100. My version of cigarettes

What I’m up to

Hey! This is my 100th newsletter! Crazy to think I’ve had so much to say. Haha. To those who read this — thank you!

A little glimpse into our library: Thursday is Avatar day.

What I’m reading

I just read Poor Things by Alasdair Gray, the hilarious and clever Frankenstein-esque novel on which the award-winning movie (which I have yet to see) is based. Highly recommend the novel if you enjoy dark humor, satire, and political philosophizing.

I also read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I still love Poisonwood Bible best, but wow, DC is more testament to Kingsolver’s brilliance. I loved the protagonist and was sad to finish the book. I am now mildly regretting not first reading David Copperfield, since I have since learned that DC is actually a pretty direct modernization.

I read Lisa Jewell’s Watching You per my student’s recommendation. It’s a fast-paced thriller that’s not too murder-y.

I’m trying to listen to the audiobook of Independent People by Halldor Laxness (per Ann Patchett’s recommendation), but I literally fall asleep within a few sentences every time I start it! I still don’t even know what it’s about.

On my TBR: The Laughter by Sonora Jha.

Paul and I finished watching True Detective: Night Country, which was entertaining and, in Paul’s opinion, straight up scary. :)

I finally watched Dune: Part 1 in anticipation of watching Part 2 this Thursday. It’s so good! I couldn’t get into it the previous times I attempted to watch it, but now I know it’s because I always tried to watch while multitasking. Last night I watched it with friends and minimal phone usage, and it was quite riveting. Can’t wait for Part 2 (in the theatre with phone).

The kids and I watched the first episode of the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender. The anime is so beloved that I understand the hate, but I also think we should just enjoy it for the remake that it is. Critics’ biggest beef — that the new show cuts out the joy of the side story — has the effect of also reminding us of how dark the story really is.

Last but not least: I’m finally watching Breaking Bad! Even though I know so much about the show, the first episode had me gasping. I get the hype. To my delight, it’s also way funnier than I expected.

What I’m thinking about

Paul was sharing how interesting it is that quite a number of previous presidents were polyglots (did you know that Herbert Hoover and his wife spoke Mandarin to each other as a secret language?), but more recent presidents (even the highly intelligent and educated Obama) are not. This may say something about America’s influence and changing cultural priorities, but I was thinking it can perhaps also be attributed to… the brain.

Yesterday, I was writing an email to a colleague who is retiring. I kept getting stuck on the wording of a particular sentence, and it crossed my mind to just go to ChatGPT. I didn’t, however, because I remembered an article we read in an elective I am teaching about growth mindset, in which the author discussed how tackling mental challenges form and deepen neural connections.

Even though I teach English, writing does not come easy for me, per se. I mean, it probably comes easier for me than some others, but I still spend a lot of time wordsmithing and banging my head against the wall.

However, it’s obvious to me that persevering in those moments, instead of just taking shortcuts, is good for me. The longer I go without writing, the harder it is.

The longer I go scrolling TikTok instead of reading books, the harder it is to focus on longer chunks of text.

And I wondered if more of our predecessors were polyglots because they were trained to memorize and focus and retain information instead of what we do in our free time (scroll) and what we do in schools now — learn skills instead of content.

As a teacher, we are told it’s less important for students to know facts than it is for them to have the skills to find those facts. Our new (contentious) science curriculum has teachers withholding explanations for how things work in favor of inquiry learning.

I know there’s some good in this. Young adults often complain that school is a waste of time because, rather than learn practical skills (like how to do your taxes*), they are forced to memorize names and dates that will have no bearing upon their future. So yeah, fine, we should teach students how to Google correctly rather than having them memorize facts.

BUT surely this is doing something to our neural networks. For sure easy access to Google Translate stops me from engaging in retrieval practice. For sure our kids won’t master a second language if our curriculum doesn’t actually expect them to.

*for the record, we do teach this

What I’m learning

I saw this TikTok (auspicious way to start a paragraph in light of what I just wrote above, I know) in which someone interviewed a purported former CIA agent (?) about the single spy-skill that would be useful for the average person. (Note that I might be representing the TikTok inaccurately because I scrolled through it so quickly, I didn't even watch the whole video 😬.) At any rate, the agent said the most helpful thing the average person should know is the difference between perception and perspective. He explained that people often do not realize that their perception of a situation is, by very definition, limited, because it’s informed by personal beliefs, values, and experiences. So how you perceive something is limited to you.

Perspective is point of view, which any of my students should know determines which aspects are revealed in a particular situation. “Keeping something is perspective” means acknowledging your perception is your POV, and there are there are multiple POVs, infinite ways of seeing something. Keeping something in perspective reminds you that your perception is limited.

I’ve observed so many instances just this week in which knowing the difference between perception and perspective would have prevented so much angst. Is that person really undermining you? Was that driver who cut you off really disrespecting you as a human being, or was he just in a rush? Did your boss lie to you or — stepping into her shoes — did she simply forget to follow through because she was distracted by other things? Is your partner insensitive or does she just not prioritize the same things you do?

Sure, even understanding someone else’s perspective doesn’t change the outcome (or the hurt that comes from your perception of what happened). But it can help mitigate pain by not assuming someone’s intentions. Your boss didn’t follow through, but that could be because doing so wasn’t a priority (STILL BAD but less bad than deliberately trying to mislead you and much less personal).

I’m learning that taking on someone else’s perspective may be a good way to chill the f out.

What I’m digging

Being a teacher/librarian. I really love my job(s).

Watching Lucy play sports.

Breath mints. I eat sooooo many breath mints. They’re like my version of cigarettes.

Date nights with Paul — we recently found a hole-in-the-wall with delicious Japanese curry.

Uniqlo. The new C: collection is almost across-the-board good. I picked up this bag in two colors. :) (It fits my laptop!!)

My friend C’s newsletter.

Until next time,

Kate