Write On! Where the Wild Things Are. A Jog.

After school today is the second meeting of “Write On!” a writing group that Abbie and I are starting at Burris. The point of the group is to write and edit a literary magazine. Submissions will be accepted from Burris students in grades 8-12, Indiana Academy students, and our faculty. I hope we get some faculty submissions because it is important for students to see their teachers write. I also hope more students show up today than did last week, although I was pleased by the four who showed up last week. Abbie and I pretty much decided they would be the editorial board, although we have to hold elections in a couple of weeks.

My students are working on designing comics or political cartoons because we just finished MAUS I: A Survivor’s Tale. In another week, we will read MAUS II. Then we will go back to Modernism and their textbook. That sentence sounded sort of like I dread moving back to the textbook. I don’t. As textbooks go, this one doesn’t suck too bad. I do supplement the text with links on their class website, so I think we are getting full coverage.

I went to see Where the Wild Things Are over the weekend. It was weird. I think Time’s review is fairly accurate. Here are two other reviews: The New Yorker and Rotten Tomatoes. I loved that this movie took Sendak’s story and made it into something more. I also hated it. I loved that the land of the Wild Things was so well portrayed, but I hated that they had such internal strife. I get that their emotions in many ways were tied to Max’s own emotions, but I wanted the Wild Things and their world to be his escape from reality, not a descent into their reality. Still, I will probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. And, I still may get that Max tattoo.

I have decided to run two miles every morning instead of running three times each week. I started this morning with a run up to McGalliard and back. I think the consistency might help me get faster, but I hope I have enough recovery time between runs. Of course, the shorter distance will help with that. I am going to run two miles on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, then run my long run four or six miles on Saturday. I think this will help to still provide me with a distance/endurance run while still helping me to get faster. Who knows. This could be the shittiest idea ever.