Hi. People of Minneapolis and Madison, we hope to see you this weekend: www.hankandjohn.com/appearances Also, if you want to read books with an awesome community, subscriptions to Life's Library are currently available: store.dftba.com/collections/lifes-library-book-club Furthermore, did you know we have a poetry show with the Poetry Foundation debuting next month? ua-cam.com/video/Gw-vpKGVVvU/v-deo.html Lastly, if you haven't read Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, I hope you will! And also her other books. And if you have, I'd love for you to share what her books have meant to you. I know they've meant an awful lot to me. Thanks for being here. -John
I am very excited to see you’re doing a poetry series! I’m confused by how much poetry seems to mean to me at the most unexpected times and places. I can’t wait to hear people caress the words with care in their voice.
I read Beloved by Toni Morrison as part of my 12th grade AP Lit class. It was the first book we read that year that wasn’t going to have graded annotations, and I was so glad because I could just read, annotate the way I wanted, and enjoy the story. It made me cry. It was my favorite book I read in that class. I didn’t end up passing the AP exam but I’m still glad I took the class because otherwise I never would’ve read stories like that.
He didn't struggle with it, he just wasn't interested. A common thread among talented people that could throw that talent away and never use their potential
"I'd known, of course, that the world was unjust--but reading The Bluest Eye, I *felt* it." This is a huge reason why I read. Thank you for putting it into words.
"Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names." This really resonated with me; I've felt the relief of finding words for things that I couldn't explain so many times in my life.
For nearly 30 years I’ve struggled with a sleep disorder that I never knew even existed until a few short years ago. I have no idea how I stumbled upon it, but when reading the descriptions and symptoms I found myself shaking and fighting back tears, as this lumbering beast that held me down for so long was finally given a name, a thing I could point at and use to explain to others. The medical blurb I was reading continued on to say that people discovering that they were affected by it had a physical emotional response, and often wept or broke down upon finally having a name for their previously unknown disorder. Having a word or name to describe something is so much more powerful and real. Just by giving something a name, it brings with it a whole cultural relevance and awareness, as now other people have witnessed and understood it without ever having met you or known of your experiences. Language and writing have always been a pastime and hobby of mine, and that one quote might be the single most powerful concept in all of humanity that I’ve ever encountered.
@@wokeupinapanic Thank you for giving an example of exactly what I mean, I can tell you write :) And yes, I completely agree with you on the power of this idea. Language validates us and our experiences of the world, it's one of the few things that makes us truly different from other animals on this planet. Hope you're managing your disorder better these day :)
Laura McKinlay - Thank you, and thank you for not being weirded out by my oversharing 😂 I actually just went to the doctor this morning and will hopefully be getting on this new medication that might help, so here’s hoping! (It’s incredibly expensive [~$15,000 for a 30 day supply] so I may not be able to afford it if it isn’t covered)
@@wokeupinapanic it genuinely breaks my heart when I hear people say they might not be able to afford meds (or whatever), I'm in the UK and I am so grateful to have the NHS; I don't know if I'd still be here without it. I have everything crossed for you.
TATWD was so great, and the best thing was that it really allows one to understand anxiety and OCD and prior to reading it, I never understood what a “thought spiral” was. The metaphors worked.
Shreya G I felt this too. The best depiction of anxiety I’ve ever read. The idea that she was anxious without a subject for her anxiety really hit me. It made my anxiety make more sense to me.
That was me during senior year. And, like John, I was lucky enough to have a teacher who cared enough to notice. When we went on a field trip to see a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, he placed me in the front row. To this day, I still don't know if it's because he noticed I was struggling with Shakespeare, because I had accommodations for sitting at the front of his classroom, or because he knew I loved theatre, but it worked regardless.
Dang it, John, the efficiency with which you can get me to cry on a Tuesday afternoon is impressive. Thank goodness you're only allowed four minutes. Then there's The Anthropocene Reviewed. Me after most episodes: 😭
I'm guessing they probably do see :-) Most teachers from around that time will still be alive and John has become big enough of a deal that it would be hard to miss, especially as the family still has ties to the area.
I nearly failed high school, secondary school and university because of mental health. But I made it and its one of the biggest and proudest moments in my life. Ocd nearly killed me but if hasn't
I’m going through the same thing right now... I’m going into senior year, and high school has been hell for me so far due to mental health. My therapist has even picked up on signs that I might have OCD; I don’t have a diagnosis yet though, but I’m hoping for the best so I can get proper treatment. Anyway, your comment gave me a bit of hope, so I thank you.
Lily R mental health isn't a roller coaster that only goes up. In fact I had a breakdown only this week, but I can assure you that if I didn't have a diagnosis, a therapist and medications to control my bad mental health I'd be dead now. I'm sorry that you're going through something similar. It sucks and I wish you the best. Acknowledging it and doing something about it is the not only the first, but the most important step. (sorry I have not English keyboard)
I have OCD, I'm certain of it but people either don't believe it or understand it and I don't have access to a therapist. I think watching Vlogbrothers are 8 minutes of each week that I cherish and they give me hope and make me feel loved. I'm glad you came through and with all the love I get from my family and friends, I think I'll be fine.
NotWinter Yeah, it’s definitely been very up and down for me, and I feel lucky to be alive right now. I’m hopeful because of the recent progress in therapy though :)
Yash Shah can you seek therapy through school or work insurance? I don't know how old you are. Even going to the doctor! (im lucky and live in Europe so it's very accessible) if not I'm sure there's some great online resources or management advice on the Internet / UA-cam. Educating yourself and having a great support system is very important. Also knowing that youre not alone
I wish more successful people would talk about their setbacks. When the only successful people you see appear to be inherently flawless and talented it can be really demoralizing.
"Whatever the amount, public school teachers are paid far too much." ~Stonetoss Remember that line in the unfortunate event you ever see him, or his work.
I think part of the problem is there are just as many horror stories of very bad people teaching as well as many that are just completely negligent. It's like the ones that aren't horrible are angles and it's a hard medium to get over.
Whooooaaaa this was a good video. As someone who **cough cough** almost failed a bunch of classes in 8th grade (let's say it was more than 2...and less than 4) this really hit home. There's a long and winding set of reasons why I almost didn't pass these classes. Primary among them: I didn't turn in almost any assignments for a whole year. My science teacher turned my ship around at the end of the year when he opened his grade book and showed me all the bad grades I'd received...and all of the great grades I COULD have gotten if I turned in my stuff on time. I also had a tutor give me a used copy of Sula that year that revolutionized my thought process. School is weird as heck, but being a former struggling student gives me a lot of empathy for my students and their struggles. I can see it's done the same for you friend. ~Danielle (a former 8th grade flop who now has a PhD lol)
What did you study in grad school and what did you pick for your dissertation work? (As I understand it, lots of people with a PhD don't really like to talk about their dissertation because of the immense stress they experienced for years when working on it. I understand if you don't want to say. I'm just curious about what topics and directions motivated you after having been a struggling student. More specifically, a student struggling with motivation to do the work.)
You actually are the person who introduced me to Toni Morrison's work. Your love of literature sparked a love of literature in me, and inspired me to try and now I have an MFA in Dramatic Writing.
It's always so hard when someone who shaped us in some way dies, whether we knew them or not. I hadn't heard of her until now, but I look forward to reading her work and hope to have as deep of a connection as you did (and still do)
She has a way of making you connect to her characters through time and space and cultural divides. Toni also had amazing wisdom and insight to humanity, her quotes are worth looking for as well.
I absolutely love this! I failed two classes my freshman year of high school and struggled in many others. I was told I wouldn't even make it into community college. Now I'm a junior at a great university but I still struggle to remember I am capable sometimes. Thank you for this, John.
@@antoniojuric5167 Yeah like someone else already said, there's a link in the description! It's a new poetry show with the Poetry Foundation, you should check it out!
John. I love your explanation and brief review about how The Bluest Eye made you feel. I want to read that now. I wish you would do more of these, perhaps on a separate channel, to help encourage more reading. What you said about the book was beautiful. Thanks for helping me add another book to my reading list.
I can see tears streaming down your face John, even though you didn't shed any. Thanks for recommending The Bluest Eye, I'll try to find it in my language and buy it as soon as I can.
Because John had these experiences while reading these books in high school, he has given us amazing experiences too. With Turtles All The Way Down and The Fault In Our Stars I not only read the books, but I felt all the emotion. Thank you John Green.:)
I’ve had a few times that teachers have pulled me out of the depths of apathy, and I had a very similar experience reading Toni Morrison’s Sula. Great video John.
One of my most favorite authors and one of my most favorite books. The Bluest Eye was one of the classics I reread last year and it always amazes me how just a few words can say so much, such beautiful and brilliant writing.
I too did badly in 11th grade English but mostly it was bc of undiagnosed ADHD and books that I *could not comprehend* also anxiety (we had like a persuasive speech to do and not only did our teacher barely prepare us but when I expressed my discomfort she told me I would get a 0 if I did not present and refused to accommodate me in any way without taking into account that kids in this class bullied me for my anxiety already, so I just never wrote it.)
It blows my mind that a man as eloquent and insightful as you, John, a man whose books repeatedly end up on the NYT best seller list, a man whose videos I watch and have watched since 2013 because I am constantly in awe of how often you explain things that I have struggled to articulate my whole life... _almost failed high school English._
What you said about if you hadn't had great teachers you might have dropped out caught my attention. I dropped out of school at 14 one of the reasons was because I was relentlessly bullied by English teachers despite my intense interest in the subject. I didn't get any qualifications but I continued reading and writing, this week I was a featured writer on an app I submit my work to. It makes me wonder how much further I could have gotten by now if I had someone in my corner. I think some teachers don't appreciate how much effect they actually have on the entirety of someone's life, some think it's just the duration of school but it's so much more than that. Thanks for sharing your story 😊
Off to watch the video now, just wanted to quickly say that I'm using Turtles All The Way Down to talk about mental health issues with my Mom and I'm really grateful it exists. I've been scared without an object for a long time and now might be the time to something about it. So thank you.
Watching this and thinking about how much I regret having not yet read a Toni Morrison novel before she died, I considered what great authors survive and what a shame it would be to see them go, which inevitably brought me to the thought of losing you. John Green, your thoughts are beautiful to a fault. I love them and will cherish them long after you are gone. I don’t believe in eulogies if the recipient isn’t around to hear them (an idea planted in me by one of your characters), so consider this yours. Thank you. I love you. That’s about all. Sincerely, A stranger (and yet so much more)
Dear John, I wanna say something very briefly, you made me cry. You made me cry because of the way you talked about The bluest eye, you made me cry with the beautiful words towards Toni, and most of all, you made me cry because I could feel the pain and the sorrow of losing someone you deeply respect and admire that those words carried. Thank you.
I love this. Working with kids it's hard for them to see that they are more than their grades sometimes. We as a culture put so much importance in them. But once you are an adult, none of that matters. No one since after getting into college and then graduating has asked me about my high school algebra or English grade.
I was just crying to my mom right now, on my birthday on how I barely passed physics in 11th grade (which is also my favourite subject). Then you upload this video and I am crying happy tears. This is the best birthday gift John. Thank you :)
vlogbrothers WHAT JUST HAPPENED. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD. THANK YOUUUU JOHN!!!! Thank you for everything. Hank and you have really helped me in the past year in my struggle with severe depression and chronic illness. I am forever grateful to you. Thank you so so much. DFTBA!!
I love your candor! When a person achieves a measure of success, it’s always more compelling when their shortcomings and past mistakes are apparent. Thanks for sharing!
Crash Course English Literature, along with all the other times you've talked about books on youtube, went a long way towards giving me my appreciation of the value of looking at writing critically and analytically. I've loved reading for as long as I can remember, but I'd always stuck to the most accessible books and distinctly remember saying that the way we were looking at a book in English ruined it. Listening to you over the years talk about how to access the deeper meaning in stories and poetry has made me love and understand those things that used to seem so pointless to try to live or understand. I also never used to love poetry until you decided to make Hank love poetry by reading a short poem every week on Dear Hank and John, and now I own books of it and have even tried writing it myself, with limited success. Thank you for teaching me how to love something wonderful, John.
My English teacher was not good at communicating the value of critical reading, and I thought it was a terrible way to experience art until Crash Course Literature, when John made me love the extra value you could get out of symbolism and parallels and metaphorical resonance.
There’s something so....profoundly comforting about John’s videos. Thank you for doing what you do. We read The Bluest Eye in one of my college English classes at at the time I just wanted to pass and graduate...but I look forward to a time when I choose to read it again and ACTUALLY read it. So. Once again, thank you.
Thank you for devoting a video to the memory of Toni Morrison, a true legend in the arts, and voice for the ages. Your reverence of her work is clear and while I, too, struggle to harvest the nuances of her work, your thoughts and insights have given me the permission to just enjoy what I can reap from her work or any work.
Currently studying to be a high school English teacher. I am beyond excited to attempt to get the students of the upcoming generation to see the importance of the written word and the effect it can have on your life. Toni Morrison was a master of the written word and used that mastery to exact change in the minds of readers everywhere. I look forward to someday teaching on Song of Solomon and Beloved.
I am so late to the party, but so glad I watched this. Thank you for this beautiful reflection and honoring of Toni Morrison. (I read TBE many years ago, and, as beautiful as it was, it wrecked me so bad I never read it again.) Thanks for all the wonderful things you put into the world... I'm almost finished with TAR and I don't want it to end.
Many of your recent videos talk about school, English, and the struggle but also the joy, the wonder, and the hope within. Thank you for giving me a way to share with my kids that even John Green struggled. Thank you!
YOU and your brother have been a gift to our family. My kid and I are both on the spectrum. They are in the 10th grade. You help me piece together our home school curriculum and my kid actually pays attention. Thank you so much for all of these videos. I am a low income home school mom. Ya'll's content is a huge blessing. Thank you thank you thank you.
This video reminded me so much of why I like to read. Growing up the other kids in my class would ridicule my love for reading. Telling me that I was boring, that I was kissing up to the teachers or that I just didn’t have a life. The teachers assumed that I was lonely and without friends (untrue by the way). But since I was reading about characters who were also misunderstood, I didn’t care because I knew how the story ended. I knew that what I was doing was worth doing because the hero always wins, eventually
I know this video is a year old, but I'm just now randomly watching VlogBrothers videos from all over the map and yeah. These videos are timeless. And they're truly helping this homeschool mom find her mojo. 2020 wrecked me (we lost both of my in-laws and my mother in the span of 8 months) and I have let my kids have time and space to process those losses. But we're starting to pick up the pieces and come back to life and these videos.... These videos have reminded me why we chose our path and how lucky my kids are to have the education they have. And I'm rambling. But thank you. Thank you John and Hank for helping me teach my kids for years and thank you for helping me find my way BACK to teaching them after a terrible terrible year. DFTBA
True story: The summer before my nephew began middle school, I asked him if he would be having an English class. He looked at me like I was stupid and sheepishly said, "But I speak English."
That's why I prefer the name given to the class in NYC English Language Arts or ELA, this makes it more about literature and the artistic value of it rather than about the language itself.
@@sion8 Problem is, in middle and high school, the class often includes teaching grammar and basic composition in an addition to literature. I'm talking "Fix the errors in the following sentences," and such. I like that, in college, the English classes AOL had different names for what they were: English Composition, Western Literature, etc. No more lumping it all under one class name.
@@ZipplyZane , to be fair though, that's true for all subjects of study! You've gotta start more broad to introduce the basics, then gradually split into more specialised lessons as you teach more in depth. Hence why in Kindergarten you learn all about the world in general through play, then in Primary School things get broadly categorised into lessons like "Science" for example, then only later that gets split into Biology, Chemistry, Physics... Before you take specific classes in molecular biology or control theory... The same translates to English teaching.
Master Therion, I don't get it... 🤔 So what did he call English classes in Primary School?? ...everyone in the world starts off in Primary with having the highest proportion of their weekly classes being mostly English (or whatever their respective national language) - as they learn to read and write in that language...
@@Czadzikable When I was in elementary school math and English were taught by our homeroom teacher. We didn't have "classes." It was a long time ago, I can't remember exactly how it worked. Our "English class" was probably just called grammar lessons or something. It wasn't until jr high school that we had designated classes.
Is it just me or does this sound like a perfect topic for a The Anthropocene Reviewed episode? I really really really want to hear more about this and it to be on the podcast so John, PLEASE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
When I was in 11th grade I had mental health problems (related to abuse) but I remember my English teacher assigning an Emerson essay, and as I sat there enthralled by the glorious language, she said, "I know this is boring, but you need to read it if you expect to get into a good college." I stifled my rage. I was good at stifling my rage. Me and teachers didn't get along well. I almost failed 11th grade too. And 12th. Almost.
I've been away from the Internet and didn't hear of her passing. She was an amazing author, and I am so sad to hear this news. Now I want to go read all of her books again, too. Thank you, John, for your beautiful words about her! She will be missed.
Growing up white in a mostly white, affluent, very liberal suburb, we learned about racism in history class. It seemed distant and boring like a lot of "history". Toni Morrison's books, first among others, changed that for me. They gave me what I needed to begin a long journey toward understanding race in America. It's one I haven't and probably won't ever finish but I'm grateful that she opened my eyes to it. Rest in a well deserved peace.
i read beloved in 2000 and it remains my favorite book today - even with its stream of consciousness, hard to engage portions. it changed my life forever. that’s the power of art. RIP Ms. Morrison
The Bluest Eye, too, wrecked me. It was the first thing by her that I read (though for university, not high school), and while I wasn't a failing or struggling English student, it did probably change the way I thought about books and the way I thought about the issues brought up in it. I think I would be a different person without it, and therefore, it was maybe the most powerful thing I've read the entirety of my time in university so far. Btw, like I said when I brought up the book in Tuataria, every content warning under the sun for this one. Like seriously probably everything.
I too struggled a lot with the assigned reading material in high school English, possibly in much the same way you did. Looking back on it now, I have to wonder how many neuro-diverse and mentally ill teens are made to struggle unnecessarily because of the choices made in the curriculum. I was diagnosed with ADHD and depression in ‘93 when I was 14 years old; those haven’t changed, although I can now add anxiety to that list. I know that many of the assigned works I was just not interested enough in them to be able to read them. Had the teacher found a way to get me interested in it I might have gotten through them. For others, the style threat they are written in makes a big difference. Dickens’ verbosity made me frequently read and reread paragraphs because I would forget about what was said at the beginning by the time I got to the end; oftentimes I would eventually be able to focus all the way through, only to realize that I just read a third of a page devoted to the description of an ornate doorknob. James Joyce was even more difficult to read; I have to struggle too much with my own torrent of consciousness to be able to swim up someone else’s stream. And then there were just broad categories that I got hung up on. Drama I find difficult in written form, and it seems inappropriate to try to experience it in a way that it was not meant to be. First person narratives also give me trouble, especially if written in a dialect that is particularly foreign to me. And while I do not have ASD, I know that metaphor is particularly difficult for many with it to understand. I don’t presume to have solutions for how to teach literature in a non-ableist way, but I do think that it’s an issue who’s time to be addressed has come.
Do you realise that we can understand your nuances better cause we watch your videos? Like when Aza Holmes met tuatara for the first time atleast I could connect that to one of your videos where you said you were " Obsessed with tuataras " It seems as though the nerdfighter community gets EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN( or atleast parts of it) and that's friggin' beaut. Love your work ✨
In college when the professors tried to apply certain meaning to different books or passages, I always just wondered if the author just wrote it without any underlying message or meaning and wanted to stop trying to force some deep meaning to it and just enjoy it for what it was. The Bluest Eye sticks with you. Beloved is also one that you won’t forget. RIP Toni Morrison. This librarian will continue to share your words. ❤️
The amazing thing is how true all of those things John lists about what a novel should be is what his novels feel to me. John, your books really changed my life.
I love English so much that want to graduate with a degree in it, yet it has become my torment. I am in English AP (11th grade) class, which can be challenging, however it's my classmates that make me want to get out. They are far more intelligent, attractive and wealthy than I am. I come from a different country and I have known hunger and fear at a very young age. Being around people who haven't been through that has made me grow this self doubt that stops me from being who I truly am. They treat me differently and always look down on me. I had been complemented on my writing, but I'm not the brightest student when it comes to being compared to them.
John, I just want to make sure you are aware of this. The exact sensation you speak about in this video; having your eyes and heart opened books, reading and the whole literary world happened to me too. For me, it happened with a little book called "Looking For Alaska". You absolutely provided me with this revelation/sensation and I will be eternally grateful! Keep writing John, and dftba!
Thank you for the reminder about how much a good teacher can make a difference. I had several teachers in high school who were somehow able to find me lovable & promising, even when the prevailing wisdom about me was that I was dangerous & crazy (and that that phrasing was synonymous and acceptable). I am very, very grateful to them.
I got a D in my second semester of freshman English partly because I had moved part way through the year and partly because my teacher (as I have learned from other of her students) makes it purposefully difficult to get all the work done. And again in second semester of sophomore English my class switched teachers and all we did in the new class was bookwork and I was dealing with recently diagnosed ADHD and couldn't get any of the work done without literally hurting my head. It was awful but the next year I was on ADHD medication and got an A in both semesters of AP English. I also had teachers both semesters who wanted to help students and do interesting things. I love books and reading and writing but I've had some classes that tried to crush that love.
Reading Beloved for the first time transformed language into a visceral experience for me. It is the most painful work I have ever endured, especially now as a mother, but it is also my favorite. I savor Morrison's works for times where I need a reminder of why I love reading, and I am so thankful for how she has contributed to the world.
Why does literally anything John says in his videos give me chills? I love hearing about where he got his enthusiasm from reading. Shows the importance of having good teachers who care about their students.
I used to love reading and writing. I was always exceptional for my age, I was reading a book a day when I was 8 or 9, sometimes a couple in the summer. I had an English teacher for two years in high school that had a personal vendetta against me for reasons I still do not know. She would do whatever she could to call me out in front of the class just for the sake of embarrassing me. She graded my papers way harsher than everyone else's. I failed one of the classes simply because I could not bring myself to try when I knew I was just going to fail anyways. It changed the way I felt about literature and school in general. Ironically my photography teacher was exactly the same and photography was an even bigger passion of mine. My saving graces were my English teacher senior year of high school and freshman year of college. Senior year we studied a lot of poetry and even phoning it in, my teacher pulled me aside and told me he thought I had a lot of potential and asked if I had written a lot of poetry in my spare time. I hadn't, I hated it, I thought it was too basic to just rhyme some words together, but he taught me how much more there is to it. In recent years I've found writing poetry and prose to be one of the ways I combat my mental illnesses. Then in college, while I may not have enjoyed the teacher or the essays we were required to write for the class, the few chances I was given to just create something completely free of restrictions or guidelines, he told me he thought I was a gifted writer. I hate that at 27 my dyslexia is worse than it's ever been, making it that much harder to both read and write the way I used to. Depression hasn't done my imagination and memory any favors either, but I've written two novels, a handful of novellas, a book of poetry I'm really proud of, and I'm working on a novel loosely based on my life that's been helping me unpack a lot of my traumas and discover who I want to be. I'm not published and I probably never will be but I live for the moments I write something that make me feel the same way reading incredible passages of books do. I'm glad I never gave it up.
I read The Bluest Eye the week my grandmother died and I had all the feelings. Considering rereading it in my book club this fall. I was also pulled out of apathy by my second grade teacher who challenged me to read something more complex than I was reading at the time. Since then, my love of the written word has gotten me through some of the toughest times in my life, my love of art has taught me to see beauty after pain, and my love of music has healed my soul. I have been forever grateful to the people who first gave me those things, who taught me to love, and to create.
I can understand the struggle in English class and in school in general. As a dyslexic, I grew up with those struggles and I was very lucky to have people who supported and helped me overcome my dyslexia. It’s still there, but I have worked so hard to now appreciate books and the stories they have to tell. Rest In Peace Toni Morrison. May God bless you.
Looking For Alaska was my version of the life changing book. I read it in one sitting, the summer after 10th grade. Once finished, I sat in the profound knowledge that I would never be the same. It forced me to see another form of sadness, of how life is unjust and unexpected outside of what I knew. It made my problems seem small, but also let me feel less alone in them. Thank you, John Green, for being that author for me.
I read "The Bluest Eye" last year in my 12th grade Writing Fellows class as part of an independent project. I analyzed how the popular cultural references illustrated Pecola's sense of internalized racism throughout the novel. When I first picked up the book, I was just expecting it to be like the other books I read in English class. But this book made me understand myself better like other English books could not and also understand how much racism actually pervades every part of society. The book became one of my favorites, and the essay became one of the essays that I am most proud of.
I believe every reader remembers the moment where it clicked for them: that first book that really changed their life and how it made them feel. I love hearing about those moments. And funnily enough, I too first read Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved during the summer after my 11th grade year and wow. Everyone needs to read those books.
As someone who is struggling to write essays for college, this made me realise that what I am doing might make me a better informed or insightful person or this may actually be something useful
Japita 11 don’t get too discouraged, if you’re just talking about undergrad, most colleges don’t even look at the essays unless your grades and test scores are on the borderline of being able to get you in. If it’s for admission a specific degree program, or for graduate school, that’s a different story. But still, don’t stress, grades and test scores are still the most important factors, and as for the essay, quality of the writing is more important than the actual content.
I always feel like these vlog brother videos are a tiny corner of reason and sincerity and safety in a world that often lacks so much of so much. I hope their worth is always recognized and the appreciation is felt by those who make them.
I'll forever be grateful that I can count the number of teachers that inspired and motivated me on both my hands. They all fostered so much deep understanding in me for many subjects. I felt their zeal for what they loved.
Hi. People of Minneapolis and Madison, we hope to see you this weekend: www.hankandjohn.com/appearances
Also, if you want to read books with an awesome community, subscriptions to Life's Library are currently available: store.dftba.com/collections/lifes-library-book-club
Furthermore, did you know we have a poetry show with the Poetry Foundation debuting next month? ua-cam.com/video/Gw-vpKGVVvU/v-deo.html
Lastly, if you haven't read Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, I hope you will! And also her other books. And if you have, I'd love for you to share what her books have meant to you. I know they've meant an awful lot to me. Thanks for being here. -John
I am very excited to see you’re doing a poetry series! I’m confused by how much poetry seems to mean to me at the most unexpected times and places. I can’t wait to hear people caress the words with care in their voice.
I read Beloved by Toni Morrison as part of my 12th grade AP Lit class. It was the first book we read that year that wasn’t going to have graded annotations, and I was so glad because I could just read, annotate the way I wanted, and enjoy the story. It made me cry. It was my favorite book I read in that class. I didn’t end up passing the AP exam but I’m still glad I took the class because otherwise I never would’ve read stories like that.
Toni Morrison on the Anthropocene reviewed could be a perfect rating.
Do you have a teleprompter or are you actually that well spoken? Holy shit dude that's inspiring in its own right.
I will see you in Madison! So excited! ❤️
There’s something very motivational about John struggling with English and going on to be a successful writer
Agreed.
He didn't struggle with it, he just wasn't interested. A common thread among talented people that could throw that talent away and never use their potential
Agree!! @Agis becoming passionate about something you once showed indifference to and then sharing that journey, inspires me
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As someone currently struggling to be Batman...yes, yes it is!
“That’s why metaphor exists, not to torture high school English students, but to make the dull bright, thee old new, and the distant close.”
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"I'd known, of course, that the world was unjust--but reading The Bluest Eye, I *felt* it." This is a huge reason why I read. Thank you for putting it into words.
I had the same reaction to "Their Eyes Were Watching God" and "Persepolis". They've stuck with me ever since
@@Margles349 we read their eyes were watching God in 11th or 12th grade (i had the same AMAZING teacher for both) and I still think about it today.
Autumn Berthold teehee got u too 1k
@@kmcintyre9486 oh wow, thanks haha!
Bluest Eye was fantastic.
John: "I liked this book"
Me: add to cart
Not an Amazon cart though, but a second hand book online shop
Ohrwein what’s a good example of that ? I’ve been trying to look around for one
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@@dancollins3999 World of Books is my go to online second hand bookshop :)
@@dancollins3999 i like abebooks !
"Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names." This really resonated with me; I've felt the relief of finding words for things that I couldn't explain so many times in my life.
And, I've felt the relief of finding escape, in words, from things that I couldn't explain so many times in my life. This resonated with me, too.
For nearly 30 years I’ve struggled with a sleep disorder that I never knew even existed until a few short years ago.
I have no idea how I stumbled upon it, but when reading the descriptions and symptoms I found myself shaking and fighting back tears, as this lumbering beast that held me down for so long was finally given a name, a thing I could point at and use to explain to others.
The medical blurb I was reading continued on to say that people discovering that they were affected by it had a physical emotional response, and often wept or broke down upon finally having a name for their previously unknown disorder.
Having a word or name to describe something is so much more powerful and real. Just by giving something a name, it brings with it a whole cultural relevance and awareness, as now other people have witnessed and understood it without ever having met you or known of your experiences.
Language and writing have always been a pastime and hobby of mine, and that one quote might be the single most powerful concept in all of humanity that I’ve ever encountered.
@@wokeupinapanic Thank you for giving an example of exactly what I mean, I can tell you write :) And yes, I completely agree with you on the power of this idea. Language validates us and our experiences of the world, it's one of the few things that makes us truly different from other animals on this planet. Hope you're managing your disorder better these day :)
Laura McKinlay - Thank you, and thank you for not being weirded out by my oversharing 😂
I actually just went to the doctor this morning and will hopefully be getting on this new medication that might help, so here’s hoping! (It’s incredibly expensive [~$15,000 for a 30 day supply] so I may not be able to afford it if it isn’t covered)
@@wokeupinapanic it genuinely breaks my heart when I hear people say they might not be able to afford meds (or whatever), I'm in the UK and I am so grateful to have the NHS; I don't know if I'd still be here without it. I have everything crossed for you.
His being that students must attend class and mine being that "eh.."
*_mood_*
Beloved is the kind of book you feel the need to read out loud even if nobody is with you just to peel away every syllable of beautiful prose.
saltedsandman agree!!! I’ve read it aloud to my husband for this very reason!
Omg, so true! Toni Morrison's writing is so gorgeous, I just want to stop and soak in every word.
TATWD was so great, and the best thing was that it really allows one to understand anxiety and OCD and prior to reading it, I never understood what a “thought spiral” was. The metaphors worked.
Thanks. That means a lot to me. -John
Shreya G I felt this too. The best depiction of anxiety I’ve ever read. The idea that she was anxious without a subject for her anxiety really hit me. It made my anxiety make more sense to me.
What's the full form of TATWD?
@@saimalishahid1406 Turtles All The Way Down
@@agrawal.akash9702 Thanks. I think the book may describe my experience too.
"John has reached a juncture where he just can't mail it in anymore" is an excellent description of my 11th grade year.
That was me during senior year. And, like John, I was lucky enough to have a teacher who cared enough to notice. When we went on a field trip to see a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, he placed me in the front row. To this day, I still don't know if it's because he noticed I was struggling with Shakespeare, because I had accommodations for sitting at the front of his classroom, or because he knew I loved theatre, but it worked regardless.
but your name is sam
Swee Lee Who told you that!
perfectly describes 8th grade me.
same, fuckin yikes on my 11th grade year
Having just finished the Anthropocene Reviewed I was expecting John to say "I give Toni Morrison 5 stars"
Me too!
Dang it, John, the efficiency with which you can get me to cry on a Tuesday afternoon is impressive. Thank goodness you're only allowed four minutes.
Then there's The Anthropocene Reviewed. Me after most episodes: 😭
If it makes you feel any better, I also cried several times while recording this one. -John
@@vlogbrothers I could tell. It's nice to know we're not crying alone.
If your 11th grade teacher could see you now and your seven publish books😂
They're probably happy they did it
Their student became a New York times best selling author. What English teacher wouldn't be super proud.
I'm guessing they probably do see :-) Most teachers from around that time will still be alive and John has become big enough of a deal that it would be hard to miss, especially as the family still has ties to the area.
NO JOHN. MY 11TH GRADE ENGLISH CLASS DOES NOT START FOR ANOTHER WEEK. I DON'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.
OH NO MINE STARTS IN TWO DAYS I’LL SCREAM FOREVER WITH YOU
i passed 11th grade english for summer school
Laura DFTBA Mine starts tomorrow ahhhhhhh
I am excited for mine
Same
2:43 "I was wasting opportunities that many people are never given."
Thanks John. Last week I asked for a book recommendation in the comments but I didn't expect you to go and make a whole video about it...
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I nearly failed high school, secondary school and university because of mental health. But I made it and its one of the biggest and proudest moments in my life. Ocd nearly killed me but if hasn't
I’m going through the same thing right now... I’m going into senior year, and high school has been hell for me so far due to mental health. My therapist has even picked up on signs that I might have OCD; I don’t have a diagnosis yet though, but I’m hoping for the best so I can get proper treatment. Anyway, your comment gave me a bit of hope, so I thank you.
Lily R mental health isn't a roller coaster that only goes up. In fact I had a breakdown only this week, but I can assure you that if I didn't have a diagnosis, a therapist and medications to control my bad mental health I'd be dead now. I'm sorry that you're going through something similar. It sucks and I wish you the best. Acknowledging it and doing something about it is the not only the first, but the most important step. (sorry I have not English keyboard)
I have OCD, I'm certain of it but people either don't believe it or understand it and I don't have access to a therapist. I think watching Vlogbrothers are 8 minutes of each week that I cherish and they give me hope and make me feel loved. I'm glad you came through and with all the love I get from my family and friends, I think I'll be fine.
NotWinter Yeah, it’s definitely been very up and down for me, and I feel lucky to be alive right now. I’m hopeful because of the recent progress in therapy though :)
Yash Shah can you seek therapy through school or work insurance? I don't know how old you are. Even going to the doctor! (im lucky and live in Europe so it's very accessible) if not I'm sure there's some great online resources or management advice on the Internet / UA-cam. Educating yourself and having a great support system is very important. Also knowing that youre not alone
It is so important for us to have cultural leaders like Toni Morrison and teachers like yours.
_"Language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names."_
-Toni Morrison (1931-2019), R.I.P.
I wish more successful people would talk about their setbacks. When the only successful people you see appear to be inherently flawless and talented it can be really demoralizing.
I feel like this shows how much teachers affect people’s lives...teachers are paid so little for such an influencing job and that’s concerning
"Whatever the amount, public school teachers are paid far too much." ~Stonetoss
Remember that line in the unfortunate event you ever see him, or his work.
affect ...
@@ownedbystark4810 Lol the irony. I missed that I'll fix it.
@@reagan8888 it happens to the best of us lol :)
I think part of the problem is there are just as many horror stories of very bad people teaching as well as many that are just completely negligent. It's like the ones that aren't horrible are angles and it's a hard medium to get over.
Whooooaaaa this was a good video. As someone who **cough cough** almost failed a bunch of classes in 8th grade (let's say it was more than 2...and less than 4) this really hit home. There's a long and winding set of reasons why I almost didn't pass these classes. Primary among them: I didn't turn in almost any assignments for a whole year. My science teacher turned my ship around at the end of the year when he opened his grade book and showed me all the bad grades I'd received...and all of the great grades I COULD have gotten if I turned in my stuff on time. I also had a tutor give me a used copy of Sula that year that revolutionized my thought process. School is weird as heck, but being a former struggling student gives me a lot of empathy for my students and their struggles. I can see it's done the same for you friend.
~Danielle (a former 8th grade flop who now has a PhD lol)
Was it 3?
@@General12th one of the classes was Algebra so it could be 3...but I wasn't particularly talented at solving for 'x'. So the world may never know!
What did you study in grad school and what did you pick for your dissertation work?
(As I understand it, lots of people with a PhD don't really like to talk about their dissertation because of the immense stress they experienced for years when working on it. I understand if you don't want to say. I'm just curious about what topics and directions motivated you after having been a struggling student. More specifically, a student struggling with motivation to do the work.)
Your english teacher should send you a copy of looking for Alaska with a note in it with the letter «A»
Actually, I think John should send his English teacher a copy and tell him/her thank you for giving him a chance. 🤷🏻♀️🙃
@@shellyellyo + precisely
You are EVERYWHERE
nice!
@@shellyellyo I agree. And then he should send him back a marked rubric with an A :)
Is there ever going to be a video on this channel that I'm not gonna like and watch twice in a row?! Probably not.
Awww thanks! -John
Take two. They’re small ^_^
You actually are the person who introduced me to Toni Morrison's work. Your love of literature sparked a love of literature in me, and inspired me to try and now I have an MFA in Dramatic Writing.
Oh wow that is so lovely to hear! -John
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Moments like this make me proud to be an English teacher. :)
Good! Your job is vitally important to society.
I loved my English teachers (and still do) so much. You should be proud.
get a real job
@@SUpersaiyajinjerkbag lmao
I really needed this video John
(holding a cigarette) its a metaphor ❤️ I love The Fault in Our Stars along with your other work John and also Hank’s book! DFTBA
It's always so hard when someone who shaped us in some way dies, whether we knew them or not. I hadn't heard of her until now, but I look forward to reading her work and hope to have as deep of a connection as you did (and still do)
Saskia Thompson she does not disappoint!
She has a way of making you connect to her characters through time and space and cultural divides. Toni also had amazing wisdom and insight to humanity, her quotes are worth looking for as well.
I absolutely love this!
I failed two classes my freshman year of high school and struggled in many others. I was told I wouldn't even make it into community college. Now I'm a junior at a great university but I still struggle to remember I am capable sometimes.
Thank you for this, John.
On behalf of that English teacher, thanks for realizing this.
I hope that you truly appreciate that you are some people's Morrison. Thank you, John.
Soooo excited for the new poetry show! Thanks so much for everything you do
Autumn Berthold what about poetry show? 😅
Antonio Jurić there's a link in the description
@@antoniojuric5167 Yeah like someone else already said, there's a link in the description! It's a new poetry show with the Poetry Foundation, you should check it out!
John. I love your explanation and brief review about how The Bluest Eye made you feel. I want to read that now. I wish you would do more of these, perhaps on a separate channel, to help encourage more reading. What you said about the book was beautiful. Thanks for helping me add another book to my reading list.
This is one of the moments I wish I could “love” a video instead of just “liking” it...
I can see tears streaming down your face John, even though you didn't shed any. Thanks for recommending The Bluest Eye, I'll try to find it in my language and buy it as soon as I can.
Because John had these experiences while reading these books in high school, he has given us amazing experiences too. With Turtles All The Way Down and The Fault In Our Stars I not only read the books, but I felt all the emotion. Thank you John Green.:)
Vlogbrothers is an oasis of calm for me and I love it very much
I’ve had a few times that teachers have pulled me out of the depths of apathy, and I had a very similar experience reading Toni Morrison’s Sula. Great video John.
your writing is part of why i first came to love metaphors and language. thank you for always putting my thoughts into words 💕
One of my most favorite authors and one of my most favorite books. The Bluest Eye was one of the classics I reread last year and it always amazes me how just a few words can say so much, such beautiful and brilliant writing.
Wow I really needed this. Knowing that one of my favorite writers has struggled with the same things I do just gives me so much hope. Thank you, John.
I too did badly in 11th grade English
but mostly it was bc of undiagnosed ADHD and books that I *could not comprehend*
also anxiety
(we had like a persuasive speech to do and not only did our teacher barely prepare us but when I expressed my discomfort she told me I would get a 0 if I did not present and refused to accommodate me in any way without taking into account that kids in this class bullied me for my anxiety already, so I just never wrote it.)
It blows my mind that a man as eloquent and insightful as you, John, a man whose books repeatedly end up on the NYT best seller list, a man whose videos I watch and have watched since 2013 because I am constantly in awe of how often you explain things that I have struggled to articulate my whole life... _almost failed high school English._
What you said about if you hadn't had great teachers you might have dropped out caught my attention. I dropped out of school at 14 one of the reasons was because I was relentlessly bullied by English teachers despite my intense interest in the subject. I didn't get any qualifications but I continued reading and writing, this week I was a featured writer on an app I submit my work to. It makes me wonder how much further I could have gotten by now if I had someone in my corner. I think some teachers don't appreciate how much effect they actually have on the entirety of someone's life, some think it's just the duration of school but it's so much more than that. Thanks for sharing your story 😊
Off to watch the video now, just wanted to quickly say that I'm using Turtles All The Way Down to talk about mental health issues with my Mom and I'm really grateful it exists. I've been scared without an object for a long time and now might be the time to something about it. So thank you.
Watching this and thinking about how much I regret having not yet read a Toni Morrison novel before she died, I considered what great authors survive and what a shame it would be to see them go, which inevitably brought me to the thought of losing you. John Green, your thoughts are beautiful to a fault. I love them and will cherish them long after you are gone. I don’t believe in eulogies if the recipient isn’t around to hear them (an idea planted in me by one of your characters), so consider this yours. Thank you. I love you. That’s about all.
Sincerely,
A stranger (and yet so much more)
Dear John, I wanna say something very briefly, you made me cry.
You made me cry because of the way you talked about The bluest eye, you made me cry with the beautiful words towards Toni, and most of all, you made me cry because I could feel the pain and the sorrow of losing someone you deeply respect and admire that those words carried.
Thank you.
I love this. Working with kids it's hard for them to see that they are more than their grades sometimes. We as a culture put so much importance in them. But once you are an adult, none of that matters. No one since after getting into college and then graduating has asked me about my high school algebra or English grade.
I was just crying to my mom right now, on my birthday on how I barely passed physics in 11th grade (which is also my favourite subject). Then you upload this video and I am crying happy tears.
This is the best birthday gift John. Thank you :)
Happy Birthday! -John
vlogbrothers WHAT JUST HAPPENED. OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD.
THANK YOUUUU JOHN!!!! Thank you for everything. Hank and you have really helped me in the past year in my struggle with severe depression and chronic illness. I am forever grateful to you. Thank you so so much. DFTBA!!
Also, I am really excited for the poetry channel!! Can't wait.
I love your candor! When a person achieves a measure of success, it’s always more compelling when their shortcomings and past mistakes are apparent. Thanks for sharing!
The subtle emotional tone of John's voice when he talked about Morrison :(
I felt it.
Thank you John, you seem to speak the thought and ideas portrayed by many but only you can make it so relatable.
Crash Course English Literature, along with all the other times you've talked about books on youtube, went a long way towards giving me my appreciation of the value of looking at writing critically and analytically. I've loved reading for as long as I can remember, but I'd always stuck to the most accessible books and distinctly remember saying that the way we were looking at a book in English ruined it.
Listening to you over the years talk about how to access the deeper meaning in stories and poetry has made me love and understand those things that used to seem so pointless to try to live or understand. I also never used to love poetry until you decided to make Hank love poetry by reading a short poem every week on Dear Hank and John, and now I own books of it and have even tried writing it myself, with limited success.
Thank you for teaching me how to love something wonderful, John.
My English teacher was not good at communicating the value of critical reading, and I thought it was a terrible way to experience art until Crash Course Literature, when John made me love the extra value you could get out of symbolism and parallels and metaphorical resonance.
There’s something so....profoundly comforting about John’s videos. Thank you for doing what you do. We read The Bluest Eye in one of my college English classes at at the time I just wanted to pass and graduate...but I look forward to a time when I choose to read it again and ACTUALLY read it. So. Once again, thank you.
Thank you for devoting a video to the memory of Toni Morrison, a true legend in the arts, and voice for the ages. Your reverence of her work is clear and while I, too, struggle to harvest the nuances of her work, your thoughts and insights have given me the permission to just enjoy what I can reap from her work or any work.
Metaphors are everywhere, everyday.
Glad to share this community with John and Hank and Nerdfighteria.
Currently studying to be a high school English teacher. I am beyond excited to attempt to get the students of the upcoming generation to see the importance of the written word and the effect it can have on your life. Toni Morrison was a master of the written word and used that mastery to exact change in the minds of readers everywhere. I look forward to someday teaching on Song of Solomon and Beloved.
That's great to hear. Good luck with your studies! -John
I am so late to the party, but so glad I watched this. Thank you for this beautiful reflection and honoring of Toni Morrison. (I read TBE many years ago, and, as beautiful as it was, it wrecked me so bad I never read it again.) Thanks for all the wonderful things you put into the world... I'm almost finished with TAR and I don't want it to end.
Many of your recent videos talk about school, English, and the struggle but also the joy, the wonder, and the hope within. Thank you for giving me a way to share with my kids that even John Green struggled. Thank you!
YOU and your brother have been a gift to our family. My kid and I are both on the spectrum. They are in the 10th grade. You help me piece together our home school curriculum and my kid actually pays attention. Thank you so much for all of these videos. I am a low income home school mom. Ya'll's content is a huge blessing. Thank you thank you thank you.
This video reminded me so much of why I like to read. Growing up the other kids in my class would ridicule my love for reading. Telling me that I was boring, that I was kissing up to the teachers or that I just didn’t have a life. The teachers assumed that I was lonely and without friends (untrue by the way). But since I was reading about characters who were also misunderstood, I didn’t care because I knew how the story ended. I knew that what I was doing was worth doing because the hero always wins, eventually
I know this video is a year old, but I'm just now randomly watching VlogBrothers videos from all over the map and yeah. These videos are timeless. And they're truly helping this homeschool mom find her mojo. 2020 wrecked me (we lost both of my in-laws and my mother in the span of 8 months) and I have let my kids have time and space to process those losses. But we're starting to pick up the pieces and come back to life and these videos.... These videos have reminded me why we chose our path and how lucky my kids are to have the education they have. And I'm rambling. But thank you. Thank you John and Hank for helping me teach my kids for years and thank you for helping me find my way BACK to teaching them after a terrible terrible year. DFTBA
True story: The summer before my nephew began middle school, I asked him if he would be having an English class. He looked at me like I was stupid and sheepishly said, "But I speak English."
That's why I prefer the name given to the class in NYC English Language Arts or ELA, this makes it more about literature and the artistic value of it rather than about the language itself.
@@sion8 Problem is, in middle and high school, the class often includes teaching grammar and basic composition in an addition to literature. I'm talking "Fix the errors in the following sentences," and such.
I like that, in college, the English classes AOL had different names for what they were: English Composition, Western Literature, etc. No more lumping it all under one class name.
@@ZipplyZane , to be fair though, that's true for all subjects of study! You've gotta start more broad to introduce the basics, then gradually split into more specialised lessons as you teach more in depth. Hence why in Kindergarten you learn all about the world in general through play, then in Primary School things get broadly categorised into lessons like "Science" for example, then only later that gets split into Biology, Chemistry, Physics... Before you take specific classes in molecular biology or control theory... The same translates to English teaching.
Master Therion, I don't get it... 🤔 So what did he call English classes in Primary School??
...everyone in the world starts off in Primary with having the highest proportion of their weekly classes being mostly English (or whatever their respective national language) - as they learn to read and write in that language...
@@Czadzikable When I was in elementary school math and English were taught by our homeroom teacher. We didn't have "classes." It was a long time ago, I can't remember exactly how it worked. Our "English class" was probably just called grammar lessons or something.
It wasn't until jr high school that we had designated classes.
Is it just me or does this sound like a perfect topic for a The Anthropocene Reviewed episode?
I really really really want to hear more about this and it to be on the podcast so John, PLEASE MAKE IT HAPPEN.
When I was in 11th grade I had mental health problems (related to abuse) but I remember my English teacher assigning an Emerson essay, and as I sat there enthralled by the glorious language, she said, "I know this is boring, but you need to read it if you expect to get into a good college."
I stifled my rage. I was good at stifling my rage.
Me and teachers didn't get along well.
I almost failed 11th grade too. And 12th. Almost.
I've been away from the Internet and didn't hear of her passing. She was an amazing author, and I am so sad to hear this news. Now I want to go read all of her books again, too. Thank you, John, for your beautiful words about her! She will be missed.
Growing up white in a mostly white, affluent, very liberal suburb, we learned about racism in history class. It seemed distant and boring like a lot of "history". Toni Morrison's books, first among others, changed that for me. They gave me what I needed to begin a long journey toward understanding race in America. It's one I haven't and probably won't ever finish but I'm grateful that she opened my eyes to it. Rest in a well deserved peace.
i read beloved in 2000 and it remains my favorite book today - even with its stream of consciousness, hard to engage portions. it changed my life forever. that’s the power of art. RIP Ms. Morrison
And there it is, another John Green video that when finished, leaves me looking out the window at the inside of my head.
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Thanks John for motivating me to get started on my summer reading
The Bluest Eye, too, wrecked me. It was the first thing by her that I read (though for university, not high school), and while I wasn't a failing or struggling English student, it did probably change the way I thought about books and the way I thought about the issues brought up in it. I think I would be a different person without it, and therefore, it was maybe the most powerful thing I've read the entirety of my time in university so far.
Btw, like I said when I brought up the book in Tuataria, every content warning under the sun for this one. Like seriously probably everything.
I too struggled a lot with the assigned reading material in high school English, possibly in much the same way you did. Looking back on it now, I have to wonder how many neuro-diverse and mentally ill teens are made to struggle unnecessarily because of the choices made in the curriculum. I was diagnosed with ADHD and depression in ‘93 when I was 14 years old; those haven’t changed, although I can now add anxiety to that list. I know that many of the assigned works I was just not interested enough in them to be able to read them. Had the teacher found a way to get me interested in it I might have gotten through them. For others, the style threat they are written in makes a big difference. Dickens’ verbosity made me frequently read and reread paragraphs because I would forget about what was said at the beginning by the time I got to the end; oftentimes I would eventually be able to focus all the way through, only to realize that I just read a third of a page devoted to the description of an ornate doorknob. James Joyce was even more difficult to read; I have to struggle too much with my own torrent of consciousness to be able to swim up someone else’s stream. And then there were just broad categories that I got hung up on. Drama I find difficult in written form, and it seems inappropriate to try to experience it in a way that it was not meant to be. First person narratives also give me trouble, especially if written in a dialect that is particularly foreign to me. And while I do not have ASD, I know that metaphor is particularly difficult for many with it to understand. I don’t presume to have solutions for how to teach literature in a non-ableist way, but I do think that it’s an issue who’s time to be addressed has come.
Do you realise that we can understand your nuances better cause we watch your videos? Like when Aza Holmes met tuatara for the first time atleast I could connect that to one of your videos where you said you were " Obsessed with tuataras " It seems as though the nerdfighter community gets EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN( or atleast parts of it) and that's friggin' beaut. Love your work ✨
In college when the professors tried to apply certain meaning to different books or passages, I always just wondered if the author just wrote it without any underlying message or meaning and wanted to stop trying to force some deep meaning to it and just enjoy it for what it was. The Bluest Eye sticks with you. Beloved is also one that you won’t forget. RIP Toni Morrison. This librarian will continue to share your words. ❤️
The amazing thing is how true all of those things John lists about what a novel should be is what his novels feel to me. John, your books really changed my life.
I love English so much that want to graduate with a degree in it, yet it has become my torment. I am in English AP (11th grade) class, which can be challenging, however it's my classmates that make me want to get out. They are far more intelligent, attractive and wealthy than I am. I come from a different country and I have known hunger and fear at a very young age. Being around people who haven't been through that has made me grow this self doubt that stops me from being who I truly am. They treat me differently and always look down on me. I had been complemented on my writing, but I'm not the brightest student when it comes to being compared to them.
John, I just want to make sure you are aware of this. The exact sensation you speak about in this video; having your eyes and heart opened books, reading and the whole literary world happened to me too. For me, it happened with a little book called "Looking For Alaska". You absolutely provided me with this revelation/sensation and I will be eternally grateful! Keep writing John, and dftba!
*”the books survive they go on helping readers young and old see the world more clearly”* ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for the reminder about how much a good teacher can make a difference. I had several teachers in high school who were somehow able to find me lovable & promising, even when the prevailing wisdom about me was that I was dangerous & crazy (and that that phrasing was synonymous and acceptable). I am very, very grateful to them.
I got a D in my second semester of freshman English partly because I had moved part way through the year and partly because my teacher (as I have learned from other of her students) makes it purposefully difficult to get all the work done. And again in second semester of sophomore English my class switched teachers and all we did in the new class was bookwork and I was dealing with recently diagnosed ADHD and couldn't get any of the work done without literally hurting my head. It was awful but the next year I was on ADHD medication and got an A in both semesters of AP English. I also had teachers both semesters who wanted to help students and do interesting things. I love books and reading and writing but I've had some classes that tried to crush that love.
But you didn't let them crush it, and now you're kicking butt in AP English. You deserve to feel proud.
Reading Beloved for the first time transformed language into a visceral experience for me. It is the most painful work I have ever endured, especially now as a mother, but it is also my favorite. I savor Morrison's works for times where I need a reminder of why I love reading, and I am so thankful for how she has contributed to the world.
Why does literally anything John says in his videos give me chills? I love hearing about where he got his enthusiasm from reading. Shows the importance of having good teachers who care about their students.
I used to love reading and writing. I was always exceptional for my age, I was reading a book a day when I was 8 or 9, sometimes a couple in the summer. I had an English teacher for two years in high school that had a personal vendetta against me for reasons I still do not know. She would do whatever she could to call me out in front of the class just for the sake of embarrassing me. She graded my papers way harsher than everyone else's. I failed one of the classes simply because I could not bring myself to try when I knew I was just going to fail anyways. It changed the way I felt about literature and school in general. Ironically my photography teacher was exactly the same and photography was an even bigger passion of mine. My saving graces were my English teacher senior year of high school and freshman year of college. Senior year we studied a lot of poetry and even phoning it in, my teacher pulled me aside and told me he thought I had a lot of potential and asked if I had written a lot of poetry in my spare time. I hadn't, I hated it, I thought it was too basic to just rhyme some words together, but he taught me how much more there is to it. In recent years I've found writing poetry and prose to be one of the ways I combat my mental illnesses. Then in college, while I may not have enjoyed the teacher or the essays we were required to write for the class, the few chances I was given to just create something completely free of restrictions or guidelines, he told me he thought I was a gifted writer. I hate that at 27 my dyslexia is worse than it's ever been, making it that much harder to both read and write the way I used to. Depression hasn't done my imagination and memory any favors either, but I've written two novels, a handful of novellas, a book of poetry I'm really proud of, and I'm working on a novel loosely based on my life that's been helping me unpack a lot of my traumas and discover who I want to be. I'm not published and I probably never will be but I live for the moments I write something that make me feel the same way reading incredible passages of books do. I'm glad I never gave it up.
I read The Bluest Eye the week my grandmother died and I had all the feelings. Considering rereading it in my book club this fall.
I was also pulled out of apathy by my second grade teacher who challenged me to read something more complex than I was reading at the time. Since then, my love of the written word has gotten me through some of the toughest times in my life, my love of art has taught me to see beauty after pain, and my love of music has healed my soul. I have been forever grateful to the people who first gave me those things, who taught me to love, and to create.
I can understand the struggle in English class and in school in general. As a dyslexic, I grew up with those struggles and I was very lucky to have people who supported and helped me overcome my dyslexia. It’s still there, but I have worked so hard to now appreciate books and the stories they have to tell. Rest In Peace Toni Morrison. May God bless you.
The Bluest eye is my favorite book and your words about it, John, really put it into clarity for me and I am forever grateful
Looking For Alaska was my version of the life changing book. I read it in one sitting, the summer after 10th grade. Once finished, I sat in the profound knowledge that I would never be the same. It forced me to see another form of sadness, of how life is unjust and unexpected outside of what I knew. It made my problems seem small, but also let me feel less alone in them. Thank you, John Green, for being that author for me.
I read "The Bluest Eye" last year in my 12th grade Writing Fellows class as part of an independent project. I analyzed how the popular cultural references illustrated Pecola's sense of internalized racism throughout the novel. When I first picked up the book, I was just expecting it to be like the other books I read in English class. But this book made me understand myself better like other English books could not and also understand how much racism actually pervades every part of society. The book became one of my favorites, and the essay became one of the essays that I am most proud of.
I believe every reader remembers the moment where it clicked for them: that first book that really changed their life and how it made them feel. I love hearing about those moments. And funnily enough, I too first read Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and Beloved during the summer after my 11th grade year and wow. Everyone needs to read those books.
WELP. John still has the ability to make me cry. Can confirm. Beautiful tribute to Toni Morrison.
As someone who is struggling to write essays for college, this made me realise that what I am doing might make me a better informed or insightful person or this may actually be something useful
Japita 11 don’t get too discouraged, if you’re just talking about undergrad, most colleges don’t even look at the essays unless your grades and test scores are on the borderline of being able to get you in. If it’s for admission a specific degree program, or for graduate school, that’s a different story. But still, don’t stress, grades and test scores are still the most important factors, and as for the essay, quality of the writing is more important than the actual content.
ClaireP Thanks..I'll try to keep that in mind.
Your videos give me chills. They’re incredibly poetic.
I had to read Song of Solomon for IB English HL. I liked it without ever really understanding all of it.
John, what a beautiful video.
I always feel like these vlog brother videos are a tiny corner of reason and sincerity and safety in a world that often lacks so much of so much. I hope their worth is always recognized and the appreciation is felt by those who make them.
I'll forever be grateful that I can count the number of teachers that inspired and motivated me on both my hands. They all fostered so much deep understanding in me for many subjects. I felt their zeal for what they loved.
When the man who thought showing up to class was a choice and metaphors were stupid goes on to be New York times best selling author.
Johns description of how he struggled makes me realise that even when I mess up I’m ok
I struggled through Beloved but i’ll be damned if the story didn’t stick with me.
Toni Morrison taught me so much, I just admire her a lot. I’m glad we have her books for the next generation to learn from.