Barstow_English

Been a minute since we yapped atcha. Today the entire senior class got together for a staged reading of Tracy Letts’s _August:Osage County_. It will take us all week to get through this play that puts the fun in dysfunctional.

Mr. Luce had a long car ride and read the play By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage, who wrote the sizzling play Sweat. Vera Stark follows the titular character as she tries to navigate 1930s Hollywood as a Black woman. Nottage writes, “Take no more on your heels than you can kick off with your toes.”

We more than jumped when we heard the name of Taylor’s new record - The Tortured Poet Department. While we can’t wait for the new tracks, we thought we might highlight some seriously afflicted poets for you over the course of the next couple of weeks.

First up, Chaz Baudelaire - poète maudit par excellence - the dissolute, angry, tavern-loving scourge of 19th-century Paris literary circles. M. Baudelaire’s groundbreaking collection,”Les Fleurs du mal,” was published in 1857 amid legal scandals and the eventual banning of six of his poems. Try a special sip of his particular angst right here:

“Inquisitive soul that suffers/And keeps on seeking paradise/ Pity me!... or else, I curse you!”

Picked up some awesome plays from Cori at

We lost a phenomenal writer today. Godspeed, Cormac McCarthy. He writes: walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it.

Our Book Madness Bracket was a series of tight matches, with Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen edging Sweat, by Lynn Nottage, by one vote. The process was raucous, intelligent, and fun. Our AP seniors are ready for college.

Seniors at KC Rep production of Barstow alumna Christina Anderson’s “the ripple, the wave that carried me home.”

Don’t go getting all Carson McCullers on us… Sophomores start this beauty tomorrow. Miss Amelia, readying for showdown, “During these weeks there was a quality about Miss Amelia that many people noticed. She laughed often, with a deep ringing laugh, and her whistling had a sassy, tunefull trickery. She was forever trying out her strength, lifting up heavy objects or poking her tough biceps with her finger.”

Mr. Luce bought the flowers himself for the AP kickoff Clarissa’s strange day. “Then for that moment, she had seen an illumination; a match burning in a crocus; an inner meaning almost expressed.” Have a recommendation? Send it our way.

Mr. Luce snagged this gem at Prospero’s yesterday. Lavishly illustrated and chock full of poems and vignettes, The Bedside Book of Birds will sit nicely alongside Ovid’s Metamorphoses. “The Macedonian women laughed and scorned my threats, but as they tried to speak, menacing us with loud cries and wanton gestures, they saw feathers sprouting from their nails and plumage covering their arms.” Highly recommended. Have a suggestion, drop us a line.

It was Prospero who claimed, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on." To put that dream into action, Barstow students will bring parts of The Tempest to life with a table reading of select scenes in the very Kansas City bookstore that shares the name of Shakespeare's powerful, oft-grumpy wizard . On February 4th at 1 p.m. at Prospero's Books, Barstow students will channel the Bard's words of magic and wonder, while also exploring the play's themes of colonialism and power. English Department Chair Mark Luce will lead short Q & A's after the scenes. Experience the timeless story of The Tempest as the talented Barstow students transport you to a world of spirits, love, laughter and redemption. See you at Prospero's Books, 1800 W. 39th, on February 4th at 1 p.m.

Bree Pusey, who works at the IDEA Space as a computer science facilitator, recommends You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson. Bree writes, “It’s a young adult novel focused on a black, q***r protagonist in small town Indiana. It’s cute and a relatively light read while still dealing with the real issues that come along with that.” Have a rec for us? Drop us a note. Thanks.