Latest news with #Steinbeck
Metro
2 days ago
- General
- Metro
I've been revising for my son's GCSEs - I'm more stressed than him
My dining room table is strewn with textbooks. There's a chart on the kitchen wall that has every exam coming up in the next few weeks and an app on my phone keeps bleeping, telling me it's time to stop history and start chemistry revision. GCSE time has certainly taken hold in our household. But it's not my son groaning under the weight of all this stress. It's me. Even though I'm 47 and did my own GCSEs 32 years ago, I'm feeling the pressure more than my 16-year-old son Alex. It's me who wakes in the middle of the night wondering if we covered enough chemistry. And I'd wager other parents feel exactly the same. In September – the start of the infamous Year 11 – I knew this academic year would be tough when teachers started talking about early revision, apps, videos we should download to plan ahead, and setting up a studying schedule. Back in autumn, though, it all seemed so far in the future. And besides, we had Christmas first, didn't we? I was wrong to think I could relax. A round of mocks in late autumn followed by more earlier this year meant that the word 'exam' has bounced around my brain for months. Then, parents with children of a similar age started talking about what they were doing to prepare. I began to panic. That's when I followed up on all the advice I'd been given in September, read up on how to revise strategically and looked up every 'hack'. From cramming, to 'blurting' – where you get your child to randomly write down and 'blurt' all their knowledge willy-nilly on a piece of paper. We've written and cut out flashcards on everything from the Steinbeck novel Of Mice and Men, to business studies jargon ranging from 'economies of scale' to 'break even output.' I've tried to get my non-scientific mind (I flunked science at GCSE) around osmosis and learnt about the practices of every religion around the world for religious studies. I've analysed the meaning of a grading system alien to me (9 for an A*, 4 for a pass) and I know for a fact I am more stressed than my son is. Although he wants to do well, he is certainly not anxious about it to the level I am. In short, my brain is frazzled. And now, every day, my kitchen table is a mess of books, pens, highlighters and notes. My husband Cornel, 45, thinks I need to step back. 'I passed all mine on my own, and so did you,' he points out. In fact, he thinks other parents' fears have rubbed off on me and we all need to chill out. And it's true. Parents didn't get involved back in the 80s and 90s. But now it's a whole new world. Parents discuss revision hacks as soon as their kids hit year eight. I know people who got tutors for their kids' SATS – which feels unreal to me. One friend I had coffee with had an app ping on her phone during our chat. 'Oh, just alerting me to his physics exam today,' she smiled. I realised I was not alone – we're all monitoring our children's studies – but I became curious as to why. My own parents barely knew what day my exams were, let alone helped me revise. All my peers say the same. Is it that we care more now? Or has life become more competitive? Are we all that terrified of the end of August when we get the results? I have a recurring dream that I arrive on exam results day and my son runs away from me, waving his brown envelope of results. In my dream I try to snatch it from him but he runs off laughing. I wake in a cold sweat every time. I wonder – does that mean I'm a caring mother or a bossy, meddling bore? But I'm not pressuring my son – he took the initiative himself to really knuckle down – his mediocre mock results were the boost we both needed to really get stuck into revision. He's worked so hard and I know whatever happens, he will have done his best and that's fine with me. It's also brought us closer together. A year or so ago he'd scuttle upstairs straight away on his return from school and play his PS4 or listen to music. But now we sit on the sofa together and read out flashcards or discuss the themes of loneliness in Of Mice and Men. Often, even as we finish our revision, he'll stay a little longer and tell me about his day. It's time we probably wouldn't have together if it wasn't for his GCSEs. Sometimes in the midst of all the stress, I'll look at him explaining economies of scale and profit margins and go misty eyed, wondering where on the earth the toddler who once cut his own hair at nursery with plastic scissors went. More Trending Life is moving fast and I want to enjoy the time I have with him, all while helping him achieve the best he can. So, fellow parents of GCSE – and A-Level – students, you are not alone. This time will pass – all the hard work will be worth it and one day this stressful time will all seem like a dream. I just hope I can hold it together until results day. If I do my son jokes I'll get a 9 in good behaviour. Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing Share your views in the comments below. MORE: My son cut off contact – I'm cutting him from my will MORE: I won't sleep with anyone else until I figure out my sexuality MORE: My relationship was on the line – until I got a driver's licence Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Christopher Moore Gives Out ‘Cannery Row' to Convert Steinbeck Haters
In an email interview, the author of comic novels about Jesus ('Lamb') and Death ('A Dirty Job') shared what drew him to write about the artists Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele. SCOTT HELLER What books are on your night stand? 'The Village of the Vampire Cat,' by Lensey Namioka, and 'The Destroyer of Worlds,' by Matt Ruff. And I'm rereading my own novel 'Noir' because I'm writing another book with those characters. Describe your ideal reading experience. Settling on the couch in our screened-in porch in Ohio, under a blanket, during a summer thunderstorm, with a novel that completely immersed me in the story. Because I was about 11, I'd guess it was a Jules Verne novel. What's the best book you've ever received as a gift? Very early in our relationship my wife gave me a first edition of Steinbeck's 'Cannery Row,' my favorite novel of all time. It's the book that taught me to write with forgiveness and humor toward my characters and I'm eternally grateful for that lesson. (I always buy extra copies when I'm at a used-book store to give out to people who were ruined for Steinbeck by having to read 'Of Mice and Men' in high school.) Why do you think 'Lamb' has proved such a favorite among your readers? I think it's funny, it gives readers a sense they're doing something slightly naughty, like giggling during Mass, then they get a rush of vindication when they find out the book is sweet. 'Lamb' humanizes Jesus and allows the reader to see this character, not as the son of God, but as a likable, earnest and somewhat confused young man, through the eyes of a friend who loves him for those qualities, not because he 'saves the world.' What's the last great book you read? I've recently reread 'Don Quixote.' Cervantes illustrates the folly of chivalry and romance, while being entertaining and lyrical, and, I think, showing that there is value to aspiring to nobility of spirit. Maybe that's just what I want it to say. What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet? 'Pride and Prejudice.' I have seen numerous screen adaptations, so I know the story, but I'm relatively sure I'd get distracted while reading by trying to figure out how to plausibly get Elizabeth to become a ninja. What's your favorite book no one else has heard of? 'Last Days of Summer,' by Steve Kluger. It's a very funny epistolary novel set in the 1940s, about a kid who keeps writing to a baseball player on the New York Giants, pretending to have different diseases and begging the player to hit a home run for him. This feels like a moment in time that calls for satire. Why turn to the past instead? One, I really enjoy writing and I don't want to spend a moment more thinking about our current political situation than I have to. Two, the current reality seems so absurd I don't know how I could send it up. Everything is so profoundly stupid. Why Klimt and Schiele? Klimt because I admired his paintings, and Schiele because he was Klimt's protégé. But it started with wanting to write about Vienna in that period because it was a genius cluster: Klimt, Mahler, Freud, Richard Strauss, Walter Gropius, not to mention political figures like Trotsky, Tito, Stalin and Hitler. I picked 1911 because that's the year Schiele met Klimt's model, Wally Neuzil, and the relationship between painters and models would be central to the story. In real life, was either of them especially funny? Klimt wrote almost nothing about himself, or his art, for that matter, so it's hard to say, but there are a lot of photographs where he's dancing and celebrating, so it seems he very much enjoyed life. Schiele did write about himself and his art, and he seems very dour and self-critical, so not funny. In my book, the women in their lives are the funny ones. How much cultural history do readers need to know to appreciate 'Anima Rising'? If you've seen pictures of Klimt's work in books or online, and have some idea of the time period, the rest will fill in. It helps if you've read the original 'Frankenstein' or have seen an adaptation that's close to the novel, but I think 'Anima Rising' will work even if you don't have that background. What's the last book you read that made you laugh? 'Spook Street,' by Mick Herron. Your favorite book about art or an artist? Kurt Vonnegut's 'Bluebeard.' What's the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently? From one of Ben Aaronovitch's 'Rivers of London' novels, I learned that when they put the Underground through the city, they had areas where the trains came out of the tunnels to the surface, and they only demolished the backs of buildings to accommodate them. So there are houses in London that are nothing but brick facades of Victorian buildings. How do you sign books for your fans? Happy reading. Your pal, Christopher Moore
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Editorial: The day Chicago got a dusty taste of ‘The Grapes of Wrath'
'A gentle wind followed the rain clouds, driving them on northward, a wind that softly clashed the drying corn,' wrote John Steinbeck in Chapter 1 of 'The Grapes of Wrath,' his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel charting the stormy upheaval faced by those who toiled on the American prairie in the 1930s. 'Little by little,' he wrote, 'the sky was darkened by the mixing dust, and the wind felt over the earth, loosened the dust, and carried it away. The wind grew stronger. The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke.' We associate such images with the Oklahoma of Woody Guthrie ('I am made out of this dust and out of this fast wind'), but on Friday, Chicagoland had its own encounter with a dust storm. Clouds of the stuff — what stuff? — darkened our sky, obscured our view as walked our dogs, blew through our high school graduation ceremonies, halted plane departures at Midway Airport and made freeway travel even more difficult than usual thanks to the sensation of driving into a great wall of dust. Fans of Beyoncé, slated to play Saturday night at Solider Field, fretted that their visibility would be limited by more than the cowboy hats on their heads. Chicagoans headed out from their homes to find a Friday dust cloud coming at them with the intensity of the raging infected souls in the dystopian TV show 'The Last of Us.' Chicago, we should note, did not experience the Friday tornadoes that ravaged cities like St. Louis, where loss of life occurred. At least 14 people died in Kentucky and seven in Missouri. But Friday still was an extraordinary day, so much so that those of us who have been around these parts a while racked our brains as to when we previously had seen the like. Weather forecasters were doing the same. The National Weather Service said that this was first time it ever had issued a dust storm warning that included the city of Chicago. What happened? 'Thunderstorms in central Illinois produced a big push of wind (60 to 70 mph) that surged northward into our area,' the National Weather Service said. 'As the winds moved over dry farmlands, it collected and suspended dust into the air. The trajectory of the push of wind was oriented into the Chicago area. Hence, we got a dust storm.' But that didn't answer the question of why this hadn't happened since the notorious Dust Bowl of Steinbeck's writing. Some pointed to the exceptionally dry conditions in central Illinois this spring even as the fields had been recently tilled. Some noted the exceptional speed of the winds around Bloomington and Normal that pushed the dust to the north. Some fretted over agricultural practices that made such events more likely, issuing timely reminders that the problem of soil erosion in the Land of Lincoln did not disappear in Steinbeck's era. So noted. As in all such events, there were winners as well as losers. With Chicago vehicles coated in a thin film of earthy particles, Chicago's car washes had a banner Saturday. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@
Chicago Tribune
19-05-2025
- Climate
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: The day Chicago got a dusty taste of ‘The Grapes of Wrath'
'A gentle wind followed the rain clouds, driving them on northward, a wind that softly clashed the drying corn,' wrote John Steinbeck in Chapter 1 of 'The Grapes of Wrath,' his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel charting the stormy upheaval faced by those who toiled on the American prairie in the 1930s. 'Little by little,' he wrote, 'the sky was darkened by the mixing dust, and the wind felt over the earth, loosened the dust, and carried it away. The wind grew stronger. The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke.' We associate such images with the Oklahoma of Woody Guthrie ('I am made out of this dust and out of this fast wind'), but on Friday, Chicagoland had its own encounter with a dust storm. Clouds of the stuff — what stuff? — darkened our sky, obscured our view as walked our dogs, blew through our high school graduation ceremonies, halted plane departures at Midway Airport and made freeway travel even more difficult than usual thanks to the sensation of driving into a great wall of dust. Fans of Beyoncé, slated to play Saturday night at Solider Field, fretted that their visibility would be limited by more than the cowboy hats on their heads. Chicagoans headed out from their homes to find a Friday dust cloud coming at them with the intensity of the raging infected souls in the dystopian TV show 'The Last of Us.' Chicago, we should note, did not experience the Friday tornadoes that ravaged cities like St. Louis, where loss of life occurred. At least 14 people died in Kentucky and seven in Missouri. But Friday still was an extraordinary day, so much so that those of us who have been around these parts a while racked our brains as to when we previously had seen the like. Weather forecasters were doing the same. The National Weather Service said that this was first time it had issued a dust storm warning that included the city of Chicago. What happened? 'Thunderstorms in central Illinois produced a big push of wind (60 to 70 mph) that surged northward into our area,' the National Weather Service said. 'As the winds moved over dry farmlands, it collected and suspended dust into the air. The trajectory of the push of wind was oriented into the Chicago area. Hence, we got a dust storm.' But that didn't answer the question of why this hadn't happened since the notorious Dust Bowl of Steinbeck's writing. Some pointed to the exceptionally dry conditions in central Illinois this spring even as the fields had been recently tilled. Some noted the exceptional speed of the winds around Bloomington and Normal that pushed the dust to the north. Some fretted over agricultural practices that made such events more likely, issuing timely reminders that the problem of soil erosion in the Land of Lincoln did not disappear in Steinbeck's era. So noted. As in all such events, there were winners as well as losers. With Chicago vehicles coated in a thin film of earthy particles, Chicago's car washes had a banner Saturday.
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Thomas Jefferson,' aka Clay Jenkinson, makes pilgrimage to Sunset Labor Camp, retracing Steinbeck's experience
ARVIN, Calif. (KGET) – When history is in plain view, it can be easy to just take it for granted and look past it. Sometimes it takes a true historian to come along and remind us about how very special some of these places in our midst really are. A historian, in this case, like Clay Jenkinson, the North Dakota-based public humanities scholar whose career has traced the American experiment from the promise of its founding to the Pacific Northwest, and from the devastation of the Dust Bowl, to its California destiny by way of Route 66. Naturally, Route 66 took him to the Sunset Labor Camp. 'I feel it here,' Jenkinson said, pausing mid-tour. 'And now I'm going to be a better Steinbeck scholar because I've been here.' The Sunset Labor Camp is where indeed one of Jenkinson's alter egos, John Steinbeck, drew the inspiration for perhaps his greatest work, 'The Grapes of Wrath.' Jenkinson pronounced himself awed. 'I've always wanted to see it,' he said. 'There's not much left of these buildings but it's so moving to me to have a sense that here, one of America's top five novels was inspired by – this place.' That's saying something, coming from the third president of the United States, the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, whom Jenkinson has eruditely portrayed for decades, including on public radio's Thomas Jefferson Hour. Nowadays, Jenkinson is the host of the podcast Listening to America, which, among other adventures, has followed the trail of the pioneering explorers Lewis and Clark. Jenkinson says it would be wonderful if Kern County could do more with the Sunset Labor Camp. 'I'm coming from the outside so it's none of my business to try to tell Bakersfield or California how they should operate – but I will,' he said, laughing. 'My dream would be that they would have – keep these (buildings) intact, but I wouldn't make them too nice, right? And have an interpretive center here and volunteers and professional staff, with signage and maybe a Return to the Dust Bowl Festival, and have speakers come in to talk about Steinbeck. Maybe have a Steinbeck Conference here from time to time. But I think that this is of such enormous historic importance.' Jenkinson was scheduled to hold a lecture at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 26, at the Upstart Village Banquet Room, 201 New Stine Road, in Bakersfield. Admission is free but you must RSVP prior to the event by emailing dolores@ Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
