Can't Help But Love Body-Biography Night (thanks Cindy O'Donnel-Allen) & Good Ol' Angus Bethune (Woot Woot Chris Crutcher)

Written in 1991, A Brief Moment in the Life of Angus Bethune, was one of the first YA texts, a short story, that showed me the power of adolescent stories in the high school classroom. At the time I was in KY, I used it to present story structure and voice as my students worked on their own short stories for the KY portfolio assessment. When kids have stories that resonate with them, they also write stories based off their own imaginations and experiences. At this point, I consider it a classic and always use it as an introductory texts to YA Literature (one of my favorite courses to teach).

It's also a perfect opportunity to trace bodies, decorate them in teenage form, and make comparisons to how Angus Bethune works to represent so much about adolescence: parental frustration, crushes, bullying, identity, body image, fitting in, and going through the rituals of high school performance. Coupled with our own adolescent experiences, the drawings become productive, useful, and educative. The students also love doing such work (hey, I saw a teacher doing this the other day at the school where I'm observing). 

Exactly. 

Also, the reference to The Alan Parsons Project Limelight also comes to light as it is prom-dance-esque and the video features a professional clown going on stage, masked, for the performance and what it's like being on stage (which is horrifying when you don't want it, or when it doesn't match the inside voice). I was impressed by the kids who were born 20 years and more after both the story and the song debuted, and how they looked up the song and felt it was perfect for the story.

Yes, sometimes they get it...it's the beauty of Chris Crutcher being on the pulse of the teenage mind in all its glory. He wrote the stories young people continue to need. 

Driving home from campus at 8 p.m., however, was not as enjoyable. Right as I entered Bridgeport, a police car with three construction vehicles pulled in front of us and then slowed down all three lanes as they placed barrels to create a single, right-lane experience. I was home by 9:30. Basically 4 miles...1 1/2 hours. I couldn't believe my luck nor the frustration of cars behind me riding into the emergency lane trying to get around the nonsense. All I can say is thank GOD I don't have an 8 a.m. this morning. It wiped me out in frustration. Ah, I-95...what you weave and block for us all.