Can the teenagers (and twentysomethings) please angst?- Page 67

[Delphine]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 12:09am

Join the club!

Nia, I haven't read The Lovely Bones, but I have read Sebold's other book (her autobiography type-deal), Lucky.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 12:09am

I'll allow you, MMJK.

(Ak - I don't remember the first word, but it's __ + Monsters by Dan Brown.)

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:02am

Good night guys! I've gotta go "be productive" or something, but since I've got an essay due tmrw, I'm sure I'll be on this board a LOT after 5am Pacific time. (Oy.)

[musicalmjk]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:02am

I think you mean Angels & Demons by Dan Brown.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:03am

YES! I'm a dumbass, I don't know where I was getting 'Monsters' from. I guess "Does anyone know __&__ by Dan Brown" wouldn't have helped much either.

[B.B. Wolf]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 2:12am

I think you were thinking of "Gods and Monsters"
which was a fantastic film with Ian McKellan and Brendan Fraser. It got Ian his first oscar nomination.

[Guido Contini]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 3:52am

Ok...I've been reading 3 books recently and they are nothing like any of the books you guys have mentioned. Does that mean I can't join the club?

anyway...for a good read, check out:

A Mary Called Magdalene - Margaret George
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
The Music of Silence - Andrea Bocelli

[BroadwayMonkey]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 10:41am

Memoirs of a Geisha is pure genius.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 12:18pm

I read Memoirs of a Geisha a couple of months ago. AMAZING. I can't wait for the movie. (I was actually going to audition for the movie in September and chickened out at the last minute.) Although the acknowledgements at the end kind of ruined it for me, but I'll wait for you to finish it and then we'll discuss.

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:10pm

Sorry to interrupt your book club discussion, but I need to have angst...

Ok, we had to do a campaign speech for Bush, Kerry, or Nader. I did mine on Wednesday (flawless, except one part where I was like "uhh"-- but I was the only one not to use note cards), and my stupid teacher gives people higher grades if they do one candidate over the other. So, I got my grade back today, and I got a lower grade because I did the candidate that she doesn't like! Even if your speech sucked, you would get a better grade if you do a speech for the guy she likes. I got a 94%, and I'm pissed, because someone who sucked got a 100% just because the teacher agreed with him. I'm not going to say who she likes and who I'm for because I don't want this to get into a political conversation, so I'll leave it at that. I'm FUMING at her and I think I should say something.

Thanks for listening. I needed to get that out of my system.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:14pm

That sucks, sweetie. I can relate. Especially in college, I've gotten used to selling out, so to speak, to get a higher grade. I've been yelled at and given C+s when I've expressed a political point of view that my prof/TA hasn't agreed with (I mean, I'll tell ya I'm a Democrat/Liberal, but my college is extreme leftist). I just try to chalk it up to a debate, where I have to argue a side, regardless of what my personal opinion is.

Just the nature of the game. Too bad for ya, but a 94% isn't bad!

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:15pm

Thanks, Tiff. That made me feel better. I guess 94% isn't the end of the world (but I'm a perfectionist who hates getting less than 95%). I hate teachers who don't grade fairly.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:19pm

I'm the same way as you, Diva. It really does get worse in college (if that makes you feel any better...hee), because the profs aren't regulated to hide behind a political-neutral stand. They're professionals/experts first, teachers second. For example, right now I'm writing an essay assessing whether or not we should decriminalize illegal drugs, and I HAVE to write that yes, it should be decriminalized, and the prohibition is just a capitalist function and a way to descriminate against certain races.

Do I really think this? No.

Do I "have" to think this? Yes. ((Note: The essay outline doesn't say that I "have" to. I just mean that if I want to get a good grade, that better be my standpoint!)

We weren't even given any other reading materials showing hte other point of view. My only resources support this stance.

Bummer, eh?

Updated On: 10/29/04 at 01:19 PM

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:24pm

That really does suck! I don't think I could take that. It's really not fair! These teachers should be professionals, not be bias, and give you BOTH sides of the argument.

I'm going to say something to my teacher about her unfair grading. She's always been unfair, but this crosses the line.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:27pm

Do you have any hardcore proof that she has a particularly political stance?

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:29pm

Sure! She only clapped for people who did *BOB*, and said that everyone who did *BILL* was making up information and that *BILL* is actually a liar, etc. And she only pointed out mistakes on people who did *BILL*. And EVERYONE in my class knows this. It's SO obvious.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:31pm

This wouldn't happen to be Mr. Dole and Mr. Clinton, would it?

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:33pm

Ha! I didn't even notice that! That's pretty creepy.... But now, we're definitely talking about Bush and Kerry here. Neither one of them is BOB or BILL.

[Type_A_Tiff]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:44pm

nope. they can only aspire to be. but that's a whole other story.

anyway, good luck talking to your teacher. i don't know if you'll be able to sway her, political beliefs run deep. i'd suggest making sure you prepare any refutes to your argument, and have refutes for THOSE refutes, otherwise she could just say you didn't argue your point effectively. let me know how it goes!

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 1:45pm

Good idea-- I'm definitely going to have a big argument planned, so I'll tell her after this weekend. I'll post here again if something does happen.

[insomniak]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 2:45pm

Good luck, Diva. That's entirely unfair. What does your teacher know about Voltaire? Maybe you need to make a speech about him. "I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend until death your right to say it"

I've heard of Memoirs of a Geisha, I will definetly check it out.

[lovettespies]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 2:46pm

Unfortunatly,a lot of teachers ahve strange grading plocies, but I have learned to live with them. I swear, one of my teachers last year used a random numbrs generater or something to grade. There were never any marks on our papers and sometimes people submitted essays that were supposed to be about Tale of Two Cities about there favorite bands and got 100% but then when they tried, would get a 70%. It's rough.


I read the Lovely Bones, and I loved itmore than I expected to. It made my cry, but it wasn't depressing. It's beautifully written. Right now I'm reading the Scarlett Letter for fun, but if you have read it for school it can ruin it sometimes.

[BroadwayDiva]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 2:50pm

Oh, I loved the Lovely Bones! I read it 3 times last year. It was such a good book!

Has anyone read the Dogs of Babel? It's a really good, creepy book. It's about a guy who tries to solve the mystery of the death of his wife by teaching his dog, the only witness, to talk. It's a fascinating book.

[insomniak]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 2:57pm

I read the Scarlett Letter for school and actually liked it. The Lovely Bones did almost make me cry, as did The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Lovely Bones sounds like a morbid story, but it's so poetically and beautifully told that it really isn't.

Never heard of the Dogs of Babel. That will go on my list too.

[musicalmjk]

Posted: 10/29/04 at 3:24pm

Gods and Monsters was his 1st Oscar Nomination? with a name Ian McKellen I had always thought that he had been Nominated before 1998, when the movie was made.