My Fair Lady last night

Tonight is the final performance of our musical, My Fair Lady. Next week we'll have a review by a V form pupil, and lots of photographs. The programme can be seen here.

(poster created thanks to Wordle).

Sniper One, by Dan Mills

II former Hamish Law has been reading Dan Mills's book Sniper One, and recommends it strongly:-

This is a truly mesmerising read. You’ll pick it up and you will need a strong will to put it back down. I found it an exhilarating, emotional, truthful and hilarious read. It is the story of Sniper One platoon and their horrible, repulsive tales of Afghanistan.

What makes this so compelling is that it is true autobiography encompassing astonishing tales of warfare. You might have thought things were cooling down over there but you will realize things are still worse than hell. The book uncovers the worst aspects of warfare in Afghanistan.

Edublogs Awards 2008

We are delighted to nominate our esteemed Science Department's Frog Blog for the 2008 Edublogs Award in the 'Best New Blog' category. This is an excellent mixture of general science news across many disciplines (Biology, Geology, Agricultural Science, Physics and more), articles on significant moments in the history of science, pupils' essays and some entertaining links. And, of course, a slightly strange obsession with frogs. Good luck, chaps.

My Fair Lady performances

Our Senior Play production of Lerner and Loewe's My Fair Lady previews tonight to a smallish audience, with the main performances on Friday (7pm) and Saturday (8pm) in the Big Schoolroom. Next week we'll have a pupil review here.

The programme, with cast list, can be seen here.

Wiesel, Zusak

For the TY Extended Essay project, two pupils have been reading books on a similar theme (an appropriate one, given yesterday's post) - one autobiography, the other a novel.

Dalton Tice has been reading Elie Wiesel's classic memoir Night: "This is the memoir of a young Jew who describes his experience of the horrors of life in Birkenau concentration camp during the Second World War. Wiesel was one of the few Jews who survived Hitler's effort to destroy his people. He vividly describes the atrocities he witnessed and leaves the reader with a sense of complete horror, as you realise the level of hatred the human race has fallen to."

And Carl Ibe has been reading The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak : "This book is about a young girl, Liesel, who moved to Munich during the Second World War. On the way, her mother and brother are killed by an Allied attack, so she now lives with her aunt, where she has to start anew. She finds new friends, and all seems to work out all right, until her 'father' brings home a Jew with whom she becomes good friends. Of course it is a dangerous thing, having a Jew hiding in the cellar. I think that this is a really good book to read, being funny, well-described and because it is impossible to know what will happen next. I chose this for my Extended Essay, because it is set in Germany during the War, and so it is suitable for my theme, Children in War."

See the book's website here, including audio readings.

The Send-Off, by Wilfred Owen

This morning we had our annual Remembrance Day parade on Chapel Square, in memory of those Columbans who have died in wars over the decades. So our Poem of the Week is 'The Send-Off' by Wilfred Owen, who wrote it 90 years ago. A fascimile of the draft can be seen on Oxford University's outstanding resource, the Wilfred Owen Multimedia Archive. (you can follow the drafting process through several images). And the BBC's 'Remembrance' micro-site ('Ninety Years of Remembrance') can be accessed here, and the Guardian's micro-site here.


The Send-Off

Down the close, darkening lanes they sang their way
To the siding-shed,
And lined the train with faces grimly gay.

Their breasts were stuck all white with wreath and spray
As men's are, dead.

Dull porters watched them, and a casual tramp
Stood staring hard,
Sorry to miss them from the upland camp.

Then, unmoved, signals nodded, and a lamp
Winked to the guard.

So secretly, like wrongs hushed-up, they went.
They were not ours:
We never heard to which front these were sent;

Nor there if they yet mock what women meant
Who gave them flowers.

Shall they return to beatings of great bells
In wild train-loads?
A few, a few, too few for drums and yells,

May creep back, silent, to village wells,
Up half-known roads.

Frey, Spinelli

Two more books from the TY Extended Essay projects:-

Rob Nolan's is James Frey's controversial A Million Little Pieces: "I got the idea to read this book from a few pages of a friend's copy while on holiday. I soon bought one myself on my return to Ireland. James Frey's memoir tells the story of his time in rehabilitation centre following his long ongoing struggle with drugs and alcohol. His unique writing style is very honest and fearless. Often he doesn't use punctuation, and is very direct.

The book is both shocking at times, and very amusing at others. It gives a great insight into the mind of an addict. Though parts of the memoir have supposedly been fabricated, I thought it was definitely a great read, and would certainly recommend it to others."

And Amelia Shirley writes about Jerry Spinelli's Stargirl: "This book is about the relationship between the 'new girl' Stargirl and the narrator of the book, Leo Borlock. Stargirl is different. She has come from nowhere and is full of confidence, and doesn't care what anyone thinks of her. This soon makes her hated by all the other pupils. They are burdened by insecurities that lead them to see her free spirit as a threat.

Throughout the book Leo and Stargirl's relationship grows stronger and stronger and they begin to realize that they are falling for each other. The story unfolds to reveal Stargirl's spontaneity and Leo's surprising profundity. This means that the book finishes with an unexpected twist. It is an extremely enjoyable story, and lets readers lose themselves in the extraordinary lives of these two young people."

Kesey, Hosseini

More recommended books from the TY Extended Essay projects (which will be completed in a fortnight).

Miriam Poulton recommends Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns (as did Andrew Martin here):- "I have just finished this book. It follows the story of two women, Mariam and Laila, in Afghanistan. The two are separated by their age but are linked when the embittered Rasheed takes Laila as his second wife. The political climate in their country changes dramatically over the course of the book, and the two become more and more oppressed.

This book gives us a real insight into the lives of the people in Afghanistan during the rule of the Taliban. It is also a portrait of friendship in unlikely situations and a story of how people will go to extremities for what they believe in and those they love. I really enjoyed and highly recommend it."

Igor Verkhovskiy is reading Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and writes:- "This book is about a ward in an Oregon mental institution, and how daily life and the tyrannical regime of Nurse Ratched is disturbed by the arrival of a new patient, McMurphy. There's nothing wrong with him: he faked a mental condition to escape a sentence on a work farm. He tries to make men out of his fellow patients, and opens their eyes to Ratched's tyranny, and how she makes rabbits out of grown men.

The book is about a struggle against a greater power - the Combine as it's called. Everything McMurphy does or tries to do goes against the regime, and the idea is that at least he tried, while the others watched. In the end Mac, as they call him, does an outrageous thing, bringing hookers and alcohol into the dorm. He is punished for this, but the men now see that there is a way against the Combine, and the regime is losing its power over them."

Conference and Common Room

The summer 2008 issue of 'Conference and Common Room', which includes an article on this blog, can be seen below via Issuu. Click for a bigger view, and scroll using the arrows.

Get your own - Open publication

Roger McGough's 'Mafia Cats'

The 37th Poem of the Week is Roger McGough's 'Mafia Cats' from his book Bad Bad Cats. Above, the poet reads it ...

Disaster

Paul Coleman, from III form (Junior Certificate) recently wrote this 9/11 story, 'Disaster', in Mr Jameson's class. It starts:-

It was 8 o’clock in the morning and it was another beautiful day. By the time I was dressed and downstairs, my wife had already laid out my breakfast. When I was finished my breakfast, I gave my wife a kiss and went off to work. When I got to the World Trade Centre, Tower 1, it was 9am. I was halfway up the stairs to Level 9 when I thought of the tough day ahead of me. And that’s when the first plane hit.

The full story is here.

My Fair Lady

Below, the poster for our production of My Fair Lady (dress rehearsal this time next week), courtesy of Wordle. Click on it for a closer look.

First Time on an Aeroplane

Qasim Bari, from I form, recently wrote this vivid piece on 'My First Time in an Aeroplane':-

It was the first time I had ever set foot on an aeroplane. The air-hostess greeted me as she greeted everyone who boarded the plane, with the same blank smile on her face. We all passed by her and walked down the corridor, reading and searching through the numbers and letters written on the ceiling for the one that was meant for us. I felt as if I were playing a game of “Battleships” searching for an enemy ship.

Once I had sat down in my tightly confined yet still comfortable seat, I watched as passenger after passenger boarded the plane, businessmen with shiny suitcases and families looking to get away for the holidays, and then I thought to myself, “How on earth would this great chunk of metal carry all these people high into the sky, miles from the ground?”

The door shut with a cushioned “thud!” Then as if on cue, the engines of the great metal beast began to purr louder and louder like my cat Garfield, until it was roaring like a majestic lion making the whole plane shudder in fear.

The aircraft made its way down the runway accelerating as it went. It was a whole new exhilarating, yet slightly scary sensation for me. I could feel the ground slowly slipping away until miraculously there was absolute nothingness between the runway and the base of the plane in which I sat.

I peered out my window, now midway through my journey (neck hurting from craning my head in this position) in total awe at the sight. The blue, blue sea below was as blue as the paint I had used to whitewash across my canvas in art class last Tuesday. It was as rippled as the tasty meringue tart I had had that morning.

I had always wondered how it was possible that the world was round when it always looked so flat from wherever I stood on the surface yet as I looked out my window I gasped, now totally converted into Christopher Columbus’s way of thinking. There outside my tiny little porthole was the gleaming curved horizon.

I don’t have a photographic memory but I shall always remember when I looked out that window, my first ever time on an aeroplane.

Music blog

Welcome to our colleagues in the St Columba's Music Department, who've started up their own blog here.

Capote, Shan

Transition Year Extended Essays are to be completed in just over two weeks. Here are two more recommendations :-

Virginia Peck is reading Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's (original film trailer above), and comments:-

This is set in the 1940s in New York City, where the martinis flow from cocktail hour to breakfast, at Tiffany's. Nice girls don't, except of course Holly Golightly. Pursued by mafia gangsters and playboy millionaires, Holly is a free spirit and an eyeful of tawny hair, a turned-up nose, a heartbreaker and a tease. She is definitely 'top banana in the shock department', in Capote's words. Holly is one of the greatest women in American fiction, and this book tells the tale of a reckless romantic through the eyes of a besotted writer. Set in the glitter and shimmer of the Manhattan Upper East Side, Breakfast at Tiffany's is a classic, but remains fresh and it can easily be read in one sitting. I think this is due to the way it is written, which is very beautiful - and a thing of beauty remains a joy for ever. It is such a heartbreaking story, and it may even reduce you to tears!

One of Thomas Emmet's books is very different, Darren Shan's Bec :- This book is fourth in the Demonata Series. Set during the ninth century, it is about a trainee priestless (the titular Bec) going on a quest to stop a demon crossing. As with all Shan's books, there is a large amount of gore. All the characters are well-rounded and the first person narration is a great story-telling device, giving us an insight ionto Bec's thinking. This is the best book in the series so far, but can be read as a stand-alone novel. It's highly recommended.

Eircom Golden Spider Awards

We've been shortlisted for the Best Blog category in the 2008 Golden Spiders, sponsored by Eircom. In the words of their website:-

The Golden Spider Awards are an annual event honouring Irish individuals and organisations for their outstanding achievements online and celebrating the successes of the Irish internet and digital media. The awards not only reward Irish businesses and community organisations but also individuals for their creativity and innovation. The Golden Spiders provide an important opportunity to recognise and showcase online excellence.

Belinda Seaward reading

Fiona Boyd, from V form, writes :-

On Wednesday 22nd October, members of IV, V and VI, as well as several members of staff, gathered in the Cadogan, to hear Belinda Seaward give a talk on her recently published book Hotel Juliet. It was an extremely successful evening. Belinda spoke confidently on the process of writing Hotel Juliet and her experiences of being a writer. She described events vividly, involving you in her experiences. She spoke of the difficulties she had had with writing the novel, such as not being able to write for months at a time and then writing non-stop. Overall it took her 10 years to complete Hotel Juliet.

She also talked about what inspired her, landscapes being the main idea, especially mountains. She described how the moment she arrived in Africa the first time she visited it, she knew that it was going to have a profound effect on her life. She talked about how characters can be created. She said they can come from a passing sentence a phrase or just a movement. One of the main characters in the book is based on a couple of lines from a story she heard while in Africa, showing how the most abstract and apparently random event can perhaps be useful to a writer, like Belinda.

She talked about how she found the effects of events more interesting than the events themselves, describing this as like dropping a rock into a pond which creates a ripple effect in the water; but rather than examine the ripples (or events) she would prefer to examine the gaps between the ripples instead (the effects of the ripples). She also spoke on the more technical aspects of being a writer, such as a typical working day (finding your best times to work, in her case early in the morning) and how the process of getting a book published worked (agent & editor).

She has not always been a full time writer, being an English teacher previously, and this showed when she answered questions. She answered questions with honesty and precision which is always important at events like this, when you’re talking to a relatively young audience. She also used just the right amount of detail, keeping us interested without overwhelming us.

Overall I very much enjoyed the talk, and having not yet read Hotel Juliet plan for it to take pride of place on my bedside locker, as my reading for half term.

Half-Term

Half-term starts today at lunchtime, and we resume school on Monday 3rd November. After half-term there will be plenty of news about our impending production of My Fair Lady (November 13th to 15th) as well as the usual mix of pupil contributions and English-associated matters.