If a Body Catch a Body

I suppose Catcher in the Rye certainly qualifies as classic literature now, seeing as how teenagers can no longer relate (said with a frustrated sigh) . . .

Get a Life, Holden Caulfield


The article states,

"The culture is also more competitive. These days, teenagers seem more interested in getting into Harvard than in flunking out of Pencey Prep. Young people, with their compulsive text-messaging and hyperactive pop culture metabolism, are more enchanted by wide-eyed, quidditch-playing Harry Potter of Hogwarts than by the smirking manager of Pencey’s fencing team (who was lame enough to lose the team’s equipment on the subway, after all). Today’s pop culture heroes, it seems, are the nerds who conquer the world — like Harry — not the beautiful losers who reject it."


I say to you all, what's wrong with a good smirk now and again???

Las Mariposas

A short essay I wrote for my class this summer after reading In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez. . . .



On November 25, 1960, three women of the Dominican Republic headed home from visiting their husbands in prison were ambushed on a mountain overpass and assassinated by SIM officers sent by then-dictator Rafael Trujillo. Although it was staged to appear as a car accident, it was discovered that the women were killed in a sugar-cane field first then placed back into the car which was then rolled over the side of a mountain. These three women were the Mirabel sisters, also known as Las Mariposas (The Butterflies), and had been outspoken against Trujillo’s regime. Because of this, the sisters were viewed as a threat to the stability of Trujillo’s dictatorship; however, his plan to eliminate the sisters and thus their revolutionary ideas backfired because with their murders more citizens became interested in their cause. A little more than six months later, Trujillo himself was assassinated (“Rafael Trujillo”, n.d.; “The Butterflies,” 2000). A fourth Mirabel sister and many the progeny of the assassinated sisters still lives today; in fact, one daughter is currently serving as a senator.


While many in the United States, including children and adolescents, have heard of Fidel Castro and know at least some information about his reign in Cuba, the same cannot be said of Rafael Trujillo’s reign over the Dominican Republic. Although the United States “has a strong interest in a democratic, stable, and economically healthy Dominican Republic” and “has been an outspoken supporter of that country's democratic and economic development” (“Dominican Republic,” 2008), very little about this country is seen in the news or taught in the schools. This could be because the United States originally supported Trujillo’s hold over the country, but later change its views when Trujillo’s idea of government began to follow that of Castro (“Rafael Trujillo: Dominican Dictator”, n.d.) or it could be that since the Dominican Republic now has a government that is essentially identical to our own (“Dominican Republic Government,” n.d.), the need to defame those in power is no longer there. Whatever the case may be, this country, which is the “largest Caribbean economy” and “an important partner in hemispheric affairs” (“Dominican Republic,” 2008), often does not even appear as a blip on our radar.


The same can be said of the assassinated Mirabel sisters: Minerva, Patria, and Maria Teresa. These were citizens who risked their lives to defend their beliefs, people who formed political cells, distributed inflammatory literature, and even spent time in prison (“The Butterflies,” n.d.). In fact, their struggle was so well recognized that in 1999 the United Nations declared that November 25th, the day Trujillo assassinated the sisters, to be the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women” (United Nations, 2009). So how is it that many Americans do not even realize that this day exists, much less the reason for its existence?


In the United States we speak reverently of great figures who shaped our country: Anne Bradshaw, George Washington, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Molly Pitcher, Sitting Bull, Harriet Tubman, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and many more. These are people who believed in something, and acted on their beliefs. In America, we respect that need to speak up despite possible consequences and honor people who do so. Much like the figures listed above were central figures in shaping American political and social history, the Mirabel sisters and the reign of Trujillo were crucial in shaping the history of the Dominican Republic and we as teachers need to understand that, and even more, to respect it.

- - - - - - - - -

This leads me to my next topic: U.S. sponsored dictatorships. An update on that in the near future.

Summer Classes

I did a count today and I only have two and a half weeks left in one of my summer classes. Surprisingly enough, though, I am actually not rejoicing at the thought of finishing it. In one sense I will be glad when it ends because it means I only have one class left until graduation; one the other hand, it really is a very interesting class and the instructor does a fabulous job with the discussion groups, readings, and assignments. Not once so far have I felt that any of the assignments were "busy work" and for that I am grateful.

But maybe another reason I will be sad when it ends is because right after this class ends my adolescent literature class begins. Six weeks, twelve classes, each almost four hours long. Plus the reading, oi, the reading! I absolutely LOVE to read, but the book list is a bit ridiculous. In addition to two textbooks, we have 22 novels to read and review -- in six weeks. We also have several other assignments that will take quite a chunk of time (meaning many of my waking hours). I just thank God that I have reading many of the required books and that I read quickly in general; I really feel for those people who have not / do not.

But the worst part? I have to interact with people and do silly little face to face discussions or activities and listen to people ramble on and on. I also discovered that I am in the class with a former groupmate of mine from another class, one with whom things did not go well at all. I can only hope that she is not as silly in this class as she was in my online class.

That wraps it up -- looks like it is time to start some books reviews. Joy.


ETA: ACK!! Silly girl is at it already!! I will not toture myself by posting to the online forum yet because that means that I will feel the need to read (and read and read, in her case) the posts made. Instead, I believe I will compose on Word and then add later.

Teaching AP

I want to teach AP classes, but unfortunately the summer institute for my area begins in a week and costs $500 so it does not look like I will be doing it this year. I suppose I'll have to shoot for next year instead.

Speaking of teaching, I signed another contract with the school I have been at for several years. Thus my job hunt ends. I am teaching one subject I have never taught before, but I am not concerned about this since it is a subject I am good with. Also the teacher who has taught it the past several years have me all of her folders that included pre-made tests. hands-on activities, etc. so I am feeling very optimistic about it.

Summer vacation is almost here!

More Remi

Before I deleted a slew of posts, I had up there a live-action Mario Kart video. Now for your enjoyment, I bring you . . .

PACMAN!

Sleep Would Be a Good Thing

On the downside, I was never able to remember what I was going to write about earlier.

On another downside, I think I am headed for another breakdown if I do not get some sleep soon. Also, no more dreams, please.

Silence is Golden

I had the perfect post all planned out and then my daughter started jabbering in my ear about Star Wars. I had the briefest flash before it was gone, but the sound of her making light saber noises made it dissipate.

Hopefully I'll remember it later; if so, I'll write about it then.

Unforeseen

Today I was talking with a friend and she mentioned that somebody that we had gone to school with has cancer. She linked me to her blog and urged me to check it out. Since I was procrastinating from doing my school work at the time, I did it right then and there.

I just finished reading her journal and I am heartbroken for her. My age, but with stage four cancer. Treatment after treatment and it is not slowing down -- in fact, the tumors are growing larger every time she turns around and they keep spreading.

I do not know why this affects me so much; after all, I was not friends with this person. Maybe it is because she is my age and looks like she has only a few months left. Her child is much younger than mine and she would be left without a mom because of a cancer that grew out of control.

I think this was the sign I have been waiting for. I can stay in my job and keep plugging along, be unhappy, never really going anywhere with my life and wasting it. Or I can leave now and possibly put my life back on track so that I can be with my own child and enjoy my time with her.

I am about to start weeping again, so I think it time to stop writing.

Stick Me with a Fork

. . . because I'm done.

Life wins, I lose. I'm giving up for now. Too tired to keep playing the game.

Take Note of This

A friend passed this on to me and now I am sharing it all with you:


"We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.

But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions". In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right."

-- Neil Postman, foreword from Amusing Ourselves to Death

Moving Closer, Moving Further Away

I find it ironic that I enjoy the music, learning about information found in the Bible, and listening to sermons, but I do not enjoy the experience of connectedness with God. Intellectual discussions stimulate me; the emotional ones do not. Lately my prayers have been a quick, "thanks for watching over us, blah blah blah" and I am finding that I am only halfway interested in what I am saying. It's not that I *can't* connect, it's that I do not care whether or not it happens.

I am not sure if this qualifies as a crisis of faith seeing as how it does not really bother me. I simply find it peculiar, that's all.