Reflection 2

 

Author, sportswriter, and journalist Mitch Albom wrote, The Five People You Meet in Heaven.  This tale is about an 83 year old man that spent his life taking care of an amusement park. His life was tragically taken away on his birthday while saving a child that was on the ground from a falling cart.  The last moment he remembers is the feeling of two small hands in his – and then nothing.  He awakens is a place where he would not consider heaven, but in a place where five people are waiting for him.  The five people that he meets are from different times in his life that they came in contact with him.  Each one of them explains to him the meaning of life and the existence of why people are here on earth.

 

I have always had an opened mind to new ideas about what happens to a person after death.  I was raised on the traditional idea – if you are good, you will go to heaven and if you are bad, you will go down to hell.   I even opened up to the consideration about when a person dies their energy gracefully unites with Mother Nature.  Reading The Five People You Meet in Heaven gave me a new insight on what is in stored for us when we pass on.  It is intriguing to think that there will be five people waiting for me when I pass on.  It would be interesting to have them tell me the meaning of why I was created and the meaning of my life.  Was I created to open a door for an elderly person or was I put here to give birth to my son that will someday conquer greatness.

 

Albom’s book is a way to look at life after death in a different meaning.  There is not one person that honestly knows what will happen to us when leave this world.  When we have books like The Five People You Meet in Heaven they give us different ideas of what is to come.

Weblog 4

When I read Stanley Fish’s, “Devoid of Content,” he wrote about the first assignment that he gives his Freshmen English class. I felt overwhelmed just by reading the assignment because it seemed confusing.  At the same time I was very curious about the assignment as well. I interpreted the assignment to be very challenging but stimulating to have to think outside the box like that. 

Who at first anyway, likes to get tasked with challenging assignments?  An average student would not ask the teacher to assign them the most challenging task that they could possibly be conjured up.  In most cases the student would be very overwhelmed.  Their head would be swarming with thoughts about wondering if it is too late to drop the class or swap out teachers.  I have been given a few assignments that were in my opinion, nit-picky or that were just a bore.  I remember some assignments that went way over my head when I first heard about them.  The assignments seemed easy at first, but weren’t.  

I remember one specifically verbatim what she said: Mrs. Nordman said, “Your first writing assignment of the year will be in conjunction with your history assignment.  You must research a soldier that was in the Vietnam War.  Then you must make a timeline journal of the soldier you have chosen.  Finally you must write a two page story in first person where you are the soldier using the timeline you have created.”  Some would say this sounds easy, but it was not.  Researching enough about a person to make a timeline journal 15 years ago wasn’t as easy as it is today.  Half the class had false information about their soldier or they created a fictional character to attempt to get credit.  That assignment taught me how to research, re-research, and re-research your research.  

Another assignment was a fun one or so I thought at the time.  The title was, How to Make a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.  Easy, right?  Till this day I still believe my seventh grade teacher was setting us up the first time she gave us the assignment.  The second time she gave us the assignment was after she handed our papers back to us.  Then she wrote our class grade on the board a giant “F” for failure.  She told us even though we wrote on paper how to make a peanut butter sandwich she still wouldn’t be able to make one due to the lack of details we gave her.  What did she need to make her sandwich?  What did we leave out of directions?  It was details.  We never told her that she had to buy bread, bring it home, and then remove the bread from its bag.  In this assignment I believe that the students failed because teacher failed us.  She didn’t specify how much detail she wanted in the assignment.  I did learn how to properly write in detail how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  

Works Cited:

Fish, Stanley. “Devoid of Content.” The New York Times. Print. May 31, 2005. <http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/31/opinion/31fish.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin>

Weblog 3

Dear Editor of the Boston Globe,

I have recently read Harold Bloom’s, Dumbing down American Readers, my reaction was, wow!  Bloom has all the right to bash Rowling and Stephen King because all American’s have freedom of speech.  With that being said, I have the right to speak my mind contradicting what Bloom wrote in his short story.

Is it wrong to put King in the same category as Saul Bellew and Phillip Roth?  Some would say that King’s name has no right being in the same sentence with Bellow and Phillip let alone sharing the same award title from the National Book Foundation for “distinguished contribution.”  But then again, another group of people would agree that King does deserve this honor.  I would announce that King did deserve to be honored by the National Book Foundation for his distinguished writings.  If anyone has ever had the chance or opportunity to read a novel written by King should agree with me.  I have personally read Rose Madder and I must say that it is a real page turner; it carries an ongoing suspense throughout the book.

In Bloom’s, Dumbing down American Readers, he points out how King’s and Rowling’s novels are full of inconsistent writings and they both use an absurd amount of clichés. When Bloom was asked, isn’t it better to have children read a Rowling novel than nothing at all? Bloom replied, “It is not.”  Does Bloom write this because he believes that our young readers should be reading poetic literature vice fantasy adventures that will lead our youth through a world of imagination of wizardry and magic?  Yes I do agree that William Shakespeare should still be taught in our classrooms. His works are so vast and so diverse; contain history, fantasy, and numerous allusions.  They bring critical thinking to our literature which helps us become better readers.  Rowling and King use other textures or languages in their writings.   Rowling uses large words that Harry Potter must cite to cast a petrificus totalus spell. King creates a world of unknowing and suspense as you turn each page.

Bloom’s point of view is a one side view and that is it.  He has ideals that he lives up to and hopes that the rest of us will follow his views.  Our youth is a different generation that gets their “kicks” from different novels then what Bloom grew up reading.  I would much rather see my son reading a 1000 plus page Harry Potter book then playing a video game.

Works Cited:

Bloom, Harold. “Dumbing down American readers.” The Boston Globe. September 24, 2003. Web. March 30, 2012. <http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2003/09/24/>

King, Stephen. “National Book Awards Acceptance Speeches.” National Book Foundation. 2003. Web. April 1, 2012. <http://www.nationalbook.org/nbaacceptspeech_sking.html>

Unknown. “Harry Potter Spell List.” n.p. 2012. Web. April 1, 2012.  <http://harrypotterspells.net>

Reflection 1

Why I Poi Dance

I poi dance to introduce the world a different kind of dance.  I poi dance to feel the freedom of movement going through my body.  I poi dance to release a fire that is inside of me. I poi dance to  exercise.  I poi dance to feel alive.  I poi dance to entertain. I poi dance to follow traditional values.  I poi dance to show different colors of movement.  I poi dance to feel alive. I poi dance to become alive.  I poi dance to express the music that is playing in my head.  I poi dance to music.  I poi dance to dance.   I poi dance to show the possibilities of rhythmic composures.  I poi dance to show a magical illusion.  I poi dance to show patience.  I poi dance to have patience.  I poi dance because it is my freedom of speech without words. I poi dance for show.  I poi dance for people.  I poi dance for viewers to gaze at me in wonder.  I poi dance for grace.  I poi dance to share a common interest with two of my sisters.   I poi dance as gracefully as a ballerina performs a ballad. I poi dance for fun.  To glide with fire, fight through wind, and gracefully slash through rain, is magnificent when you are creating a master piece in the air.  As my heart races, I trust myself when I increase and decrease my speeds while I am poi dancing. I poi dance out of self-bliss.

Weblog 2

 

There is always a time in your life when you need to say to yourself, “Hey this is not right, I need to speak up.”  After my 13^th birthday was one of the first times that thought popped up in my head that I can remember.  Every morning during the week I would take a 45 minute school bus ride to my middle school.  Usually this time was spent hustling to do last minute homework that I swore to my parents I had done the night before.  On rare occasions I have my homework done and I can take a very welcoming nap. The day I had my unusual thought was the day I had my homework done.  That day and like all others, I sat by my very animated best friend Tina. Tina was very outgoing, well liked popular, and bouncy. As soon as I got settled into my seat to take a nap she practically shouted out, “Let me cheat off of you your homework.” Well, that’s what she should have said, but instead she asked if she could compare assignments.  So I gave her my homework and went to sleep.

 

 

 

When we arrived at school I received a nudge from her and she thanked me for helping her out, we scurried off to our classes.  Mrs. Schuler was our sweet little teacher.  When our class schedules came out the previous year I was so happy that she was listed as my teacher.  Our first subject of the day was English.  Mrs. Schuler asked Tina to go around the class to collect our lengthy assignment that was made up of questions and a short essay that was handed out to us that previous Monday.  Tina being Tina was the teacher’s pet.

 

After the assignments were collected I remember Mrs. Schuler telling the class that each one of us was going to read our short essay.  Of course Tina was the first one to be selected, she skipped up to the front of the with her bouncy hair and gave me a huge grin. She started to read her essay.  Have you ever had your mind so focus on something that one thought goes through your head, mine was, oh crap! My best friend had stolen my essay. I was starting to get really nervous, first thing that happens to me is when I get nervous are my palms getting sweaty.

 

Before my name was half the class had already gone, so I figured maybe Mrs. Schuler won’t remember what her favorite student read.  When my name had been called Tina dashed to Mrs. Schuler’s side and started frantically whispering to her.  I had thought my best friend was turning herself in, but man was I wrong.  Mrs. Schuler quickly shot a glare over my way and called me out to the hallway. As I slowly rose from my seat and walked sluggishly to the hallway I heard 20 thirteen year olds saying, oooh.

 

Immediately Mrs. Schuler was reciting the school’s rules on cheating. Do you think I listened? No way! All I could think about was why Tina, my best friend, lied to Mrs. Schuler about our homework assignment. What was I supposed to do? Mrs. Schuler kept on ranting at me.  Thoughts and ideas were swimming through my head what to say.  A huge voice inside kept on screaming, “Hey this is not right, speak up Lois.” But I never did, I didn’t want to get Tina into trouble or even worst, lose her as a friend. 

After that chat with the teacher, I was stuck with 3 weeks detention, an all-new assignment, and a year’s worth of being picked on and being questioned why I was sent out to the hallway. After that I day I stopped talking to Tina and I lost a bit of niceness because no one likes be taken advantage of.

 

 To this day I still linger back on that day and ask myself why I didn’t speak up even though I knew I was in the right.  Its funny when you think you are doing the right thing, it’s not years later when you realize it was the wrong thing to do after all.

Weblog 1

Monday Morning Blues

This past Monday I woke up struggling to get out from under my cotton sheets and I started remembering the lyrics to The Bangles hit song Manic Monday, “Six o’clock already I was just in a middle of a dream…It’s just another manic Monday.” The song is right on point when those girls sing about such a hectic start to the beginning of the week.

How many times have each one of us rolled over in bed to lightly hit the snooze button on the alarm clock? I honestly can say I have not done that once because I wham my fist, throw a pillow at the clock, or push my husband until he gets the idea to shut the darn thing off.  Monday mornings are the worst.  I don’t know what it is but morning traffic is always the worst on Mondays.  Can someone please tell me why that is?  I wake up earlier and leave earlier to go to work but I still make it there the same time I would on any other day.  I am really curious why Monday traffic is so chaotic.

Then the best part of the day is of course is watching the grand march of your co-workers coming into work on a Monday.  Someone really needs to film this and put it on fast forward mode with some techno music in the back; it might actually be a hit on You Tube.

Then once the nine o’clock office rush dies down you now have the lingering bunch that have papers to process and errands to run, but until their morning espresso kicks in, they are useless as your dead smart phone.

So once again I praise The Bangles for their Manic Monday song because they sure know how to sing about our Monday morning blues.

Adventurer in the Making

Excitement is something I seek out.  First time I went skiing I followed a sign that had a black diamond on it because it looked neat.  Little did I know it led to the steepest slope that only experts challenged.  Short version is, 90 minutes later I was at the bottom of that slope.

Adventure should be in my middle name.  My most recent adventure has been down mommy lane.  I now have a child who is proving that you do not need to know how to walk to run. 

Enjoy my blogs because they are my life and thoughts in a nut shell.