Returned from meeting number two of a focused book club entitled “Planet of the Humans.” The club, its organizer, and meeting location all deserve elaborate, extensive posts; not something I’m going to do quite yet. While books one and two focused on specific relationships with nature, tonight’s discussion looked specifically at human interactions with other humans. Though relying on a yet officially published book, the evening’s participants were provided with a digital manuscript for reading. Specifically looking at giant puppets in today’s protests, the conversation led to discussions of the role of the artist and the teacher as well as the nature of swarm theory and animal behavior in groups. I’m particularly interested in the larger stories being told in today’s protests – at least as described by Graeber. Speaking in generalities that do not do justice to the book’s deliberate pacing, the media and the state (as enacted by police force) are telling a story of activists and anarchists as villains. The image of the smashed Starbucks is symbol of the repugnant behavior that is a detriment to our way of life. At the same time, the other agents in the protest story, the anarchists, are trying to reframe the story – they are creating a carnival and symbolic projection of utopia through puppets and the careful reinterpretation of space; a smashed window is more than just a smashed window: it becomes a portal into other possibilities. As an English teacher, it’s these kinds of stories that I’m interested in telling. I’ve toyed with the idea of writing about the concept of the teacher as griot, something I’ve visualized for a couple years now but haven’t quite framed as something truly coherent. At the same time, I’m gearing up for (re)telling a new story with my students when I go back on track in two weeks. Maybe that story is the same one as the story discussed tonight. Really a remarkable book club and something I’m valuing for its direct application within my classroom and in relation to my own (constantly redeveloping) pedagogy. Six more books to go.