pretty colors

I thought this was interesting.

why do cars today have such boring colors?

Po-Mo-Renn

Way back in the day, there was a movement in Europe to revive classical antiquity. That movement was called The Renaissance.


I've recently begun to notice a revival of the 80's. A couple of years ago there was another Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie(although it wasn't very good), The Transformers are back, and the Smurfs have made it to the movie theater. Star Wars is doing great with the younger generation because of the Clone Wars...and these are just movies. T.V. shows and pop music are even bringing back the 80's.

We currently live in a time called post-modernism. We have named ourselves. But, we keep looking to the past and commemorating it, probably because our own reality is not very pleasant. However, if reality is perception, why not perceive a better one?

Girls in the Galaxy...

As Halloween is approaching, my husband and I needed to decide what dress as for a party that we will be attending. My husband chose Star Wars characters, and specifically, a Storm Trooper. We like to match, so I looked up what kind of female characters there are to choose from. I was not all that familiar with Star Wars, and was a little surprised to find that in the movies, there are really only two female characters; Padme and her daughter Leia. Wow! patriarchy much?!

I am currently writing a paper that deals greatly with my appreciation for Walt Disney, and I find myself in a corner at times because of the over use of gender stereotypes in Disney films. But then I found Star Wars... I know that they are movies and that they are there for entertainment purposes, so I will not get too preachy, but really, only one female character in each film? No wonder there is so much chaos in that galaxy!

Youth Fiction

I recently finished reading The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I absolutely loved it! I don't want to say too much about it because I hope that those of you who enjoy reading will read this one. The story is great, but what I really appreciated was Zusak's style. It is unique. I enjoyed it so much that I have to ask a question. Why is it considered youth fiction? I am an adult and an undergrad English major and I found it to be very engaging. Is it called youth fiction because the protagonist is a child? When I think of youth fiction I think of children's books. What does youth fiction actually mean?

I do not ever want to be one of those people who writes a blog about nothing. I never want to end up writing, "I had a good week. Hope next week is good too!"...and that's all. But, I have been so preoccupied with school stuff that I when I sat down to write a blog, nothing profound came to mind. That is when I remembered my favorite teacher from high school who said, "When you can't think of what to write, just start writing and it will come to you." My English IV teacher from high school was amazing. In fact, amazing is an understatement. And, although I have always loved to read and write, I believe that this teacher changed my life, and the way that I see literature. She loved to teach and she was passionate about what she taught. I never had the opportunity to tell her what an amazing teacher she was; she retired the year I graduated.

My husband is a high school teacher and every now and then, a student will learn something that they think is amazing and they will say, "that's so cool, I'm gonna go home and tell my momma!" These moments of victory for my husband.

I realize now that regardless of what the school system says about a teacher and regardless of test scores, the true measure for a teacher is when they learn that they had an real affect on a student and they were able to transform that student into a life long learner.

I wish I had told Dr. MacArthur how amazing she was.