Sheeeeeeee-it, The Wire is pretty awesome.
TV, Teaching February 13th. 2010, 10:08pmI finally got around to finishing off the last season of The Wire like I had set out to do sometime at the beginning of my vacation a few months previous. I’d say the experience was highly rewarding. I liked the show for the entire run. It’s also fairly quotable. (Spoilers: Part 1 and Part 2.) The tale might have been an allegory for something more than just a police drama, but I don’t think I liked it on any other level than what was shown. I think I’ll skip the post modern deconstruction and just enjoy it for what it is for now. The simple truth served by watching the show weave the story of all these characters was fascinating. Every character seemed realized and true.
That is an amazing achievement in a drama set in a real city. The pace and flow of the story would have driven me crazy if I didn’t always have access to the next episode right away. I usually watched it in long chunks if I had any free time, and frequently I would get up to go to work a few hours short on sleep because I needed to see the next episode to see how it was going to work itself out. If I had watched it “spoiled” it wouldn’t have nearly the same impact on me. I managed to avoid the show entirely until I watched it this year, which was completely refreshing.
My favorite part of the show would be the arc of the fourth season which dealt with inner city youth and the problems in the school system. I’ve taught in dysfunctional schools before, but the chaos was inspired by greed and ignorance on the part of the management. The children in my classes deal with entirely different problems at home. Still, it was rough to watch school life in the inner city portrayed by some talented child actors with such heartbreaking stories. I’ve been at words with the upper management when I needed to “Teach to the test”; ignoring the students needs and betraying my duties as a teacher. My students might occasionally have a tough background, but it’s not like gangs and drugs are a way of life here. I’ve taught some messed up kids before, but I never felt physically threatened by students in all my time here.
I think I’ll let this one stew for a couple of years and revisit it.
This will be how I curse for the next few months.
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March 14th, 2010 at 10:04 pm
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