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".

Open eyes.... New outlook!

When I signed up for this literature class, I really thought I would hate it. I don't like to read, especially when it is required! After looking at the syllabus, I still wasn't too thrilled about taking this class. I had never heard of "pods" and I really didn't understand how they would work. I really thought this class would give me my first "B" or send me into an anxiety attack. BUT... I actually enjoyed it. The reading wasn't at all what I thought it would be. I thought there would be a bunch of things to read that I didn't understand or care about but I was wrong. The first few weeks were a little tough because it wasn't exciting and I was still feeling a little discouraged. Once I got through the first pod, it got a WHOLE lot better. I found myself getting excited about finishing the readings. The assignments weren't as hard as I thought they were going to be and being able to choose which assignments I wanted to do was awesome. I really think that all classes should be set up in pods.

If I had to pick a favorite author, it would be Hawthorne. I abosolutely LOVED "Rappaccini's Daughter" and "The Scarlet Letter". Both of these stories held my interest and kept me wanting more. I never thought I would like to read, let alone like to read something that I was going to be graded on.

I liked the class so much, I'm taking the next literature class in the spring semester. Whoever would have thought that I would volunteer to take a literature class? Certainly not me! What a difference the layout of a class and an awesome instructor can make!

The Legend of a little village called New Waverly

As a child I spent a lot of time at my grandparents. They lived in a little town called New Waverly. It was actually smaller than a town at the time. It was labeled a village. My grandma would go down to the general store every morning and drink coffee with all the other older retired folk. They would sit around and gossip about those who weren't there or brag about family members who had made it big. There was a little old woman who very rarely came into the store but when she did, the atmosphere changed a little. Everyone stopped their chatter and the whole place became quiet. She was a very frail and weathered looking woman. If there was a person who could describe how death looked it was her. She had short, thin, copper colored hair. Her eyes were small and dark. Her cheekbones were very prominent and made her face look like a skeleton with a thin layer of skin covering it. I never saw her smile. It was as though the entire village was afraid of her.

She had been a teacher at one time and I'm positive she was the reason they came up with the term "school marm". I heard stories of how she would smack kids hands with a ruler and how she would paddle kids if they looked at her wrong. It was almost as if she was a witch that would cast an evil spell on someone if they made her mad.... and that was the reason no one spoke whenever she came into the store.

She died several years ago. Some distant relatives moved into the house where she lived. When they moved in, her old "recess bell" was still sitting on the piano in the dining room, exactly where she had always kept it. The couple got rid of the piano because they didn't have enough room to store it but they kept the bell. They say that occasionally they hear the bell ring but when they go look, it is still sitting on the shelf where they put it.

The story of old Mrs. Black isn't like "The legend of Sleepy Hollow" but if you return to that town today, you could ask any youngster, who never met Mrs. Black, and they will know about her and be able to tell you something about her. She is a legend in the little town of New Waverly. 

Let it snow!

As a child, I loved the snow. If just 2 snowflakes fell out of the sky, I would be overcome with joy thinking about all the wonderful fun I would have if it would just keep snowing. So, last night, as it began to snow, I remembered being a child and wanting several feet of snow. I remembered all the times we did get snow and how many days of school I missed because of all the snow. It reminded me of the poem I read by Ralph Waldo Emerson titled "The Snow-Storm". Reading that poem took me back. I remembered looking out across the fields and it seemed like the white went on forever. I remembered seeing the snow piled on the roof of the barn and it looking like a big white fluffy blanket covering the barn and everything in it. I remembered the way that the fence posts went from being 5 foot tall pieces of wood to lumps in the snow. The snow had blown up against the door and leaving the house would have involved some heavy duty snow removal! And I always volunteered to do just that because I couldn't wait to get out into the white powdery blanket of fun!

So then I wondered..... why is it that as an adult, I don't get that excited about the snow?  When I look at my child and see the joy on his face brought on by a mere dusting of snow, it makes me wonder why I no longer feel that same way? Why can't I just sit back and look at the beauty of nature and enjoy it? You would think snow would excite me because I work at a school and any accumulation of snow usually leads to a cancellation or at the very least, a delay. And that part of the snow does excite me, but I really think that as I get older, the thought of freezing my fingers off just to be outside playing in it is ridiculous. I absolutely HATE driving in the snow and especially now that I have a child. I really just wish that I would take time, more often, to just sit back and enjoy the beauty that nature provides for us.

With all that being said, I AM going to make it a goal of mine to sit back and enjoy life from now on. I am going to try to stop grumbling and the thought of snow and start remembering that I used to love this stuff. And since it is almost Christmas, I say LET IT SNOW!

What a sheltered life I live...

Ok... I have to admit, I had never heard of the book "The Scarlet Letter". I hated reading in high school and rarely read the things I was supposed to for English class or any other class for that matter. So, when I read "The Scarlet Letter" it was a whole new reading for me. It took me awhile to get into the book and to actually understand what was going on but once I did, I enjoyed it. I really wish I would have gotten into these types of books earlier in life, when I actually had time to read books. Now, it seems like I only read what I have to because there isn't time for any pleasure reading. I don't even read the newspaper anymore.

Once I read "The Scarlet Letter" I wanted to know if they had ever made it into a movie... After very little searching, I found that it WAS made into a movie. I really figured it had been, considering it was such a great read, but really thought that I would have either seen it or at least heard of it! At one time, years before I had a child, I actually sat down and watched a movie or two on occasion. The movie came out in 1995 and was titled "The Scarlet Letter" just like the book. As I said, I have never seen it but now that I have read the book, I am going to have to find a copy and watch it to see how it compares to the book. It is amazing the things you are able to find with the use of the internet! What did we ever do without it?

Legendary Short Story turned Disney Movie

Tonight, I revisited my childhood. I sat down with my son and we watched the Disney movie "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". It was great to sit down and watch a movie that I watched as a child with my 5 year old son. He was enthralled! His eyes never left the screen. I had seen this movie a few times as a child but it is interesting the way that things are interpreted differently as an adult. As a child, I thought this movie was merely a scary Halloween movie. Now that I have read the actual story, I find it amazing the way that Disney was able to turn the story into a Halloween movie for children. It was really pretty cool. Most of the movie was an accurate portrayal of the story by Washington Irving. However, I do not believe that when he wrote it he intended for it to be a Halloween movie. In fact, I'm pretty sure that Halloween wasn't even celebrated when the story was written.

Another interesting tidbit was the way the made Ichabod and Brom Bones look. When I read the story, I could not recall what the characters in the movie that I had seen as a child looked like. After viewing the movie again, I chuckled at the appearances of the main characters. To me, Ichabod looked like a frail old man and Brom looked like a dumb jock that was in his 30's. And Katrina..... Well let's just say I expected her to be much more beautiful than that. She looked like a little Danish girl who was ready to go out and milk the cows. Ichabod was certainly not someone you would expect a girl to be swooned by.

All in all, It was a cute movie and I was glad that I had the opportunity to watch it again. It was also pretty neat to be able to share the experience with my son. I tried explaining to him that the movie was a book before it was a movie, kind of like "The Cat in the Hat" was a book before they made the movie. He wanted to hear the story so I began reading it to him. After about the sixth paragraph and no pictures, he said, "it's ok Mommy, you can stop now. I get what you are saying." I guess it just proves that books aren't really just books anymore.

Children's books titled after the famous Sleepy Hollow story

After watching the "Sleepy Hollow" tv show, I was excited to find out what other "spin-offs" there were! So, I went to the library at the school where I work. I found a few different books by Washington Irving but only one book that wasn't the exact "Legend of Sleepy Hollow" story. It was a book titled "The Headless Horseman Rides Tonight- More Poems to Trouble Your Sleep" by Jack Prelutsky. It is a book of poems geared toward children. The poems are a little on the scary side from a child's point of view but I thought that each different poem offered a different perspective on the Headless Horseman. It also provided a variety of types of poems. They didn't all rhyme and I thought that was great. Many times, children feel that all poems have to rhyme but this book shows them that a poem can still be interesting and catch a reader's attention without rhyming. The last poem in the book is called "The Headless Horseman". It is the most similar to the story written by Washington Irving but still has a uniqueness about it that makes it interesting. I can't wait to see what else I find in other libraries!

Can a book really be a tv show?

I just finished watching the first few episodes of the tv version of Sleepy Hollow. It had many of the same characters as the short story but it was made modern by adding many modern day elements. It goes like this: Ichabod, who has been dead since 1781 after decapitating the Headless Horseman, awakens in the town of Sleepy Hollow, New York. He is accused of decapitating the local sheriff and is arrested. The only police officer who believes he is innocent sends him to a cave and he is resurrected. He finds an old bible that is marked at Revelation 6:8 and that leads him to believe the headless horseman is the horseman named Death. After having a dream in which his wife tells him that the horseman's head is buried at her grave and if he doesn't find it before the horseman does, his power will return and bring about the Apocalypse, Ichabod and Lieutenant Abbie Mills race to the grave to recover the head. Officer Andy Brooks, who is collaborating with the horseman, also leads him there. Ichabod beats them there and recovers the head and the horseman flees as the sun comes up. Andy was arrested by Abbie and was later killed in his cell by a demon before Ichabod and Abbie have a chance to question him. And that was just the first episode.....

The next episode was a little less involved. Ichabod has another dream where his wife, Katrina tells him of things he needs to prevent from happening. Abbie is assigned to work with Ichabod and they break into the secure archives where the investigation of the sheriff's death is located. This is where Ichabod realizes he is supposed to stop the resurrection of Serilda of Abadon. The demon who killed Andy brings him back to life to help revive Serilda so that she can use the ashes of the descendants who killed her to restore her power. Abbie and Ichabod realize that she has completed the resurrection but are able to kill her again with old explosives found in the tunnel the used to break into the archives. Serilda tells Ichabod that his wife's soul is trapped in a "world between worlds" and Abbie has a dream where the sheriff tells her not to be afraid of 49. 49 ends up being the room number at the mental facility where her sister Jenny lives.

I do see some of the same elements of the story here but the modern twist makes it seem a lot less like the original story. At first I wasn't sure I would like it but I am kind of excited to watch the next episode. Even though I don't think it is anything like the real story, I do think it is interesting.

Books aren't just books anymore

Many great books have been written throughout history. I, for one, am not an avid reader like some. However, I have enjoyed a few selections I have read recently in my American Literature class. I have thoroughly enjoyed the stories I have read by Washington Irving. I have found that once I get into a book, I love it and can't put it down. The problem is finding the time to "get into a book".

Because of this class I have found that I have no choice but to make time for reading. My first "really enjoyable" reading from this class was "Rip Van Winkle" by Washington Irving. I had always heard people use the name Rip Van Winkle but I had never actually read, or heard, the story of Rip Van Winkle. While reading the story, I felt like I was reading a story about my parents. My dad is so laid back and easy going. He never meets a stranger and people generally like him from the time they meet him. My mom, whom I love very much, is much like Dame Van Winkle. She is a control freak and it seems that she is never satisfied with anything my dad does. One day, my dad decided to cut a few trees down that were getting ready to fall down at the edge of the woods. He and a friend began to take the trees down but his friend had to leave before they got the last tree cut down. My dad decided he could do it himself..... Bad idea! When he was cutting the tree, it started falling towards him. He ran. It fell on top of him. Luckily, he escaped with a broken thumb, a few broken ribs, and stitches in his head.

After sharing the story of Rip Van Winkle with my parents, my mom laughed and said, "Well, your dad went to the woods to escape from my harshness but instead of falling asleep for several years and coming back to life after I died, all he got was injuries! I guess that'll teach him to try and get away from me! Haha" I found it very ironic that as I was reading this story, the first thing that came to mind was that incident in the woods with my dad and the first thing that came to my mom's mind was the same thing. I guess that means she admits to being a nagging wife!

When I finished Rip Van Winkle, I was excited to read the next selection by Washington Irving. So, I read The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Again, I was reminded of an earlier time. I was in third grade and my entire class got "A's" on our spelling tests so we were rewarded with watching the Disney movie The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I remember being captivated by the movie. I was so scared of the headless horseman but couldn't take my eyes off of the television. We weren't allowed to watch the entire movie in one day so we had to stop halfway through it and continue the next day. I couldn't wait to go to school that next day to see what happened.

When I finished reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, I remembered hearing about a new show on tv called "Sleepy Hollow". So, I decided to go online and look it up. I was amazed at the number of different "Sleepy Hollow" movies that were out there. I guess it just proves that Washington Irving was a great writer and at least one of his books was film-worthy. I know I was impressed!