What happens when students read a tale about one of the knights of King Arthur’s Round Table? What happens when they write one?… In the spring of 2011, I taught a three-week seminar to a small group of seventeen- and eighteen-year-old students on the story of Parzival, a tale written down by Wolfram von Eschenbach in the twelfth century. During it, I tried to show students a way of looking at literature and at the world by taking a journey into themselves.
The story of Parzival is the story of all teenagers – a quest to navigate the tumultuous waves of adolescence in a passionate search for their authentic selves, using honor, chivalry, loyalty, and love as guides.
During the seminar block, we read Parzival out loud, or the students read sections at home at their leisure, and recounted episodes in the class. We discussed themes and images, archetypes, history, and legend. But, most importantly, each student was required to write his or her own stories. Like the tale of Parzival, each one is set against the thrilling medieval backdrop of jousting and castles and crusades and kingdoms and strange mythical creatures—but each is as fresh and original as the students themselves.
The students in the class of 2011 and 2012 at the Great Barrington Waldorf High School are to be heartily commended for extraordinary work – amazing stories that are enticing, moving, funny, and wise – so compelling that they had to be published and shared.
You can buy it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or order it from your favorite independent bookstore! Or, local friends, please contact me and I’ll arrange pick up at the school for copies. (That will garner the most revenue for the school.) Please note that 100% of ALL PROFITS BENEFIT The Great Barrington Waldorf High School.
Truly a Gem
(A Perfect Gem) A mysterious death... a return to a home that she had left long ago... an exciting new opportunity that could launch a European rock star on an American tour... or is it? Crista is recovering from her husband's death when it is discovered that he was already married, and his other wife is claiming everything he owned. Christa is forced by the publicity to leave her high-profile job and return with her two children to her hometown. Unexpectedly, they are first met by her long-lost love, Gareth, who has become a part of the village, of her father's business, and is now becoming more a part of her life than ever before. Christa is earthy, a caring mother who is both sensible and sensitive... yet she is also a go-getter in her career. She is torn between the simple life that she is re-learning -- especially the moments shared with Gareth -- and maintaining her high-profile career, with a great offer to go to Italy. Can she make the right choices for herself and her children? Or is she being lured into a complex alliance with her dead husband's other wife? Will Gareth wait for Christa to pursue her dreams? In A Perfect Gem, every facet sparkles, from Christa's colorful friend Joon, who knows all the qualities of crystals, to Gareth's good friend Kate, the jewelry maker in the village. Her children Ben and Erin are believable and good companions during the journey of this book. And the secret that unravels will surprise even the most experienced reader. Eliot spins a story with beauty, courage, a sprinkle of pizzaz, and a lot of heart. 5 stars!!
