GATROS (aka Gabi and the Redemption of Speech)

The way we write is changing; therefore, the way we read inevitably follows. If our reading and writing is changing, they are the effect of our speech changing. Speech is changing drastically within a shockingly short period of time. We make fun of it; we call it silly and impractical the way youngsters use acronyms for every little thing, the way slang is the new-er norm, the way technology creates new words and idioms all together. If you’re not in the know, you won’t understand, quite literally. However, all the fun you’re having by poking at it isn’t going to make it slow down; in fact, it seems to be an inevitable turn humans have unconsciously chosen. Humans are redeeming the spoken word, whether intentionally or not.

Speech is the oldest form of communication known to mankind, especially before the written word. Written communication is useless without speech, being only an abstraction of speech. Without a speech interpretation, a lone word, letter, or phoneme is completely useless. Following speech, the next mass form of communication invented by man was architecture and art. Architecture was a major medium for speech from ancient to medieval cultures in order for them to record their values, beliefs, and histories for everyone to see. For example, the ancient Egyptians didn’t even have a word for “art” because their art was simply a didactic form of communication. Their history and values were recorded for the worlds following them to find through hieroglyphics, displayed in their temples, living quarters, pottery, cemeteries, and pretty much every piece of “art” constructed within the realm of architecture. Not to mention a vital reason for visual art as a preferred form of communication would have been because the majority of humans were illiterate.

After architecture came an even more impressive, impactful mass form of communication: literature. Victor Hugo, in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, I believe, stated, “The book killed the building.” After literature became more readily available for the masses, people didn’t have to refer anymore to the art governments and churches monopolized in order to define their own values and histories, even more pungent of a meaning for The Hunchback of Notre Dame, signifying that the mass printing of the Bible allowed people to study and interpret the Bible for themselves rather than be at the mercy of the church and its teachings.

Literature’s impact has lasted up until today, and yes, so has architecture to a certain degree. However, despite architecture still being valued today, the messages of architecture are not expressed so literally on its inside and outside walls the way they once were. Literature, on the other hand, can still carry a message as explicitly as it cares to; however, many view literature as a “struggling” or “dying art,” no longer valued as an essentiality but simply an “art,” a luxury. This is because literature is not instantaneous. Today, we have modern technology in order to share an idea, persuade, or instruct. Phones, e-mail, instant messaging, texting, skyping, are all instant forms of communication that can be shared and distributed from one person to the next as quickly as the words coming out of one’s mouth. It’s safe to say that this instant form of technological communication is as quick and gratifying as speech itself. Sure speech is changing, and sure the way we write and read is changing, sometimes more for the worse than the better, but it’s exciting because it shows the innovation of humans going back to their roots of speech. Think of how different mass communication today is from the clergymen of the Middle Ages sitting in a dimly lit room slaving away, copying word for word of purely expository language just to share it with another person. So, let’s just give up on this losing battle and embrace this new face of communication. Sure, it’s young and often quite acne-ridden, but it’s exciting, and social, and innovative.

Gabi and Her Top 5 Teacher Films

I was in the Teaching Certification Program to teach high school English or Reading. I got out… for various reasons.  I blamed it on my most recent field work experience. The teacher I was shadowing was pretty much an out-of-the-closet bigot and put her students down every chance she got, whether behind their backs or right in front of the class (i.e. calling them out for stuttering or ranting during presentations, complaining about them being dyslexic and the nerve of them to reflect her teaching skills on their AP essay scores, and finally, putting a student on the spot for being Muslim and for defending Pakistan for being “not exactly the way it is portrayed by American media”).

I dreaded showing up to that class for my field work, and I couldn’t dare to call her out for any of it due to the grade hanging over my nose, being intimidated as hell, and if I’m being honest, for me having low self-efficacy as a result of personal crises I was suffering from brought on by someone I’ve only recently cut ties with for my own sake.

Still, I didn’t only reach this self-awareness until now. So, I just thought I didn’t want to teach anymore, without analyzing how I came to that conclusion. I could write a manual on self-denial and repression. So, I changed my major to just English and applied for late graduation for the fall and started searching for internships (Blue Star was a big contender, but I eventually had to turn down an interview, though I would’ve loved that). However, taking this summer off was the best thing I could’ve done for myself because I really started to scrutinize my goals, pursuits, and priorities. In the end, with a lot of persistence from my dad, help from friends, and enough time with myself, I decided to continue with the program. Now I feel good about it. I feel great about it. I’m enthused again; in fact, more than ever before. It’s funny how it took so much self-doubt, effort, and frustration to get back on an original track, but I guess distractions and divergences can be more complex than the words themselves.

I’m still nervous about teaching. It’s the perfectionist in me; she makes me anxious and self-conscious, because I want to be the best and I’m competitive even when it’s just me against me. However, that’s just something I’m gonna have to work through, because I know this is something I feel very strongly about.

So, in celebration of me being back on track in the Teaching Certification Program, I’ve created a list of the Top 5 Teacher Films Ever Documented, according to me and the few I’ve actually seen from beginning to end; so, this isn’t the faculty, just my own little narrow critiques of film, which I am in no place to be judging to begin with. Now, anyone who expects to see Freedom Writers here just please leave this page; I’d rather have no readers than you as a reader. The only reason I have so much animosity towards that film is because a professor actually made us watch that film in one of my education courses. A professor! This is college, and all of her students are working on their Secondary Teaching Certification looking for real teaching instruction! This isn’t Hollywood; this is reality, and I am paying a lot of money to learn classroom management and how to create substantial curriculums/lesson plans, not watch a flatly scripted film with a single Good Vs Evil conflict (the teacher being “good” and the students being the “evil” from the “bad” neighborhoods that the teacher “straightens out” with her big heart and good humor)! NO, I am talking about films that give as much respect to the students as they do to the teachers, respecting that both are human and complex, and there is more grey in the classroom than just black and white. It’s not “Me teacher, you student.” It’s “We’re both human; therefore, we’re both tired (b/c life is tiring); so, how can we make this work (b/c no one can teach you how to teach, not even college. Trust me)

                                                              1. Half Nelson

One of the most inspiring independent films I’ve ever had the pleasure of streaming online. The film follows an eighth grade history teacher from the Bronx, ambitiously trying to teach his class the succession of history through dialectics, a theory that sums up change as a result of two opposing forces in constant clash, with a crack cocaine addiction. Eventually, as it consumes him, a student of his discovers this secret, as she struggles to deal with her own personal turmoil at home, her own coming-of-age, and the constant pressure to become involved in a lifestyle her own teacher partakes in. Eventually, they become friends and, despite their teacher-student relationship, realize they can help each other more than initially thought. Plus, the soundtrack is pitch-perfect. The final “transaction” scene of the film, with “Shampoo Suicide” by Broken Social Scene playing in the foreground is probably one of the most emotionally dense scenes I’ve ever witnessed in a drama.

                                                              2. Stand and Deliver

I remember watching this film for the first, second, third, and tenth time. Edward James Olmos really makes this film transcend any clichés because he’s such a brilliant actor. Actors that brilliant are most likely just brilliant people and can’t possibly contain it in front of the camera even if they tried. It’s a great story, great dialogue, great acting, mostly by Senor Olmos. Basically, it’s the story of a high school math teacher struggling to get through to his students in an urban school of Los Angeles. It’s realistic, sympathetic, and inspiring, revealing that there is a fine line between being teacher and being baby-sitter. Turns out, if you wanna be a good teacher, well you’re probably going to have to work harder than most others. It’s a tough reality that many people don’t realize, thinking teachers only “follow the outlines given to them and not much else,” much like a baby-sitter. Sure, you can do that, unless you actually want your students to graduate high school with the education of a high school degree. There are a few sub-stories within the film that follow the lives of the students, but the film really captures our attention when Olmos is on screen. Woh, can you tell I’m a little obsessed with the guy? I’ll reel it back in a little; sorry you had to see that.   

                                                              3. Happy-Go-Lucky

Okay, this film is purely teacher-oriented, but her concern for her students and the socio-politics of the education system hover over the film pretty much the entire time. She parties, she celebrates, she stays out late, she dates, she’s sarcastic, she dresses cool, AND she’s a teacher who actually cares about her students??? I love it! The title pretty much says it all without exaggeration. “Poppy” is an optimistic, outgoing, peppy woman, who literally sees the best in everything and everyone. She contrasts against everyone in her native city, London, as they try so hard to appear as tainted as they think they should be in order to be “cool.” She’s obnoxious, she doesn’t shut up, but she is so happy all of the time that you envy her for her constant sunny disposition. You think she’s just out-of-touch with reality or has been sheltered or something for her to be so cheery all of the time. The film leads you to believe Poppy “lives in her own little world.” However, the point of the film is that we are the ones who live in our own little worlds, consumed by our problems and struggles, and then projecting them onto everyone else. It’s only Poppy though who really is a part of the bigger picture, able to interact with others, sympathize with others, without just thinking of herself, even though she has problems too. She’s not selfish, she’s self-aware, and secure enough in her own skin to not let her faults consume her. Overall, she’s as forgiving with herself as she is of others, allowing her to connect with different people and places. Teaching is, above all else, a job where you’re constantly interacting with other people, tuning in on other people’s reactions in order to figure out where they need help, building relationships and networking within the classroom, home, and state realms. Poppy’s my teacher role-model, man. I love this film!

                                                                   4. School of Rock

Everyone wants to be a Jack Black teacher. He’s made some pretty cruddy movies, but this one’s good in my book. Sure, he’s a terrible core-subject teacher, but he’s a great music teacher.

                                                                       5. Le Classe

Probably one of the most realistic depictions of a “classroom” film, Le Classe follows a teacher and his students throughout a school year in an urban middle school in Paris, France. There is no home-life depicted; it’s all school. The teacher is frustrated, the students are tired, the teacher gives up, students give up, teacher tries again, some students respond, some don’t. The film doesn’t have a grand, happy ending. The school year ends and the new one starts. It’s an interesting film, depicting the cycles of education, with its social and political flaws within the classroom. More than anything though, the film follows teacher-students interaction, and surely, everyone who watches the film has their own opinions as to how the teacher could’ve done his job better, just like the real people in the real world.

Gabi and Her Summer's Best Books

I took this summer off from school, allowing me time to catch up on some much deserved reading. Ideally, I would’ve read more, but I ran out of time. I applied for a job at a local bookstore, and it didn’t work out. So, obviously I’m being punished for not having read more. Still, the books I did manage to squeeze in, I’ve ranked and rated. I tried to read books that I wouldn’t normally read during the school year, as an English major.

1. Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

                I had high expectations, but I didn’t know what I was getting into when I googled “Top 10 Most Disturbing Novels of All Time” http://listverse.com/2008/09/29/top-10-most-disturbing-novels/. Geek Love was ranked as #5, and I was immediately intrigued because it had been referred to me in the past, but I never could recall the title, only the excitement the reader got from talking about it.  This realist horror follows a family of travelling circus “freaks,” who call themselves “geeks.” It’s a Romantic, carnival, gothic world that makes the “normal” humans seem bland and ignorant, seeking enlightenment and beauty that only the freaks seem able to achieve. The story is narrated by Oly, the complex albino dwarf who envies and idolizes her siblings for their grand abnormalities. The family is doomed from the moment of conception, but their real downfall lies in the manipulation of Arturo the Aqua Boy’s cult-personality and following, as he manipulates his parents and siblings, Oly, the Siamese twins, and the telekinetic Chick, into mental and physical destruction. Overall, the novel, not unlike the film Freaks, is so attractive because it feeds on our voyeuristic desires to dwell on these asymmetrical humans and their aberrancies.

"They thought to use and shame me but I win out by nature, because a true freak cannot be made. A true freak must be born."-Oly (Geek Love)

2. Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Suskind

                I’d had my eye on this novel for a long time, but never found the time to pick it up. It is also considered as one of the most disturbing novels of all time but in a much more subtle way. The entire novel is narrated in the head of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, and of the 300+ pages, he never utters a single line of dialogue. It is probably the most sensory dense novel I will ever read. The catch is that Jean was born without a scent on him; however, he has the strongest sense of scent in Western Europe, as far as we know. Because of his lack of scent, people are weary and disturbed by him, viewing him as alien, but unable to articulate why. While, with his strong sense of scent, he is repulsed by the magnitude of retched auras humans carry with them at any given moment. Still, later in his life, he discovers one scent that he absolutely obsesses over, I mean, this novel really demonstrates the human heart’s ability to cling onto something to the point of madness, and he just has to have it, and bottle it, and soak in it. Overall, this novel gave me the creeps, and I finished it because I’d started it, but I don’t see myself reading it again.

3. Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Read

                Basically, on October 12, 1972, a plane carrying a team of rugby players from Uruguay to Chile crashed on the Andes mountains, sixteen out of forty-five remain, their story made headline news, for they were middle/upper class conservative young men, and in the end they resorted to cannibalism. Enough said.

4. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color by Gloria Anzaldua and Cherrie Moraga

                Look this up on Amazon; at used, it starts at $89. I found it for $12. Best deal of my life! I’ve read this book before; my university’s library keeps it on reserve, so I’d stop by and read a little every week in between classes. Still, now it’s mine, and I open it almost every day. Probably one of the most inspiring, beautiful collaborations or anthologies of poetry, history, and essays ever contrived by either men or women. This anthology discusses and liberates cultural stigmas, women interrelationships, and female self-images. I would recommend it to any person of any background.

Gabi and the Brains and the Geeks Part Une

I've been getting a lot of questions regarding the title of my blog. Well, I didn't really look for blogging; blogging kind of fell into my lap, and even now with it here, I tend to forget about it, thus the recent lack of posts. Blogging has a heavy stigma attached to it that I didn't bother questioning until I ran into Walter Mignolo's blog, http://waltermignolo.com/, after having researched his theory of "Decolonial Aesthetics" for my senior seminar's final paper. His theory suggests that only through aesthetics, art, can the oppressed classes, a product of Modernity, be given a voice with the purpose to liberate sensibilities and aesthesis of the oppressors and  raise the oppressed classes to equality; I recommend checking it out if you're interested or asking me if you have any questions regarding his theory. After dedicating so much time to this theory, my interest in his published works came close to idolatry; so, I was pretty enthused and confused when I realized he had a blog. That was the first reason. The second: one of my favorite English professors has a blog specifically focusing on mestizaje and the politics, psychosis, and cultural phenomenon within pop culture as a result of that, that I began to follow. Thirdly, my sister has a blog that she fell in love with and was very insistant that I should birth one too if ever I want true meaning in my life:)

So, that's how it started. Now that I've justified this thing, I never have to explain it again. On to the title now.

It's pretty simple, and way cooler than you probably would've thought possible. 
Ladies and Gentlemen, Freaks and Geeks, Punks and Dwarves, Hermies and Scholars, 
"Geek Brains" is simply a synthesis of the novel, Geek Love, and the band, Bad Brains.  
Happy?
I am.