Amazing What A Good Breakfast Pickles Make, Isn't It?

Surreal moment of the day: going to throw something out and finding a dead weasel next to the dumpster.

In other news, I got to get kids thinking about predicting the future, acting out celebrity interviews that they'd written, reading/discussing William Blake and the Romantic/Idealistic poets, especially re: Anti-Rationalism and the reaction against the Industrial Revolution and watching the Mattress Skit*. All in all a pretty decent day, teaching wise.

Also, I've got my 11th graders doing a reduced version of "A Modest Proposal" as a writing assignment. It'll be interesting to see what kind of problems/solutions they come up with.

In non-academic news, I had my first two capoeira students today. They seemed to have fun with it, even though we only did a warm-up, some stretching, and learning ginga. Towards the end, I showed them aú and rolê. They were more comfortable trying the latter, but I'll get them doing aú soon enough. It took about an hour, including the small cool-down workout/stretching we did, which isn't bad for a first session. By the time things really get started, we'll be up to 2-hour sessions, including a roda. If this gets really popular, I may consider having class 3 days a week. We'll see, obviously.

Here's hoping.

Later, flipsiders.

*I showed this because we've been talking about satire, and this particular skit uses the hymn "Jerusalem," the lyrics to which are lifted from Blake's poem "And Did Those Feet In Ancient Times."