“The history of bookmaking hasn’t been without its challenges, but
never was its craft as painstaking as during the era of illuminated
manuscripts,” says Maria Popova. Well, try laying out an ebook that has art in it. But Popova makes a good case in a commentary for Brainpickings.org, citing a recent Lapham’s Quarterlyarticle
(not available online) that lists complaints written by monks found
scribbled in the margins of those medieval illuminated manuscripts.
Some examples:
This parchment is hairy.
Thank God, it will soon be light.
New parchment, bad ink; I will say nothing more.
Now I’ve written the whole thing: for Christ’s sake give me a drink.
St. Patrick of Armagh, deliver me from writing.
Think of that, modern day publishers, the next time you find yourself
working late at night on one of those tedious requirements of
modern-day publishing, like, say, blogging. At least your keyboard isn’t
… hairy ….
Dennis Johnson is the founder of MobyLives, and the co-founder and co-publisher of Melville House. Follow him on Twitter at @mobylives
Agape:of the mouth,
wide open, especially with surprise or wonder
Aguppie:the name of a
mechanical fish
Agape: Christianity: selfless love
Day One: Quickly I
ask fourth period, “What would you like to have here in the classroom that
would make you feel as if the classroom was really yours?”
A fish!
Day 2: Research
was done; perhaps room 3, with it’s high volume of noise and blasting of arctic
air, might not be the best environment for a Beta.But a mechanical fish? Hmmnnn… Dani volunteered to get one.
Day 3: When
hearing of this, Jen R. (who happened to be in observing ) offered her
mechanical fish so Dani would not need to order one from Amazon.
Day 4: Removing
the fishbowl lid, mechanical innards sprang out, including 4 very fuzzy and
corroded batteries.The mechanical
fish was DOA.4th
period named it Aguppie after our study of Agape.A prayer post-it was added to our prayer altar:“RIP Aguppie.You will be missed.”
Later in the period while discussing St. Paul I hear, “Aguppie
is floating on the top of the water, Ms. Carey.”The level of delight in a ‘dead’ mechanical fish left me
wide-mouthed.What was going on
here? Yes, it was humorous, but these girls were REALLY into it.
At their break I quickly Googled ‘fish songs’.Finding Randy Travis’ ‘Pray for theFish’*, and just as our classroom break ended, I played it for them
as they returned from the bathroom, complete with the lyrics projected onto the
screen.Several sang along, many
joined the chorus.They were
delighted.What was going on?
Day 5:Cassidy knocks on the classroom door at
7:12 am.“I made something for us
– “ and hands me an exquisitely hand-fashioned cardboard coffin for Aguppie.
At 4th, after snitching the coffin, just as the
bell rang, several girls process in to room 3 with the coffin and sing, “In the
arms of the angel fly away from here”, placing the coffin at our prayer altar.A moving eulogy was shared ( “Swim
away, little buddy…”);after the ritual it took about 15
minutes for the hilarity to die down.
I am left wondering once again about narrative, it’s power,
how narrative both reflects identity as well as forms identity – be it an
individual or a class.
What is going on in my fourth period student’s lives for
which this Aguppie story provides a bit of structure and levity and medium for
growth – and how can I help keep
the story developing as we wind our way through the curriculum for Church
History. I will be thinking…
I could go into much detail here about fish symbolism in the
Gospels and before, but this picture of a stone monument comes to mind, and is,
I think, the perfect ending to this tale: Fish of the Living
Christian stele of Licinian Amias: anchor and fish representing the
faithful going towards salvation, Greek words the Fish of the living
meaning Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Savior of the living, from the
Vatican Cemetery.
* Pray for the Fish is not theologically
accurate.
Yesterday’s 4th period Sophomore prayer was one of meaning in the moment.
The assignment: create a prayer for your class centered around something that is unique about you, something that others in the class may not really know about you.
The student who had signed up for prayer yesterday came to see me a few days before as she was not sure how to proceed. I had overheard that she was Greek, so I got her talking about her culture and about how to share her Greek culture with our class. I asked if she knew Greek dance; her face immediately lit up. Together we decided that she should teach a bit of Greek dance to our class during prayer.
She was in her element. The other girls certainly enjoyed a happy time together. And I thought about how we are in the Sixth Mass Extinction, thought about Stephen Hawking telling us this past summer that humans have about one hundred years left on planet earth. I thought about the hate and violence displayed recently in Charlottesville. No doubt, these are very serious matters. But, happiness is a serious matter, too. And I thought about how happy I am to be teaching in the Department in which I teach, with the adults and students I encounter each day, with the emphasis on meaning in the moment. Not the past, not the future, but the moment. Opa!
