This week, we ended our summer semester with a BANG, or dare I say, a crash of the cymbals? How about roll of the drums? A metal scream? We worked in groups to contribute a fitting song to the Soundtrack of Our Summer Reading. I asked my students to connect their music to Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted. Metallica, Eminem, Juan Gabriel… it was all good. Students studied the background of the artists. They analyzed the lyrics. They revisited chapters in the book. Each group developed an extended discussion on the music of mental illness: depression, anxiety, suicide. Soon their writing will appear in the pages of our own IVC Borderline Journal.
When you read, do you ever tap your foot? Does music ever spark an idea in your head? Joyce Carol Oates wrote one of her most enduring works of short fiction after hearing Bob Dylan on the radio. Below I share my latest blog post. It came to me after reading about Joan Baez ( and Bobby D ) in David Hajdu’s folk music biography Positively 4th Street.
By far – the most talented, crazy person she ever worked with. Watch the video below to share in Joan's memories of Robert Zimmerman….
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