Top of the Blues to Ya!

May 13, 2012

Once a year, the top blues artists and bands on the planet assemble in the Cook Convention Center on the banks of the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee, for the Blues Music Awards. For blues aficionados, it is near Nirvana, the top of the food chain, it-don't-get-no-better-than-this. The program alternates between award conferral and bands at play — with more of the latter than the former.

A Requiem for Cocoa.

April 26, 2012

Some time back we asked OUR READERS to send photos of their dogs and other special pets along with a story or two about their honored place in the life of family and home. Now we have our own little pack of CornDancer cyber hounds: Lexi, Yoda, Mufurc, Suzy, Jake, Yellow Bear, Brown Bear, Little Zack's pup, Max, Cleo, Britches, Spice, Gandalf, Isis, and Ulysses. If you browse a spell, you'll find each of 'em somewhere on this page.

Today we welcome Cocoa to the pack. Cocoa became a sky dog on April 25, 2012. Look closely, and you'll see her running across the heavens on soaring clouds with the other sky dogs at play. Our friend Joseph P. Dempsey shares Cocoa's story.

Peregrinating with Jeremy Black.

April 20, 2012

Jeremy Black visited the Athens State University campus last autumn to deliver a lecture, The Politics of James Bond, a subject about which he has written a book. It was a good talk, entertainingly delivered with lots of interesting insights and anecdotes. Jeremy, a good friend, stayed at my home. In our planning we had set aside a Saturday to do a road-trip. I suggested that we drive up to Manchester, Tennessee, to visit the Old Stone Fort Park and then head up to Murfreesboro to explore the Stones River Battlefield Park. Jeremy is a military historian and had never been to Stones River, so he was up for the trip.

State, Religion and School —
And the Quest to 'Do' Dublin.

March 29, 2012

The McComas Family Ireland Fulbright Adventure continues with the publication of Letter from Ireland for Weeks Five and Six. Bill writes about how state, religion, and school cross paths on the road to 'high stakes' testing in the final year of secondary school. We also learn the value of planting flowers and clover to welcome the Irish spring.

When an Ex-Priest Weds an Ex-Nun,
A Memorable (Luther) Union Ensues.

February 15, 2012

Early in the German Reformation, twelve well-born Cistercian nuns escaped from their cloister at Nimbschen. With the help of Leonard Kopp, solid citizen of Torgau and supplier of foodstuffs to the monastery, they made their way to Wittenberg. Legend has it that Kopp concealed the renegades in barrels used for storing herring, which would have been a rather smelly experience. If so, it would have been a scene reminiscent of the escape of Bilbo Baggins and the dwarves from the Elk King’s stronghold in The Hobbit.

In Search of Metaphors for Diversity.

January 27, 2012

In my reflections on this semester's goals, I sought a metaphor or visual image to express my understanding of the concept multicultural. I drifted back to my childhood and the summer vacations I spent with my father's mother, Tacy Farmer Alexander. She was a quilter who carried a white shirt box with her whenever she visited. Every female "worth their salt" at that time had a sewing machine and knew how to use a needle and thread, so most of our clothes were designed and crafted by mothers, sisters, aunts, and grandmothers.

Arkansas . . . .
11,537 Days Ago.

November 21, 2011

Eleven thousand five hundred and thirty-seven days ago .... some several days before cynicism arrived as a besieging legion, enemy at the gates, camping beside the walls of psyche and mocking the dotering mind ....

Spanish Language Poetry Slam
Inspires Presentation at Conference.

November 15, 2011

This week I will be traveling with one of my colleagues, Jessica Fay Sliger, to the annual conference of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages in Denver, Colorado. This year's theme, "Empowering Language Educators Through Collaboration," aligns perfectly with the collaborative project Jessica and I created last year for native speakers of Spanish in the Rogers, Arkansas, School District.

Resurrection Lily.

August 26, 2011

I look out the window. The hawk circles, low in the thin sky, hunting. My eyes drift downward to a heart-shaped dogwood of graceful green and pleasant visage. A few yards to the left of its two-branched trunk, on the other side of the pale gray road, I spy a band of lilies, pink and white, swaying in the hot breeze like dancers in a corps de ballet. They are a wonderful late summer surprise.

Butterfly Lady. 
The Purposeful Habitat.

August 3, 2011

She's a no-nonsense champion for the order Lepidoptera and an articulate advocate of wildlife friendly habitat in the city.  Cindi Cope, the Butterfly Lady, reminds the thoughtful gardener that there's more to creating a butterfly habitat than maintaining a backyard full of bright flowers.  Like Cindi, we at Crow's Cottage view the butterfly and its natural habitat as a meaningful slice of reality.  We invite you to come visit us for a spell, share a pitcher of iced tea, and have a look at the swallowtails, painted lady, great spangled fritillaries, and buckeye at work and play in the gardens.  It's too hot to do anything else.

ABC Who Are We?  A 'Just Because'
Moment Leads to a Marvelous Poem.

March 17, 2011

Teachers experience a great deal of satisfaction when they create an assignment that students really appreciate and enjoy. Every now and then a student is inspired to go beyond the requirements and reformulate an assignment “just because.” Annie Ratliff, a graduate student in a multicultural issues class, took an assignment named ABC Who are We? to another level and wrote something special.

I Can Remember.

March 9, 2011

In a touching tribute to the memory of her father, Linda Hagen drifts back to childhood and a special moment when the rain fell in the desert night.
 
 

LitTunes Is Featured in Lesson Plan
On NY Times Learning Network.

November 5, 2010

A new lesson plan published by The New York Times on its Learning Network features LitTunes as a resource for classroom teachers.  "Songs in the Key of Lit: Ways to Use Music to Study Literature" is an innovative and robust lesson plan that is nicely attuned to the goals and mission of LitTunes.  We invite you to visit the LitTunes Reading Room and learn more about The New York Times lesson plan and how it relates to the concept of teaching literary works with the aid of popular and classical music.

Teaching with the Song Chorus
and Thesis Statement Connection.

August 28, 2010

Many pop tunes have a chorus — and every academic writing paper is anchored to a thesis statement. Connecting these two fundamental building blocks of effective writing is the focus of Kelly Riley's challenging unit of five lessons, designed to teach conceptual frameworks, critical thinking, and academic writing skills to high school English students. The unit includes handouts of song lyrics, a homework assignment, guidelines for writing a thesis statement, a primer on how to teach with a Socratic Circle, and an indepth set of "Notes for the Teacher." It's a winner for the teacher in search of a rewarding challenge.  

May Day.  The Good Comrades
Are Vanquished.  What Next?

March 24, 2010

After twenty-five months of silence, Dylan FitzDylan returns to CornDancer with the publication of a lyrical narrative he claims to have written while imprisoned in a Soviet socialist satellite state. What are we to think of Marko's oracle, the androgynous, raven-haired creature whose last dance outside the Youth House in Györ, Hungary, leaves her feet bloody and her prophetic voice mute?   What role does Imre Washington play in the first May Day celebration after the fall of the Iron Curtain?   And how successful is sweet Ildie in her search for new isms?

Language, Reality
And the Murder of John Locke.

September 2, 2000

It has got to be maddening to be murdered, to know in the fast fleeting now that the bullets are flying at you and into you, to struggle toward your slayer, to fall in a screaming air of violence onto the floor of your last breath.

When he fell, I don't think John fell at the feet of the killer. I think that John, resolving the last powerful gasp of his chi into a lunge, took the gunman down to the floor with him. I think John died triumphant, face-to-face with the coward who shot him dead.