Poem: The Permitted Relationship

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After listening to this week's Double X Podcast, I was inspired to write a poem for my wife, Paige. I posted it to her FB page with her permission, but it lost the formatting (curses, FB! Grr!) so here's the poem the way it's supposed to look.

The Permitted Relationship

    by Benjamin Gorman

    for Paige


 

Imagine them

 Two hands

    Clasped underneath

    The tablecloth

    Under the table of the outdoor restaurant

    Barely invisible to traffic

         Secret so close to being discovered

 

One hand is defiant black skin

 The other trembling white

 

Or they are both smooth female hands

 Nails polished and scratching gently

 

Or both men's hands

 Thicker, squeezing

 

Or one has a wedding ring

 Its pair far away

 

Or one is soft paper

 With more wrinkles than the other

 

These pairs

 Of hands, holding on out of sight

 

The romance of the forbidden

They hold in the face of fear

    Of reprobation, law, hatred,

    Or just frowns, sneers, scorn

    Or the breaking of hearts of those not present

         not understanding.

 

But the hands are admired

 Because they hold.

   Because they defy.

 

So romantic

    We cover one hand in werewolf fur

    Cold marble vampire skin

    Subterranean alien scales

To call it love.

 

Our hands

 Are on top of the table

    A man's

    A woman's

    Skin the same color and age.

Or they are under the heavy blankets

    Of our soft, bourgeoisie bed

      Permitted.

 

But we hold in the face of fear

    Of monotony, complacency, apathy

    Or just forgetfulness, age, comfort

    Or the loss we cannot contemplate

         cannot fathom.

 

Our hands are admirable, too.

 I hold for you.

   For you

     I defy.

 

 

Submissions Are Starting to Come In!

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Back in August I announced two contests that Not a Pipe Publishing is running through the end of this calendar year. The first is a contest open to current high school students who are interested in making a video trailer for Corporate High School (info here). The second is open to anyone; entrants can submit a design for a new cover for the book's second edition (details here). Those submissions are starting to come in now, and I wanted to share them to give everybody an idea of the kinds of great work people are submitting. Here are just a few, but you can see that they're very cool. In January we'll vote on the favorite of the finalists. If you are interested in submitting, send your submission to NotAPipePublishing@gmail.com. 

From graphic artist Anna Martin:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And from photographer Brittney Nikkole Bettles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...and...

 

 

 

 

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 ...and...

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Corporate High School-Copy.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

 

And from Sannel Larson: 

 

 

 

 

And...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find more of Sannel's work here: http://fineartamerica.com/artists/sannel+larson
and follow Sannel on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Sannellarson

These artists are still working on polishing their submissions, so if you have suggestions for them or want to tell them what elements you like the best, feel free to leave those ideas in the comments section below!

 

 

Why I'm giving my Movember donation to Planned Parenthood

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Hi, I’m Benjamin Gorman, a public school teacher and an author. I decided to participate in Movember this year because I think it’s a simple, fun way to raise support for cancer research and cancer screenings. But instead of giving money to the Movember Foundation, an excellent, A rated charity that’s doing good work, I’ve decided to give my money to another A rated charity that does cancer screenings, Planned Parenthood. I think it’s great that groups like the Movember Foundation are working to bring awareness to men’s health issues, but let’s face it: nobody out there is trying to prevent men from getting cancer screenings. On the other hand, there are some people who are actively working to close down the facilities where lots of women get their cancer screenings just because they want to prevent women from making certain personal health decisions they disagree with. This shows a remarkable disrespect to women. It presumes that women aren’t reasonable enough to understand the argument anti-abortion activists want to make, so these anti-abortion activists threaten all the other health services offered by Planned Parenthood. No one is doing that to men. No one says that if men choose to get this health procedure or that health procedure, we’ll take away your access to screenings for testicular cancer. If people think abortion is wrong, that’s fine. Respect women enough to make your case and trust them to make ethical decisions. But don’t hold their healthcare hostage.

If you agree, please consider donating to this GoFundMe. 100% of all the money donated will be given to Planned Parenthood. If you disagree, show your disagreement by going to the website of the Movemeber Foundation and donating there. Then, post how much you gave them in the comments section below to show how much you didn't like this idea. That will really teach me a lesson. Either way, share this and let’s try to get everyone the access to cancer screenings that they deserve.


Thanks!

 

7 Characteristics of a Good Citizen

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One of my former students asked me to help him out on a college assignment. He wants a list of seven or eight characteristics of a good citizen. Here's my first crack at it (but I'd love to hear your additions/amendments):

1) Care. Citizens should be concerned about the good of their fellow citizens. "Empathy" is a bad word in some political circles because it's associated with advocating for big government solutions to social problems, but caring can manifest in a lot of different ways. It could be private acts of caring, collaborative work through religious institutions, civic groups, or labor unions, actions by private companies, or government activity. Regardless of the mechanism, good citizens care for one another.

2) Be involved. If a democracy is going to function, we have to remember that it's a country run by We the People. If we choose to sit on the sidelines and complain about "the government," we turn the control over to the people who are motivated to be engaged in the governing process, and their interests might not be all of ours. In fact, the fewer people who are engaged in the political process, the more those few people have an incentive to look out for themselves, since they are not checked by the broader population.  At the very least, a good citizen should vote. 

3) Be informed. A good citizen has an obligation to understand what is going on and how it affects her/his fellow citizens. This isn't an easy task. In our age of abundant information and even more abundant opinion, it can be difficult to wade through it all and figure out what is true and what is relevant. Sources like TV and twitter are good for up-to-the-minute facts, but twitter is also loaded with opinion and misinformation. Television, even when it isn't attempting to project a particular partisan spin, is inherently prone to emotional manipulation because it pairs information with evocative imagery. To really be informed, read books. Read long form journalism. Read newspapers from other countries to see how we can sometimes be blinded by cultural assumptions. Talk with people who have different perspectives on issues. This part of good citizenship is hard, but it's very important.

4) Be educated. This is not quite the same thing as being informed. A computer can be loaded up with all kinds of information. That doesn't give it the ability to know what to do with that information. Education involves acquiring analytical skills, philosophical understanding of one's self, and moral grounding which will allow a good citizen to use information to make decisions that benefit other citizens.

5) Disagree. This can be very difficult, especially when we have disagreements with people we care about deeply, but it's an essential part of good citizenship. We have to be willing to stand up for positions that are unpopular if the country will ever improve. We should also learn how to disagree in a way that's respectful and constructive. And we should have the humility to recognize that we might be wrong. 

6) Belong without assimilating. This is difficult, too. It can be tempting to change one's self to be as much like the herd as possible. It's even easier to reject the whole group. What's hardest is to claim a position within a group while maintaining one's unique identity. Finding that balance is a lifetime's work. It's also a part of good citizenship.

7) Give back. No one enjoys paying taxes, but it's far more bearable when you remember that you are investing in roads, in libraries, in the firefighters and police officers who protect your home and loved ones, in the research that invented the internet I'm using to send this right now, and in the research that will one day produce the medicine that may save your life. Of course, some of those taxes (maybe even most of them) might go to things you don't agree with. Pay them anyway, and get involved to change where your taxes go. But don't stop investing your money, your time, and your energy into making this country a better place, or you can't call yourself a good citizen. 




Interview on NWP Radio

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Last week I was interviewed by Tanya Baker for the National Writing Project's radio show, NWP Radio. My segment is from 21:41 to 39:30, but if you have more than 18 minutes to spare, the interviews with Renee Watson, author of This Side of Home, and Heather Mackey, author of Dreamwood, are so good I have to buy copies of those two books post-haste! 

Take a listen here and let me know what you think!

 

 

Oh, and if you'd like to read the George Orwell essay "Why I Write" that I talked about in the interview, it's here. 

The interview with Salman Rushdie that I referenced is here.

 

Discussion Questions and Assignment Ideas for Teachers Teaching Corporate High School

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A teacher in Michigan, Laurel Myers O'Boyle, absolutely made my day when she sent me a picture of her class set of copies of Corporate High School, then a picture of her whiteboard covered with the notes from her classes' pre-reading predictions based on the book's cover, then some images of her students using the code system in the novel to send messages based on the texts of Shakespeare's plays.

Today she sent me a short note asking for some discussion questions I might recommend to her class. I'll post those below. For any other teacher interested in teaching the book, I posted a couple ideas about classroom assignments here. Two are based on contests the publishing company is running this fall which might give your students a little added incentive; one is the contest to create a new cover for the second edition and the second is a contest to create the best book trailer video to post on YouTube. I should also have added this one, a request for an image for a t-shirt that would show support for the novel and its call-to-action without seeming to support The Corporation that is the antagonistic force in the novel. 

Another idea, which Ms. Myers O'Boyle already employed in her classroom, is to have the students stunt cast a hypothetical movie version of the novel. I posted my suggestion for Harriet here along with a video. Please encourage your students to post their ideas about the right stars for the parts in the comments section on that page. It could turn into a great practice fr them if we could generate a lively debate about the right actors for the various roles.

Any of these assignment ideas, paired with a persuasive essay explaining why they are the best fit for the novel, would make excellent summative assignments that would show both persuasive writing skills, reading comprehension skills, and literary analysis skills. 

If anyone would like me to Skype or conference call with their class or book club, please contact my publishing company at NotAPipePublishing@gmail.com to schedule that. I love talking with people about the book and hearing their opinions (especially their ideas about the sequel!). 

Here is my first draft of a list of discussion questions. If you can think of any others to add, or if you had a great group discussion that you'd like to share so I can try to craft a question to encourage others to have a similar conversation, please post it in the comments section below!

Discussion Questions:

1. As Harriet meets people, we get to meet them, too. Our first impressions often don't fit with the conclusions we come to about people once we get to know them. What was your first impression of Lucas? What about Sky? What about Ken? What about Graham? As you read further, how did your opinions of those characters change? Have you ever had a first impression of a friend that changed as you got to know him/her? Have you ever made a first impression that didn't match the real you?

2. At the beginning of the story, Harriet accepts the status quo. She writes about it in her diary as a way if explaining it to herself to understand it. Only after she puts it on paper does she decide that it's not acceptable (though she still hasn't quite figured out what should be done about it). Describe a complicated situation you eventually came to understand. How did your understanding change your opinion?

3. The relationships between children and parents in Corporate High School are complicated. Consider the relationships between Harriet and her father, Harriet and her mother, and, later, Lucas and his father. Do these relationships seem realistic? How do they relate to parent/child relationships you have witnessed? When/if you become a parent, how would you relate differently to you own son or daughter?

4. Popularity plays an important role in Corporate High School. Lots of people say they don't care about popularity (especially popular people), but almost all of us want to be liked and respected. How do the characters try to earn the admiration and affection of their peers? Why do they succeed or fail? How do those attempts relate to the things The Corporation wants of them?

5. The Corporation is presented as a negative but impersonal force, less like a shark or wolf, more like a landslide or a tsunami. If it is evil, it's a systemic evil rather than a personal evil. What are some other forms of systemic evil you've learned about in history or which you see in the world today? What are some ways people stand up against systemic evil? Which kinds of protests do you think are most effective? Which are the most moral? What if those are different?

6. Part of the problem with Harriet's school is that it is exclusively designed to prepare her for a job working for The Corporation. What are other things that schools should do besides preparing students for specific jobs? How should schools change to do all those other tasks more effectively? What kinds of things should schools not do?

7. At the end of the story, Harriet finds herself in a very different situation in relation to her parents, her friends, her new boyfriend, and The Corporation. What do you think she should do next? What do you expect her friends to do? What should her parents do if they want to keep her safe? What do you think The Corporation should try to do if it wants to stop her? 

Cool Assignments for Teachers to Use this Fall

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Colleagues,

As the new school year gets under way, I wanted to share some possible assignments that could motivate some of your reluctant readers, along with some contests for the ones who might be more motivated by cash and prizes.

I'm very familiar with kids who claim they don't read, all the while checking their text messages, their twitter feeds, their Facebook accounts, and the long letters they have been passing back and forth with the girl two rows back. What they really mean is that they don't read novels for fun. To some degree, that's acceptable; not everyone can read books just because they love the interplay of words on a page. If everyone were like that, we'd have a world full of college literature professors who couldn't clothe and feed themselves. On the other hand, we need novels to teach students certain reading skills they'll need to be successful in school, in college, in the consumption of other media, and in life in general. So, rather than forcing them to read books they hate and possibly fossilizing that hatred forever, we try to find them books that serve our academic purposes while also tapping into their own motivations.

Here's another thing I encourage you to try in your classrooms: Not only can we increase motivation by giving them high-interest books, but if we give them optional assignments in advance that appeal to their interests, they can read for the purpose of getting to the activities they already know they enjoy. And maybe, just maybe, they'll associate that pleasure with the book that made it possible.

If you have students who are artistic, one thing you can offer is an assignment to create an alternate cover for the novel. They can provide you with a written explanation of how their cover fits the book and appeals to its intended audience. This will not only demonstrate their understanding of the audience, but you can ask them to use it to show their knowledge of setting, character, plot (contextualizing the image in the story), and a host of other features that satisfy your content goals.

Similarly, you may have students who are motivated by their talent with digital video. Book trailer videos are all the rage, and our students are often far more talented with digital video than they are with written text, having grown up in a world where the means to make movies have been completely democratized. Like book covers, these videos can be used to show a host of comprehension skills.

Some students might not be particularly motivated by a chance to create visual or digital art related to a book, but they might be motivated by competition or by money. Well, do I have a deal for you! Right now, my publishing company, Not a Pipe Publishing, is hosting two competitions. One is to make a new cover for a second edition of my YA novel, Corporate high School. That contest is open to anyone and has a $100 cash prize.  The other contest is for a student-made book trailer. That one is only open to high school students and they can win a $200 scholarship for college expenses. The amounts are small, it's true, but maybe they will motivate a student who wouldn't be otherwise inclined to read, and that's a win by itself.  For more information on the book cover contest, including a printable flyer, go HERE. For more information about the book trailer scholarship contest, including a printable flyer, go HERE.  

Another assignment I've had some success with is book reviews. I encourage my students to post them to Goodreads, Amazon, or some other review blog. That gives them a sense of audience and serves as a reminder that the last stage of the writing process is publishing, and that they are perfectly capable of being published writers and should think of themselves as such.

If this all seems too self-serving and that makes you uncomfortable, I get it. I'm uncomfortable asking, too. All these assignments work perfectly well with any other novel, too. But since there are some cash prizes associated with Corporate High School, I thought I'd let you all know.

As for the novel itself, you can purchase copies at a number of outlets via this link HERE. I'm not good at telling folks why they ought to read it, but I'll let the good folks at the National Writing Project and the Badass Teachers Association do that for me:

“Benjamin Gorman's Corporate High School is a must-read for anyone interested in joining the fight to save public education.  We proudly proclaim this book as badass and spot on about the fight to save the foundation of our democracy - strong public education for all.” 

-Marla Kilfoyle, General Manager

Badass Teachers Association

 

"Ben Gorman clearly knows high school students, and the importance of a free and public education for them. Corporate High School is fantastic!"

-Tanya Baker, Director of National Programs,

National Writing Project

Lastly, if you do have students who choose to read Corporate High School and you think your class would benefit from a conversation with the author, please contact my publishing company at NotAPipePublishing@gmail.com to set up a time when I can Skype with your class or come in person!

Have a wonderful year, and thank you for all you do for kids!

Contest: Design New Cover Art for Corporate High School!

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Subject: Design a new cover for the novel Corporate High School. Your work may be on the cover of a second edition!

Replace this cover with something better!

Replace this cover with something better!

Medium: Paint, ink, photography, digital, or mixed media

Submissions open: September 1st

Deadline: December 1st

Winner announced: December 31st after a period of public voting [Your entry will be accompanied by a link to your online portfolio if you wish.]

Prizes: $100, promotion of your work, credit in the second edition

Entry Fee: Zero dollars and zero cents. Open to all.

Submit to NotAPipePublishing@gmail.com 

Here's what we're looking for: The piece should focus on the protagonist, Harriet, a 17 year-old African-American high school student. She's pretty but not in an overly sexual way. She has natural hair though she has it done in ringlets for one scene, so that would work, too. She begins the story as a somewhat naive character, innocently accepting the status quo, and by the end she has become a much more fierce advocate for her own autonomy and for change, so you could depict her either way. If you choose to, you could include her friends as well. Her best friend Sky is Harriet's age, white, and very thin, with straight blond hair. Her friend Gina is the alpha female of the group, aggressively sexy and a snob. You could also include the males of their group, along with Ken and Graham, Harriet's romantic interests in the novel. Too many characters might be too busy an image though, so use your own artistic judgement.

As for the setting, if you want to go for something indoors, it would be appropriate to show one of their classrooms, a large space where a hundred students look at a teacher who is on a screen teaching from a distant location to classes all over the country while wearing what looks like a Walmart greater's uniform (but without the trademark logo. I don't want to get sued). If you'd rather do something outdoors, the book is set in a world ravaged by global warming where the sea levels have risen so much that most of the world is flooded, and the city where Harriet lives is on a mountaintop of Mt. Hood, Oregon (now an island). The buildings are domes or egg-shaped ovals to protect them from the super-storms. Out in the inland sea around the island, they can still see the wreckage of what was once the city of Portland. That could make for a striking background.

More than anything, the cover should pique the interest of teenage readers. The current cover reflects the menace of the monolithic Corporation that's the enemy in the story, but because it doesn't show the characters, especially Harriet, some readers won't even be able to tell that the book is fiction. Your cover might not even need to say "a novel" because that will be clear. Do consider where you'd put the title, tagline, and the author's name large enough that they can be placed prominently and read when the cover is shrunk down to the size the image will appear on somebody's Kindle, but don't worry too much about it; submissions will be accepted and judged without the front text or side cover/back covers, so the cover image is the most important part.

All entrants, save the winner, retain ownership of their works but allow Not a Pipe Publishing to publish them for the purposes of public voting and for other marketing. The winner gives sole ownership of the winning image to Not a Pipe Publishing for use on the cover of the second edition. 

Here's a printable flyer in .pub format. Just click it to download. Put it up in your art class or share it with a friend!