Barnes and Noble book fair

My oldest daughter is the librarian at Clinton Prairie High School near Frankfort. Due to tight budgets, she is always looking for ways to increase the collection for the students and make the best use of the money available. For the last two years she and Barnes and Noble have worked together to create a Book Fair. Yesterday was the 'shopping day.' At checkout the customer just mentioned that he/she was shopping to benefit Clinton Praire and the total was credited to their tally. Throughout the day various groups from the school performed or helped in some way--such as a band group playing Christmas carols, several students singing, and teachers playing Wii games in the video section of the store. Also several students read stories to children in that section of the store while their parents shopped. Megan was pleased with the total amount sold---nearly $4000 tallied for the school. She will receive a portion of that to use to buy books and other merchandise for the library. It is a good deal for everyone---the school, Barnes and Noble, and the customers who can shop for Christmas gifts and also help the school without giving any extra money.

Online sales are still going on until Dec. 15. Even though I was in the store two different times and checked out twice, I still forgot a couple of things that I really wanted to purchase as gifts, so I may have to do some online shopping soon.

If you would like to participate in the book fair, let me know. I have vouchers and can share the number to submit at checkout if you would like to help out a worthy cause!

Give a book for Christmas!

Did you like to find books under the Christmas tree when you were growing up? I did! My favorites were Nancy Drew stories! Santa would bring my sister The Bobbsey Twins stories, and I would read all of those too. I graduated to the classics, such as Black Beauty and Swiss Family Robinson, plus Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. I also read Heidi and Little Women. Needless to say, I loved to read. I absolutely loved Christmas break so I could read, and read, and read, and not have to go to school. As I grew older, I still loved to receive books; my favorite gift in the last few years was my Nook. Now I hope that Barnes and Noble gift cards appear in my stocking.

I always give my nephew (who will be 10 on Dec. 31)a book or two. He is not the avid reader like his aunt and his oldest cousin (my daughter, the librarian), but he is appreciative of his gifts (at least he always thanks me!). As I was browsing through the children's section of B and N the other day, I found an easy-to-read version of both Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Even though my librarian daughter didn't think he would like either, I still believe that Nick will unwrap those on Christmas Eve. Every boy should read those two books. Of course, if you are taking ENGL 223 next semester, Huck Finn is one of the first things we will explore. Maybe you should pick up the easy-to-read version at B and N? Up to you!!

More on books and buying books in the next post.

O Captain! My Captain!

Even though poetry is not my favorite thing, I do like Whitman's poem. It was featured in the movie Dead Poets' Society, starring Robin Williams. In fact, the students used that poem as a basis for a salute to their instructor after he was dismissed for the school.

Williams' character, John Keating (a play on the names of several great English poets) used several lines from "O Captain! My Captain!" at the beginning of the movie, then the students dubbed him "Captain" throughout.

After his dismissal he returned to his classroom to retrieve his personal items. As he left the office area to walk through the classroom one last time, one student said, "O Captain! My Captain" and stood on his desk in tribute to Mr. Keating. This led to most of the students honoring their instructor in the same way with many of the students atop their desks before Mr. Keating's departure.

This scene has always been a special one to me. My gifted/talented class at West Central studied many of the same poets as they did in Dead Poets' Society. Jokingly they sometimes addressed me as "Carrotop." Imagine my surprise when I walked into my classroom one day as they were supposedly working on a projet and I heard one of them say "O Carrotop! Our Carrotop!" and up they went on the desks. I was stunned. I was amazed. I had tears in my eyes. AND I took a picture later (I asked them all to repeat the 'standing on the desks' for the picture).

Yes, even though poetry is not my favorite genre, that poem has a special place in my heart, and every time we study it or I hear a reference to it, I think of Chris, Scott, Jerry, Tracy, Candy, Joy, Aaron, Christine, and others who put a special twist on that poem, just for me.

Reading on the iPad

Anyone who knows me, or who is around me for extended periods of time, know how much I love my grandson. Of course, Mamaw is a lover of books and reading, so the favorite gift is a new book. One of our favorite activities when Landon was just a baby was my sitting in a chair, holding him, and reading a book to him. Even though he couldn't comprehend, or maybe even actually see the pictures, I still read to him.

Now Landon loves books. He is nearly two, and he has been dragging books from his basket in his living room to Papa to read to him. Sometimes I have the opportunity, but he tends to like Papa's sound effects and the way Papa's lap has spots for him to cuddle in.

Over the Thanksgiving time off, I was searching for new free apps for my iPad and discovered a free book---Toy Story! It is so cool...even for me. There is music. There are bright colors. An unseen voice reads along with the text, which is highlighted to follow the voice. I also found a Christmas story that has a calendar that updates the days, hours, and minutes to Christmas, along with an animated story that tells about Santa's arrival.

Yesterday afternoon I took my iPad from my bag (actually a very large purse), and immediately Landon yelled "Birds! Birds!" because he likes to play Angry Birds with his Uncle Matt. He isn't coordinated enough to use his pointer finger to fling the birds and bombs and other things through the air, but he enjoys touching the screen and trying.

When he crawled up into my lap to play "Birds," I opened instead Toy Story. Oh my. What a reaction! He loved it. He was yelling BUZZ and WOODY all the way through. We read it not once, but twice. Then he gently carried my iPad to Papa, and they sat on the couch and read it again.

I have been thinking about my grandmother often through the holiday weekend, as I always do on Thanksgiving. I commented to my husband on Thanksgiving morning that she would have been amazed that I was checking my laptop for Alton Brown's turkey recipe from the Food Network's website (which is a very good recipe, by the way). We have come a long way from the recipe cards or making things from scratch, adding ingredients until the taste is just right. But Grandma would have never thought about sitting with me or my sister or my cousin on the couch and reading a book on an iPad. What we are taking for granted would have shocked her. It still shocks my mother that she could listen to music, any kind of music, through Pandora on my iPad.

The times...they are a'changin' that's for sure!

Poetry

I am not a big fan of poetry. Don't gasp with astonishment. I just haven't enjoyed many of the poems I was forced to read during my high school years, in college, and after that through my teaching career.

Why not, you may ask? I don't know, really. I enjoy some things, like Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." I like some of the British works by Tennyson, Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, and Byron. I like Carl Sandburg, Edgar Lee Masters, and Edwin Arlington Robinson. The poems I like are usually the ones I teach. Others though..not so much.

Maybe it is modern poetry that I just don't enjoy. Most of it is written in free verse, or it has very few of the poetic elements and just seems to be a smathering of words on paper. Maybe I turned sour on poetry when my high school students penned mishmashes of words on a paper in 5-10 minutes and said, "Here Mrs. Siemens! I wrote a poem, just like you wanted me to do." No technique, no alliteration, no onomatopoeia, no allusions, no rhyme, no similes or metaphors, no rhythm...just words on paper, written to look like a poem.

With that being said, here we go into the last Pod for the semester, Poetry. I am not cringing with this Pod, however. I like Walt Whitman. Even though Emily Dickinson was a little strange, I do like her poetry. Some of the things they wrote have stayed with me through the years. I do like "Because I did not stop for Death, it kindly stopped for me" even though it seems rather morbid. Leaves of Grass is enjoyable, mostly because it reflects on nature and I like that.

Poetry could have been easily eliminated from the curriculum; however, in a survey class, all genres should be explored, and poetry cannot be ignored. It is part of the American literature history. It is a vital form of expression. There are many great poets to be read and understood.

I still don't enjoy it though.

Not *that* much into nature....

My husband and I bought a pop-up camper a few weeks ago. A family from our church was selling theirs, only two years old, to buy a bigger camper to use while their young children still wanted to go camping with them. Good idea.

We have been tent campers forever. I like tent camping. I like cooking over the fire. I like snuggling into the sleeping bag and waking up all snuggly and warm on a crisp fall morning, ready to cook over the open fire and enjoy the great outdoors. Ok...beginning to sound like Thoreau a little, so I will quit on that.

As our daughters got older, we traded camping for hotels, and then reverted back to camping again. In fact the first time our second son-in-law met the family (and lots of our friends) was on a camping trip around Labor Day weekend. What a way to get to know everyone!

We hadn't camped for a while, actually since our grandson came along. We spent most of our weekends seeing him, watching him grow..until this weekend. His first camping trip.

Our new pop-up is going to be shared. We knew that from the first idea of buying it. Hilary (youngest daugher), Blaine (her husband), and Landon (our grandson) took the pop-up to Tippecanoe River State Park this afternoon. They are camping there with friends, actually Blaine's best man, his wife, and son.

We went to the park to join them for dinner (Bev makes wonderful chicken/rice soup each time we camp with them...absolutely delicious). It was very dark. There were very few campsites being used. Landon was enjoying the outdoors--kicking leaves, saying "HOT! HOT!" to the flames in the firering. The pop-up is roomy and looks comfortable. The space heater was running, plus the former owners tossed in their heated mattress pads with the camper since they had no use for them anymore. It should be snuggly warm in there tonight.

However....the bathrooms are closed. All of them. Locked. No facilities.

Now I like to camp. I like to cook over the fire. I don't mind getting dirty. I can sleep in my sweats and then wear them during the day. I can tolerate the showers at the campground.

But I cannot go without a bathroom. My husband said it wouldn't bother him at all. Blaine, Tony, and Brandon said the same thing. But me? No. I need a bathroom. It would be a VERY long night without one.

I am glad we are back home. It is warm. We have electricity and lights. I was able to finish The Scarlet Letter pod. But best of all...we have a bathroom! Yeah!

Salem Mass

This past summer I had the opportunity to travel to Boston for the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute. I can't say that I was totally enamored with the city or the area, but my perspective was from a dorm room at Boston University, taking the transportportation system everywhere I wanted to go, and eating meals in a campus cafeteria. I am not much of a 'city girl' so these were things that made the trip not so enjoyable, but I tried to soak up the culture as much as I could, and I made a list of 'things to see and do' on a return trip with my husband.

The R and R day was Thursday of a very long week, and I really enjoyed our plans for that day. Ethan Heicher from the Kokomo chapter put together a group to travel to Salem and visit that historic city and then enjoy dinner at Legal Seafood in the evening, right on Boston Harbor.

The boat trip to Salem from Boston was fantastic. The wind in my hair, water droplets hitting my face, bright warm sunshine....ahhh...bliss..especially after feeling caged in a tiny dorm room all week.



I loved the ride to Salem and back, plus we were able to view many historic and non-historic sites along the shore. Fun.



At the dock in Salem our group split, and I opted to roam the city with three ladies, total strangers to me, to check out several spots of interest. I learned quickly that their interests were a little different than mine. I wanted to see Hawthorne's Salem, the witchcraft trials, the House of Seven Gables, the cemetery where the hanged witches from The Scarlet Letter era were buried.





They had no interest in that. Witches on broomsticks, black cats and cauldrons, spiders and tarantulas..those piqued their interest instead.



After a nice lunch at a seaside restaurant (fish of course), we wandered to a Witch Museum and then parted ways.





I sat on the square for quite a while, thinking about the times of Hester Prynne and Rev. Dimmesdale. I stood at the shoreline later, waiting to board the boat for the return trip to Boston and thought how the Pilgrims must have felt as they landed in this new country, some to be burned and hung as witches. Plus I watched a group touring the city on these things:


Because we were off to check out t-shirts with witches and broomsticks and spiders on rubbery webs, I did not have time to explore the House of Seven Gables from the inside, so I will have to save that for the next trip. But I did enjoy the brief visit to Salem, and I am excited about a return trip sometime with my husband.

More thoughts of fall

A few weeks ago the leaves were just gorgeous. One day I was driving home from Logansport, noticing that not much had happened in the way of color, and the next day it seemed like Mother Nature had been whipping her paintbrush around. Going up the hill from Logansport to Royal Center on 35 was breathtaking. I mentioned the gorgeous leaves in the post about France Park also.

There seemed to be a respite in the 'pretty leaves' around the area due to winds, rain, and just the natural drift of the leaf to the ground. In fact we had such a 'whoosh' of leaves in our yard that the piles and piles were too much for my husband to tackle with the mower to mulch, and I just don't have time to rake..and rake...and rake. Our house is surrounded by trees and every year we encounter this same problem with raking leaves.

When I ran into our Youth Minister last week at the grocery store in Francesville, I mentioned that we had lots of leaves to rake and if the youth group wanted a project to do some Saturday or Sunday afternoon....and without batting an eye, he said they would be out on Sunday.

Lo and behold...nearly 30 middle school and high school students descended on our yard around 6:00 on Sunday and tackled the yard. The church bus and a couple of pick ups were parked in the drive. My husband had our big grain truck ready for hauling leaves, and three loads were taken to the woods behind the house. Of course the youth group fund receieved a nice donation for their efforts, and I am relieved that *I* don't have to find time to rake this fall.

Now we are in the second season of the fall colors. Our burning bushes are turning bright red. The leaves in the woods across the road are now the deep crimson, burnished gold, and rough green. The colors are there...just muted, but beautiful.
The oaks around our house are showing the deeper colors of orange, red, gold, and green. Not as bright and vibrant as those of a few weeks ago, but still beautiful.

Fall has never been one of my favorite season. I am more of a spring and summer person. But this fall I have really enjoyed the milder temperatures, the bright and muted colors, and the scent of the harvest in the air. I like the completion of the corn and soybeans cycle---seeds in the ground through harvest. Done. Plus the fall leads to my very favorite holiday, Thanksgiving. More on that later....

Could this have been the feeling that Thoreau had when he lived at Walden Pond? Was Emerson finding parallels between our lives and the cycle of life he observed in nature? Possibly. Is there something about just breathing in fresh air and noticing the natural world around us that is totally invigorating? Maybe.

If you haven't had a chance to just take a drive, please do that. You will enjoy the warmth of the sunshine, the colors of the trees, and the smell of the season.

France Park

Sunday at France Park

Last Sunday we spent the afternoon at France Park. Even though I have lived in White or Pulaski counties for most of my adult life, I had never visited this park in Cass County. The occasion this past Sunday? My youngest daughter was taking my niece's outdoor senior pictures.

The weather was beautiful. It was a gorgeous fall day, warm, sunny, just a little bit of a breeze, cloudless sky.

Of course we were not alone at the site of the waterfall where most of the pictures were taken. Other families were enjoying the rare fall Sunday afternoon and several others had the same idea we did---perfect opportunity for senior pictures.

My role last Sunday was "photographer's assistant" which meant carrying the lenses and scouting out perfect settings where Shelby could pose. We gathered leaves for her to sit in and throw, picked a geranium to tuck behind her ear, dragged a truck with a black and gold afghan (Pioneer colors) to sit in a cornfields (after we left France Park), positioned her on fences to look natural, and checked for shadows and the perfect lighting. My other role that day was keeping my 21 months old grandson from jumping in the water and running away from us. That task negated all of the duties of Task #1.




What I am getting to in this post is not about taking pictures, chasing my grandson around, or spending time with the family. It is about enjoying nature.

The Transcendentalist time period is one of my favorites. I like the country. I like the outdoors. I like nature. I enjoy reading the essays of Emerson and Thoreau, the poems of Longfellow and Whittier. I like the seasons. I enjoyed feeling the sun on my face and the slight breeze through the hair, hearing the crunch of the leaves under my feet, and seeing the brilliant dazzling colors of God's paintbrush as we drove through the countryside between Logansport and Royal Center.

After we had exhausted all of the spots for perfect pictures at the waterfall, we drove to the lake, which is actually an old quarry. Landon has fallen asleep on Papa's shoulder as we finished the first set of photos and was snoozing on the carseat, so I stayed with him while the rest of the group climbed some rocks for more 'perfect poses.' That afforded me the opportunity to gaze over Walden Pond....errr...the lake/water filled quarry. There is a peacefulness that still water can offer. There is the beauty of a perfect reflection of the trees and stone walls on the water.

What a perfect afternoon! Not only was I spending time with family, but I was outside, absorbing all that nature had to offer. The papers from the ENGL 112 and ENGL 211 classes were not graded. The Pod for ENG 222 was not completed. But I felt refreshed, rejuvenated, and relaxed--which is what Thoreau would have appreciated.

Having trouble wtih posting, especially responses?

My computer expert in ENGL 211 checked the blog and determined that the Internet Explorer was not allowing something with the cookies. He switched to Mozilla Firefox and when we tried to post a response to Christina's blog, it worked.

Best thing to do is to use Firefox browser instead of Internet Explorer.

This can be downloaded through the following link:

http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/

Hope this works!!

(Thanks Brandon!)

I've changed! Have you?

I love reading, as if that would be a surprise.

In another Pods of Thought blog I mentioned that my tastes in reading material have changed lately. I used to enjoy the Best Sellers list, checking out everything I could from the library in the summer. Of course when my daughters were little, library visits were a regular thing, and we all came home with our arms full of delightful books to read on a hot summer day, under the trees in the back yard.

Now I read SOME of the Best Sellers, but only if a friend recommends one. I am drifting more to biographies, historical based fiction, and inspirational/motivational books. When I visit Barnes and Noble, I glance at the NEW IN FICTION tables, but I spend most of my time of the right side of the main aisle in the Lafayette store.

Why the change? Just as many of you are noticing, as you grow older and more mature, you have a deeper appreciation for different styles of writing. Many of you are exploring authors and titles that you may have scoffed at during your high school years. Reading through more mature eyes, with an adult mind and heart, makes a difference. Perspective changes. Situations may seem clearer.

What is at the top of the My Library list on my Nook?

Gap Creek ( by Robert Morgan - a Free Friday selection last week)

A Confident Heart (by Renee Swope for my online Bible study)

Made to Crave (by Lisa TerKeurst - another book from Proverbs 31 Ministries that I am readying)

Summer of Fire (by Lisa Jacobs about the Yellowstone National Park fires few years ago, interest caught because a former high school student was one of the firefighters and two other friends work at the Park each fall)

Good reading...different from what I read five-ten years ago.

How have your reading interests changed?

Blog Time!

Big decision to change the course calendar this week! I don't like to make any changes, but sometime they are necessary.

This week is time to work on your blog. The idea is not to wait until October 16, 17, or 18 and try to cram all of the required posts into those three days. The idea is to take time to write your thoughts, comment on the reading, respond to something interesting you read in another blog--while you are going on this journey through American literature.

A little secret? Those who wait to the last few days and post everything at once do not receive as many points as those who blog thoughout the first half of the semester.

Some people haven't created their blogs yet, either. They are missing out on some great opportunities to blog, read, comment, aren't they?

I love to blog, and I am currently participating in an online Bible study that is based on the book A Confident Heart by Renee Swope. I use my devotional blog to write my comments and answer questions. One of my other blogs is titled by a nickname one of my gifted/talented classes gave me, and I use it just to write random thoughts and record various events in my life. The third blog that I created is all about my grandson. Before his adoption was final, I wanted to record all of the moments that were so special to us and post pictures as well, but it was not wise at that time to make that blog public. I shared it with Jwana the other day and realized that once October 6 (Landon's Adoption Day) came, the blogging stopped! I need to work on that! I have so much more to add now.

Blogging for me is a release of emotions, a record of events, and a quick way to journal. Another thing Jwana and I talked about: It is sometimes easier to just type what is in our minds and hearts than to try to write it on paper. And once it is here in the blog, we don't lose it like we do scraps of paper, or a diary, or a notebook.

I challenge you to write at least two posts this week in your blog, to respond to at least two other blogs (including mine---don't be afraid to do so!), and to enjoy time at the computer, just sharing your thoughts about literature.

Happy Blogging!

Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Focus for today:

Sleepy Hollow - I love Washington Irving stories. He is such an imaginative writer, and his stories translate into entertainment for all ages. I remember my daughters watching a cartoon version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow one Saturday morning when they were little. It was around the time of Halloween---perfect time period.

A friend from Ivy Tech's Kokomo campus just returned from a trip to the East Coast. In one of her Facebook Posts she shared some pictures of the real Sleepy Hollow.


This is a picture of the Old Church at Sleepy Hollow.



Self-explanatory----but how cool!

My 'dream field trip' when I taught high school juniors (American Lit of course!) was to visit all of the literary places in New England....Salem, Mass; Tarrytown, N.Y.; Walden Pond; Old Manse; The Whaling Museum; Plymouth, Mass; Baltimore (Poe); and many more.

While I did get to Salem this summer when I was in Boston for the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Institute, I had to miss the other close place (Walden and Old Manse) because of transportation and time issues. One of these days, I will go back. What a fun trip that will be!

In the meantime I will enjoy re-reading the stories, checking the discussion boards for comments, and aniticapte lively discussions on Blackboard IM--and hopefully read some blog entries too!

Another journey.....

I love the start of a new blog! I have three of my own, not always active, but I do post in each of them at some time or another. I enjoy writing my own thoughts on paper, reflecting on daily occurrences, or just commenting on random thoughts.

This blog is the third I have begun for my American Lit courses. What fun it is to see the creativity of the students as they put together a blog to reflect their own personalities. Their posts are always interesting as well. Some are reluctant posters; others attack the activity with enthusiasm.

For now, create a blog. Make it your own. However, it must be literature related, in some way. If you enjoy a particular time period, then focus on it. If there are authors that you particularly enjoy, then create a blog around them. If you enjoy verse, then share your favorite poems.

Happy Blogging!!