Farewell blog....

As I finish up this semester's classes and get in all those last minute study sessions, I look back on all the things I have accomplished this semester. Throughout the semester I constantly felt like I wasn't going to make it through. I felt like I was falling behind in every aspect of my life. I was reading these stories and would fall asleep just a few paragraphs in and would have to start all over. (I did this numerous times!) There were so many times I thought about just giving up. I'm not sure why this semester was so tough for me. I really enjoyed all three of my classes and really learned a lot because I enjoyed the content of all my classes. Maybe it was the harsh winter, or the fact that my son was now in school and had homework and sports and all sorts of other stuff. Or maybe it was the fact that I struggled so much financially this winter. I'm not really sure. But, I really learned a lot about myself this semester and what I can do if I set my mind to it. I have found that there really are some books out there that are enjoyable to read. I have found that even though I enjoy my psychology classes, I could never be a psychologist, social worker, counselor, or anything else that involves dealing with individuals who are psychologically disturbed in any way because I HAVE NO PATIENCE!! I have also learned that many of my friends and family members have psychological disorders that have not yet been diagnosed. But I think that the most important thing that I learned about myself is that I CAN DO IT. Even when I felt like there was no hope because I didn't have enough time to finish assignments or because I just didn't feel like doing them, I was still able to do it because I set my mind to it and got it done.

I have really learned so much from both Eng 222 and Eng 223. If you haven't taken Eng 222 I would highly recommend it. I hope you all have a very enjoyable and safe summer.

Modern day America

As I have said before, I am not a reader. However, after reading some of the selections for Eng 222 and 223 I have found that many stories, poems and books were inspired by slavery. Who would have thought that such cruel and horrible acts would be an inspiration for so many writers? While some feel that the "modern age" has ruined America, I think that there are a lot of minority groups, most of all African Americans, that feel differently. It's unfathomable to me that at one time, a person was treated like an animal simply because they had darker skin. What's even worse is that someone could actually be this cruel and sleep at night; not just one person, MANY people.

So that brings up my next question.... what has happened in the past that made society take a step back and look at the way they were treating people? I realize that there were several people throughout history that helped this shift in behavior, including Sojourner Truth and Martin Luther King Jr, but there has been a seriously dramatic change in the way that society views people of different races. I, for one, am very glad that we no longer treat people the way that slaves were treated many years ago and reading stories about this makes me sick to my stomach. I can say that I am proud to be an American and hope that this country continues to move forward in the treatment of all human beings!

For Mature Eyes Only

After finding out that "The Great Gatsby" is banned from some high schools and cannot be used in their curriculum, it made me wonder if they had banned any other famous stories. For instance, is "A Streetcar Named Desire" banned? It has some adult content. Would a parent feel that the book was promoting domestic violence? Drinking? Gambling? Prostitution? Rape? Not only that, but Blanche was a compulsive liar. She lied so much she started to believe her lies were actually the truth. I guess I'm not quite sure how this story would be any different from The Great Gatsby. In fact, I feel that it might be a little more controversial. I think that society has gotten too dramatic and too eager to blame their child's problems on anyone but the child himself or the way that you have chosen to raise him. I think if we all just started taking a little more responsibility for our own actions and stopped blaming everything on what we see on tv, we might be in a little better shape. These are both great books and should both be allowed in our schools.

To read or not to read.... The Gatsby Controversy

As a mother, I would definitely allow my high school aged child read The Great Gatsby. Even though it has been banned from many high school libraries, I feel that it is a great read and shows a lot of different lifestyles from that era. I understand that there are some parents who would feel that the topics discussed in the book are to mature for some high school aged children but I feel that it is our responsibility to teach our children right from wrong and what is acceptable behavior and what is not acceptable. I don't feel that this book is any worse than the things that children, even small children, see on tv. In fact, I think that it is very "PG" compared to most things that are seen on national tv. I think that if a parent had an issue with the content of "The Great Gatsby" they should have the right to refuse to let their child read it and that the child should be given an alternate book to read. In most cases, however, I do not think that most parents would have any issues with their child reading "The Great Gatsby".

Leprechauns and Green Beer

As someone with Irish heritage, you would think I would know a little about the St. Patrick's Day holiday. Unfortunately, all I know is that my great-grandfather used to dye his beard green, drink green beer, and eat cabbage on this holiday. I have no idea why we drink green beer and eat cabbage and wear green on this holiday, other than the fact that it is what we are "supposed to do". But, while doing some research for another class, I happened upon this website: www.theresurgence.com. While exploring I found a very interesting article about St. Patrick. As it turns out, Patrick wasn't a Saint and he wasn't even Irish, he was a Roman-Britain. He was a rebellious teen, born in 390 A.D., who was captured by pirates when he was 16. He was taken to Ireland and sold into slavery and spent the next 6 years as a shepard in the wilderness, alone. After spending all that time alone, Patrick became a "born-again" Christian by praying to Jesus Christ 100 times every day and 100 times every night. Patrick had a dream one night where God spoke to him and told him to flee his masters. He made a 200 mile journey on foot which led him to a ship that was about to set sail for his homeland. Patrick made it back to his home and went to seminary school. Several years later God spoke to him in a dream and told him to go to Ireland to preach the gospel to the Pagans who lived there. The Roman Catholic church had given up on the Celtic peoples of Ireland. These people were illiterate, drunken, fighting, perverted pagans who would have sex with just about anyone and worshiped anything.

This population of pagans numbered anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 and was made up of 150 clans who fought against anyone for any reason. They were known to show up to battles naked and have wild orgies before battle. Patrick made it his mission to help these people see the light of God. He sold all of his belongings to fund his missionary trip to Ireland. He had a unique way of communicating the gospel to these demon-possessed tribes. He would use a three-leafed clover to teach them the gospel. By the time he died, he had converted 30-40 of the pagan tribes to Christian groups. He trained 1000 pastors and erected 700 churches and was the first noted person in history to take a stand against slavery.

So even though most of us think of the St. Patrick's Day holiday as one where we wear green and drink green beer, there is actually a lot more behind the story of St. Patrick's Day.

Temporarliy Suspended

Ok, I'm ashamed to admit this but last Monday, my cable, internet, and phone were all "temporarily suspended" because I didn't pay the bill. It has been an extremely tough winter on me, as well as many others, financially and I just didn't have the money. I decided that we needed heat and food more than we needed tv and internet. Luckily, it was spring break week so I didn't have to turn any assignments in. However, I didn't want my son (he's 6) to know that this had happened so I had to come up with some creative ways of getting around the tv not working. Monday was no big deal because I had a meeting after work and he went to my parents house and was asleep when I picked him up. Tuesday was a beautiful day. When he got home from school we went for a 2 mile walk and really enjoyed just talking and laughing and taking in the beauty of nature. Wednesday was a different story. School was cancelled! And since I work at a school, that meant we were both home all day together. When he went to the living room and turned the tv on, he found that it wasn't working. I, of course, played dumb when he asked me what was wrong with the tv. But the heavy snow was my saving grace that day. Between the snow and the high winds, a power line behind our house was hanging down, about 2 feet off of the ground. He automatically assumed that this was the reason the tv wasn't working. And this was also the day that we found out our dvd player wasn't working either. So that day, we played. We played one-on-one basketball in the hallway just like one of the boys in a book he borrowed from the library a few weeks ago. We pretended we were cowboys from the "old western days" and he was the deputy and I was the criminal. We moved all of my house plants around and pretended we were animals who lived in a jungle, just like in the book "Rumble in the Jungle".  We read 3 of his "Skippyjohn Jones" books and then we looked through his closet for things that could help him to pretend to be someone else or somewhere else. We had a FABULOUS day. I was able to read for a little bit while he was doing some of his homework. We did more on that day, together, than we had done in a long time. It got me thinking about the days before all this technology and how different this world was. I will never forget all the fun things we did that day and I hope that he won't either. Thursday was another busy day and then Friday I was able to pay the bill and the cable and internet were turned back on. In a way, I was a little reluctant to get it turned back on because of all the wonderful things that happened while it was "temporarily suspended".