Thursday, January 27, 2011

More Dark Pistachio Green

I'm to the point in my stitching of doing the solid background.  DMC 367.  5678 stitches of Dark Pistachio Green.

On the one hand, it's mindless.  No looking at charts, counting crosses, second guessing yourself for the fifth time.  Yet all one color makes Jade a dull girl...

Not that crazy yet.  I've surpassed the half-way mark of filling the grass, and I feel that each day we've been snowed out of school has been at least partially productive (although the messy state of my home may disprove that idea).

Here are two pics at different stages for the square!


Saturday, January 22, 2011

Student Quote of the Week

This was a short week.  Martin Luther King Jr. Day Monday.  No school for me Tuesday for a doctor's appointment.  Normal day on Wednesday and Thursday.  No school Friday because of snow.

Even in this short week, I have a great quote from one of my students.

I enjoy having a "thread" or common theme/idea run through a unit of study.  Before delving into Shakespeare's Othello, we do a study about race and religion.  We read some poems, "Incident" by Countee Cullen, "Cross" by Langston Hughes.  Move on to the short story "Recitatif" by Toni Morrison.  With my very white, very Southern-Minded students, I like to talk about race.  For some, this is the only way they will learn etiquette when talking about race.  I begin a transition to the religious discussion by having them do research on different aspects of the Civil Right's Movement.  With this, they get there first taste of MLA formatting, and while I do not have them do an entire research paper, I find this very beneficial.  They take all this information, and do a presentation.  After they have all presented, I give them my presentation on Malcolm X.

When discussin Malcolm X, I spend about half of the presentation discussing the similarities and differences between he and his contemporary Martin Luther King Jr.  I focus a lot of attention on teaching my kids about the Islamic religion and the simlarities and differences between it and Christianity.  We then watch the Spike Lee movie, and students select a symbol to trace the development of throughout the film.  In the end, this culminates with reading Othello, a story of a racial and religious outsider, a black muslim in a white Christian society.

I'm pretty proud of this thread running throughout my 12 week class.  Since we finished up the Malcolm X portion of the class, I decided to share this photo my husband found on the website http://artoftrolling.memebase.com/ .


Before projecting the picture, we discuss what an internet troll is.  I then ask them to write in their notebooks what is wrong with this picture.  While discussing the photo in one class, this is what one student said:

"So, Malcom X and Martin Luther King aren't the same guy?"

I'm still trying to determine whether it was a student fail or a teacher fail.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

A Link to the Past

Ever since I played A Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past on SNES as a wee-little Jade, I have been in love with the Zelda series.  It epitomizes the zeitgeist of my youth and makes me recall the innocence of that time in my life.  The story of Zelda being rescued by her brave warrior Link was better than any Disney feel-good movie.  While not as handsome as Prince Charming,this knight in shining armor had to be smart to solve the complex puzzles and mazes.  Like all men of fairy tales, Link gave me a skewed view of all men.  Throughout all the trials and fights, Link never spoke.  No words ever passed his lips, except the grunts in newer games as he rolled forward or sliced enemies with his sword.  Never complained, never asked you to cook or cut back on spending.  Link was the perfect man.

The two projects that I am currently working on are based on the fantasies of my youth.

The first is from one of the end game screens and has the 6 Maidens, Zelda, and the King in front of Hyrule Castle.  This is part a larger project/pipe dream that I have- stitching 6 - 7in x 8in scenes from the game to be hung around the Light World Map.  Husband has approved that when finished, this glorious work can be displayed in our living room.


The other is for a charity project on the Sprite Stitch forums, and is Link surrounded by chickens, praying on a tree stump.  There was something cathartic about hacking away at a defenseless chicken.  And the first time it happened, I was shocked that these vulnerable little creatures came raining down on Link.  The only thought that ran through my head when this happened was "Mother Clucker!"  Thus the title of the piece.


Will update these WIPs as I stitch more.