Round Two

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” – William Shakespeare

Well, the weekend has come and gone and I feel moderately as if I’ve accomplished a wee little bit. We have much on our plates, including curriculum development, where I have to design a lesson plan for the Institute and a research project, which is really cool because I have to use primary sources, which means books prior to 1620. I’ve already seen some First Folios, and Quartos (the oldest published Shakespeare stuff), which is nice because I may not actually get to touch them. The project I’m working on (or, really, about to start) won’t require me to get one. The Folger doesn’t really buy into the “Gee Whiz” factor of holding a Folio for the sake of holding a Folio, not to mention they are guarded rather closely.

An aside – We learned over the weekend that a First Folio stolen ten years ago from a university in England found its way back to the Folger about a month before we arrived. Check out the story here - http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4316464.ece

In addition to those projects, we have homework assignments. That’s what I accomplished over the weekend, as well as laundry and some grocery shopping. For one of the projects, check out this website - http://www.chinswing.com/pages/discussion.aspx?id=f9c7bd1f-5bca-442d-9dcd-8764fc17aa31

We had to record a passage, any passage, from Shakespeare. I’m on there doing the opening lines from Twelfth Night. The other folks on there are mostly the members of the Institute like me, teachers from all over the country. 17 states, in fact. Other folks are the scholars with whom we are working. My other accomplishments this weekend were some other homework assignments. I’m working with three other people on a performance piece. It’s called a “dumb- show.” If you know Hamlet, it’s acted out right before the play Hamlet puts on for Claudius and Gertrude. (“The play’s the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscious of the King!”) A dumb-show isn’t the obvious. It’s not, stop thinking that. It’s a short play acted without words, but it has narration. So my group is going to perform a scene from King Lear. It’s the scene where Gloucester gets his eyes pulled out by Cornwall. I’m Cornwall, and I’m going to use strawberries for effect. I’m very excited to squish them. Our acting coach will get a kick out of too.

It’s interesting to watch our scholars interact with one another. At lunch they sit and eat together, probably because they are friends, and/or have known each other for decades, and during lectures and seminars, they are always professional and very courteous, particularly to the attendees; however, during discussions, curriculum sessions, or performance sessions, times when the atmosphere is more open and less structured, they often vie for, either control or the last word. They interrupt each other, dispute a variety of things, and when one doesn’t get his/her way, we can see a reaction, perhaps it’s slight resentment, but not anything harsh, it’s never angry or insulting, it’s more like academic Titans and Gorgons going at it; they are two intellectual giants measuring each other up. It all happens so quickly too. These people have such vast knowledge in this subject, and stand firm to their opinions and at times we, the spectators, know it’s personal when there is disagreement, but they are too magnanimous to let it get petty. Some hide the frustration better than others, masking it with a gentle chuckle, but probably thinking “Okay, have it your way… this time.” They certainly pick their battles.

I’m really looking forward to this coming week. We’re doing Much Ado About Nothing. I taught it this year to my seniors. The kids really liked it, as do I, so, I’m anxious to build on what I think I already know.

Mahalo