velocity

One of my students has decided to read Dante's Inferno for his 10th grade English book report. This is astounding for many reasons. Most kids, when they come to my little two-shelf library to pick a book, head straight for Charlotte's Web. Marcus, on the other hand, likes a bit of a literary challenge. I'd wager he's also somewhat motivated to impress the teacher. So Marcus and I sat down and talked for a couple of hours about the historical, religious and cultural significance of The Divine Comedy. We talked about the cultural and religious implications of it being written in Italian, the language of the common people, instead of Latin. We discussed the threat this was to the power of the papacy and clergy. We got on the internet and researched the influence Dante's work had on the Italian Renaissance, and the ideas of Martin Luther. We researched the history of power in the Catholic church. We looked at various artists and works of art (including my favorite, Gustave Dore) who have been influenced by Dante's writings.

And after all that, when he fully understood the context of The Divine Comedy in as much of its entirety as I could muster, the brilliant little bastard still wanted to read it. Not only that, but he decided to do his own illustrations for it. He's also decided on his first tattoo. The only picture I've found is too big to fit here, but click this link to see the most magnificent thing young Marcus and I have ever seen.

Also, today I figured out how to say, "Let's all go to the brothel!" in Japanese. That'll come in handy.