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How I Cured Morgellons
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5/8/2019 9:09:28 AM |
I had such a wonderful start to my school day today (Wednesday) that I had to share it with all of you. My freshmen students are reading “Night,” Elie Wiesel’s powerful memoir about the Holocaust, and I had them write poems about a memorable “night” in their lives. I had them do an imitation poem based on the following prose passage from “Night,” that reads a lot like a poem: “Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. Never shall I forget that smoke. Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky. Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever. Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes. Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.” I told them that their “night” could be positive or negative in nature (and then I had to give them the speech that I am a mandated reporter!). They had to keep the start of each of Elie Wiesel’s sentences (for example: Never shall I forget...) and then finish the phrase with their own stories. I’ve done this assignment for years. It always has terrific results. So, when they came to class, they all had their poems (they do their homework 100% of the time!). I asked them if anyone wanted to share his or her poem, and no one initially would. So, one of my girls suggested that I give them an extra point for sharing. (They are teenagers, after all!) I told them they should want to share—that a point should not be the motivating factor. One of the boys (I only have 4, the rest are girls) suggested that they “unionize” against me, and they demanded the point. I acquiesced, mainly because their “unionization” got me what I wanted, the sharing of some poems! They started to share: poems about grandparents who had died of cancer, poems about losing parents to divorce, one about winning a state running meet, one about a sister’s surgery, one about music. They were truly beautiful. By the end of the sharing time, at least 4 girls were crying because they were so moved. It is a great class with tremendous camaraderie. After we were done, they asked if we could take a walk outside. I think they needed to let out some emotion. It’s beautiful in New England today: no wind, not a cloud in the sky. We walked around the quad outside, once around. Right now, they are reading quietly. These are the moments I will miss when I retire. Hopefully, this made some of you smile. Especially my fellow teachers! Jamie | |||
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