Maus

I hope that Art Spiegelman doesn't get mad at me about putting the cover to his book MAUS on this blog. I first read this book in 1999 in a high school in London, England. Funny that I should find a book written in the US while in the UK, but....

I found it again Friday while walking around Chapters.... (never a good idea for me to be loose in a bookstore with money, but...) had to buy it. Read it in one day.

I highly recomend it to anyone.

Visiting Lizards....

We have a visitor in the family this Christmas - It's Lizzie the Lizard from school.



During our visit at Grandma C's, she went skiing with us and seemed to enjoy it. For those who need a closeup, we took a photo of her in our son's pocket. Notice we wrapped her up well so that she wouldn't get too cold.

Musical Success?

A question...

Is a teacher a success when s/he has students who practice and who are able to perform in front of an audience to a high standard, or are they a success when they deliver a program that covers the musical basics and teaches students to value music?

Or is it when they do both?

I ask this because our school's musical was tonight. I came home after and crashed, waking just to read email and eat a bit. I am proud of what the kids did, and I had a lot of parents come up with great smiles on thier faces, thanking me for the great job.

Did I do the work? Or did I just see the result in my mind and encourage the kids to reach for the "brass ring"?

Or course, it is 1am right now - likely I will not be so pensive during the day.

Comics Continuted

Next comic I like - InkPen.

Imagine if comic characters lived as we do - their day job is their time in the comic book, and then they go to the employment agency to talk to their agent, have romances outside of the strip, change jobs....

It's wierd but fun!

I've been TAGGED!

Nathan tagged me yesterday...

So - 5 things you may not know about me (Chris):

1. I met my wife (Suzanne) at an Anglican(!) Church Retreat called Cursillo.








2. I sang in the Edmonton boy's choir when I was in grade school.

3. My first choice of Band instrument was Flute - which turns out to be my worst wind instrument!



4. My camp name is ED.

5. I am taking Spanish Dancing lessons.

Who's next? Well, I don't know if I know 5 people who will do it - but Suzanne is my first choice! Second? Liam Kinnon. the rest - soon to follow.

Comics - which strip is your fav?

I have a couple a favourite comic strips that I put into my palm every day. This one, 9 Chickweed Lane, is probably a very acquired taste. I really need to go and buy one of the books about this character who is a teacher - her opinions about teaching are quite similar to my own.

Also, the strips this guy does about cats are incredible. He has thier mannerisms down really well. I grew up with a cat, and I can see the tabby we had in the cats he puts in the strip.

Christian vs. Christ-Follower

Want a good laugh?

Check this out - a series of ads based on the Mac/PC ads that Apple put out earlier this year. Keep your mind open when you watch!

There's some good thoughts on this in Bill Kinnon's site.

Thanks Bill!

7 Days and 8 days and 13 days to go!

Seven days to the School Concert - and I am realizing how much work there is yet to do. Today I picked up chain (yes...) for Marley's Ghost. Can't wait to show the kids...

There are only 8 Teaching Days left until the break - and a couple of those days are taken up with special events in the school, so I really only have 6 days of planning to do.

And it's only 13 days left until Christmas.

Counting down is so much fun!

Concerts!

Last night was the Royal Winnipeg Rifle's Band Visitation. We played R.V. William's Tuba Concerto (with a guest soloist) to dedicate 3(!) tubas that are new to the band. We also did Variations on a Korean Folk Song (Chance), Sleighride (Anderson), Midnight Sleighride (arr. Wallace), Orange Coloured Sky (Rugolo), along with 4 carols and the regimentals of the Rifles - Old Solomon Levi and Keel Row. I think I may have missed a few pieces, but I don't have the program here, so I'll update it later.
UPDATE
Pieces I missed were Eternal Father Strong to Save (Smith), Swing Away (Sharpe), T'was the night before Christmas - with altered lyrics. There was also 2 pieces by a Tuba Quartet, and 2 pieces by a Clarinet Trio.

I think the concert went fairly well. Nathanael enjoyed listening to the band, and he got to stay up late to boot, so he was happy.

His concert is this afternoon, so what has he been doing all morning? Singing. Singing. And more Singing.

I think he's nervous.

Scrooge as the best keeper of the Spirit of Christmas?

I'm rediscovering an old Christmas Story.

Ebenezer Scrooge doesn't usually bring up visions of someone who knew how to keep Christmas well. We often think of him as being someone who hated Christmas so much that he woudl have packaged it up and mailed it to Mars if he could. Two things this year have gotten me thinking about the change that occurs in Scrooge.

First, the church I attend has cast me in a script (as Bob) where Bob tells about the transformation Scrooge undergoes - but from Bob's perspective. The last paragraph begins with "For years after his death, people still talked about how he exuded the spirit of Christmas". This line really caught my imagination.

Second, I have chosen this story as my Christmas Concert theme with my elementary students. I've been talking to them about the change that Scrooge undergoes - he wants to be a better person, and that means treating others better than he has. It's opened up some conversations with students and parents.

I took out a bunch of versions of the story for display in the school - I think I'm going to read one of them before the weekend is out. The final words about Scrooge keep ringing in my head - the ones about how well he kept Christmas.