Wistful Wisdom

Earlier this summer I was brought to tears listening to the recording of Joni Mitchell singing at the Newport Jazz Festival. It had been nearly 20 years since her last public performance, during which time she suffered and recovered from a devastating brain aneurism, and it had been over 50 years since Mitchell, now 78, had performed at the festival which had played a big hand in boosting her career. Knowing all that made her rendition of "Both Sides Now" so poignant, that I cried as I listened.

In the same set, she sang another of her classic hits, "The Circle Game", which is also a meditation on time and life. I thought of that song today when the text book rep was giving us an overview of some of the features of the newly adopted program. "Here you can see the cards for each of the units," she pointed. "We call this the carousel."

I nodded and clicked obediently, aware that my preference for the materials and methods I would use to teach my students the mandated content was irrelevant. The units that I and my colleagues had so carefully crafted were destined to be replaced by this bland, bullet-proof resource designed to teach to the test and avoid offending anyone. So I made a note to set aside some time to properly mourn, and then I kept on clicking.

And the seasons, they go round and round 

And the painted ponies go up and down 

We're captive on the carousel of time 

We can't return, we can only look 

Behind, from where we came 

And go round and round and round, 

in the circle game