Random Musings and a Teacher Request

And the days are not full enough
And the nights are not full enough
And life slips by like a field mouse
Not shaking the grass


This Ezra Pound poem is one that, for me, fits the term 'pocket poem.' I know it by heart, and I 'have it in my pocket' to recite to myself whenever it seems appropriate. Days are so busy, and the trip's already almost half over. If you have any poem you use similarly, I'd love to hear it.

Here are some Sunday photos.

Make your own picture slideshow

The Chinese language professor I stayed with the other night pointed out wryly that she works for the government's "Defensive Language Institute." According to the wesbite, the school offers 40 languages to pre-deployment Naval officers. In listening to people around here talk, the only two that are discussed are Arabic and Chinese. Couldn't we think of a less "loaded" name, say the Modern Language Institute or the World Languages Institute?

This afternoon, we're getting a tour of the Naval Postgraduate School, which is located that the former Hotel del Monte. The hotel was first built in 1880, and it ushered in widespread tourism to the Monterey region. It was known for elaborate parties in the 1930s through 1941 when it was converted to a space for soldiers.

By all accounts, Salvador Dali's Surrealistic Party in 1941 was one of the most extreme ever held.

Surrealist night in an Enchanted Forest was a benefit, proceeds going to European refugee artists. 'It is requested that you come in costume, preferably in a costume copied after your dream, or in a costume of a primitive animal or of the people of the forest,' read the invitation. To create the effect of a grotto, 4000 gunnysacks filled with two tons of paper were suspended from the ceiling. Two thousand pine trees were brought in, twenty-four animal heads, twenty-four store window mannequins, and dozens of animals from the zoo in San Francisco - monkeys, a lion cub, and a giraffe. A wrecked car sat in one corner, and beside it, a nude model who had been drugged for the evening (to keep her immobile). Dali's wife, Gala, 'Princess of the Forest,' sported a horse's head and reclined on a huge bed throughout dinner, cavorting with a tiger cub. A long table extending from the bed was decorated with squash, pumpkins, dried corn, melons, and fruit; along it strolled 'an impassive porcupine.' The planners wanted diners to feel like they were feasting in bed with Gala. Bob Hope, Ginger Rogers, Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, Alfred Hitchcock, and the Vanderbilts attended. Alas, since excessive funds were spent on decorations and preparations, little money was raised for refugees.

This is a great video for an overview of the party and a 1940s newsreel.

I finally looked at my stats page yesterday, and I see that I'm getting 23-34 readers each day. So, is there anything you want to know about Steinbeck, California, aquatic animals of the Monterey Bay (although we haven't gotten to that yet) or the early 20th century? I have the perfect opportunity to ask the experts.

Someone emailed and asked how to make comments. It's easy. You just go to the bottom of the post where it says #comments and click. You write your comment in the box, and then choose whether you want to sign in, leave your name, or write anonymously. Click publish your comment, and you're done.

Finally, while I'll love getting comments from any reader (that way I know what to write more about), I have one request specific to Saint Stephen's teachers. I need to create a lesson plan based on some aspect of this program. It could be anything even remotely related to Steinbeck, and I have ideas for some of the less obvious lessons on topics like agriculture, poetry, or 1950's Populux culture. I only need to create one assignment for this program, and it's something that can be developed collaboratively after I return, but I'd like to share my newfound knowledge with as many students as possible. Because the library uses flexible scheduling, I need to find some happy collaborators. Please let me know if you're interested.