The World That We Knew by Alice Hoffman

A Jewish mother, Hanni, makes a sacrifice so her daughter may live. She with the help of a rabbi's daughter brings to life a golem, Ava.

This is no ordinary golem in many respects; she is female, she speaks, and she has some feelings. Golems, which are born without a heart or soul, are not supposed to have feelings. 

The story moves back and forth between Ettie, the rabbi's daughter, and Lea, the girl the golem was created to protect. Ettie becomes involved in the Jewish resistance, along with Victor and his brother, Lea's soulmate, Julien.

This unique novel which uses magic realism captures the darkest hour in human history. Demons hide in trees and angels wander the earth. And then there's Ava whose tattoo on her arm reads "truth." She can speak to birds and has the strength of one hundred horsemen.

Ava can peer into the future; she knows what her ultimate fate will be. The truth is that Ava isn't made by God. In a locket given to her by her mother, Lea has instructions on what she must do to the Golem.

The magical elements never detract though from the real story--the horror of the trains, the camps, the senseless killing.

If you want to read more about this book and the inspiration behind it, I recommend this article from the Jewish Women's Archive by Karen Kashian, https://jwa.org/blog/bookclub/interview-alice-hoffman-about-world-we-knew 

Cornelia Funke's prose in Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro  garnered critical praise when it came out in 2006. Capturing how the human spirit prevails in the face of tragedy, the film rises above most horror/fantasy films. 

A new novel for young adults written by Cornelia Funke captures and amplifies the dark magic of the original. Her prose explains many of the aspects of the film that defies explanation. Here's an example. We learn that the insect "fairy's" favorite game was change: "Change was in her nature. It was part of her magic and her favorite game."

This explains why the "fairy" readily changes form from insect to fairy to carnivore.

While the movie evokes images, Funke's prose also gives us each character's internal train of thought.

In the book and the film, Mercedes has beauty, courage and worldliness. In contrast, Ofelia's  mother is hobbled by insecurity.

Funke says of Ofelia's mother, Carmen: "She sat once more in the wheelchair, as if the Wolf (the Capitan) had stolen her feet. He had crippled her."

All of this is metaphorical; Carmen can walk; she just cannot stand up for herself. 

Carmen does not believe in magic or fairy tales, believing only delusions e.g. she believes she needs the villainous man, Vidal.

Funke states in another breathtaking passage that illuminate Carmen's thinking:

 "We all create our own fairy tales. The dress will make him love my daughter, that's the tale Carmen Cardoso told herself, although her heart knew Vidal only cared for the unborn child he had fathered."

For a deeper understanding of del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth, read Cornelia Funke's version.

Leadership

Great leadership advice for managers.

https://www.accel-5.com/learn/video/take-care-of-your-teams-emotional-and-physical-health

Managers must think about the mental and physical health of workers. Healthy employees do more work, turn-over is less, and it is also inherently the right thing to do. 

Workers need to feel socially supported. 

Pfeffer, Jeffrey. Power: Why Some People Have It--And Others Don't.

Sutton, Robert I. and Jeffrey Pffeffer. The Knowing-Doing Gap. 

Photo by Josh Hild from Pexels

Learning at home videos

My county just issued a shelter-in-place. Though emergency personnel are working, many others will have to stay home. YouTube offers some free educational videos for families:

https://learnathome.withyoutube.com/

Amoeba Sisters,

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCb2GCoLSBXjmI_Qj1vk-44g

I love the Amoeba sisters; they've even updated their virus video that explains in simple terms how viruses aren't technically living things. Even though they aren't living, lytic and lysogenic cycles allow them to multiply. For ages 13+

HHMI Biointeractive,

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdofq4hHbT3ZDzgYUqsDd1A

Numerous videos with easy-to-understand graphics.

Explains how in Photosynthesis, for instance,  water donates electrons and carbon accepts them, resulting in the formation of carbohydrates. Explains what happens inside the chloroplasts--the light reactions and Calvin cycle.  For High school readers and up.

Write it Down

Professor urges students to write everything down in this unprecedented time. During a pandemic, 'write it down,' University of Virginia professor Herbert 'Tico' Braun urges students.

Actually, this is good advice for all writers. Writing your experiences will keep a record of this time in history; it can also be therapeutic.

photo courtesy of Pexelscom, Tirachard Kumtanom

https://news.virginia.edu/content/write-it-down-historian-suggests-keeping-record-life-during-pandemic?utm_source=DailyReport&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news&fbclid=IwAR09KejyTLZrFNxZ-Up65CjFp6ix84CPXP9wfCQ5c-a1RwTlkZaWJIbI5hI

1917

I watched this film last weekend with a few others. The cinema had limited seating due to the covid 19 outbreak. This was before CDC recommended even greater limitations on gatherings.

1917 is a somber film that depicts a perilous time. Just a year later, in 1918, a pandemic would cause panic and confusion, much like is happening now in 2020.

What struck me at the end was the battalion's lack of gratitude. But then again, if you can't see the whole picture--the aerial maps--than its hard to be grateful.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

What looks like an accidental drowning might actually be a suicide. Told in alternating voices, this suspense-saturated drama is Hawkins' second novel. 

If you missed it the first time around, like I did, your library probably has plenty of copies.

Nel isn't very well liked in her small community. Even her sister bears a grudge against her. The community resents that she's writing a book about the witchcraft trials and other historical events that took place in Beckford. 

Nel chooses to write not only about the historical deaths by drowning but also the more recent drownings. This infuriates Louise, the mother of a girl who recently committed suicide in the pool. 

Soon afterward Katie's death, Nel also drowns in the drowning pool. Some family members think she has killed herself but others suspect something more sinister.

Among the suspects, there is a jealous sister, a handsome male teacher, a dangerous ex-boyfriend, an outraged mother, and a cantankerous cop.

Nel's teenaged daughter is also in danger, leaving readers to wonder if she will suffer the same fate as her mother and all the other "troublesome" women. 

Though some have said they enjoyed this book less, its actually more enjoyable than The Girl on the Train. Into the Water is multi-faceted and surprising, thought-provoking and riveting. 

The Doll Factory by Elizabeth MacNeal

In this novel, a pair of twins unhappily work in a doll shop and  a collector of rare specimens, Silas, takes interest in one of them. Iris also fall under the gaze of a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group of painters hoping to take Victorian London by storm.

The drudgery of Iris' work is palpable. What she wants more than anything is to become an artist. Louis, a member of the Brotherhood, offers her a chance of a lifetime. He tells Iris,

"I can teach you how to use oils, and perhaps next year you can enter a canvas into the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition."

The offer, however, is contingent upon her becoming a model for him. He promises to also teach her to paint--something that Iris has longed for all her life. 

Her family disowns her after she becomes Louis' model. They feel its unbecoming of a woman to live alone and work as an artists model. This leaves her more vulnerable to the local psychopath, Silas. 

MacNeal skillfully creates this character by first hiding his flaws. Silas originally appears as just another impassioned artist, except in his case he is interested in curiosities. He preserves dead animals and skeletons, butterflies, and other odd assortments.

Oddly enough, several women associated with Silas go missing--Flick, Bluebell, and now Iris. 

The novel skillfully draws readers into the Victorian world. Readers care about the plight of the protagonists--Louis who has gotten himself in a quandary--and Iris who desperately wants to be free to paint. Like the queen in Louis' painting, Iris finds herself figuratively and literally imprisoned. 

In writing that rivals the best suspense novel, MacNeal takes readers into the mind of a serial killer and contrasts it with a desperate woman's fight for freedom. 

What I Wish I'd Known

A really good essay on "writing" by Bonnie Hearn Hill, "What I Wish I'd Known."

She addressed the loneliness, the doubts, but also the triumph. 

She says (of writers):

"We do it because we can’t not do it, riding that bicycle up the mountain, calves screaming in pain, the road nipping at our heels, whispering, “I’ll get you this time.” But we know better because we’ve done it before, because one way or another, we will get to the top, and that’s the reason we do it, one of the reasons, anyway. We do it for that blast of oxygen in our lungs, the certainty of the finish line. We do it for the ride down the hill, that sweet sense of soaring."

Bonnie's essay was the 2019 winner of the contest. For anyone interested, there's a new contest with a March 3rd deadline:

https://writermag.submittable.com/submit/156927/2020-essay-contest

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Blood brothers and members of the Comitatus, Finn and Keiro both have a privileged standing in Incarceron. They are nontheless as the maestra reminds them prisoners. No one can ever leave the living prison that is Incarceron. The prison has many eyes that watch them and a voice that taunt them.

With the aid of a crystal key, Finn, Keiro, Gildas, and Attia hope to escape to the Outside as they Sappique did. After a dangerous escape from the Comitatus, they embark on a quest that tests and transforms them. 

Nearly killed by a beast in a cave, the four of them are rescued by a strange Sapienti called Blaze. Blaze takes them to a high tower where he tries to convince them that there is no Outside. But Blaze and nearly everyone else is not who they say they are. 

On the outside, Claudia's father plans for her to marry an odious boy, Caspar. John Arlex, her father, is Warden of Incarceron but he refuses to tell her anything about its secrets. He only wants to use her as a pawn to achieve power.

At court there are many factions but Claudia does what she can to protect her tutor, Jared, and Finn, whom she believes is the rightful heir of the kingdom. 

Faced-paced and exciting, this novel is a great fantasy for those who love suspense and plot twists. 

Catherine Fisher's official webpage,
https://www.catherine-fisher.com/

Lyric essay

What is a lyric essay?

A lyric essay is a cross between an essay and a lyric poem. In "Knit One,"  Suzanne Cody writes in Eastern Iowa Review about a woman's sorrow and dejection by using the metaphor of knitting:

"Sorrow ravels the sweater from the bottom--a slow, slow process. He appears to think the young woman doesn't notice. But she does. He may well know this, but likes to pretend." 

Their relationship is becoming unraveled just like the sweater:

"If you don't make time for this, eventually the pulling will go faster than the stitching and there will be nothing left between you and me but a pile of tangled wool"

The term lyric essay was invented by the late Deborah Tall, a professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Tall wrote A Family in Strangers in which she employed the lyric essay, a form she has been obsessed with for thirty years. 

Resources:
http://outofboundsradioshow.com/exc_audio_post/deborah-tall-poet-writer-and-professor-of-english-at-hobart-william-smith-colleges-geneva-ny/

The Brigands by Parris Afton Bonds

Set in Matamoros, this exciting romance explores the events that led to the formation of Texas. Filled with real and fictional characters, the basic outline of the story remains faithful to the historical record. The provisional government was rife with tension. Land speculation or “Matamoros fever” resulted in some land titles to be sold illegally. 

While there’s no record of a double agent, like the nefarious Chaparral Fox, the provisional government had many factions and dissenters. James Fannin’s decision to capture the port of Matamoros divided the Texas army, weakening the forces at the Alamo.

Against the brewing unrest in Tejas y Coahuila, many strong-willed characters come into conflict with each other. Rafaela, who was raised in England, learns that she must marry a man she loathes, Paladin. Her father arranged for her to marry Paladin, a Baron, for his title. In return, the Baron would receive a dowry and the ability to pay off debts.  The dark brooding Baron clearly prefers the Fiona, the feisty Irish woman hired to become Rafaela’s companion.

Fiona, wonderfully delineated by Bonds, is the kind of humorous, hard scrabble character that is a joy to discover. Deprived of many things in childhood, Fiona determines to get her due. Gutsy and determined, she will not back down to Paladin who claims ownership to the same rich parcel of land that she does.

Rafaela appear altogether different, yet in many ways, she is similar to Fiona. She wants a home more than riches; she desires true love and not an arranged marriage to a dilettante. Though Rafaela tries to resist the charms of Niall, Paladin’s friend, she finds herself inevitably drawn to the penniless Irish Traveler. 

What makes this novel exciting is the expert pacing.  In scene after scene, these characters risk everything for a chance at true love and happiness.  In one of the most pivotal scenes, Fiona, with Rafaela’s help, turns her carriage around, as a bridge goes up in flames. By choosing to turn her carriage around, she’s throwing in her lot with Paladin and the revolutionaries. The plight of the mismatched lovers is not dissimilar to the plight of the ragtag Texas army that defies the odds.

Coding with music

If your students like music and coding, there are great new ways to combine both interests.

Tutorial--composing Music
https://www.datacamp.com/community/tutorials/using-tensorflow-to-compose-music


Made with Code's Music Mixer
https://www.madewithcode.com/projects/music
The Music Mixer from Made with Code is possibly the simplest way to play with code and virtual musical instruments.

Made with Code's Mentor Video (Ebony Oshunrinde)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOdkfOhUtjs

DiscoverE Engineering
http://www.discovere.org/
Sound Proof Box activity.

GrooveCoders
https://groovecoders.com/
While this isn't free, it gives students and coding clubs the opportunity to create songs.

Earsketch
https://earsketch.gatech.edu/landing/#/
Use python or javascript to mix music in a DAW. Free.

The Lost Words by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris

MacFarlane takes words that were dropped from children's dictionaries and creates poetic anagrams. Words like acorn, adder, bluebell, bramble, conker, fern, heather were replaced with technological terms e.g. "cut and paste."

Conker, the shiny dark nut encased within the green spiky fruit, was used in children's games throughout the British isles. The horse chestnut or "conker" has an odd shape and would be hard to duplicate. Thus, MacFarlane's anagram includes the question, "Cabinet-maker, could you craft me a conker? He decided that neither Cabinet-maker nor King nor engineer could make one.

He calls a dandelion a little "sun-of-the-grass," and a kingfisher a "colour-giver, fire-bringer, flame-flicker, river's quiver."

All of these descriptions are worked beautifully into an anagram stanzas and illustrated with oversized images by Jackie Morris. For "starling," he writes,

Should green-as-moss be mixed with
  blue-of-steel be mixed with gleam-of-gold
     you'd still fall short by far of the--

Tar-bright oil-slick sheen and
    gloss of starling wing.

And if you sampled sneaker-squeaks
   and car alarms and phone ringtones
        you'd still come nowhere near the --

Rooftop riprap street-smart
    hip-hop of starling song.

Let shade clasp coal clasp pitch
    clasp storm clasp witch,
       they'd still be pale beside the --

In-the-dead-of-night-black, cave-black,
  head-cocked, fight-back gleam of starling eye.

Northern lights teaching shoaling fish teaching
   swarming flies teaching clouding ink
        would never learn the --

Ghostly swirling surging whirling melting
   murmuration of starling flock.


The Lost Words is a visual and verbal treat.