How to Raise a Star Wars Nerd

I have to confess my nerdiness, although I’m not really sure that I have done a good job at hiding it. Not only am I a bookworm, I am a Star Wars aficionado. Some people say “Fan Boy,” but that makes me feel like a little kid. Having these two hobbies/interests/obsessions comes with its own struggles; of course one of them is fighting the ladies off with a stick. I love reading and I love Star Wars, but sometimes people do not have the same passion that I feel when these two topics arise. So you can imagine my fears when I found out that my wife was pregnant. What if he hates books? What if he doesn’t love Star Wars? And worst of all, what if he likes Jar-Jar?

I have a very young cousin (now in middle school) who loves books and reading. I buy her books whenever I can to encourage her love of reading. I made a deal with her a few years ago that any book that I gave her I would read too, and we could enjoy it together as part of our shared interest. Naturally, the first book I gave her was Star Wars themed. She loved it. Now I have my own son and I want him to be raised with the force as part of his life, but more importantly I want him to appreciate the written word. How could I ensure that I raise him to love reading?

I have found a solution to this problem that eases my concerns. Listed below are a few wonderful Star Wars themed books written for children; well, written for parents wanting to brainwash their children into loving the same franchise that they were raised on.

Darth Vader and Son by Jeffrey Brown

 

This was actually the first book we purchased for our son while my wife was pregnant. It is mostly a picture book with little dialogue and it is about the struggles that Darth Vader encounters as part of being a father. Some of these include Luke getting a boo-boo, Vader digging Luke out of the compactor, and even Vader/son naptime. Brown has also written Vader’s Little Princess which is about the Dark Lord’s little girl, Leia. This was the first book I read to my son, but mostly I just show him the pictures and say things like “look son, a lightsaber,” or “that’s Darth Vader.”

I Strike Thee Quickly with My Lightsaber

              Don’t you love when two of your favorite things collide to make one super-awesome thing? Peanut butter and chocolate? Amazing. Rum and Coke? Delicious. Bacon and milkshakes? Well, that might be an acquired taste, but you get the idea. Last year I stumbled upon another exciting marriage of two seemingly opposite things: Shakespeare and Star Wars.

The New Tuesdays...

Hello, I have created a new site in order to use Tuesdays with Yoda for another purpose. TWY will now solely focus on the connection of Star Wars and the world of literature. I will begin posting on tuesdays with relevant articles.

If you enjoyed my previous posts, you can follow me at my new blog I'm the Milhouse or at The Poetics Project. I hope you enjoy the blogs and thanks for reading.

Overwhelmed at the Festival of Books

Last weekend I went to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. Although I have always been a bibliophile I have never had a chance to visit this event. Something always got in the way. Not this year though. I was lucky enough to attend day one of the festival with my wife and my infant son.

The festival of books took place on the campus of the University of Southern California on the weekend of April 12 and 13. This was the 19th year of the event and the second year in a row that USC has hosted. More than 150,000 people of all ages attended the festival making it "the largest and most prestigious literary event in North America," according to the LA Times.

Let me begin by saying that it was great to see such a large turn out for a festival whose main focus was literature. It kind of restored some hope for humanity in my mind. I mean, to be honest, I knew people still read, but I didn't think they really cared about literature. I hate crowded places, but it was pleasant to share the day with thousands of book lovers.

The Year of the Horse, and Jackie Robinson

            This post is a little late, but I wanted to give proper praise and recognition to Jackie Robinson. April 15 is not a national holiday, but it is a day of remembrance and a celebrated day across the United States. This is Jackie Robinson Day across all Major League ballparks. It is the day that Jackie Robinson entered Major League Baseball as the first African-American to play in the big leagues. The historical impact has reverberated throughout the ages, and across the spectrum of our culture. This one event in the world of sports has had an impact on everything, including our literary world.

            When I was a young boy I was given a copy of the book In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, written by Bette Bao Lord. I was a young baseball fan growing up in Los Angeles, so of course I rooted for the Dodgers. At that age though, I had not been exposed to the history of the franchise; including the monumental event of Robinson breaking the color barrier.

            In this short novel written for grade school aged children, Lord tells the story of Shirley Temple Wong who is a young Chinese girl who has immigrated to America with her family in the same year that Robinson joined the Dodgers. Shirley faces many prejudices at school because she is different and because she doesn’t speak English well. Shirley becomes a follower of Robinson and through him she finds motivation and courage to pursue happiness in the United States.

Parts of Speech

Parts of Speech

            We have already discussed common mistakes made in grammar, and there are a million posts on blogs about those mistakes littering the Internet. Let’s take it up a notch. Before I jump into any complex or strange rules of grammar that no one understands, I am going to focus on parts of speech today. Sure, you may think you know your parts of speech, but lets just give it a refresher because it is fun to get to know your language on a deeper level. For example, did you know that there is a name for everything? Seriously. You know that little dot above every lower case i and every lower case j? That has a name. It is called a tittle. And since I told you that little bit of useless knowledge you might as well know that the horizontal line that crosses your t is called a crossbar.

            Okay, back to parts of speech. Let us start with the most popular members of our parts of speech:

Poetry Slam: Snap Your Fingers

            A couple of weeks ago the high school where I currently teach hosted a very special event. This is my first year at this school, so I had never heard of nor participated in what found out was called “Get Lit.” This is an event where local students and young people from around Los Angeles stand on our stage and recite poetry to our students. My first reaction was one of sheer horror. I reached for my riot gear before heading for the auditorium. Surely this would be a disaster. Boy was I wrong.

            As awesome as this sounded, I had predetermined that our students would not buy into this event. I have taught poetry for several years now and I am always met with slight hesitation, and then the students are wowed because they end up “getting” what the poem is about. This, on the other hand, was a poetry slam.

            As the slam started the MC, a man in charge of the GetLit program, welcomed the students and gave them a few rules and instructions on manners. His calm and jovial presence made everyone in the audience feel comfortable and excited. He too the students to be respectful, but to express their connection with the poets with snaps, claps, and by interjecting by saying "word" if you agreed. It felt as though we were waiting to see a rock show or a debut of a new movie.