I've never been one who could completely leave my work at work and not carry it home with me. This is very hard on my kids. I have a few students who I would really like to strangle right now, but rather than smack them into next week I came home and yelled at MY kids, who didn't do anything wrong, relatively speaking. There's never a shortage of things to get on their cases about, but I usually at least ask how their day was before I start in on them.
Not today. Today I walked in the door and banished them all upstairs. I yelled at E about her grades, yelled at N for acting put out with me, and tossed C off the computer. M didn't do anything to annoy me, but she was banished, too. I feel kind of bad about that. But really, it was for their own protection. I know that when I get in one of my "moods", the last thing I want to do is be reasonable and rational. Any contact with me will end in bloodshed, and only rarely is it my blood. By just clearing out they save us both from a lot of meanness, 99% of it on my part. I wish I weren't so quick to get ticked off. I really need to work on that.
Sorry kids.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Religion in Literature
I just finished reading "London Calling" by Edward Bloor. I really enjoyed it, though it's technically Juvenile Fiction. The main characters are all Catholic and there is a strong religious thread throughout the book that I found so interesting. I hated "The DaVinci Code" and never even finished it because I was really offended by the way Catholics were portrayed in it. I'm not Catholic, obviously, but I'm really sensitive to people being made fun of for their religion. I hate it when people think that LDS people are a bunch of freaks just because they believe something different than others.
I was wondering, though, why a book with so much Catholicism in it is "mainstream", but a book with an LDS character would be published strictly in the "LDS" world? There was more religion in "London Calling" than there was in Dean Hughes' "Children of the Promise" series, and no one outside of the LDS community has probably heard of those books. I loved those books! Both "London Calling" and "Children" were about WWII, complicated family issues, personal struggles with faith, and divine intervention. But Deseret Book published "Children" and I doubt very many "outsiders" would consider reading them because they would consider them just LDS books.
You see the same thing in film, of course. LDS characters are always exaggerated caricatures, either too simple minded or too corrupt. They're rarely "real people". Even within the LDS film community, LDS people are portrayed as extremely naive, gullible, and lacking basic thought processes. I've been a member of this church since I was eight years old, 36 years now. I don't see too many people who are that silly, though most people in the world are capable of pretty stupid moments. But to choose those particular moments to represent an entire group of people is pretty unoriginal, I think.
I was wondering, though, why a book with so much Catholicism in it is "mainstream", but a book with an LDS character would be published strictly in the "LDS" world? There was more religion in "London Calling" than there was in Dean Hughes' "Children of the Promise" series, and no one outside of the LDS community has probably heard of those books. I loved those books! Both "London Calling" and "Children" were about WWII, complicated family issues, personal struggles with faith, and divine intervention. But Deseret Book published "Children" and I doubt very many "outsiders" would consider reading them because they would consider them just LDS books.
You see the same thing in film, of course. LDS characters are always exaggerated caricatures, either too simple minded or too corrupt. They're rarely "real people". Even within the LDS film community, LDS people are portrayed as extremely naive, gullible, and lacking basic thought processes. I've been a member of this church since I was eight years old, 36 years now. I don't see too many people who are that silly, though most people in the world are capable of pretty stupid moments. But to choose those particular moments to represent an entire group of people is pretty unoriginal, I think.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
My Latest Playlist
I love music. Sometimes it's stuff I listened to in college, but more recently it's stuff that E has turned me onto. But it's a two-way street, since I've been around a lot longer than her and have a few cool favs up my sleeve.
I have a love-hate relationship with iTunes. I'm not crazy about song-fade, I wish I had more options about how to arrange my playlist, and I wish everything were in mp3 format instead of iTunes so my husband could listen to them on his Palm. Other than that, I'm a big fan. When E showed me how to burn CDs, it opened up a whole new world. I used to think I was technologically savvy, but that was back when I got an electric typewriter for graduation instead of the manual versions my brother and sister got. So burning CDs was a big step for me.
I don't speak French, although I wish I did, and when I try to my accent is really frightening. But I do love little cafe songs. The trick is to find songs that aren't whiny. If you've ever listened to Edith Piaf, you know how hard it is to find them. But I have a few on here that are pretty catchy and Tinkerbell loves to dance all over the house to them.
I'm also not a big original Rat Pack girl. Frank Sinatra gives me the creeps, quite frankly. But I do love covers of the old songs, and some Bobby Darin.
Enjoy!
1. Amber--311
2. Beyond the Sea--Bobby Darin
3. Boum--Charles Trenet
4. Come Fly With Me--Michael Buble
5. Dance Away--Roxy Music
6. Don't Stop the Dance--Bryan Ferry
7. Fever--Peggy Lee
8. Girlfriend In A Coma--The Smiths
9. The Lovecats--The Cure
10. Mack the Knife--Bobby Darin
11. More Than This--Roxy Music
12. My Baby Just Cares for Me--Nina Simone
13. Save the Last Dance for Me--Michael Buble
14. Slave to Love--Bryan Ferry
15. So Long, You Fool--Sophie Milman
16. Sway--Michael Buble
17. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)--Talking Heads
18. Verlaine--Charles Trenet
19. Via Con Me--Paolo Conte
20. The Way I Am--Ingrid Michaelson
21. When Did Your Heart Go Missing?--Rooney
22. 100 Days, 100 Nights--Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
23. 1234--Feist
I have a love-hate relationship with iTunes. I'm not crazy about song-fade, I wish I had more options about how to arrange my playlist, and I wish everything were in mp3 format instead of iTunes so my husband could listen to them on his Palm. Other than that, I'm a big fan. When E showed me how to burn CDs, it opened up a whole new world. I used to think I was technologically savvy, but that was back when I got an electric typewriter for graduation instead of the manual versions my brother and sister got. So burning CDs was a big step for me.
I don't speak French, although I wish I did, and when I try to my accent is really frightening. But I do love little cafe songs. The trick is to find songs that aren't whiny. If you've ever listened to Edith Piaf, you know how hard it is to find them. But I have a few on here that are pretty catchy and Tinkerbell loves to dance all over the house to them.
I'm also not a big original Rat Pack girl. Frank Sinatra gives me the creeps, quite frankly. But I do love covers of the old songs, and some Bobby Darin.
Enjoy!
1. Amber--311
2. Beyond the Sea--Bobby Darin
3. Boum--Charles Trenet
4. Come Fly With Me--Michael Buble
5. Dance Away--Roxy Music
6. Don't Stop the Dance--Bryan Ferry
7. Fever--Peggy Lee
8. Girlfriend In A Coma--The Smiths
9. The Lovecats--The Cure
10. Mack the Knife--Bobby Darin
11. More Than This--Roxy Music
12. My Baby Just Cares for Me--Nina Simone
13. Save the Last Dance for Me--Michael Buble
14. Slave to Love--Bryan Ferry
15. So Long, You Fool--Sophie Milman
16. Sway--Michael Buble
17. This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)--Talking Heads
18. Verlaine--Charles Trenet
19. Via Con Me--Paolo Conte
20. The Way I Am--Ingrid Michaelson
21. When Did Your Heart Go Missing?--Rooney
22. 100 Days, 100 Nights--Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
23. 1234--Feist
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Let The Carnage Begin
I'm no great writer by any means, but I can spell most words correctly. That puts me higher on the evolutionary scale than some, I suppose, yet still leaves lots of room for improvement. Not sure what I'll talk about, but if politicians can get away with it ...
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