Grass Death Machine

I was thinking while walking back from class and watching the giant man sitting atop the exceptionally large lawn mower cutting the grass on the football fields between campus and the dorms I live in. I had on flip-flops and the freshly cut grass caught under my bare feet and between my toes. Like millions of tiny green corpses lined up across the entire football field.  This made me wonder, what would it be like if grass could bleed as though it were human?  What a mess even a personal push mower would create across a front lawn! And if the "blood" wasn't green would we even take the trouble to mow?  And would we think twice about lopping off the heads of so many tiny organisms, or would we just done more protective clothing so as not to dirty our old work tennis shoes?  Doesn't that seem cold? Just lopping off the heads of living things and leaving their bodies to rot atop their, albeit still growing, remains.
I think if we were to view plants as living sentient organisms then we would see the things we do to them far more brutal and gruesome than the things that happen to animals. Not that I am fore animal cruelty or butchering, but it seems that people that don't eat meat because of the cruel treatment of livestock and instead devour salad after salad after tofu hot dog are, at some level, hypocritical.
We grow plants and harvest them, just as we do livestock. And if those plants were considered living, sentient organism at the same level of animals then why is it okay to massacre them to save the lives of our future cheeseburger?
What is it that makes the "animal" a higher organism than a plant? That it has eyes? That it makes noise? Or is it the complicated way in which the organism is constructed? Perhaps the level of intricacy that is found in an organism is what defines it's level on the hierarchy of nature.

I'm not certain of the answer to this, and I may come back and revise what I'm writing now, but for certain I will continue to devour both plant and animal equally. :D

Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hamlet, are some works that we must teach in high schools. I'm not against that. I think they are great pieces of literature with beautifully written lines of poetry. However, for the average high school aged student the task of trudging through each line of Shakespearian English is less then exhilarating. Which is my main concern. Why are we forcing students to READ every line of a play? For many students, reading a play in general can be a difficult task, what with a lacking description of action and so much left to the director to decide. Added on top of that is a version of English no longer used in today's society (so much for making the text relevant). 

So here's my idea. We have the students WATCH the play (as it was meant to be enjoyed) while following along in the text. It wouldn't hurt to have them writing down quotes that they particularly enjoyed. And stopping between scenes to discuss what happened, new developments in the characters, and translating some of the more difficult lines. This would save a tremendous amount of time and the students would understand the plot way more in depth than they would were they just reading the lines.

 

But don't think that is it. We have to make the experience meaningful and enjoyable for them (yes I believe that it's important to make enjoyable lessons). Either the instructor cuts certain sections or the students are set free to find their own selections of the play. The cuttings must fit into an assigned time frame, groups are divided so to supply each section with the proper amount of players, then the students spend a few days learning lines, blocking scenes, and coming up with props or other add-ins they choose. Then, for the final show, each section performs their selection from the play to the class. Make an event of it! Invite others to come see it! Ask the drama department if you could borrow the stage for a day or two. Make the students OWN the play. Guarantee they will find the experience meaningful and they will have an understanding of the text that goes deeper than just grazing over it and taking a test. 

Side note:

My prof. mentioned this book, From Hinton to Hamlet to the class. I am adding it to my lists of books to buy. Seems like a worth while read. Connecting Young Adult Literature to the classics. Making the classics meaningful to the students. Because that's what it's all about. 

If we can't make the lessons meaningful and relevant to the student, then we're wasting our time.