Discovering a new Jane

Tarzan. 

Not many single words conjure the variety of images that one name does. For more than a century, a loincloth clad, black maned, seriously muscled White Ape swinging through the jungle canopy has engaged the minds of people all over the world. Me included. Yet, in all the years I have fantasized about The Ape-man, Jane seldom figured in my imaginings. That changed three days ago when I began to read Robin Maxwell's 2012 novel Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan. I am now as fascinated as much by her as by him.

Maxwell captivated me in the first paragraphs in which Edgar Burroughs sits enthralled by the "magnificently bold" Jane Porter's presentation at the Chicago Public Library in 1912. I read voraciously, even though I am intimately acquainted with Borroughs' original Tarzan novel having taught it for many years in my American Literature Language Arts classes. I always looked forward to my students' reactions to the conclusion, which is so different ftom the Hollywood and television versions! 

When you read the novel, do not skip Maxwell's "Author's Note" at the end. It is an illuminating peek into the psyche of this woman who seems to have much in common with Burroughs' heroine. Both relish the challenges inherent in the vocations they have chosen. 

To my amazement, the Disney animated Tarzan more closely echoes the Jane of Maxwell's novel than any other film adaptation. In each, she is a woman caught trying to resolve many quandries in her life: coping with a burgeoning awareness of her sexuality, a Victorian Age enlightened woman ewanting a man's freedom, guilt over fulfilling her academic dreams at the expense of the Mangani, trying to define love. 

I read my local library's copy. I have already ordered my own copy, so I can annotate! I know this is a book I will re-read often in my future. 

Adventure Redefined

In April I blogged about my one Alpine adventure. That has inspired me to think more about what it means to have an adventure. I have always defined it as (with sincere apologies to Gene Roddenberry) "going where I have never been before."

When Ivy and I climbed partway up that Alp, I was a lot younger, considerably more athletic and prone to take actions that were not well planned. I once drove 1500 miles to visit a long-lost friend as a result of a phone call and the fact that I didn't have to work for the next four days. That same whimsy made me apply for a job while I was visiting her which resulted one month later in me packing my belongings into my aging Ford Pinto and taking up a new life 11 states and two climate zones away from where I'd lived all my life. New places and people excited me, they still do.

That said, I am not an explorer. I have no desire to see what is over the horizon. I want to follow the previously blazed trail. I do not want to be the first person into the new country. I would have loathed being with Daniel Boone or with Lewis and Clark. I want to see places I've never seen before, but I want someone to have gone before me doing the grunt work, marking where the quicksands are and letting me know beforehand that I need to have a supply of water with me or fill up my car with gas for the next several hundred miles.

Though not an explorer, I guess I could have been a pioneer, of sorts. I've popped up my tent in sundry beach and forest campgrounds from Maine to the Florida Keys, and when the weather was uncooperative, spent many a night in the back of my station wagon. I have slept in many a European youth hostel bed and used my Eurail Pass until it faded. Not so much in recent years though, as the creature comforts of Hampton Inn have taken precedence over the closeness to nature offered by camping and hosteling.

Another change is that I am no longer as enthusiastic about solo-adventuring as I used to be. It has nothing to do with fear and everything to do immediate sharing (and follow-up conversations)! Recently I saw an opportunity to "learn about wildlife photography" at our Zoo as part of the Wild Amelia Nature Festival. I was intrigued and gave it to my best friend as gift. 

Our adventure began when we had to get up and moving before 5:00 AM!!! The zoo is about an hour away and we were supposed to meet our group before 7:0) AM. The Wild Amelia organizer, Steve Leimberg, divided the group into 6 teams of about 5 and set us loose in the Zoo for hours before the official opening. How fabulous. I learned a lot. I participated in a fabulous behind the scenes tour, dined on a tasty, casual brunch. Took many, many pictures, met Ali (a elephant rescued from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch).

AND I patted a rhinoceros!!!!!!!

So, am I now less adventurous than I used to be? I don't believe I am; I believe I have redefined "adventure" as "looking at life through a different lens."

For anyone interested in an adventure with wildlife in an atmosphere permeated by jungle scents and wilderness noises but accompanied by civilized eating opportunities, enlightening conversations/lectures and convenient facilities, join me for this experience in 2015!  

Once a teacher, Always a teacher

Two years into retirement I am still as coping with the physical detritus of 36 years of teaching: papers, lesson plans, tests and student-work. (Hint to teachers – scan, save, then toss!!!!) As I skimmed each document deciding to scan and save or trash, I found myself actually reading many and being amazed at the variety of assignments I have created. I have become impressed with my creativity.

Two years into retirement I am still as coping with the physical detritus of 36 years of teaching: papers, lesson plans, tests and student-work. (Hint to teachers – scan, save, then toss!!!!) As I skimmed each document deciding to scan and save or trash, I found myself actually reading many and being amazed at the variety of assignments I have created. I have become impressed with my creativity.

Over the decades, my students were required to stretch their capabilities and imaginations as they completed the following:

·       To facilitate their comprehension of the idea that “ubiquitous” and “diversity” are corollaries, each student was given an assortment of pebbles and asked to explain how each pebble reflected a person in the class.

·       As a characterization exercise, students had to match a character to one aisle in the grocery store.

·        In Hamlet, Ophelia gives “flowers” to others. To understand the concept of Flower Language,” create a bouquet of 12 blossoms given from a television show character to a movie character.

·       Give a speech on the similarities and differences between how you celebrated your 16^th birthday and how one of your grandparents celebrated theirs.

·       Explain how your day is normal.

·       Rationalize why you have watched one movie or listened to one song more than 20 times.

·       What movie will be the first you watch with your own child?

·       Using the first 20 songs in your player, create the Soundtrack of your Life.

·       Squander $20 million. Your grade will reflect how closely you adhere to the definition of “squander.”

·      Explain how each astrological sign applies to a character from the novel you read.

·       Finding Motifs: create an “Everything I Need to Know to Succeed I Learned From…” poster based on the work we just completed.

·       What television show would you like to include you as a character?

Those are a sampling of what I have found. A task I anticipated taking a week or so is now in its second year. I am having a really good time enjoying an ego-trip centering on an array of imaginative assignments.

I still have that vibe going on in my head. I read a passage in a book, hear a song lyric, look at a photo and an assignment pops into my head. It pleases that the ideas still flow.

You can take a teacher out of the classroom, but you can’t take the classroom out of a teacher!