About a Book...

Despite the looming title of this blog, I have decided to write a post about a book I have just read. Having recently completed all of my higher education, and being jobless, I have multitudes of free-time to read. This is quiet exhilarating for me, and I am enjoying every bit of it. 


I am always trying to expand my book knowledge, and to accomplish this, I recently looked up a list of the top 100 books one should read. Naturally, I made a spreadsheet of this list and checked off which ones I have read and marked which ones I have not read (perhaps too extreme?). I am a list person and after making this list of books to read, I was excited to get started! Trying not to be dismayed by the expanse of books on the list I have not read, I began downloading the free ones on my Kindle (due to the aforementioned jobless situation, I have no money to actually buy these books). The first one I decided to read was Tess of the D'Urbervilles, by Thomas Hardy. I have never read anything by Hardy so this was to be a new experience for me. 


Being a thoroughly educated English major (she laughs to herself, for this is not possible). It was easy to recognize the naturalistic elements of the novel immediately in the opening pages. It called to mind such poets as Wordsworth and Coleridge, and such poems as "Lines composed above Tintern Abbey." The feel of the English landscape and beauty of that country, the life of the common farmer and the common man, struck me immediately. One does not have to read his Wikipedia page (and I confess, I just did) to pick up on the elements of the Enlightenment and Romantic eras in his novel. The situation with Tess's father discovering that he is the last remaining progeny in an old and extinct noble family, evokes many chuckles from any reader.  However, the heart of the book is at the same time greatly influenced by the naturalism that so clearly controls the events. 


Hardy brilliantly combines humorous elements with supernatural qualities and realistic feelings and actions of human beings into his heart-wrenching tale. I found myself sympathizing with the characters even more because I saw my own feelings about organized religion, reactions to societal norms and the like in the characters of Tess Durbeyfield and Angel Clare. More than a novel of naturalism and fate, this is a novel of humanity, and Hardy hits the nail right on the head with the nature of humans. How does the common man react to being told he is a noble? How do secrets tear people apart? How does arrogance and a superior mindset affect those who love you most? These are all questions that Hardy addresses through the characters of the novel. This is a delightful read and I would recommend it to any who like naturalistic, or even ironic novels. 


For a book lover, discovering a new novel is like a kid finding a dollar under her pillow where her tooth was. We expect it, but when it happens we are more excited than we thought we would be. I feel like a kid when I discover a new novel I love, and that sums up my experience with Tess of the D'Urbervilles. 


I'll try Not to write about books next time:)

On Love

Having forgot that I had a blog, I recently tried to create a new one. Imagine my surprise when I discovered this one! Oh there are so many things to write about in the world! 


Have you ever imagined what the world would be like without love? As I write this line, the classic Beatles lyrics come to mind, "love is all you need." This is a subject I have been thinking about, pondering over, mulling around in my over-analytic brain lately. Love is a force to be reckoned with. It moves humanity to sacrifice, to the giving of themselves, and to complete care for others. Where would we be without love? Love is the greatest of all emotions, thoughts and feelings. Love is synonymous with God. Love is the ultimate giving of oneself to the other. And yet, why does it seem that so often we forget how to love? Love should be one of those emotions so easy to "do." You just love people, and that is all. But truly, those who think they can just love people by sending emotions their way are mistaken. Love is more than just a force or an emotion. It is an action. If the action is not carried out, then the whole end of love seems fleeting. 


Love is an action. Those people in the world whom you love, should know from your actions that you love them. They should know from what you do for them, how you speak to them, how you treat them that you love them. I am only recently coming to the realization of how much love requires action and active participation. Without either of these things, how will the beloved know? In your relationships with those you love, there should be a constant reminder to them that you love them by your deeds and by your care of them.  All that is not love often tries to sneak it's way into the relationship. The counterpart of love, causes humans to turn their thoughts and feelings inward to the most selfish thoughts of their inner being. This seems to be a tendency of many. Because of humanity's propensity to disregard love, we must constantly be striving for love as an action.


This is what love looks like to me: Love of family is when you forgive and love despite their mistakes; love of partner/spouse is when you allow another to become one with you, and take on the life-long calling to love that person more than oneself--this  is a constant struggle; love of humanity is when you forgive the past transgressions of all humans, and turn to one another in acceptance regardless of political views, creed, race or religion. Love cannot exist in world where we hate our brothers and sisters and constantly strive for an eye for an eye. To quote the movie The Village, "the world bows for love. It kneels before it in awe.' Love is greater than the confines of religion, race, or social status. It is the emotion that calls men to action. 


Let us never forget how to love. 

127 Hours

I recently saw the movie 127 Hours, and was quite moved by the film in general. Though it had many of the same elements of Into the Wild, I thought James Franco did an excellent job portraying Aaron and Danny Boyle did a great job creating it. Like Into the Wild, the story centers around a 20-something adventurer who is seemingly bent on denying society and family and throwing caution to the wind. The movie consists of the five days that the young man, Aaron Ralston, spent trapped in a canyon in Utah. The movie follows his survival tactics coupled with intermittent flashbacks (or flash-forwards) to the "coulda, shoulda, wouldas" of his life. Containing a similar hero as Into the Wild, that of a young man trying to escape society through nature, the main difference is that this film runs the course of the five days Aaron spent trapped in the canyon. The end of the story is more uplifting than Into the Wild, and I know a lot of people already know what happens as it was a widespread story in the news. The story of this young man's will to live and the distance to which he went to save his life is incredibly inspiring, and leaves you wondering if you would be able to do the same in that situation. The movie portrayed the incredible fight of his will to live against the pain of his body. It certainly made me think about what I would do in that situation, and if I would have the courage to do what he did. The film also sends an important message to outdoor adventurers everywhere to always tell someone where you are going in case of an accident. After all you don't want to lose any limbs. 

Having gone through college where I received my bachelor's degree in English literature, I never had the motivation or inspiration to create a blog. I thought blogs were for "nerds" or people who were REALLY obsessed with writing and being creative on the "interwebs." I must admit that for a second or two over the course of my knowing of the existence of blogs, I had considered making one, but I simply was not motivated to even try. However, now that I am going to start my first experience of student teaching, I wanted to share my thoughts and reflections on that. And alas, now that I am not an English major in college anymore, my supply of fellow book-obsessed, coffee and tea drinkers has seriously dwindled. This results in me wanting to write about what books I am reading, and what I think of them...but do not worry, I will not lapse into literary analysis- just my own personal response to texts, or even movies that I have recently experienced in addition to my thoughts about education and teaching today. 

That being said, I just read an article in the New York Times about the city closing down 12 schools. One of these schools is a charter school that is failing its students. This article greatly intrigued me, as I recently saw "Waiting For Superman" and have just completed a course during which I learned a great deal about the cost/benefit of charter schools. In this lower-Manhatten school, apparently only 26% of the children passed the state reading test passed and only 33% passed the math test. This school presents a contradiction to those schools praised in "Waiting for Superman." The problem that I see with charter schools is, that we need to fix the public schools to be more like the charter schools, and not give up on public education-at least that is my own personal opinion. Not all charter schools are a success, and the ability of those schools to run as they do is only because they do not have the numbers of students to deal with, the pressures of the policy-makers, nor as many of the problems with individual students as public schools have. Sending all children to charter schools is not the answer. However, applying the same principles of higher standards for education could be the answer to saving the failing public schools that our country is facing today.