SERVICE!! - The Lesson

i'm going to try something here, it's a game of Volleyblog...
"But Laura, what's volleyblog?" you ask me?

Let me explain. My new and dear friend Teeni created this game over at her site (read more about it here for details and full game rules etc etc) and i've been dying to try it out and now's my chance.

The jist of it is this:

"For volleyblog, any post can spark an idea to start a game. But after the initial post, you have to base your next post off of the post that responds to yours. You might have to be creative and use the old noggin but it is interesting to challenge yourself as a writer this way. The post you write has to be at least 3 paragraphs. It doesn’t have to be huge, but there needs to be enough content to generate an idea. You should comment on your opponent’s blog to alert him when the ball is in his court. It is not necessary to mention within the post you write that it is part of a game of volleyblog unless you so desire. As long as you and your opponent know which posts are relevant, that is what counts. There should be a two-week time limit to create a post if the “ball” is in your court. If two weeks go by and you have not written a volleying post, then you forfeit the “serve,” basically losing the game." - Teeni

So for my first attempt at volleyblogging, i took inspiration from Paige's x365 post about our old High School English Teacher, Mr. C (read the original post here)

When i was in high school, i had a very cool english teacher. One who was a little tired of teaching, you could tell, but he would always be available to chit chat before, after, sometimes during class about whatever you wanted as long as he thought it was somehow educational.

There came a time in my senior year where an Ontario school had banned the book "Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang" by Joyce Carol Oates. i remember walking into class and saying something to the effect of: "Hey, Mr. C, did you hear about that book being banned in Ontario?"

He had. When i had found my seat, we continued talking about the book. From what i had heard, they had banned the book because it was about a girl gang. I asked him what he thought about that.

Being a true educator, he turned the question back around and said: "Well, i think the real question here is what do YOU think about that."

"well, i haven't read the book." i replied. He suggested that i go and find the book at the local library and read it, then we would talk again.

I did. When i came back and told him that i had read the book - he asked me again what i thought of the book being banned. i told him that the parents in Ontario must think their kids are idiots.

We talked for a long time about censorship, and overprotective parents. The book had been assigned to a Grade 12 english class in Ontario, the same grade i was in. I told Mr. C how i thought it was insulting that parents would assume that because their kids were reading about girl gangs, that suddenly girl gangs would sprout up all over suburban Ontario. "give us some credit."

He countered by citing many other classic books that have been banned over the years because someone - somewhere - took it upon themselves to decide what was in people's best interest. Books like "The Call of the Wild", "Animal Farm" even "Hamlet" and "Macbeth"

This discussion has stayed with me, for many reasons. it is one of my favourite high school memories, and not only that - without knowing it, i had been taught a lesson on "Thinking For Myself" and "Questioning Authority". Because i was the one who had done the research, i could formulate my own opinion on the book, and not just leave it up to the mothers of the world to decide what i should and shouldn't be reading.

This was such an important lesson for a young 17 year old girl to learn. He was a very cool teacher. Very cool.