What I am most grateful for in 2015

I was thinking over all that happened in 2015 and I realized that the thing I am most grateful for is work!

Dh was rather worried about things at the office because they had slowed down so, but then they got a new client, so now he's busy and happy (though stressed!).

My oldest dd completed her masters in education and got a full time job as a middle school social studies teacher.  She loves what she does.

My son in law completed his paralegal certification program at night while working various jobs during the day, and has been steadily looking for permanent work.  I do hope he finds something soon.  Temp jobs are discouraging.

My oldest son graduated from Berklee College of Music with honors.  That takes a lot of work!  He's working at a deli part-time and now at Potbelly's playing music.  He also has been hosting a radio show at MIT since the spring.  He is always hard at work at something!

My middle son got hired as a full time permanent employee at the marina where he's been a seasonal worker.  And he's starting community college classes this coming January.

My youngest son got his first job working at a park over the Christmas season.  It has been a great experience for him.

My youngest dd works once a week at Aquinas Learning, being the nursery care-taker in the afternoon.  She occasionally gets babysitting jobs for her voice teacher.  She likes working.

And even I have been working at Aquinas Learning mentoring the Latin 1 and 2 classes.  I don't get paid much but I do get an itty bitty paycheck!

So that's what I am most grateful for in 2015.  That all of us have been hard at work, not only at home or school learning and training, but bona fide income earning!  There's something to be said for that!

My Top 10 Advice-To-Homeschoolers Posts of 2015

In the 2014-2015 year I was moderating a facebook group for Catholic Relaxed Homeschoolers.  I stopped at the beginning of September because I thought I was about to start a master's degree (which I have postposed until this coming summer) and because it was simply becoming too distracting and time consuming.  But I was talking to a lot of newer homeschoolers, especially people who were attracted to the word 'relaxed' but didn't quite know what it meant.  We had a hard time defining it because it really is a slippery term.  Anyway, that circumstance generated a lot of posts for me, so I went back and looked through them all and came up with ten, that are truly my take on what works.

1) Catholic Homeschooling for Free (or at very little cost)

I wrote a three part series of posts on how my parenting philosophy developed over the years:

2)  Why Parents Should Be Friends with their Children

3)  Parenting with St. John Bosco

4)  50 Things To Do Instead of Punishing

I loved this little 'interview' with Elizabeth Belske

5)  Interview with a Catholic Relaxed Homeschooler

The best thing about homeschooling is the books, books, books!

6)  Literature-based Studies

When you are as scatter-brained as I am, you've got to simplify!

7)  How To Be a Planning Minimalist

Don't Waste Your Money!

8)  How To Be a Curriculum Minimalist

Strewing is every homeschooler's friend!

9)  Ways to Strew

I actually have gotten into the good habit of making up this weekly planner every Sunday! Woot!

10)  Minimalist Monday - Weekly Planner

Minds More Awake - Book 56

Minds More Awake; The Vision of Charlotte Mason by Anne E. White is a short but thoughtful exploration of Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education.  White has been on the board of Ambleside Online almost since its inception.  She is the author of the study guides on Plutarch there.  I found this book to be a great pick me up over the Christmas holidays and in preparation for starting up 'school' again after the Christmas break.

White writes in an personable, down to earth style.  She uses many references from Mason herself, and also from literature and writers such as Jean Vanier, Northrop Frye and Josef Pieper.  She sees the big picture and she ties everything together in a warm and inspiring way.

She's also gently humorous and homey.  I liked seeing things from a Canadian perspective.  This past summer, I read Consider This by Karen Glass, also about Charlotte Mason, but that book is bit more academic in tone.  This book really is about White's personal reflections on her life using Charlotte Mason as her guide in homeschooling and how rewarding and true she found it to be.

Really this book is just the ticket to help you remember why you are homeschooling and what the important things are in life with children.

Two thumbs up!  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

King William's College Quiz - 2015

UPDATE 12/30/15!  They have answered most of the questions over at Pemberley (I don't know if they have answered them correctly, but they have answers at least!), so instead of typing it all over here, I will just direct everyone over there!  Click the general discussion button and you'll find the KWCQ posts.

Merry Christmas!
(updated 12/28/15 - updates stolen from the Pemberley board!)

I'm working on the King William's College Quiz

Wanna join in?

Here's the link.  It is very, very intimidating and I have never come close to completing it but it is a fun distraction.

*I am getting help from the good people at the Well Trained Mind board.

Here's what I have so far:

Section 1 During 1915
#2 Frank Sinatra
#4 Janssen and Roos
#5 Edith Cavill
#6 The Lusitania (I think)
#7 The Battle of Loos
#8 The Thirty-nine Steps by John Buchan
#10 The Lusitania - hmm.  Maybe that isn't the answer for #6?

Section 2 -  Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries.
*The following is from Alice of the Well Trained Mind board with some conflicting answers from  Pemberley.  Alice sounds like she knows of what she speaks!  But I thought the ladies at Pemberley were infallible.  LOL. Anyway, since I can't remember these books except for #9, I will keep both answers up until we get the final exam answers whenever they come out.
#1 Sir Impey Biggs (Strong Poison)
#2 Noakes (Busman's Honeymoon)
#3 Dr. Penberthy (Unpleasantness of the Bellona Club)
#4 Mary Whittaker (Unnatural Death)
#5 Crimplesham (Alice)  Freke (Pemberley)  (Whose Body)
#6 Endicott (Alice) Weldon (Pemberley)  (Have His Carcase)
#7 Grant (Alice)  Lord Peter Wimsey (Pemberley) (Clouds of Witness)
#8General Fentiman (The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club)
#9  Yeah!  This one I really got!  In Dorothy Sayers' The Nine Tailors, Deacon, the suspect is killed by being tied up in the bell tower while they ring them all night long for New Years.
#10 Harriet Vane (Alice) (Gaudy Night) Halleluja Dawson (Pemberley) (Unnatural Death)
(Sorry my cross out thingy isn't working correctly.  Harriet will not be uncrossed!)



Section 3 - Themes is elections (Thanks Kathryn!)
#7 John Wilkes

Section 4 - County of Kent
#4 Margate
#3 White cliffs of Dover (King Lear)* from Laura Corin at WTM
#5 William Harvey hospital in Kent *
#6 From Room with a View - Tunbridge Wells*
#7 Hadlow Tower?
#10 Bishop's Finger beer made in Faversham (or could be pub of same name in London* (Laura Corin)

Section 5 - seems to be about British architecture built in the round
#1 Church of the Holy Sepluchre, Cambridge (The Round Church)
#2 Church of the Holy Sepluchre, Northhampton (also built in the round)
#3 The Roundhouse in North London* ( Laura Corin)
#5 Ickworth House, Suffolk
#6  Could this be Bodleian Library at Oxford?
#9 Mereworth Castle in Kent
#10 Royal Albert Hall (Pemberley)

Section 6 - Trains in Art, Music, Literature (thanks Kathryn!)
#1 Spanish-Brötli-Bahn - a kind of bun named after the station? (Pemberley)
#2 Adlestrop* (Laura Corin)
#4 Funiculi, Funicula
#5 The Railway Station, from Upways - poem by Thomas Hardy (Pemberley)
#7 La Gare Perpignan - station named by Salvidor Dali (I thought he might be the surrealist they were going for!) (Pemberley)
#8 The film Brief Encounter -station is Camforth* (Laura Corin)
#9 Gare St. Lazare by Monet (Kathryn)
#10 Copenhagen (Pemberley)

Section 7 - The theme is wolves!
#3 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
#6 Shere Khan* (AusMomof3 from WTM) Ruksha and Father Wolf

Section 8 - Theme might be novels? Famous Davids (thank you Laura Corin!)
#1 David Copperfield (Laura Corin also thinks this is right!)
#3 Camp David* (Laura Corin)
#4 Davy Crockett (though this doesn't seem to go with the novel theme)
#5 David Livingstone
#6 David Hackston - murder of Church of Scotland bishop James Sharp* (Laura Corin)
#7 David Crawfurd from John Buchan's book Prester John
#8  Could this be Camus' The Stranger?
#9 David Lloyd George*(Laura Corin)
#10 Dracula?

Section 9 - Theme is beverages
#1Black coffee
#2 Gunpowder tea (Kathryn) or Civit Coffee (Pemberley)
#3 red wine (me) or red raspberry tea (Pemberley)
#6 tea and toast (Wind in the Willows)* (Laura Corin)
#7 Camomile tea
#8 Rooibus tea*
#9 Orange Julius (me) or Earl Grey (Pemberley)
#10 Cafe au lait*

Section 10 - Theme may be reptiles?
#3 alligator - from the play The Rivals by Sheridan
#4 Tick tock crocodile
#6 Rene LaCoste
#7 Terry Pratchett's Discworld?  (Kathryn)
#8 Amun* (Calvin Corin) or Sobek? (AusMumof3)
#10 Galapogos?  (means tortoise in Spanish) or Cayman Islands (Pemberley)

Section 11 - Feathers  (Kathryn)
#4 Ostrich feathers
#5 Featherbed frame for motorcycles
#7 Pigeon Feathers by John Updike
#8 The Four Feathers by A.E.W. Mason

Section 12 - Code Names Given to Agents

Section 13 - Events in Africa could be the theme Eygpt
#5 Suez, Around the World in 80 Days
#6 The Rosetta Stone
#9 The Battle of El Alamein

Section 14 - Etymology of Country's names
#2 Costa Rica
#3 Holy See (or maybe Christmas Island - Kathryn)
#4 Russia
#5 Spain
#7 Cote d'Ivoire*
#9 Bahamas*

Section 15 - Theme looks to be dances
#2 Supervisor Dance (from Treasure Island)
#3 Cachucha from Gilbert and Sullivan (Pemberley)
#4 Lobster quadrille
#5 Danse Macabre (Calvin Corin agrees!)
#6 Dance of the Hours from La Gioconda
#7 Willoughby?
#8 Last Tango in Halifax*
#9 Swan Lake - Whooper Swans* (Laura Corin) or Whooping Crane (Pemberley)
#10 Waltzing Matilda*

Section 16 - Desserts
#1 Barm brack - traditional fruit cake served on St. Brigit's Day in Ireland
#2 Tiramisu from book Turtle Soup and Tiramisu by A. E. Ramsay
#5  to be rolled up in dough and eaten by rats (Tom Kitten) *(Laura Corin and Pemberley)
#6A raised pie - from Captain Aubrey (JFSinIL) or treacle pudding (Pemberley)
#7 Zabaglione
#10 Pumpkin pie from poem "Pumpkin" by John Greenleaf Whittier (Pemberley)

Section 17 - no clue
#6 Sandgate in The Keel Row (Pemberley)
#9 a peerage* (Laura Corin)

Section 18 During 2015
#1 Cecil the lion
#2 Richard III
#3 Liverpool - launch of ferry named Snowdrop painted in many colors. (Pemberley)
#5 Inspector Wexforth (Pemberley)
#6 Anthem from Borat (Pemberley)
#8 Women bishops (Kathryn)

If anybody out there in internet land wants to join in, please comment!  As I answer more of the questions, I will update.  I don't think I'll ever get all the questions.  For one thing there are too obscurely British, but it is really fun to try.

Christmas nesting

Christmas break is here and I have been deep cleaning the house. . . and getting a lot of satisfaction out of it.  I've got much more to do of course - it's like shoveling in a snowstorm, but I am enjoying making my house cozy and tidy.  So far:

• Cleaned out the pantry
• washed all my wood floors on the main level
• brushed and cleaned the carpet on our stairs
• decluttered the kitchen island and counters
• signed up with a composting company.  I put the stuff in their special bin and they collect it once a week.
• Forced offspring to clean their rooms

Today I need to further declutter paper, etc from the dining room.  And I also plan to vacuum the upstairs.

Tuesday is Sean's birthday.  So I am not sure what I'll get to then, but I hope to vacuum and tidy the basement.  And certainly, we'll get our tree and decorate for Christmas.

I want to keep this cleaning mood up!  I plan to really deep clean my bedroom and master bathroom after Christmas because. . . we are renovating the bathroom starting in January!

I have been very busy looking at houzz and getting ideas for our new bathroom.

Have a blessed last week of Advent!

I wrote a poem! (It's sad).

I haven't written poetry in decades!  I don't know where this came from.  I was sitting in my car waiting for S to get out from his tutoring session and suddenly this memory flashed through my head.  Years and years ago I remember seeing seagulls flying over a building.  I remember thinking, wow, why are seagulls here?  There's no water nearby!  And then I looked down and realized the building was an abortion clinic.

(Don't scoff at my writing abilities!  This might be a really bad poem!)

Seagulls circle above the abortuary.

They are miles and miles from the sea.

The woman entering the building is miles and miles from anything lovely.

She sits in a plastic chair, waiting.

Desolation makes her queasy.

She bites her lips in defense against the violence and humiliation.

Seagulls can look like doves 

As they swoop and soar above the surf,

But here they are dirty gray, and rat-like, they scatter litter from the rusty dumpster.

The woman walks slowly from the building.

She is a little hunched.

She leans on the man out of weakness, not love.

He has cost her this.

The man opens the passenger side door and helps her in.

He rounds the front of the car and stands there fiddling with his keys for a moment.  

His eyes are full of doom.

The woman's face is pale and drawn.

She looks up at the seagulls wheeling in the sky.

The engine starts.

The car passes out of the parking lot.  

It waddles over a speed bump and then turns into the street.

The seagulls shriek.

Green Ribbon for Unity

A friend of mine, among others, is trying to show solidarity with the Muslims in our country in the face of the backlash against them due to the recent terrorist tragedies and Trump's ignorant ravings.  We went to a tour tonight of a local mosque (actually, not a mosque, but a Muslim community center) and she was giving out ribbons to any of the visitors.  I am wearing mine proudly.

She and her friends are hoping it goes viral.  I quit facebook, but apparently it is gaining strength there.  So if you are so inclined, please don a green ribbon and wear it so the world can see that you do not lump all Muslims into the same extremist group.  Let us support our good, law-abiding Muslim neighbors and show them that we do believe in the the right to religious freedom and we will stand by them.  They need our love and support.  They have a terrible demon amidst them that is driving some into the arms of ISIS and other brutal extremists.  They need our friendship, not our fear or rejection.

I know that persecution against Christians is at an all time high around the globe and most of the time this means Islamic groups terrorizing, torturing, raping and beheading Christians.

I know that there has been a more radical, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam gaining ground for the last 40 years or so and influencing our own Muslim citizens.

I know that some of these radicalized Muslims could slip in with refugees.

But honestly, I think we don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater.  We can tighten up our immigration and refugee procedures without shutting down altogether.

We can try to help those Christians in lands that are experiencing genocide.

We can encourage and support our Muslim citizens in their struggle against factions of fundamentalist jihadism.

For hundreds and hundreds of years Christian communities lived in Iraq and Syria and other predominantly Muslim countries and they are just now being forced from those Muslim societies.  The fact that the Christian societies lived there for so long is a beacon of hope.  Classical Islam is not fundamentalist, extremist Islam.  We can't declare war on 1.6 billion people who follow Islam.  We must be good brothers to the Muslims who believe in American values and who reject extremism and violence.  We must not alienate them.  We need open communication and dialogue.

That is why the Catholic Church calls for genocide to be called genocide but also refuses to reject Syrian refugees.  As a Catholic, I take the words of Matthew 5: 43-48 to heart.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[a] and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Earlier in Matthew 5, Jesus gives us the Beatitudes where he says:  "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. " That's me!  My greatest ambition is to be a true child of God and that's why I will wear this green ribbon.  One little way to be a peacemaker.

The Great Divorce - Book 55

The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis was our teen book club read for December.  This was a re-read for me.  It might be my second favorite C. S. Lewis book after Til We Have Faces.  What was really great about this book club selection is that S. read the book in three days.  This is amazing for him as he doesn't enjoy fiction and reads very slowly, so he does most of his 'reading' via audio books.  But this time he really read it and enjoyed it very much.

The book is a thought provoking fantasy.  The main character  (I don't think we ever know his name - it is probably Lewis himself.) finds himself wandering in a strange town and then waiting in a queue for a bus.  It's all very dreamlike.  The story is all about the people he encounters; slowly you realize that they all must be dead and this is happening in the after life.  As the narrator wanders through this strange world, he encounters George MacDonald, who serves as his Vergil, to explain and guide him.

Lots of exploration of sin, human nature, the nature of good and evil.  The characterizations of the people he meets are almost satirical and reminded me a bit of Jane Austen in her depiction of nasty, petty people.

The kids had a great discussion about based on this study guide.  They were in turns hysterically funny and at other times very insightful during the discussion.  Unlike Lord of the World, which was really over the kids' heads, this one was a perfect teen book club pick.

This book is a short novel written in Lewis' inimitable style, packed with theological insight.  Two thumbs up!

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Friday Recap - 12/11/15

I can't recap this week systematically.  The approaching holidays, stupid migraines and the news have got me off my game here.

I do know that we didn't do enough math, Latin or science.  We did no science!  How did that happen???

Instead we did history and read The Great Divorce for book club.  S worked Sunday, Tuesday and then got called in to work for someone who was sick last night at the last minute.

J has actually begun the process of enrolling at the community college.  Hooray!  He was dual enrolled before which didn't count because now he's 20 and a high school graduate, so he had to do a different process.  He took the math placement exam yesterday.  He will take the English placement exam next Wednesday and then he goes to an orientation the following Friday I believe.  He's trying to enroll in an Intro to Business class (a particular one with a particular teacher who gets rave reviews and who teaches at the satellite campus only ten minutes from our house) and Principles of Accounting course which probably will have to be at the campus nearest his job.

I did not get S enrolled yet.  He is changing his mind.  He's thinking now he really doesn't want to go for animation but music recording and producing.  So he now thinks he'd rather take a music theory course.  Hopefully, he'll get enrolled next Monday.

Had a good RE class on Tuesday.  Working with 2nd graders makes my heart ache for little kids.  I love my kids, of course, but I miss the adorableness of little kids.  There really is an emptiness in life when you don't have little kids in it.

I did lots of Latin prep.  I had a weird ocular migraine on Wednesday night and I couldn't correct any of the online quizzes for my Latin 1 class.  So that's on my to do list.

Biggest thing is getting the house ready for the in laws again.  We are celebrating Chanukah tomorrow.  I am looking forward to seeing Hannah and Peter!  We won't see them at Christmas.  Boo hoo.

Happy St. Nick's Day! And links too.

And Hannukah starts tonight too!    In honor of the holiday season and because I've been watching too much CNN and fighting migraines (and therefore am feeling a wee bit gloomy) here are some links that have lifted my spirit.  I thought I would just collect them in one spot.

Gorgeous Japanese-American Catholic artwork.  And check out his website for coloring pages!

Woman rescues ferry:  God bless this woman and her quick thinking.  I like the remark the firefighter made in the article.

Brave Muslims trying to speak the truth.  God bless these people.  One thing that I think the press needs to do is focus more on Muslims who are peaceful because they are out there.  I've met them, yet it seems to be they don't get any media coverage at all.

Military action frees 900 captives from Boko Haram.  Thank God!

Since my NaNoWriMo novel had a lot about bluegrass in it, I was happy to stumble on this video.

I caught most of the first movie in this trilogy (on TCM) and was captivated by its poetic beauty telling a very simple story of a boy growing up in India.  It's in black and white and made back in the 1950s.  Here's a link to a trailer.  It's been restored after a fire.  Now I want all three movies for Christmas.

Wonderful and beautiful blog by Father Dwight Longnecker:  The Suburban Hermit

Can't You Hear Me Callin'? - Book 54

Can't You Hear Me Callin'? by Richard Smith is a biography of Bill Monroe, the father of bluegrass music.  I read it as part of my research for my NaNoWriMo novel which involved the Bluegrass revival of the 1970s in this area.

Smith wrote a pretty good biography.   It's a little clunky in parts, but Smith did his research.  The book is chock full of footnotes, not just to articles and past interviews but interviews the author conducted himself for this book.  Smith was very thorough and conscientious, so I trust him as an author.

Monroe was a character.  He was a musical genius and a hard, hard working man, but he was also a compulsive womanizer and a poor business man.  These latter two things often undermined the former two.  In spite of his difficult nature, he truly inspired loyalty, his ex wives and lovers would come back to help him out, people he spurned for years because of some imagined slight, would forgive and forget simply so they could work with him again.  Smith gets rather Freudian about it all and blames Monroe's quirks on his childhood.

If you are interested in Americana music in the 20th century, this is a good resource.  Here's a link to the song the book is named after.

For more book reviews, go to 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Winner!

I did it!  I wrote 50,034 words of a terrible novel!

Of course, I can't figure out how to post the lovely certificate they give you to commemorate the event.  But I did order a t-shirt!

Whew.  I am glad that is over.  I am also glad I did it.  It really was a challenge and I am glad I stuck to it this time around.  It shows there is always hope!

Meadowlark Gardens

I finally went to see the light show!

There's Sean in the Santa hat working the admissions.

The park was quite magical.  Lots of little kids who were just awed by it all.

Lots of cute things to see.

NaNoWriMo Update

I can not believe that I have kept up on NaNoWriMo this year.  I've tried it three times before and I've always given up almost as soon as I've started.  I don't think I made it quite through the first week even.  Thus far, this time, I've written 40,062 words.  This does not include the 17,752 words that actually started this story I am working on a couple years ago, the last time I attempted NaNoWriMo.  It would be cheating though to add those words in as official for 2015, so I still want to get to the 50,000 word count for this year.  Right now, at the rate I am going I won't 'win' because it (the word counter at the NaNoWriMo site) says I won't finish until December 2nd. However, I hope to crank some more of the story out today and do lots tomorrow too, since I won't be fussing over a turkey or anything like that.  So maybe I will make the 50,000 word limit by the deadline.

Every morning I sit down and think, oh my goodness, what am I going to write.  And then I just write.  Some days I only get 500 - 800 words down.  And sometimes just eking out that small amount is painful.  But some days it just flows and I'll write 2,000 - 3,000 in one fell swoop.

Since the story had been percolating around in my head for the last couple of years, on and off, I initially had stuff to say.  But that dwindled after the first week.  So my strategy became expand and amplify ideas that are implied or could tie things together.  That worked for a while too.  But now I am kind burned out on that because the stuff that seemed harder to work I've put off until the last.  Don't ask me how I'll make it through the next five days.

 Some things I've discovered about myself:

1.  I can write much more fluidly and get much more volume done if I am writing between the hours of 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. or  7 to 9 a.m.  After that it gets much harder.  I don't have the same focus.

2.  I had to do things I'd never thought about.  For instance I had to make up this imaginary town, so I had to research typical street and town names.

3.  I had to draw a little map of the small town so I can figure out where everything is.

4.  I keep writing in asynchronous chunks that flip back and forth in time.  I think it is way too hard to follow.  I wound up making a timeline of events for the story, but even then I still confuse myself.  Duh!  I will have to do tons of tidying and rearranging to make this comprehensible.

5.  I have not proofread at all and I think it is going to be a total bear to read and fix.  I am planning on forgetting about it for all of December and not doing a thing more on it until the new year.

6.  While I have managed to keep up this year, by some miraculous alignment of the stars, I sorta can't wait for it to be over.  For one thing it is time consuming so it makes things stressful.  For another I have found I am unable to read fiction while I am writing fiction.  I am sticking to non-fiction books right now.  I can't wait until December when I can read a thumping good, light but satisfying, novel!

7.  I love researching.  I am researching the area I've placed my fictional town, both geographically and historically, I've done all sorts of research on music.  Because the book is set in the 70s, I've been doing all sorts of trips down memory lane and rediscovering things I'd completely forgotten about.

8. The book is so undeveloped. There still needs to be lots more dialogue incorporated and much better character development.  Just churning out 50,000 words at this pace is the most rudimentary step.  I realize now that it is just the beginning of a long, hairy process.

Wish me luck!

The Wind in the Reeds - Book 53

The Wind in the Reeds is an emotional and deeply heartfelt testament to the truth, goodness and beauty the author has experienced in his life.  The author is Wendell Pierce, apparently, a well known African American actor.  His biggest roles were on a very popular TV Show called The Wire and then another very popular show called Treme.  Since I don't watch TV much, I was clueless about this but now I'd really like to see these shows.

Wendell Pierce grew up in New Orleans in the first African-American housing development built in 1954..  It was a product of a deal cut due to segregation, but it turned out to be a wonderful thing, in spite of that.  Pierce says it was like a Mayberry for black kids.  The neighborhood was a true community of stable, hardworking black families who had pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps in the face of overwhelming hate and poverty.  Pierce's beloved mother was a school teacher and his father, who had frustrated dreams in his youth of being a professional photographer, worked at a furniture store during the day and as a janitor at night.  Wendell's mother was a devout Catholic and even though she'd experienced bigotry from members of the Church, his mother, and hence Pierce, was always able to differentiate between the humans in the Church and her divine call as the Church Jesus established.  Wendell Pierce himself is an uneasy Catholic but he has a great love for her nonetheless.

Pierce left New Orleans to attend The Juilliard School in New York to become an actor, a lifelong dream of his.  This was an amazing feat.  And he loved going to the Julliard School.  Winton Marsalis was a couple years ahead of him and he and his brother Bradford (who went to Berklee,  from where my son just graduated) hung out together.  A few years after Julliard, Pierce was playing major broadway theater.  His career took off in another major way when he played the part of a tough, alcoholic homicide detective in Baltimore in The Wire.  He got to really know Baltimore and the police department there.  This book ends just a little too soon for me.  I would love to have read his opinions on the whole Freddy Gray debacle in Baltimore.  When I worked in Baltimore with the Public Defenders I sensed no great tension between blacks and whites there.  It seemed ideally and fully integrated.  Everyone was a Democrat (including myself).  The city is owned by the Democratic party.  Although I am sure that racism never entirely goes away and that there probably was some going on somewhere, there are plenty of black police officers, prosecutors, public defenders, etc.  Pierce never mentions racism on the police force (though he did have bad encounter with police in Baltimore much earlier than when he started working on The Wire - but that may or may not have been a racist thing).  Pierce worked with black officers.  Anyway, I would love to know how this racism suddenly cropped up as a major issue to riot over.  Something went terribly wrong.

Hurricane Katrina was a major life changing event for Pierce and his family.  He was visiting his parents (he'd moved to California) before he started another season of The Wire.  News of a major hurricane came in.  Being New Orleanians they didn't panic, except the news kept saying that this was the most powerful storm to ever hit.  They relocated to a relatives house further north and sat out the hurricane.  It was rough at the uncle's house so they could only imagine how hard it must have hit their area, but even then they were not prepared for the utter destruction of their how neighborhood which sat under toxic flood waters for weeks.

The storm galvanized Pierce completely.  He realized how much he'd lost, all his parents's hard work in owning a home, all his childhood memories, his stable start in life that allowed him to be successful.  First he gave his all to get his parents' house back in shape, then he tried to get the neighborhood back, and finally he worked and continues to work these many years later to help his beloved city of New Orleans, so rich in history and culture, and unfortunately corruption, back on her feet.

This book is about family, faith in God, traditional values, African American history and, most especially,  art.  How art ennobles and strengthens us.  How art can be an empowering force that gives voice to anguish and allows for hope.

Rod Dreher is the co-author.  He is also from New Orlean but he's white and is certainly not a Democrat (Pierce worked for the Obama campaign and got a chance to introduce his parents to Obama) but the two collaborated on this book and became friends as a result.

I found this book engrossing.  It is a powerful reflection on the terrible legacy slavery and bigotry and the toll it took on African Americans, but also how they, as a culture, rose above it and much of that is reflected in the music and culture of New Orlean.  If I were interviewing the author though, I would ask him what he thinks of gangsta rap and the glorification of ghetto/drug lord/gangs.  He seems to come down very hard on those aspects of modern culture.  He talked about how the 1 or 2 percent were hurting all the other upright and hardworking African Americans, like his parents.

There's a lot more to this book I haven't even touched on, including an ongoing and really deep analysis of the play Waiting for Godot.  Just remember 'can't' died three days before creation and always be wary of people who don't have your best interests at heart!  And you can't get lost in America!

Two thumbs up!  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Frankenstein - Book 52

I read this book as part of my participation in the Woman's Classic Literature Event (Classics Club).

Frankenstein is an amazing book.  I started to read it a few years ago and couldn't get past the first few pages.  It just felt too heavy to me then.  This time around I was hooked the minute I started to read, which just goes to show you that you should give some books more than one chance.

I read the Ignatius Press edition of this book which opens up with an Introduction by Joseph Pearce.  This intro really made me dislike Percy B. Shelley.  I don't know if that was Pearce's intent but that was the reaction I came away with.  First Percy Shelley runs off with a 16 year old named Harriet and marries her not because he loves her but because he wants to 'mold' her.  He gets her pregnant.  Then he meets and falls in love with Mary, also 16 (and this is just a few months after all this stuff with Harriet). When Mary's father objects to Mary going off with Percy, Percy wants Mary to commit suicide with him.  That doesn't happen but they do run off together.  Harriet has her baby and then a few months later kills herself.  These are selfish, hormonal, impetuous adolescents. Well, Mary is, Percy is older but seems to have embraced being a radical adolescent as a life plan.  I am curious about their marriage.  It only lasted six years before Percy drowned.

Although young, Mary Shelley must have been able to hold her own against Percy's influence, somewhat.  Frankenstein is about taking the consequences for what you create.

The novel starts kind of bizarrely (at least to me) with letters from a man, bent on sailing to the North Pole, to his sister.  He's excited about his great chance at exploration, something he's been working towards for many years.  His ship gets stuck in the ice and though I have no idea how these letters would get from a lone ship stuck in arctic ice back to England, he keeps writing them.  His crew rescues a man from the icy waters, amazed to see a sole human in the wasteland of the northern waters.  While this man, who turns out to be Dr. Frankenstein, relates his story to our explorer, he in turn relates them to his sister in his letters to her.

Dr. Victor Frankenstein starts out nice enough.  He comes from a loving family and is raised with good moral principles.  However his obsession with science and his unbridled pride in doing something no one else has done, something godlike, to create a new creature, leads to his undoing.  Once he accomplishes his goal he completely falls apart.  He is not able to be responsible for what he has created.  He shrinks in loathing and fear from it.  In fact he doesn't even understand what he has created but can only ever view it through his very emotional and reactionary lense.  The creature, it turns out, was of a sensitive and loving nature, who was completely naive for essentially he is like a newborn in a full blown almost super-powered body.  Dr. Frankenstein abandons him immediately.  We don't even know what has happened to the creature for the first two years of its life until it corners Dr. Frankenstein alone on a glacier covered mountain top in the Alps and forces him to listen to him.

This Ignatius Press edition is based on the original by Mary Shelley.  Percy Shelley edited it later, carefully erasing any references to God.  Shelley was an atheist and I guess that meant Mary had to be one too.

(Spoilers!) Through Dr. Frankenstein's craven cowardice and pride, his younger brother, a beloved servant (who is accused of the brother's murder), his best friend and his wife all eventually meet their deaths as a result of the creature, three directly murdered by the creature.  The creature is desperate for companionship and borders on madness in his isolation; he turns to tormenting Frankenstein when he won't give him a wife like himself.

Most of facts of the story belie any real plausibility if you think about them too hard right from the premise about creating the creature to how the creature sustains himself, hides from human notice, learns to speak, etc..  But Shelley's powerful writing and the inexorable pace of the story kept me reading.  Dr. Frankenstein does get pretty irritating in his unremitting self-pity.  He makes every wrong decision you can make.

The whole story though does raise so many powerful questions.  Science and technology do give us powers we don't have the wisdom to handle.  We can not foresee what implications or consequences result from moving full speed ahead with innovation and experimentation.  With all progress comes a downside.  Think of how scientific those gas chambers were at Auschwitz.  Think of eugenic sterilization and cloning, surrogate slavery, sex change operations, abortion.  Of course a lot of good has come about too, but there is always an ugly underbelly to all this.  Playing God is never a good idea.Here's another horrifying way science could be used for evil.

A dark book which raises deep questions.  I am glad I finally read it.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Lord of the World Study Guide

No Friday recap for today.  I totally forgot to record things.  I do know that some math got done, some science got done, some Latin got done, some Speech and Communications got done and a lot of history got done.  Best of all, we finally, FINALLY finished Lord of the World.  Woot!

Since there is no study guide out there for this book, I wrote up my own.  Nota bene:  This book is really too hard for high schoolers.  You simply have to have a larger and deeper context to draw from when trying to comprehend all that is in it.  It is a deeply flawed and yet brilliant book.

Here is my rinky-dink Study Guide.  It isn't really a study guide proper though.  I just wrote a bunch of questions and some comments to provoke discussion with our little book club.  Here it is:

Study Guide for Lord of the World:

When was this book written and what time period is it set in?

Imaging the future, what does the author come close to guessing pretty accurately and what does he assume to be the same as in the future?

What aspects of the novel reflect the author’s time period:  (my answer:  attitude towards women, women still wearing hats with veils, liturgy being in Latin and as elaborate as a high Latin Mass, communication is still by telegraph and newspapers, no A/C.)

What is futuristic in the book?   (my answer: volors, electric lights, living underground, placards on buildings that announce news).

In what ways does Mabel’s worldview parallel modern views on euthanasia, globalism, and 1^st world dominance over other parts of the world?

Mabel and Oliver are both good people who are intelligent and idealistic.  What is it they lack that prevents them from seeing the truth?  Why does Father Francis leave the faith?  What do you think the author is saying about the power of cultural influence in determining our inner spiritual lives?

What does the role of the mother in law reverting to Catholicism and then dying play in the novel?

How does the author’s imagined future foreshadow things like the Soviet Union, the rise of cult personalities like Hitler and Lenin?  The Holocaust?

How morally consistent is Mabel?  Oliver?  Mr. Francis? Felsenberg?  Write a paragraph for each, explaining their reasoning.

There is a lot wrong with this book.  For one thing he hardly never mentions Africa once.  It is as if it didn’t exist.  Benson also seems to be anti-Semitic.  Why does he pick the name Julian Felsenberg? 

He also has a thing against the Masons.  What were the Masons at that time and why does the Catholic Church not like them?  Did you know there was an anti-Mason party at one time in U.S. History?  Here’s an interesting link:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Morgan_(anti-Mason)

 Are Masons still perceived as a threat?  Why would the Catholic Church be so against Masons?

Benson also seems to mistrust Democracy.  This may be related to his anti-Mason stand (just my own theory!) because many of our Founding Fathers were Masons.  The Church had a hard time switching gears from monarchy to democracy; (see this Wikipedia article:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relations_between_the_Catholic_Church_and_the_state                    

How do Benson’s views reflect this?  How is it that the Church can change in terms of political views and still remain faithful to her spiritual and moral teachings?

How does the author’s depiction of the adoption and corruption of so much of Christianity for the new religion reflect the defects of a purely humanitarian understanding of existence?

What is so ironic about having Mr. Francis explain Catholicism to Mabel?  Why is it that he is satisfied with his reason for losing his faith whereby Mabel sees in his explanation a reason to sympathize with the Catholics?

Compare and contrast the faith life of Father Percy Franklin with the faith life of Father Francis.  What makes Father Francis lose his faith and what makes Father Percy keep his?

Do you see a parallel between decision made by Pope John and decisions made by Father Percy (who becomes Pope Sylvester)?

What is the great internal contradiction of Humanitarianism?

Given all the flaws in this book, why would Pope Francis say it is one of his favorites and encourage people to read it?

Why does the author tell us the ending through the eyes of a new character, the Syrian priest? 

In my opinion, Mabel a better person than Oliver even though she killed herself.  What do you think?

What exactly happens at the very end?

What is the Catholic understanding of the end of the world?

You might want to check out some of the following sections in the Catechism of the Catholic Church in relation to this book:

Section # 676 – on the Anti-Christ and secular messianism

Section # 770 – the role of the Church in history

Section # 2425 – communism vs. free market

The Funniest Midsummer Night's Dream

We went to the American Shakespeare Theater in Staunton, Virginia this weekend.  You should go!  It was excellent!  I have never enjoyed a Shakespeare comedy so much.

First of all it is in a replica of the Blackfriars Playhouse that Shakespeare actually used.  This was apparently his indoor theater.  Anyway, you step from the modern lobby into a Tudor style theater with a small stage and seats that go right up to the stage as well as two rows of balconies around the rectangle shape of the room.  They keep the lights on all during the performance and there are barely any props and no setting.  The play is solidly on the shoulders of the actors and these actors were amazing.  They didn't need lights or atmosphere.  They burst onto the stage with complete control and fluency.

Actually before the play, the actors are up on the balcony playing instruments and singing songs to entertain us while we wait for the beginning of the show.  They had a snack and drink cart right on the stage.  In fact some of the audience sat on the stage along the side walls.  They'd been forewarned they might be made part of the play.  What amazed me was somebody sat up there with their 5 year old daughter who was completely mesmerized the entire time!  And this play was very long.  It started at 7:30 and ended at 10:30 with just a 15 minute intermission (during which the actors came out and did vaudeville acts!)

Here's an illicit photo I took before the usher told me to stop.

The actors were all tremendous, they really were, but the guy who owned the play was the guy who played Nick Bottom.  He was pitch perfect!  The scene when they are acting out the play about Pyramus and Thisbe was done so well.  As B. said, as we were leaving the theater:  I've never laughed so hard for so long at a show.  The actor had the whole room completely in control.  I mean everyone was in uproarious laughter and then he'd get funnier!    And the laughter would be even more uproarious!  Now it was pretty slapstick and it did get a bit bawdy, but nothing too awful.  Well, maybe it did, but by that time I had tears streaming down my face and my stomach was starting to ache, so it didn't matter.

To tell you the truth, I like Shakespeare's comedies the least of his plays but this one was done so well.  

So I am really glad we did the overnight trip.  Staunton is a charming little town.  It is a college town because of Mary Baldwin College.  It has a small, quaint downtown area that has coffee shops, used bookstores, pizza places, music and antique stores.  The Catholic church of St. Francis of Assisi is right up near Mary Baldwin College and a beautiful old church that is apparently being restored as there was lots of scaffolding around it.  We went to the 5:00 Mass before the play and the priest was a charming old Irish man.

I'd love to go back again and see a tragedy or a history play.  Maybe next year for our 28th wedding anniversary!

 

Friday Recap - 11/6

Ugh.  This is what I get for housecleaning.  I deep cleaned my little powder room, scrubbing it all over.  Somehow stepped in some water on the floor and went skidding.  Pulled my right leg hard.  Limping around now.

Monday - I got up and wrote for NaNoWriMo - things are going well!
All Souls Day - didn't get to my mom and dad's graves but I visited them a couple weeks ago.  Did get to Mass in the evening.  That was lovely.
J left later for work - reduced hours at marina for the fall - he only works 35 hours a week now.  They extended his contract for Nov but still won't hire him permanently.
Element - Fe - iron
Just did cursive practice
Read plot summary of Midsummer Night's Dream and took a little on line quiz about it.
B finished up 1.5 of of her Geometry
S did some math homework
Both worked on history reading and notetaking
Cleaned out fridge and freezer in prep for new one coming on Tuesday
Worked a lot on Latin prep
B did more History - not sure if S did
S worked out with P.T.
I am sure they did more academic stuff but can't remember.
J took B to her rehearsal - she is now make up crew for A Christmas Carol
Will flew home for a visit this week.  I think he leaves Friday morning.

Tuesday - Good:  more than 5000 words so far!  But I am having trouble with dialogue.  I am basically just sketching vignettes that fit in with overall plot but need to be fleshed out and stitched together.  Bad:  my darn leg still hurts!
Saint:  St. Martin de Porres
Element:  cobalt
Cursive practice
For some reason S was humming Just the Two of Us by Bill Withers so we watched a youtube video of that.
S did a couple of problems in Alg II, B started on 1.6 video
S and B finished up notetaking sheets for History class.
Took to history class
Will was home for new fridge delivery.  We've got a hulking new stainless steel fridge.  I am the only person on the planet who things stainless steel is ugly but you can not get fridges without it anymore.  So we've got one and it is just as ugly as I thought it would be.  However, the water and ice machines work, the doors aren't broken and it is a million times quieter than our old fridge.
After history class no one wanted to do school work.  Instead they hung out a lot with Will.
I worked on Latin prep.
Ran to store and got dinner makings/stop gap shopping
Make spaghetti for dinner.
After dinner B and S took Speech quiz on line.
B studied for history test.  Not sure what S did.

Wednesday - this is the book that is inspiring my NaNoWriMo novel!
https://onethousandwordsaweek.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/a-tree-grows-in-brooklyn-an-appreciation/
With Will being home we aren't getting much done.
Can't remember Wed. a.m.
B rewatched Geometry video
S supposedly did some math homework
S and B had speech class at noon
W went in with Rick to work
S to math tutor
B to voice only there was no voice!  I really gotta check my calendar before I take off.
S studied a bit of Latin before his bass lesson
J was too late coming home from work to take B to her rehearsal so I had to.
Managed to bake some chicken for homeless shelter as well as family.
Come and get it dinner
I gave up on getting anyone to do school work after Will got home.  I think they stayed up late jamming with him.
I miss unschooling, B was showing me all the sign language she's learned from youtube videos, then she and S were playing uke and melodica together.  Sounded great!
Novel writing is going well
Planning for Latin has me in a panic, though.
No science done this week at all and S and B really need to be studying for big history exam which they have not.

Thursday - Our 27th Wedding Anniversary - unfortunately it's just going to be a hectic day!
Got up early and planned more Latin
Took chicken to church
Stopped and picked up chocolate for my Latin 1 class since they did so well on their exam.
Got gas
Came home, worked on novel
showered - finally got kids up @ 10
Left list of stuff for them to do.
B and I off to Aquinas.
Grappling with Latin issues - won't go into it.
Will had his friend who is in his first year discerning vocation with the Marist Brothers in Wash. DC over.
Rick and I went out to eat at a new Italian restaurant.  It was nice.

Friday
Will flew back to Boston
Took S to math tutor
Tried to write more on my novel but I've had two days where I only reached half the goal.
Watched a bit of Natural Law lecture - actually a re-watch.
Went to Mass
Ate at Chipolte
Came home and since the kids still really needed to study history that's what they did.
I went to Adoration - supposed to be from 2:00 -3:00 but no one showed up at 3 and then no one showed up at 4.  Finally at 4:30 Father Pat came in.  He said he'd be back by 5 so I stayed.  It was really wonderful.  I don't think I've ever focused on praying for 3 hours straight.  What a wimpy Christian I am.  But once I got over the anxiety of things not going as I planned, I let go and just prayed.  It was like a little retreat!  Alleluia!  I asked Father Pat why they don't do things like another parish where they have someone to organize things to make sure someone is always there but he said the woman who used to do for so many years, moved so no one took up the job.  So then I gulped and said I would volunteer to coordinate.
Gotta write more on my novel!

This weekend we go see Midsummer Night's Dream at Blackfriars Playhouse.

Howards End - Book 51

Howards End is a novel by E.M. Forster.  He wrote A Passage to India and also A Room with a View.  For some reason, I've never been attracted to certain turn of the century writers who are rather existential (it seems to me) as they turn their eye on the social manners of the upper class.  I've never liked Henry James or Edith Wharton and I put Forster into this class as well.  There was just something stuffy and too self-absorbed that I found irritating.  I don't know why this should be.  Austen, Gaskell and the Brontes all deal with issues around social class and manners (though I do find the Brontes hard to take at time, being as overwrought as they always are).  I saw the movies a Room with a View and A Passage to India but never read the books.  I found the movie A Room with a View better than a Passage to India mostly because I couldn't buy the main premise of the latter plot line.

Anyway, I never did see the movie Howards End even though it has Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins in it.  I got the audio of Howards End out of the library and I've been listening to it.  And I am still ambivalent about it all even though I concede that Forster was a good writer.  Some of his little observations and witticisms are quite clever and insightful.  He keeps the reader from identifying too strongly with the characters though, because the narrator of the story sometimes makes these sly little asides, which contribute to that existential feel, that we are just watching a play, and not completely absorbed into the life and loves of the people we are learning about in the novel.

It seems to me the novel self-consciously tries to be deep.  And it tries too hard.  I just never bought the idea that Margaret, the most fully developed character in the book and the one the reader identifies with the most, could fall in love with Henry Wilcox because Wilcox remains a two dimensional representative of the business class, those uppity nouveau riche who want to run everything and have no real soul.  And since I couldn't believe that, the rest of the novel seemed forced.  And the whole coincidence with Jacky Bast seemed contrived.  It was just a bit too coincidental.  And then we have the other coincidence of Leonard Bast stumbling into Howards End just at the time Charles Wilcox is there.  It is all a bit too set up.  And I just didn't buy Helen and Leonard either, at all, though I thought the author portrayed Bast's remorse well.  Leonard also was too two dimensional.

By the way, I wonder if Forster was inspired a bit by Elinor and Marianne of Sense and Sensibility?  Margaret is the older, calmer, more practical sister and Helen is the impulsive, passionate one that doesn't care what others think.

But really what I found most annoying was that we are never given Henry's deepest thoughts except in way that always reinforces his stuffy, narrow class reactions to things.  I really wanted to like Henry because I liked Margaret so much, but I just don't think Forster quite pulled it off.  It is the narrator telling us what Henry is feeling, as opposed to just letting the reader experience Henry's mortification, etc.  I am sure the author deliberately wanted us to feel that layer of alienation, but since we come to care for Margaret, it limits understanding why Margaret should love him so.  Margaret is an idealist, it is true, so she doesn't always see clearly about what is really going on. Though she is also pretty astute and honest as well.  I don't know.  The way the characters are presented bothered me a good deal.

I was disappointed in the ending too.  It seemed in the end people like Bast and Charles don't matter.  Push them out of the picture, Margaret has won.  Henry is broken and relies on her just as her sister does.  She'll take care of them.

I think I've just read too many books about British upper crust snobbery lately, so I am feeling dismissive about their overblown sense of self-importance which is what this book seems to be about.  It wants to talk about England and her destiny.

I still would like to see the movie though.  I am hoping that Anthony Hopkins might be able to put together a better Henry Wilcox than I got from listening to the book.

I am glad I read this book so that I am not so ignorant about Forster.  While I can admire some things about his writing, he is not my cup of tea.  He kind of reminded me of D. H. Lawrence maybe.  Trying to be deep when you essentially have an existential outlook that says nothing really matters means you wax poetic futilely because really there is nothing worth waxing poetic about in the end.  You want to say something, but really you are just about puncturing other people's bubbles.

Bah.

For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.