Heathwood English faculty tackle books (often ones we've assigned) and discuss why we keep re-reading and teaching them. High-level literary analysis may happen, but more than anything we want to capture what makes these books exciting to read. We hope this will either inspire you to pick up a given tome, or re-visit something you thought you read closely.
Fulfilling Dr. Plowden's hopes and wishes, we tackle F. Scott Fitzgerald's jazz age masterpiece. A veritable party of a discussion (with some new categories!) ensues with Dr. George Scouten, Mr. James Hane, and Dr. Elisha Sircy joining Dr. Plowden. Is this the greatest novel America has produced? Has Daisy Buchanan been misread by generations? Would you bet on a horse named "Valley of Ashes"? Listen to your answers and ponder your own.
24 Jun 2022
The Odyssey
In this episode we tackle one of the foundational texts of Western literature, Homer's Odyssey. Like the poem itself, the discussion is wide-ranging and at times rambling, but hopefully like the poem it also helps you think and contemplate some of the big issues in life. The fingerprints of Homer's epic can be seen in great literature from Dante to Milton to Wallace Stevens, and it can also be found in Breaking Bad and minivans manufactured by Honda. It's in our cultural DNA, so to speak.
This discussion features Mr. James Hane, Dr. Larry Rhu, and Dr. Elisha Sircy.
31 Mar 2022
Historical Gatsby
This bonus episode features Dr. Sally Plowden and Dr. Sara Burrows discussing some key historical and cultural elements in and around F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
These distinguished faculty members look at key themes and concerns circulating in America in the 1920s as well as how they get represented and critiqued in the novel.
4 Jan 2022
Pride and Prejudice
This time around we are looking at Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. In addition to talking about the novel, we'll discuss some of the character types and generic tropes it has wrought. Our panel includes Mr. James Hane, Ms. Adrianne Woods, Dr. George Scouten, and Dr. Elisha Sircy.
20 Jul 2021
Hamlet
On the heels of our top 5 lists, we tackle one of the towering texts in the history of literature, William Shakespeare's Hamlet. Mr. James Hane, Dr. Sally Plowden, and Dr. Elisha Sircy look at some of the play's ambiguities, notable film versions of the play, and take on the impossible task of figuring out the best lines from a play crawling with iconic quotations. Who's there? Possibly the greatest drama of all time.
6 Jul 2021
Top 5 Lists Part 2: The Lists Proper
We offer now our actual top 5 lists. This episode is the longest one to date, so we're including some time stamps to help you navigate the podcast. Here also is a link to our lists (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oC0_NMPO9XHrUsXI63buhVNWP03m7y3Bl16KN7VqMWs/edit?usp=sharing).
#5 picks - 1:09
#4 picks - 24:24
#3 picks - 44:13
#2 picks - 1:07:39
#1 picks - 1:38:34
Thank you to our participants, Tim Sebring, James Hane, Jack Sutton, Madison Richardson, Sally Plowden, and Elisha Sircy.
3 Jun 2021
Top 5 Lists Part 1: Criteria and Honorable Mentions
We are kicking off our second season with a two-part podcast dealing with our personal top 5 lists of favorite books.
For part 1, we talk about our personal criteria for what makes a great book, how style and theme can play a role, how much teaching a book influences our appreciation of it, and finally some of our honorable mentions that didn't quite crack the top 5.
We are joined in the mammoth endeavor by our largest panel yet: Dr. George Scouten, Dr. Sally Plowden, Mr. James Hane, Dr. Elisha Sircy, Mr. Tim Sebring, Mr. Jack Sutton, and (off the top rope from the world of the sciences) Mrs. Madison Richardson, biology teacher extraordinaire.
29 Nov 2020
A Midsummer Night's Dream
In this episode we're tackling another of the bard's plays, this time a comedy. Dr. Jonathan Sircy joins in to discuss what he calls Shakespeare's funniest play. We discuss romantic tropes, bad actors, and fairies, among other things.
7 Oct 2020
Othello
Our first non-summer read! The grind of the school year is upon us, but we're still trying to make time for discussing worthwhile texts. William Shakespeare's Othello (we think) fits that description.
Ms. Elise Hagstette and Mr. Timothy Sebring make their Rereadables debuts to talk about this heavy drama.
31 Jul 2020
All the Pretty Horses
In this episode we discuss Cormac McCarthy's 1992 novel All the Pretty Horses. We talk about the archetype of the cowboy, the mythological dimensions of the journey undertaken by the novel's protagonist, and take a look at McCarthy's prose in light of other American authors.
Our panel comprises Mr. James Hane, Dr. Sally Plowden, Dr. George Scouten, and Dr. Elisha Sircy.
9 Jul 2020
Frankenstein
This time around we're braving the horror of Mary Shelley's 1818 classic, Frankenstein. We're joined by Dr. Sally Plowden, Mr. James, Hane, Dr. Elisha Sircy, and a special guest, Southern Wesleyan University's Dr. Britt Terry.
We'll discuss the novel's origin, it's connection to various historical and philosophical movements, its massive influence and persistence in our culture, and also just what an amazing achievement it is.
24 Jun 2020
The Bluest Eye
In our second full episode, we're tackling Toni Morrison's debut novel, The Bluest Eye. It's a heartbreaking portrait of internalized prejudice, of identity formation as a child, and it's an incredible depiction of an African American experience, an aspect of American life, and really a human story of suffering.
Our participants on the episode are Heathwood teachers Dr. Sally Plowden, Mr. James Hane, and Dr. Elisha Sircy. We are also joined by Heathwood alum ('20) Pritish Das.
Quick disclaimer: some of the elements of the novel are disturbing, so listener discretion is encouraged.
11 Jun 2020
Introduction
A preamble of sorts to what we want to accomplish with this podcast. We'll try not to get too meta or navel-gazing in the episodes proper, but a sense of our mission/objective/rationale at the outset seems appropriate.
11 Jun 2020
The Hunger Games
Our first full episode tackles Suzanne Collins's 2008 novel The Hunger Games, the novel that launched 1000 archers.
Our panel/participants are Mr. James Hane, Dr. Sally Plowden, and Dr. Elisha Sircy.
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