To All Teachers (and Springsteen Fans): The Top 10 Springsteen Songs to Teach and Why!

(This is tough to limit to 10…so I cheated.) 

1. “We Take Care of Our Own”: This is a great way to gather the kids around you and point out that in your classroom, in this school, in our country—you have their backs, and they have each others’. Look at that flag and remember, despite our faults, Americans step up even if the government may fail.

2. “The Rising”: 9.11 is this generation’s Pearl Harbor. Springsteen’s album thematically takes us on those fire trucks to the Twin Towers in “The Rising”; to the day after 9.11 “Empty Sky”; to the weeks that follow “Countin on a Miracle”; to the grieving “You’re Missing”; and ends with an uplifting echo that life goes on at “Mary’s Place”. (This is the presentation I’ve delivered.)

3. “The River”: This is a heartbreaking diary of teenage passion and its unintended consequences. (Ask me for materials.)  

4. “Land of Hope and Dreams”: At a time when some feel America is on the decline, this anthem reminds students that their nation is the envy of the world and a place where all people are (or should be) accepted. Dreams can be realized—as opposed to differed. (Ask me for the power point.)

5.  “41 Shots, American Skin”: Tom Robinson is riddled with 17 bullets in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” This song, inspired by the police shooting death of Amadou Diallo, reminds students that ‘Black Lives Matter” –as do all lives, including the police, school children, and victims of sexual abuse. (The video of this song at Madison Square Garden is a knockout.)

6. “Wreck on the Highway”: Paired with Karl Shapiro’s poem “Auto Wreck”, students see tragedy from two opposing points of view. Both end hauntingly with a reminder—“there but for fortune.”

7. “The Ghost of Tom Joad”: I taught The Grapes of Wrath as a film. Springsteen’s song puts the 1930’s into context today, as poverty and homelessness remain timeless, as is the need to step up and help.

8. “Devils and Dust”: The storyteller has “his finger on the trigger” but he does not know whom or what to trust. America’s soldiers are placed in untenable situations in the Middle East. A compliment to novels like Tim O’Brian’s The Things They Carried.

9. “Thunder Road”: For years I taught the film Dead Poets Society, which focuses on the romantics verses the realists. I loved experiencing this song in the round, with the classroom darkened with only a single candle in the center. I would ask the kids, ‘Would you get in the car with the protagonist at the end of the song?’ The message is clear: it’s never too late to find love, but it is also a leap of fate.

10. “Born to Run”: (Spoiler alert!) This is how I ended both my teaching career and a novel—so read no further (unless you’ve read Meetings at the Metaphor Café)! Again, theater in the round. Kids standing on desks. Last day of school. As their teacher, I encouraged my “tramps” to soar. To “climb out on that wire”, hug their soulmate, and find that “runaway American dream”.

The Encore…naturally.

11. “Secret Garden”: I loved teaching this song with Catcher in the Rye. Holden’s relationship with girls and the understanding that there are places in a woman’s heart and soul that he is not welcome. Springsteen, like Holden, knows those places remain secret, even as a teardrop falls on a checkerboard.

13. “My Home Town”: Written in the ‘80’s, Springsteen’s song predates the Great Recession, but its setting is visually powerful. Its characters evolve from children to parents. The cycle begins anew. (Note:“Death to My Hometown” is the modern version of what the film The Big Short chronicles. The carpetbaggers have ripped off the innocent bystanders, and nobody pays for it on Wall Street.

14 “Born in the USA”: It’s an angry anthem about what America’s Vietnam Veterans went through in war and when they returned, as they “end up like a dog that’s been beat too much/ so that you spend half your life just covering up.” The irony lies with the indisputable fact that they were born in the USA. (Ask me for the power point.)

15 “Frankie Fell in Love”: I’m enamored with this song, and it riffs so well with Romeo and Juliet.  It captures the bliss of falling in love, and the fact that Einstein and Shakespeare make cameo appearances is the cherry on the top of this delicious dessert. (Ask me for the power point.)

That's How I see it at the Metaphor Cafe.

To All Teachers: It's Music to Their Ears. 'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you!

When I was 40 years old, and 19 years into the "Kid Business" I was chatting with my pal Joe, a math teacher, who said to me, "Bob, their music just sucks!" I chided Joe, a very popular teacher, "Joe, we can't think like that. You are sounding like our grumpy parents."

From the moment a student stepped into my classroom, they knew that music was, and still is (ask my National University student teachers), sometimes the only thing I had in common with the students.(More on that at a later date.) My classroom walls were bordered with album covers. On the first day of class rather than read them the rules, I gave them a tour of "the Metaphor Cafe."

Now, before I explain the symbolism of that tour, I am sure many of you teachers are thinking (1) I am not Bob Pacilio, and (2) I teach something that has nothing to do with music--like math or science. There are very few people who are not moved by music. Mozart, Gershwin, Ray Charles, Beyonce or Bruce Springsteen, who remind us that music has a beat. It often has lyrics. We dance to it. We gather around the campfire to it, identify with it, protest to it, make out to it, and become inspired by it.
And for many, we get married to it.

As for it not being a part of math and science--on the contrary, songs about nature, global warming, the animal kingdom, and about 'going where no one has gone before' are all out there. My favorite is Bruce Hornsby's "Look Out Any Window"--a 1989 bit of foreshadowing about global warming (ahem, it IS REAL and not a hoax perpetuated by China so our manufacturing companies have to shut down [NY Times Editorial this week]). And anyone wishing for snag a copy of my power points just needs to contact me on FB or at my website www.robertpacilio.net.

As for math, all music is math. The two are linked. Study after study shows that math and music go hand in hand. One, two, three.... "The Logical Song" by Supertramp is a good example. But more likely math teachers can and should play classical or jazz music during study sessions, quizzes, tests, etc. It calms. It sets a mood. New electronic music does the same. Yoga studios have caught on to this. Namaste.

Need I point out to social science teachers, PE teachers, health teachers, foreign language teachers how critical music is? Okay, forget for a minute the songs with lyrics that apply to the English teachers. Here are a few songs consider "Blowin  in the Wind" social science; "[Isn't it] Ironic" language arts; "Welcome to My Playground" physical education; "Waterfalls" health; a bounty of music from Spanish, to French and to, my favorite, Italian singers sets the mood like no other... an evening with Dean Martin in  Roma knocks me out!.

But forget all the curriculum stuff for a moment. Remember, we are teaching kids--they are our customers. You gotta be hip. (Unless you have little interest in their world, and then they will react similarly to yours. Remember when we were young, and how we often respected teachers who were 'in tune' with our world?) Students want to know about our music, but only if we have mutual respect for theirs. Believe me, the album cover of Johnny Cash "Live at Folsom Prison" always started a conversation with the kids. If you don't like something about their musical world and speak to it, then know what you are talking about. Remind them that before Beyonce rolled, Tina Turner rocked the river and Aretha Franklin got RESPECT. Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger inspired Springsteen' guitar and harmonica. Nat King Cole to Ray Charles to John Legend is the R&B double play combo. The kids might not know what you're talkin about but the hook is set and curiosity baits them. After all, it's "My g-g-g-Generation, Baby"

The bottom line is it will get their motor runnin', get their juices flowin' get their feet tappin' and make them smile as they walk into YOUR classroom. They will look at you and think: "Whoa--what in the Bruno Mars is going on in here?"
That's when you got 'em.
 So show them that Uptown Funk gonna give it to 'em:

Girls hit your hallelujah (whoo)
Girls hit your hallelujah (whoo)
Girls hit your hallelujah (whoo)
'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you
'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you
'Cause uptown funk gon' give it to you
Saturday night and we in the spot

Don't believe me just watch (come on) 

For Baseball Fans of the San Diego Padres: Top 5 Terrible Trades!

I am a huge fan. I love the underdog. I love the teams that have to scrape by. I love scrappy ballplayers. I love old school. I love players who wear stirrups socks like Mays and Mantle. I love hot dogs and peanuts and the crack of the bat. I hate the DH and I don't like inter-league play at all. I don't why we have to play 19 games in our division. I loved Tony Gwynn. Miss him. Met him on the field when I was teacher of the year and he signed a baseball for me.
But the Friars have been fried more often than not when it comes to trades.

The worst in order:

1. Acquiring Adrian Gonzales and then trading him...and then...
2. Acquiring Anthony Rizzo and then trading him...Combined these two and you can't hang a star.
3. Letting Dave Winfield become a free agent and a Yankee. You just don't do that when a player is at his peak and is born a Hall of Famer. Sorry...just can't happen.
4. Corey Kubler: Yep we had him Oh, he was last years Cy Young Award Pitcher for the Indians. That's okay we got Ryan Ludwick. Ouch
5. Trading Roberto Alomar, another Hall of Famer for McGriff and Tony Fernandez.

So that's 2 Hall of Famers; 1 Cy Young Winner; and 2 of the best hitters in baseball--one destined to be the third Hall of Famer (Gonzales) and the other (Rizzo) likely to break the CURSE OF THE CUBS !

Seriously! And the Padres wonder why fans are frustrated!

Okay, I admit Trevor Hoffman was a GREAT trade. So was the  Caminiti and Finley trade. Greg Vaughn and Kevin Brown signings were terrific, too. All that helped us become '98's Best Padre team ever. (not to mention cause Petco Park to be a ballot darling)...But '84 and '98--that's it.

I guess after the Cubs win the World Series, the Padres may be the next to be cursed.

p.s If you like my Blog, there is a "follow" button on the right.

A Teacher's Memory of 9.11

It doesn't seem like 17 years have passed.. I was driving to school and heard of a plane crash in New
York. I parked and immediately went to the faculty lounge where teachers were gathering around an old TV. Our eyes were glued to CNN. The second plane hit the other tower. Newscasters were speaking of an attack that was multifaceted. Unconfirmed rumors of Pennsylvania and DC attacks started.

We were all silent. From time to time, my teaching colleagues looked at each other, but we had little to say. The principal was not on campus. As a matter of fact, I never saw any administrators.
Then the bell rang. We were all unsure of what to do for about a minute. And then someone said something like, Well, I guess we do the best we can. And then we headed to our classrooms.

My 25 freshman were gathered around the trailer I called home. The look on their faces told me how they were feeling: eyes wide open, some whispering that a war began, others just dumbfounded.

I let them in the classroom, and they automatically sat where they were supposed to. They looked at me.  They wanted answers. There wasn't any message coming over the school's speakers. The lesson on whatever I was supposed to teach was the last thing anyone wanted to hear--including me.

So I said something like: I guess you are wondering what happened? The answer is I know; there has been an attack in New York. I know a plane crashed into the Twin Towers. I think it was on purpose, and I think it was an act of terrorism. This was  a very bright group of 14 year old English students so the next question on their lips was why?



So I explained that people in other nations were not willing to accept Western culture. The kids why? kept coming. I remembered that a U.S. ship had been attacked by another boat with explosives that had blown a hole in our ship years ago when President Clinton was in office. I think I just let them talk to me, and I tried my best to calm them down and tell them a little history about tensions in the Middle East.

seemed confused. I staggered through an explanation of the people who viewed the USA as the enemy. It wasn't a very good answer. The questions about

It was the best I could do.
It went on like that all day, with more information trickling in with each class period. Some true, some exaggerated. Lunch found us teachers gathering again, talking among ourselves about how to handle the rest of the day.

We were numb.

I vowed in the years that followed that I would do my best on 9.11 to explain the truth behind a day that became my generation's Pearl Harbor. Along with my history partner Christiana Jenny, we explained that 9.11 was another day the 'will live in infamy." With the help of a West Wing episode entitled: "Isaac and Ishmael" and a concept album by Bruce Springsteen about 9.11 called "The Rising" I made our best attempt to make sure my students would 'Never Forget.'

Recently I discovered that some 500+ First Responders have died of complications from 9.11 There is a memorial for them on Staten Island. Most people don't know that. They put shoes out with flags to symbolize the number of people who died that day. I used to know that number by heart--now I would have to look it up. 9.11 makes me mad and sad. My close friend Jim Reifeiss (who for years spoke to my students) is still mad. My friend David Rosenberg did as well. He wonders if teachers like myself STILL speak to the issue. I don't know I HOPE TOMORROW THEY DO.

2,977...I looked it up.

That was the saddest, most frustrating day I ever faced in 32 years. And I will "never forget."


.

The Updated Top Ten Issues Facing President-elect Trump in 10 Days and Counting...

In 10 days, President-elect Trump will be a reality; he will need to address all of these. This is the most popular blog I have written with over 400 pageviews, and I felt it needed an update...so here goes:

(And by the way, immigration still does not make my top ten although prison reform is number 11.)


10. Decreasing the deficit by decreasing the Military Industrial Complex: President Eisenhower warned the nation before he left office. He wasn’t talking about decreasing support for troops or vets; he was talking about building weapons and selling them for profit to other nations…like Saudi Arabia! (Happening now…and also to Israel, too--35 billion dollars worth...)

9. Income Inequality: Let's move this to #3: Corporations and its CEO’s are not going to start selling off their yachts. However, Union’s must support higher wages and a living wage needs to be addressed. Above all, American workers need to be willing and able to become educated in the new ‘workplace’.And it should be noted that unemployment isn't caused my immigration primarily, but by automation!  ( see pt #2)

8. Putin: Let's make that #4: America needs to keep our collective eyes on a dictator who kills his competition, jails journalists, and wants to expand his domain to get to the “Old USSR”. Um, here Mr. Trump is either gullible (not) or has a business interest he needs to divulge (including his taxes.

7. North Korea: See above. Add Nuclear weapons on missiles. China is the key to leveraging them, so not a good idea to make an enemy out of a reforming, but polluted China, Mr. Trump. 

6. Polarization in Politics = Gridlock: America needs a Republican Party that is center right and the Democratic Party needs to be center left. Both need to learn to compromise. Good luck (with that).

5. Discrimination: ‘Black Lives Do Matter’ so do all minorities—all people of different creeds and sexual identities matter. America no longer has black and white water fountains, but it takes much longer to change hearts and minds. Arming everyone is not the answer. Inclusion and education is.

4. ISIS: Let's drop this down to #9: President Obama has made great strides in dealing with the Taliban and its off-shoots. He was the president who made Osama bin Laden history. However, young men who feel economically impotent and religiously inspired will have to be inspired by another force—optimism that their lives are worth something—so they don’t believe death is the better option. I demoted it because ISIS is crumbling...slowly but surely.

3. Syria: Let's make this #8:  Putin has helped Assad destroy city after city. History will show that this mass murder and migration is a war crime. Eventually Assad will pay--unless Putin continues his support. President Obama could not  to see a way to deal with a murdering scoundrel and his Russian ally without putting boots on the ground in a futile effort with the possibility of war with the Soviets. It was a lost cause—the poor people of Syria are the tragedy of this drama.

2. Public Schools: Teachers need to be paid better, the length required for tenure needs to be the trade off. Governments (Federal and State) need to equally willing to invest much more in the schools—not the administration of these schools. We can do better. We must do better or else we will expand even further the two class system of education we have in the primary and secondary schools. This is a blog in itself

DRUM ROLL...
1. Global Warming: This 'trumps' all because the world is already facing food production shortages and fresh water is the reason why mass migrations are occurring in Africa (and their governments are collapsing.) America will see Miami's disappearing as sea levels rise. We will see climate swings, floods, record heat, tornadoes, --you name it.  The Middle East will very soon see heat levels at 135 degrees. I could go on and on...but we can't. The problem is the new president seems to miss this fact.
(Perhaps I should tweet it.) And he thinks the Paris Accords aren't his 'thing.' Let's hope he receives sage advice...except many of his advisers are not on board yet. Ellison seems to be the exception--even though he spent 50+ years at Exxon Mobil. So keep an eye on the ice, cause the tide is rising.

Update: "The moment we finally decided to save our planet!"

Update on Global Warming: A few weeks ago I wrote that the USA needs to ratify the Paris Accords (see below).  Well, here is the 'good news' that often does not make it to the 'nightly news'--kudos to President Obama! With China likely on board, once India is added, we have something to rally around. 

(According to Ron Allen of NBC News (and the conservative Washington Times): "President Barack Obama has announced the U.S. will formally join a sweeping global emissions-cutting accord reached last year, boosting efforts to bring the plan into effect by the end of 2016. The Paris Agreement could well be remembered as "the moment we finally decided to save our planet," Obama said on Saturday in advance of the Group of 20 summit that starts Sunday in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou."

So in case you missed this story due to the overabundance of 'election coverage'- here is what is really the Biggest Challenge Facing the World! This is what I wrote a few weeks ago under the Heading : 

Superman and Global Warming 'They had it right in 1938:

For all you non-Superman folks out there, this is Superman 101. It's pretty spooky!

Superman is born Kel-El on the alien planet Krypton. His parents, Jor-El and Lara, brilliant scientists whom everyone ignores for years, become aware of Krypton's impending destruction, and Jor-El begins constructing a spacecraft that would carry Kal-El to Earth. (Apparently the planet is overheating and is about to burst...hmm...sound familiar?) 

During Krypton's last moments, Jor-El places young Kal-El in the spacecraft and launches it. Jor-El and Lara die as the spacecraft barely escapes Krypton's fate. ( Marlon Brando's big cameo in the original movie). The explosion transforms planetary debris into kryptonite, a radioactive substance that is lethal to Superman. Note:The people of Krypton were portrayed as living in a cold and heartless society. Though they were masters of science,...(or so they thought and then Boom!)"

The foreshadowing of the 1938 writers was spooky. Like a lot of science 'fiction' literature, it's all too real, nowadays (except for the Jetsons). 

Just like today, despite the OVERWHELMING science of global warming, not to mention the Olympics visual presentation in the Opening Ceremony, some American politicians still think:

A. it's a hoax.

B. it's just a natural cycle for Earth (a vicious cycle!).

C. (admit it, sort of) but claim it's not man made.

D. the melting ice caps will make for a good investment in real estate (hmm, who could that be?).

E. if we do something drastic, like move away from fossil fuels, then we lose too many jobs!

The answer of course is none of the above, but not if we are forward thinking. (more on that in Part 2). 

See the wildfires and drought in the West, the tornadoes in the Midwest, the flooding in the Southeast, and the storms in the Atlantic Coast? You boil the atmosphere and you get the hottest years on record...each year topping the year before, only it is growing faster and faster. Al Gore and Jor-El (Superman's father) were warning us of the Inconvenient Truth. (Note: reverse the names Al Gore and Jor-El...spooky!)

Don't just believe me, follow this link:

http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2016/05/04/476717308/after-10-years-an-inconvenient-truth-is-still-inconvenient

So what do we do besides look for another planet to eject our kids? Here is the obvious suggestion (other than personal recycling, reusing, downsizing, etc.

1. Support the Paris Climate Agreement the President  (Secretary of State John Kerry) signed, but are not ratified by the United States yet. Since they are not, there is no enforcement.Accordingly, "the stated objectives of the Paris Agreement are implicitly "predicated upon an assumption – that member states of the United Nations, including high polluters such as China, the US, India, Brazil, Canada, Russia, Indonesia and Australia, which generate more than half the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, will somehow drive down their carbon pollution voluntarily and assiduously without any binding enforcement mechanism to measure and control CO2 emissions at any level from factory to state, and without any specific penalty gradation or fiscal pressure (for example a carbon tax) to discourage bad behavior." wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement

I know what you're thinking: we won't agree until the other big polluters ratify and enforce. Seriously? I thought we were the leader of the free world...the one Superpower...the great inventors...visionaries...Heck, we saved the world from the Nazis! Who's gonna save us from ourselves...Superman? What does America use its power for?

In Part Two- I have some other solutions...but for now, our congressional leaders are waffling, but more importantly President-elect Trump and his appointments to his cabinets are climate deniers!

            In the meantime, the clock is ticking....here at Bob Pacilio's "Metaphor Cafe"