Distant Poets Society: Recent Episodes
Brittany Rodriguez
This podcast was original started by English teachers who wanted to find a creative way to help their students through Distant Learning due to the COVID pandemic. It grew into a place for conversations about social justice issues through literature. Each episode, a film is analyzed for social and historical context, characters, theme, and connections to ourselves and society.
For our final installment of the summer break edition of Distant Poets Society, Mr. Smith and Mrs. Rodriguez discuss Moonlight. We talk about gender, race, and sexual orientation, and how they all affect one's identity. While the film is very heavy, we had a fun time exploring all it's complexities.
We're hoping to be back next summer with more episodes for season 2. Thanks for listening.
Originally recorded on July 31, 2020
This week on Distant Poets Society, Mrs. Rodriguez, Mr. Santos, and Mr. Smith discuss Parasite! We talk about Inception, our travels, and how we fit into systems of privilege and oppression. In addition to analyzing this film for our usual topics we add metaphors and symbols to the mix. Listen in for what we've decided to call a "pre-writing conversation."
Join us next week when we analyze Moonlight, available for streaming on Netflix.
Originally recorded on July 22, 2020
This week on Distant Poets Society, Ms. Ramirez, Mrs. Rodriguez, Mr. Santos, and Mr. Smith discuss District 9! We talk about South African apartheid, otherness, and why pupils are so important in alien films. Mr. Santos sums the whole conversation up with this powerful thought, "Not only do we as people need to be able to be comfortable with people who don't 'look like us', but we also need to become, as human beings, informed about the lives, context, and cultures of those who don't act like us and talk like us and think like us."
Join us next time as we discuss Parasite (streaming on Hulu) as we continue our conversations about social justice issues!
Originally recorded on July 15, 2020
Here's another episode of our summer break edition of the Distant Poets Society podcast! This week Mr. Smith, Ms. Ramirez, and Mrs. Rodriguez discuss Knives Out with our special guest, Mr. Santos. We talk about the myth of the self-made man, identity, Chris Evans, and Star Wars. If you haven't seen Knives Out, make sure you watch the film before listening to the podcast.
Next week we will be discussing District 9 (available for streaming on Netflix.) See you then!
Original recorded on July 8, 2020
This is the second episode of our summer break edition of Distant Poets Society, with a special guest all the way from Crowley, Ms, McDaniels! As always, Mr. Smith, Ms. Ramirez, and Mrs. Rodriguez sit down to discuss a film from an academic lens. This week we talk about the greatness, and the problems, of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton!
Favorite Songs:
- Mrs. Rodriguez - Washington on Your Side
- Ms. Ramirez - You'll Be Back
- Ms. McDaniels - One Last Time
- Mr. Smith - The Room Where It Happened
Join us next week by watching Knives Out streaming on Amazon Prime.
Original recorded on July 2, 2020
This is the first episode of the summer break edition of Distant Poets Society. Mr. Smith, Ms. Ramirez, and Mrs. Rodriguez discuss Just Mercy starring Michael B. Jordan, Jaime Foxx, and Brie Larson and how it informs us about the inequities in our current society. The film is no longer free, but it is well worth the money to rent or buy.
Next week, we'll be discussing Lin-Manuel Miranda's masterpiece, Hamilton, available on Disney+. Email Mrs. Rodriguez (brittany.rodriguez@nisd.net) if you'd like to participate!
Original recorded on June 3, 2020
This the first episode of Distant Poets Society without any connection to Distance Learning and it definitely won't be the last. Mr. Smith, Mrs. Rodriguez, and Ms. Ramirez are joined by Warren student, Munji Nfor to talk about how we can make connections to the current events surrounding the death of George Floyd and the demonstrations that followed. We use literature, history, and our own personal experiences to try to make sense of the three very complicated topics: systemic racism, white privilege, and demonstrations both peaceful and violent.
Reflection Questions - Questions to explore these complicated topics. Written by Ngozi Musa (BA in sociology at Harvard) and Sophia Magnolia Hunt (sociology PhD student at Stanford).
- What makes you feel safe? Do you think others feel similarly?
- What does activism mean?
- What types of protesting do you find effective? Which do you find unacceptable?
- Is it ok to break unjust laws? What makes laws just or unjust?
Below is the list of content that was recommended throughout the podcast (novels, TV shows, movies, etc.) Be aware that some of these may contain adult themes.
THINGS TO WATCH
- Never Have I Ever (Netflix)
- The Wire (HBO) Watchman (HBO)
- Black Panther (Disney+)
- Dear White People (Netflix)
- Atlanta (Hulu)
- Awkward Black Girl (Youtube)
- A Different World (Amazon Prime)
- Insecure (HBO) 13th (Netflix)
- When They See Us (Netflix)
- Amistad (Hulu)
THINGS TO READ
- A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines
- Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
- White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
- The Autobiography of Malcolm X
- Drinking Coffee Elsewhere and Other Stories by ZZ Packer
- Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
- The Star-Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key (entire poem)
- The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (also Beloved and A Mercy)
- Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
- Kindred by Octavia Butler
- An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
- Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson
- The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine
- The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora by Pablo Cartaya
- The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano by Sonia Manzano
- Go Tell It on the Mountain by James Baldwin
- 1984 by George Orwell