Now that I think about it, I think it would be fun to do a one-time Wonkette Book Club on Ellison’s grouchy little 1965 classic, which the brilliant asshole wrote in six hours. I’ll be on vacation next week, but when I’m back I’ll make some kind of announcement.
For the sake of saving your precious pulp (that sounds dirty!), the story is also linked in my piece here. It may not be 100% in conformity with copyright?
I haven't read much of Ellison's writing, but by all accounts, he's pretty good.
Personally, though, I've met the man and found him to be quite the asshole. And I don't mean that in the jokey "haha, that guy is such an asshole" way.
No, I don't much care for the man and I fear that if I were to read his work now, that would color my perception of it.
You might be surprised. I knew a couple of people who loathed him (he was by all accounts a flaming hemorrhoidal asshole) and loved his writing. His best stuff is very fine, though he was quite uneven and sometimes VERY self-indulgent.
I am a huge Ellison fan. Once, when I was much younger (and crazier) than I am now, I looked up Harlan Ellison's phone number and called him.* He answered and was surprisingly kind. I told him who I was and how much I loved his work, he thanked me and hung up. I still cherish that memory, even though I would not recommend anyone doing the same thing.
*the number was actually listed, although probably not for much longer :-)
Harlan Ellison inspired me to become a fiction writer. At ten I just read and reread his collection trying to memorize every story. I wish he was as famous as he deserves to be. I'll bet I'm not the only one he pushed to do this for life..
I haven't read it in years, but it's memorable enough that my daughter and I doth often respond to the word "Repent," with "HARLEQUIN!, said the TickTockMan."
and was thinking it's been SO many years since I read it that I remember just about none of it. Except that getting through it Took Some Doing. But I was a lot younger then - I read it no later than 1981 - and likely didn't know much of what Pynchon was referencing.
I've yet to do a book club here because I'm contrariwise like that, but should one happen, it might kickstart me into picking that one up again.
I was raised Catholic, and as a consequence, I am guilty about almost everything on earth -- with one exception.
Somewhere around my 50th year, I realized that I probably would not live long enough to read all the books I wanted to read.
So, in the interest of making optimal use of the latter two-thirds of my life, I decided to discard whatever guilt I still had about reading books that didn't appeal to me or spark joy.
I don't care how "important" it is, or how much all the cool kids are supposed to have read it, if I don't enjoy what I'm reading, or at least resonate with it in some way, back to the library/thrift shop/whatever it goes.
Nancy Pearl (author of 'Book Lust' and Seattle librarian extraordinaire) had a formula for reading a book:
'If a reader is under 50 years old, then consume 50 pages before dropping a book. If a reader is over 50 years old, take the number 100, subtract your age, and this is the number of pages to read before switching to the next book.'
Works for me, although I admit I'm trying to wade thru 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' to have something to compare to the movie....
It’s past time for my family to get out of Texas. Fuck poverty. Fuck Abbott. Fuck all our Republican lawmakers at all levels of government. Most of all, fuck that stupid Oak tree back in 1984.
In my teaching years we were lucky enough to be the school far from the administration building so less noticed. Also while you had an overall guided of what to teach but nothing was lockstep. We had some standardized testing but not all this dumb crap and no one needed to see your lesson plans weeks in advance. You got to figure out your own approach to the material and you got to adapt things to your particular groups of kids.
The beauty of being not micromanaged is that you played to your strengths and the strengths of each class. With this approach they have why bother even having certifications or degrees required? Why pester teachers to stay updated and take courses to stay certified? If teaching can be done just with random people (and of course armed school cops) why didn't everybody choose that career? I am more and more infuriated at the idea that teachers are just remote controlled "ape descendants".
This guy's educational philosophy sounds like it's only a hop, skip and a jump away from several varieties seen in Japanese manga -- such as "Assassination Classroom" where, among other things, the schoolmaster has designated one class as "misfits", given them the least and worse resources, and holds them up as an example to the rest of the school as what will happen to them if they fail to perform at his require level.
ETA: Before anyone asks, the school setup has nothing to do with why the story is called "Assassination Classroom". It's just the setting. Well, I guess it sort of does -- the misfit class is the assassination class, and the assassin is teaching them because (spoiler!) he feels he owes a debt to their former teacher, and really, you should watch and/or read the story, because it's very good.
I used to live in Houston and my kids went to public schools there.
As someone who appreciated the place 10 years ago, I can tell you that now is the time to leave. Houston and Austin are being battered. The universities will suffer down the line from weak students.
I predict UF moves down in rankings this year and UT and UH as soon as next year.
I wonder what the actual purpose is of the traffic cone bathroom pass. To embarrass anyone who has the nerve to disrupt their regimented learning? To make it cumbersome to go to the bathroom so kids will stop asking?
And since it's Texas, I have to ask: open doors make it that much easier to walk into a classroom with a gun, no? It takes too much time to open a door, just leave them all open , so the teacher can be spied on, or shot, whichever.
Ya ever notice that city school boards just love Making little black students dress like 1950's white people in the "uniforms" .................you know when the black people knew their place
I'm gonna just make the educated (hah!) guess that the teachers fortunate to be kept on with a larger salary are precisely the sort of teachers you didn't like as a child. The kind of teachers who were literally just another bully in your school day, but one with authority. They won't get kids excited about reading or learning but they will keep their little noses on task to the detriment of all else.
Also the open institutionalized racism is really not holding back since that effing guy. The school to prison pipeline just got that much more streamlined by getting children used to incarceration tactics early. I guess it was determined by the 'job creators' who control our government weebs that a public educated workforce isn't required now that they are holding out for AI robots to meet all their capitalist needs.
From the people who were screaming about how remote school was damaging for kids socially and intellectually during a raging pandemic. How is this any different from remote school except they are sitting in the same room (at least temporarily)? They are unable to talk or socialize, and the teacher is essentially just there to push play on a dumbass PowerPoint presentation.
I'd argue this is less effective than remote schooling, which while not perfect, teachers were at least involved and engaged. Just what the absolute fuck, these state governments are chock full of fucking monsters.
This story makes me physically ill. This fucking taskmaster motherfucker is sucking all the joy out of teaching and learning. I guarantee this approach will improve nothing.
Hey, kids, just updated the story thusly:
Now that I think about it, I think it would be fun to do a one-time Wonkette Book Club on Ellison’s grouchy little 1965 classic, which the brilliant asshole wrote in six hours. I’ll be on vacation next week, but when I’m back I’ll make some kind of announcement.
Have to dig out my 70's paperback copy and hope it doesn't fall apart while I'm re-reading it, like my copy of Dune did.
For the sake of saving your precious pulp (that sounds dirty!), the story is also linked in my piece here. It may not be 100% in conformity with copyright?
oh lord! I just noticed that, for some reason, I have the German edition of "Repent, Harlequin!" ("Bereue, Harlekin," sagte der Ticktack-Mann). XD
What a translation. GRIN. Classic.
the funniest bit is how whoever translated it must have read a lot of Kafka. nice combo, though. XD
you had me at Ellison.
I haven't read much of Ellison's writing, but by all accounts, he's pretty good.
Personally, though, I've met the man and found him to be quite the asshole. And I don't mean that in the jokey "haha, that guy is such an asshole" way.
No, I don't much care for the man and I fear that if I were to read his work now, that would color my perception of it.
You might be surprised. I knew a couple of people who loathed him (he was by all accounts a flaming hemorrhoidal asshole) and loved his writing. His best stuff is very fine, though he was quite uneven and sometimes VERY self-indulgent.
It's kind of a widely acknowledged fact that he was a frequently a pain in the ass, conceited, and infuriating. But also a hell of a writer.
I am a huge Ellison fan. Once, when I was much younger (and crazier) than I am now, I looked up Harlan Ellison's phone number and called him.* He answered and was surprisingly kind. I told him who I was and how much I loved his work, he thanked me and hung up. I still cherish that memory, even though I would not recommend anyone doing the same thing.
*the number was actually listed, although probably not for much longer :-)
The line "they tried Raul Mitgong, but he didn't help much" has been stuck in my head for years
Harlan Ellison inspired me to become a fiction writer. At ten I just read and reread his collection trying to memorize every story. I wish he was as famous as he deserves to be. I'll bet I'm not the only one he pushed to do this for life..
Go for it! One of my husband’s faves.
"Unstrap me, and I'll fit my fist into your mouth!"
I haven't read it in years, but it's memorable enough that my daughter and I doth often respond to the word "Repent," with "HARLEQUIN!, said the TickTockMan."
"I have no mouth yadayadayada"
Might be a better story.
You could do both.
Please do both:
https://wjccschools.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/01/I-Have-No-Mouth-But-I-Must-Scream-by-Harlan-Ellison.pdf
Right after FINNEGAN'S WAKE.
I've known English professors with PhDs who are too intimidated to try it.
Hey, I read 'infinite Jest' on a bus....
'Gravity's Rainbow' or 'Infinite Jest'?
Yeah, it's a read, mate...
Curiously, I just read this article this morning:
https://www.wired.com/story/living-under-gravitys-rainbow-thomas-pynchon/
and was thinking it's been SO many years since I read it that I remember just about none of it. Except that getting through it Took Some Doing. But I was a lot younger then - I read it no later than 1981 - and likely didn't know much of what Pynchon was referencing.
I've yet to do a book club here because I'm contrariwise like that, but should one happen, it might kickstart me into picking that one up again.
I was raised Catholic, and as a consequence, I am guilty about almost everything on earth -- with one exception.
Somewhere around my 50th year, I realized that I probably would not live long enough to read all the books I wanted to read.
So, in the interest of making optimal use of the latter two-thirds of my life, I decided to discard whatever guilt I still had about reading books that didn't appeal to me or spark joy.
I don't care how "important" it is, or how much all the cool kids are supposed to have read it, if I don't enjoy what I'm reading, or at least resonate with it in some way, back to the library/thrift shop/whatever it goes.
I have not regretted this decision.
Then Harlan's your man. His work is certainly entertaining.
Yeah, I have several of his books (one autographed) from when I went through my Harlan Ellison phase about 30 years ago.
Nancy Pearl (author of 'Book Lust' and Seattle librarian extraordinaire) had a formula for reading a book:
'If a reader is under 50 years old, then consume 50 pages before dropping a book. If a reader is over 50 years old, take the number 100, subtract your age, and this is the number of pages to read before switching to the next book.'
Works for me, although I admit I'm trying to wade thru 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom' to have something to compare to the movie....
Where's the damn retweet button?
"Eat shit, General. "
"Don't mind if I do!"
We'd have to finish it first.
Sometime around the heat death of the universe, then.
It took me 20 years to get through it. But I did.
Ah, yes. My old college nemesis.
Quite so. I've found that thing unfinishable.
I got through chapter one during a dry January.
I *swear* I will finish it, one day!
Likewise. The brilliant LeGuin found it 'fascinating' but....
It’s past time for my family to get out of Texas. Fuck poverty. Fuck Abbott. Fuck all our Republican lawmakers at all levels of government. Most of all, fuck that stupid Oak tree back in 1984.
In my teaching years we were lucky enough to be the school far from the administration building so less noticed. Also while you had an overall guided of what to teach but nothing was lockstep. We had some standardized testing but not all this dumb crap and no one needed to see your lesson plans weeks in advance. You got to figure out your own approach to the material and you got to adapt things to your particular groups of kids.
The beauty of being not micromanaged is that you played to your strengths and the strengths of each class. With this approach they have why bother even having certifications or degrees required? Why pester teachers to stay updated and take courses to stay certified? If teaching can be done just with random people (and of course armed school cops) why didn't everybody choose that career? I am more and more infuriated at the idea that teachers are just remote controlled "ape descendants".
This guy's educational philosophy sounds like it's only a hop, skip and a jump away from several varieties seen in Japanese manga -- such as "Assassination Classroom" where, among other things, the schoolmaster has designated one class as "misfits", given them the least and worse resources, and holds them up as an example to the rest of the school as what will happen to them if they fail to perform at his require level.
ETA: Before anyone asks, the school setup has nothing to do with why the story is called "Assassination Classroom". It's just the setting. Well, I guess it sort of does -- the misfit class is the assassination class, and the assassin is teaching them because (spoiler!) he feels he owes a debt to their former teacher, and really, you should watch and/or read the story, because it's very good.
As an educator, man, white, and person on the Planet, I am like, appalled.
Good god. This is going to end very, very badly.
Harlan Ellison story “‘Repent Harlequin!’ Said the Ticktockman”.
Up fist for a great short story!
I used to live in Houston and my kids went to public schools there.
As someone who appreciated the place 10 years ago, I can tell you that now is the time to leave. Houston and Austin are being battered. The universities will suffer down the line from weak students.
I predict UF moves down in rankings this year and UT and UH as soon as next year.
I wonder what the actual purpose is of the traffic cone bathroom pass. To embarrass anyone who has the nerve to disrupt their regimented learning? To make it cumbersome to go to the bathroom so kids will stop asking?
And since it's Texas, I have to ask: open doors make it that much easier to walk into a classroom with a gun, no? It takes too much time to open a door, just leave them all open , so the teacher can be spied on, or shot, whichever.
Oh hell no. I'd quit on the spot.
Ya ever notice that city school boards just love Making little black students dress like 1950's white people in the "uniforms" .................you know when the black people knew their place
I'm gonna just make the educated (hah!) guess that the teachers fortunate to be kept on with a larger salary are precisely the sort of teachers you didn't like as a child. The kind of teachers who were literally just another bully in your school day, but one with authority. They won't get kids excited about reading or learning but they will keep their little noses on task to the detriment of all else.
Also the open institutionalized racism is really not holding back since that effing guy. The school to prison pipeline just got that much more streamlined by getting children used to incarceration tactics early. I guess it was determined by the 'job creators' who control our government weebs that a public educated workforce isn't required now that they are holding out for AI robots to meet all their capitalist needs.
Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity and not sure about the universe.
From the people who were screaming about how remote school was damaging for kids socially and intellectually during a raging pandemic. How is this any different from remote school except they are sitting in the same room (at least temporarily)? They are unable to talk or socialize, and the teacher is essentially just there to push play on a dumbass PowerPoint presentation.
I'd argue this is less effective than remote schooling, which while not perfect, teachers were at least involved and engaged. Just what the absolute fuck, these state governments are chock full of fucking monsters.
This sounds like hell…WTF…Fuck Ted Cruz and Abbottoir
This story makes me physically ill. This fucking taskmaster motherfucker is sucking all the joy out of teaching and learning. I guarantee this approach will improve nothing.
Ban charter schools.