On June 12, Rob and Larry Smith were the featured poets at the Literary Cafe in Cleveland, Ohio. Here are the video links to their performance:
Part 1:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8655461207919949177
Part 2:
Okay, I'm a big C.S. Lewis fan (I've taught about his fiction at Wright State University and have written a book on literary criticism called: Hogwarts, Narnia, and Middle Earth.) In the run-up to the release of Prince Caspian, I was asked to lead a group through the text. This week I'm to lead a discussion on the movie. HELP! (Any relation between the movie and the characters or story in C.S. Lewis' writing is strictly coincidental!)
What can I say? I expect movies to take liberties with the text, but this one has been taken captive by a talking mouse! The irony is that the mouse is NOT Reepicheep.
The adaptation begins with the High King Peter fighting in the Underground with school rivals. Evidently, his life experience in Narnia has made him a misfit in our world, and a bit of a tough. For Lewis, whose fictional work was grounded in the transforming power of faith, Peter apparently missed the point of his encounter with Aslan. Then again, Aslan plays a bit part in this movie. Caspian and Peter vie for supremacy. Susan and Caspian make eyes at each other (oh yeah, Caspian is a hunk in the movie- Edmund's age in the book.) Blood, revenge, and pride eclipse all the nobility of emotion that Lewis wanted to show to his young readers. For those who have not actually read the books, suffice it to say that the epic battle scenes are about three sentences per book. Lewis, a survivor of trench warfare in WWI, had no interest in promoting death and destruction. He did promote loyalty, courage, fidelity, and obedience as a path worth traveling in life. Unfortunately, the movie-goer is spared these in favor of scenes resembling the clone army of Star Wars and the flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz.
Lewis would be rolling over in his grave (if he were still there!)
Okay, I'm gearing up to be an old stick-in-the-mud, but I have a pet peeve about electronics that plug into people! I don't dislike the ones that plug into wall outlets or speakers that are larger than a bowling ball, just the ones that clip on to a pocket or belt and plug in the ear.
It's not a prejudice on my part. Strictly speaking a prejudice is an opinion that is held without knowledge or data. I base my view on a practical truth. I have never met anyone who set out to change or improve their life from a position of comfort. When things are moving along smoothly, the name of the game is to go with the flow. Raise the discomfort level, however, and people can aspire to all sorts of inventiveness. They search and discover choices that they would not have imagined when they were mired up in their good feelings.
Electronics that plug into the body seem to amount to portable and continuous entertainment (music, video, or the person that I just left or will see in five minutes). When I go somewhere the be entertained (a play, concert, or movies), I generally use it as an escape from real life. For a few hours, entertainment puts my life on hold and I find a diversion that renews the self.
What happens to the continuously entertained mind is something else altogether. It isn't a temporary escape from the questions of life, it is life avoidance. When someone gets "unplugged" for the first time, their first observation is "I'm bored!" Are they? Is boredom really the absence of entertainment? It seems to be coming to that. A second alternative is to swear off entertainment long enough to allow some real discomfort. It's a sort of short-cut to getting a life.
That's my big pet peeve. Pace yourself on the electronic stuff. Use the things that you can plug into the wall, but not the devices that plug into you unless it's a cardiac pacemaker... (see, I am looking out of the old sticks-in-the-mud!)
My first book of poetry is now available through the publisher (Bird Dog) and through online bookstores. You'd think that after publishing novels and short stories it would not be such a big deal, but poetry is so very personal. The book itself looks great! The publisher has done a fine job of laying it out. Even though I have read many of these poems in public readings, I still don't know what to expect now that they are available in print.
The volume includes "Catbird", the poem that won the 2006 Robert Frost Poetry Award.
isbn: 9781933964164
100 pages
It's been a marathon to get it done, but I just completed a short (224 pages) volume on biblical studies. The proof is to arrive tomorrow. Here's what it says on the back cover:
In this book, Dr. Smith introduces readers of the English Bible to the linguistic, cultural, and historical backdrop of the biblical narratives. The presentation grows out of his experience in a university classroom where students face, for the first time, the cultural divide that separates our modern assumptions from the realities of the ancient Middle East.
While based on serious scholarship, Cultural Perspectives on the Bible: A Beginner’s Guide is written in a non-technical style that allows the beginner to recognize some of the cultural differences that color the understanding of biblical texts.
Rob Smith is both an ordained Presbyterian minister and a college instructor. He is the author of several books of fiction as well as a volume of literary criticism entitled, Hogwarts, Narnia, and Middle Earth: Places Upon a Time. In 2006, the Frost Foundation of Lawrence, Massachusetts honored him with its annual Robert Frost Poetry Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Westminster College in Pennsylvania and master and doctoral degrees from Princeton Theological Seminary.
I plan to use it as a textbook for a course on the English Bible that I'm going to teach at the Firelands campus of Bowling Green State University.
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