Issue #99 - The Spaces in Between
Time of Love
Phew, what a week, what a year…
I spent my time grading and setting down tools in preparation for the break.
It has been unusually mild and I managed a few cups of tea sitting out on our back porch. I started thinking about our old neighbor when we had a little stone cottage in one of the oldest streets in Havant, just a few miles from Hayling Island.
As winter approached he would tidy the garden, tie the canes that were used to grow runner beans, and store them in the shed. He would sharpen the ends of spades and clean the rake with a wire brush, adding a little linseed oil to the handles before hanging them up ready for when he’d use them again in the spring. That’s how it should be done.
Living in Pittsburgh, I feel the seasons more acutely than anywhere I’ve lived and if we were out in the countryside then we would experience them even more and would have to adapt more closely to the changes and rhythms of each month.
We used up spare decorations on a twig outside. Those of you in the UK will recognize those knitted hats that you find on Innocent smoothies, with a percentage of those sales going to Age UK. According to the website, volunteers have knitted 7.5 million hats!
There’s quite a bit to talk about today, I might save a few bits for a sort of review of the year if I run out of space, I know I must be careful with your attention, your energy like mine is depleted and we need rest, nourishment for the belly and the mind and some love and conversation with the people around us, and our families wherever they are.
Stephan
Teaching and Learning
I wanted to write in celebration of bell hooks who passed away this week and who will be truly missed. Two books, Teaching to Transgress and Teaching Critical Thinking have been with me for some time and provided help when times were hard and filled me with inspiration and hope. Such was her prolificacy that people know many different aspects of bell hooks; writing about feminism, education, culture, and race, these subjects are woven together as a philosophy, a way of seeing the world, through love.
I came to her work as an educator and learned about teaching and working with young people, reading of her experiences of growing up, in segregated classrooms, and being bussed to white schools, where she was taught by white teachers, who reinforced racist and sexist stereotypes. There’s great power in her work and so much clarity in her writing, drawing on stories and asking questions of her readers.
There are very few writers that I return to, but the energy and vitality of bell hooks is radical and revolutionary, captivating and compelling. I was heartened that so many people posted tributes online and talked about her work this week. There are obituaries online including a nice piece in Education Week. I’m resolved now to broaden my understanding of her work and continue to talk to my students about bell hooks, let her life and work remain forever more.
Spaces to connect
There’s an automated email that will start replying to people in three days, apologizing for my delay in not getting back to you and outlining the reason, that I’ll be working on projects for The Global Languages & Cultures Room, writing, reading, and traveling. Just in case anyone has any doubts, I will be around but I won’t be teaching. I want to protect my time, it will be so important to do this and know that it will lead to better work and more fruitful and productive creation.
This article in the chronicle provided some food for thought, advice on disconnecting but remaining engaged, how to ensure this time is well used. Of course, the privilege of teaching relief is feeding my imposter’s syndrome and I know enough now to ignore those thoughts and press on.
I’m playing with a new title for this section and slightly unsure what life will look like from Issue #100 onwards. Just know that as always, my desire to write is to reflect and hopefully you’ll find it interesting and useful in some ways, and help you to think about your work or even distract yourself occasionally.
Life Lessons
I bloody watched and listened to a ton of stuff this week as I didn’t feel like picking up a book. I started with The Beatles Get Back and it sort of snowballed from there.
Mostly my thought while watching Get Back was; isn’t Ringo just the nicest person in the whole world; sitting quietly, playing, chatting, and messing around with the others. It’s not a documentary really, in any traditional sense and I knew that I had to stay with it and some magic would happen and it does and you feel like you’re in the room with them and listening to them talk and noodle on their instruments and the incredible alchemy when songs start to come together.
I had it all wrong, Paul is the energy and he can’t stop writing and watching him create “Get Back!” from a few bars and half a tune in his head to the others joining in and eventually playing it live as a tight band on the roof of Apple Headquarters on Saville Row, is incredible. John with Yoko, inseparable and enjoying life, goofing around with his silly voices and rock n’ roll riffs. There’s a lovely sequence when McCartney’s daughter Heather joins them in the studio and all the Beatles are so sweet to her and having so much fun, teasing, and making jokes, what an extraordinary bunch of weird uncles she must have had.
I also loved seeing Billy Preston, an old friend from the Hamburg days who’d been asked to join the band for these sessions. He’s an incredible musician, but also he brings them all together, “You’re giving us a lift Bill!” says John as they play “Don’t let me down” for the millionth time.
This film also captures a moment in time, listening to people out on the streets as the band perform their rooftop gig, I couldn’t help but wonder at the clipped vowels, posh voices instead of our flattened estuary English that we speak down south now. There’s a nice article in the Guardian about the crowd that gathered in the street and some of the reactions and comments. There are a few grumpy sorts in bowler hats, but overwhelmingly the atmosphere is magical, an enthusiastic if restrained reception.
Lost and Found
You see, I knew that once I started harping on about The Beatles I wouldn’t have much time for other things, so I’ll save a few of them. Just to say that Get Back wasn’t the only music documentary I watched this week, I binged on 60’s and 70’s Dylan and Stones movies, a sad one about Elliot Smith, and a fun (and sometimes sad) film of The Beastie Boys.
I also listened to a wonderful podcast recorded by British comedian, actor, and national treasure Lenny Henry during a visit to Pittsburgh to explore the work of August Wilson. Back in 2016, he’d just played Troy Maxson in the National Theatre’s production of Fences and was now visiting the Hill District and meeting some of Wilson’s friends and relatives. Lenny makes the comparison between Pittsburgh and the Midlands where he grew up, also industrial and working, both tough places to grow up.
I have a few things on the list for next week, including Jane Campion’s anti-western The Power of the Dog, and a documentary by Sterlin Harjo, the writer, and co-creator of Reservation Dogs which I talked about in Issue #86. This one’s called “Love and Fury”, following a group of native artists as they tour their work. There’s an article in the NYT in conversation and previewing the film.
Thank you
I managed a sub-zero (Celsius) bike ride out to the West Virginia border along the Panhandle trail and bonked (cycling parlance for running out of puff) on the way out even before we turned around. It hasn’t happened to me for a while, perhaps I didn’t eat right, or maybe it’s a sign that I’m losing some of the fitness that I gained in the summer and need to sort it out. I will, I’ll be downstairs in the basement on the turbo trainer.
As I said, the cold weather is holding off, temperatures are up and down, so I’m hoping Sunday there’ll be an opportunity to get out on the trail again. In the meantime, I have some seasonal activities to attend to.
I know that everyone is rushing to get things finished and then get ready for a break, buying food and presents. I also know that it is a difficult time for many people, in the UK I used to support Crisis at Christmas (called Crisis now) which I volunteered for when I was at university. In the US I’ve chosen to give some money to two causes, The Sandy Hook Promise and The Homeless Black Trans Women Fund which were introduced to me by people here.
I doubt that I’ll get another newsletter in before the holidays, so have a good time, I know you’ll be with people that you love, remotely or otherwise. I want to thank you for the kindness that you’ve sent my way this year. I have loved speaking with every one of you, thanks for letting me write to you. It is a bit of a nuts thing having a newsletter where you tell everyone what you’ve been up to and share your views on everything, so in recognition of that, I raise a glass to you, wherever you are, and thank you and wish you good health.
See you in 2022 for Issue #100.