“Two Literary Programs to End - Mediabistro.com” plus 3 more

Amid the news that Margaret Atwood was "cutting her own hair w. nail scissors" and "off to buy organic coffee" it was interesting to learn, via Twitter, that she was "reviewing Valerie Martin's novel The Confessions of Edward Day in forthcoming NYRB." Interesting because – as mentioned in the Observer's recent interview with Martin – the two authors are close friends. Grist to the mill for those who bemoan literary back-scratching? Actually, no. Atwood's piece has just appeared, and an early paragraph meets the issue head-on:

I know Valerie Martin quite well. We've been friends since 1985: we met in Alabama, where both of us were teaching. We read each other's work … [and] readers of book reviews ought to be informed of such connections so that they can add whatever grains of salt may be merited. Thus: perhaps I like Martin's work because she's my friend. Or: perhaps I'm a friend of Martin because I like her work. On the other hand, perhaps you should believe in my professional objectivity, which compels me to tell the truth unaffected by personal considerations.

Fair enough. Indeed, while common sense dictates that we spare critics the job of weighing their obligations to friends against their duty to tell the truth, could it be that an author's mate in fact makes the ideal reviewer? Feel free to scoff. You may take the view that bookland is cosy enough as it is: a perception that's particularly common in a literary microclimate such as London. Where so many writers inevitably share publishers and agents, ties like these may not always be evident when Author X proclaims that Author Y's latest is the novel that no suitcase or Santa letter should go without.

But think beyond the glorified blurbs that appear in annual roundups and consider what makes literary criticism worthwhile. We expect a reviewer to "know" the author, to be familiar with his or her work and to be able to put it into context. They also need to be sensitive to its demands and claims. Who better than someone who's had the privilege to witness that work's gestation, its trial runs and false starts, someone with first-hand knowledge of its shaping influences and preoccupations?

Atwood's thoughtful 4,000-word piece on The Confessions of Edward Day is a case in point, nudging readers of the novel toward its possible association with Stéphane Audeguy's The Only Son (2006), a tale set during the French Revolution and narrated by Jean-Jacques Rousseau's forgotten brother François – and last year translated into English by Martin's partner John Cullen. No other review has speculated on a link between the two books; I'd guess because only a family friend could have been quite so alert to the possibility.

As it happens, Atwood likes Martin's novel ("a bravura performance") and didn't on this occasion have to weigh truth against friendship. Probably that came as a relief to both parties; hard enough to give feedback on something your friend wrote, without having to do it in public. And anyone venturing into this territory must have in mind the fateful case of Edmund Wilson and Vladimir Nabokov, a literary friendship of 25 years that famously was wrecked by a review. In 1965 Nabokov published a new translation of Pushkin's Eugene Onegin; Wilson's critique (again in the New York Review of Books) began:

This production, though in certain ways valuable, is something of a disappointment; and the reviewer, though a personal friend of Mr Nabokov – for whom he feels a warm affection sometimes chilled by exasperation – and an admirer of much of his work, does not propose to mask his disappointment. Since Mr Nabokov is in the habit of introducing any job of this kind which he undertakes by an announcement that he is unique and incomparable and that everyone else who has attempted it is an oaf and an ignoramus … Nabokov ought not to complain if the reviewer, though trying not to imitate his bad literary manners, does not hesitate to underline his weaknesses.

Ouch. Hesitate the reviewer did not; and when Wilson died seven years later, the rift caused by the zeal, with which he took to his task remained unhealed. So perhaps we should give more credit to authors who review their friends: they're giving us the benefit of rare insight, but they're also brave enough to put that friendship on the line.

Lithuania’s liberal voice - Baltic Times

Posted: 01 Oct 2009 12:15 AM PDT

Oct 01, 2009
Interview by Rokas M. Tracevskis

Leonidas Donskis, 47, is member of the European Parliament where he is a member of the liberal faction named the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. During the European Parliament election, which was held in June 2009, Donskis was elected from the list of the Lithuanian Liberal Movement, though he is not a member of any political party. He was born in Klaipeda. Donskis has been a professor of philosophy and political science in the U.S., Britain, Lithuania, Finland and other countries. He speaks Lithuanian, English, Russian, French, Italian and German as well as ancient Greek and Latin. Donskis was host of a popular show on politics and culture on Lithuanian public TV. Now he and his wife Jolanta live in Belgium due to his work in the European Parliament.

Do you enjoy your life in Belgium? Do you often visit the Belgian chocolate shop chain which is named Leonidas?
I very much like living in Belgium. Since my younger days I was in love with Flanders and with the Flemish Renaissance, and Baroque painting in particular. As a football fan, I have always had much admiration for such great football clubs as Bruges and Anderlecht. As for the Leonidas shops, yes, I adore dark Belgian chocolate.

What perspective do you have for the Lisbon Treaty? Don't you think that Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, will hesitate at signing this treaty, waiting for the parliamentary election in Britain, which should definitely be won by the Conservative Party? The latter did promise its electorate a referendum on the Treaty. It is easy to make a prognosis on the outcome of the referendum, taking into account the Euroskepticism of the Britons.
As a Euroskeptic, Klaus may decide to do so. Yet this would lead nowhere, as we are all in that same boat. This kind of political reasoning and behavior strikes me as nearly suicidal, since Euroskepticism and the failure of the EU are exactly what would substantially weaken Eastern and Central Europe, fully satisfying the needs and plans of the Kremlin. On the other side, much to my regret, we have to face the fact that skepticism about, if not hostility to, the EU is part of mainstream domestic policies in Great Britain.

What is your opinion on the election of Jerzy Buzek, Poland's former prime minister, to the post of European Parliament's president for the first half of the parliament's term – for 2.5 years?
I am in favor of this fact. Jerzy Buzek's election to the post of president of the European Parliament signifies a historic change of Europe's political sensibilities. Europe with Buzek on top of the EP is less divided than it was at the moment when the former French President Jacques Chirac notified Eastern European partners and allies that they missed an opportunity to keep quiet. I would hate to sound banal here, but Buzek's election returned to Eastern Europe some part of its moral and political dignity that it lost during the five decades of miserable and humiliating existence as a boundary region and a zone of Soviet influence.

You did work in universities in many countries. Please briefly compare those countries.
I researched and lectured in the U.S., Great Britain, Sweden, Finland, Italy, Hungary, and Estonia, not to mention my native Lithuania. As an academic, I was very happy in the U.S., and I still think that American colleges and universities are less bureaucratic and more independent than European institutions of higher education. As an esthete and a lover of a particular country, I am happy to teach in Italy. As a person not devoid of interest in the media world and the public domain in general, I immensely enjoyed my life and work in Great Britain, precisely because I was able to reveal for myself its incredible political debates and book reviews. Sweden allowed me a glimpse of a model democracy, a bit boring and bureaucratic, yet magnificently civilized and secure. In a way, Hungary and Estonia may be regarded as the significant Other, of my country, as there is a sort of family resemblance of Eastern and Central European countries, although Estonia is closer to the Nordic countries than Lithuania. Finally, Finland, the country to which I owe a great debt of gratitude for allowing me to feel more at home than anywhere else outside of Lithuania. I defended my second doctorate at the University of Helsinki, and I serve as a Docent of Social and Moral Philosophy there.

Is it easy to be a liberal in Lithuania, which is dominated by some rather provincial conservatism? How many liberals are in Lithuania, in your estimation?
I guess it is difficult to be a liberal everywhere nowadays. It is hard to speak up in favor of the human individual, their conscience and reason, instead of defending faceless and soulless organizations with their awful bloodless vocabulary and seemingly correct phrases, without any content. Yet your remark about our parochial conservatism is quite correct. In a conservative Roman Catholic country like Lithuania, liberalism is unavoidably linked to agnosticism, if not overt atheism. Liberalism is, first and foremost, about the political priority of the individual over collectivities, and the moral superiority of individual conscience and reason over anonymous decisions. Liberalism is condemned to remain in Lithuania a property of the creative minority. We have very few genuine liberals.

Did you ever have some problems in Lithuania because of your Jewish heritage? What does it mean to be a Jew in Lithuania? Are you the only Jewish-heritage member of the European Parliament?
As a Jew, I have had difficulties not only in Lithuania. Yet it is a long and separate story. To be a Jew in Lithuania means to be exposed in the moral sense. Any silly remark or an embarrassingly inadequate commentary in the press or among public figures may hurt you both as a Jew and as a patriot of Lithuania who feels miserable about his country. Since I happen to be the son of a Holocaust survivor, I am not going to hide my Jewish background, although I am a secular human being. For me, to remain silent when you read and hear all this anti-Semitic rubbish in tabloids like Respublika or Vakaro Zinios means to betray the memory of my father. I am a Jew whenever and wherever I encounter anti-Semitism. I do not think that I am the only Jew in the European Parliament, yet it may well be that I am the only descendant of Litvaks there.

What do you think about the activities of Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite?
I have much admiration for her courage, commitment, and decisiveness. I suppose she may lack that sort of warm responsiveness, which was a trait of her predecessor Valdas Adamkus. Yet she is a lady with a strong sense of mission. Lithuania badly needs profound change. I hope President Grybauskaite will live up to the expectations of the people who want to see Lithuania as a better place to live.

A couple of years ago, you commented on soccer, on Lithuanian public TV. Why do you support the national team of Holland?
The Dutch became my infatuation and love when I watched the World Cup games in 1974. Their game against Brazil was a miracle. I nearly cried when the Magnificent Orange lost the final game to Germany. A sort of deja vu happened in 1978, when they again lost the final, this time to Argentina. It is the team that may lose the game, yet win the hearts and minds of football fans, precisely because their ambition is to play elegant and beautiful football, rather than to win at whatever the cost. The Dutch football team is the incomparable underdog of genius – almost in every European and World Cup, except 1988, when not only genius and inspiration but also luck was on their side.

You are a fan of The Beatles and you sing their songs sometimes. What was your biggest audience? Which Beatles song is your favorite?
The largest audience seems to have been at the University of Bologna-Forli campus when I performed Eleanor Rigby. Another similar case was at Tallinn University during the summer school when I performed for my colleagues and students. I know that Frank Sinatra considered George Harrison's Something the most beautiful song ever written. I like very much Harrison's Something and Here Comes the Sun. Yet the most beloved song is Paul McCartney's and John Lennon's Eleanor Rigby. Incidentally, Ray Charles's interpretation of this song is nothing short of a miracle.

I read somewhere that you are a fan of good, non-commercial movies. What movies would you recommend to our readers?
Not to mention my beloved Italian masters, I would strongly recommend several musts: Woody Allen's Annie Hall, Manhattan, Celebrity; Wayne Wang's Smoke and Blue in the Face; the the Coen brothers' The Big Lebowski; and Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.

Hall schools approved for 11 Technology Classroom grants - Access North GA

Posted: 30 Sep 2009 09:42 AM PDT

GAINESVILLE - Ten Hall County schools have been approved for eleven Technology Classroom grants.

There were 106 applications submitted by 221 applicants.

These are the grant winners along with the applications the money will be used for:

*C.W. Davis Middle School, Todd Vokal, Brian Hall, Bryan Mavis and Crissy Ivey,

6th 8th grade, Physical Education

With Polar Heart Rate Monitors, students will experience and understand maximum heart rate, target heart rate, training heart rate, calories burnt and average heart rate. All students will have the capability to develop differentiated personal fitness programs based on their individual heart rates.

*Chestatee Middle School, Glen Lawson

8th grade, Science
Using Apple iPod Touches, students will report findings from lab investigations, create review materials to share, and blog about scientific inquiry with classmates. Students will use Apple software to develop their own apps for the Apple iPod Touch.

*Chicopee Woods Elementary School, Kathy Smith, Paula Tipton, Lisa Lackey, and Christy Morris

Kindergarten, All Subject Areas
Using Promethean interactive whiteboards, all Chicopee Woods kindergarten classes will teach Singapore Math (manipulating objects), Pearson Read-ALouds (Tumblebooks, Vocabulary Enrichment, Match Games), Jack & Jilly Reading Program (Drill-Sight Words, Letter Recognition, Phonics, Reading Passages, Word/Sentence Games, Memory) as interactive curriculum while accommodating all modalities.

*East Hall High School, Robin Kirkham and Cindy Grier

9th 12th, Math
Mathematics teachers will use Promethean equipment to make abstract mathematical concepts more dynamic and concrete through programs such a Geometer s Sketchpad. Collaboration within class can be increased as graphing calculator output can be displayed for class viewing.

*Friendship Elementary School, Shanda Millwood

Kindergarten, All Subject Areas

Students in this kindergarten class will be using Promethean interactive whiteboard and slates in all academic areas to be in control and actively involved in the learning process.*

*Johnson High School, Reid Houston

9th-12th , All Subject Areas
All students will have access to peer developed video tutorials downloadable via Johnson High School webpage. Broadcast students creating the tutorials will plan, direct, record, and edit the videos.

*Jones Elementary School, Jeremy Pirkle, Hank Ramey, Kelly Trippe, and Monie Shope

5th, All Subject Areas

Using Promethean interactive whiteboards, fifth grade teachers will produce highly engaging visual and auditory learning activities for their students to interact with and manipulate. These visual and auditory learning opportunities will be specifically beneficial to all second language students.

*Mount Vernon Elementary School, Kristi Crumpton and Connie Daniels

K-5th, All Subject Areas
Students will have the tools and structure to use handheld devices to learn, communicate, and collaborate with others. Apple s iPod Touch will be used to view classroom instruction, create audio podcasts, practice fluency, and create book reviews and audio books.

*Riverbend Elementary School, Mandy Major

4th 5th, Math
Using a Promethean interactive whiteboard, all fourth and fifth grade students will experience Singapore Math in an interactive manner. Students will actively participate in lessens created specifically for building mathematical knowledge through Promethean software.

*Riverbend Elementary School, Emily Nichols and Nita Baker

3rd 5th, English/Language Arts

Apple s iPod Touch will be utilized to target reluctant readers with high interest audio books in grades 3-5. Improving reading comprehension and fluency will be the primary focus.

*Wauka Mountain Elementary School, Robert Park and Michelle Truelove

K 5th , Music and Physical Education
Wii learning centers will use cutting edge technology that motivates students, promotes fitness and engagement in both physical education and music classes. These stations will be utilized by all students in every grade level.

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Thursday, October 1, 2009

“Two Literary Programs to End - Mediabistro.com” plus 3 more

“Two Literary Programs to End - Mediabistro.com” plus 3 more

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