gorgeous and at times frustrating

Malick’s lyricism sometimes washes out the psychological and historical details of the narrative.

The hallmarks of Malick’s later style are here: the upward tilt of the camera to capture new vistas of sky and landscape; the brisk gliding along rivers and roads; the elegant cutting between the human and natural worlds; the reverence for music and the mistrust of speech. (The score is by James Newton Howard.)

The arresting visual beauty of “A Hidden Life,” which was shot by Joerg Widmer, is essential to its own argument, and to Franz’s ethical and spiritual rebuttal to the concerns of his persecutors and would-be allies.

The film is divided between Franz’s and Franziska’s points of view, and returns to images of them together with their three daughters against a backdrop of fields and mountains — pictures of everyday life and also of an earthly paradise that can withstand human evil.

Most of the men (and they are mostly men) who try to dissuade him act in some degree of complicity with the Nazis

He won’t take the oath of loyalty to Adolf Hitler that is required of every Austrian soldier.

Since this is a film by Terrence Malick, the arguments don’t take the usual stagy, back-and-forth, expository form.

But he has done something that people in his village and beyond find provocative,

I wish I understood it better.

The answer has to do with his goodness, a quality the movie sometimes reduces to — or expresses in terms of — his good looks.

How did he see through the ideology so completely?

The mystery — and the possible lesson for the present — dwells in the question of Franz’s motive.

The film is an affirmation of its hero’s holiness, a chronicle of goodness and suffering that is both moving and mysterious.

“They really want me to come back,” Mann said.

“It seems like China is all strict about etiquette, but they don’t have table etiquette like we do,” Mann said. “Spitting everywhere is fine.”

His host family, which included a high school student of his age, helped him feel immersed and really get into the culture.   “[My family] didn’t help me with my homework, but they spoke with me a lot, and that was probably the most important part,” Mann said.

Chinese isn’t an easy language to learn, either. There are many different dialects (practically in every city) that branch off from the main one, Mandarin.   “This is my fifth year [studying Chinese],” Mann said. “I started with a tutor who was an Iowa State grad student.”

“I sent an application in [last] fall, and got past that, and then there was an interview,” Mann said.

Traveling abroad, like Mann did this summer to Suzhou, China, can be very expensive and short-lived. However, this one was completely on a scholarship, and he learned more than his fair share as well.

After a 36 hour trip across the Pacific ocean, junior Aaron Mann did a headfirst dive into a country where he only knew the language and how long he’d be there: six weeks.

Aaron “Mann”darin conquers China

I am able to have a 15 minute talk with a student before/after school or during lunch, address whatever they feel like they want to address, and that small act of listening tells that student that I am there for them. This has lead to not only improved behavior in my classroom, but better academics for those students because they feel a sense of safety, trust, and caring from me as the teacher.

Some Siouan tribes believed that before a child is born its soul stands before The Creator, to either reach for the bow and arrows that would indicate the role of a man or the basket that would determine the role of a female. When the child would reach for the gender-corresponding hand, sometimes The Creator would switch hands and the child would have chosen the opposite gender’s role and therefore casting its lot in life.

“If there is anything that I could give to the world and humanity, it would be more empathy for each other

Edinburg reported that as difficult as it is to manage mental health issues, the stigma against mental health of the 50s and 60s likely did not help with the struggles of mental health issues.

Tulip Edinberg*

Alison

newly painted pastel desk.

A school climate study in California showed that any mention of queer people or issues in the classroom increases student safety and improves the climate for queer students.

And knowing how things change is crucial to living in the present and working toward a better future.

This very morning, I woke up to an email about a Michigan legislator who is trying to erase U.S. history. He wants to strip references to women’s history, the civil rights movement, climate change, and the movement for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality from social studies textbooks.

So this work is contextual.