Teacher, Teacher

Many of us at Avidly are lucky enough to find ourselves, pretty often, in front of rooms of students. What has happened in your classroom that’s surprised you by its effectiveness or lack thereof? Write here if: you’ve found an obscure short story, a piece of criticism or theory, or a Beyoncé video that’s opened your students’ minds or helped them open yours.

Why The Kids (And I) Still Love Gatsby

By
5
May 9, 2013
Gatsby Yellow

One of my former colleagues used to say that all high school students love The Great Gatsby, although he claimed that most of them love it for “the wrong reasons.”  He’s right about the love. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel elicits more passionately positive reactions from a wider variety of adolescent readers than any other...
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“Clueless” and the Father of Little Women

By
6
April 30, 2013
“Clueless” and the Father of Little Women

Does Clueless make an argument about the ideals of American education? As if! Amy Heckerling’s 1995 Clueless tells the story of 15-year-old Cher Horowitz and her misadventures. Loosely based on Jane Austen’s Emma, the film substitutes Beverly Hills for Yorkshire, high school classes for the class-based vitriol of high society, and the presumptuous naiveté of an indulged American teen...
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A Small Act of Resistance

By
1
March 19, 2013
A Small Act of Resistance

I love the genre of the academic essay and monograph.  Add that to the list of forms to which I also profess love: sonata, theme and variations, short fiction, sestina, recipe.  There is unmistakable pleasure in seeing the components of academic writing come together.  And don’t get me started on the prose.  There are...
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Love in the Ruins: or, Should I Go To Grad School?

By
18
November 13, 2012
Love in the Ruins: or, Should I Go To Grad School?

On a late-spring day sometime in the mid-90s, I found myself sitting with a friend on a stone bench overlooking a prospect of conventional, but nevertheless pretty estimable, pastoral loveliness: green valley and distant hills, cinematic cloudscapes, placid lake, etc. The friend with whom I sat was just then at the collapsing end of...
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Millennials Phone Home

By
4
September 4, 2012
Millennials Phone Home

Ah, Millennials. I’m constantly reading about how you are so different from my  own Generation X. We hated our parents. You are best friends with yours! We hate working in groups. You love teamwork! At your age, we were ironic and disillusioned about our futures. You are overly optimistic! You think you can change...
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To T.P. Roche: Or, To the Lighthouse

By
9
July 26, 2012
To T.P. Roche: Or, To the Lighthouse

This is a story I haven’t told before, but my reasons for not telling have changed a few times over the years. At first, I didn’t think it was significant. Then, a few years later when I realized it was, it seemed a bit too late. After that it felt vaguely embarrassing, and then...
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Why “Bovver”

By
2
July 19, 2012
Why “Bovver”

Of all the characters the British comedian Catherine Tate played on her television sketch series, perhaps none became as famous as Lauren Cooper, a bolshy teenager who responded to pretty much anything with the assertion she was not ‘bovvered’. Viewers couldn’t help but pity whoever turned up in Lauren’s path, knowing no one escaped...
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Welcome!

By
0
June 26, 2012
Welcome!

Welcome to Avidly, a summer school experiment, if you will. This is a place to indulge enthusiasm for thinking and feeling about culture. We’ll be publishing Tuesdays and Thursdays until around Labor Day. Equal parts archive fever and incitement to discourse, Avidly was borne out of a desire to preserve some of the conversations we are having...
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