of torch, for once or twice when there were angry words between some dinner-carriers who had jostled each other, he shed a few drops of water on them from it, and their good humour was restored directly. For they said, it was a shame to quarrel upon Christmas Day. And so it was! God love it, so it was!

4. "Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends, to which, if persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge. "But if the courses be departed from, the ends will change. Say it is thus with what you show me!"

5. "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

6. "I don't know what to do!" cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoön of himself with his stockings. "I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to every-body! A happy New Year to all the world! Hallo here! Whoop! Hallo!"

7. "But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round -- apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that -- as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time: the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!'"

8. He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God Bless Us, Every One!