Tracking all the nonfiction I read this year, beginning just after Christmas.
LATE DECEMBER
Do More Better: A Practical Guide to Productivity, by Tim Challies (2015)
This started out really well. If I was more interested in following his advice I would have gotten more from this.
The Child That Books Built: A Life in Reading, by Francis Spufford (2003)
Examining what being raised by books and through stories can do for a person. Very readable, if a bit peculiarly English. Mixes in personal examples with scholarly research and a journalist's attention to relevant detail.
Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, by Anthony Esolen (2010)
One of the best books on education I have ever read, written in a Screwtape Letters type of way.
The Dangerous Book for Dogs, by Rex and Sparky (actually written by Joe Garden, Janet Ginsburg, Chris Pauls, Anita Serwacki and Scott Sherman) (2008)
A parody of The Dangerous Book for Boys by writers from WordGirl and The Onion; including such important details as "The Rules of Fetch", "How To Make Your Owner Look Like an Idiot" and "Things You Can Chase". Pretty funny.
The Devious Book for Cats, by Fluffy and Bonkers (actually written by Joe Garden, Janet Ginsburg, Chris Pauls, Anita Serwacki and Scott Sherman) (2008)
A parody of The Daring Book for Girls, containing important sections as "Cardboard Boxes", "Reasons You Meant To Do That", "An Illustrated Guide to Napping" and "The Pros and Cons of Being Sullen". Felines are much better suited to writing snarky instruction manuals on living than dogs are.
JANUARY
On Writing Well: The Classic Guide for Writing Nonfiction, by William Zinsser (1976)
This was one of Courtney's internship books that I swiped from her desk. (Before buying a copy of my own.) Not many books on writing deal specifically with nonfiction, so that was interesting to read, especially when he defines what a memoir is and offers suggestions on improving them.
Diary of a Player, by Brad Paisley and David Wild (2011)
As it's written here, the story of Paisley's life...with some strings attached. (Generally six.) Very, very good memoir/autobiography.
Felines of New York, by Jim Tews (2015)
Like Humans of New York, but with cats. Very entertaining; and amazing photography.
Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want to Know About Fast Food, by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson (2006)
Written as a "Think about what you're eating!" book aimed at kids, a rewriting of his Fast Food Nation for a younger audience. So for that reason, not as good as it could have been, and a bit preachy.
Baseball and Country Music, by Don Cusic (2003)
A PBS special-type tone is what this intertwined history of baseball and country music is written in, and despite (or maybe because of) the breeziness the information is delivered in, it made for a really good read. And it was super-quick at just 149 pages, I was finished with it in a little over an hour.
Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat, by Bee Wilson (2012)
This was a terrific history, because it goes into detail of such taken-for-granted kitchen technology as silverware, ovens, refrigerators(for the longest time British people were suspicious of them!), the kitchen as a separate room and many other useful bits. Plus English people have such an interesting way of looking at the world.
Taming a Liger: Unexpected Spiritual Lessons from Napoleon Dynamite, by Jeff Dunn & Adam Palmer (2005)
Devotionals are generally stupid and poorly written, especially when they're written at teenagers. But this one was actually pretty good. It was shallow, but what was there was solid. If only the Scripture references weren't from the insipidly weak Message paraphrase....
What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted: 200 Years of Popular Culture in the White House, by Tevi Troy (2013)
This book was amazing, written by a historian, who could therefore freely just deliver the facts of the politics that come with media choices of politicians. Also, there are a lot more Presidents that sound like they should be studied(Teddy Roosevelt especially).
Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up, by Patricia Ryan Madson (2005)
A Stanford drama professor gives tips for how to improve improv skills, and life. She's a little strange, but the rules are basic: Show up on time, be kind, listen to other people.
Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs, by Dave Barry (1997)
Thankfully, I'm too young to know most of these examples. But they were nearly all awful.
Every Cat's Survival Guide to Living With a Neurotic Owner, by Beth Adelman (2003)
"Dear Tabby" columns are useful. What would cats do without her advice? And even humans can learn some stuff.
The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: College, by Joshua Piven, David Borgenicht and Jennifer Worick (2004)
These are generally useful. And it was cool to read about the problems faced in the typical college experience, since I have obviously not had that. One or two of the suggestions might be worth taking.
Me, Myself, and Bob: A True Story About Dreams, God, and Talking Vegetables, by Phil Vischer (2006)
In some ways this is a memoir, in others an autobiography, and it could maybe even be classified as a business book. But it's definitely worth reading. It's hard to read about the collapse of Big Idea, but the "building up" part is so inspiring! He met Mike Nawrocki in college when they were teammates in a drama ministry, which was awesome to find out. Also, he accidentally insulted John Lasseter to his face during an animation conference in the late 80's.
Home Town Tales, by Philip Gulley (1998)
Sort of a blend of G.K. Chesterton and Andy Griffith, Gulley's writing is always entertaining, but it also makes you think. This is his second collection of essays.
FEBRUARY
Endangered Words: A Collection of Rare Gems for Book Lovers, by Simon Hertnon (2009)
A listing of 100 obscure and delightful underused words, complete with definition(s), etymology when available, and an example used in a sentence. It's amazing.
Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, by Charles J. Shields (2006)
This was a very well-researched biography of Harper Lee, which would have been unimaginably difficult to write. As a biography, it was fine; there just isn't much material to work with when you're dealing with such an ordinary person as she was.
The Art of Cars, by Michael and Suzanne Wallis (2006)
A photo-essay book of sketches and paintings used to create Pixar's terrific movie Cars, along with reference photos and soundbite-sized recaps of the researching process. It. Was. Amazing.
Dating For Dummies, by Joy Browne (1997)
Reading a Dummies book is always a bit shameful, simply because of the title, but they are usually helpful. And it was nice to read an explanation of how everything works when it comes to dating. A lot of things have changed in the last twenty years, though.
MARCH
Disney, Pixar, and the Hidden Messages of Children's Films, by M. Keith Booker (2009)
This guy is an English professor at Arkansas, and he states right up front that he is very much a liberal. So it was interesting to see the thought processes of someone who leans so far left as he does. One of his frequent snippy attacks says that middle-class white people(basically, conservatives) lack any concept that there are people in the world who disagree with them, which might be right. And it was good to see someone take children's films so seriously. Because of his views, he tends to enjoy DreamWorks movies, since they typically focus on the power of communal activity as opposed to Disney/Pixar's emphasis on the individual's triumph. The endings of DreamWorks movies also frequently upend the social order, while Disney movies tend to keep things at the status quo. For these reasons, he especially loves the Shrek series, which I find appalling(for those same reasons). The book was a little boring, since it was so academic, but I'm glad I read it.
Thriving at College, by Alex Chediak (2011)
This would have been much more useful if I had known it existed before I started college. As a senior, it was vaguely interesting, if nothing else than because the author is a professor.
Paddle Your Own Canoe: One Man's Fundamentals for Delicious Living, by Nick Offerman (2013)
This memoir was weird. His Midwestwern background makes his growing-up and most of his ways of thinking easy to understand, but the (many) tangential rants can get old fast. Especially the extended railing against Christianity. Anyway, it was interesting to know the man behind Ron Swanson's mustache.
APRIL
Mystery and Manners, by Flannery O'Connor (1969)
She was a very unusual, but very good, writer most people have never heard of. In these essays, she talks about everything from the habits of peacocks to the Christian writer's approach to fiction, and many other things as well.
Under the Overpass: A Journey of Faith on the Streets of America, by Mike Yankoski (2005)
A college student voluntarily becomes homeless for six months in order to better understand how to minister to homeless people. It's fine, but he didn't really come to any conclusions, so that was frustrating. Also, he kinda whitewashed the whole experience, which isn't all that helpful. (Of course, at the time I was currently starring in Tales From Tent City, a play about homelessness and the effects of whitewashing it, so that was definitely on my mind more.) David Wilkerson's Cross and the Switchblade has a lot of weird Pentecostal rantings, but it does a better picture of painting what big-city street life is like.
The Autobiography of G.K. Chesterton, by G.K. Chesterton (1936)
Wonderfully Chestertony. So it rambles a bit, but for the most part it's a good rambling. And certainly worth reading.
Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee, by Stan Lee and George Mair (2002)
This semi-autobiography is very Chestertonian in the way it skips lightly hither and yon, yet makes a great read. When it comes down to it, Stan Lee is just a wonderful storyteller. (Also interesting from a "Wow, things have changed" pop-cultural perspective, the first of Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy hadn't been released yet when this book was published.)
Superman On the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society, by Danny Fingeroth (2004)
This book strikes a nice balance between academic and readable, pondering basic questions about what superheroes say about our society and what we value, both in morals and in storytelling.
The Pun Also Rises: How the Humble Pun Revolutionized Language, Changed History, and Made Wordplay More than Some Antics, by John Pollack (2011)
A very indepth overview of the pun, as a unit of language, from a neuroscientific perspective, and also a history of its usage through time. Really interesting book.
VO: Tales and Techniques of a Voice-over Actor, by Harlan Hogan (2002)
This is partially a memoir and partially a how-to book, written by (apparently) one of the most famous voice actors of the last forty years. Since voice acting is mostly anonymous, though, we'll have to take his word for it. (And a quick Google search confirms this.) Anyway, it was a cool read.
MAY
War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles, by Paul David Tripp (2001)
This (really convicting) book takes a look at how often our communication with other (sinful) humans can be displeasing and not-glorifying to God, as it talks of the power, both positive and negative, of our words. Bought several years ago from Grace and Truth Books with the high-school graduation gift certificate from GBC.
Late Edition: A Love Story, by Bob Greene (2009)
This really is a love story; of a teenager recalling his first job, from the summers of 1964-68 at the Columbus Citizen-Journal, he recounts with masterful detail the personalities of coworkers and the societal attitudes towards newpapering. It was an amazing book, but with a meloncholy sadness, of knowing that world is gone forever.
Homecoming: When the Soldiers Returned From Vietnam, by Bob Greene (1989)
In one of his columns, Bob Greene asked whether the rumors he heard were true, that Vietnam veterans had really been spat on when they returned home. He received over a thousand letters answering that question, and he quickly determined that there were far too many responses to deal with adequately as a series of columns. So he edited many of them into this book, after some further reporting. Not knowing anything, really, about the war, it confirmed about the only thing I did know: Everyone lost. It was hard to read at points, knowing that these words were real emotions written by real people.
Are You Smart Enough to Work at Google?: Trick Questions, Zen-like Riddles, Insanely Difficult Puzzles, and Other Devious Interviewing Techniques You Need to Know to Get a Job Anywhere in the New Economy, by William Poundstone (2012)
That subtitle pretty much sums this book up. It's aimed at technology-minded people. And the answer (for me, anyway) is: probably not.
Once Upon a Town: The Miracle of the North Platte Canteen, by Bob Greene (2002)
During WWII, a small city in southwest Nebraska devoted all its spare time to raising the morale of the troops passing through, becoming a legendary symbol of hope and home for those overseas.
Seabiscuit: An American Legend, by Laura Hillenbrand (2001)
A thrilling, EXTREMELY well researched biography of three remarkable men and the remarkable racehorse which united them and nearly divided the country during the tail end of the Great Depression.
JUNE
The Elements of Eloquence: How to Turn the Perfect English Phrase, by Mark Forsyth (2013)
An entertaining (British, of course) deconstruction of many stylistic elements of writing good sentences. Roughly a third of them I knew from Dr. Mackie's poetry classes, and a couple others I had been using without realizing it, but it was fun to explore through all these new tools to play with.
The Horologicon: A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language, by Mark Forsyth (2012)
Forsyth's middle book details lots of wonderfully strange words, usually slang of some kind of another, or archaic medieval words needing a comeback. Also delightfully obscure terms for things like a hidden puddle(aka "beau's trap," because it would get the men's nice courting trousers doused.) This would inevitably happen while the woman was "putting out bait" (a very direct term for doing makeup), which included applying "pucker paint" (1940s American slang). Also, the handle of a teacup or coffee mug is a zarf. This is structured based on the average person's actions during each hour of the day; thus the title, which could be translated as "a lexicon for all hours."
The Eymologicon: A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language, by Mark Forsyth (2011)
Forsyth's first book deals mainly with etymology, in his quirky, irrelevent and memorable way. For example, we learn of the history of "magazine", which was Arabic for "storehouse" (usually military). This is also why the term applies to that place where bullets are stored in guns. Anyway, then the term was adopted by the French, and then stolen into English. And the man who set up the first magazine wanted it to be a storehouse of information.
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, by Terry Ryan (2001)
This memoir paints the daily lives of a large and accident-prone Ohio family held together by advertising jingles, as the mother deals with her alcoholic husband. A redneck version of Cheaper by the Dozen set forty years later, kind of. It's a FANTASTIC read.
Born to Win: Keeping Your Firstborn Edge Without Losing Your Balance, by Kevin Lehman (2008)
I like birth-order books, because they're highly structured and well-organized. Sort of like MBTI types that way.
JULY
Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich, by Mark Kriegel (2007)
A really good biography of Pete Maravich, who was my second-most basketball hero after Michael Jordan when I was little.
When Gadgets Betray Us: The Dark Side of Our Infatuation with New Technologies, by Robert Vamosi (2011)
This book is hard to categorize, but it was really interesting. It makes me a little leery of the things that could go wrong with gadgets, but also makes me want to learn tech-stuff well enough to hack into things in a productive manner, like numerous scenes describe.
Repairing the Ruins, edited by Douglas Wilson (1996)
This is a series of essays on how to run a Christian school, which was interesting.
You've GOT to Read This Book!: 55 People Tell the Story of the Book That Changed Their Life, edited by Jack Canfield and Gay Hendricks (2006)
Isn't this a cool idea? Most of the books didn't sound very interesting, as they were selected from Southern California residents, but I'm glad I read it. And Tim Ferriss was one of those interviewed.
Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles, and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever, by Jack McCallum (2012)
It's hard to find a really well-written sports book. But this is one of them. I learned a ton of stuff I didn't know before about the Dream Team.
The Bodacious Ozarks: True Tales of the Backhills, by Charles Morrow Wilson (1959)
A journalist looks back at the country of the Arkansas Ozarks that he grew up in during the early twentieth century, and explains the customs and ways of the people for those who were not familiar with the area. His relatives played a large role in settling most of northwest Arkansas. Well worth reading for a book-sale find.
Just Do Something: A Liberating Approach to Finding God's Will, by Kevin DeYoung (2009)
The subtitle pretty much sums this book up.
AUGUST
Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell (2008)
Borrowed from the DeSpains' shelf, this book looks at the trends and attitudes that go into being successful at many different tasks - from playing hockey to designing websites, solving math problems or rice farming. It's pretty much a must-read for any homeschooler or homeschooling parent.
The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, by Timothy Ferriss (2007)
This was amazing and super-motivational, though for what exactly I'm not sure. But it gave a lot of good ideas for how to run a business efficiently and effectively, and also had a lot of neat travel tips.
Sports Illustrated Table Tennis, by Dick Moore (1974)
Less than a hundred pages, it talks about the basics of playing table tennis. Part of a series sponsored by Sports Illustrated, maybe as a way to increase readership in young people by showcasing a variety of sports? Found in the mysterious wilderness that are the shelves of the RSU library.
Honky Tonk Gospel: The Story of Sin and Salvation in Country Music, by Gene Edward Veith and Thomas L. Wilmeth (2002)
Two Christian English professors at a Wisconsin university teamed up to write this history/cultural analysis of the intertwining themes of sin and salvation in country music. It got a bit academic at times, but it was pretty good overall.
SEPTEMBER
Damn! Why Didn't I Write That?: How Ordinary People are Raking In $100,000 or More Writing Nonfiction Books, and How You Can Too!, by Marc McCutcheon (2001)
One of this year's Okmulgee Library book-sale finds, I loved the title, though that subtitle is pretty horrendously clunky. Straightfoward, easy to read and inspirational! Good information, too.
Three Weeks With My Brother, by Nicholas Sparks (2004)
This is both a terrific travelogue and a fantastic memoir of the Sparks family, particularly their growing up all over the western states getting into mischief. His experiences as a kid are similar to Stephen King's twenty years before on the other side of the country. And like King's On Writing, it humanizes the famous author so that we recognize that he's an ordinary person, too, who got where he was because of a ton of hard work.
Dear Readers and Riders, by Marguerite Henry (1969)
A question-and-answer book filled with notes written to Marguerite Henry and her replies. Very worth looking into, if you haven't yet.
OCTOBER
Will Rogers Says..., edited by Reba Collins (1993)
A collection of Will Rogers quotes, as chosen by members and employees of the Will Rogers Memorial Society.
The Church Awakening: An Urgent Call for Renewal, by Charles R. Swindoll (2010)
Exactly what it sounds like - Chuck Swindoll explaining what the church ought to look like, why it doesn't, and suggestions on how to fix that.
NOVEMBER
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, by Eric Schlosser (2001)
The author previously worked for The Atlantic, and it shows here. And that's a great thing. This critical look at all aspects of the fast-food industry is hard to read at points, but the information needs to get out there somehow. It's very well written, and meticulously well researched. Though because of that, I came away somewhat discouraged, as my Creative Nonfiction course wasn't going well, and I was convinced that I could never write anything of this quality.
DECEMBER
How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe, by Thomas Cahill (1995)
The first of his "Hinges of History" series, where he examines the pieces of history that fall through the cracks - like, what happened after the Roman empire fell apart, but before the Dark Ages took over? And how was the world's literature preserved, anyway? This was written very well.
Catnip for the Soul, by Woody and Friends, as told to Jane O'Boyle (1999)
This Chicken Soup parody is written by cats for cats, with entries on such enticing topics as the Cat's Bill of Rights, how to properly act during a party, good reasons for fighting, and chicken soup. Also lots of emphasis on the importance of sleep.
Strings Attached: One Tough Teacher and the Power of Great Expectations, by Joanne Lipman and Melanie Kupchynsky (2013)
Two childhood friends relive their memories of their excessively strict music teacher and what he taught them, along with chronicling life in East Brunswick, New Jersey, in the late 1970's/early 1980's.
Rhinoceros Success: The Secret to Charging Full Speed Ahead to Every Opportunity, by Scott Alexander (1980)
The favorite book of Bear Grylls, it's over-the-top and ridiculous, but in a very motivating way.
Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, by J.D. Vance (2016)
Given the rise of Trump's campaign over the summer, this was the summer's biggest book as analysts tried to understand his popularity. In this memoir, the author recounts his experiences growing up, and the culture of hillbillies in general, which makes up a large portion of the U.S. It all felt really familiar.
Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books, by Lynne Sharon Schwartz (1996)
This is a 119-page essay on what it means to love reading and the power stories can hold over us, especially as kids. It wasn't the best work of this type that I've ever read, but there were several passages that I'll probably copy down.
Cheaper by the Dozen, by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey (1948)
After growing up in a family of twelve kids in the early 20th century New Jersey, two of the siblings became authors, teaming up to write this memoir. It's fantastic, and I've read it so many times I've almost memorized it, as proved by how frequently Gilbreth concepts or ideas pop into my head at random times on a daily basis.
Friday, December 23, 2016
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
The Best of 2016
Recap post of the year's events, similar to the ones I've done in years past.
Best Blog -
Tim Chalies. Though Grammar Girl is also really good.
Best Country Song of the Year -
No question, it's this super-medley to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the CMA Awards. When it comes to actual songs released this year, there wasn't much good to pick from. But Jake Owen's less-than-creatively-titled "American Country Love Song" and Keith Urban's "Wasted Time" were both pretty good.
Best YouTube Channel -
Studio C wins, though Screen Junkies, makers of "Honest Trailers," is another good candidate.
Best Movie Seen in Theaters -
Captain America: Civil War, hands down. Ben-Hur was fine, as were Rogue One and The Force Awakens.
Best Netflix Documentary -
The Price of Gold, about the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan fiasco, was a really good one, and I Know That Voice! is my favorite documentary of all time, but both of those were pulled from Netflix this year. Grr. But Top Spin, following a quartet of teenagers trying to make the U.S. London 2012 Olympic table tennis team, was a great one.
Weirdest Skill Learned -
How to apply theater makeup, during prep week right before Tent City opened. I was able to do my own after one explanation from our makeup artist. Also, how to tie a ponytail correctly was another odd trick learned.
Best Blog -
Tim Chalies. Though Grammar Girl is also really good.
Best Country Song of the Year -
No question, it's this super-medley to honor the fiftieth anniversary of the CMA Awards. When it comes to actual songs released this year, there wasn't much good to pick from. But Jake Owen's less-than-creatively-titled "American Country Love Song" and Keith Urban's "Wasted Time" were both pretty good.
Best YouTube Channel -
Studio C wins, though Screen Junkies, makers of "Honest Trailers," is another good candidate.
Best Movie Seen in Theaters -
Captain America: Civil War, hands down. Ben-Hur was fine, as were Rogue One and The Force Awakens.
Best Netflix Documentary -
The Price of Gold, about the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan fiasco, was a really good one, and I Know That Voice! is my favorite documentary of all time, but both of those were pulled from Netflix this year. Grr. But Top Spin, following a quartet of teenagers trying to make the U.S. London 2012 Olympic table tennis team, was a great one.
Weirdest Skill Learned -
How to apply theater makeup, during prep week right before Tent City opened. I was able to do my own after one explanation from our makeup artist. Also, how to tie a ponytail correctly was another odd trick learned.
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Overheard in the Classroom Fall 2016
The third in the series of "Overheard in the Classroom" posts. From the Fall 2016 semester at Rogers State University. To see the 2015 edition and Spring 2016, click on the links.
8-15, Literature for Children and Young Adults -
"Chasing the ball is his goal in life," Dr. Dial-Driver says about her dog Max. There were lots of amusing soundbites and interesting discussions from this course, partly because of the material, and partly because five of the eight of us knew each other.
8-17, Children's Lit -
Things we as a class agreed should NOT be pickled, ever - eggs, pig's feet, watermelon. This came about because I mentioned John Tobias's wonderful poem "Reflections on the Gift of a Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend Called Felicity."
Dr. Dial-Driver's grandpa said swearing was "pasture talk," and that there were different rules for cussing depending on whether you were outside or inside. In the pasture, that was fine. Anywhere else? Probably not... His favorite adjective was "goddamnsonofabitch," all one continuous word. He also had a palomino named Honey who would help with cattle drives and make small Emily look good whenever she would "help out" with moving the cattle someplace. Honey the palomino LOVED Grandpa, and stole his hat whenever she could. She also liked to snack on peanut butter sandwiches.
Lewis Carroll coined the word "portmanteau," in his novel Through the Looking-Glass.
An "ichneumon" is a type of wasp. None of us had ever heard the term before coming across it in a poem by Alice and Martin Provensen. (Yep, the Maple Hill Farm people.)
8-17, Creative Nonfiction -
A story-scrap to remember based on one of Erin's rambling tales - as adults, strangers find out they're half-siblings.
8-18, Audio Production -
Apparently the Snow Patrol song "Chasing Cars" signals an impending death in Grey's Anatomy.
8-24, Children's Lit -
Children's lit is reckoned as beginning in 1744 with John Newbery's primer A Pretty Little Pocket Book. And Mary Wallstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, is considered the first feminist.
Jack Taylor is a British mystery TV series about a drunk detective. It sounds worth looking into.
Dr. Dial-Driver is telling stories about her grown son that half of us had heard a couple times at least. "My son went to Thailand and got a girlfriend. I don't know if those two things are connected..." "Your son sounds like the greatest person in the whole world," Trevor says. (He hadn't heard any of these stories.)
Dr. Dial-Driver also read a picture book out loud to us, Jon Sciezka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by A. Wolf.
8-25, Humanities Seminar -
Dr. Oberrieder, talking about my proposed capstone project of examining country music as a form of literature: "It's definitely the most unorthodox project this year..."
8-29, Children's Lit -
Today's random topics under discussion: Bewitched, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, versions of Little Red Riding Hood (the actual topic of the day), J.R.R. Tolkien's essay on fairy tales, Tom Clancy and submarines, Buddhism and the ethical quandary of trying to help homeless people.
8-31, Children's Lit -
Emily Arnold McCully wrote a picture book called Marvelous Mattie about the inventor of the paper bag.
8-31, Creative Nonfic -
Eric led a rabbit trail about the awfulness of monkeys raping and murdering each other, and Alex elaborately wondered why everyone hates the French military. Cole told a hilarious story about staying awake all night to kill a mouse in his bedroom. "Maybe it was a French mouse," Dr. Mackie comments.
9-7, Early American Lit -
Dr. Mackie kept cussing her violent case of hiccups. It was funny.
9-12, Children's Lit -
"Remember all those Stop, Drop and Roll safety drills they taught in school? When you're an adult, nobody catches on fire as often as you'd think," - Trevor.
Today's topics of general interest were the Interest as a new Wild West, "Shut up and go to sleep!" lullabies, and sobriety tests (one of which is saying the alphabet backwards, which we then had to try - and failed at.).
9-14, Children's Lit -
The play version of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, short stories from L. Frank Baum, Rudyard Kipling, E. Nesbit and one of Jon Sciezka's Time Warp Trio books. In miscellaneous topics, Lewis Carroll had good advice on writing letters well, and Japanese suicide forests.
9-14, Early American Lit -
"Dory," I say to a cheerleader named Taylor after she forgets something. She shrugs and grins, "It's true..." After a bit of silence, Dr. Mackie turns to me: "Did you just call her 'Dory'?" Loud snickering from classmates.
There was also a debate over what the word "propaganda" means.
9-19, Early American Lit -
Dr. Mackie is drinking her hot tea out of a Frozen mug. When I point out how oxymoronic this is, she chuckles. "Yeah, I totally hadn't connected that, but it really is...."
9-21, Early American Lit -
Class was canceled today because one of Dr. Mackie's cats died. It was a sad and somber day in the English Department.
9-21, Creative Nonfic -
"I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Eric!" - Dr. Mackie.
9-26, Children's Lit -
"My son is visiting Angkor Wat. He said it's very more expected than impressive. And very ruined," - Dr. Dial-Driver.
9-26, Creative Nonfic -
About Eric's essay, "The word count was 666. That seemed appropriate..." Cole said. (It WAS dark.)
"I don't really have critiques for this. More like....questions," Alex commented on Brandon's essay. (The rest of us grin and explain that it was a Brandon project - everyone feels that way after reading his stuff.)
9-28, Children's Lit -
"The trouble with moving is that you always take yourself with you," - Dr. Dial-Driver.
"At this one school I went to, there were twelve and a half white kids. I was the half," - Trevor.
Dr. Dial-Driver's family was too poor to afford stainless steel, so they used Mother's sterling silverware as their common eating utensils.
"My cats have this game they like to play called 'Gravity Works.' They just like to check every once in a while," - Dr. Dial-Driver.
9-29, Seminar -
Nancy kept mispronouncing Hotspur, from Henry IV, Part One, as "Hotstuff."
10-3, Creative Nonfic -
We all had a much harder time in this course that we expected. Critiques, especially, were awful, because we were all feeling so uncomfortable. That led to lots of awkward discussion during feedback sessions. After one particularly incomprehensible Sage essay, I wrote down in my notebook, "So much metaphor and abstractions! Swirly Riley Matthews." (Riley is Cory and Topanga's daughter, star of the sequel series Girl Meets World)
10-8, Children's Lit -
Today's random topics were bullying, domain/copyright issues, and first-aid horror stories.
10-10, Creative Nonfic -
"Your grandpa's my daddy's age," Debra says to Alex. "Oh. Well....that's interesting, I wasn't expecting to hear that..." was his flustered response.
10-12, Children's Lit -
We're studying Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess this week. "This little girl is SO DAMN ALTRUISTIC!" - Trevor, about Sara Crewe. We all liked Melchisidec the rat.
"I tried to kiss my mom goodbye, and her ugly dog Ginger tried to eat me through the car window!" - Dr. Dial-Driver.
Also under discussion: the merits of QuikTrip food.
10-12, Creative Nonfic -
I got some of the most scathing feedback I've ever received from my profile essay about Jessica's nursing-school experiences, which was too journalistic in tone and not "creative nonfictiony" enough. A sort of highlight is that what pissed everybody off so much was that I became invisible, and they wanted to see me telling them this story.
10-18, Audio -
"Music isn't divided into just rock and Mozart..." - Tyler.
Someone mentions the role of celebrities who do voiceovers for commercials, wonders what they think of them once they record their lines. "I think they're not sitting in a room analyzing production elements of the spot...." - Tip.
10-19, Children's Lit -
DD on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus: "Medea meets Hannibal Lecter."
Today's rabbit trails were about prescription drug abuse and cereal.
After Johanna gives recap of Twilight, a general discussion of other dreadful books is sparked. "There are very few books that I've started but never finished. Fifty Shades was one of them." - Dr. Dial-Driver.
10-19, Creative Nonfic -
"From Claremore to St. Louis, the Mulan soundtrack can play exactly 37 times," - Dr. Mackie.
10-24, Children's Lit -
This was a bad day for everyone. The book under discussion was Andre de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, which defies explanation, in a bad way. Rabbit trails were George Washington Carver, the Donner Party, cannibalism, a debate over the difference between "forest" vs "jungle" in a translation, and the cat parasite toxiplasmosis.
10-26, Children's Lit -
"Poets never grow up," - Dr. Gary Moeller, an art professor at RSU.
10-26, Early American Lit -
"I HATE MOST FORMS OF PRECIPITATION!" - Kelly yells.
10-26, Creative Nonfic -
In school orchestras, saxophones are substituted for violins.
10-28, Audio -
Classwide conversation while waiting on Tip to show up, we came to a general consensus that Next Generation is by far the best Star Trek TV show.
10-31, Creative Nonfic -
"I have an idea for a research paper, but it's starting to bore even me...." Debra frowns.
11-1, Audio -
"You'll need a lot of time at remotes," Tip pauses. "But I don't mean the herb."
11-2, Children's Lit -
Random Girl in Hallway to her friend - "Yeah, you smell like, um, barn mice."
Dr. Dial-Driver's little sister was once attacked by a bantam rooster.
The merits of wearing clothes repeatedly, the difficulty of wringing out denim by hand, a deep love of Wendell Berry-style farming were what was talked about today. Also, I led discussion of Charlotte's Web. And we agreed that pigs are weird and buffalo are scary.
11-7, Children's Lit -
The book this week was R.J. Palacio's Wonder, and rabbit trails were transgenderism, stories about Vinita's mentally-handicapped population and embarrassing things we said in public as kids.
11-7, Creative Nonfic -
Sparked by Cole's essay about a Dinseyland attraction called "The Haunted Mansion," we speculate what a version of Walt Disney in the 1700's would have looked like. Also lots of unsuccessful debate over the difference between creative nonfiction and historical fiction, because we didn't quite figure out an answer.
"I learn something new about about Hitler every day in this class!" - Sage.
11-9, Creative Nonfic -
"The first thing I did today was post a picture of a kitty on Facebook." - Debra. Considering that it was the day after the presidential election, the world needed all the cat pictures to calm down.
"I melted a hamburger on the grill last summer," Eric mentions.
We all love Bob Ross the spacey painter, but agree that as wonderful as Mr. Rogers was, his puppets from the Land of Make-Believe segments were terrifying.
11-10, Seminar -
"Ducks are rapists!" - Jeff. This started a surprisingly long and detailed rabbit trail about duck genitalia, with six or seven people (out of fifteen) participating. I think this conversation says more about how much we all hated this course (and the instructor) than anything else, but it certainly stood out.
11-14, Children's Lit -
We all wished to kill Sutter Keely, protagonist/narrator of The Spectacular Now, by Tim Tharp. Once we finished complaining about how much we disliked this book (while at the same time recognizing that it was important to read), the discussion turned into an exploration of what makes a good marriage.
"Everyone's connected with technology - at arm's length" - Anonymous.
"They always remember, children do. They're like elephants." - Dr. Dial-Driver.
11-14, Creative Nonfic -
Baylee wrote about sharks, so naturally most of us wished Lauren were part of this class so she could critique it thoroughly and excitedly. (She LOVES sharks.) Mainly, this essay needed to be more persuasive, so somebody suggested the following theme to build around: "Don't Fuck Around With Sharks!" That is persuasive.
No one understood what Sage's essay on minimalism in interior design was trying to say, because of her natural ethereal writing style and the unusual structure she used here. We all hated it. "I AM NOT A CLEANING LADY!" Eric screams. "What the heck did I just read?" Alex wonders. Cole thought it might work sort of like Inside Out.
11-16, Children's Lit -
Today we listened to heartbreaking stories about Dr. Dial-Driver's time as a social worker. "If you don't know you have a choice, then you don't have a choice."
We also love The Breakfast Club.
11-16, Creative Nonfic -
Debra apologizes for her "train wreck"' of an essay. "If this is a train wreck, then it's the most organized train wreck I've ever seen," Sage replies.
11-17, Audio -
"Today's lesson: Facebook stalking media professionals..." Tip mutters to himself. We were supposed to have a guest speaker come in and lecture, but the guest speaker had forgotten he'd agreed to talk, and so he never showed up. Pre-class movie conversations dealt with the Pirates of the Caribbean and Planet of the Apes franchises.
11-22, Audio -
"Oh, he's early! It's 1:02!" Tyler says about Archer (who was usually fifteen minutes late every day).
11-30, Children's Lit -
"Y'all can at least write your way out of a paper bag with a sharp pencil. My other class can't." - Dr. Dial-Driver.
I can't remember if this was supposed to have really happened or if it was just a story-scrap idea, but a high-school aged guy starts dating a nurse who is taking care of a girl in a coma, who was kicked in the head by a horse.
8-15, Literature for Children and Young Adults -
"Chasing the ball is his goal in life," Dr. Dial-Driver says about her dog Max. There were lots of amusing soundbites and interesting discussions from this course, partly because of the material, and partly because five of the eight of us knew each other.
8-17, Children's Lit -
Things we as a class agreed should NOT be pickled, ever - eggs, pig's feet, watermelon. This came about because I mentioned John Tobias's wonderful poem "Reflections on the Gift of a Watermelon Pickle Received from a Friend Called Felicity."
Dr. Dial-Driver's grandpa said swearing was "pasture talk," and that there were different rules for cussing depending on whether you were outside or inside. In the pasture, that was fine. Anywhere else? Probably not... His favorite adjective was "goddamnsonofabitch," all one continuous word. He also had a palomino named Honey who would help with cattle drives and make small Emily look good whenever she would "help out" with moving the cattle someplace. Honey the palomino LOVED Grandpa, and stole his hat whenever she could. She also liked to snack on peanut butter sandwiches.
Lewis Carroll coined the word "portmanteau," in his novel Through the Looking-Glass.
An "ichneumon" is a type of wasp. None of us had ever heard the term before coming across it in a poem by Alice and Martin Provensen. (Yep, the Maple Hill Farm people.)
8-17, Creative Nonfiction -
A story-scrap to remember based on one of Erin's rambling tales - as adults, strangers find out they're half-siblings.
8-18, Audio Production -
Apparently the Snow Patrol song "Chasing Cars" signals an impending death in Grey's Anatomy.
8-24, Children's Lit -
Children's lit is reckoned as beginning in 1744 with John Newbery's primer A Pretty Little Pocket Book. And Mary Wallstonecraft, mother of Mary Shelley, is considered the first feminist.
Jack Taylor is a British mystery TV series about a drunk detective. It sounds worth looking into.
Dr. Dial-Driver is telling stories about her grown son that half of us had heard a couple times at least. "My son went to Thailand and got a girlfriend. I don't know if those two things are connected..." "Your son sounds like the greatest person in the whole world," Trevor says. (He hadn't heard any of these stories.)
Dr. Dial-Driver also read a picture book out loud to us, Jon Sciezka's The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by A. Wolf.
8-25, Humanities Seminar -
Dr. Oberrieder, talking about my proposed capstone project of examining country music as a form of literature: "It's definitely the most unorthodox project this year..."
8-29, Children's Lit -
Today's random topics under discussion: Bewitched, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, versions of Little Red Riding Hood (the actual topic of the day), J.R.R. Tolkien's essay on fairy tales, Tom Clancy and submarines, Buddhism and the ethical quandary of trying to help homeless people.
8-31, Children's Lit -
Emily Arnold McCully wrote a picture book called Marvelous Mattie about the inventor of the paper bag.
8-31, Creative Nonfic -
Eric led a rabbit trail about the awfulness of monkeys raping and murdering each other, and Alex elaborately wondered why everyone hates the French military. Cole told a hilarious story about staying awake all night to kill a mouse in his bedroom. "Maybe it was a French mouse," Dr. Mackie comments.
9-7, Early American Lit -
Dr. Mackie kept cussing her violent case of hiccups. It was funny.
9-12, Children's Lit -
"Remember all those Stop, Drop and Roll safety drills they taught in school? When you're an adult, nobody catches on fire as often as you'd think," - Trevor.
Today's topics of general interest were the Interest as a new Wild West, "Shut up and go to sleep!" lullabies, and sobriety tests (one of which is saying the alphabet backwards, which we then had to try - and failed at.).
9-14, Children's Lit -
The play version of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, short stories from L. Frank Baum, Rudyard Kipling, E. Nesbit and one of Jon Sciezka's Time Warp Trio books. In miscellaneous topics, Lewis Carroll had good advice on writing letters well, and Japanese suicide forests.
9-14, Early American Lit -
"Dory," I say to a cheerleader named Taylor after she forgets something. She shrugs and grins, "It's true..." After a bit of silence, Dr. Mackie turns to me: "Did you just call her 'Dory'?" Loud snickering from classmates.
There was also a debate over what the word "propaganda" means.
9-19, Early American Lit -
Dr. Mackie is drinking her hot tea out of a Frozen mug. When I point out how oxymoronic this is, she chuckles. "Yeah, I totally hadn't connected that, but it really is...."
9-21, Early American Lit -
Class was canceled today because one of Dr. Mackie's cats died. It was a sad and somber day in the English Department.
9-21, Creative Nonfic -
"I never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Eric!" - Dr. Mackie.
9-26, Children's Lit -
"My son is visiting Angkor Wat. He said it's very more expected than impressive. And very ruined," - Dr. Dial-Driver.
9-26, Creative Nonfic -
About Eric's essay, "The word count was 666. That seemed appropriate..." Cole said. (It WAS dark.)
"I don't really have critiques for this. More like....questions," Alex commented on Brandon's essay. (The rest of us grin and explain that it was a Brandon project - everyone feels that way after reading his stuff.)
9-28, Children's Lit -
"The trouble with moving is that you always take yourself with you," - Dr. Dial-Driver.
"At this one school I went to, there were twelve and a half white kids. I was the half," - Trevor.
Dr. Dial-Driver's family was too poor to afford stainless steel, so they used Mother's sterling silverware as their common eating utensils.
"My cats have this game they like to play called 'Gravity Works.' They just like to check every once in a while," - Dr. Dial-Driver.
9-29, Seminar -
Nancy kept mispronouncing Hotspur, from Henry IV, Part One, as "Hotstuff."
10-3, Creative Nonfic -
We all had a much harder time in this course that we expected. Critiques, especially, were awful, because we were all feeling so uncomfortable. That led to lots of awkward discussion during feedback sessions. After one particularly incomprehensible Sage essay, I wrote down in my notebook, "So much metaphor and abstractions! Swirly Riley Matthews." (Riley is Cory and Topanga's daughter, star of the sequel series Girl Meets World)
10-8, Children's Lit -
Today's random topics were bullying, domain/copyright issues, and first-aid horror stories.
10-10, Creative Nonfic -
"Your grandpa's my daddy's age," Debra says to Alex. "Oh. Well....that's interesting, I wasn't expecting to hear that..." was his flustered response.
10-12, Children's Lit -
We're studying Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess this week. "This little girl is SO DAMN ALTRUISTIC!" - Trevor, about Sara Crewe. We all liked Melchisidec the rat.
"I tried to kiss my mom goodbye, and her ugly dog Ginger tried to eat me through the car window!" - Dr. Dial-Driver.
Also under discussion: the merits of QuikTrip food.
10-12, Creative Nonfic -
I got some of the most scathing feedback I've ever received from my profile essay about Jessica's nursing-school experiences, which was too journalistic in tone and not "creative nonfictiony" enough. A sort of highlight is that what pissed everybody off so much was that I became invisible, and they wanted to see me telling them this story.
10-18, Audio -
"Music isn't divided into just rock and Mozart..." - Tyler.
Someone mentions the role of celebrities who do voiceovers for commercials, wonders what they think of them once they record their lines. "I think they're not sitting in a room analyzing production elements of the spot...." - Tip.
10-19, Children's Lit -
DD on Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus: "Medea meets Hannibal Lecter."
Today's rabbit trails were about prescription drug abuse and cereal.
After Johanna gives recap of Twilight, a general discussion of other dreadful books is sparked. "There are very few books that I've started but never finished. Fifty Shades was one of them." - Dr. Dial-Driver.
10-19, Creative Nonfic -
"From Claremore to St. Louis, the Mulan soundtrack can play exactly 37 times," - Dr. Mackie.
10-24, Children's Lit -
This was a bad day for everyone. The book under discussion was Andre de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince, which defies explanation, in a bad way. Rabbit trails were George Washington Carver, the Donner Party, cannibalism, a debate over the difference between "forest" vs "jungle" in a translation, and the cat parasite toxiplasmosis.
10-26, Children's Lit -
"Poets never grow up," - Dr. Gary Moeller, an art professor at RSU.
10-26, Early American Lit -
"I HATE MOST FORMS OF PRECIPITATION!" - Kelly yells.
10-26, Creative Nonfic -
In school orchestras, saxophones are substituted for violins.
10-28, Audio -
Classwide conversation while waiting on Tip to show up, we came to a general consensus that Next Generation is by far the best Star Trek TV show.
10-31, Creative Nonfic -
"I have an idea for a research paper, but it's starting to bore even me...." Debra frowns.
11-1, Audio -
"You'll need a lot of time at remotes," Tip pauses. "But I don't mean the herb."
11-2, Children's Lit -
Random Girl in Hallway to her friend - "Yeah, you smell like, um, barn mice."
Dr. Dial-Driver's little sister was once attacked by a bantam rooster.
The merits of wearing clothes repeatedly, the difficulty of wringing out denim by hand, a deep love of Wendell Berry-style farming were what was talked about today. Also, I led discussion of Charlotte's Web. And we agreed that pigs are weird and buffalo are scary.
11-7, Children's Lit -
The book this week was R.J. Palacio's Wonder, and rabbit trails were transgenderism, stories about Vinita's mentally-handicapped population and embarrassing things we said in public as kids.
11-7, Creative Nonfic -
Sparked by Cole's essay about a Dinseyland attraction called "The Haunted Mansion," we speculate what a version of Walt Disney in the 1700's would have looked like. Also lots of unsuccessful debate over the difference between creative nonfiction and historical fiction, because we didn't quite figure out an answer.
"I learn something new about about Hitler every day in this class!" - Sage.
11-9, Creative Nonfic -
"The first thing I did today was post a picture of a kitty on Facebook." - Debra. Considering that it was the day after the presidential election, the world needed all the cat pictures to calm down.
"I melted a hamburger on the grill last summer," Eric mentions.
We all love Bob Ross the spacey painter, but agree that as wonderful as Mr. Rogers was, his puppets from the Land of Make-Believe segments were terrifying.
11-10, Seminar -
"Ducks are rapists!" - Jeff. This started a surprisingly long and detailed rabbit trail about duck genitalia, with six or seven people (out of fifteen) participating. I think this conversation says more about how much we all hated this course (and the instructor) than anything else, but it certainly stood out.
11-14, Children's Lit -
We all wished to kill Sutter Keely, protagonist/narrator of The Spectacular Now, by Tim Tharp. Once we finished complaining about how much we disliked this book (while at the same time recognizing that it was important to read), the discussion turned into an exploration of what makes a good marriage.
"Everyone's connected with technology - at arm's length" - Anonymous.
"They always remember, children do. They're like elephants." - Dr. Dial-Driver.
11-14, Creative Nonfic -
Baylee wrote about sharks, so naturally most of us wished Lauren were part of this class so she could critique it thoroughly and excitedly. (She LOVES sharks.) Mainly, this essay needed to be more persuasive, so somebody suggested the following theme to build around: "Don't Fuck Around With Sharks!" That is persuasive.
No one understood what Sage's essay on minimalism in interior design was trying to say, because of her natural ethereal writing style and the unusual structure she used here. We all hated it. "I AM NOT A CLEANING LADY!" Eric screams. "What the heck did I just read?" Alex wonders. Cole thought it might work sort of like Inside Out.
11-16, Children's Lit -
Today we listened to heartbreaking stories about Dr. Dial-Driver's time as a social worker. "If you don't know you have a choice, then you don't have a choice."
We also love The Breakfast Club.
11-16, Creative Nonfic -
Debra apologizes for her "train wreck"' of an essay. "If this is a train wreck, then it's the most organized train wreck I've ever seen," Sage replies.
11-17, Audio -
"Today's lesson: Facebook stalking media professionals..." Tip mutters to himself. We were supposed to have a guest speaker come in and lecture, but the guest speaker had forgotten he'd agreed to talk, and so he never showed up. Pre-class movie conversations dealt with the Pirates of the Caribbean and Planet of the Apes franchises.
11-22, Audio -
"Oh, he's early! It's 1:02!" Tyler says about Archer (who was usually fifteen minutes late every day).
11-30, Children's Lit -
"Y'all can at least write your way out of a paper bag with a sharp pencil. My other class can't." - Dr. Dial-Driver.
I can't remember if this was supposed to have really happened or if it was just a story-scrap idea, but a high-school aged guy starts dating a nurse who is taking care of a girl in a coma, who was kicked in the head by a horse.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
School-Related Reading of Fall Semester
As an English major, there are a lot of books you have to read. Sometimes that's good. Sometimes it isn't. This is a listing of all the schoolbooks I read cover-to-cover, not counting the ones I skimmed through or essays/articles read. Point is there was a lot more informational reading than just what's listed here.
Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck (1962)
Travels with Charley: In Search of America, by John Steinbeck (1962)
Steinbeck just travels around the country for three months with his elderly poodle, recording his observations of what he found along the way. It's really good, thus adding another listing to my "novelists I dislike, but love their nonfiction work" along with Stephen King, Anne LaMotte and others. For Creative Nonfiction.
Summer Reading Is Killing Me!, by Jon Sciezka (1998)
One of his series of Time Warp Trio books, in this one he sends his characters into a world populated entirely by book characters. Things go haywire, which is what happens when you have sentences like "I saw Dracula putting Winnie-the-Pooh in a headlock." I wanted to like this, but I just couldn't quite do it. For Children's Lit.
Alcibiades I, by Plato (390s BC)
Socrates is trying to instruct a younger man named Alcibiades. For our Humanities Seminar pre-capstone course.
The Symposium, by Plato (385-370 BC)
Basically a bunch of drunk Greeks are celebrating their friend the Dionysian-winning playwright, by debating all night in long-winded speeches on the topic of what love is....and we hear this third- or fourth-hand. For Seminar.
The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes (1944)
A young immigrant girl is bullied by her classmates, and this leads to her family moving away. Only then do her schoolmates realize the talent Wanda had for drawing. For Children's Lit.
Henry IV, Part One, by William Shakespeare (1597)
Probably his most famous history. It would make for a good modern adaptation. For Seminar.
Edgar Huntly: or, Memoirs of a Sleep-walker, by Charles Brockden Brown (1799)
This might have been the first American novel. Mostly, a bored gentleman stumbles around in the forest after sleepwalking. There is also a random and exceedingly vicious turn into Indian slaying, which is somehow the best part of the novel by far. For Early American Lit.
A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgeson Burnett (1905)
I really enjoyed this way more than I expected. A little girl acts very good, despite a string of terrible living conditions. For Children's Lit.
Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White (1952)
The classic tale of how a spider saves a young pig's life. It says a ton bout writing, about life, about friendship. It's a masterpiece. Which is part of the reason I wrote an essay on it this semester. For Children's Lit.
Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer (2009)
A vegan explores all the processing that goes into the meat consumed in the country from raising to slaughtering. Very well researched, but the organization is cluttered, which weakens his arguments a good deal. For Creative Nonfiction.
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943)
I don't understand French literature, but this seemed like a primer on nihilism. And it's the most popular French work ever. For Children's Lit.
Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women, by Cornelia Meigs (1933)
While this was a Newbery Award winner, as a biography it's horrible. But I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt by saying that the excessively-cheerful and preachy tone was due to being written in the Great Depression. For research on an Early American Lit essay.
Billy Budd, Sailor, by Herman Melville (1924)
First off, it's a ship novel. We don't understand maritime life, living in landlocked Oklahoma. Secondly, it was written by Melville, who can make Dickens's prose look appealing. An unbearably naive sailor gets on the bad side of an officer, finally punches and accidentally murders him, and thus he is hanged. The narrator has heard this story through several other people, and the facts happened roughly seventy years ago. And it felt like everyone in this novel was gay, which didn't help. For Early American Lit.
Wonder, by R.J. Palacio (2012)
This was a vaguely-yet-deeply-offensive novel about a boy with special needs. I can't figure out what I hated so much about it, but there is some core issue that was warped somehow into a disturbing final product. There was too much multiple narration, for one thing, although I loved the sister's voice. For Children's Lit.
The Spectacular Now, by Tim Tharp (2008)
This takes place in the Oklahoma City area, probably Moore, somewhere between 2006-08. Our narrator is an appallingly irritating alcoholic loser coasting through senioritis by taking on the project of transforming a geeky, hard-working papergirl into a wild child. And he succeeds. They're going to move to St. Louis and start their lives over there. And then he indirectly breaks her arm, and he vanishes from her life while wallowing in self-pity. It's dreadful.
The author never gives clear concrete details about basic facts, either. The dialogue doesn't feel realistic, and everything is far too urban for me to relate to. There is an extremely subtle shoutout to RSU, which I thought was kind of funny, as the author is a professor at some community college around OKC. For Children's Lit.
Emma, by Jane Austen (1813)
Long-winded rich people in England gossip about other folks in their small town. All the other normal Austen things happen - misunderstandings, sicknesses, mawwiage - but except for Emma herself, and possibly Mr. Knightley, I hated every single other character. And I don't think we're even supposed to like Emma Woodhouse; she's selfish and manipulative, and never thinks of anyone else's feelings, but somehow I still liked her. This is not one of Jane Austen's best books, so I was very disappointed. Still, it was better than a lot of other things I plowed through this semester. For Seminar.
Just watch Clueless instead. You'll get the most important parts of the story, lots of 90's slang and Bobby Newport.
The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate (2012)
This won the Newbery Award, and it deserved it. Through his paintings, a lonesome 27-year-old gorilla named Ivan masterminds the closure of a circus and moves himself and the baby elephant he takes care of to a zoo. It would make an amazing audiobook; my favorite character was Bob the snarky stray dog, who is Ivan's best friend. It's for the dreamers who understand Garth's song "The River," but more generally, it's about hope and the importance of storytelling. For Children's Lit.
Summer Reading Is Killing Me!, by Jon Sciezka (1998)
One of his series of Time Warp Trio books, in this one he sends his characters into a world populated entirely by book characters. Things go haywire, which is what happens when you have sentences like "I saw Dracula putting Winnie-the-Pooh in a headlock." I wanted to like this, but I just couldn't quite do it. For Children's Lit.
Alcibiades I, by Plato (390s BC)
Socrates is trying to instruct a younger man named Alcibiades. For our Humanities Seminar pre-capstone course.
The Symposium, by Plato (385-370 BC)
Basically a bunch of drunk Greeks are celebrating their friend the Dionysian-winning playwright, by debating all night in long-winded speeches on the topic of what love is....and we hear this third- or fourth-hand. For Seminar.
The Hundred Dresses, by Eleanor Estes (1944)
A young immigrant girl is bullied by her classmates, and this leads to her family moving away. Only then do her schoolmates realize the talent Wanda had for drawing. For Children's Lit.
Henry IV, Part One, by William Shakespeare (1597)
Probably his most famous history. It would make for a good modern adaptation. For Seminar.
Edgar Huntly: or, Memoirs of a Sleep-walker, by Charles Brockden Brown (1799)
This might have been the first American novel. Mostly, a bored gentleman stumbles around in the forest after sleepwalking. There is also a random and exceedingly vicious turn into Indian slaying, which is somehow the best part of the novel by far. For Early American Lit.
A Little Princess, by Frances Hodgeson Burnett (1905)
I really enjoyed this way more than I expected. A little girl acts very good, despite a string of terrible living conditions. For Children's Lit.
Charlotte's Web, by E.B. White (1952)
The classic tale of how a spider saves a young pig's life. It says a ton bout writing, about life, about friendship. It's a masterpiece. Which is part of the reason I wrote an essay on it this semester. For Children's Lit.
Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer (2009)
A vegan explores all the processing that goes into the meat consumed in the country from raising to slaughtering. Very well researched, but the organization is cluttered, which weakens his arguments a good deal. For Creative Nonfiction.
The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1943)
I don't understand French literature, but this seemed like a primer on nihilism. And it's the most popular French work ever. For Children's Lit.
Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women, by Cornelia Meigs (1933)
While this was a Newbery Award winner, as a biography it's horrible. But I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt by saying that the excessively-cheerful and preachy tone was due to being written in the Great Depression. For research on an Early American Lit essay.
Billy Budd, Sailor, by Herman Melville (1924)
First off, it's a ship novel. We don't understand maritime life, living in landlocked Oklahoma. Secondly, it was written by Melville, who can make Dickens's prose look appealing. An unbearably naive sailor gets on the bad side of an officer, finally punches and accidentally murders him, and thus he is hanged. The narrator has heard this story through several other people, and the facts happened roughly seventy years ago. And it felt like everyone in this novel was gay, which didn't help. For Early American Lit.
Wonder, by R.J. Palacio (2012)
This was a vaguely-yet-deeply-offensive novel about a boy with special needs. I can't figure out what I hated so much about it, but there is some core issue that was warped somehow into a disturbing final product. There was too much multiple narration, for one thing, although I loved the sister's voice. For Children's Lit.
The Spectacular Now, by Tim Tharp (2008)
This takes place in the Oklahoma City area, probably Moore, somewhere between 2006-08. Our narrator is an appallingly irritating alcoholic loser coasting through senioritis by taking on the project of transforming a geeky, hard-working papergirl into a wild child. And he succeeds. They're going to move to St. Louis and start their lives over there. And then he indirectly breaks her arm, and he vanishes from her life while wallowing in self-pity. It's dreadful.
The author never gives clear concrete details about basic facts, either. The dialogue doesn't feel realistic, and everything is far too urban for me to relate to. There is an extremely subtle shoutout to RSU, which I thought was kind of funny, as the author is a professor at some community college around OKC. For Children's Lit.
Emma, by Jane Austen (1813)
Long-winded rich people in England gossip about other folks in their small town. All the other normal Austen things happen - misunderstandings, sicknesses, mawwiage - but except for Emma herself, and possibly Mr. Knightley, I hated every single other character. And I don't think we're even supposed to like Emma Woodhouse; she's selfish and manipulative, and never thinks of anyone else's feelings, but somehow I still liked her. This is not one of Jane Austen's best books, so I was very disappointed. Still, it was better than a lot of other things I plowed through this semester. For Seminar.
Just watch Clueless instead. You'll get the most important parts of the story, lots of 90's slang and Bobby Newport.
The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate (2012)
This won the Newbery Award, and it deserved it. Through his paintings, a lonesome 27-year-old gorilla named Ivan masterminds the closure of a circus and moves himself and the baby elephant he takes care of to a zoo. It would make an amazing audiobook; my favorite character was Bob the snarky stray dog, who is Ivan's best friend. It's for the dreamers who understand Garth's song "The River," but more generally, it's about hope and the importance of storytelling. For Children's Lit.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
2016 CMA Awards
To begin with, this was the fiftieth edition of the Country Music Association Awards. So there was a massive music video medley paying WONDERFUL tribute to hits of the past:
That opening, once the show finally started, was terrific.
Brad and Carrie's "News of the Year" was hilarious. Especially the Political Medley.
The Final Five looked uncomfortable presenting the Single of the Year. Well, Madison Kocian always looks nervous anywhere. Not a huge fan of Thomas Rhett or his song "Die A Happy Man," but it's okay.
Not much a fan of Kelsea Ballerini or her song "Lost Boy."
Didn't know that Olivia Newton-John got her start in country music, or that she was the 1974 Female Vocalist of the Year. "Humble and Kind" wins Song of the Year (which goes to the songwriters.)
Brooks and Dunn reuniting to do their "Brand New Man" with Jason Aldean was AWESOME.
I either love or hate most of Dierks Bentley's music, and while "Different for Girls" isn't awful, it's not great, either. And hate that girl Elle King's voice that he sings it with. Cool that she plays banjo, though.
Don't like Maren Morris's song "My Church," but she has a good voice. That guitar is extremely white, though....and really large.
Jennifer Garner makes a very good presenter at something like this. Maren Morris wins the Horizon Award (New Artist of the Year).
GARTH AND TRISHA!!!!!! They did a medley duet of famous songs throughout history, including Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn's "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man." It was great.
Not sure what Carrie's costume was supposed to be during "Dirty Laundry," but it was a cool set.
Album of the Year is Eric Church's "Mr. Misunderstood."
Little Big Town's "Better Man" is a good song. And it's awesome that it was written by Taylor Swift.
Miranda did well with her performance of "Vice."
Tim did a great job with "Humble and Kind."
Brad and his pals the Oak Ridge Boys jamming "Elvira" together, haha...
Alan Jackson and "Remember When"! And George Strait with "Troubadour."
Never heard of the Brothers Osborne, but I guess that's some Disney synergy in getting ESPN people Kirk Herbstreit and Samantha Ponder to announce the Vocal Duo of the Year.
Keith is awesome, but "Blue Ain't Your Color" is extremely boring.
Little Big Town beats out Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum and the Zac Brown Band, plus a new group called Old Dominion, for Vocal Group of the Year.
Uh....what is Beyonce doing here?
Kenny Chesney becomes only the third person to win the Pinnacle Award, after Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift.
Thomas Rhett is using the same guitar as Maren Morris. Also, "Die a Happy Man" is better than the song he did last year.
Chris Stapleton and Dwight Yoakam doing a Ray Charles cover was cool.
Luke Bryan wasn't awful, but that was an odd scheduling choice.
Lee Greenwood sighting!
The short-haired Florida Georgia Line guy is also playing the white oversize guitar. This song "May We All" is good for them, though. And Tim McGraw helping out doesn't hurt, either.
Carrie wins Female Artist of the Year! "And I....I....I've just suddenly become so stupid right now....Thank you all so much!" Miranda would've been a good choice, too. Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini were the other nominees. Vince Gill is cool and all, but why didn't a woman like Dolly or Reba announce this category?
Dann Huff wins Musician of the Year.
Not my favorite-ever Eric Church performance, but it was good. Just forgettable, is all.
Jennifer Nettles and Pentatonix with "Jolene", Reba with "9 To 5," Kacey Musgraves with "Here You Come Again," and then Carrie and Martina "I Will Always Love You" Reba - "Gosh dang it, Dolly, we love your better than Christmas." Dolly - "I had a big speech prepared, but they won't let me give it! They're tellin' me to hurry up, but how can you hurry up a lifetime? So thank y'all so very much."
Chris Stapleton wins Male Vocalist of the Year over Keith Urban, Eric Church, Tim McGraw and Dierks Bentley.
Taylor is the presenter of the Entertainer of the Year! And Carrie, Keith and Garth are all nominees, along with Chris Stapleton and Luke Bryan. And.....GARTH WINS!!!!!
Brad and Carrie's "News of the Year" was hilarious. Especially the Political Medley.
The Final Five looked uncomfortable presenting the Single of the Year. Well, Madison Kocian always looks nervous anywhere. Not a huge fan of Thomas Rhett or his song "Die A Happy Man," but it's okay.
Not much a fan of Kelsea Ballerini or her song "Lost Boy."
Didn't know that Olivia Newton-John got her start in country music, or that she was the 1974 Female Vocalist of the Year. "Humble and Kind" wins Song of the Year (which goes to the songwriters.)
Brooks and Dunn reuniting to do their "Brand New Man" with Jason Aldean was AWESOME.
I either love or hate most of Dierks Bentley's music, and while "Different for Girls" isn't awful, it's not great, either. And hate that girl Elle King's voice that he sings it with. Cool that she plays banjo, though.
Don't like Maren Morris's song "My Church," but she has a good voice. That guitar is extremely white, though....and really large.
Jennifer Garner makes a very good presenter at something like this. Maren Morris wins the Horizon Award (New Artist of the Year).
GARTH AND TRISHA!!!!!! They did a medley duet of famous songs throughout history, including Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn's "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man." It was great.
Not sure what Carrie's costume was supposed to be during "Dirty Laundry," but it was a cool set.
Album of the Year is Eric Church's "Mr. Misunderstood."
Little Big Town's "Better Man" is a good song. And it's awesome that it was written by Taylor Swift.
Miranda did well with her performance of "Vice."
Tim did a great job with "Humble and Kind."
Brad and his pals the Oak Ridge Boys jamming "Elvira" together, haha...
Alan Jackson and "Remember When"! And George Strait with "Troubadour."
Never heard of the Brothers Osborne, but I guess that's some Disney synergy in getting ESPN people Kirk Herbstreit and Samantha Ponder to announce the Vocal Duo of the Year.
Keith is awesome, but "Blue Ain't Your Color" is extremely boring.
Little Big Town beats out Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum and the Zac Brown Band, plus a new group called Old Dominion, for Vocal Group of the Year.
Uh....what is Beyonce doing here?
Kenny Chesney becomes only the third person to win the Pinnacle Award, after Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift.
Thomas Rhett is using the same guitar as Maren Morris. Also, "Die a Happy Man" is better than the song he did last year.
Chris Stapleton and Dwight Yoakam doing a Ray Charles cover was cool.
Luke Bryan wasn't awful, but that was an odd scheduling choice.
Lee Greenwood sighting!
The short-haired Florida Georgia Line guy is also playing the white oversize guitar. This song "May We All" is good for them, though. And Tim McGraw helping out doesn't hurt, either.
Carrie wins Female Artist of the Year! "And I....I....I've just suddenly become so stupid right now....Thank you all so much!" Miranda would've been a good choice, too. Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris and Kelsea Ballerini were the other nominees. Vince Gill is cool and all, but why didn't a woman like Dolly or Reba announce this category?
Dann Huff wins Musician of the Year.
Not my favorite-ever Eric Church performance, but it was good. Just forgettable, is all.
Jennifer Nettles and Pentatonix with "Jolene", Reba with "9 To 5," Kacey Musgraves with "Here You Come Again," and then Carrie and Martina "I Will Always Love You" Reba - "Gosh dang it, Dolly, we love your better than Christmas." Dolly - "I had a big speech prepared, but they won't let me give it! They're tellin' me to hurry up, but how can you hurry up a lifetime? So thank y'all so very much."
Chris Stapleton wins Male Vocalist of the Year over Keith Urban, Eric Church, Tim McGraw and Dierks Bentley.
Taylor is the presenter of the Entertainer of the Year! And Carrie, Keith and Garth are all nominees, along with Chris Stapleton and Luke Bryan. And.....GARTH WINS!!!!!
Sunday, October 23, 2016
Fall Break
Fall break was this week, which was kind of nice. It was Courtney's birthday on Friday, so we went hiking at Turkey Mountain with Mom and Caleb. That was fun, and it was a beautiful day. Even the Arkansas River looked pretty, somehow.
Homework for this week will be lighter than usual, I think. The last couple weeks have been incredibly hectic. I'll be presenting my capstone proposal Friday morning, which sounds a little daunting, but it hopefully won't be too bad. If it gets accepted, I'll be trying to prove the literary merit of country music lyrics, and why it ought to be considered a form of literature.
The post-Durant era of Thunder basketball begins Wednesday night, so it'll be another season full of intense roller-coastery emotions. The World Series also starts Tuesday, and it'll make history, however it ends up. The Cubs haven't won the Series since 1908, and the Indians haven't won it since 1948. They were last here in 1997, losing to the Florida Marlins in Game 7. (I remember watching this game; I was four. Bob Costas is still who I want to be when I grow up.) The last time the Cubs were in the World Series, it was 1945, and the Japanese had finally surrendered.
While it would have been cooler if it had happened last year (since the Cubs won the 2015 Series over Miami, according to Back To The Future Part II), one year off isn't bad. And the Indians were in serious jeopardy of moving to Miami in Major League, so that connection almost holds up. As a Cardinals fan, I just can't quite bring myself to cheer for the Cubs, so I'll be pulling for the Indians to win. (Besides, if Elizabeth and I ever agreed on a sports-related topic outside of the Thunder, the world might explode.)
The BCM state volleyball tournament is this weekend, either at UCO in Edmond or in Shawnee at OBU. Hoping the NSU teams will do well.
There was a country-themed dance held on campus Tuesday, and I dropped by that for a bit. It was kind of fun - I sort of picked up how to line dance, finally. It's not the same as a square dance, obviously, but it was still enjoyable.
November is coming up soon, and that means time (officially) to begin working on a new NaNoWriMo project. I think I'll try again this year.
Homework for this week will be lighter than usual, I think. The last couple weeks have been incredibly hectic. I'll be presenting my capstone proposal Friday morning, which sounds a little daunting, but it hopefully won't be too bad. If it gets accepted, I'll be trying to prove the literary merit of country music lyrics, and why it ought to be considered a form of literature.
The post-Durant era of Thunder basketball begins Wednesday night, so it'll be another season full of intense roller-coastery emotions. The World Series also starts Tuesday, and it'll make history, however it ends up. The Cubs haven't won the Series since 1908, and the Indians haven't won it since 1948. They were last here in 1997, losing to the Florida Marlins in Game 7. (I remember watching this game; I was four. Bob Costas is still who I want to be when I grow up.) The last time the Cubs were in the World Series, it was 1945, and the Japanese had finally surrendered.
While it would have been cooler if it had happened last year (since the Cubs won the 2015 Series over Miami, according to Back To The Future Part II), one year off isn't bad. And the Indians were in serious jeopardy of moving to Miami in Major League, so that connection almost holds up. As a Cardinals fan, I just can't quite bring myself to cheer for the Cubs, so I'll be pulling for the Indians to win. (Besides, if Elizabeth and I ever agreed on a sports-related topic outside of the Thunder, the world might explode.)
The BCM state volleyball tournament is this weekend, either at UCO in Edmond or in Shawnee at OBU. Hoping the NSU teams will do well.
There was a country-themed dance held on campus Tuesday, and I dropped by that for a bit. It was kind of fun - I sort of picked up how to line dance, finally. It's not the same as a square dance, obviously, but it was still enjoyable.
November is coming up soon, and that means time (officially) to begin working on a new NaNoWriMo project. I think I'll try again this year.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Welcome, Fall
It's a Friday night, which means I'm exhausted and cold and trying unsuccessfully to do homework, with hockey on TV for background noise. Chicago is playing at Nashville, Predators winning 3-2.
Trying to polish up my capstone proposal that's due Monday morning, that's been exceptionally nerve-wracking. But on the other hand, apparently arguing why country music ought to be considered literature seems to be a great choice for a project, if it's accepted, based on reactions from everyone who's asked(including several professors). Trying not to panic about that not getting accepted.
Dr. Dial-Driver was feeling merciful in letting our Children's Lit essay midterm be a takehome exam after none of us finished it in time on Monday, but that was kind of humiliating, too. My essay on E.B. White and Charlotte's Web got a decent grade, though I was kind of disappointed in it. Got an Early American Lit essay back Wednesday with the confirmation that it was absolutely crap, which I knew, but that was discouraging. And then that afternoon a profile essay for workshopping in Creative Nonfiction was appraised as "something from a Comp class." That was also discouraging.
It was mildly interesting, though, how much everyone hated that I managed to erase myself entirely from the narrative, because that's what you do in journalism: "Always be in the news, but never be in the news." There were lots of variations of "Who wrote this? I wanted to read something Wesleyish, and he was nowhere to be found. I WANT A REFUND OF MY TIME!" in the critiques. I guess that's good, since people have a certain enjoyable tone that they associate with my writing. I don't know.
Except for Audio Production, where I have a low A, I have no idea how I'm doing gradewise this semester, because no one can figure out how the new campus-wide computer system works. That not-knowing adds some more stress.
The college group from First Baptist-Claremore, Fusion, was holding a meeting on campus last night, so I filled my socialization quota for the week/month by going to that. It was fine, and I think maybe they're the kind of people I would fit in well with. Reminded me of the NSU BCM, which is a good thing.
Fire alarm went off earlier tonight, contributing to the lack of productivity. I was finishing a book by Chuck Swindoll, called The Church Awakening: An Urgent Call for Renewal, on what's wrong with the American church in general and his suggestions for how to (maybe) fix it. So I stood under a streetlight and kept reading outside. Some guy saw the title and asked whether it was for a class or just for fun, which I thought was humorous. How do you answer a question like that? "No, I just think reading about how sinful humanity is and feeling sorrowful because of that is good entertainment. And of course a state school would assign a book like this as course reading." So I just said, "For fun. It's a good book."
The weather finally turned coldish, dropping to 40something degrees fairly often. I've kind of liked that and kind of haven't, since it's one of those frequent bipolar weather weeks that happen so often - it's supposed to be 80something this weekend again. If it would just stick with one general temperature, that would be great.
Trying to polish up my capstone proposal that's due Monday morning, that's been exceptionally nerve-wracking. But on the other hand, apparently arguing why country music ought to be considered literature seems to be a great choice for a project, if it's accepted, based on reactions from everyone who's asked(including several professors). Trying not to panic about that not getting accepted.
Dr. Dial-Driver was feeling merciful in letting our Children's Lit essay midterm be a takehome exam after none of us finished it in time on Monday, but that was kind of humiliating, too. My essay on E.B. White and Charlotte's Web got a decent grade, though I was kind of disappointed in it. Got an Early American Lit essay back Wednesday with the confirmation that it was absolutely crap, which I knew, but that was discouraging. And then that afternoon a profile essay for workshopping in Creative Nonfiction was appraised as "something from a Comp class." That was also discouraging.
It was mildly interesting, though, how much everyone hated that I managed to erase myself entirely from the narrative, because that's what you do in journalism: "Always be in the news, but never be in the news." There were lots of variations of "Who wrote this? I wanted to read something Wesleyish, and he was nowhere to be found. I WANT A REFUND OF MY TIME!" in the critiques. I guess that's good, since people have a certain enjoyable tone that they associate with my writing. I don't know.
Except for Audio Production, where I have a low A, I have no idea how I'm doing gradewise this semester, because no one can figure out how the new campus-wide computer system works. That not-knowing adds some more stress.
The college group from First Baptist-Claremore, Fusion, was holding a meeting on campus last night, so I filled my socialization quota for the week/month by going to that. It was fine, and I think maybe they're the kind of people I would fit in well with. Reminded me of the NSU BCM, which is a good thing.
Fire alarm went off earlier tonight, contributing to the lack of productivity. I was finishing a book by Chuck Swindoll, called The Church Awakening: An Urgent Call for Renewal, on what's wrong with the American church in general and his suggestions for how to (maybe) fix it. So I stood under a streetlight and kept reading outside. Some guy saw the title and asked whether it was for a class or just for fun, which I thought was humorous. How do you answer a question like that? "No, I just think reading about how sinful humanity is and feeling sorrowful because of that is good entertainment. And of course a state school would assign a book like this as course reading." So I just said, "For fun. It's a good book."
The weather finally turned coldish, dropping to 40something degrees fairly often. I've kind of liked that and kind of haven't, since it's one of those frequent bipolar weather weeks that happen so often - it's supposed to be 80something this weekend again. If it would just stick with one general temperature, that would be great.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
September Recap
The month of September didn't exactly speed by, but it's almost in the rearview mirror. Trevor finally got that surgery to fix his meniscus, and we spent around $90 at the Okmulgee library's annual book sale.
Classes aren't great, but I'm surviving, more or less. And Dylan, Jessica and Ashland are all having a rough time with school, too. Daniel's sister Emily just got engaged, and Jacob got married.
In sports, the Rams began their tenure in Los Angeles, which is weird. Tim Tebow decided to try playing pro baseball with the Mets, which is also weird. Kevin Durant is now wearing a Warriors jersey, which hurts a lot more than I thought it would. The Paralympics were astonishing to watch, making me grateful for all I can do on a daily basis. Lots more arguments about politics on all TV channels, which is frustrating. Even sports channels, due to 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's protests during the National Anthem.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fourth season is off to a "meh" start, given that the character of the Ghost Rider has been introduced. That's making it kind of Buffy-like, which is difficult to understand what my reaction ought to be to it. (Is Buffy a well-written show? Yes, definitely. But the supernatural aspects of the vampires make me kind of uncomfortable, so I don't watch unless I have to.) I haven't decided my take on this season of Agents yet. Since it will probably be the final season, I'll likely stick with it, at least until we learn how they're going to explain how a mechanic like Robbie Reyes can transform into a flaming skull vengeance demon creature with an amazing '69 Dodge Charger.
Why is September such a popular month when it comes to lyrics? Daughtry's "September," Green Day's "Wake Me Up (When September Ends)," Taylor Swift's "Tim McGraw"... I'm sure there's others, too, but those were the ones that have been stuck in my head recently.
Classes aren't great, but I'm surviving, more or less. And Dylan, Jessica and Ashland are all having a rough time with school, too. Daniel's sister Emily just got engaged, and Jacob got married.
In sports, the Rams began their tenure in Los Angeles, which is weird. Tim Tebow decided to try playing pro baseball with the Mets, which is also weird. Kevin Durant is now wearing a Warriors jersey, which hurts a lot more than I thought it would. The Paralympics were astonishing to watch, making me grateful for all I can do on a daily basis. Lots more arguments about politics on all TV channels, which is frustrating. Even sports channels, due to 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick's protests during the National Anthem.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s fourth season is off to a "meh" start, given that the character of the Ghost Rider has been introduced. That's making it kind of Buffy-like, which is difficult to understand what my reaction ought to be to it. (Is Buffy a well-written show? Yes, definitely. But the supernatural aspects of the vampires make me kind of uncomfortable, so I don't watch unless I have to.) I haven't decided my take on this season of Agents yet. Since it will probably be the final season, I'll likely stick with it, at least until we learn how they're going to explain how a mechanic like Robbie Reyes can transform into a flaming skull vengeance demon creature with an amazing '69 Dodge Charger.
Why is September such a popular month when it comes to lyrics? Daughtry's "September," Green Day's "Wake Me Up (When September Ends)," Taylor Swift's "Tim McGraw"... I'm sure there's others, too, but those were the ones that have been stuck in my head recently.
Monday, August 22, 2016
Hymn-Filled Weekend
The weekend got a little better. Mom wanted to see Ben-Hur, so me, Courtney, Caleb and Trevor all came along. Morgan Freeman played a rich Arab guy, and he was the best part of the movie. It was all right, but not like my favorite movie ever or anything. It really tanked at the box office, though - out of a $100 million dollar budget, the opening weekend earnings was only about $11 million. Ouch.
Rags was very glad that I was home again for a bit, and so was I.
The Olympics ended Sunday night, with the US winning the most medals, 121 of them. China was next with 70, Great Britain in third had 67, Australia was eighth with 29, and Canada was tenth with 22. Altogether, there were 88 countries who won medals, out of something like 200 total. PluggedIn's blog had a good recap.
We tried to keep up with it as much as we could, with the disappointing result that we witnessed far more water polo and men's diving than anyone should witness. But the abundance of volleyball is a plus.
My stomach's been really upset today, but that just happens sometimes. Still don't know anything, really, about my roommate. There's only been one fire alarm so far, and a weather drill was tonight. That was only moderately nerve-jangling, as opposed to a fire alarm.
There was an interesting article I read on the Art of Manliness blog about the history of the feminization of Christianity, which touched on a lot of points I have trouble with in the modern church generally. For example, the sissification of worship music.
I wished I could have made the Saturday morning sermon on glorifying God in depression, since the Gundersens are spending three months in Jasper starting last night. They'll be very much missed by everyone, but hopefully it will be a productive and useful resting time for both of them.
Church was really good yesterday morning. Most of the service was given to Matt Ferguson as he gave his testimony, and then he was baptized afterwards. Mrs. Rusco said to somebody while we were all assembling in the parking lot, "I love how plain our baptisms are. It's just - water, and you. That's all you need, really; there's not really any need for fancy stuff." Josh and Sara were there visiting, because of course they couldn't have missed this, and neither could the Grahams. And then Josh finally found an internship, which is more great news. It was one of those times that's hard to put into words, but cheers the spirit somehow.
Texted Ashland and Dylan this morning, it was good to hear from them. They're both hanging in here so far this semester, which is good. And knowing that everybody else is struggling, too, makes things a lot easier to deal with. Still trying to get used to my new phone. Mostly finished the SGYC wrapup post last night, I just need to do some tweaking here and there. Steven and Amanda have both provided encouragement, too, which is always helpful.
Songs of the Day were "Trust and Obey," "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" and Relient K's "For the Moments I Feel Faint". Most of the day was spent studying; took care of sending the needed documents where they needed to go for financial aid, so I'm sort of proud of myself for getting that out of the way so early. About came unglued several times this morning in Children's Lit when the subjects of homeschooling and classical education were trashed, but I didn't snap anyone's head off, so that's something. Last night was one of those rough nights that are good for prayer, which are to be preferred to the rough nights that aren't. Didn't sleep well at all last night; waking up about once every fifteen minutes for four hours, then getting a handful of real sleep, which came during the time I was going to study. And then I tried to take a nap, which didn't work, either. So I'm just blogging with Pandora tuned to my "Decent Christian Music" station, trying to wind down some. I might find something on Netflix in a minute, if this doesn't work.
Sunday, August 21, 2016
CAMP: Part X - These Are The Days
Camp is always different, even though it's always pretty much the same. But the 2016 edition of the Sovereign Grace Youth Camp somehow managed to be very much both alien and familiar. The subtitle of this post comes from a little-known song of Keith Urban's, from his album Be Here.
For one thing, families were allowed to stay the week, too; that worked out fairly well, for the most part. All 12-year-olds were able to come again this time, and while it was probably too soon for some campers, others had no trouble adjusting to the rhythms of SGYC life during the week at Beth-Eden.
It was a little unclear whether we would even be having camp this year, as only three people had signed up by the deadline. So families were allowed to stay the week as well, which added several more faces to mealtimes. 44 campers signed up total, an even number of guys and girls, which was convenient during the Virginia Reel. 14 of those kids were rookies. Only two of the three wings of the guys' cabin were used, and the girls said that about three-quarters of their bunks were empty. For the Tournament Challenge, only four teams were used, which resulted in a rather awkward restructuring of the schedule, and neither Team Black nor Team Yellow taking part this year.
From Tulsa, our group consisted of returnees Mattie, Caleb, Trenton and Hope, plus our rookie Seth. Lydia Alpert rode with us, too. Lots of people said that it was just too expensive for what they paid for(especially compared to other camps). The price($170) did seem a little steep for the experience. Others said that they didn't feel like going because none of their friends would be there. That makes sense, though I would say that that's when you go for those younger than you, to make sure that they have a good experience. And maybe people didn't come because they didn't want to listen to Curtis Knapp preaching all week.
Anyway, other counselors (besides Tim and Terry, obviously) were Tom Henry, Brother Larry, Ryan Butler, his brother Mark, Janets Crawford and Pokorny, Rachel Silverberg, her brother Zach and Abbey Underwood.
It felt extremely strange that Zach Silverberg and Mark were asking me for directions on what proper counselor behavior and camp etiquette is, though it shouldn't have, really. I was there at Beth-Eden for five years as a camper and then this was my fourth year as a counselor, so I knew the procedures and schedule and all that. More just the fact that I was now in kind of a middle rung, between the pastors and the rookie counselors as far as respect and stuff.
My and Mark's cabin was very quiet and well-behaved for the most part. Even Strobe wasn't too terrible. Caleb's cabin, patrolled by Ryan and Zach S., was the wild and crazy (and much more fun) one this year. They threw Jolly Ranchers as grenades at each other, had pillow fights and candy stampedes, and I think I heard something about wrestling and push-up contests.
Another strange thing, though by now it shouldn't be strange at all (and mostly isn't any longer) - The vast majority of my generation campwise is married and/or have kids by now. I knew this, of course, but I think it was driven home since Amanda's second daughter Elora and Shari's daughter Lucy were born the week before camp started. Kaitlin got married this summer, and Matt got engaged. Jon has a girlfriend now(which is awesome and teaseable), the list could go on for miles - I think there's maybe three folks I knew well who are single. And that's all good. It's part of the stage of young-adult life that we're all at now...but in the beautiful misty morning Missouri light cleaning the showerhouse, it really hits home that we didn't pay attention to Taylor Swift's advice.
Mom and Mrs. Cox drove us up there, and except for getting slightly lost in Springfield looking for a Casey's, we got there all in one piece without anything strange going on. Uh, well, okay....not quite. Caleb and Hope began a staring contest at the Missouri border, and it ended in a draw thirty-six miles (and twenty-five minutes) later. They're still arguing about Simmons' merits as a character on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and that argument began roughly last November. (FYI: I side with Hope on this one. Simmons is amazing.) The boys also chomped through twelve sticks of gum at a time, for some reason. It looked disgusting. But they had fun.
There were an overwhelming number of Batmans and Captain Americas for theme night(Superheroes), and Markie won the costume contest, as she has every year that it's been held. I was a S.H.I.E.L.D, agent, since I doubted anyone else would fill that niche. But maybe there was a bit of Hydra lurking around the edges - there always is, on the show. And something just didn't quite add up this year, for some reason. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, exactly. Maybe that the routine was almost too routine; most of us could follow the day's progress in our sleep. It's a nice blend of mental and physical exercise, yeah, but maybe the schedule needs a change.
Standing in line for lunch one day, Mrs. Boyer complained that she was starving, and wondered why, since she'd eaten breakfast a couple hours earlier. Ryan and I pointed out that we'd all been running all over the place, and keeping Super Alert at the same time, which drains a lot of energy. Courtney asked once we got back what the level of focus was, and so I tried to explain it: About the same as for watching Amy, but multiplied in general by however many campers there are, more specifically divided by gender. End result? That takes a lot of energy.
Curtis's first sermon was on the Ten Commandments, running through a fire-and-brimstone list of all the ways humanity in general could be sinful. It wasn't quite as squirm-inducing as Jeff Johnson's use-the-Bible-as-a-sledgehammer messages, but it wasn't easy to pay attention to, either. And this was made worse by the fact that the counselors' and visitors' benches along the back wall weren't there. So we had to make several rows of chairs, which helped from a discipline standpoint, but made it harder to get rested, too. (If you look at pictures of previous camp years, the counselors in the background of general sessions always look half-dead, due to the constant focus and hustling from place to place. It doesn't matter how good the sermons are, that's just what happens. You take notes if you're feeling particularly awake.)
The second sermon was a further listing of further sins, and beyond that I had to look up the subject matter on SermonAudio, because I had forgotten the rest of them. The next two sermons(Tuesday night and Wednesday morning) were titled "The Justice of God in Dealing with Lawbreakers," with a main text of Revelation 20:11-15, and "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners," from Luke 16:19-31, the story/parable of the rich man in hell and the beggar Lazarus. All of those are topics which probably should be taught when appropriate, because they're covered in Scripture, but an audience of teenagers and small children seems like the wrong place for those particular sermons. After the talent share things got a little better, "The Mercy of God in Propitiation"(Mark 14:32-36) and "The Mercy of God in Justification"(Philippians 3:1-9). The final two sermons on Thursday night and Friday morning were on the healing of the paralytic from Mark 2:1-12 and the leper in Mark 1:40-46. From experience, I know that no camper listens all that well on Thursday night because of the anticipation of finding out who won the Tournament Challenge and the book-signing time(and being allowed to stay up late). Then on Friday morning there's the dread of having to pack and leave and not see these people for a whole year.
Brother Larry's tabernacle group sessions to the 18-and-19-year-olds on the need for righteousness were terrific, based on the one I heard on Thursday. Ryan taught a group session on the need for discernment, which I sat in on in the chapel on Wednesday when he was speaking to the 14-and-15-year-olds. That was a good one, too. Tim's group session message was a lightning overview of the Bible's overall storyline, particularly dealing with the Old Testament. The 12-and-13-year-olds paid a lot more attention to that than they usually do.
Among the family members attending were Ryan's wife Mandi and their sons Eric and Jonathan. I played a lot of air hockey with the boys while supervising swim-time table tennis, and tried to teach them (and campers) ping pong, with varying degrees of success. The Butlers are still a bit too young to learn the game, but the campers did well. Tim's wife Angie and kids Jenna, Caleb and Ben were also there, along with Curtis' wife Catherine and about a million small Knapps. Noah and Ali Johnson were tagging along for the third year in a row, thrilled about going back to Indonesia in September, and another family from Ryan's church in Arkansas were there, a mother and the two politest kids I think I've ever met. The older boy, Chris, latched on to me just like Eric and Jonathan did. That was kind of fun.
Among the guys I played ping pong with were Nathan Knapp, Michael Henry, Zach Hill, Nathan Underwood, Ethan Stewart, Jon Kobb and Hunter Bebout. And I taught Christopher Underwood how to add topspin to serves, only later realizing how frightening the results of that could be, being as he's an Underwood, and therefore brilliant by genetics at table tennis.
Dylan and Grace Underwood came to visit Wednesday night during the talent share, bringing their (adorable) sons along to visit with their (many) uncles and aunts. (Further proving my point about us all growing up, as they met as first-year counselors and were married by the next July.) And naturally, those uncles and aunts dominated the talent share, as Jacob, Brett, Markie and Rosie teamed up as the Dischwood Quartet for a couple harmony-filled songs. Also visiting were Alexa and Zach Hankins; it was great to see them again and hang out for a bit. Autumn Brashers also visited.
I was in charge of cabbage ball again this year, and that went pretty well. It was only twice that I had to call an automatic out for throwing the bat, and I didn't get anywhere near as much flak for my umpriing calls as I did last year(that I could hear, anyway). And most of that flak was good-natured teasing, not disgruntled bitterness. Mark helped out a lot with close calls at first and second bases, and Ryan watched third base when he had time.
Mattie, Hope, Lydia, Seth and Trenton's Green team stomped all over Blue 10-2 on Tuesday morning, and Caleb's White team pounded Blue 18-7 that night in Worst/First play. (In other events, Red beat White in three sets on the volleyball court, Blue defeated White 14-7 in ping pong and Red topped Green in both Bible Jeopardy and archery.)
Wednesday's cabbage ball game was won by Green, 9-3 over White, and other even final scores included Red winning volleyball over Blue, Red winning ping pong over White, and Green defeating Blue in volleyball by a 11-5, 8-11, 11-1 score.
Thursday's cabbage ball action featured Green soundly thrashing Red 12-1 and then Red crushing Blue (to an embarrassing extent) 10-1. It got so out of hand that at one point when Blue asked me about a possible strategy, since they were trying so hard to catch up and we were rapidly running out of time, I said "You're behind by a million miles. Y'all can do whatever you want!" This caused giggles in the assorted fans watching. Also cheerfully laugh-inducing were Abigail's valiant efforts to inspire her team: "We're Blue, team! Like the sky! See that sky? Millions of people have been inspired by skies just like that one to do amazing things, like paint pictures and compose brilliant music! We can win this game! Team Inspiration!!!!" In other events, White beat Blue in archery, Green beat Red in ping pong, White beat Blue in Bible Jeopardy, and Green beat White in volleyball. This set up a tie for first place, as both Green and Red had six points each.
Stats for the Tulsa folks, which I figured up while bored one day once we got back: Mattie was 7-11 with 3 RBIs and three runs scored, Trenton was 9-11 with two home runs - including a grand slam - and four doubles, a triple, 6 RBIs and four runs scored. Caleb was a perfect 7-7 at the plate with an RBI and three runs scored, Hope was 5-7 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored, and Seth was 3-9 with a double and a triple, three RBIs and four runs scored.
Book-signing time went well, there was a lot of ping pong, several chess matches and games of Jenga, plus lots of scurrying here and there, but not very many pictures. There weren't hardly any taken all week, which was unusual. And there were definitely no Nerf gun fights. Mrs. Boyer ran the girls out of the dining hall about 11 p.m., and I let the guys play ping pong for another hour before switching off the lights about fifteen minutes after midnight. Most all the guys were asleep by one; apparently a couple girls stayed awake talking til four, according to a rather disgruntled Mrs. Boyer at breakfast.
On Friday morning, while the rest of us munched on cinnamon rolls and finished signing each other's books, the final Bible Jeopardy tiebreaker was given to the teams: Name the seven things Jesus said on the cross. After some figuring, the answers were these: committing His spirit to the Father, asking the Father to forgive the people, asking for Mary to be taken care of, forgiving the thief on the cross, asking for water, wondering why He'd been fosaken, and finally "It is finished."
Both sides got the answer to this question right. (So did Janet Crawford and Mississippi campers, after Googling on her phone.) So the backup emergency tiebreaker had to be put into play: What were the Hebrew names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? (Nobody had any clue on this one.) The answer, apparently, was Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The winners were Green, as they got all three right. So they won the Tournament Challenge this year with seven points, while Red had six, White three and Blue one.
Some of the rookie campers definitely shouldn't really have been there. Some of the family members probably shouldn't have been there. But there will always be a couple people like that. Lord willing, they'll have picked up something along the week that will change their behavior. Until then, as a counselor, the best you can do is scribble "You are moderately evil. But I hope you have a good year anyway" in their camp books. And then pray for them throughout the year, as you pray for all the kids.
You always ask yourself, "Was it worth it? Did I actually make a difference in these kids' lives?" The immediate answer, I think this year, for me, was a resounding "No, you didn't. It wasn't worth it this year." But it is still a worthwhile endeavor, I think; it's just that this year was more about survival, with only 44 campers. Mrs. Boyer and Tom Henry were the only folks from St. Louis; even Robin wasn't there this time. At some point everyone will decide that healthwise they just can't do this any longer. Hopefully some of the younger kids will be back as campers when they're old enough, but the number of participating churches has shrunk over the years, and the amount of kids from each church has plummeted. I don't know what the future holds for SGYC, any more than I know what it holds for me personally. But it's been a wonderful ministry in the past, and the Lord has worked very much through the camp. Looking through all these camp-book signings, as it's literally written cover-to-cover again, maybe I did make a difference. It's hard to tell sometimes.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson drove us back to Tulsa, and nothing out of the ordinary occurred on the return trip. We ate lunch at a McDonald's in Elkland, and one of the employees was a man with Down's, which I found interesting and awesome. Enjoyed getting to talk with Trenton while we were eating. As soon as we got home I was finishing my final project for my summer course, and then the following Tuesday Courtney and Mattie left for Florida and North Carolina as they went to see Kerra and go to a new (to us) camp called Snowbird in the Appalachians of western North Carolina, which is something like reformed theology at Falls Creek, from what I've heard. The GBC youth group might go there next summer, if they can raise enough money through fundraisers and stuff. Or they might go to Glorieta, New Mexico. That'll all be figured out over the winter/spring.
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CAMP BOOK SIGNINGS -
"best counselor ever! :) Michael Henry"
(Anna Knapp's signature)
(Daniel Pokorny's signature)
"Great to meet you, Keegan"
"Hi Wesley! It was nice seeing you this year. - Caroline, Isaiah 55:12"
"Thanks for doing cabbage ball! It is so nice to see you each year! Markie"
"Sup, your awesome. - strooobe"
"Dear Wesley, Thank you for being a counselor for such a routy bunch. I had a good time and hope you did to. God bless, Nathan"
"You are the best referee(if that's what it's called in baseball) Hope to see you again next year! Abigail S."
"It was good to see you this past week! Seth" (This was written inside the front cover, as on a different page he had written "Sup dude. You're my sister-" before realizing that Mattie's book was lying right next to mine. We all thought this mistake was pretty hilarious.)
""Hey Wesley, I had a lot of fun having you as a counselor and cabbage ball umpire. I hope you come back next year! - Trenton"
"CALEB!!! YO"
"Wes, good to meet you and call you friend. Zach" (This was Counselor Zach, as his group called him.)
"Hope you had a great week! Abbey U."
"Thanks for letting me slide in cabbage ball and for being a great counselor! - Mary J."
"Wesley, it's always good to see you! Hope you had a fantastic week! Hope to see you next summer. Valley"
"Wesley, you were a great counselor. Thank you! Cara Knapp"
"Your so cool! And a great counselor. - Belynda"
"Gr8 ping-ponging! Jonathan Kobb"
"Wesley, thank you so much for taking time out of your week to counsel us! :) Your a great counselor! Brett"
"Wesley, thank you so much for coming to camp with us again! cabbage ball was a lot of fun. :) - Abbi"
"Thanks for being such a cool counselor, Wesley! - Mattie"
"Had fun during cabbage ball! Zach"
"Dear Wesley, thank you for all you did and for being a great conselor - Lester :)"
"Hey Wes! Good to see you this year! Hunter B."
"Hey Wesley! Thanks for always being such an awesome counselor and for laughing with us tonight. I will pack my slingshot next year :-D - Emily Pokorny" {I had dinner with her and Jon Kobb Thursday night, and somehow we got to talking about weapons, of all things. Emily mentioned that she was a decent aim with her slingshot, and Jon asks, completely serious, "Did you bring it here with you?" She and I dissolve into hysterical laughter.}
"Dear Wesley, Thanks for your love for the Lord & the young people at camp. You have been such a great encouragement to me over the years we've been at camp together. I will never forget the time you sang "Amazing Grace" and it left me in tears. Continue to seek Him first always. God willing - next year. Love, Janet C."
"Wesley, Great week spent w/you! Always encouraging and never dull - that's you! Love you! Miss Terry :)"
"You were a great counselor my first year. Thanks! :) Nathan U." (Like all Underwoods, he has amazing handwriting.)
"Wesley, Thank you so much for giving your time this week to make camp the wonderful thing that it is. You're a great counselor! Hope to see you next year! In Christ, Jacob" (He's basically a lock to be a rookie counselor next year, and it'll be great to work alongside him.)
"Press on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus! Curtis Knapp"
"Wes I had a blast doing cabbage ball with you. God bless you :) Mark"
"Great to see you again this year. I pray the LORD will direct your path. Blessings, Mrs. Janet P."
"Wesley, Thanks for being so stinkin' awesome! You are a great friend! - Hope"
"Hey Wes, Good to see you again this year. I'm glad to see you're continuing faithful in your walk with Christ. - Rachel S."
"Wesley, It is always a joy to see you and to serve with you at camp! May the Lord bless you! Ryan"
"It was great having you as a counselor again - Lydia C. Alpert"
"I'm sure many of the kids tell you this, but you're a very fun and great counselor! I hope to see you next year, Lord willing. - Ethan"
For one thing, families were allowed to stay the week, too; that worked out fairly well, for the most part. All 12-year-olds were able to come again this time, and while it was probably too soon for some campers, others had no trouble adjusting to the rhythms of SGYC life during the week at Beth-Eden.
 |
| I snapped this one morning in 2012, but it works well as a stock photo. |
It was a little unclear whether we would even be having camp this year, as only three people had signed up by the deadline. So families were allowed to stay the week as well, which added several more faces to mealtimes. 44 campers signed up total, an even number of guys and girls, which was convenient during the Virginia Reel. 14 of those kids were rookies. Only two of the three wings of the guys' cabin were used, and the girls said that about three-quarters of their bunks were empty. For the Tournament Challenge, only four teams were used, which resulted in a rather awkward restructuring of the schedule, and neither Team Black nor Team Yellow taking part this year.
From Tulsa, our group consisted of returnees Mattie, Caleb, Trenton and Hope, plus our rookie Seth. Lydia Alpert rode with us, too. Lots of people said that it was just too expensive for what they paid for(especially compared to other camps). The price($170) did seem a little steep for the experience. Others said that they didn't feel like going because none of their friends would be there. That makes sense, though I would say that that's when you go for those younger than you, to make sure that they have a good experience. And maybe people didn't come because they didn't want to listen to Curtis Knapp preaching all week.
Anyway, other counselors (besides Tim and Terry, obviously) were Tom Henry, Brother Larry, Ryan Butler, his brother Mark, Janets Crawford and Pokorny, Rachel Silverberg, her brother Zach and Abbey Underwood.
It felt extremely strange that Zach Silverberg and Mark were asking me for directions on what proper counselor behavior and camp etiquette is, though it shouldn't have, really. I was there at Beth-Eden for five years as a camper and then this was my fourth year as a counselor, so I knew the procedures and schedule and all that. More just the fact that I was now in kind of a middle rung, between the pastors and the rookie counselors as far as respect and stuff.
My and Mark's cabin was very quiet and well-behaved for the most part. Even Strobe wasn't too terrible. Caleb's cabin, patrolled by Ryan and Zach S., was the wild and crazy (and much more fun) one this year. They threw Jolly Ranchers as grenades at each other, had pillow fights and candy stampedes, and I think I heard something about wrestling and push-up contests.
Another strange thing, though by now it shouldn't be strange at all (and mostly isn't any longer) - The vast majority of my generation campwise is married and/or have kids by now. I knew this, of course, but I think it was driven home since Amanda's second daughter Elora and Shari's daughter Lucy were born the week before camp started. Kaitlin got married this summer, and Matt got engaged. Jon has a girlfriend now(which is awesome and teaseable), the list could go on for miles - I think there's maybe three folks I knew well who are single. And that's all good. It's part of the stage of young-adult life that we're all at now...but in the beautiful misty morning Missouri light cleaning the showerhouse, it really hits home that we didn't pay attention to Taylor Swift's advice.
Mom and Mrs. Cox drove us up there, and except for getting slightly lost in Springfield looking for a Casey's, we got there all in one piece without anything strange going on. Uh, well, okay....not quite. Caleb and Hope began a staring contest at the Missouri border, and it ended in a draw thirty-six miles (and twenty-five minutes) later. They're still arguing about Simmons' merits as a character on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and that argument began roughly last November. (FYI: I side with Hope on this one. Simmons is amazing.) The boys also chomped through twelve sticks of gum at a time, for some reason. It looked disgusting. But they had fun.
There were an overwhelming number of Batmans and Captain Americas for theme night(Superheroes), and Markie won the costume contest, as she has every year that it's been held. I was a S.H.I.E.L.D, agent, since I doubted anyone else would fill that niche. But maybe there was a bit of Hydra lurking around the edges - there always is, on the show. And something just didn't quite add up this year, for some reason. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, exactly. Maybe that the routine was almost too routine; most of us could follow the day's progress in our sleep. It's a nice blend of mental and physical exercise, yeah, but maybe the schedule needs a change.
Standing in line for lunch one day, Mrs. Boyer complained that she was starving, and wondered why, since she'd eaten breakfast a couple hours earlier. Ryan and I pointed out that we'd all been running all over the place, and keeping Super Alert at the same time, which drains a lot of energy. Courtney asked once we got back what the level of focus was, and so I tried to explain it: About the same as for watching Amy, but multiplied in general by however many campers there are, more specifically divided by gender. End result? That takes a lot of energy.
Curtis's first sermon was on the Ten Commandments, running through a fire-and-brimstone list of all the ways humanity in general could be sinful. It wasn't quite as squirm-inducing as Jeff Johnson's use-the-Bible-as-a-sledgehammer messages, but it wasn't easy to pay attention to, either. And this was made worse by the fact that the counselors' and visitors' benches along the back wall weren't there. So we had to make several rows of chairs, which helped from a discipline standpoint, but made it harder to get rested, too. (If you look at pictures of previous camp years, the counselors in the background of general sessions always look half-dead, due to the constant focus and hustling from place to place. It doesn't matter how good the sermons are, that's just what happens. You take notes if you're feeling particularly awake.)
The second sermon was a further listing of further sins, and beyond that I had to look up the subject matter on SermonAudio, because I had forgotten the rest of them. The next two sermons(Tuesday night and Wednesday morning) were titled "The Justice of God in Dealing with Lawbreakers," with a main text of Revelation 20:11-15, and "The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners," from Luke 16:19-31, the story/parable of the rich man in hell and the beggar Lazarus. All of those are topics which probably should be taught when appropriate, because they're covered in Scripture, but an audience of teenagers and small children seems like the wrong place for those particular sermons. After the talent share things got a little better, "The Mercy of God in Propitiation"(Mark 14:32-36) and "The Mercy of God in Justification"(Philippians 3:1-9). The final two sermons on Thursday night and Friday morning were on the healing of the paralytic from Mark 2:1-12 and the leper in Mark 1:40-46. From experience, I know that no camper listens all that well on Thursday night because of the anticipation of finding out who won the Tournament Challenge and the book-signing time(and being allowed to stay up late). Then on Friday morning there's the dread of having to pack and leave and not see these people for a whole year.
Brother Larry's tabernacle group sessions to the 18-and-19-year-olds on the need for righteousness were terrific, based on the one I heard on Thursday. Ryan taught a group session on the need for discernment, which I sat in on in the chapel on Wednesday when he was speaking to the 14-and-15-year-olds. That was a good one, too. Tim's group session message was a lightning overview of the Bible's overall storyline, particularly dealing with the Old Testament. The 12-and-13-year-olds paid a lot more attention to that than they usually do.
Among the family members attending were Ryan's wife Mandi and their sons Eric and Jonathan. I played a lot of air hockey with the boys while supervising swim-time table tennis, and tried to teach them (and campers) ping pong, with varying degrees of success. The Butlers are still a bit too young to learn the game, but the campers did well. Tim's wife Angie and kids Jenna, Caleb and Ben were also there, along with Curtis' wife Catherine and about a million small Knapps. Noah and Ali Johnson were tagging along for the third year in a row, thrilled about going back to Indonesia in September, and another family from Ryan's church in Arkansas were there, a mother and the two politest kids I think I've ever met. The older boy, Chris, latched on to me just like Eric and Jonathan did. That was kind of fun.
Among the guys I played ping pong with were Nathan Knapp, Michael Henry, Zach Hill, Nathan Underwood, Ethan Stewart, Jon Kobb and Hunter Bebout. And I taught Christopher Underwood how to add topspin to serves, only later realizing how frightening the results of that could be, being as he's an Underwood, and therefore brilliant by genetics at table tennis.
Dylan and Grace Underwood came to visit Wednesday night during the talent share, bringing their (adorable) sons along to visit with their (many) uncles and aunts. (Further proving my point about us all growing up, as they met as first-year counselors and were married by the next July.) And naturally, those uncles and aunts dominated the talent share, as Jacob, Brett, Markie and Rosie teamed up as the Dischwood Quartet for a couple harmony-filled songs. Also visiting were Alexa and Zach Hankins; it was great to see them again and hang out for a bit. Autumn Brashers also visited.
I was in charge of cabbage ball again this year, and that went pretty well. It was only twice that I had to call an automatic out for throwing the bat, and I didn't get anywhere near as much flak for my umpriing calls as I did last year(that I could hear, anyway). And most of that flak was good-natured teasing, not disgruntled bitterness. Mark helped out a lot with close calls at first and second bases, and Ryan watched third base when he had time.
Mattie, Hope, Lydia, Seth and Trenton's Green team stomped all over Blue 10-2 on Tuesday morning, and Caleb's White team pounded Blue 18-7 that night in Worst/First play. (In other events, Red beat White in three sets on the volleyball court, Blue defeated White 14-7 in ping pong and Red topped Green in both Bible Jeopardy and archery.)
Wednesday's cabbage ball game was won by Green, 9-3 over White, and other even final scores included Red winning volleyball over Blue, Red winning ping pong over White, and Green defeating Blue in volleyball by a 11-5, 8-11, 11-1 score.
Thursday's cabbage ball action featured Green soundly thrashing Red 12-1 and then Red crushing Blue (to an embarrassing extent) 10-1. It got so out of hand that at one point when Blue asked me about a possible strategy, since they were trying so hard to catch up and we were rapidly running out of time, I said "You're behind by a million miles. Y'all can do whatever you want!" This caused giggles in the assorted fans watching. Also cheerfully laugh-inducing were Abigail's valiant efforts to inspire her team: "We're Blue, team! Like the sky! See that sky? Millions of people have been inspired by skies just like that one to do amazing things, like paint pictures and compose brilliant music! We can win this game! Team Inspiration!!!!" In other events, White beat Blue in archery, Green beat Red in ping pong, White beat Blue in Bible Jeopardy, and Green beat White in volleyball. This set up a tie for first place, as both Green and Red had six points each.
Stats for the Tulsa folks, which I figured up while bored one day once we got back: Mattie was 7-11 with 3 RBIs and three runs scored, Trenton was 9-11 with two home runs - including a grand slam - and four doubles, a triple, 6 RBIs and four runs scored. Caleb was a perfect 7-7 at the plate with an RBI and three runs scored, Hope was 5-7 with two doubles, two RBIs and two runs scored, and Seth was 3-9 with a double and a triple, three RBIs and four runs scored.
Book-signing time went well, there was a lot of ping pong, several chess matches and games of Jenga, plus lots of scurrying here and there, but not very many pictures. There weren't hardly any taken all week, which was unusual. And there were definitely no Nerf gun fights. Mrs. Boyer ran the girls out of the dining hall about 11 p.m., and I let the guys play ping pong for another hour before switching off the lights about fifteen minutes after midnight. Most all the guys were asleep by one; apparently a couple girls stayed awake talking til four, according to a rather disgruntled Mrs. Boyer at breakfast.
On Friday morning, while the rest of us munched on cinnamon rolls and finished signing each other's books, the final Bible Jeopardy tiebreaker was given to the teams: Name the seven things Jesus said on the cross. After some figuring, the answers were these: committing His spirit to the Father, asking the Father to forgive the people, asking for Mary to be taken care of, forgiving the thief on the cross, asking for water, wondering why He'd been fosaken, and finally "It is finished."
Both sides got the answer to this question right. (So did Janet Crawford and Mississippi campers, after Googling on her phone.) So the backup emergency tiebreaker had to be put into play: What were the Hebrew names of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego? (Nobody had any clue on this one.) The answer, apparently, was Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. The winners were Green, as they got all three right. So they won the Tournament Challenge this year with seven points, while Red had six, White three and Blue one.
Some of the rookie campers definitely shouldn't really have been there. Some of the family members probably shouldn't have been there. But there will always be a couple people like that. Lord willing, they'll have picked up something along the week that will change their behavior. Until then, as a counselor, the best you can do is scribble "You are moderately evil. But I hope you have a good year anyway" in their camp books. And then pray for them throughout the year, as you pray for all the kids.
You always ask yourself, "Was it worth it? Did I actually make a difference in these kids' lives?" The immediate answer, I think this year, for me, was a resounding "No, you didn't. It wasn't worth it this year." But it is still a worthwhile endeavor, I think; it's just that this year was more about survival, with only 44 campers. Mrs. Boyer and Tom Henry were the only folks from St. Louis; even Robin wasn't there this time. At some point everyone will decide that healthwise they just can't do this any longer. Hopefully some of the younger kids will be back as campers when they're old enough, but the number of participating churches has shrunk over the years, and the amount of kids from each church has plummeted. I don't know what the future holds for SGYC, any more than I know what it holds for me personally. But it's been a wonderful ministry in the past, and the Lord has worked very much through the camp. Looking through all these camp-book signings, as it's literally written cover-to-cover again, maybe I did make a difference. It's hard to tell sometimes.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson drove us back to Tulsa, and nothing out of the ordinary occurred on the return trip. We ate lunch at a McDonald's in Elkland, and one of the employees was a man with Down's, which I found interesting and awesome. Enjoyed getting to talk with Trenton while we were eating. As soon as we got home I was finishing my final project for my summer course, and then the following Tuesday Courtney and Mattie left for Florida and North Carolina as they went to see Kerra and go to a new (to us) camp called Snowbird in the Appalachians of western North Carolina, which is something like reformed theology at Falls Creek, from what I've heard. The GBC youth group might go there next summer, if they can raise enough money through fundraisers and stuff. Or they might go to Glorieta, New Mexico. That'll all be figured out over the winter/spring.
###
CAMP BOOK SIGNINGS -
"best counselor ever! :) Michael Henry"
(Anna Knapp's signature)
(Daniel Pokorny's signature)
"Great to meet you, Keegan"
"Hi Wesley! It was nice seeing you this year. - Caroline, Isaiah 55:12"
"Thanks for doing cabbage ball! It is so nice to see you each year! Markie"
"Sup, your awesome. - strooobe"
"Dear Wesley, Thank you for being a counselor for such a routy bunch. I had a good time and hope you did to. God bless, Nathan"
"You are the best referee(if that's what it's called in baseball) Hope to see you again next year! Abigail S."
"It was good to see you this past week! Seth" (This was written inside the front cover, as on a different page he had written "Sup dude. You're my sister-" before realizing that Mattie's book was lying right next to mine. We all thought this mistake was pretty hilarious.)
""Hey Wesley, I had a lot of fun having you as a counselor and cabbage ball umpire. I hope you come back next year! - Trenton"
"CALEB!!! YO"
"Wes, good to meet you and call you friend. Zach" (This was Counselor Zach, as his group called him.)
"Hope you had a great week! Abbey U."
"Thanks for letting me slide in cabbage ball and for being a great counselor! - Mary J."
"Wesley, it's always good to see you! Hope you had a fantastic week! Hope to see you next summer. Valley"
"Wesley, you were a great counselor. Thank you! Cara Knapp"
"Your so cool! And a great counselor. - Belynda"
"Gr8 ping-ponging! Jonathan Kobb"
"Wesley, thank you so much for taking time out of your week to counsel us! :) Your a great counselor! Brett"
"Wesley, thank you so much for coming to camp with us again! cabbage ball was a lot of fun. :) - Abbi"
"Thanks for being such a cool counselor, Wesley! - Mattie"
"Had fun during cabbage ball! Zach"
"Dear Wesley, thank you for all you did and for being a great conselor - Lester :)"
"Hey Wes! Good to see you this year! Hunter B."
"Hey Wesley! Thanks for always being such an awesome counselor and for laughing with us tonight. I will pack my slingshot next year :-D - Emily Pokorny" {I had dinner with her and Jon Kobb Thursday night, and somehow we got to talking about weapons, of all things. Emily mentioned that she was a decent aim with her slingshot, and Jon asks, completely serious, "Did you bring it here with you?" She and I dissolve into hysterical laughter.}
"Dear Wesley, Thanks for your love for the Lord & the young people at camp. You have been such a great encouragement to me over the years we've been at camp together. I will never forget the time you sang "Amazing Grace" and it left me in tears. Continue to seek Him first always. God willing - next year. Love, Janet C."
"Wesley, Great week spent w/you! Always encouraging and never dull - that's you! Love you! Miss Terry :)"
"You were a great counselor my first year. Thanks! :) Nathan U." (Like all Underwoods, he has amazing handwriting.)
"Wesley, Thank you so much for giving your time this week to make camp the wonderful thing that it is. You're a great counselor! Hope to see you next year! In Christ, Jacob" (He's basically a lock to be a rookie counselor next year, and it'll be great to work alongside him.)
"Press on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus! Curtis Knapp"
"Wes I had a blast doing cabbage ball with you. God bless you :) Mark"
"Great to see you again this year. I pray the LORD will direct your path. Blessings, Mrs. Janet P."
"Wesley, Thanks for being so stinkin' awesome! You are a great friend! - Hope"
"Hey Wes, Good to see you again this year. I'm glad to see you're continuing faithful in your walk with Christ. - Rachel S."
"Wesley, It is always a joy to see you and to serve with you at camp! May the Lord bless you! Ryan"
"It was great having you as a counselor again - Lydia C. Alpert"
"I'm sure many of the kids tell you this, but you're a very fun and great counselor! I hope to see you next year, Lord willing. - Ethan"
Monday, August 15, 2016
Help. Another semester is upon us.
I really, really, really loathe college. That isn't news. It's just reality....and I didn't expect it to change at all. Granted, it's only Monday, and I just moved in Friday, but this is going to be a tough semester. Tougher than the last one, which wasn't that surprising, either; given that each one has just seemed to get progressively more unpleasant since I came here. Sure, the play last spring kept me busy, and around people, but it was just like another class: You came in, did your job, endured coworkers, then left. Haven't slept well at all, which is nothing new, except that it's maybe a change from most of summer, where it seemed like I was sleeping too much.
Children's Lit will be my favorite class this semester, I think. Not sure what that says about me. Especially since it's an 8:30 a.m. class, just like all of Dr. Dial-Driver's. I've read through three and a half schoolbooks already, and I haven't even been studying that much. I have been hiking in circles, which always feel ridiculous around here, because there isn't anywhere to go, so I'm not sure what it accomplishes. Half the time I was downtown in Tahlequah I was stopping by Morgan's Bakery. Here? I have no desire to get smushed by a car on the highway like Louie the cat in Bill Wallace's Upchuck and the Rotten Willy(which is a children's book, by the way). But that can get frustrating, too, being marooned on an island-prison of foolish ideas in the midst of a vast ocean of sky and prairie, with the only way to escape being large obnoxious cars.
In Greek mythology, Pandora's opening of her box let all kinds of horrors into the world. As wonderful a town as Tahlequah is, there are all kinds of reasons - most of which are too inconsequential to even be defined - that NSU was not the greatest school ever. Much of this could be due to being trapped by tradition - CCF certainly was, at any rate. Maybe part of it was knowing so many people who had gone there, I felt like I had to do even better than they all did, maybe. At the bottom of Pandora's box, the last thing to fly out was hope. Hope of leaving isn't much of something to hang on to, but you hang on to whatever you can to survive. The BCM and SWAT were amazing to be involved with. And I did leave, which was good, I guess. I feel like I'm getting a better education here, I think. RSU doesn't have all the traditions that NSU does; it's possibly the newest university in the state, as compared to the oldest. But there doesn't seem to be any room for hope here. And that is very concerning at the least, dismaying and alarming the rest of the time. Because if you don't have hope - of something, anything, really - then what good is there in going through the motions of living? Filling out the mindless assignments of busywork to be turned in, dealing with stupid foolish authors writing drivel.
I tried to play guitar some earlier tonight, finding a halfway-decent spot on the theater steps. Couldn't seem to play right, and then I got thoroughly cussed out by a large red squirrel to invading his space. Or for playing badly. He was the right size of squirrel to be a bouncer. And I thought I read somewhere a long time ago that squirrels sometimes had rabies, so I didn't feel like sticking around and maybe getting bitten. It just seemed like a perfect encapsulation of my college experience.
So I'm typing away in my apartment as the laptop lights up the darkness of night, working on a blog post. A couple, actually, since besides this one I'm trying to work on the recap of this year's SGYC experience. And I'm still just as clueless about what the future holds as ever. But maybe more miserable, which is saying something. "Don't be sad, little Joshua. God has a special place for those who feel left out," says Abigail the Cow in Max Lucado's book The Crippled Lamb(another children's book!) I know that at some point this time will prove to have been useful in some way, but this sure isn't it. I'm not sure how I can do this for another year.
Children's Lit will be my favorite class this semester, I think. Not sure what that says about me. Especially since it's an 8:30 a.m. class, just like all of Dr. Dial-Driver's. I've read through three and a half schoolbooks already, and I haven't even been studying that much. I have been hiking in circles, which always feel ridiculous around here, because there isn't anywhere to go, so I'm not sure what it accomplishes. Half the time I was downtown in Tahlequah I was stopping by Morgan's Bakery. Here? I have no desire to get smushed by a car on the highway like Louie the cat in Bill Wallace's Upchuck and the Rotten Willy(which is a children's book, by the way). But that can get frustrating, too, being marooned on an island-prison of foolish ideas in the midst of a vast ocean of sky and prairie, with the only way to escape being large obnoxious cars.
In Greek mythology, Pandora's opening of her box let all kinds of horrors into the world. As wonderful a town as Tahlequah is, there are all kinds of reasons - most of which are too inconsequential to even be defined - that NSU was not the greatest school ever. Much of this could be due to being trapped by tradition - CCF certainly was, at any rate. Maybe part of it was knowing so many people who had gone there, I felt like I had to do even better than they all did, maybe. At the bottom of Pandora's box, the last thing to fly out was hope. Hope of leaving isn't much of something to hang on to, but you hang on to whatever you can to survive. The BCM and SWAT were amazing to be involved with. And I did leave, which was good, I guess. I feel like I'm getting a better education here, I think. RSU doesn't have all the traditions that NSU does; it's possibly the newest university in the state, as compared to the oldest. But there doesn't seem to be any room for hope here. And that is very concerning at the least, dismaying and alarming the rest of the time. Because if you don't have hope - of something, anything, really - then what good is there in going through the motions of living? Filling out the mindless assignments of busywork to be turned in, dealing with stupid foolish authors writing drivel.
I tried to play guitar some earlier tonight, finding a halfway-decent spot on the theater steps. Couldn't seem to play right, and then I got thoroughly cussed out by a large red squirrel to invading his space. Or for playing badly. He was the right size of squirrel to be a bouncer. And I thought I read somewhere a long time ago that squirrels sometimes had rabies, so I didn't feel like sticking around and maybe getting bitten. It just seemed like a perfect encapsulation of my college experience.
So I'm typing away in my apartment as the laptop lights up the darkness of night, working on a blog post. A couple, actually, since besides this one I'm trying to work on the recap of this year's SGYC experience. And I'm still just as clueless about what the future holds as ever. But maybe more miserable, which is saying something. "Don't be sad, little Joshua. God has a special place for those who feel left out," says Abigail the Cow in Max Lucado's book The Crippled Lamb(another children's book!) I know that at some point this time will prove to have been useful in some way, but this sure isn't it. I'm not sure how I can do this for another year.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Strange Dreams, Part Four
A fourth listing of my really strange, often cinematic dreams.
11-24-15, A lot of the action in this dream was conveyed through comic book panels; the color palette was something with several shades of blue, gray and orange. It was another warlike situation like those with Ashland from a couple years ago, but this one was spy-filled. There was something about a turquoise ring that was important; and also something about getting a ride from a guy who only had access to a van for that day only; Mom was pregnant and some scientific genius, and Keith Urban and Jon Bon Jovi were on my character's side. Samara was kind of a wild card with motives unclear, though she was working with Mom somehow. There was this big showdown with my character, Keith Urban and Jon Bon Jovi facing off with random soldiers of the other side's HYRDA/Nazi-like organization, Mom and Sam were there, too, on the sidelines, maybe? This voice says, "I have filled this one with scientific hate." "I have filled this one with scientific faith." ("Is that even possible?" my character wonders.) Just then Keith Urban and Jon Bon Jovi's faces melt off and reveal polished white metal skulls and wild mechanical eyes raring to attack me. "I have filled this one with scientific curiosity." "And this one I have filled with all three." Things go dark in the room right there and I wake up, not knowing who was speaking right then and who was the remaining real person. The real Keith Urban and Jon Bon Jovi are about to plow into the room as backup; there was a mention by the unidentified voice that "Aurora will be very pleased with these events."
7-15-10, found while going through an old notebook.
In a small town in south Texas in the early 1900s, a quiet unassuming man came to be the town's new defense attorney (and part-time doctor, while the main one is away). He always seemed a little odd, wasn't married, stayed by himself a lot and didn't sing hymns enthusiastically at all. This is why the town thought he was odd. He hired boys to spy on certain fathers in town, which they also thought was strange, as the fathers they watched weren't the ones that needed watching. He also had a queer attitude towards death for a doctor, he was exhilirated, almost seemed to glow, whenever he heard that someone was buried in their grave. After about 20 years or so, all these brutal murders are committed and the lawyer ascends to basically controlling the entire town. Told mostly in first person account from a boy.
1-11-16, I woke up at least eight times tonight; the dreams I had were the mundane type. There was an ice storm, and then Dad was yelling at me for some reason, and the only other bit I remember had something to do with cooking food.
2-27-16, it was the first show of the RSU Theater's play this semester, Tales From Tent City, but half the cast was missing for some reason(including our narrator). So we just plowed on as best we could, improvising when necessary. It turned out to be salvageable, considering the circumstances, though not anywhere near "good". Also, Ashleigh and Ashland were being arrested; they were handcuffed as a police officer escorted them to their seats in the audience. .
4-11-16, during a large thunderstorm, among lots of other extremely stressful dreams that lasted for about fifteen minutes each before I wake up panicked again, I was listening to Courtney complaining angrily about how Nano dying has kept her from being better friends with Audrey; because she had apparently driven up to Tulsa to visit with Courtney, Paige, Callie and the Fergusons, but then Nano died and there was her funeral, and then Audrey was really miffed about Courtney not seeing her.
8-2-16, First I was doing everything wrong at camp, and Brother Larry was yelling at me, and then I was being held hostage by a drug-addicted Mexican dude with a machine gun in North Tulsa. They were both terrifying.
8-4-16, Mom and I are playing Scrabble one night when Valerie and Eddy Rice come pulling into the driveway, just back from California on vacation. They got me a book titled Wake Up San Francisco!, because of my liking for traveling and Full House, and then had a bunch of people sign it, including Mrs. Hollis and Brenna, Mrs. Curtis and Sam Gaston.
8-7-16, I was having to answer all these super-hard Jeopardy-style questions while at the same time playing beach volleyball in a pouring rainstorm. And if I missed a question or the ball touched the ground, I would be killed. It was extremely stressful and unpleasant.
11-24-15, A lot of the action in this dream was conveyed through comic book panels; the color palette was something with several shades of blue, gray and orange. It was another warlike situation like those with Ashland from a couple years ago, but this one was spy-filled. There was something about a turquoise ring that was important; and also something about getting a ride from a guy who only had access to a van for that day only; Mom was pregnant and some scientific genius, and Keith Urban and Jon Bon Jovi were on my character's side. Samara was kind of a wild card with motives unclear, though she was working with Mom somehow. There was this big showdown with my character, Keith Urban and Jon Bon Jovi facing off with random soldiers of the other side's HYRDA/Nazi-like organization, Mom and Sam were there, too, on the sidelines, maybe? This voice says, "I have filled this one with scientific hate." "I have filled this one with scientific faith." ("Is that even possible?" my character wonders.) Just then Keith Urban and Jon Bon Jovi's faces melt off and reveal polished white metal skulls and wild mechanical eyes raring to attack me. "I have filled this one with scientific curiosity." "And this one I have filled with all three." Things go dark in the room right there and I wake up, not knowing who was speaking right then and who was the remaining real person. The real Keith Urban and Jon Bon Jovi are about to plow into the room as backup; there was a mention by the unidentified voice that "Aurora will be very pleased with these events."
7-15-10, found while going through an old notebook.
In a small town in south Texas in the early 1900s, a quiet unassuming man came to be the town's new defense attorney (and part-time doctor, while the main one is away). He always seemed a little odd, wasn't married, stayed by himself a lot and didn't sing hymns enthusiastically at all. This is why the town thought he was odd. He hired boys to spy on certain fathers in town, which they also thought was strange, as the fathers they watched weren't the ones that needed watching. He also had a queer attitude towards death for a doctor, he was exhilirated, almost seemed to glow, whenever he heard that someone was buried in their grave. After about 20 years or so, all these brutal murders are committed and the lawyer ascends to basically controlling the entire town. Told mostly in first person account from a boy.
1-11-16, I woke up at least eight times tonight; the dreams I had were the mundane type. There was an ice storm, and then Dad was yelling at me for some reason, and the only other bit I remember had something to do with cooking food.
2-27-16, it was the first show of the RSU Theater's play this semester, Tales From Tent City, but half the cast was missing for some reason(including our narrator). So we just plowed on as best we could, improvising when necessary. It turned out to be salvageable, considering the circumstances, though not anywhere near "good". Also, Ashleigh and Ashland were being arrested; they were handcuffed as a police officer escorted them to their seats in the audience. .
4-11-16, during a large thunderstorm, among lots of other extremely stressful dreams that lasted for about fifteen minutes each before I wake up panicked again, I was listening to Courtney complaining angrily about how Nano dying has kept her from being better friends with Audrey; because she had apparently driven up to Tulsa to visit with Courtney, Paige, Callie and the Fergusons, but then Nano died and there was her funeral, and then Audrey was really miffed about Courtney not seeing her.
8-2-16, First I was doing everything wrong at camp, and Brother Larry was yelling at me, and then I was being held hostage by a drug-addicted Mexican dude with a machine gun in North Tulsa. They were both terrifying.
8-4-16, Mom and I are playing Scrabble one night when Valerie and Eddy Rice come pulling into the driveway, just back from California on vacation. They got me a book titled Wake Up San Francisco!, because of my liking for traveling and Full House, and then had a bunch of people sign it, including Mrs. Hollis and Brenna, Mrs. Curtis and Sam Gaston.
8-7-16, I was having to answer all these super-hard Jeopardy-style questions while at the same time playing beach volleyball in a pouring rainstorm. And if I missed a question or the ball touched the ground, I would be killed. It was extremely stressful and unpleasant.
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