Katie's Books & Baubles

I've moved.

2010-03-19T20:37:00.001-04:00

Much has changed in the past few months. You can now find me here.

Gratitude Post - 9 of 12

2009-11-20T09:15:00.002-05:00

Baby Jude was born on October 15, 2009 at 11:46 pm. Healthy baby boy. 8 pounds and 20.5 inches long. So much to be grateful for this month.

Gratitude Post - 8 of 12

2009-10-08T09:28:00.005-04:00

Hmmm. It's October 8th. Why do I feel like something is missing? Oh yeah, my due date was YESTERDAY and still no baby. The truth is, 80% of first time moms deliver after their due date - or so my doctor told me at yesterday's visit. He said we usually deliver within 5 days after, but all of my Bradley Method materials say 8 days, so who knows which is correct but either way, I am not abnormal....just big and tired and ready to meet my baby. (Why do I feel abnormal then? If one more person calls or texts in disbelief that I am still pregnant, I will SCREAM.)

So in all of the anxiety of the past few days, it's been hard to see what I can be grateful for. So for gratitude entry number 8, I am grateful for a healthy pregnancy.

Being pregnant is hard enough for sure. Your every action affects not only yourself but the vulnerable little one growing inside of you. You feel tired, sick, more anxious and emotional than usual, and you are so big at the end that the most generic daily activities are literally impossible sometimes. Time to feed the dogs? Oh wait, I can't do so without help because I can't bend over to get their water bowls. Slide in that booth at your favorite restaurant? Nope. Won't fit. And trust me, when you are beginning week 41 of this "condition," your patience is wearing off.

That said, I've had it so easy compared to many women, and I definitely recognize that. I was a little sick in the beginning and of course tired, but the baby has appeared healthy throughout my pregnancy. As the months progressed, I've been fortunate enough to remain active and exercising. I can't imagine how slowly the time would be passing if I had been on bed rest or worried about the health of the baby or his showing up too soon. So if I have to go an extra week or so to test my patience and make up for my lucky 9 months, so be it. I am grateful to have experienced this as easily as I have, and I hope labor and delivery follows the same pattern. With that in mind, pray that little one comes soon on his own time before I have to be induced. We're hoping for the best in the days ahead!

Gratitude Post, 7 of 12

2009-09-05T22:28:00.007-04:00

For my seventh gratitude entry of the year, I am sincerely grateful for all of our support from friends and family as we prepare for the arrival of Baby Jude. Preparing for a new baby is such an exciting task but also a very overwhelming one. There are products to research and things to buy, and the weight of it all can seem heavy to say the least. I'm thankful that I have friends and family who not only remind me that Jude will be happy if he simply has lots of love but also happily share in the joy (and some of the burden) of what is to come. As I glance at the calendar and see my due date looming about 4 weeks away, I can say that at least our home is ready thanks to our generous family and friends.

The best thing about baby showers is that you can celebrate with so many people you maybe don't get to see as often as you'd like. While yes the gifts are appreciated, the company is even better! I was lucky enough to celebrate Jude's arrival 4 times in the past few months.

family shower with my in-laws

family shower at my sister's house

a fabulous childrens' book shower with some lovely English teacher hostesses....Jude's bookshelves are stocked!

a lovely tea with my favorites - Brenau ladies welcoming baby Jude!

His drawers are full of clothes - many of which were donated or gifted from friends and family, and the nursery is stocked and ready to go..... crib sheets, wipes, diaper cream, childrens' books, toys, bottles, and over 300 newborn diapers. I can't say thank you enough for all of the support we've received. Jude is so lucky to come in to world that is so excited to welcome him!

Gratitude Post, 6 of 12

2009-09-05T22:03:00.008-04:00

After last summer's big trip, Scott and I wanted to head somewhere low-key this year for summer vacation. Knowing this would be our last trip pre-baby, we also wanted somewhere different where we'd have the feeling of exploring a new place.

For my 6th gratitide post this year, I am grateful for our July trip to Cape Cod. The weather was perfect, our hosts were gracious, the scenery was beautiful, and the food was fabulous. All in all, it was one of the best vacations we've had together, and I can't wait to take Jude back one day!

I was unsure about how it would be traveling when I was 27 weeks pregnant, but everything was perfect. The weather was about 20 degrees cooler than it was here in Atlanta, so that helped my energy level considerably, and our decision to spend the Fourth of July in Hyannis made for such a memorable experience. I am grateful for the opportunity to see some New England coast and enjoy time together before our little family gets a lot bigger!

A view of Nantucket from the top of the Whaling Museum

Scott and me in Nantucket

The Fourth of July Parade on Main Street in Hyannis

Me - 27 weeks pregnant and in front of the Grist Mill in Sandwich, MA

Boats on the coast of Provincetown

The boardwalk at Yarmouthport

Scott and me at the Hyannis Harbor, stuffed with yummy seafood

Gratitude Post - 5 of 12

2009-06-29T16:34:00.002-04:00

Gratitude Post 5 of 12

Teaching is hard. That’s no secret. It’s no coincidence that statistics show us most beginning teachers quit their jobs and run screaming in the other direction within the first three years. I certainly spend my fair share of time whining and complaining about how difficult my life is from August to May.

But summertime, oh summertime.

I can’t think of many other careers where one can have a full 9 weeks of glorious vacation. And for all of those out there who complain about those spoiled teachers with weeks of vacation, I’d love to meet someone who could develop the level of energy and motivation necessary to teach and actually sustain that level of energy for 12 months a year. There is no way I could possibly be a teacher, or a halfway decent one, without this 2 months hiatus.

So what do I spend my summer doing? It’s been almost 5 weeks so far, and I can say I’ve had a nice combination of laziness and productivity. I’ve read a great book or two that have no use in the classroom, and I love that summer gives me the time to do that. I’ve spent a week at the beach, shared lunch dates with friends, spent many a day at the pool, enjoyed some quality local theatre, and savored my coffee in pajamas at 9 or 10 in the morning as I watch my morning news shows. I make no apologies for my laziness, especially this summer as I enjoy my last summer of selfishness and childlessness.

I haven’t been all lazy, though. So many mundane but important things get pushed aside as the hectic school year progresses. From scheduling carpet cleaning to revamping household budgets to cleaning out closets, summer allows me the time to do all of those things I really should be doing 12 months a year. I’m grateful to be in a profession that allows me the time to be leisurely and to play catch-up from life’s craziness and chaos. Am I ready to go back each August? Of course not. But I feel more ahead, more rested, more myself (if only a little) than I did in May and that’s worth a mention of gratitude for sure.

Gratitude Post - 4 of 12

2009-04-30T20:44:00.005-04:00

I’m admittedly a little late on April’s gratitude entry, but it’s been a busy month. One of the recurring April events that I am always excited about is Alumnae Reunion / May Day Weekend at my alma mater.

This brings me to my fourth gratitude entry. I’m grateful to be a women’s college educated woman.

When people ask me what college I attended and I explain my answer, I am often met with the same reply. “A women’s college? Like all girls? Why?” I chose a women’s college for both my undergraduate and graduate degrees, and I am a strong supporter of single-sex education. It’s often hard to explain the benefits to someone unfamiliar with this system, but a quick glance at research can give you a variety of reasons to support single-sex education (adapted from the Women’s College Coalition and the National Survey of Student Engagement).

Only 2.5 percent of the women attending college attend women's colleges, yet their graduates account for 24 percent of our U.S. Congress members and 1/3 of the female board members of Fortune 1000 companies.

They have measurably higher levels of self-esteem than other achieving women in coeducational institutions—9 out of 10 women's college graduates give their colleges high marks for fostering and developing self-confidence.

They are more likely to graduate, and more than twice as likely as graduates of coeducational colleges to earn doctoral degrees and to enter medical school.

They earn more after graduation because they often choose traditionally male disciplines, like the sciences, as their academic major, in greater numbers. Women's colleges continue to graduate women in math and the sciences at 1.5 times the rate of coed institutions.

Both seniors and first-year students at women’s colleges scored higher on active and collaborative learning and student-faculty interaction than their counterparts at coeducational institutions.

Facts like these, however, don’t even begin to explain what I got from a single-sex education. I think the most important thing I learned in my years on women’s college campuses is the importance of female friendship. Perceiving the world through female eyes is simply different than understanding life as our male counterparts do. We are persistently challenged with stereotypical assumptions, and we have to make choices about career and family that male peers don’t even have to consider.

Companionship is a need for all humans, but having a reliable circle of female friends who have grown with you is an invaluable asset. I loved my years at Brenau and my time at Agnes Scott, and there’s nothing more fulfilling than coming of age with a group of women whom you respect and admire. If I have a daughter, I can only hope that she finds fulfillment in female friendships as I have. Somehow “friendship” does not do it justice; I think a new word needs to be coined for women’s college friendships.

“You have been prepared for leadership, prepared to meet the intellectual and social challenges of this time. […] My sisters, we know women are agents for change in every society and country of the world. … Stand up for social justice and fairness, speak up for human rights, act up for America’s promise. Lead America into a new generation, a time of universal peace, justice and human rights. You are the leaders of this time. Seize this time and do good deeds." – Shirley Franklin 2008 Agnes Scott College Graduation (http://www.womenscolleges.org/thoughts/index)

Gratitude Post - 3 of 12

2009-03-22T16:30:00.004-04:00

Knowing 2009 would be a big year, I committed to this monthly exercise to record my experiences and to take a look at all the things I am grateful for as the seasons change and the year progresses. March’s gratitude entry is a BIG one.

There are no words which can describe what it feels like to see a tiny flicker on an ultrasound screen, even when you’ve known what’s going on inside you for a month at that point, you’ve witnessed countless friends and family have the same experience or you’ve read about what is happening inside your body. No words. How can something the size of a blueberry have a heart? How can something that wasn’t even present 9 weeks prior be living inside of me? So weird. So exciting. So happy.

So for March’s gratitude entry, I am grateful for possibilities. Grateful for life, for growth, for change, for new beginnings. Grateful for a husband who is just as excited as I am. Grateful for the time we had together before this. Time to be selfish, travel, be leisurely, but also time to be challenged and reminded that yes we do want to do this and we are excited about where the year will take us.

Number of times I have puked: only 1.

Number of hours I slept for the past few months: way more than I thought humanly possible.

Amount of guacamole I’ve eaten: You don’t want to know.

Number of my pants my waist has already outgrown: all of them

Number of pregnancy and childbirth books I now own: 4

Number of children’s books I’ve purchased already: 8

Number of times I have looked at this picture: countless.

We are elated. Due date October 1st.

Gratitude Post - 2 of 12

2009-02-02T21:02:00.002-05:00

My goal in these monthly posts is to reflect specifically on what I am grateful for from the previous month, not just generalities, and as I look at my January and what it gave to me, I see a definite theme, and I realize that I am becoming grateful for something that I would rather not have had just a few short months ago. As February begins, I am grateful for the stage I am arriving at in my life, one of age and a little experience, one of being settled into a certain steady routine, one of reliable comfort.

Just last week, we celebrated Scott’s 30th birthday with some friends and family, and I’m forced to think about what 30 actually means, or what it used to represent to me and what it means now. I am only 2 short years behind him, but I often still think of myself as 22. College certainly doesn’t feel like 6 years ago, and I resemble, in no way, what I once expected 30 to feel like. Truth be known, I’ve sort of been fighting this growing-older thing, and resenting what I thought it meant: limited chances, hard choices, too many bills, the same scenery forever. Only recently have I realized that age and experience has more than monotony to offer, and I am opening up to the idea that life doesn’t end when you settle in one place, but perhaps you give yourself permission to start a few things.

While we haven’t talked about it a lot, there was a chance, a very good one, that Scott’s company would have us moving somewhere new, actually somewhere far far away and new and exciting and all of the things you crave when you are nearing 30 and don’t want to be. Only this month did we find out that the adventure on the horizon won’t be happening any time soon. (Thank you, global recession.) That weekend consisted of far too many tears and glasses of cabernet, and then I realized that there are many things to be grateful for, even if I stay in this place the rest of my life.

We are lucky enough to have a house that we love, and it feels more like home with every passing month as we settle in and make improvements here and there. In the last month, I am grateful for welcoming the baby of a close college friend, celebrating Scott’s 30th, enjoying a family dinner or two with my sister and her growing family, and finally furnishing the ever-empty dining room we’d been staring at for the past 4 years. All of these moments come from the age, experience, and reliability that I am only coming to know in recent years. So perhaps the looming 3-0 around the bend isn’t so much a funeral for the years that have passed but a christening for what is to come.

on repeat

2009-01-11T10:07:00.008-05:00

I'm in love. His name is Andrew Bird.

I know I might be a little late getting on this train, and a lot of you might listen to him already. But seriously. Can't. Stop. Listening.

Gratitude Post – 1 of 12

2009-01-03T21:17:00.023-05:00

So here goes. Month #1. Post 1 of 12.

As 2008 drew to a close, I found myself grateful for the many memories and experiences the passing year brought me.

When I think back to college or graduate school, I can remember so many specifics about my daily life and weekend adventures – where I went, whom I went there with, what we talked about. Since then, however, I’ve often been feeling like the days, weeks, months, and even years just fly by and half the time I can’t remember what I do from one day to the next. I am so grateful that 2008 has been an exception to this, and as I look back on the year, I think, Wow. I really did something.

As my January gratitude post, I am grateful for the year we just closed.

________________________________

While there are many more than 14, I've written a list of specific experiences I am grateful for in 2008 (sometimes with a picture since that was, after all, last year’s resolution):

1. A fun birthday celebration at Eclipse di’Luna to begin my 27th year with some of my favorite people

2. An especially bright and unforgettable group of students whom I felt proud to have taught as they walked across the stage on graduation day – I am continually inspired in my profession by emails, notes, and visits from these kids, and I’m grateful to have mentored them.

3. An adorable niece born in March who could not be a more perfect addition to our family.

4. Two fabulous concerts in the month of May – Tea Leaf Green and Swell Season which, by the way, pleasantly surprised me as one of the most amazing concerts I have ever been to.

5. A reunion with some college friends last June in Seaside, Florida – These girls never cease to entertain me or remind me of who I really am.

6. Our trip to Europe this summer which was absolutely the highlight of my year - There were so many simple moments on that trip – staring out the window of a train, overlooking a canal, enjoying a sidewalk café, or strolling city streets – when I had to pinch myself as a reminder that that it was real and it was perfect.

7. The Decatur Books Festival in August – Seeing Billy Collins read for the second time (and getting his autograph!) and meeting Lee Smith, one of my favorite novelists, was such a joy.

8. The Black Keys concert in October – yet another great night of music

9. A presidential election that made me proud to be a voter and an American and excited about the future direction of this country – one of hope and tolerance

10. The wedding of a dear friend where we watched her revel in her own happiness and we danced and danced and danced

11. A fabulous girls-only slumber party in November where we drank, laughed, gossiped, and watched True Blood until we fell asleep

12. A family photo shoot I’ve already mentioned in a previous post that reminds me how lucky I am to have the family that I do

13. A November reunion dinner party with a cozy outdoor fireplace and the greatest company ever

14. Closing 2008 with some of the best holiday fun and relaxation I can remember in recent years

So when I look back at the year in review, I realize it was, indeed, quite a year and I look forward to the many things 2009 has to offer. My hope is that this little monthly exercise will make me take a look at these experiences as I'm having them, not just after they pass. The challenge is, as Jane Austen says, to “feel the importance of every day, of every hour, as it passes.”

Happy 2009, everyone! I wish you the best of luck with your resolutions, whatever they may be.

New Year's Resolution

2009-01-03T20:10:00.003-05:00

So New Year’s resolutions come and go, but as I mentioned on my last post, I had a great idea for 2009’s resolution that involves this blog. Last year, my resolution was to take more photographs, and I really felt like I followed through with that one, giving me hope that I can stick it out if I put my mind to it. So this year’s goal? To complete a gratitude journal. This is certainly not an original idea, and if you peruse the self-help section or the journal selection at any Barnes & Noble, you can see the plethora of gratitude-focused books and journals, but I pledge to do this once a month and post it here. While a few others read this, the idea honestly is that it's primarily for my benefit. It will allow me the time and space to reflect on the many things in my life that are worthy of gratitude and shift my focus away from the things I complain about far too much.

My goal is to post an entry the first week of every month and to be as specific as possible in reference to what has passed that month…. Not simply “family” or “friends” but what about those people or situations is worthy of my recognition as a blessed individual. I'm sure that some months will yield shorter entries than others and some months it might seem hard to think of anything at all, but the truth is that I'm one lucky girl, and I want to use 2009 to focus on that.

Holiday Giving .... and Getting

2008-12-29T09:08:00.015-05:00

Posting 2 days in a row? Impossible. See what happens when I have some time off school?

Christmas came and went in the usual whirlwind, but I feel like we enjoyed it more this year than ever before because Scott and I simplified a lot of the usual holiday craziness.

As gifts for each other, we decided to go in together and buy one great camera. It came in about a month ago, and we've already got some great stuff. I am excited to see what it gives us this year as I learn more about how to use it. So far Scott is way better at it than I am, but I'm learning!

As gifts for my mom and my grandparents, my sister and I decided to do a family photo session with photographer Kyle Hale. I discovered him through a college friend of mine when she posted some gorgeous family photos a few months ago. Kyle was reasonably priced, easy to work with, and he came up to our home to do the pictures which I loved. The final results really feel like home - which is probably because it is my home - but you know what I mean. I think our comfort really conveys itself in the photos because we are in familiar surroundings, and he came up with so many cool ideas and angles in and around our house. (If you are in Atlanta and need someone for a wedding or general family photography, check him out at http://www.kylehale.net/.) When we got the pictures back, Melissa and I decided that they were incredible enough to be our gifts to one another as well. I know it's partly because it's my own family and I love them, but these photos took my breath away the first time I saw them. This is just a sampling, and we received 114 photos that are ALL frame worthy.

All of us on the porch - Mom loved this one!

We somehow persuaded my camera-shy grandparents to stop by for a while.

my favorite one of Scott and me

with the kids

my sister and her beautiful family

I think this one is my favorite!

And lastly, Melissa with little Emmie

At first, we just wanted a unique Christmas gift idea, but now I am so happy we decided to do this, and I will definitely cherish them for quite some time. In addition to these fabulous pictures, I received some much needed photo albums for all our Europe pics, a camera bag for the new Nikon, a couple of new books, and ..... a Wii! My arms are sore as we speak because I couldn't stop playing for the past two days.

My sweet yearbook students all pitched in together to give me an American Express card that purchased two lovely Target bookshelves, and believe it or not, the majority of my books have now found their way out of the basement and in to a (somewhat) organized place on the shelves that now grace our dining room.

So all in all, a fabulous Christmas vacation thus far, and I am happy to say I have 6 days left. I have an interesting idea brewing for a New Year's resolution that pertains to this blog, but I'll be thinking on that before I unveil it. I hope everyone's holiday is going beautifully and we are all ready to be out with the old and in with the new. Happy holidays!

Ron Rash's Serena

2008-12-28T16:41:00.005-05:00

Back in August, I was fortunate enough to sit in on a panel at the Decatur Books Festival. The discussion, entitled “Down from the Mountain,” featured two authors from the Appalachian region. I was certainly already familiar with Lee Smith as an author I adore, but Ron Rash was new to me. During the panel, he read from his newest work Serena, which had not been published at that time, and I was anxious to read it after his reading and explanation. The novel did not disappoint.

In short, it’s an Appalachian retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. It does not follow the story precisely; Rash is far more creative than that. It does, however, hinge on the theme of blind ambition, and the story centers around a female character you love and hate at the same time, one who steers the ship for her husband as they encounter obstacles on the way to their success. It is this character, Serena Pemberton, who keeps you turning the pages and makes the novel worthy of its hype.

Originally from the mountains of Colorado, Serena meets her husband in Boston before the two of them establish a lumber empire in the North Carolina mountains. Life in the lumber business is hard, and the workers in the lumber camp often lose limbs and lives in their day-to-day work. It’s clearly no place for a woman, but Serena has no difficulty holding her own here, and furthermore, she manages to present herself as a superior when the workers quickly understand that she, even more so than her husband, is the one to answer to and the one to fear.

With a white horse and a trained eagle on her side, Serena’s character is unmistakably mythic in her capabilities and in Ron Rash’s description of her. Rash describes her training the eagle; “Each dawn the following weeks, Serena walked into the stable’s back stall and freed the eagle from the block perch. She and the bird spent the morning alone in tree-shorn plain below Half Acre Ridge…..By the fifth day the bird perched in Serena’s right forearm, its head black-hooded like an executioner, the five-foot leash tied to Serena’s right elbow and the leather bracelets around the raptor’s feet” (102). The image of Serena dashing across the mountain on her white horse with the eagle perched alongside her is one that makes quite an impression on the lumber workers and on the reader.

A story of a vast lumber empire is not what drives the plot of the novel, however. Soon after setting foot off the train from Boston, Serena learns firsthand that her husband’s previous relationship has produced a son in these mountains, and like Lady Macbeth, that seems to be the one thing she cannot give her groom. Many twists and turns ensue from there, and the ending of this novel is one of the most memorable conclusions I have ever read.

All in all, Ron Rash reveals a story of violence and misery but also one of love and devotion, and Serena Pemberton is a character who will stay with you long after the novel is finished. It's certainly one of my best reads of the year.

Slow Going

2008-11-29T13:18:00.005-05:00

Current Read? It's a sloooooow go. Not that long ago, I heard of a little book that was getting a lot of attention, and I decided to pick it up and try it for myself.

So I am reading - or attempting to read - Verlyn Klinkenborg's Notes of an Abject Reptile, and I am simply not that into it. This surprises me since it sounded like it would be just my style. As a quick summation, it is musings on English countryside told through the eyes of a tortoise who resides on the garden of an accomplished naturalist. Usually beautiful style and philisophical meanderings can keep my attention, but as my students say, "I'm just not feelin' it" with this one. I'm no quitter, so I am determined to plow right through. Hopefully I can report back with a change of heart and "feel it" soon. We shall see.

Anyone read this one before and can offer an ounce of insight?

The Great Divide

2008-10-11T09:00:00.005-04:00

I clearly haven’t blogged in ages, and I’m sad to say that I don’t even really have a book post to finally write. I have been so restless lately, in every possible way. Jumping from book to book without really finishing anything is not very effective, nor is it really characteristic of my usual habits, but that’s what I have been doing lately. When I actually finish something, I’ll be astounded. What a terrible approach and an unfamiliar habit. Who am I?

There’s one thing I know I am and that’s addicted to politics this season. I’ll be the first to say that watching debates, listening to pundits, discussing / arguing about relevant issues has definitely cut in to my reading time (not to mention my sanity) these days. I don’t want to watch anymore, but I can’t stop listening and watching.

The truth is I am scared. I am astounded at how divided this nation has become, and I sincerely hope that whomever is elected can heal this divide. Months ago, my first thought was “Wow. How great! Everyone is really interested in politics this year, and apathy is out of style. How refreshing.” Now, however, I’m seeing that the intense fervor with which the nation is discussing politics is indicative of a much greater issue here. Each side thinks the other is so wrong that this country will go down an unfixable path if that opponent is elected. I cannot remember an election in my lifetime where each side is so earnestly scared of the other party gaining power. And that, my friends, is the scary part.

Take, for instance, this video. It’s only a couple of minutes long, but worth watching.

Now let me say that obviously a Democrat produced this video, and someone could most likely find some anti-McCain supporters at a rally somewhere who look just as crazy. But look at those people. They have lost every sense of sanity, of dignity. They have no regard for the facts or what is right and wrong. They simply want their side to win, and they are honestly frightened of the other alternative.

I had a 45 minute political conversation with my mother this week. Never a good idea. I think my ears were bleeding afterwards. But what I realize after speaking with her is that she is just as honestly passionate about her views as I am mine. I don’t think poor people choose to be poor. I don’t think public schools are a waste of tax payer money, and I don’t think vouchers are a way to fix its problems. I don’t think progressive taxes are unfair; to whom much is given, much is required. (I believe Jesus said that, by the way.) I don’t think it’s ridiculous to say that every child in America must have adequate healthcare.

By the same token, however, my mother (and many others like her) passionately believes that most poor people choose to waste government money, vouchers are the solution to America’s public schools, there should be a straight percentage across the board for everyone’s taxes, and mandatory healthcare for children is one enormous step to a socialized nation. She is just as frightened of Barack Obama as I am of John McCain. Both of us genuinely see America descending on a permanent path to doom if the opposite party is elected.

My students are in the same boat. Everyday, specifically after debates, I have to tell students to stop yelling at each other about politics. I’ve never seen anything like this. I know most of them are regurgitating what their parents say, but it’s still reflective of this alarming trend.

So where does this lead us? I honestly don’t know. I am ready for the election to be here and to have a new, hopefully capable, leader for a change. But I am also nervous about the reaction of everyday Americans after this is all over. The truth is, when you look at popular vote, it is split reasonably evenly. This means that almost half of America will be appalled either way. There is no doubt that America is more polarized now than it was 8 years ago. It was Abraham Lincoln himself who said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” How did we get this way, and how do we fix it?

Good to be home?

2008-07-24T11:59:00.022-04:00

We have been back from Europe for 5 days but it feels like years. So much going on and too long to explain. Let's just say I wanted to feel peaceful and cozy when I returned home but it has been anything but that. Why does everything seem to happen at once?

I start back to school in 10 days, and I can't believe I am saying this but I almost want to start back just to get my mind off the super-stressful business that has been occupying my time and energy these days. I am trying various approaches to bring peace of mind to myself, and so far early morning grocery shopping is the only thing that works. I can't even read these days.

Oh well. Let's not dwell on unhappy things. I will instead focus on that 16-day-long oasis from craziness. From now on, I will try to imagine myself back to .......

T.S. Eliot's footsteps in the reading room in the British Museum.....

the beautiful stained glass in King's College Chapel....

Cambridge, England - my favorite place on Earth.....

The Trinity College courtyard on a cloudy Sunday afternoon.....

a punt along the River Cam.....

the beautiful Roman Baths....

Where else can you be this happy in the pouring rain?

or maybe the quays of the River Seine....

or the lending library of Shakespeare & Company Books....

a stomach full of French food and an evening stroll in front of the Eiffel Tower....

the quaint canalside lanes of Bruges, Belgium....

Belgian countryside.....

the busy energy of Dam Square ...

the canals of Amsterdam....

Our trip was lovely, and I have so much to reflect on. Reflection will come, but for now, I don't have the energy or the time. I begin school in 10 days and I have a 700-page summer reading book to complete and a sudden lack of concentration ability - such a bad combination. As I've mentioned already, my mental and physical energy is being pulled a million directions at the moment. ....A death in my family, small issues that are unnecessarily being made bigger... and I am saddened by the news that a college friend of mine has been widowed far too early. Her pain is beyond my comprehension.

I'm thinking of her and everything else that is going wrong at that moment, but I am trying to focus on the positive. 10 more precious days of summer.

Bonjour!

2008-07-14T13:22:00.003-04:00

I wanted to update more often, but I have been doing all of my "computering" with the occasional free wifi on my iPhone.

We are in Belgium now. This picture was taken with my phone last night after a fabulous French meal. Paris was great! Five more nights in Europe - 2 in Bruges and then on to Amsterdam for the final leg of the trip.

Fair and Tender Ladies

2008-06-30T13:13:00.005-04:00

As promised a few days ago, I am taking some time to post on Lee Smith's Fair and Tender Ladies - prompted by a little book discussion a few weeks ago.

I first read this book my sophomore year in college as I began to get in the full swing of English major craziness - reading who knows how many books at once. While I love to read as much as anyone I know, it can take the enjoyment out of the experience when you are hurried and simply trying to finish the book just in time to move on to the next one and find an angle for your next essay. It's the eternal ironic dilemma of the English major and the English teacher...when your joy becomes your job.

This book was the exception.

I can remember reading the title, rolling my eyes, and thinking, "Fair and Tender Ladies? Lovely. It sounds like a romance novel or something." I expected hoop skirts, moonlight, magnolias, and all of the other southern cliches many southern lit books deliver. Lee Smith, however, gives us so much more in this novel. Even in the frenzy of mid-semester, I specifically remember relishing the book and lying on my bed a few afternoons in a row as soon as class let out. Once you get to know Ivy Rowe, you can't put this one down, and you are riveted until the tearful last page. As I have come back to it now for the third re-read, I feel a stronger connection to the text every time I read it.

The epistolary novel begins with a young Ivy as she tries to write herself out of her misery in isolated Appalachia where her impoverished family lives. While Ivy suffers a great deal, - hunger, deaths of family members, being denied many things we take for granted - Smith ingeniously allows the reader to sift through all of the expected pity and into the soul of Ivy Rowe. She finds enjoyment in what she does have as her father walks through their fields and tells her, "Slow down, Ivy. Slow down. This is the taste of spring." Young Ivy manages to find joy and even ownership in places that we would not expect in order to accommodate for her seemingly lackluster life atop Sugar Fork. She explains her experience looking down off the mountain to the world around her:

"The whole world was new, and it was like I was the onliest person that had ever looked upon it, and it was mine. It belonged to me. Now it is new for me to feel this as I have not had hardly ever a thing of my own, it is handmedowns and pitching in and sharing everything up here on Sugar Fork, they is so many of us up here as you know. But I looked out over all them hills, and the land was sloped so different from the snow. And every tree was glittering and Sugar Fork black and singing along mostly under the ice. The snow come plum up to my knees. Nobody else had got up yet and I reckon I was the onliest one in the world."

Young Ivy's naivety does not last long as she makes the move down to Majestic and then to the mining town of Diamond where she creates a life of her own and of course a reputation that isn't always favorable. Ivy is not a perfect character as she makes many mistakes that most of us usually find unforgivable. With her, however, the readers find themselves seeing past her discrepancies and straight to the endearing honesty, feistiness, and wit that endears her to us in the first place.

What I find especially interesting is that each time I re-read this novel, I find myself focusing a bit more on a certain phase of Ivy that I perhaps overlooked before. When reading this in college, I adored the devil-may-care sauciness and self-assured attitude that I saw in the younger Ivy as she made a name for herself and fumbled her way through life and early independence. Now as I re-read, I focus on the slightly-older Ivy as she gives a moving description of the birth of her first daughter or settles in to life with her husband Oakley. I know this is a book that I will come back to many other times in life, and my copy is so battered, marked, folded, and bruised that I can find the perfect passage just when I need to read it again and again.

While I am 27 years old and Ivy ends her epistolary story at a much much older age than that, I am already hoping that I too can end my long years with the same sense of satisfaction Ivy does. In her last letter, she describes how life takes you places that you definitely don't expect:

"...how little we know. We spend our lives like a tale that is told I have spent my years so....I have loved and loved and loved. I am fair worn out with it."

What more could any individual ask for as you cross that last bend? Love in its many forms is what makes this novel and this character so enthralling. Lee Smith creates an unforgettable presence that will stay with you long after you turn that last page.

Here, There, Everywhere.....

2008-06-26T09:10:00.010-04:00

Wow. This blog is seriously suffering. I certainly have not placed this as a priority in quite some time - as evidenced with these massive gaps in posting. One of the reasons I love keeping a blog is to look back at it and see what I was doing, thinking, feeling at that moment, but when I post every 6+ weeks, it's not really reflective of that so I need to shape it up around here.

Let's see? A recap of summer thus far? Well, it began beautifully with a fabulous book discussion on one of my favorite books of all time. I met a college preofessor and a few English major nerds for brunch to discuss this book for my professor's special study on southern women reading southern lit. She recorded our conversation, and it was a good one. Visiting Ivy Rowe through the pages of Fair and Tender Ladies is like seeing an old friend. I have much more to say, but I am going to devote all of that to its own post later this week. I SWEAR.

After that, I went to yearbook camp - woo hoo. And then I had a nice long weekend with some college gals whom I don't see nearly enough of.

Here we are about 8 years ago:

And here we are last weekend in Seaside, Florida:

Funny how some things have changed and others......not so much. It was great ladies, and we better not wait so long next time. [The story behind that picture is actually funny. We were trying to get a picture with the camera timer, and some guy walked by and said he'd take it for us. We said "sure" but then I forgot to turn off the timer feature so he was just holding it awkwardly for ten long seconds - which is why we are laughing. It was weird...not to mention that he was walking on a dark beach all alone with a cigar. Odd.]

Aside from all of this, I managed to finish Belong to Me which was a great summer read - not too heavy but not entirely fluffy either. I came to really like the characters by the end of it. Now I am diving into Norwegian Wood which has begun fabulously and I am fighting the urge to sit here and read it when I finish this post instead of go to the gym like I need to.

In addition to all of these lovely novels, what have I been reading? Oh, just a few guidebooks for a little trip we are taking. Only one short week from now, I'll be gazing at these sights to name a few......

or maybe this......

then this ....

and finally this.....

London, Paris, Bruges, and Amsterdam!

Yipee. I am so excited and I'd love to know suggestions on food, cafes, sights, whatever.

We leave in 7 days.

So. Much. To. Do. It's a big summer.

Reasons I am so bad at posting these days:

2008-05-01T20:04:00.002-04:00

Weekend To-Do List:

clean up this gross house
do yard work - inlcuding plant 2 new hydrangea bushes
grade a gazillion vocab quizzes that have piled up and grade the last 16 research papers from my Brit Lit seniors
purchase the rail passes for this summer's trip to Europe
go to Tea Leaf Green
get a visit from a college friend (inspired by #5 on this list) who is staying with me - Now you see the importance of #1.
purchase Mothers Day gifts
plan lessons for next week
re-read Cry, The Beloved Country so that I actually know what I'm talking about in class.
oh yeah, and sleep at some point. and grocery shop. and keep my sanity.

She's Here!

2008-03-29T20:03:00.004-04:00

Emerson Mae (little Emmie Mae)

My sister with Peyton and Emmie - a few hours old!

"It's spring fever.... You don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” - Mark Twain

2008-03-13T20:05:00.010-04:00

Long time, no blog. I'm finally back, though.

Life is crazy, and the pace at school is INSANE as it always is at this time of year. I'm trying to make some time for myself occasionally so that I don't end up at the end of my rope. Oh wait, too late for that. There are 9 weeks left in the semester, and my students are getting just as restless as I am. I'm pretty tired of them, and it's safe to say the feeling is mutual.....they are tired of me as well. I won't even tell you how many research papers I have to grade. Saying the number aloud makes me cry.

Anyhow, I wanted to post a review of Heroines from a while back. It's a fun little read, and I don't want to pass the chance to comment on it. The general idea is that 13-year-old Penny lives in rural Illinois in a B&B with her mother, Anne-Marie, literary heroines step out of their tragic lives to recuperate under Anne-Marie's care.

It gets interesting when a specific heroine's leading man comes looking for her, and long story short, young Penny ends up in a mental institution of sorts and ends up learning much much more about her mother and her mysteriously-absent father. The conclusion is such a fun surprise that I won't really say much else. I will say, however, that Eileen Favorite manages to craft a story that is both ridiculously unrealistic and completely believable for those of us who are book lovers. So many times, I have felt so close to a character that she might as well have been staying at my family home. Favorite just takes this connection to the next logical level as characters relate to real people, and we are reminded of why we read in the first place.

So what am I reading now? Well, I have a general policy that I don't re-read. (I have too many waiting in line.) But I'm re-reading a fabulous book I read about 3 summers ago. I just got an itchin' to read it again, and I am enjoying it almost as much as the first time. If you've read it, you know why it's worthy of a revisit; if you haven't read it, GO READ IT.

I've also ordered Jitterbug Perfume because I liked Skinny Legs and All so much, and I was in a Robbins mood. Anyone read it?

On another note, I should have a new niece next week! Pics will be up soon.

When it rains, it pours.

2008-02-16T18:04:00.004-05:00

I'm still around and stll alive and reading.

It's been a crazy week or two around here. I've developed the same plague all of my students had - headache, cough, aches and pains, general ickiness. My sister almost went into premature labor. (She's at the hospital right not and they've stopped the contractions, but I am here with my niece until they release my sister.) Earlier this week, I also received some really sad news about a close college friend of mine and the much-too-early loss of her mother. On top of all of this, I have a scary stack of essays waiting to get graded and no time or concentration available to do so.

When it rains, it pours.

I'll be back to blogging at some point soon, I promise.

Back to the Usual Already?

2008-01-05T16:05:00.000-05:00

So I really want to go do some Target and Trader Joe's shopping, but instead I'm waiting on the carpet cleaner people to finish up with my house, so I'm stuck here for a while. I figure what better way to pass the time than to update my often neglected blog?

I hope everyone had a shiny holiday season and a fun new year. You'd think that a whole 2 weeks off would mean I could blog every now and then, but the husband and I were busy busy busy around here. Christmas Eve was my family, Christmas Day was his, and then there was a fast trip to Chattanooga and a fast trip to Birmingham so by the time New Year's Eve was here, I was needing a holiday from my holiday! ....Not to mention those essays I brought home. Ahem, procrastination anyone?

On another note, I have a good feeling about 2008, lots of good things happening. I will have a niece number two this spring - YAY; we are traveling to Europe this summer for a long-awaited trip; there is talk of a much-needed beach reunion among some old college friends this summer, and I am finally feeling comfortable and settled after our move last year.

Life is good and I have an iPhone. I can't complain.

New Year's Eve turned out to be loads of fun as we spent it with some of our old friends....not that any of us are old but we've known these folks for quite some time.

Why do camera flashes love my fair skin?

I've now spent 9 New Year's Eves with this person. Scary, I know.

So all in all, I had a fabulous holiday and am looking forward to an even better year. I feel much more rejuvinated now that I have had a break from school, and I am excited that British Lit is a semester course so I can repeat what worked and change what didn't.

I received a number of great books for Christmas, so I have a lot of reading to do. I recieved On Beauty, Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, and one crazy Brazilian I know gave me something new and different that I am anxious to crack open and begin. (On that note, I loved Heroines, and there is a review coming soon.)

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and you are easily transitioning back to the daily grind. Here's to a great 2008!

I heart Google images.

2007-12-12T19:14:00.000-05:00

Today was a bad day...quite honestly the worst I've experienced in a while. I am tired, my head hurts, and I am oh so overwhelmed. I thought, however, that I would try to accentuate the positive rather than bitch and complain, so here we go.

For tonight's post, I thought I'd include a nice montage of the only things getting me through this week.

Let's begin......

First there's my favorite candy which is currently residing in my desk drawer at school where I am keeping it so I can eat too much of it.

Then there's my favorite t.v. show that comes on in approximately 27 minutes. (I've promised myself I'll grade while I watch. Ummmm, yeah right.)

Next we have colored pens which are the only things that make grading bearable. Green and purple are my favorites, but I like to switch off every few papers to shake it up a bit.

Did I mention I started a great new book? I can't wait to curl up with it a bit this weekend.

And finally? There's the promise that this will all be over in 7 days. I am ready to be baking cookies, listening to carols, and giving presents. (Okay, I am excited about the getting, too) It's so hard to be Christmasing when I feel so overhelmed with school, but my break begins in 6 days, and it can't come fast enough!

Get Me Out of Here

2007-12-07T22:44:00.000-05:00

So when I spent the summer of 2001 in England, I discovered Grantchester Orchard. It's a hike from Cambridge. (Literally, you have to walk there on foot through pastures.) When you complete the journey, though, you end up here.

Full trees, quaint tables, and a little stand that sells tea and scones. What could be more pleasant? Good tea, delicious scones and cream, and a good book. If heaven doesn't feel like this, I'm not interested.

Rupert Brooke immortalized this place in his famous poem "The Old Vicarage, Grantchester."

And clever modern men have seen
A Faun a-peeping through the green,
And felt the Classics were not dead,
To glimpse a Naiad's reedy head,
Or hear the Goat-foot piping low: . . .
But these are things I do not know.
I only know that you may lie
Day long and watch the Cambridge sky,
And, flower-lulled in sleepy grass,
Hear the cool lapse of hours pass,
Until the centuries blend and blur
In Grantchester, in Grantchester. . . .

Now each time I read Rupert Brooke (even if it's another poem), I always remember the breeze through the trees and the beautiful simplicity of an afternoon at Grantchester Orchard.

Today we read "The Soldier" in my British Lit class. You know the one; "If I should die, think only this of me: / That there's some corner of a foreign field / That is for ever England." Gaining a force of its own, it can move any English major to tears...or at least give you chills and remind you, "This is why I read!"

I am reading it aloud to my class of sleepy seniors when I hear a loud slurping from my right. One culprit and his morning milkshake are to blame. The class snickered a bit and I glared. When he clulessly said, "What?" I explained that he was managing to "slowly slurp every last ounce of litereray passion from my soul."

Oh that I had a time machine! I'd be 20 years old again with no students and no papers and no bills and no responsibilities. I'd be sipping tea beaneath the orchard trees this very second.

Mental Health Day

2007-11-29T08:06:00.000-05:00

So it's been 200 years since I've last posted (nothing like the use of a good hyperbole). I've been busy busy busy doing all sorts of things but mostly drowning in my school work. I'm afraid that I've lost any readers I previously had as a result of my lengthy break from posting, so I am making an attempt to come back.

I have a substitute today, so I am posting at home - midmorning on a weekday. A rarity. I hadn't missed a day all year, not really on purpose, it just happened. My intention was to grade all morning. (I'm behind as usual.) And then I wanted to do some Christmas shopping this afternoon. Last night, however, I arrived home at the lovely hour of 7 pm which is far too late when you get to work at 7:15 in the morning. I decided that I need the mental health time more than the grading time at the present moment, so here I am.

My new plan? Post on my blog, clean my kitchen, go to the gym, come home to shower, meet the husband for lunch, and go Christmas shopping. Notice anything about this list? Ummmm, it is normal stuff that normal people should not get excited about, but I am taking a day off to do these mundane things. I know I can't complain; I am the one who chose my profession, and I am generally satisfied, but seriously.......This is far too much information, but I've been wearing the same toenail polish since September if that gives you an idea of how much time I spend on myself in proportion to how much time I spend on my job. We won't even discuss shaving the legs.

That being said, there are many bloggers out there who are just as busy as I am, and they manage to post frequently. (Andi, Carrie, and the all-powerful Dooce just to name a few.) I like blogging, and I like your comments via the blog or in "real life" for those of you who know me, so I want to keep it up. Perhaps I should move it up on my list of priorities.

On another note (since this is a somewhat bookish blog after all), I would love your suggestions on books to add to my Christmas list. Books are always the longest category on my list every year. C'mon, even you lurkers out there who read and don't leave comments whould have something to say for this one. Give me one or two really good books you've read in the last year, and I'll add them to my list. One good thing about my profession? I am about to have two solid weeks of uninterrupted "me time" which means lots of me reading time!

So, fellow bookish folk, any suggestions?

Grandmothers

2007-10-11T17:46:00.000-04:00

My sister and I hosted a birthday party for my grandmother this weekend. On Saturday night, my house was full of relatives celebrating the woman my grandmother is and the many things she has always given.

I think most of us take her presence for granted, so it's times like these that we really stop to think about what she's done. She is the traditional matriarch of the family, and no holiday or event would be the same without her presence. For most of us, the taste of her Thanksgiving dressing or her signature banana pudding is like slipping into an old cozy sweatshirt where you feel nothing but familiar comfort and sincere belonging.

My relationship with my grandmother is complex and deeply hinged on many things that are far too long and detailed for this blog, but in a nutshell, she's my person. You all know what I mean, everyone has a person - the person you call when you've had a really bad day, the person you feel compelled to brag to when you've done something worthy of your pride, maybe the person you called when September eleventh happened, the first number you dialed when you got engaged, all of these milestones or miniscule events that make up our everydays. For me, Grandmother is that person, and I'm always anxious to hear her voice on the other end.

The concept of growing up without grandparents is foreign to me. My family lived next door to them from the time I was about 7 years old until I left home. Ann Morse explains, "A child needs a grandparent, anybody's grandparent, to grow a little more securely into an unfamiliar world." And that's precisely what my grandparents have done for me. When my father died, my mother, my sister, and I moved in with my grandparents until Mom could get back on her feet again and we felt safe to move forward. I was young (only five), and though I do not remember more than brief fleeting moments of that year, I do think the experience left an indelible mark. At that moment, the world was as "unfamilar" as it ever would be and seemed very scary, but there is one person who helped me move more securely to become the person I am.

My grandmother is one of those women whom you want to pattern yourself after, but you realize that selfless grace and true kindness is not a learned trait but one with which you have to be gifted. I can only hope that age and experience will make my half of what she is.

Proof That $9 at Target Can Provide Endless Hours of Entertainment

2007-09-30T10:00:00.000-04:00

Tucker the Superhero at your service. Doesn't he look heroic?

I have no excuse.

2007-09-21T17:30:00.000-04:00

It's admittedly been a long time since I've last posted, and I have been busy, but who hasn't? This is always the time of the school year when I fall behind on doing the things I want to do because I become so overwhelmed with the daily grind. I'm giving myself a slap on the wrist for getting behind on my blog writing and my blog reading.

So what's new?

Well, I am teaching Macbeth to my British Lit students, and I had forgotten how much I like that play. It's so rare that you find a text in Brit Lit that actually has strong female characters, so I am enjoying these few days if for that reason alone. We just finished Book IX of Paradise Lost, and prior to that, only one kid knew what "patriarchal" meant, but now they all do. [Insert evil laugh here....] And yes, that will be on the unit test, boys and girls.

In other news, I have begun a great new book which I bought on a whim last weekend at a used bookstore, and I highly recommend it. There's so much to talk about, I wish I knew someone else who is reading / has read it. Anyone? I am thinking of this read next. Any reviews or advice on that one?

Being the adventurous pair that we are, Scott and I have opted for a Friday night in, so I'm off to open a bottle of wine now. We are saving money and resting up before our big concert tomorrow night. Hope all is well in the blogosphere, and I will be reading reading reading to catch up with bloggy friends.

Happy weekend.

Yet another reason Billy Collins is my favorite contemporary poet.

2007-09-03T15:13:00.001-04:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I adore Billy Collins. I heard him live a few years ago, and I consider it one of the more influential literary experiences I've ever had- comparable only with my summer at Cambridge. He has a way of making you laugh as you read his poems, yet there's always that twist that is poignant as well. His poetry is so accessible that you really don't have to be a literary buff or a lover of words to "get it."

This artist has taken audio of Collins reading his own work and added animation. Simply beautiful. Watch it.... it's worth it. [For some reason, I can't get it to embed on my site. You'll have to click on the link below.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrEPJh14mcU

Books, Books, Books

2007-09-01T23:15:00.000-04:00

Brandy posted this one, and I couldn't resisit.

What are you reading right now? Spenser's Sonnets and The Canterbury Tales for school, Why Moms are Weird for fun.

Do you have any idea what you’ll read when you’re done with that? Probably Norwegian Wood or Suite Francaise although my pleasure reading goes way too slow during the school year when I am reading other stuff as well. Half the time I fall asleep grading essays and I never open "my" book until the weekend.

What magazines do you have in your bathroom right now? None in the bathroom, but Southern Living and Real Simple on my coffee table.

What’s the worst thing you were ever forced to read? Pierre was a painful graduate school memory that I am still trying to forget.

What’s the one book you always recommend to just about everyone? Fair and Tender Ladies....if you don't fall in love with that book, I don't know what planet you're from.

Admit it, the librarians at your library know you on a first name basis, don’t they? Actually no because I usually buy. At discount rates nonetheless, but I am a buyer. There's just something about having your own copy.

Is there a book you absolutely love, but for some reason, people never think it sounds interesting, or maybe they read it and don’t like it at all? The Virgin Blue is a hard one to sell, but it's good, I promise!

Do you read books while you do other things? No way. I'm usually sucked in to the point of annoying anyone else who happens to be near me.

When you were little, did other children tease you about your reading habits? My friends were generally as dorky as me, so no. My sister, however, did and still does.

What’s the last thing you stayed up half the night reading because it was so good you couldn’t put it down? Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Loved it. Loved it. Loved it. My best read all summer.

If you are a fellow reader, and you haven't done this one yet, then tag, you're it!

In case there is any doubt that educators have the most difficult job in America.....

2007-08-27T20:39:00.000-04:00

too much too soon

2007-08-21T21:12:00.000-04:00

I've witnessed two ~~bizarre~~ ~~humorous~~ slightly disturbing situations already since I've been back at school. A colleague of mine was alerted by a student that there was "something in the boys' bathroom that should not be there." When said teacher went to check it out, he finds a DVD entitled "Good Assternoon" with some fabulously trashy naked girls on the cover. He of course used extreme caution in disposing of the item without actually allowing it to make contact with his skin.

Episode #2 - Another teacher-friend of mine is handing out textbooks to her class when a girl returns hers to get another one because that one has "something in it." Being the smart teacher she is, my friend waits for all the students to leave before investigating the issue, and what did she find? A condom. Not just any condom, people - one that appeared to be used.

I laughed at these situations heartily, partly because they didn't happen to me. We all made our fair share of comments. ("eewwww," "at least they used protection," "at least they had their English book with them")

But then later I heard some freshmen discussing A Night in Paris (aka Paris Hilton's film debut) with more information than they should know at 14. My point in telling you this? I feel archaic making this comment, but kids know way too much way too early these days. Many of the students I teach are probably more knowledgeable about sex - kinky sex - now than I was at 20, 24, who knows, maybe even now. My worry is that kids are not mature enough to deal with it.

The same kids who gasp and freak out when I refer to literary characters as being sexually active are having sex themselves. A lot of it. Is there something weird about that?

Curiosity is a natural thing, and I know I teach kids who are literally a bundle of hormones, but it seems as though they are learning too much too fast, and they don't know how to handle it. A quick search for statistics will tell you:

In the next 24 hours, 2,795 teenage girls will become pregnant.
More teenage girls are having sex than boys. (maybe they feel more pressure to act grown up, satisfy upperclassmen who flatter them...I don't know.)
According to the CDC, 65% of new HIV cases this year will occur in people under 24.
Currently, 32 states do not require any type of sex education.

My point is....is there really a problem here or are people like me just reading something that's not there? If there is a problem, who is a fault? Parents, schools, the media, the kids themselves who are not taking responsibility?

Weigh in. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Need. Sleep. Already.

2007-08-14T20:07:00.000-04:00

Quick update - I will post something a little more reflective over the weekend.

I have 146 students. At the moment, all of the Jennies, Christies, and Maddies are looking just alike, but I'll manage to figure it out soon.
I have 32 ninth graders in one room during the last period of the day. Enough said.
I am already loving British Lit....and that's when we are only on Beowulf. I'm getting a good vibe from my students in that class, and I think it'll be a good year.
I wore new shoes on the first day of school. BAD idea - lots of blisters. (But let's be honest, I looked cute.)
I must have done something horrible in a past life because I am looking at year number 2 of being the yearbook advisor.
I have 95 summer reading tests to grade right now, but instead I am blogging and thinking about starting a new fluff book. I have no shame in the fluffy book department right now. Reading Beowulf and grading papers leave me sorely needing some fun.
Okay. More later. I'm off to have a glass of wine with my chick lit.

A Sad Farewell

2007-08-05T15:24:00.000-04:00

My summer is over.

I know for you non-teacher folks out there, it's "so what, you cry baby with 9 weeks of vacation in the middle of the year." But seriously, it is a very difficult adjustment.

This week was full of little tasks I had to complete to be ready for the year ahead. A highlight was definitely spending my Georgia Teacher Gift Card. (I totally thought that was an election year ploy, but it's back and I'm grateful for that!) Every teacher in the state of GA gets to spend a $100 Visa gift card on classroom supplies. My tally: lots of fun bulletin board stuff, 5 reams of colored paper, bright and cheerful post-it notes, class sets of highlighters, fun grading pens, a wire sorter for my desk, and sticky-tack to hang posters. I really love shopping for office supplies. Weird, I know. The ridiculous thing is that I will spend more money when you include hand sanitizer, tissues, instructional supplements, etc. throughout the year. Crazy!

Anyway, this time of year is always bittersweet for me. In one way, I am predominantly really sad to see summer go and return to my 5:30 a.m. alarm clock and Sunday night panic of the school year, but at the same time I like the "fresh slate" feeling of August. I feel lucky that I am in a profession where I really get to start over every 12 months. New kids, some new material - change is always refreshing.

An fair warning, though. This blog will soon include less discussion of books read for fun and more discussion (begging for advice) on teaching and reading and writing dilemmas. Thanks to all of you for your comments this summer as I have delved into the blogosphere. It's been fun, and I am determined to keep it up as the mad rush of the semester begins!

The best part of going back? Back to school shopping, of course. I'm acquiring some hot pink ballet crocs that should be here any day. I'll definitely be posting a picture.

Currently Reading

2007-07-29T21:20:00.000-04:00

.... will report back soon.

The miserable countdown has begun.

2007-07-20T13:51:00.000-04:00

A distinguished (now retired) colleague of mine once explained that the portion of the school year between Spring Break and the end of the year could be described as "a freight train to Hell." I kind of feel the same way about the end of summer.

It seems as though Fourth of July marks the turning point for those of us here in Georgia. It's there to warn us that we will be back at school in one short month, and the days just seem to roll by at an uncontrollable pace from that point.

There's nothing you can do but watch in horror as your calendar gets closer and closer to THE dreaded day.

Don't get me wrong, I love my job and I can't imagine doing anything else, but there is nothing like weeks of hot sun, poolside reading, and hours of leisure time. It really is a shock to the system to go back on a schedule of any kind.

This is probably why it has been so difficult for me to start reading school books. I need to review some texts to teach British Lit and there has been a new summer reading book added for one of my courses, so I have needed to get on that as well. This past Tuesday seemed like the perfect day to do so. It was rainy outside, and I had spent my day grocery shopping and cleaning up a little around the house.

I made myself a pot of Earl Gray and sat down to read a bit as I could hear the rain falling. Both of my dogs were sleeping soundly at my feet and all was well. A while later, the dryer buzzed, and I walked upstairs to fold a load of laundry. When I returned maybe 5 minutes later, this is what I found:

Can somebody please explain how this.....

.....can do this?

I read so slowly when I read for school becuase I am making notes and "digesting" the material in order to teach it. Notes. On. Every. Page.

Gone.

[For the record, it was Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, and I have another one on the way. Despite my frustraition with that little mishap, I'm excited to teach this one, and I love that it relates so well to the age group I am teaching.]

I guess next time I should leave my book on the counter or something. Apparently the coffee table if not safe from the wild destruction that is my dog.

a little shopping

2007-07-13T10:57:00.000-04:00

I am teaching British Lit next year for the first time, and I really wanted a couple of posters for my classroom. I've done a little browsing on Cafepress.com, and I have actually found more t-shirts and bumper stickers than posters - not helpful for my situation, but I had to share them.

First we have this....

And then there's this.......
And last but not least.....

My family is at least as crazy as yours.

2007-07-05T10:48:00.000-04:00

I have relatives in town from Texas, so this Fourth of July turned into a little bit of a family reunion. My niece is 3 and a half years old. Usually people entertain children with toys, books, movies. Not us.

We place a "thump bug" in an aluminum dish pan to watch it jump. And then we have a conversation about it.

Uncle: "Look, Peyton. It's a Jump bug!"

Great Aunt #1: "No. It's a Thump bug. T-H-U-M-P. Thump."

Great Aunt#2: "Are you sure that it's not a Blister bug? My daddy had to chop down a tree once because it was covered in Blister bugs. They land on your hand or somethin' and leave a blister where they were."

Great Aunt #1: "Look Peyton! It's thumping. That's because it's a Thump bug."

Uncle's Girlfriend (not from the south): "Is that the scientific name for them?"

Aunt #1: "Well, yeah. What else would they be called?"

Aunt#2: "What she needs now is a frog in a shoebox. Then it could smoke a cigarette."

Everyone: "Huh?"

Aunt#2: "Yeah. My cousins used to do that when we were little. If you get a cigarette started, and then put it the frog's mouth, it'll smoke it."

I mean what's more entertaining than this? Oh, how I love the dirty south.

Proof That English Teachers are Real People, Too

2007-07-02T20:08:00.000-04:00

I remember one time that I was using some audio recordings of Julius Caesar to help my students understand it, and one of them raised his had to ask me if I rode around in my car listening to literary recordings all the time. The whole class thought it was far funnier than it really was, of course, but I assured him that I usually listen to real music - if one can fathom that. [Now as an aside, yes I do like books on tape occasionally, but I didn't feel like that was the time to reveal that information.]

My point is that many of my students probably think I live under my desk - which is generally they way I like it to be. Proof, however, that I am normal?.......CHICK LIT!

Let's be honest, as fun as it is to look at literature from a more critical perspective and dissect it, it is equally as fun to read a juicy story that makes you laugh out loud. This great suggestion came courtesy of a friend. (Thanks, Kristen!) It is a perfect summer, forget-about-school novel.

This book is about a young woman who begins to post journal entries on the Internet to pass the time at her mundane job. The journal entries are truly funny and interesting, so lots of people begin to read them. This situation is complicated because she sort of stretches a few details or "rearranges" things in her life to seem a bit different than they really are. She is okay with this because she really sort of sees her task as fiction writing. A mysterious man begins to write to her, though, and she finds herself suddenly wishing she had been honest so that this promise of a relationship could develop. What ensues definitely keeps the pages turning, and there are some really funny moments with a genuinely likable narrator. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it's a perfect by-the-pool summer read.

The first entry that she posts is a funny remembrance of playing with Barbies and her Donny and Marie collectibles who had holes in their hands so that they could hold stuff. I had to include some of it.

"Donny was wearing plastic tighty-whiteys. Seriously. There was an extra ridge of plastic that went around Donny's waist and legs. There was no bulge.....He also had a hole in his hand, but if you did it just right, you could stick in one of Barbie's spiked heels in the hole and have him sniff Barbie's shoe. Donny and Marie didn't have the money for rent, so they lived off their love in a Buster Brown shoe box. Only a ten-year-old can create an incestuous Mormon celebrity relationship and have it be romantic. [....] One day the Barbie without a head convinced Donny and Marie to put pink and blue Life pegs through the holes in their hands. The Barbies pretended the pegs were hits of acid and got the Osmonds to think they could fly." (Ribon 2-3)

Definitely Worth the $9 for Me

2007-06-30T17:49:00.000-04:00

Scott and I went to the movies this weekend with some great friends of ours, and we agreed to split off guys from girls since we had some different things in mind for the night. Cathy and I saw Evening, and I had read some negative reviews, so I wasn't so sure I would come out of the theater satisfied.

I loved the film. While I can see merit in the reviews which say that it is oversentimental or choppy in transitions, I loved it anyhow. In so many ways, it was like reading a book on the screen. The storyline transitions often from past to present because the main character, Ann Grant, is on her death bed thinking back to the various experiences and perceived mistakes of her lifetime. The older Ann is played by the amazing Vanessa Redgrave, and the younger Ann is played beautifully by my favorite, Claire Danes. The older Ann is cloudy from the pain medication and in the final stages of her life where she goes in and out of consciousness. While in this state, she mutters the name "Harris" aloud, and her daughters (played by Toni Collette and Redgrave's real life daughter Natasha Richardson) have no idea who this person could be. The audience soon learns that Harris was a memorable love affair for the young Ann.

The scenes are beautifully written and perfectly filmed, and you find yourself wanting to be present at the Newport wedding where Ann met Harris so long ago. Despite these beautiful images, the many messages of the film are what stick with me the most after watching it.

I love that it highlights the intricacies of female relationships without going overboard as a number of "chick flicks" do. Ann's relationship with her freind Lyla is emphasized in their younger days and again as an older Lyla (played by Meryl Streep) comes to see the ailing Ann. Ann's daughters also have their own set of problems that are complicated by their mother's condition, but it is also this situation that seems to bring everything into focus for troubled Nina (Toni Collette). Mother-daughter relationships are never perfect nor simple, and this movie is really honest in its portayal of that.

Most importantly, I love that Ann looks back on her life and remembers her times with Harris as important and worthy even though she went on to have a career, husbands, children, and grandchildren. Reminding her daughters that "there are no mistakes," Ann recognizes that Harris was important as he taught her how to be in love or "how good it can be" as she states it.

So often movies, books, and music interpret a perfect love story to be between a beautiful woman and the man that is "the one" for her. This film, on the other hand, reminds us that all relationships have their place and are important in the development of an individual. Whether the person is the one for you or not, he teaches you something very valuable about yourself, and as Meryl Streep's character explains, "we are mysterious creatures, aren't we?"

Review - Beach Read

2007-06-29T14:26:00.000-04:00

I'm not usually one for scary books, but I was told that this novel was a "coming of age story" that just so happened to involve a murder. I am not quite sure that is the case, but I enjoyed the book nevertheless. It was pretty unsettling, though, and I am glad that I was reading it on a bright, sunny beach and not in my room on a dark, stormy night! Any movie or book that details some scary boogyman never really scares me, but if you throw in something spiritual or supernatural, I usually lose a bit of sleep over it.

The basic premise of Promise not to Tell is that Kate, the main character, goes back home to visit her aging mother in Vermont, and she becomes involved with a murder case that mirrors that of her childhood friend, Del. To complicate matters, Del has become somewhat of an urban legend as she is rumored to haunt the rural community where her murder occured, and Kate seems to received creepy messages from Del as she examines this new copy-cat crime. I can't say much more because the novel becomes a classic whodunnit with a great surprise ending. If you like suspenseful or scary stories and you are looking for a simple summertime read, I would suggest it.

Just read it with the lights on.

A Few Narrated Vacation Pictures for You

2007-06-28T16:27:00.000-04:00

No trip to the beach can be complete without a trip to the Red Bar - one of my favorite places on the planet.

After the yummy dinner at Red Bar, we went for a walk on the beach at Seaside, another one of my favorite places. Here's Peyton and I walking on the beach. (above)

While we were at the beach, Peyton decided to recite a little Shakespeare. (Not really, but doesn't this picture look like it?) To be or not to be .... that is the question. My niece is so smart; she must take after me.

We then looked for shells on the beach. (See below with Aunt Katie and Uncle Scott.)
And then took a quick picture for Mom......

The rest of the trip was filled with lots of beach time where dorky people sit under the shade and read.....

In all honesty, even car rides and restaurant waits were fun, and it makes me grateful that I have a family I actually enjoy spending time with. Peyton even made Scott talk like Sebastian the whole time. (The fake Jamaican accent is not so charming now that we are home, by the way.) I'll leave you with a picture of all of us together (courtesy of our waitress at Fudpucker's).....

.....And the cutest butt-shot ever!

We're Back!

2007-06-26T10:39:00.000-04:00

The beach was as great as always, and we all had a great time. I managed to finish a book while I was there, and there is a review coming soon. For now, pictures will have to do......

Melissa and me at Seaside - even with the black and white, can you tell which of us wears SPF 30?

The ocean feels so big for all of us, regardless of your size. Peyton was pretty fearless, though! This was when we were walking on the beach our last morning there, and she was saying goodbye to the ocean. So cute!

The obligatory posed shore shot - Scott and me.

Uncle Scott and Peyton - The pose is a bit ungraceful, but she was really intrigued that he was writing her name.

Melissa has a much better camera and she tooks lots, so there is more to come....oh yeah, and a book review as well.

June is almost over.....a reality that is very difficult for a teacher to embrace. Ahhhhh, the fleeting days of summer!

Summer Mondays at Aunt Katie's

2007-06-19T10:17:00.001-04:00

I'm babysitting Peyton every Monday this summer. I think she's far more excited about the dogs and the neighborhood playground than anything else. This girl needs a dog.

Comments

2007-06-18T19:18:00.000-04:00

FYI: I just changed the format so that anyone can comment on here - not just Blogspot registered people.

So THIS is why I read......

2007-06-17T09:53:00.000-04:00

My Amazon.com shipment came in on Tuesday, and I have also been without a car for much of this week (courtesy of my husband who backed into a trailer at Home Depot, but that's another story, and it's all fixed now). The result of my week as a shut in? My pantry is clean and organized, my house is dusted and vacuumed, I baked a cake, and I read THE BEST novel I have read in a long time. It's 514 pages and worth every second that it takes to read it.

If you read one book this summer, read this. For all you English majors, Special Topics in Calamity Physics is structured around chapters with titles that read like a syllabus outlining the canon - from the chapter titled Moby Dick (where we witness an unfortunate situation in a swimming pool) to Wuthering Heights (where the main character details her over-romanticized love interest) to Pygmailion (where she receives a makeover of sorts). It is the story of Blue Van Meer, a lovable heroine, whose father is a respected Political Science professor who schools his daughter in all things academic and raises her to be the most intellectually curious and well-read teenager imaginable. Blue has never lived a full year in the same place because her father chooses to keep moving from university to university, but he has decided to give her the gift of her senior year in one place this time - a small town in western North Carolina. Ironically, this experience leads to a greater adventure than her many previous travels because Blue befriends some interesting peers and an intriguing teacher who seems to have trouble drawing a line of privacy and separation between herself and her students.

The story is definitely a coming-of-age tale, but it develops a bit of a murder mystery twist, and there are unexpected moments in every chapter. I couldn't put it down! In the end it solidifies why we read. (Blue is definitely guided by her cultural lexicon.) But it also reminds us that there are aspects of our lives that are so far from intellect and also far more confusing than what the brain can sort out. Aside from this, it really is one of the most innovative and creatively written novels I have read in a long time (often including academic citations in Blue's rambling thoughts). Visit the website for more info. http://www.calamityphysics.com/ I cannot say enough positive things about this book.

Now I have to decide what to fill my beach bag with.....always so hard to follow up such a great book.

Ain't nothin' like a Southern wedding....

2007-06-14T09:58:00.000-04:00

We spent the last weekend at my cousin Amanda's wedding, and everyone had a great time. Just as I picked up my camera to take the first picture, my battery died, but luckily Melissa had hers, so I've got plenty of pictures. Aside from marveling at food and flowers, the best thing about weddings is seeing everyone and catching up with friends and family, and since I have the best family in the world, this is even more fun!

Here's the happy couple after the wedding. Look how many kids! They had "bell ringers," "flower girls," "bible bearers," and "ring bearers."

Granchildren and Great-Grandaughter with my Grandmother and Grandaddy - My brother is very outnumbered!

Peyton loves to get down on the dance floor!

"If you happen to pass by 84, Charing Cross Road, kiss it for me. I owe it so much."

2007-06-08T08:08:00.000-04:00

I received 84, Charing Cross Road as a Christmas gift, but I had not delved into it yet. It is a brief little epistolary novel, and I decided to take it with me last week. I read it in 2 sittings, and it gave me so much to look forward to as I was chaperoning kids and attending somewhat boring presentations for three days. It's a book you can't stop reading, and I love any epistolary work because it really feels like you are reading something you shouldn't be. (I'm not sure what that says about me. I'm nosy, I guess.)

The premise of the story is an American book lover (Helene) who adores antique books despite the fact that she has limited funds. She writes letters to Marks & Co., a London bookseller, and she forms a relationship with the store manager that spans decades. They become close friends who are very different in many ways, but they bond over their shared love of literature and a similar sense of humor. As suggested by the quote I included in my title for this post, Helene gains much more than antique books from her experiences with Marks & Co. The book has some funny moments, but it is also touching, and I finished the book wishing that the characters were close friends of mine. (Book Lovers, you know what I mean.)

It was the highlight of my week, and I'd definitely read it again. (I don't say that often.) Thanks, Cathy for the suggestion! Highly recommended.

If only we could all be this confident about our bodies.....

2007-06-07T08:11:00.001-04:00

I just spent three days at camp with a bunch of high school girls. Seeing them makes me remember my high school days when my weight hardly reached the triple digits. This sort of thing could do a number on your own self esteem.

Then I go swimming with Peyton.

"I like my body.... and it's not because it's perfect. I accept it and wear it like a good dress." - Salma Hayek

I'm a Dancin' Fool

2007-06-03T20:52:00.000-04:00

This weekend was full of lots of dancing. First there was Peyton's ballet recital where she was clearly the cutest one. (See above.) She is taking from my old studio which excites me and makes me a bit nostalgic for my own dancing days. As you can see from the photo on the left, I was much more excited about Peyton's recital than she was. Believe it or not, I am starting back dancing again this summer. I have not danced in about 6 years, so this is big. I am frightened at the thought of my thighs in ballet tights, but I'm going to give it an honest try.

As though one day of dancing was not enough, Scott's grandparents had their 50th anniversary party today, and it was a square dance. When I say square dance, I mean do-si-do, fluffy skirts, swing your partner, real live square dance. I was definitely a wall flower, but a good time was had by all, and it was definitely an adventure.

I am now off to Yearbook Camp with a crowd of high school girls. I am the lucky chaperone, so I will be back in a few days when I will really feel as though my summer has begun. Go Yearbook! I think I get a free t-shirt.

first fruits of summer

2007-06-01T15:09:00.000-04:00

School is out. YAY! This means time to read. For one of the first times, I have no real desire to read something specific. (This is weird because I usually end the school year with s list a mile long.) I browsed in Target for a while last week, and this is what I discovered.

While it was a decent sort of beach read, I was not all that impressed. The story line seemed unfinished, and characters were not entirely developed. It takes place during "Freedom Summer" in Tupelo, Mississippi, and there was some mention of racial issues, but these also felt unfinished and sorely incomplete.

I am starved for good books, and I really need some inspiration before going back to school. I'd love to experience some good Southern Lit or Magical Realism specifically. Summer leaves me craving a good read, and my beach bag needs to be full when I go in a couple of weeks! Suggestions are welcome.