I was criticized once in my teaching because I used too many big words. I was also told that I expected my students to read too many selections. In college, students can drop. I have several students drop every semester because the class is too demanding. But I constantly get letters and pictures and emails from students (semesters and years later) who did not drop, thanking me for challenging them.

I am not a great teacher, but thinking is work. Learning is work. My fear is that we have substituted the speed of the internet for the depth of real research. Descartes warned us that a "rush to knowledge" would inevitably result in shallow thinking. Thinking and reflection take time. Often we have to read through tons of material in order to have the kind of pool of knowledge that allows us to make real judgements and assessments.

This is called scholarship. To diminish the work is to diminish the result. Sorry about that.

Mr. Dark,
Absolutely no apology is needed! When we get posts with minimal thought and (purposefully) misspelled words, it leaves an immediate impression. When we get those occasional refreshing posts from young people who seem to "really get it," we know there is still hope. So keeping the standards high is our responsibility, not our fault! After all, Bradbury is all about "Hope!"

Before the weekend, I collected over 40 essays from 2 ninth grade classes: outlined, handwritten, proofed, re-written, and then double-spaced typed (500 words minimum). An illustration capturing the main conflict was also required.

They may not all be award winners, but they all were (hopefully!) challenging. I came in this morning and immediately was barraged with "Are our stories done yet?" So, maybe they did enjoy the work after all!

Topic of the essay: "The Illustration that was not revealed in I.M. collection" When they are corrected and returned, we read them orally in class. The students really rise to the occasion when asked to do so.

I agree. Years later when you hear from those you have influenced, it is worth all the effort and late hours. For those who contact you, there are always many more who feel the same but may not send a message.

True Scholarship can not be diminshed!

And to think....that when John Huston asked Ray if he would be interested in writing the screenplay of Moby Dick, Ray commented on that he ...could never read the darned thing.
But Ray, in turn, went home and told his wife, Maggie, that John ...asked me to read Moby Dick tonight, and to have a book report ready in the morning....

See, Mon411, voluminous reading in a short period of time is possible...

Good example, Nard!
So, mon411: Take heart. Stay tuned here for more interesting analyses (on a myriad of topics) relating to one of the greatest authors of any time. We like your spirit!!

Once again, Ray's own writing clears things up. He sees one role of science fiction as a way of warning us against futures we can avoid; but in a great poem called, "Of What is Past, or Passing, or to Come", he compares science fiction to writing on cave walls. The poem talks about the cave drawings being done. When cave dwellers saw things and tried to figure out how to make things happen, they drew them on the cave walls first. Then they could go out and execute what they had envisioned. So for Bradbury, SciFi is a way of defining what paths we WILL pursue as well as sketching out futures we want to avoid!

"So beasts and fire that live beyond his lair /
Are drawn in science fictions everywhere. /
The walls are full of schemes that sum and teach, /
To help the apeman reach beyond his reach. /
While all his ape-companions laugh and shout: /
'What are those stupid blueprints all about?! /
Give up your science fictions, clean the cave!' /
But apeman knows his sketching chalk can save, /
And knowing, learning, moves him to rehearse /
True actions in the world . . ."

Pretty cool, huh?

(in "A Chapbook for Burnt-Out Priests, Rabbis and Ministers.")

Glad to see you quoting his poetry...fascinating stuff. Ray's poetry seems to come from a different corner of his brain than his prose. But what a corner!

Still not sure if he's right on that. Saw a show on primitive African art that said hunters drew the stalking of prey to memorialize a hunt they HAD done which proved particularly successful--wonder if any primitive peoples really drew things they were GOING to do.

I would imagine you're right. But I think Ray's view of it is that he felt they were using it to prepare for the future, and that's how he views sci fi. He takes it pretty seriously.

Now that I think about it, I would imagine Ray doesn't even care whether it's true or not. He does fiction, after all. Also, he's a poet, so images are not meant to be taken literally, they are metaphors. The image is that mankind has always speculated about the future before taking action and that it will always be so, and that as a writer, he participates in that tradition. For him, science fiction is today's manifestation of the human urge to plot the future before engaging in it. The image, not the fact, is what is important to him. In this case, the image suits his purpose.



[This message has been edited by Mr. Dark (edited 05-15-2003).]

Many Years Ago A Very Wise Man Told Me,"If You Brag About Something, It Will Be Taken Away." Perhaps RB Felt That By Discussing His Fears, Those Fears Would Lose Momentum. Does That Make Any Sense? I Dunno. Just A Pot Thought.

Mr Dark will you please tell me the page and the full information for me to quote the poem, I don't have the book and it is difficult to have access to it here in Portugal, as we don't have in our libraries books from Ray.
Thank you

Poem: "Of What Is Past, Or Passing, Or To Come"

In "A Chapbook For Burnt-Out Priests, Rabbis, And Ministers". By Ray Bradbury. Cemetery Dance Publications, Baltimore, MD. 2001. P 21-22.

Hope this helps.

WHAT!
No books by Ray Bradbury in Portugal? How can this be? Ray has to be translated into about every language. Hmm!