AustenBlog...she's everywhere

13 January 2005

We think Jane would be a Ravenclaw

Filed under: Jane in the News — Julie B. @ 6:12 pm

The Sun reports on a failing school in Kent that was turned around by the institution of a Hogswarts-style house system.

Prof. Dumbledore Mr Murphy, [the school's headmaster] 48, said North School, in Ashford, Kent, was “on its knees” when he arrived three years ago.

Discipline had broken down and pupils were on a four-day week because teachers refused to work there.

Exam results were so poor that it was threatened with closure within two years. The head set up four “learning communities” like those in Hogwarts.

Instead of Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw, they were named after historical figures Sir Winston Churchill, novelist Jane Austen, light bulb inventor Thomas Edison and women’s libber Emmeline Pankhurst.

Mr Murphy said: “It gave the youngsters a sense of identity and pride.

“That was the kick-start we needed to get on the road back to success.”

We hope members of Austen House apply themselves to their studies a bit more diligently than one particular creation of Miss Austen’s.

Austen quote in Dialogue Project

Filed under: Jane in the News — Julie B. @ 3:10 pm

The San Francisco Chronicle reports about the Dialogue Project, a temporary public art installation exhibited in San Francisco’s Union Square yesterday.

A Jane Austen quotation was among the 2,000 displayed on the nine white vinyl panels:

“Today’s the day I told the kids we’d do all the things we used to do in San Francisco,” said Joseph, who formerly lived in Oakland.

There were fewer pigeons but way more words than she expected. Joseph found a quote from Jane Austen, one of her favorite authors: “I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them.”

The Dialogue Project will continue its journey across the country until October, when it will put in its last appearance in New York’s Times Square.

Updated Emma in “Ultimate Film Fanatic” quiz

Filed under: Jane in the News — Julie B. @ 2:47 pm

The Portland Oregonian reveals some questions from the Independent Film Channel’s touring version of “Ultimate Film Fanatic.” They included this one sure to be familiar to AustenBlog readers:

What Amy Heckerling movie was an updated version of Jane Austen’s “Emma”?”

Anyone know what this is? Class? Anyone? Anyone? Anyone seen this before?

 

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