2002-05-30
Feline fun, posted at 6:06 p.m.
Epiphany in Baltimore has moved to epiphanyinbaltimore.blogspot.com Big news: I got a cat! He's black and white, very affectionate, and hates Holden. I'm happy with him so far.My experiences with cats has been mixed. Some are great, while others are skittish and unfriendly. This guy seems to be the former. In fact, he's the friendliest cat I've ever met. Immediately after I let him out of his cardboard carrying box, he was rubbing up against my legs, purring, and looking up longingly.
He's so affectionate that after returning from my bedroom after more rubbing and purring down there while he explored his new house, I told Jeremy that it was the most action I'd had in months.
Anyhow, getting a cat makes me realize just how little I know about the species. How am I supposed to know if he knows how to use his litter box? I put him in it, and he just jumped right out. What does flicking of the tail mean? How about the long sway of the tail? Why does he hate getting rubbed on the belly when dogs love it? When he stares at me and meows, what is he trying to tell me? "Pick me up"? or "Get out of my way, I want to get past!"? Besides figuring out cat language, the pressing question now is how I can get the cat and Holden to co-exist peacefully. So far, they've been separated, except for two brief encounters with both animals being held. The cat became all big and stiff, tried to scratch Holden, and hissed like a cobra. Holden had a big grin on his face and was wagging his tail, but definitely wanted to lunge at the kitty. It looks like it's going to be a long road ahead. Hopefully they'll learn to love each other. I've read some books on the subject, the SPCA told me some things, and hopefully Monday's trip to the vet will yield some more ideas.
By the way, thanks everyone for the kitty name suggestions. I've decided to figure out his personality first before I name him. We'll see.
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In other news, school has been good today. I'm trying to finish off the rest of the material on the curriculum. I'd already long ago made the executive decision not to do The Chosen. I don't really like the book much, the kids hate it, and, well, it's really tough to teach literature you don't like. Besides, I think the kids get a lot more at this stage in their academic careers at close and active reading of fewer texts, rather than reading as much as possible with no attention to quality and depth of the reading. We've read the hell out of two great books - To Kill a Mockingbird and Their Eyes Were Watching God - and done lots of other things along the way. If I would have tried to fit in another novel, it would have been a sad-ass attempt - and that's doing a disservice to both the book and the kids. Anyhow, I don't think anyone would necessarily care if they caught me excising the text - I haven't met one teacher here who is an advocate of the book, and am unsure how it got on the curriculum in the first place. Still, I'm not going to advertise the fact that I changed a bit of the curriculum. As long as my test scores are at par, they'll just let me keep doing what I'm doing.
So I've moved on to finishing off other little things on the curriculum. We're now doing August Wilson's The Piano Lesson, which is a nice play made into a nice movie starring Baltimore native Charles S. Dutton and the great Alfre Woodard. We are just watching the film version of it and answering some questions. I'm having them write an argumentative essay stating whether they agree with Boy Willie or Berniece about whether or not to sell the family heirloom piano in order to buy some land. I don't have time to have them perform it out themselves, even though that would be my preference. The kids enjoy the piece. Only six days left of regular school, then finals... I'm really going to miss these kids. I've had such a good time with them lately. Rarely does a class period go by in which I'm not reduced to a fit of laughter over something they've done.