I love to garden, and if I do say so myself, I have managed not to kill a fantastic collection of lilies, iris, tulips, roses, and many other flowers. I also like to read, but I rarely have time to read more than children's books with my kids (William Steig is a riot.) the daily newspaper, literature that I plan to teach to my students, and books on autism (I highly recommend Temple Grandin.) Writing (any form) is my primary passion, but I am not a prolific writer.
old friends, former students, people I've lost touch with, poets, scholars, writers, readers, artists of all kinds....anyone who has reasonable grammar and is not an interminable bore.
What's not to like? Okay, I'm not a fan of the really twisted and profane things, but I like just about everything else. My favorite artists include Jimi Hendrix, Smashing Pumpkins, GREEN DAY, Mozart, The Shins, Tori Amos, Coldplay, Josh Rouse, and Simon and Garfunkel. I really don't discriminate...much...
My all-time faves include The Color Purple, Steel Magnolias, Grumpy Old Men, When Harry Met Sally, O Brother Where Art Thou?, Thelma and Louise, Patch Adams, Pay it Forward, and Monte Python and the Holy Grail. Oh yeah, Office Space...where's my stapler?
Generally I think that television is bubble gum for the brain, which is, I suppose, a strange thing for a broadcasting teacher to admit. I guess I was erroneous before when I said that TV is a waste of time. GOOD TV is not a waste of time, but I don't think that GOOD TV is something that I encounter every day. I do tend to get sucked in sometimes, but I think it is more out of avoidance of paper grading than anything. I spend my days intensely focused on getting things done, so it is nice to turn off the brain every once in a while. My favorite no-brainers include: Certain HBO series and Seinfeld reruns. Okay, I admit it, I am a habitual Weather Channel watcher. I think that must be an Ohio thing. Everyone that I know from Ohio (with one exception) watches the Weather Channel when nothing else is on. Weird, huh?
OOOOO! Too many to list. I'm sort of wrapped up in the whole southern gothic thing. Flannery O'Conner has been one that I have recently revisited, but Lee Smith still reigns supreme as my all-time favorite. Of course, I still like The Bell Jar, A Tale of Two Cities, The Things They Carried, Wuthering Heights, and In Country.I recently read Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver. I love her style, and this book hooked me from the very beginning, and I stayed hooked through the end. Guys, it's a chick book, though. It's okay, be a man...show your sensitive side. Read this book.
My grandmother, Virgina. I have never known anyone with as much spunk as she had. Who else would be FORCED into retirement at age 70 (after 50 years as a teacher) and then spend two years as a Peace Corps volunteer? I hope that I can come close to matching her lifetime accomplishments.I love Lord Alfred Tennyson. If I had lived in England during the Romantic period, I think I might have been his groupie. If I was in America, I would have had some arguments with Thoreau and romped in the grass with Whitman. HEY! Get your mind out of the gutter! Whitman was gay. It would have been platonic. Really.