I have been hired to teach reading and writing to a student -- there is no ISEE, no SAT, attached. This sort of thing fills me with terror, because there is no built-in structure, no test date, no bubble sheet. I had a writing teacher in college who would enter class in a serene way, with chocolate-covered blueberries, and who would then just speak eloquently about Raymond Carver for ninety minutes. She did not have an advanced degree. She had bottomless depths of self-confidence; she was mesmerizing. My current student, a fifth grader, is working on her own newspaper. She interviews residents of her town and publishes her findings. Since Mother's Day is approaching, she has chosen to interview a mother -- and her thought process is straightforward, unimpeachable. "I chose K, three doors down from me, because she has three kids. No one else has *three* kids. So K must be the most interesting mother." My student and I ran through the standard soft-ball questions. "W...
Laura Linney's career-defining role--in "You Can Count on Me"--requires her to be tightly wound, teetering, furious. It's like a "Laurie Metcalf" role. In one of my all-time favorite movie scenes, Linney has just one word--and she fits a world of hopefulness and terror into that word. (She has picked up a phone, and after a moment, she says her brother's name. "Terry.") "American Classic" allows Linney to revisit her famous role. The show is like a variation on a theme--for Linney. Once again, Linney is outwardly poised, impatient, well-meaning, somewhat ridiculous. Her character, Kristen, will not listen to her daughter's wish to say "no" to the University of Pennsylvania. Kristen is eager to sabotage herself; when her critics say she should resign from her office, she quickly decides that they are right. In certain funny, climactic moments, Kristen refuses to participate in the absurd "truth circle" that th...