All I Want Is To Be Happy!

Is that all?  What else is there?  There's a real interest these days in happiness and how to be happy and what makes us happy.  And really, why not?  But when people say if you could have one wish, what would you wish for and people say, very modestly, "oh, all I want is to be happy".  Oh come on, of course.  That's what all of us want. 

What makes us happy?  Lots of people think it's money.  And it's certainly hard to be happy if you have none.  If you had nowhere to go and nothing to eat, it would be nearly impossible to be happy.  I say nearly impossible, because I still think you could hear a bird singing (like the brave little song sparrow who lives in the cedar bush at the front of our house), and be really happy for a moment, even if you had nothing.  (That little bird makes every day lovelier for me and he doesn't even know it.  He's singing for himself, but I benefit from it enormously.  I can't feel sorry for myself when I hear him and then, when I look up and see him, a plain, grey/brown little bird with his head lifted up and his little beak open to sing, I feel even happier).

But the research shows that rich people aren't necessarily happier than any of the rest of us.  Research also shows that societies are generally happier if there isn't a huge difference between the rich and the poor.   The Scandinavian countries are in the top ten and are followed by Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Austria.  One expert said that one thing that characterizes Danes, who are apparently the happiest people on earth, is that they have relatively low expectations.  At least, as far as material things go.

In the situation I am in now, I realize how important it is to have good health.  Without your health, happiness is impossible.  If you're sick or in pain or struggling with physical or mental health issues, it is all consuming.  My sister said, that since Mike has been in the hospital and is struggling to speak or move, she has become more aware of how amazing it is to be able to walk down the street or make dinner or do any of the things we take for granted.  I guess it is one of those boring benefits that we can't appreciate until we realize what a remarkable thing it is to be able to take a deep breath and feel our body relax, to really relish the flavours of some delicious food, to lie down at night and close our eyes and drift off to a restful sleep, that "balm of hurt minds".  So if some magic being offers you a wish (with the caveat that you can't ask for more wishes -- I think all the smart fairies know about that by now), wish for good health and then take care of the other things that might bring you happiness yourself.

Who am I?

It's that time again.  The extended role play for senior students starts Monday. 

Attached are the lists of characters for both Senior Drama (C Block) and Drama 9/10 (B Block).  Some of the characters are the same, but that doesn't mean you'll end up with the same results.

Role plays – Drama 9/10

Kyle (Kristian):  Kyle loves music.  He’s in a punk band called “Death Warmed Over”.  They perform at music festivals and he is the band’s lead singer.  He is not a good singer, but he performs the character of the singer like he does his other roles.  He is always listening to his unique brand of music on his device.  He has a tattoo of Johnny Rotten on his left bicep.  His parents don’t know.  His mom is proud of him because he’s artistic.  He lives in the moment.  He thinks most people are stupid.  He doesn’t know that Noreen likes him.

Carole (Chloe):  Carole is interested in social justice.  She has never been shy about expressing her opinions and she does not “suffer fools gladly” – she is impatient with how ignorant her fellow students are.  Her parents are activitists and they all spent a night on the street to experience what it is like to be homeless.  That experience changed her life.  She and her friend, Andrea, have volunteered at Covenant House and they hand out sandwiches at a soup kitchen on the Downtown Eastside.   She worries that Andrea might be getting obsessed with it.  She knows it’s no fun to have to go without.

Vance (Victor):  Vance has lots of nervous energy.  He is very emotional and sometimes runs out of the room in tears when he thinks people are “dissing” him.  He is hyper sensitive to being “dissed”.  He uses his hands a lot when he talks and also will stand up and move around to express himself more.   He gives long rambing answers during the question of the day.  He will practice really hard for a play and then end up forgetting all his lines when it comes to present, because he is so nervous.  He admires Carole and has let her know, but isn’t willing to do anything else about it.  He feels like she’s too good for him.

Andrea (Athena):  Andrea has a nice family, but she finds them all so boring and tiresome – she longs for excitement in her life.  She and her friend, Carole (Chloe), have started hanging out in the Downtown Eastside, with kids who are homeless and find them much “realer and more honest” than the kids who shop and drink Starbuck’s and get a car from Daddy for their birthday at SLSS.  Andrea is smart, but is doing poorly in school because she doesn’t do her homework or show up to class sometimes.   She wants to be out on her own – she knows she would survive.

Hildie (Hannah):  Hildie has given up.  She shows up at school because her parents won’t let her just stay in bed all day, but she always brings a copy of whatever fantasy novel she is reading at the time and reads it throughout the class until Mr. Lai takes it away from her.  Then she just sits and stares into space.  She is finding it hard to pay attention to what people say to her.  It’s all just so much noise.  “What’s the point?” she thinks.  She wears black, but if she can’t find something black, she doesn’t care.  She’ll wear whatever she can find.  She doesn’t care what she looks like.  She doesn’t care about anything.  She feels tired all the time.

Adam (Anthony):  Adam is the typical “gifted” student.  He is unmotivated because he sees the work in school as too easy and too much focused on jumping through hoops and not enough on truly learning.  He never does what is asked of him, but he’ll work hard if he sees intrinsic value in a project.  He likes Drama because he likes to do things that take him out of his comfort zone.  He uses sarcasm as a coping mechanism and the other kids are afraid he’ll humiliate them if they argue with him.  His parents are worried because he doesn’t seem to have any drive.

Aidan (Ashwyn):  Aidan gets by on charm.  He has a sparkling smile and really knows how to listen and employs excessive amounts of respectful, some might say obsequious , pandering to adults.  He is always absolutely fascinated with Mr. Lai’s stories and comments.  When kids get rowdy, he always says, “listen to Mr. Lai, guys! Come on!”  But he isn’t above imitating Mr. Lai behind his back.  Aidan thinks everyone likes him, but most of the kids don’t trust him.  They’ve seen him imitate lots of people, not just Mr. Lai.   He really likes to tease Cindy because he knows she’s afraid of so many things. 

Josh (Jason):  Josh is painfully shy and rarely speaks.  When he does try to answer the question of the day, his mouth is really dry and his mind goes blank.  He can’t remember the question, he’s so nervous.   When people laugh, that makes it worse.  He usually passes and hopes the person forgets to come back to him.  He hates it when people notice him.  He hates to be looked at.  His mother made him take drama, hoping it would bring him out of his shell.  It’s not working.

Cindy (Celia):  Cindy is a germophobe.  She is nervous about catching a disease and is very fussy about cleanliness and doesn’t like to be touched or to see anything that’s dirty.  She will only eat certain foods, too.  She hates meat and anything that has touched an animal.  She always wipes her chair off before she sits down.  She won’t wear costumes from the prop room.   She is nervous.  She hates Aidan.

Esther (Emily):  Esther plays by the rules.  Her family is very traditional and expects her to behave herself, be modest, do well in school and then come home and help her mother with the housework and the meals.  Esther is curious about what the other kids’ lives are like.  They don’t have a television at home and only their father uses the computer.  She likes to read but her parents only let her read the classics – they think Harry Potter and Twilight would give her bad ideas.  Esther would like to have a really close friend, but she doesn’t think her parents would like it.

Johnny (James):  Johnny has a lot of nervous energy.  He says things without thinking first and then brazens it out if people take offense.  He says he has a “dash of Tourette’s syndrome”.  Mr. Lai doesn’t appreciate that because his brother has Tourette’s syndrome and it’s not a laughing matter.  Johnny plays a lot of video games and belongs to the League of Legends club at school.   He is good at martial arts and goes to tae kwon do classes.  He likes to play paintball.

George (Garrett):  George is from England.  He is quick-witted and sounds smarter than he is because he speaks with an English accent.  He loves performing and is really good at improv.  He pays a lot of attention to the girls, and sometimes comes on too strong, but he isn’t easily discouraged.  He uses his English background to make himself more interesting, and likes to use English slang, like calling people “love” and saying “blimey” as a curse.  He likes to climb things.  He has no fear.

Karen (Kayley):  Karen seems older than everyone else in class.  She dresses very conservatively and she acts more mature than her classmates.  When the teacher first arrived in the class, he thought she was a classroom assistant.  She laughs at the wacky antics of the other kids, but she doesn’t take part in them.   She’s there to learn.  She loves Drama.  She’s new to the school.  At her old school, she always stage managed all the plays.  She feels impatient with the boys in class because they seem so immature.  She detests Aidan and George.

Mary (Maira):   Mary has a big chip on her shoulder.  She is fed up with the world and school and everyone she knows.  She is really irritable and hates to be asked questions.  It’s nobody’s business what she thinks.  She and Eric are friends.  She has an older brother who, she claims, is abusive.  She says her mother doesn’t do anything about it and is scared of him, too.  She works at McDonald’s and has been promoted to Assistant Manager.  She thinks her job is stupid and her boss is brainless and that her customers are unhealthy overeaters.  Her favourite sound is the sigh.  Her favourite reaction is a roll of the eyes.

Keith (Cameron):  Keith runs things.  He is a good organizer.  He is a “take charge guy”.  He is the president of the student council.  He is in charge of the grad committee.  He fund raises for “Jaws with a Cause” and has started a blanket drive to help the homeless.  He plays volleyball and the saxophone.  He is a Shark Ambassador.  He is always a leader in group work.  He thinks he is sometimes too bossy, but then sometimes people just need someone to tell them what to do.  He always finds a way to get the best out of people.

Mr. Lai (Harrison):  Mr. Lai is an enthusiastic new teacher who is so excited to have his first class!  He was always in the plays and musicals in high school himself and now can’t wait to work with kids and inspire them and produce outstanding theatre.  He has a great sense of humour and takes everything in good part, but his learning curve with regards to discipline is very steep.  He wants to rule with kindness and understanding, but is beginning to realize that kids might take advantage of that attitude.  He still lives with his parents in Richmond and has a dog named Morris.

Lucinda (Lucy):  Lucinda loves Drama.  She volunteers to go first every time.  She loves improv and always brings in new ideas for Mr. Lai to try.  She isn’t good at anything else in school except Drama, but she is really good at Drama.  She is in all the school plays and has had a lead role since she was in Grade 9.  She always wins the Drama award.  She is a leader in every group and always comes up with all the ideas and is frustrated when people don’t take it seriously.  She and Ray are friends. 

Ella (Elaine):  Ella pretends to be silly in order to be likeable.  She asks dumb questions and pretends that she doesn’t understand so other people will explain things to her.   At home, her mother is quite domineering and her father is very quiet and spends most of the time in the garage fixing cars.  Ella doesn’t want to be like her mother.   When people ask her what she wants to do after high school, she says she wants to get married and have three children.

Eric (Ethan):  Eric is a bit of a bully.  He is friends with Kyle but he isn’t in the band, because he spends most of his spare time hanging around the smoke pit, skipping class and getting in trouble, going to other schools to graffiti their building and generally doing things he shouldn’t do.  He gets a laugh out of Drama class and thinks Mr. Lai is pathetic and whispers about him and what a loser he is to still be living with his parents.   He’s afraid of Adam and says, “yeah, so” when Adam is sarcastic to him.  He and Alex have started to hang out together.  Not a good situation for either of them.

Barbi (Beryl):  Barbi is very perky and loves life.  She enjoys being with her friends (and that includes everybody, almost) and doesn’t like to be alone, ever.  She’s afraid to be alone.  She doesn’t like it to be quiet.  She likes to take selfies, but she always wants someone else to be in the picture.  She talks very quickly.  She loves boys and giggles when George or Aidan make a joke, and sometimes even when they don’t.  She loves purses and shoes and has a closet full of both.  She is afraid she is addicted to shopping.  Her mom gave her a credit card and already she’s overdrawn on it.  Her favourite tv show is any of the “Real Housewives” franchise.  She wants to be one of them.

Ardis (Alys):  Ardis’s parents brought her up as a science experiment.  They didn’t reveal her gender until it became obvious.  She was always given trucks and dolls as toys and then her parents observed her closely to see which one she chose.  She was put in boys’ soccer and a dance class.  Her parents are working on a book about their research but in the book Ardis is simply known as “A”.  Ardis loves her parents and respects what they tried to do, but she is anxious to present herself as a girl.  She exaggerates her girlishness and declares her love for “American Idol” and “Teen Mom”.   She likes to sing and wear bright colours and flowing scarves.  She hates science.

Ray (Ryan):  Ray is the class clown.  He can do all sorts of impressions of people and things and he is full of jokes and funny stories and energy.  He loves attention and wants to be noticed, even if it’s for something negative.  He gets on Mr. Lai’s nerves because he is never satisfied with anyone else getting attention.  Ray doesn’t get much attention at home.  His mother is a flight attendant and is often away and his father is impatient with Ray and wants peace and quiet, not jokes.  Ray has a little sister.  He and Lucinda are friends.

Alex (Andrew):  Alex’s family is in chaos.  His sister has gone missing and no one talks about her any more.  The last time he saw her, she came home to demand money.  When she didn’t get it, she stole her dad’s car and totaled it.  Alex works for his dad, who yells a lot but doesn’t do much else.  Alex struggles in school.  He wants to be a businessman like his dad.  He loves money and getting stuff.  He steals.   He is quite good at drama as long as it doesn’t involve learning lines or writing anything.  His writing is like a five year old’s and his memory is like a sieve.

Paul (Parm):  Paul is a helper.  He likes to help people out.  He helps Mr. Lai as much as he can.  If Mr. Lai needs something, Paul will go and get it for him.  He is sympathetic to Mr. Lai because he wants people to like him, too.  He doesn’t like to see people unhappy or in trouble.  He doesn’t like it when people get really mad or lose their tempers.  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” he always says when he sees people starting to lose it.  Paul is an outstanding runner and has been awarded a track scholarship to an American university.

Rex (Ricky):  Rex always wears dark glasses and only takes them off reluctantly when Mr. Lai asks him to.  He thinks the glasses give him a style.  He also wears a lot of different hats.  He is obsessed with how other people see him and focuses his attention on creating a strong appealing image for others.  He is graceful and confident and speaks slowly and clearly.  He smiles as if his teeth are twinkling.  He watches a lot of tv and reads People magazine.  He lifts weights at the gym.

Quent (Quinn):   Quent has a lot of trouble listening.  He can’t sit still.  He interrupts people and has terrible manners.  He loves toilet humour.  He has no boundaries and says whatever comes into his head.  He never feels embarrassed.  “It’s all good!”  is his favourite thing to say.  He used to be friends with Alex, but Alex got him to join him in a drug fueled weekend of crime and now Quent is reluctant to hang out with him.  He doesn’t want to end up like Alex’s sister.  He lives with his mom – they don’t know where Quent’s dad is, up north at some mining camp or something.  His dad used to come once in a while and bring him lots of presents but they haven’t seen him in a few years.

Martie (Mason):  Marty won the award last year for SLSS MOST IMPROVED STUDENT.  Throughout elementary school and in Grade 8, he was a handful and was always in trouble, but he had an epiphany in Grade 9 when he ran away from home and now he is a model student.  He loves all his classes and consistently demonstrates intellectual curiosity and an eagerness to learn and try new things.  Every day when he comes to school, he’s excited by the opportunities that are presented to him.  His favourite subject is foods and he has decided he wants to be a chef when he graduates.  He wants to travel the world and learn about the cuisines of other cultures.  He is always smiling.

Noreen (Nina):  Noreen is socially awkward.  She “wears her heart on her sleeve” and tells everyone everything about her social failures and tries to make a joke of it.  She has unending enthusiasm for everything in Drama.  She secretly has a crush on Kyle (Kristian) and she thinks it’s because he’s dangerous, but that is one thing that she doesn’t talk about.  She would like to have more friends, but doesn’t know how to make a connection without making people feel uncomfortable.

 2015 January Senior Drama Role Plays

Erin (Emma):  Erin has a nice family, but she finds them all so boring and tiresome --- she longs for excitement in her life.  She and her friend, Cath (Caitlan), have started hanging out in the Downtown Eastside, with kids who are homeless and find them much “realer and more honest” than the kids who shop and drink Starbuck’s and get a car from Daddy for their birthday at SLSS.  Erin is smart, but is doing poorly in school because she doesn’t do her homework or show up to class.  She hates Mr. Bastroianni (Alex) and Elsa.

Margaret (Megan):  Margaret is socially awkward.  She “wears her heart on her sleeve” and tells everyone everything about her social failures and tries to make a joke of it.  She has unending enthusiasm for everything in Drama.  She secretly has a crush on Chick (Charlie) and she thinks it’s because he’s dangerous, but that is one thing she doesn’t talk about.  She would like to have more friends, but doesn’t know how to make a connection without making people feel uncomfortable.

Nial (Nathan):  Nial finds it easier to make friends with girls than guys.  He isn’t interested in sports or cars or the things the other boys like.  His favourite show on tv is “American Idol” and he really cares about who wins.  He is a snappy dresser and plans his wardrobe at night before he goes to bed, making sure that it looks good and is up to his usual “hipster” standards.  He used to be friends with Cameron (Chris) in elementary school, but Cameron has moved on.  He has also known Adrianna since elementary school and considers her one of his closest friends.

Kolline (Kelly):   Kolleen changed the spelling of her name because she found out that numerologicallly “K” is more auspicious a letter than “C”.  She has become interested in Eastern religions and meditates every morning before school.  It has really helped with her anger management problems.  She used to get into a lot of fights, but now she realizes that fighting is just bad energy.   When she starts to feel angry now, she pulls herself out of the situation, takes five deep breaths and just feels the peace overtaking her soul.

Lucinda (Leeann):  Lucinda loves Drama.  She volunteers to go first every time.  She loves improv and always brings in new ideas for Mr. Bastroianni to try.  She isn’t good at anything else in school except Drama, but she is really good at Drama.  Mr. Bastroianna has given her the Drama award every year since Grade 8.  She is a leader in every group and always comes up with all the ideas and is frustrated when people don’t take it seriously.  She and Johnny (Jarrett) are friends.  She knows Cameron likes her, but she doesn’t trust him.

Kreighton (Keelyn):  Kreighton’s parents brought her up as a science experiment.  They didn’t reveal her gender until it became obvious.  She was always given trucks and dolls as toys and then her parents watched to see which one she chose.  She was put in boys’ soccer and a dance class for girls.  She loves her parents and appreciates what they tried to do for her, but she is anxious to present herself as a girl.  She exaggerates her girlishness and is very friendly with Nial.  She, too, likes “American Idol”.  She likes to sing and wear bright colours and flowing scarves.

Chick (Charlie):  Chick loves music.  He’s in a punk band called “Death Warmed Over” and they perform at music festivals and he is the band’s lead singer.  He is not a good singer, but he performs the character of the singer like he does his other roles.  He is always listening to his unique brand of music on his device.  He has a tattoo of Johnny Rotten on his left bicep.  His parents don’t know.  His mom is proud of him because he’s artistic.  He is very graceful and lives in the moment.  He doesn’t know that Margaret likes him.  He thinks most people are stupid.

Alan (Angus):  Alan is the typical “gifted” student.  He is unmotivated because he sees the work in school as too easy and too much focused on jumping through hoops.  He never does what is asked of him, but he’ll work hard if he sees intrinsic value in the project.  He likes Drama because he likes to do things that take him out of his comfort zone.   He uses sarcasm as a coping mechanism. He shrugs if he doesn’t do well in a course.  His parents are both very successful and they worry about him because he seems so unmotivated  He’d rather have a philosophical argument with Cath or Isadore than do ten math questions when he understands it before the teacher explains it.

Rosalind (Rebecca):  Rosalind is very perky and loves life.  She enjoys being with other people but doesn’t like to be alone.  She’s afraid to be alone.  She talks very quickly.  She loves boys.  She loves purses and shoes.  She has a closet full of both.  She’s friendly with the girls but they don’t trust her, because they know she’d ditch them for a boy any chance she got.  Her ambition is to be a wife and a mother.  She likes the shows that expose the “Real Housewives” of different places.  She has great fingernails.  They match her lipstick.

Mike (Marcus):  Mike is a bit of a bully.  He is friends with Chick but he isn’t in the band, because he spends most of his spare time hanging around the smoke pit, skipping class and getting in trouble, going to other schools to graffiti their building, and generally doing things he shouldn’t do.  He detests Nial and is afraid of Alan, because Alan sometimes says sarcastic things that he can’t answer.  He usually counters Alan’s remarks with “yeah?  So?”

Mr. Bastroianni (Alex):  Mr. Bastroianni wanted to be an actor when he was young, but his parents advised him to have something to fall back on, so he went to university and became a teacher and never tried to be an actor.  Now he feels stuck.  He wants to inspire kids  to greatness, so he speaks in a soft voice and acts like the things he is saying are secrets.  He gets frustrated easily with his students and when he is frustrated he becomes nasty and sarcastic.  His clothes always look like he’s slept in them.  He doesn’t have many adult friends.  His life is at school and he feels depressed about that.

Ibraheem (Isadore):  Isadore is a very artistic guy.  He brings a sketch book with him to class and sketches the other students when they’re not looking.  He pronounces his name EEZ-a door.  He has a strong visual sense, but he isn’t very confident about his sense of the theatrical, so he’ll bow to the wishes of other kids when they challenge him.  Isadore plans to go to Emily Carr University when he graduates because he wants to enter their sculpture program.  He admires Henry Moore and Marcel Duchamp.  He and Alan discuss modernity and psychology together when they can.  He has a blog called Inklings of Isadore where he expounds on his ideas about art.

Cameron (Chris):  Cameron gets by on charm.  He has a sparkling smile and really knows how to listen and employs excessive amounts of respectful, some might say obsequious, pandering to adults.  He is always absolutely fascinated when Mr. Bastroianni talks about plays he’s seen or what he thinks of the performances in class.  If kids get rowdy, he always says “Listen to Mr. Bastroianni, guys!  Come on!”  But he isn’t above imitating Mr. Bastroianni behind his back.  Cameron thinks everyone likes him  but most of the kids don’t trust him.  They’ve seen him imitate lots of people, not just Mr. Bastroianni.  He likes Lucinda and she is interested but suspicious.  He used to be friends with Nial but avoids him now because he thinks he’s gay.

Lee (Lena): Lee has a big chip on her shoulder.  She is fed up with the world and school and everyone she knows.  She is really irritable and hates to be asked questions.  It’s nobody’s business what she thinks.  She and Mike are friends.  She has an older brother who she claims is abusive.  She says her mother doesn’t do anything about it and is scared of him, too.  She works at McDonald’s and has been promoted to Assistant Manager.   She thinks her job is stupid and her boss is brainless and that her customers are unhealthy overeaters.  Her favourite sound is the sigh.  Her favourite reaction is a roll of the eyes.

Rocky (Ryan):   Rocky has a lot of trouble listening.  He can’t sit still.  He interrupts people and has terrible manners.  He loves toilet humour.  He has no boundaries and says whatever comes into his head.   He never feels embarrassed.  “It’s all good!” is his favourite thing to say.  He used to be friends with Doug, but Doug got him to join him in a drug fueled weekend of crime and now Rocky is reluctant to hang out with him.  He doesn’t want to end up like Doug’s sister.  He lives with his mom – they don’t know where Rocky’s dad is, up north at some mining camp or something.  His dad used to come once in a while and bring him lots of presents but they haven’t seen him in a few years.

Johnny (Jarrett):  Johnny is the class clown.  He can do all sorts of impressions of people and things and he is full of jokes and funny stories and energy.  He loves attention and wants to be noticed, even if it’s for something negative.  He gets on Mr. Bastroianni’s nerves because he is never satisfied with anyone else getting attention.  Johnny doesn’t get much attention at home.  His mother is a flight attendant and is often away and his father is impatient with Johnny and wants peace and quiet, not jokes.   Johnny is an only child.  He and Lucinda are friends.

Cath (Caitlan):  Cath is interested in social justice.  Her dad is a labour lawyer and her mom is a city councilor and there is a lot of political talk around the dinner table.  Cath has never been shy about expressing her opinions and she does not “suffer fools gladly” – she is impatient about how ignorant her fellow students are.  She spent one night on the streets with her parents to see what it’s like to be homeless and this has changed her life.  She and her friend, Erin, have volunteered at Covenant House and hand out sandwiches at a soup kitchen on the Downtown Eastside.  Cath thinks Erin might be getting obsessed with it.  She knows it’s no fun to have to go without.

Doug (David):  Doug’s family is in chaos.  His sister has gone missing and no one talks about her any more.  The last time he saw her, she came home to demand money.  When she didn’t get it, she stole her dad’s car and totaled it.  Doug works for his dad, who yells a lot but doesn’t do much else.  Doug’s mom is obese and she can’t seem to do anything about it.  Doug struggles in school.   He wants to be a businessman like his dad.  He loves money and getting stuff.   He steals.  He loves girls and can appear to be sensitive if he thinks it’ll get him somewhere with a girl he likes, but his sincerity is questionable.  He is quite good at drama as long as he doesn’t have to learn any lines.

Chester (Carlos):  Chester is painfully shy.  He stammers when he is expected to talk and sometimes sits in silence hoping that people will give up expecting him to answer.   He is afraid that people won’t understand what he has to say.   He has a stellar sense of humour, but nobody knows about it, because he only expresses it in his writing, which nobody but Mr. Bastroianni sees.   Chester plays Counterstrike on line and has a scintillating play by play persona as “Chesterfield Potato”. 

Adrianna (Ariel):  Adrianna likes to shock people.  She says things that people are thinking but that they are too polite or reserved to say.  She likes Mr. Bastroianni and laughs at his jokes and tries to encourage him.  She has known Doug and Nial all her life.  She thinks Nial might be gay but she doesn’t say anything about that.  That’s his secret.  She knows that Doug has no morals.  It doesn’t bother her, but she despises girls that fall for his lines.  She knows you can’t trust anybody.  Her older brother is an over achiever.  He’s working in Liberia, fighting ebola.  Adrianna wants to be a news reader on tv.

Hannah (Hareem):  Hannah has given up.  She shows up at school because her parents won’t let her just stay in bed all day, but she always brings a copy of whatever fantasy novel she is reading at the time and reads it throughout every class, until the teacher takes it away from her.  Then she just sits and stares into space.  She is finding it hard to pay attention to what people say to her.  It’s all just so much noise.  “What’s the point?” she thinks.  She wears black, but if she can’t find something black, she doesn’t care.  She’ll wear whatever she can find.  She doesn’t care what she looks like.  She doesn’t care about anything.  She feels tired all the time. 

Elsa (Elisha):  Elisha runs things.  She is a good organizer.  She is the president of the student council.  She is in charge of the grad committee.  She fund raises for “Jaws with a Cause” and has started a blanket drive to help the homeless.  She plays volleyball and the piano..  She has already been accepted at UBC next year – she is going to study international issues.  She is always the leader in her groups.  She thinks she’s bossy, but other people think she’s just a good leader.  She can always get the best out of people.

Laurie (Lydia):  Laurie is a helper.  She likes to help people out.  She helps Mr. Bastroianni as much as she can.  If he needs something, she’ll go and get it for him.  She volunteers when he needs somebody to step forward.  She doesn’t like to see people unhappy or in trouble.  She likes to make peace when people argue.  “Oh, don’t worry about it,” she says when people start getting themselves worked up.  She likes bright colours.  She tries to be cheerful even when things are going wrong.  It takes more muscles to frown than to smile!

Sherry (Sharon):  Sherry skips a lot of school.  She feels like she is grown up and wants to start her real life.  She is trying to quit smoking, because she knows it’s not good for her.  She is going cold turkey which means she is irritable and nervous.  She chews a lot of gum.  She works at Old Navy and the boss told her if she could do more shifts and be more flexible, she could be promoted to assistant manager.  When she told her mom she wanted to quit school and work full time at Old Navy, she went ballistic.

B and C Blocks:  Your journal this week is to write a character for me -- my name will be Jocelyn.  I will choose the character randomly.

A Block:  Write about one of the Aesop Fables and its moral.  Which one do you need to learn?  Explain why and be specific.

And the Oscar goes to . . .

It's awards season.  The Oscar nominations came out today.  I used to care so much about it and my sister and I would make lists and decide who we thought would win and who we thought should win.  Now I don't see as many movies as I used to and so my responses aren't educated anyway, and I don't really care either.  I don't think you can really compare performances and say one was better than another (I mean, obviously you can say someone was great but if someone else is great in a different way, how can you say who was greater?  I will say, that isn't a great sentence.)  For example, in 1962, Gregory Peck won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance as Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird".  I love that movie, and I think Gregory Peck is pretty good in it, but guess who else was nominated?  Jack Lemmon, who played an alcoholic in "Days of Wine and Roses" -- he was terrific -- what a wonderful actor he was!  Peter O'Toole, who played T. E. Lawrence in "Lawrence of Arabia" -- another absolutely wonderful actor and an iconic role for him, too.   Marcello Mastroianni, the great Italian star, in a really dark comedy about a guy who decides he has to kill his wife in order to marry another woman, because divorce is illegal in Italy (I don't think that's true nowadays); and my personal favourite, Burt Lancaster, in "Birdman of Alcatraz" -- he was an extraordinary actor and everything he did was so glorious and true and big that no one could hold a candle to him.  So how do you choose?  They're such different roles  -- you get someone playing a scene chewing part like Jack Lemmon going through the delirium tremens of alcoholism, and then the noble character of Lawrence, and the quirky weakling character Mastroianni plays and then two quiet characters, like Atticus or Robert Stroud -- they're all great -- and I'll bet there were other great acting performances that year as well.  

Anyway, that's my preamble to the journal topics which are similar for all grades this week.

Senior Drama:  Which censorship scene meant the most to you?  Explain why.  Do you have any suggestions to the group which performed it that might help make it better?  Write them down here and then share them with that group.

Drama 9/10:  Which playbuilding scene impressed you the most?  Explain why.

Drama 8:  Which "Creation of the World" scene was the best?  Give at least three reasons why.

Alison's Brain

I heard this great documentary on CBC yesterday called "Alison's Brain".   It is about a music teacher who had a massive aneurysm in her brain and needed surgery to repair it.  After the surgery, she was unable to speak or move or do any of the things we take for granted.  Months went by with very little progress.

Her daughter was walking her around the hospital in a wheelchair when they came upon a piano.  There was sheet music on the piano.  Alison's daughter wheeled her up to the keys and Alison held her hands over them and then played the piano.  This was the first inkling her family had that "Alison was still in there".

It was quite inspirational to hear Alison speak about the experience and encouraging for me at this time in my life, as this is the experience we're going through now.  I read to my husband every day, and the nurse said that reading is very therapeutic, so I will keep doing it even when he says he doesn't want me to.  When a person can't speak or write, it is really hard to figure out what is going on inside.  I ask my husband sometimes, "are you in there?"  He smiles, but he can't answer me yet.  A friend of mine said, "small steps".  That's a good philosophy for me.  I want things to move along more quickly, but I am powerless to make that happen.

Music is such a mysterious and wonderful process.  There was another piece on the same show about profoundly deaf people and their experience with music.  There was another piece about how music helps reduce anxiety for autistic people.  Years ago when I was doing my master's degree we talked about whether music sends messages -- what about music makes us emotional?  Are there "sad sounds" and "happy sounds"?  I don't think we were able to come up with any real answers.  We played music and asked what emotion people were feeling -- there was no consistency if you didn't have lyrics or a title.

Here's an additional note:  Senior Drama is doing scenes about censorship and free speech and one group chose to do the song from "Les Miserables" "Do You Hear the People Sing".  Just hearing the beginning got me stirred up -- I felt inspired and emotional.  Like I can't hear "Solidarity Forever" without getting so emotional, that I can't finish.  Is it the music or the lyrics or the two working together?  Am I associating it with something else?  How can sounds make me feel something?

First journals of 2015

It's journal day!  I know you all look forward to this day and so here are your journals!  Keep writing them.  It isn't onerous and it's a chance to think about what we're doing in a broader context!  Free speech rules!

Senior Drama:  Give your thoughts on the discussion we had in class about free speech and censorship.  Do you think there should be any limits on free speech?  Is it okay to say anything?  Should Sony have defied the threats and released "The Interview" freely?  Should schools be able to censor books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?  Write about whatever issues in this subject that interest you.

Drama 9/10:  Why did you choose the theme you did?  What do you intend to do with it?

Drama 8:  How do you think the world was created?  Could you make a play out of it?  Explain how.

Everyone:  Have you made any New Year's resolutions?  Can you think of any ways in which you could improve at school?  If you can, perhaps you can resolve to take action and see where your resolution takes you.  It isn't very useful to say that you resolve to "do better in school".  How do you plan to improve?  What piece of the puzzle are you missing?

In order to change the world, you have to get your head together first. (Jimi Hendrix)

We have said goodbye to 2014, and I must say good riddance to it.  It has been a very difficult year and I hope that 2015 will be much much better.

I used to detest New Year's Eve, because, of course, my birthday is on New Year's Day and so I had the double whammy of looking back on the year that was and my year that was and assessing how successful I was and whether I had accomplished anything or whether I was just older.  As a girl in Weyburn, I always imagined people out at fancy parties and nightclubs, dressed beautifully and having witty conversations, dancing like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and drinking champagne out of shiny glasses.  But now I have experienced the nightclub New Year's Eve, and realize that the champagne isn't real and comes in plastic and that when you dance, someone steps on your dress and tears it, and the conversations are usually shouted and half heard over the loud music (and probably not witty enough to worry about missing).

My sister tells me that a survey she read said that 78% of Canadians planned to stay home for New Year's Eve and that's what I did.  Mike remains in the hospital, making progress at a glacial speed (although maybe that adjective is misused in this case, because the glaciers are melting quite quickly and poor Mike's progress can be measured in very small advances -- I'm not going to go into details because I feel like I am explaining the situation endlessly with family and friends and this isn't the venue for it) and I don't feel very social (not hugely social at the best of times) and so I spent a pleasant evening watching classic films of rock and roll:  "A Hard Day's Night" (glorious, black and white, Richard Lester directed, transformative for music-films forever, I think), "Gimme Shelter" (muddy and horrible, focusing on the disastrous free concert at Altamont at which the Rolling Stones performed and "a guy got killed" by the Hells Angels, who were supposedly there to provide security) and "Woodstock".  I read that the two events are like the light and the dark of the sixties, like the beginning of innocence (Woodstock) and the end (Altamont) and you could see it that way quite readily.  The films really express that difference, too, because although the film "Woodstock" shows some of the mud and discomfort of a big music extravaganza, mostly it is about the great music -- Richie Havens, and Joan Baez and that terrific performance by Santana and then the ending with Jimi Hendrix which almost seems like a kind of heavenly experience.  I find it hard to actually describe but Jimi Hendrix seems angelic, in the way he performs and the other worldly sound of the music and even his appearance in this white, fringed, beaded tunic.  Contrast that with Altamont, which seems chaotic and dangerous right from the beginning and you can't see what's going on and the guy from Jefferson Airplane gets attacked by the Hells Angels and you get this little scene with Jerry Garcia talking to Carlos Santana's drummer, Michael Shrieve (who also performs like an angel at Woodstock) and he's telling Garcia that it's a "really bad scene" and scary and he actually convinces the Grateful Dead to leave without playing.  A couple of rock and roll (to use the term loosely) movies I would have liked to add to the epic music journey of New Year's Eve would be "The Last Waltz" (with the Band and a bunch of their friends, directed by Martin Scorsese) and "Purple Rain" starring the fabulous Prince.

Let us hope for wonderful times in 2015!  Many happy moments, success, peace and good health for all of us and for all the world.  May we make good decisions that have a positive impact, may we treat each other with respect, may we think before we act, may we treasure the good fortune we have and find ways to improve the lives of others.