Taylor the Teacher

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Ken once asked me if I would write about Eminem, Tupac, and Ice Cube even if I didn’t care about Google. I know Ken, so I’m not insulted. [Besides, a glance at my Google pagerank should put that accusation to bed.] If anyone else asked me, I would be offended. Or I’d assume they didn’t know me. I’ve always liked the guy who was sticking up for the common people. I really don’t care if he expresses himself in the way THEY would like.

I seldom even care if he’s right. If he’s speaking for the people, I like him. I’m predisposed to liking his message. I’m not fair and balanced — I skew in favor of the little guy.

This was clearly illustrated to me today on my sixth period planning when I found myself in the midst of a conversation about Martin Luther with two people way beyond me. KittyCat, the smartest person I’ve ever met, is well-versed in practically everything, but is especially well educated in literature, theology, and church history. The other teacher in the room was a history teacher.

I didn’t even know half of what was going on in their erudite conversation, but I know I like Martin Luther. After a few minutes of attempting to hold a semi-intelligent conversation, I felt I had to point out that Luther was fighting the power. And that’s reason enough to like him.

But I’m supposed to be ashamed, right? I should know all about his lightning storm experience. I’m a teacher, so I know everything. But I don’t.

I studied Writing & Culture. I have an English degree, but it’s not a literature degree. From the LSU English Department website:

The Writing and Culture concentration, focuses on a wide range of kinds of writing (e.g., writing a corporate budget, a newspaper, a novel, or a film script), studied on a range of levels, including linguistics (the systematic study of the components of language), rhetoric (the art of the effective and persuasive use of language), and cultural studies (encompassing all the socially transmitted assumptions and behaviors that affect a text)

Aside from the heinous separation of a subject from its verb, I stand behind this description of the education I received there 100%. It was what I wanted. I was more interested in the history of English and the cultural implications of word choices than in reading 400 years of mental masturbation about Shakespeare.

I’m finally used to the fact that this means I wear the dunce cap in the eyes of most of the English department. To be educated in their eyes you have to read 100% of their cannonized texts, plus have intimate, expert knowledge of at least one other obscure writer from at least 100 years ago. But, if you don’t have these stats, you better not be spending your time listening to Tupac and Eminem. That’s just common and low. You haven’t discovered the true beauty of language.

Especially if you actually TEACH Vonnegut. You know, to actual students.

I guess I don’t write on this blog about Shakespeare and Milton because plenty of people are already doing it, and have been for about half a million years now. If anyone cared, they could easily find writing about Shakespeare online that would be a hundred times better than I have to offer.

Plus, Em, Pac, and Cube kick ass.

Anyone who can’t see that just doesn’t get it.

Go read Harold Bloom.