Aristotle, Plato, and Flannery

My "History of Literary Criticism and Theory" class just discussed Flannery O'Connor's "A Good Man is Hard to Find" in the light of Aristotle's Poetics and Plato's Allegory of the Cave, among other things. I don't know if they enjoyed it, but I sure did! They are so bright they shine. We covered all the points I had in mind, I think, and students brought up most of them. That makes teaching a joy. It's a relief, I'm sure, to be on the solid ground of 20th century short fiction after I bombarded the class with Postmodern chaos at the beginning of the course, posing the question, "How did we get to this particular postmodern moment in time?" before going back in time to Plato and Aristotle. Thursday, we'll tackle two more O'Connor stories, and maybe bring in some of our reading from Lennard Davis's Enforcing Normalcy. I'll post more next Monday and Tuesday, when we're off for a (short) FALL BREAK.

THE PORCH by Harry McDowell

This play is going to be wonderful! I'm told that it is professional in every way and very moving. Not for children because of adult situations, but the language is okay, and an audience of high school and college age students and adults of any age will get a lot out of it. It's in downtown Raleigh, so anyone wanting to make a day of it could take a group and go out to eat before or afterwards. These performances are a fundraiser for an organization--Kairos Outside of North Carolina--that puts on two retreats a year for women who have husbands, sons, daughters, or other family members or friends in prison. This ministry is ecumenical and interracial. I've been on four teams, including the upcoming retreat this October at Lutheridge near Asheville, in the mountains--fall colors!--and will be on the one that will be at Camp Weaver near Greensboro in April. I'll head the team that does the retreat somewhere in the eastern part of North Carolina next fall. The weekends are life-changing experiences, as women find others who understand and don't pass judgment on them. The motto is Listen, Listen, Love, Love--and what is said on a Kairos Outside weekend stays just between those of us who are there. Let me know how many tickets you want! Or go to http://www.kairosnc.org/ for details.

Blogs for Kid Lit Writers

I ran across this blog of interest to people who write children's literature. Some of you might be intersted in the blog and in the links it takes you to. Interesting. http://cwim.blogspot.com/.

And here's another: http://thelongstockings.blogspot.com/.

And one from the UK: http://www.kidsbooksuk.blogspot.com/.

Students in my English 380 classes reading Chapter 6 in Perry Nodelman and Mavis Reimer's The Pleasures of Children's Literature, on children's literature and the marketplace, might plug the presence of such blogs into the information groups are finding on awards, bookstore offerings, publisher's catalogs and web sites, and series books consistent with--or resistant to--the demands of the marketplace.

A Post for New Year 5769

Why women and men are different: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/3163/jewish/Man-and-Woman.htm

Frank Cordelle Coming to UNCW

Dr. Janet Ellerby of the Women's Resource Center just told me that Frank Cordelle's Century Project will be coming to UNCW this spring semester. This event is happening because my cousin contacted Frank after seeing his work on this BLOG--then Frank contacted me--then I contacted Janet--then she contacted Frank! How cool is that? The exhibit is a wonderful way to celebrate womanhood and to ask ourselves, "What is beauty?" I argue that beauty is not always what we might expect, and Frank Cordelle's images illustrate that assertion. They take my breath away.