mr. daniels

so let's see.... what happened to me between may 21st, 2003 and january 17th, 2004? well, i was in the woods, and i saw this light.... and next thing i knew i was on a sleek alien spaceship with a robot who made jokes.... no, wait. that's "flight of the navigator!"

so julie and i are just friends now. we had an amazing time for 2 years, in worcester, maine, ct, southern africa, and a road trip through canada.

i substitute-taught (read: "babysat") through june 17 at south high, then i didn't get any teaching jobs. i worked (barely) part time at movieposter.net.

bastille has become pretty active and popular and we've been writing and recording new songs for a full-length album.

i went to southern california for 2 weeks with my hetero life partner shahin, and it was incredible-- staying with his super-cool iranian family, thanksgiving-ing with my hollywood family, and generally getting up to no good.

in december i got a call and interviewed for a job with Hampshire Educational Collaborative. they run the educational services for Department of Youth Services facilities in Massachusetts.

i spent new year's eve at the new jersey dig of my high school friend nick fakis and had a blast.

then on monday january 5th i started teaching English to 24 girls in a DYS detention center in Westboro, Mass. i teach 6 classes a day, rotating of 3 groups of 8 girls (small class sizes-- such a great thing!). the girls are in the program because they are DYS custody, committed crimes and await bail or trial, or are serving sentences. there are new girls coming in everyday and ones leaving too. it's inconsistent, challenging, at times frustrating, and unique, and i love it.

i am teaching "the outsiders" by s.e. hinton. the girls seem to respond to it really well.

that's as much as i'll volunteer for now. but i'll be back.

i am back from southern africa.

back in worcester, massachusetts.

i have graduated from clark university (again), this time with a master of arts in teaching.

i kind of want to be a teacher.

do you want me?

Harris O. Daniels
hdaniels@clarku.edu

58 Florence St. Apt. 3
Worcester MA 01610
508| 890 5694

EDUCATION

Clark University Worcester MA
B.A. English / Screen Studies 19 May 2002
GPA: 3.46, cum laude, with High Honors in English and Screen Studies

Clark University Worcester MA
Master of Arts in Teaching, Secondary Education 18 May 2003
GPA: 3.64

AWARDS AND HONORS

Southwest Popular Culture Association Conference Albuquerque NM
Presented paper on “Shakespeare and Pedagogy” panel 12-15 February 2003

EXPERIENCE

Substitute Teacher Worcester MA
Worcester Public Schools May 2003-Present

Avid Tutor Worcester MA
Information Technology Academy, South High Community School Fall 2002
• Assisted students with organization and study skills.
• Conducted help sessions with the AVID program.

Student Teacher, 9th Grade English Language Arts Worcester MA
Team Avid, Worcester South High Community School August 2002-May 2003
• Assisted John Grady with five 9th grade English classes.
• Assumed control of three classes, designed and taught lesson plans.
• Worked closely with Inclusion Specialist Dennis Vanasse on IEPs.
• Completed practicum requirements and “E-Folio” for Clark University.

Senior Interviewer / Tour Guide Worcester MA
Clark University Admissions June 2001-May 2002
• Spoke with and inquired about prospective Clark students.
• Answered student and parent questions about Clark University.

Peer Advisor Worcester MA
Clark University First Year Orientation August 2001-May 2002
• Mentored 12 incoming students, helping adjust to life at Clark University.
• Worked with each student to select courses and find academic direction.

i have returned safely to windhoek from victoria falls. actually we stayed in "Jolly Boys International Backpackers" hostel in Livingstone, Zambia, and we never entered Zimbabwe, where the town of Victoria Falls is. but we saw the Falls, and we experienced canoeing on the Zambezi River (no whitewater rafting-- the water level of the Zambezi is the highest EVER right now!), a game drive in Mosi - on - Tunya National Park, and a sunset cruise on the Zambezi... rather nice. we also did our exploring of the area, and saw how Zambia sees itself as "The Real Africa." back in the city of windhoek, i can see the difference.

tomorrow we board a plane from windhoek to johannesburg, then jo'burg to jfk in new york... and my 2 weeks will have come to an end, as i bring julie back to united states with me-- for a period of adjustment... she hasn't been home in 4 months! -- and i graduate with a Master of Arts in Teaching from Clark University on sunday. so... now that i am no longer a student, what am i? mr. daniels? just harris? we'll see. either way, it's all been an experience.

so here i am one week, five days, and thousands of miles later... and i am in windhoek, namibia, in southern africa.

the place i have consistently complained about not being in, and have often longed to see, feel, hear, and touch, is now my current location. i'm here. i'm here with julie. it's pretty amazing, every second of it. i want to write more, but now i understand how julie has felt all of these four months... taking everything in and not being able to communicate it very well. i will soon, though. i just know now that i want to focus on the taking it in. i am spending some lazy days catching up with julie in the Center for Global Education house, with many college students from different U.S. universities living together in a house way nicer than any a typical namibian could afford. that's okay, because i am trying to get to know many namibians, south africans, and people from zambia and zimbabwe. people seem quite friendly so far. i am exploring the capital city of Windhoek, which is small but breathes with much life. on friday julie and i will travel by loooonnnng bus trip to Livingstone, Zambia, to stay four nights near Victoria Falls, where we will see animals, a giant waterfall, whitewater raft, walking, hiking, and just being together in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

more to follow, but please consider travelling in this lifetime if you haven't already. not for the "vacation," "tourist," "spend money have fun" reasons... but to experience other cultures in a way our own president never has. it helps for the humility required to be a decent human being in this world.

peace and love

-h

still not quite over the cold/congestion/coughing... working on that, even though i'm working on posters too.

last night i attended two clark university events, and each was intense in its own way, with different reactions.

first was seeing Bob Woodward speak. this was disappointing; i guess like many other liberals, i expected him to have some TRUTH and some hard-hitting investigatory journalist insight into Bush, War, Government, and Foreign Policy that would further make everyone cringe and inspire us all to take a stand and take our government back. that's exactly what happened with Scott Ritter, and even though that man was an admitted conservative, he really inspired us. with Woodward, everyone expected him to be liberal and blunt, as he was when he and Carl Bernstein took down the Nixon administration with their Watergate expose. so imagine everyone's surprise when Woodward, although very funny and insightful, pretty much told us all not to worry about anything and denied that there is bias in the media. he still has much faith in journalism, but he didn't really seem to want to talk about what everyone at clark seems to take as a given-- that media is now serving national policies and corporate interests...
In fact, Mr. Woodward pretty much failed to provide any indication that he had so much as an OPINION on anything... he cracked a lot of jokes-- including saying over and over, "I'm not gonna reveal the identity of "Deep Throat" tonight!" (Deep Throat was his informant on the Watergate shit... who cares who he really is????) ... he went into a long story about how he got to go to the "national ranch" down in Crawford, Texas and interview George W. Bush for 2 1/2 hours... but the only real information and conclusion Woodward shared with us was, "he's a very intense man... he feels very strong emotions... he gets very worked up, very emotional..." NO SHIT!!! what we care about is that those emotions are dictating the policies of this country... or is it the Manifest Destiny, geopolitical superpower / Imperial agenda of the "NEW AMERICAN CENTURY" project?? read this: www.newamericancentury.org... scary. anyway, Woodward just had a book to sell. he spoke for about an hour then headed to a book signing and a meet and greet... whatever.

the more informative and more rewarding part of my Clark evening was viewing the new film "ARARAT." this is a film directed by Armenian-Canadian director Atom Egoyan ("calendar", "the sweet hereafter", "exotica"), and it's about a subject most people don't know anything about, and quite a lot of people refuse to acknowledge-- THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE. yes, before 6 million jews were murdered in europe in the 1930s and 1940s, there was a Turkish-run mass murder of Armenians in Eastern Turkey in the 19-TEENS, during World War One... The Americans never helped out, and the Turkish government STILL TODAY, in 2003, refuses to acknowledge that this happened... and they don't teach the history in school. the film was very slow-moving, and poetic, and visually stunning... using a lot of flashbacks, a film-within-a-film, reenactments, and handheld video clips... all trying to capture the MEMORY of something that is desperatly trying to be remembered in a world resisting such memories... there are A LOT of subplots... a retiring Canadian Customs agent who detains an Armenian boy who may or may not have smuggled drugs from Turkey... an old director making a film about the genocide, a painter trying to capture a photo of him and his mother from the genocide... and the ghosts of two husbands an Art History professor has lost... anyway, i can't describe this film in any way that would do it justice... it's amazing.. it's intense. just see the goddamn thing. "ARARAT." (mount ararat is a very visual landmark for Armenians).

today at work i am trying to churn out a list of John Wayne posters... ugh... how i hate that man and what he stands for... him and Elvis... (public enemy "fight the power" reference)... and just trying to get feelings out (my own and of those i love). these words are important-- i can never use enough words to express what's going on, and i urge everyone else to try it... without fear of judgement. my boss Penny gave me half of a grilled veggie syrian pocket she couldn't finish. it's nice to be taken care of like that.

you know the drill. read my words. send me yours. my feelings. your feelings. what's on my mind. let me into yours.

love h

ups, downs, strikes, gutters, ins, outs, what-have-yous.

monday night's anniversary show was not as interesting for me as sunday night's, mostly because i was extremely tired, cranky, and getting a cold and sore throat (not the best condition for being in a smoky club)... had a few words with josh and jim after the show, and they mentioned they listened to the bastille demo and liked it. that's pretty cool.

tuesday i worked my poster job like a good boy about to go on a trip to namibia who needs money. at work, i received an email from Lily, who organizes orientation meetings for Worcester Public Schools. Lily would like me to come to an orientation on either May 6th (my birthday) or May 8th (10 years to the date of my Bar Mitzvah!)... anyway, those are two days of my 14 in Namibia. I explained this and I should be able to fill out PAPERWORK and learn some POLICIES for SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS another day next week... what that means is, i believe, i have a JOB until the end of the school year in June, being a subtitute teacher! yay!

upon returning home from work, i found two very fruitful messages waiting for me: one was from Sam from the Bar Fly, who wants Bastille to headline a show next Tuesday, April 29th. Yeah! and the next was from Erick Godin, owner of the Lucky Dog Music Hall, who wants Bastille to open a show on Saturday, May 31st. Yeah again! So that makes me very happy.

getting sick tuesday night and wednesday all day didn't make me too happy... but still, it was nice to relax indoors. i watched some of "What I Learned about U.S. Foreign Policy", a compilation video I bought through www.addictedtowar.com that pretty much scares the shit out of anyone who thought our government didn't do horrible things... they estimate that our "secret government" and the CIA have directly caused the deaths of over 6 MILLION PEOPLE in "third world countries" since the end of WWII. messed up, isn't it? I also watched some of Michael Moore's "The Awful Truth"... which is more entertaining than mind-blowing... oh, how i wish i could just bring these videos into South High for "movie days"... how would that go over with the students? other teachers?

back at the poster job today, on the mend for my sore throat and nasal congestion... staying in bed isn't always the best way to get over what always ails me = LAZINESS. but i did get a lot of personal enjoyment reading done yesterday: A Match Made at Woodstock, an entertaining book (that takes place in Portland, Maine) about a hippie couple who get a divorce after 20 years... he's an accountant who's become "a machine," and she's still an activist and quite principled... most of what i've read so far follows the foolish husband, Frederick, as he struggles to deal with the fact that his wife Chandra (formerly Lorraine) has walked out on him-- he calls her sister, her mother, and his brother for advice, drinks a lot, reorganizes everything in the house, and reminisces about meeting Chandra at Woodstock, and just generally misses her... poor Frederick. But it's a great book so far. Thanks Julie!

so i'll be blogging more soon-- tonight i am going to try to see Bob Woodward speak at Clark University (he's one of the journalists who cracked the Watergate scandal... immortalized in "All the President's Men"; i think Robert Redford played him...). And this Saturday I will return to the RPI "Ski Lodge" fraternity house in Troy, NY to play with "Waiting for Sully." should be fun.

Monday April 28th I return to South High for my last 5 days student teaching (with no pay) as "Mr. Daniels"... I'm hoping to make poetry something that 9th graders can have fun with yet still take seriously, and not dismiss... wish me luck.

peace and love

h

in the 1997 documentary "the cruise," timothy "speed" levitch leads his doubledecker tour bus through new york city and pontificates on... well, everything. as they pass central park, he points out the people sweating, playing sports, and running.

"they are not historically accurate."

the people laying on the grass, writing/reading poetry, gazing into a lover's eyes, and generally not exuding any energy toward a physical activity,

"these people ARE HISTORICALLY ACCURATE."

i'm being historically accurate today. and since the weather has been nicer in worcester, massachusetts, so have i become more and more historically accurate.

so why type on a computer on a beautiful day like this? to share with the few people who read this, whom i love so dearly, how i feel today.

today i feel amazing, because in my life on the cusp (between childhood and adulthood, relationship in the same country and long-distance, social and solitary, motivated and lazy...), i am juxtaposing a weekend of indoor inactivity and general bad vibes with an amazing time back in what i now consider my home. this should not be interpreted to disrespect those at home who love me and whom i love and respect and for whom am grateful... but east lyme, ct had nothing to offer me but food, family, and a darkness within myself which i eventually was able to overcome.

i came home thursday night with my parents, and no friends, who do live in connecticut but had other plans, were able to be found all weekend. friday i received the 2 shots--typhoid and hepatitis A--i require for my healthy stay in namibia, and i took care of myself as best i could-- moisturized the dry skin on my right hand, ate balanced meals without meat or bread (it is passover), and did all i that i thought was best for my soul at the time-- visited with my oma (swiss grandmother in a nursing home who is seeming happier these days), and tried to make my father, mother, and college-bound brother feel comfortable with my visit and feel appreciated.

however, the problem was not them. it is seldom others. it is me. i was not in east lyme, connecticut. i was in windhoek, namibia, and even if i wasn't there, i was in worcester, massachusetts. i have this addiction. her name is julie joy. she is in windhoek (or was in cape town, south africa, until saturday), and i will be there in less than 2 weeks. it is hard negotiating that longing, and that spiritual geography. my soul and heart have been there with julie for so long, with brief visits to wonderful excursions like teaching 9th grade english at south high school in worcester, and visiting albuquerque new mexico, east lansing michigan, and contributing to musical projects. but most of the time i am even using my mind in namibia, thinking of her and my pending visit. but the problem is, because of this connection beyond words, it is hard to articulate everything (and understand ANYTHING) being so far apart and not being able to SEE each other. but this will soon be alleviated.

so on sunday, my parents and i drove back up to worcester, enjoyed the consumable cornucopia of "trader joe's," and i was once again in my newest home, my apartment, my sanctuary for/from everything. shortly after relaxing i went to northampton, mass with rob of bastille fame. we went to see "the anniversary," a rock band that has evolved from a melodic fast pop group to a dirty 70s countrified rock hippie band in a short period of time. they performed at pearl street, a very small club. rob and i walked around northampton on easter sunday with everyone else who decided to enjoy the beautiful weather in the afternoon and early evening, seeing "raven bookstore," and "ichiban," a great japanese and korean restaurant, where rob and i ate what seemed like a feast of vegan sushi, korean condiments, salads, miso soup, and korean tofu spicy stew and rice for WAY less money than we expected to pay. it was a feast. a very inexpensive feast. no, we did not "chew and run," but the salads and soups were included, and we split the costs of the sushi and stew, making each individual cost very reasonable.

the show was wonderful. the opening band was called "the so and so's," they rocked. it was the more rock-oriented project of a beautiful and talented singer-songwriter from boston named meghan tooey, and they all contributed so much talent, musical bliss, and energy to the songs. i bought their cd and plan to share it with someone in africa.

then the anniversary took the stage. they didn't really take breaks between songs, they just rocked consistently and changed things up, reworking new versions of old songs, playing some new songs, and finishing with a couple covers in the encore-- neil young's "everybody knows this is nowhere" and the song "dead flowers" which has been covered by the rolling stones. what an amazing show.

so rob and i are always trying to talk to other people who "dig music," and we love giving out the bastille demo. so we simultaneously spoke with two members of the anniversary-- rob with jim, the bass player, and me with josh berwanger, the talented yet quieter, dirty lennon-like guitarist and singer of the group. they are such nice kids; just kids our age who don't have a record label right now, love playing music, and are in charge of booking their own hotel rooms and tours (except for their opening spot on the "cheap trick" tour... weird!), and are in massive debt. both gentlemen planned on staying up later, and invitied rob and myself to their room at the holiday inn springfield not far away. so we met them there, and stayed for a couple hours, chatting, watching "bull durham" on tnt, digging music, and talking about 80s sitcoms with josh, jim, justin, chris "janko", and adrianne, their sole woman member who plays keyboards, sings, and discusses "small wonder" and "out of this world" equally beautifully.

rob and i were put on the guest list for tonight's show in cambridge, at the middle east upstairs, and hopefully we will introduce the anniversary to some of our friends coming to the show, and other people will confirm for us that this experience was real, and we are not making it up. we're such "band aids," or groupies... without being dirty.

anyway, i'm spending today outside being historically accurate, reading and processing poetry for 9th graders to read and process next week, my last week of being "mr daniels" for a while.... or maybe forever.... who knows.

if you want to give me a teaching job, understand that i can dedicate so much of myself to it, which is what young people need to see happening-- someone who really cares, actually doing something with their energy to benefit others.

wow.

-h.o.d.

ummm... mr daniels has no answers right now.

it's april vacation from school.

i will leave for namibia in two weeks.

i am very ready to do this.

i am not very talkative or typative right now.

know that i'm okay, i'm just impatient and tired.

tired of waiting... ready for what i've waiting for.

love.

http://www.addictedtowar.com/
i have continued to teach "addicted to war" to my 9th grade english classes. today mr. efland and i co-taught a history class on propaganda, spreading some more subversive ideas-- like the idea that you can't always trust your news... and almost everything is an opinion... and the idea of bias... and the techniques that propaganda campaigns use to manipulate emotions... then we had the students create their own propaganda posters.

fun, fun, fun... i really feel like i'm doing my part to educate students who otherwise would not have access to these ideas during an important time in their lives. i hope i'm making some kind of a difference-- even a babystep...

email me, remember? hdaniels@clarku.edu

peace

http://groups.msn.com/alexasnamibiapictures2/shoebox.msnw?action=ShowPhoto&PhotoID=18

this is a picture of julie. just wanted to put it up here.

well it most certainly has been quite a long time since we've checked in with mr daniels.

what the hell have i been up to?

let's see... last friday, before the end of march, i went to boston to see my father and brother. my brother, matthew hersh daniels, is an "Ell" scholar to Northeastern University, where he most likely will attend in the fall for 5 years of intense chemistry... maybe chemical engineering? i'm proud of my little bro, and we couldn't be any more different as people, which is so interesting. my father scott daniels and i spent the night in boston as matthew enjoyed his NEU overnight. we went to the regattabar in cambridge to enjoy a couple of drinks and the music of blues man dave maxwell and his "maximum blues" band. it was great. then on saturday morning i walked alone to the giant peace rally / antiwar march on boston common, mostly as an attentive observer. i did not have any signs, puppets, flags, or anything to display my opinion. i did not speak. i did not join in the shouts. instead i simply listened to what everyone had to say-- labor party organizers, socialists, antiwar parents of enlisted soldiers, students, antibush poets, palestinian musicians and dancers, and the crowd of 20-50 "pro-troops" demonstraters outside the "park" exit on the T. they were all yelling at and challenging the antiwar people by waving flags, shouting "if you don't like our country, get out!" "commie!" "support our troops, support your country!" they all waved flags (american of course) and were quite reactionary. after the protest i met up again with my non-involvement department of defense-job-to-worry-about father and gee-i-wish-i-could-have-gone-to-the-protest brother. we had a nice lunch and i returned to worcester.

then, saturday night at my apartment in worcester, i threw a party. not a bad time at all... i supply the apartment, the tea, and the music, and everyone else supplies the good times, laughs, drinks, and drama. totally cool.

sunday i practiced with "waiting for sully"

monday i taught school like a good student-teacher and then went to American Express Financial / IDS, where i had a job interview for the position as "personal financial advisor." two days later i got my rejection letter... but it was interesting to go in, not care, be honest, and take a personality test. i was brutally honest. if there was a question that was obviously geared toward their ideal employee and i knew i didn't fit it, i was still true to my character. when asked in person by our human resources rep, myself and two other applicants had to answer some brief questions. Q: "love to win, or hate to lose?" others: "both." "love to win!" me: "i don't really believe in winning or losing, i see every experience as an opportunity from which to learn..." Q: "anything you'd go back and change?" me: "i have no regrets." etc etc etc....

tuesday i taught and at night, played with "waiting for sully" at "bar fly", a bar that used to be "scarlet o'hara's". it was a fun show. we are welcome back.

wednesday i taught and did some school work!

thursday i taught my greatest lesson yet: "News Media, Bias, and Propaganda." I had my students gather info on their feelings about the Iraq War, and ALL of them (9th grade Honors English class) were FOR the war!! in this class we discussed what is nonfiction, what is fact and what is opinion? and the news? can you trust it? then i passed out copies of the "Boston Herald," a very pro-war propaganda paper, and "Addicted to War," a comic book form of antiwar propaganda by Joel Andreas. i had the kids "EXPLORE" the two pieces, charting out the PURPOSE, the VIEWPOINT, and the SOURCES of everything in there... we came to the conclusion that they had two totally different sides of information, and some kids even changed their minds about the WAR and the US GOVERNMENT!!! yay! subversive!!!

i celebrated thursday night with some friends--- also, my friend cara powers wrote an article on my band "BASTILLE".... it's amazing, she printed everything! I mean, i never said "I am a Golden God!" did I? :)

anyway, it's saturday. last night we saw "Karate" in Northampton. tonight we see them in Cambridge at the MIddle East Club. last night i gave Gavin McCarthy, their drummer, a few copies of the BASTILLE demo to dig along with the other band members, Geoff Farina and Jeff Goddard. i hope they dig it. i hope you do too.

in fact, i hope everyone digs music... the DVD version of the BEATLES ANTHOLOGY just came out and rob bought it. it's amazing... such vivid sound quality for all the performances and studio outtakes... so much info... so much fucking Paul "MACCA" McCartney giving interviews whilst driving a tug boat, in front of a stage being erected for a fake concert, and in a "woods setting" soundstage with a FAKE CAMPFIRE, pretending to tend to it as he tells LIES!!! macca, please! whatever he's doing, he's always "puttin' on a show", just like his WINGS crap... JET! come on, Macca, we all know who the best beatle was. and he died in 1980. give it a rest.

"there are places i remember... in my life..."

love, love, love...

"all you need is love.."

peace h

Yesterday (Monday 3/25) was a long, very good day.

It started out, like most weekdays, with me going to school at 7am, observing first period (even giving some notes when Mr. Grady had to take care of some girls’ softball coaching stuff), and teaching third, and fourth period classes. My classes are still in the NonFiction unit, and we read a short essay called “A Taste of Snow”, written by a woman whose first experience seeing snow was at a Japanese internment camp in California during WWII. The essay I had the students write was to trace a life-changing experience they have had, from the old attitude about something, through the experience, and to their new attitude. Mr. Grady’s great example was how he used to love english muffin pizzas, then saw his friend in kindergarten who had just eaten 15 pizzas throw up all over the bus (inciting everyone else to puke), and now he can’t even look at english muffin pizzas without getting sick. I graded a lot of papers during my free period and caught up on planning work. I also observed another student teacher, Jason Efland, do an activity in his history class using the Iraq war and some “facts” from newspapers… I really cannot believe it, but 100% of the students in his class claimed to be in favor of the U.S. invading and taking over Iraq, and all of them even explained their opinion in detail—that Saddam is a bad ruler and should be taken out because he is terrible to his own people, “supports terrorism,” and “is a big threat to the U.S.”

Well, in place of the frustration I usually feel, I know what to say to that now. I went to the Speaker’s Forum (an organization whose once vice-president I know and love) event on Tuesday night—Scott Ritter, former Chief Weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991-1998. He is a HUGE anti-war speaker, but he’s a Marine, a Republican, and someone who voted for George W. Bush. Basically he is angry with the Bush Administration for its lies, and its agenda of becoming a world dominating Imperialist superpower. He laid out a rebuttal to every single one of the reasons Colin Powell presented to the U.N. for a pre-emptive strike on Iraq. First of all, it is physically and logically impossible for Iraq to have any CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, or NUCLEAR weapons, or even if they did, for them to be able to use them on the U.S. This comes from a lot of details and facts that Ritter collected over 7 years, and proved to the U.S. government that Iraq was 95-99% disarmed by 1998. Now our government is bombing a country and sending in troops based on their assumption that without being 100% sure, Iraq must be a huge “threat.”

In almost racist statements (which he later clarified), Ritter described the Iraqis as very incompetent with their “weapons of mass destruction.” He knows what it would take for anthrax to work—they don’t have the technology to make it work. He knows what it would take for a nerve gas strike—they logically can’t make it happen and hide their factories and artillery. He knows what it would take for nuclear weapons—they just can’t do it with the aluminum rods the U.S. used as an excuse to go to war.

Scary things… North Korea really is a worse threat. The U.S. is basically planning to have “Zero Tolerance” towards any country who is getting more powerful—or even close—to us. Now they are armed with nuclear weapons, and the U.S. would definitely fire first--- which would be a terrible war, more terrible than anything else.

Oh, and did i mention that even if Bush WAS elected legally (which he wasn’t), and isn’t a “fictitous president,” he is still DEFINITELY A WAR CRIMINAL. Ritter brought up the fact that article 6 of the U.S. constitution places us as a signatory in the charter for the United Nations, and their law is our law. In this international law, “NO WAR SHALL BE WAGED WITH THE GOAL OF REGIME CHANGE.” Well, what has Bush been saying all this time? That “Regime Change” is what we’re all about in this war. So our government is doing things—and admitting to the reasons!!!—that we HUNG NAZIS for at Nuremburg. Crazy.

Scott Ritter said-- DO NOT FEEL HELPLESS during this war. i felt so inspired and empowered just hearing someone with a conservative worldview confirm with first-hand observations and FACTS what we're all abstractly feeling right now. that it's an unjust war. but he put the burden on the PEOPLE to do something about it-- get the elected officials to work for us again. and the best thing i can do is try to tell some of these facts from an honest guy (i truly believe) to people who are "on the fence" about what we're doing in iraq.

that's it for politics right now. i really don't want to fight with other human beings about whether or not this war is right or wrong. all war is wrong. that's what i believe anyway. i just have to stop being so lazy and try to do something.

any ideas? what do we do? what can we do?

-h

so in these tumultuous times, we're all doing what we're doing, and trying to get by, just as we were before "operation shock and awe" began.

i am in a band called bastille, and we just finished our demo cd. we had gone into the studio a month before and recorded the basic bass, drums, and guitar tracks for 5 songs. this past week we went back in and laid down vocals, solidified the mixing, and finished 3 tracks for release as a "demo" to pass around until we can go back in and finish 9 good songs for a real album. the whole experience has been very rewarding and interesting. i never knew that you could do so many things-- or would want to do so many things-- to "tweak" the sound of a record. at first i was hesitant, because we went in wanting a "live" sound, and i thought that meant that we would stay true to the live recording of us playing together at the same time. but we did a lot of overdubs of guitars and noises (which sound great), and we "replaced" some of my bass drum sounds with digital bass drums sounds from other recordings. this means that instead of the actual drum that i hit with my foot pedal, the beat is digitally replaced. it is the same rhythm and pattern that i played, but not the actual sound that i made. weird! one amazing thing that we did was record a bunch of sound bites from CNN on thursday, the first full-coverage day of the Iraq war, and paste some onto our mix in a low-level distorded sound under the verse section of the song "mercury in retrograde". the result is creepy and fascinating, because, as a happy accident, not something we intentionally went for, the woman's voice in the background picks up at a pause right before a heavy part, and says, "this is what we're trained to do. LET'S GO." it may be misconstrued as pro-war, pro-troops, let's do the damn thing and bomb Iraq, but we hope that it is ambiguous enough to be open to interpretation, or understood as accidental and ironic and anti-war, as the lyrics of the song, about miscommunication in a bad relationship (nothing i wrote), may be loosely interpreted. the few people we have played the demo for seem to dig it, and our minimalist black and white packaging looks very cool. to hear an mp3, go to http://www.angelfire.com/indie/bastille . go to "sounds" to hear an mp3 of one of our best songs, called "Patient Me" (not the one with the CNN clip). if you know me and want a FREE copy of the demo, please email me: hdaniels@clarku.edu or harrisodaniels@hotmail.com or bastille@excite.com (yes, shameless self promotion, yes so very proud we are of all of them).

i just got a new credit card from "the motley fool" http://www.fool.com/ , which is a good financial advice website. the card will help me fund my africa trip without having to pay back a lot of fees. it is 0 % interest through September, which helps. this summer i hope to make a lot of money to pay back those wonderful credit card companies that let our dreams beyond our means become realities... for a price.

i'm still happy as hell about going to visit Julie in Namibia. i just have a lot to do before then, like find out what job i'll have for next year, finish my student teaching, find and buy a used car, finish making my "E-Portfolio" of videos, photos, and writings of my student teaching experience, and.... ummmm... a lot of fun stuff! i don't know, it's not like i'm just waiting through everything else to get to may 4th when i board a plane and challenge everyone's expectations of what i "should" be doing.... but it's hard not to wish it was that day right now. i miss the girl. julie. julie joy. how could i not miss her like crazy?

as far as teaching goes, i'm finding that it's very therapeutic for me to get down to the level, no bullshit, and teach 9th grade english. no drama, no frustrations, no insecurities, no ambiguity, no pain, no messing around. just me, 24 kids, and some learning to do for all of us. it's exciting.

more on this later, as i should go out and live life instead of just try to explain it here.

if you know me, you know i've been inconsistent lately, and bear with me. i do have the potential to be stable sometimes.

Peace
h.

rest assured i get no kickbacks from saying this, but the opportunity to have a webjournal, or blog, is just great.

i love this boston band called "karate." they are touring europe right now, and their drummer gavin mccarthy has an excellent web tour diary. check it out: gavin mccarthy dot com

ugh... war. i knew about it early because julie heard from a woman working at the u.s. embassy in namibia.

around afternoon time nambia (6 or 7 am Eastern time). : they were briefed on the fact that ground troops has just crossed over into Iraq and the invasion had begun.

8:00 pm Eastern time (about 13 hours later): the u.s. just starts to find out about the war thru media outlets.

the point? this attack came WELL BEFORE the end of the supposed "48 hour" deadline Bush set monday night.

it did not surprise me at all... but it still angers me.

lies, lies, lies.

DON'T watch the tv news. you're better off going to theonion.com.
for real news, go to indymedia.org.

i don't know.

i think a lot more people -- especially people in power -- should try admitting this too.

i don't know.

i therefore have no right to judge anyone, or hurt anyone.

how about that?

peace.

war does funny things to men...

men do funny things to war.

let's take the men out of power. they're too funny.

trying to recap on the past week plus...

my friend shahin had a visitor this week. jeremy van, a very laid back friend from orange county, california. somehow jeremy and i became instant friends, and due to shahin's workload, he often became my visitor.

we went around worcester doing crazy young man things friday night and saturday (not sleeping/staying up all night), then took a bus to boston saturday night. we spent a few hours napping on my cousin's floor, then got to logan airport at 8am to meet my friend nicole's friend breanne duncan, who lives in albuquerque, new mexico, but is on a nationwide visit to computer science grad schools-- USC, UCLA, UCSB, and Harvard. we hung out in boston, on the common, in various eateries and coffeeshops, etc etc until she could check into her hotel at harvard square. all involved were on SERIOUS sleep depravation-- breanne had 2 redeye flights from l.a. to las vegas and l.v. to boston delayed because of computer software problems and a heart attack, respectively. so no one was too coherent, but it was a great 4-way friend-of-a-friend visit.

we came back to worcester sunday night, where movies were watched, tea drank, fun times had.

monday i taught school, then spent the afternoon enjoying the nice weather... upwards of 50 degrees in mass! very nice relief to the extreme winter we may still be in the middle of.

oh yeah... on saturday night i booked a flight, $1000 plus on credit i can't pay back anytime soon, to fly to Johannesburg, South Africa, then to Windhoek, Namibia from May 3rd to May 16th. I am visiting Julie. not because i NEED to see her (one week before she was originally scheduled to return to the U.S.?), but because i need to see Namibia WITH her. when else could i do this? anyway, we will travel together for 2 weeks, be it within the city of Windhoek, to South Africa, to Zambia (Victoria Falls), to Swakopmund, Namibia, or to the desert sand dunes, or even from the bedroom to the kitchen. i feel great about this crazy whim becoming a reality.

yes, so we are bombing Iraq. Deja vu to 1990-1991, when i was in 5th grade. is this really happening? yup. i don't have a whole hell of a lot to say about this.

so basically we have this: a war is happening in which the United
States is bombing and attacking with ground troops Iraq. most of the
world, and a good portion of the US disagrees with this war. anything
can happen. more terrorist acts are imminent. our president is fucking
things up. julie is in namibia. i am visiting her.

i'm not sure if the protests are accomplishing
much. i don't know a whole lot, but i feel comfortable saying that
about all you can do in this situation, during war-- the most
revolutionary act of defiance-- is to LOVE. and that is what i am
daring to do. and to continue my life and not be afraid.

PLEASE tell me as much as you care to about your fears, thoughts, feelings, etc.

harrisodaniels@hotmail.com
hdaniels@clarku.edu

508 890 5694.

live. love. don't be afraid.

ps- this is what i answered to my mother's statement of "You're going in spite of the war?"

"I am going to visit Julie in Namibia in spite of everything except Love, Adventure, and Youth."

cocky. bold. cheesy. i know this. but i believe in it.

when i say "good times," it means so much. it's hard to unpack it all for the sake of readers i'm not sure benefit much from my posting, because the closest ones to me hear it all from me day to day. so what's the point of this? a really selfish one. it feels so good to type what i feel when i get the chance.

to vent a frustration.

to share an exciting piece of good news.

to think "out loud" and explore questions.

anyway, i just got a $345 check from clark university that covers my travel, registration, and cab fares for my february trip to albuquerque, new mexico. ROCK!

i am pondering something i did not previously consider: charging a flight to namibia and visiting julie. it's crazy. we're young. debt builds up, but we don't get chances like this too often.

i am carless (due to totalling a ford taurus with a not-so-bad dent) but i'll get some money for the car they took last week...

i am steadily doing a good job of teaching. i have a lot of responsibilities. last week at south a bomb threat was called in and we had to walk over to sullivan middle school and wait for over an hour in the gym, then the cafeteria. i took charge of my "team" of 100+ kids and kept us all together. today a teacher called out last minute and i substitute-taught 2 math classes... i didn't teach math, but i kept the kids from getting too out of control.

this whole "balance between being an adult and a young person" thing is getting better. i can spend money irresponsibly, rock out, be in love, and travel the world, as long as it's not august - june, monday - friday, 7am - 2pm. this teaching thing appeals to me more and more.

that's all for now i guess. call me if you know the number, email me if you know it, come to my apartment if you know the address. let's connect and talk in person. because honestly, this blog will always be only half the story.

good times indeed for mr daniels and his cronies.

"i just can't find the time to write my mind the way i want it to read" - wilco

been a little while since i've been able to update the world on the activities of mr daniels...

heard from julie. she's alive and she's happy and that's making me more alive and happier.

been teaching 3 classes, sometimes 4, doing a good job, and going to be "subversive" and teach some propaganda on war in iraq, both sides, very soon. also droppin' some "autobiography of malcolm x" on the kids soon... with the spike lee film (parts at least) too.

good times... bastille finishing up a cd, other good stuff, more later.

-h

a great weekend visit from my old friend dennis atwood did wonders for my spirits. this week is the clark university spring break, but i will be teaching high school every day. my roommate sihaya is off, but she has work to do. my colleague shahin is visiting a friend in ohio. i am getting through this next week without seeing some of my closest friends, and that's okay.

i just got a new position: because i suggested using a yahoo group message board for better communication at a meeting for the Worcester Natural Foods Co-Op (an all-natural, organic food buying club of which i am a member), i have now become the administrator for the message board. exciting! i love the people and the food involved in this thing; all very honest and good.

ah, so we begin another week soon. i'm excited to see what it brings. hope you are too.

mr daniels here wishing everyone a happy and safe weekend -- let's try to get through a week without a national tragedy!

things are going well... a bit of a transitional week back from february vacation, but we did get some work done. those who did poorly on the "romeo and juliet" test stayed after school to make it up -- with very good results.

part of me thinks i should get into special ed or being an "inclusion specialist", because lately at school i have much preferred working individually with students who have special needs -- building from what they already know, helping their confidence, giving them some helpful analogies to understand things, and generally helping them out in the best way possible. i really love doing that -- it's not "easier" than planning a lesson for 24 students and hoping they all "get" it; in fact it's probably harder. but honestly i think i have a talent for spotting people's strengths and using them to overcome their weaknesses. and i just love rapping one-on-one with these kids. even the ones who referred to my organic blue corn tortilla chips as "white people food."

that's all for now. it's been a happy bunch o' days, even without communication from miss jj. that's a good thing. i really am an independent, functioning individual. it's funny how love can give the impression that we are any less ourselves. if anything, i am stronger alone because of my bond with another. i know that to be true of my other, as well. this is not to say that those of you without an other at the moment are less strong -- never believe that being with someone is a quick fix to individual shortcomings. sometimes you gotta work alone.

enough "trying to figure it all out" for now... i have some long-neglected friends from home with whom i'd like to reinforce bonds.

best wishes to all of you and yours.

-hd

ok, i have a lot to say. it's easier sometimes just not to say anything, and keep a lot of frustration inside and try to be positive... but really, you do have to embrace the darkness sometimes.

i'm in worcester massachusetts, which looks nothing like THIS, which is pretty much all i can think about right now. this is some part of namibia, the country in which my love, julie joy, currently lives. clark university study abroad (like anyone reading this doesn't know our story...).

it's funny. i had been dealing pretty well since january 25th (when i saw her to the airport), mostly because i kept myself pretty busy with friends, teaching, travels, etc, etc. well i'm back from a great school vacation (see feb. 12-23) and it's a little harder easing into teaching (which i know is a definitely cause of some frustration), but there's a lot more downtime now-- which is always the enemy.

julie began a 2-week rural homestay in the deserts of northwestern namibia this monday 2/24, and since speaking with her on the phone sunday night, the very idea that she will be on a farm community with no phone or computer access makes me miss her exponentially more than the same distance, with frequent communication. this makes perfect sense, because our relationship is all about communication. i'm trying to deal, but a lot of the past 48 hours have been filled with frustration, urges to cry and punch inanimate objects, and really hard emotional strain. i'm working on it. i'm just eager to hear from her again.

it definitely doesn't help to read old emails from her, and other words we've exchanged. photos aren't a problem though.

i know. i'm pathetic. she feels the same way, she tells me. i know we've got something amazing here. that's why i'm not like, "oh, whatever, she's in africa, who cares, i don't really miss her, i'll just kiss other girls." no way. that person does not go by "mr daniels." the real me isn't even going to deny the feelings-- it's been very good to embrace my emotions rather than hide them.

thanks for reading this, even if you skimmed it, whoever you are. it helps a lot to write it.

i've got nothing to say.

okay. i assumed that the chicago club incident involved a fire. it did not.
it started when a security guard used pepper spray to break up a fight. someone yelled "poison gas!" and another yelled "i'll bet it's bin laden!" so 21 people died, and dozens were injured in the stampede to get out of the club. who is to blame in that one? cnn, i'd say-- "terror alert is on high" was a great-looking logo onscreen all last week, and it certainly helped the american public to get that much more afraid. panic, paranoia, fear, hate. that's what you get from the national news.

what about hope? there's got to be some of that lying around. i intend to find it and share it.

i just set up a free trial on "teacher web," where i now host a website about me, as a teacher. give me suggestions on what to put up there.

http://TeacherWeb.com/MA/WorcesterSouthHighcommunitySchool/mrdaniels/

my email is harrisodaniels@hotmail.com. please contact if you're out there. thanks.

today we are all wondering what the hell happened at that tiny club in warwick, rhode island:

why didn't the club have sprinklers?
why did great white use such large pyrotechnics in such a small club with a wooden structure?
why did people run through the same way they came in, instead of using the not-blocked fire doors?
why are there so many peripheral tragedies happening lately that make big news? chicago club fire, winter snowstorms, terrorist alerts, duct tape advisories, etc etc. is it possible that these things have been happening all along and just weren't widely reported? wait a minute, isn't there a war going on?

things to ponder. i'm really trying to be secure with the fact that my life is going so well in the midst of all these tragedies. if i really let everything on tv and in the newspaper affect me too much, i'd be a paranoid, scared, violent person... hmmm....

live your life. be aware of fire exits wherever you go. don't draw attention to yourself. don't be afraid.

i am of course in no position to give advice. but i often think about how to answer potential questions from students. we had vacation this week, but i'm sure in the last 7 days they have been wondering about snow, terrorists, clubs, fires, war, etc. and i want them to have resources outside of cnn and other network news media so that they don't fall into the "fear fear fear" paradigm... there's so much going on in the world outside of the 6 o'clock news. i can't wait to try to explain this to my students.

i saw jay bennett (a very talented musician/singer/songwriter who was kicked out of the band wilco) perform last night in boston. i also chatted with him a bit, and i could just tell he's a mess. drinking too much beer and shots, smoking too many cigarettes, looked like he hadn't slept in way too long. poor jay. he's writing great, sad songs, though.

got to crash on the couch of my mother's cousin's wife's daughter, shannon (i guess she's my step-3rd cousin?) in boston last night, and she has exciting news: she's engaged to her awesome greek boy, dimitri! i'm very excited for her. makes me wonder when i'll be breaking that kind of news to family and friends... maybe not till i'm 25? who knows.

i definitely ask more questions than i answer on this blog. is this annoying? is this something a teacher should be doing? does it accomplish anything? am i using my brain enough? should i let you, the reader, answer these questions?

give it a shot-- let me know what's between your ears. -- posted by harris at 2:14 PM

i really often wonder if any student i teach will ever get bored enough to do a google search for "mr daniels" and see this blog. and what would they think? "damn, mr daniels is deep."? "damn, mr daniels is full of shit!"? "poor mr daniels, his girlfriend is away in africa, that must be why he's such a hardass! we should be nicer to him, then maybe his tests won't be so hard!"? "and what the hell happened with mr daniels and shahin and nicole?"

maybe, maybe not. it's an interesting curiosity to indulge, however.

this is just to say that i am back to worcester, massachusetts after an incredible journey with many souls, but especially these two:


shahin ismail-beigi shirazi
and
nicole andriana bernard

and in spirit,
julie anne melissa joy was there, too. for all of it.


sincerely,

mr daniels

the story since valentine's day:

i can't really describe well enough how much bonding my old friend nicole, my new friend shahin, and i did in albuquerque this weekend. it was so nice to catch up, and really work through some past stuff. and doing new things, like going to the pop culture conference and doing our panels and hanging in the hotel bar and meeting crazy personalities, having a great free lunch and seeing rudolfo anaya speak about the "innocente", a figure with a smile on his/her face all the time... he was very outspoken against war and president bush. he talked about going to the white house, and first meeting johnny cash and then kirk douglas, and telling them that "everyone in new mexico loves you!", then meeting dubya, and saying, "lighten up!" he then signed books, and i bought a couple, and told him how refreshing it was to hear him say things that a lot of people don't want to hear right now... and how transcendental his philosophies are... he wasn't so nice in person--- he was in a hurry to be done being a celebrity and get out --- but it was still great. we saw "cat power" at the launchpad with another great band-- "foma." they threw out roses and i collected some petals. everything was so laid-back and amazing in new mexico-- it's a great place to visit, maybe to live... we got to see mountains on sunday, and walk around petroglyphs national monument, climbing to the top of some old volcanoes. then, on a whim, we drove an hour to santa fe and had dinner near the capitol building. everywhere i look there is life and art--- sculpture, buildings (i LOVE adobe!!!), and just everything coming alive... a lot of open opposition to war in iraq, which makes me feel good.

so on monday morning we had to get up and leave albuquerque. we flew to minneapolis, but our flight to providence was cancelled because of the giant snowstorm crippling the east coast. how did the terrorists figure out how to make snow??? we'll never know...
anyway, we got a flight to detroit, and found that no more flights would be going to providence monday, or even tuesday morning. so we called up my good friend steve aldrich, who graduated from clark and is a student at the grad school of geography at michigan state u, and being the awesome guy he is, he picked us up in detroit and drove us an hour and a half to east lansing, where we ate, drank, slept, and shopped. i am spending way too much money!!! anyway, we fly tonight (hopefully) from detroit to providence at 9:17pm. then i have the rest of the school vacation (till monday the 24th) to reflect, develop amazing photos, read, write, and work on movie posters... what a life i am living.... what a great time to be alive. yeah, we're on the brink of war, there could be terrorists lurking anywhere, and our country is really on a downhill plunge in so many respects, but i am daring to be happy, and so are my friends. who knows what will happen, but i will commit an act of anarchy: living my life to its fullest and not being afraid.

i need to figure out how to incorporate all i've learned and experienced in the past week into my 9th grade english classes... then i'll really be known as the "hippie teacher".


peace, man.

so ummm.... if you've ever wondered what a "popular culture association conference" is all about, check this out:
southwest pca program
look at it. you literally have to choose at any given moment between film adaptation, teaching, lord of the rings, and the grateful dead. yes, there are actually panels in which a bunch of people just get together and talk about the dead. crazy.
i got up yesterday morning anticipating being there the whole day, but instead i wrote 5 pages for my presentation on teaching romeo and juliet in high school. it went so well! i got to go to the university of new mexico women's center and print out my paper and some "handouts", which look really professional-- even though i don't!
so my panel was really diverse. there was this guy who teaches shakespeare to students looking into military careers at the u.s. naval academy, a woman who teaches freshmen non-english majors expository writing, and a woman, "kelly" yueh-ying chen from taipei, taiwan, who flew 24 hours to be here, who is very silly and fun. she came with a 50-page paper and needed to cut it down to 10, and i told her i had the opposite problem! She told me that i am very "handsome and spicy." i think that's a compliment! i really loved getting up, doing my spiel, showing clips from my class and two films, and just generally smoking a show. i can't believe i weaseled my way into this conference and impressed people--- i'm just a slacker film student!!!
albuquerque has been wonderful, especially staying with nicole, a friend i haven't seen for 3 years, and meeting her friends, seeing mountains, eating lots of new mexican food (green chili and sopapillas with honey!!!!), enjoying a lot of the sights, and seeing the university. tonight we see "cat power" at the launchpad, a good club with bad sound. the night we came in, we went to see "neko case," a really sexy (to men and women alike) folk singer with long, wavy red hair, and two guys in her band who played upright bass and banjo/pedal steel/slide guitar/etc etc. it was great, everyone fell in love with neko. and afterwards we met her outside, and shahin and i told her we flew from mass just to see her!!!
this is an amazing experience. more to follow.
-h

today i woke up in albuquerque, new mexico. it's wonderful out here. like everywhere else, i can only assume it would be more amazing if julie were here to experience this with me. but that's why they call that the future... and this is amazing anyway.

so i wrote a great post yesterday, then my computer froze, and i lost it. and i was so frustrated i didn't write again until today.
the romeo and juliet test on monday went well. most of the students at least tried... there were some pages left totally blank, which is disconcerting, but i need to realize it's not my fault some kids just won't do work. i shouldn't take it personally. i went over everything in great detail, offered lots of help, provided examples, everything. the popular excuse monday was, that since friday was a snow day, the test on monday should be cancelled. but i went over everything on thursday. plenty of time to study.
anyway, i showed two clips, both from the scene where romeo has bad feelings right before the party. i think the kids were surprised that i showed them leonardo dicaprio taking an ecstasy pill and saying, "thy drugs are quick", but that was my idea-- baz luhrmann "transplanted" that line from the end of the play--when romeo takes the poison and dies--to this scene, the wild party... some essays reflected this difference, and that's really how i knew some kids were paying attention.
ah, what else? in brief, werner's visit was excellent, we had ethiopian food in boston-- great! -- and bastille's recording went very well. waiting for sully did not win the battle of the bands... but oh well. it was fun, we played well.
i am off to albuquerque tomorrow. details to follow.
i am hosting a "round" tomorrow. i am having my class explore "what is nonfiction?" and talk about reality tv, short stories, newspaper articles, and other stuff... fun fun fun, even though i'm being observed by the watchful eye of the clark education philosophy. as long as i do what i'm doing and use the "buzzwords" like "engagement", "design", "enrichment", and "strategies", i'll be fine.
i love julie joy. that's not changing, and i just had to say it.
peace.

"it's funny. don't ever tell anybody anything. if you do, you start missing everybody."

this is the very last line holden caulfield writes/speaks in salinger's the catcher in the rye. i really miss julie. i had a wonderful time with my cousin werner, and now all i can think about is how much i want him and julie to meet. and i want to share everything about my life with julie with him, and i want him to share everything about his life with her. it is funny, because i want to tell everybody everything. and i miss her, i do. i miss her so much. i just spent 8 minutes crying, lying down, listening to the first track of the sigur ros album "( )". it's pretentious maybe, but it really is beautiful music. it wasn't the music that made me cry, it was thinking about everything in the world, in the city of worcester, in my apartment, in my room that reminds me of julie. and thinking about where she is right now, in windhoek, namibia, africa, doing some amazing things, seeing wonderful and horrible things, and experiencing something most don't know anything about. i'll tell her everything, and she'll tell me everything. and we'll both miss each other. and that's a good thing.

so i've been quite busy. thursday was a great teaching day, because i was able to help my class review for the upcoming "romeo & juliet" test that i am designing! i plan to test their knowledge of literary terms through examples from the play, and some essay questions about theme and plot. i also plan to show them clips from the 1968 france zefferelli version and the 1997 baz luhrmann version (same scene), and have them explore the evidence of the directors' "style", pointing out changes from the original play.

i am currently recording in a real studio with bastille, which has gone remarkably well. we are really getting the sound that we want, and i am happy that after 1.5 years together, we will finally have a cd to show for our creative energies.

tonight (saturday) my other band, waiting for sully, will perform in the clark university "battle of the bands". this should be fun, and should we win, the prize is to open for the mid-nineties "good" band better than ezra. interesting, i didn't know they were still around.

since friday afternoon, in the midst of a giant snowstorm (no school friday, a snow day!) and lots of confusion, i have spent some time with my 2nd cousin werner pfandler, who is swiss yet lives in munich, germany. he is so wise and brilliant and so laid back, and enjoys everything. his philosophy is simple, and so similar to my own, which i honed over many years across the atlantic ocean before i met him 2 years ago when i visited his home in munich during my study abroad in london. he is all about good times, and not worrying. i love that, because it's such a relaxing atmosphere when no one is worrying. i took him from boston to worcester, had dinner at a few nice places, drank lots of st. john's wort "good mood" tea, talked a lot with him and my roommates linden and sihaya, went to record with bastille (which he witnessed and enjoyed), and stayed up late listening to leonard cohen, sigur ros, and geoff farina. i so enjoy time with him. he is here to visit my oma (swiss for grandmother) in ct, and my dad came to worcester this morning and we went to breakfast before the cousins left. tomorrow we will go to boston to have lunch and bring him to the airport for the end of his 48 hour visit to the states. what a wonderful family i have-- i am so lucky to have an open-minded clan of those who enjoy life, are not plagued by worry or religious conviction, and clearly have learned so much from living.

peace.

i'm going to try this every day thing, not just to compete with that africa chick, but also to keep track of what i'm doing... because when i'm done with a week, day, or even class period, it feels like a train has just passed me by, wicked fast, and i can't really recall the entire experience. i am up to so much, i really feel like 4 or 5 people. maybe i should introduce them:

1. a student teacher monday through friday, 7am to 2pm. teaching 9th grade english, learning a lot.

2. an employee of greatposters.com, a small internet company that specializes in dealing vintage movie posters from the 1930s--1960s. taking digital photos, evaluating poster conditions, pricing and selling posters on ebay, and other such tasks.

3. a drummer with bastille, a 3 piece "mathrock" band, and waiting for sully, a 4 piece "emo pop" band. they're both a lot of fun, and rock very hard. i've been drumming for about 12 years... i love it. love it.

4. a friend to many, a family member to a few, a lover to one.

so i guess the routine will be, let one month or so pass before posting? my girlfriend has a blog that i lovingly set up for her. her name is julie, and she is spending the spring semester abroad in namibia, just northwest of south africa. her blog is julie in africa. anyway, she posts EVERY DAY. so why don't i? i dunno, i'm busy. but she's busier. i love her. but i also love the teaching i'm doing.
i'm finishing up teaching "Romeo & Juliet" to one a-level class and one "inclusion" (special ed integrated) class, and about halfway through the same play with two honors classes. it's been really fun spending a loooooonnnnng time on a shakespeare play, because in college, i had to read a whole play in time to discuss it in only one or two one-hour class periods. now, we spend at least one hour every day either reading in class, discussing the play, writing about it, or engaging in an activity related to the play... we've been doing this since the last week of november, and we're almost done!
today my period 4 a-level class did "Reader's Theater," or as my mentor teacher calls it, "Disasterpiece Theater." I had the kids present parts of scenes under 50 lines in groups, and i videotaped their presentations. i think it went well-- i was hoping the kids would do some work to get props/costumes, or at least "translate" shakespeare's poetic word to their own modern-day vernacular, but almost everyone just got up and ready. there was some theatrical energy expended, however, and i was pleased.
in one week i am off to albuquerque, new mexico to present a paper (which i have yet to write) on teaching shakespeare in high school -- title: "A Slacker Film Student's First Foray into Teaching Shakespeare in High School" -- and be part of a panel on "Shakespeare and Pedagogy." I am going with my crony Shahin Ismail-Beigi Shirazi and we're going to have a blast.
more updates soon... i need to compete with my very motivated (and missing me very much) girlfriend's blog. peace.

so a month and a half later.... a lot's going on. after a relaxing holiday (since my last post we've had thanksgiving, channukah, kwanzaa, christmas, and new year's) i'm back to being "mr. daniels" again, for the entire school day. but at home, i'm unwinding the way i like.... music, movies, friends, food, and all that... so things are good. 2003 will be very interesting.

by the way (and i feel weird using this expression because in "i know why the caged bird sings" by maya angelou, the proud zealot grandmother, "momma," beats her grandchildren for saying "by the way" because it is a "whitefolks" expression, and blasphemy. yet i know i'm not using it as blasphemy, but i sure don't like being grouped in with "whitefolks"...), if anyone would like to email me, my address is: harrisodaniels@hotmail.com

i'm beginning to see how i can maintain control over my classroom of 24 rowdy ninth graders. choice. it's simple. it's worked so far. "you have a choice: you can continue to have social conversation and hold up the rest of the class, or we can go on with the lesson that i think you all will enjoy." addressing a disruptive student directly, with proximity, of course.

anyway, beyond theory, the classroom is such a fun place to be. i wish i could be friends with some of these kids. i wish i could invite them to shows that my bands play. i want to recommend bands, albums, movies, books, etc. to them.

i want to be a kid again.

but being a teacher is pretty cool.

hi. this is the first post of what i hope will be many. my name is harris daniels, and lately i've become more used to being addressed as "mr. daniels". this is because i am student teaching in worcester, massachusetts. i am not quite used to this yet, and i hope to express my many frustrations, mixed emotions, and generally try to come to terms with the balance between being an adult and a young person on this "blog." wish me luck.