You were my, what, fifth grade teacher? The inscription is in my hand, but it says, ” From: Mrs. Senuta, To: Brie.” If my memory serves me correctly, you also gave me a reader’s journal with it. That too, has been carried with me, untouched for all these years.
So here is by book report, long over due.
M.C. Higgins, The Great is an enchanting story of one boy’s journey through defining who he is in relation to the world. For a boy who lives on the mountain, far from a city life, he has plenty of conflicting forces in his world.
He wants to acheive greatness, even if it comes through his mother’s success in the music world. He wants off the mountain, as he thinks only devestation exists for him there (and he may be right). He has conflict about the boy who could be defined as both his best friend and no more than a shadow, since MC’s world has taught him that Ben is not something to be valued. He wants to be something his father is not, to be able to move about the world as his father seemingly can’t, which I believe is what draws him to the pole. He can climb the metal pole with ease, escaping from the world beneath him, watching over the distance to be a protector and a provider, something Jones (his father) isn’t.
It isn’t until he gets caught up in his desire to know Lurhetta, though, that the story gets interesting for me. He meets this girl, is drawn to her freedom, and seemingly wants to tame her. He again, is conflicted about his true desire, swinging from wanting to keep her on the mountain and wanting to run away with her.
She is able to teach him to view the world more openly, though, as she pushes him to accept Ben (the “six-fingered witchy”) for what he is, a true friend and confidant. In doing so, she also teaches him that the mountain is in fact what he loves, much as it is what his father loves, and is likely to be what his children someday will love, too.
MC is not destined to be his father, though, which is the beauty of this novel. For as much as some traits may be passed down a genetic line, there are always choices to be made, such as which walls to tear down, and which to build up.
02. list your obsessions. what do you think about, obsess over, what types of things, ideas, ideals, plans, dreams, and hopes consume your mind? what are you known for? wearing red lipstick? write about that.
One of my obsessions in the morning is that I decide on which underwear and bra to wear first. This determines the color scheme I will be wearing that day. It isn’t as though I have to match the bra color to the shirt color (that would be too expensive for my cheapskate personality), but it has to belong to the same laundry family. For example, if I’m wearing a black bra, I have to wear a shirt that could be washed with blacks (reds, oranges, blacks). I will occasionally allow an off-white bra to be worn with very light blue sweater, but that is as far from the scheme as I allow myself to stray.
Granted, I assume this is not a highly unusual behavior, to match the undergarments with the outergarments. Remember, though, I choose the underwear first. And then I have to stick with it.
I might cycle through three or more outfits before finalizing what I wear for the day, but once the underwear and bra are out of the dresser drawers, my color scheme choices are limited. These choices consume my mind for the first 20 minutes of the day, and they are the most peaceful minutes I have.
I don’t have time to obsess over much through the rest of the day, though I certainly have my share of addictions. Coffee, everything bagels, the internet and all of its social facets, excel spreadsheets, books, food, radio, mixed CDs… each addiction shares my energy. Though, books consume most of my personal budget on a weekly basis.
I love Half Price Books, a used book store chain. I’m also a cheapskate (see above) and so I spend most of my browsing time in the clearance section of a used book store. I’ve found a few wonderful books, plenty of horrid ones, and more unsavored ones as of yet. I cannot release books from my ownership once I have them, and I currently have over 1,000 books catalogued in my personal library.
I try to read at least 50 full length books in a year. For the past two years, I’ve written at least a short review of every young adult novel, fiction, or non-fiction that I’ve read.
My hope is that someday, I will have record of reading and reviewing 1,000 books, and by that time, I hope to have over 2,000 catalogued. If I have ever read everything that I own, I will be a very sad Brianna.
All in all, I am sure very few people notice my clothing. I am far from chic, but I think I look mostly presentable a fair amount of the time. I hope I am known for my personal library, though. And I hope to share my love of books with each and every person I have a close relationship with.
Hayden has taken to randomly stripping around the house. We’ll be hanging out and playing and all of the sudden - BAM - naked 4 year-old. He’s got nudity Tourette’s or something.
This weekend as Brie and I were working in the kitchen while the boys were playing. Hayden was running around between the living room and the kitchen.
Suddenly he bursts into the kitchen bare-ass naked singing “I have a penis! I have a penis!” then suddenly covering his shame he changed the song to “I have a penis and you can’t see it! I have a penis and you can’t see it!”
He’s also taken up the habit of shouting “Tada!” every time he strips, but I’m pretty sure he gets that from me…
Fortunately this hasn’t happened in the grocery store. Yet.
This is a nice collection of Ender-related stories, meant to give you a better feel for the Ender character and various aspects of who he is and how he came to be the character in the Ender-saga.
My favorite stories are the ones about his father and mother, and how their lives shaped how they brought Ender up in the world. Perhaps this is because I am completely in love with the backstories of just about every piece of fiction that exists (cut-backs in television, prequels in literature, Episode I, II and II being the only Star Wars movies I’ve seen completely). Suffice it to say, this is a nice collection for any fan of Ender Wiggin, though it isn’t something that every reader would want to pick up.
This collection of short stories gives more insight into the character, but adds little in the way of plot or theme.
I went to school for Creative Writing. I love to write, but I find myself too bogged down with everyday life to actually do it at any time other than November each year… so here goes.
Sunken Treasure is a terrific way to introduce yourself to Wil Wheaton’s writing, or to get a bit of a happy buzz if you’ve read other works. For me (as much as I love Wheaton, his blog posts tend to go over my head, and I skip them), my favorite piece was the Criminal Minds Diary, as I thought this was a window into Wheaton as both the actor and writer.
On another note, I hope everyone who reads this collection is also a fan of the musical artist, Jonathan Coulton. He makes a wonderful appearance.
Little’s exploration of the immense world of language is an interesting and intriguing read. Yes, she assumes some knowledge of grammar from her readers, but even if you don’t have that knowledge, there is still insight to be gained.
There are tidbits of uniqueness for nearly all the major languages, and plenty of the minor ones, too. This expansive topic is dealt with in an organized, but not a text-book, manner, which I greatly appreciated.
I love words and communication, though I am far from a language fanatic. Still, I loved this book for giving me snippets of languages that might lead me to further exploration and some that might lead me as far away from the language as possible. (For example, as an accountant, I probably would not do well with the language Piraha, which has words for numbers only to the extent of “small size or amount” and “slightly larger size or amount.”)
This is an easy read, and one that can be flipped through in order to find a bit of trivia, or read in detail to get a better feel for just what language means to each of the cultures in our world.
Another addition to the Ender stories, and a welcome one at that. While it isn’t exactly an important story to the over all arch of the Ender series, it is an important element to the character development within the Enderverse. We are given another glimpse into Battle School and the children who are there; at the same time, we are given a bit ofanother window into what Ender’s family was going through after his departure, being shown that his mother missed him, his brother still envied him.
My memory of Ender’s Game is a bit fuzzy, but I want to say I remember the boy who wouldn’t shoot his weapon in battle games, and this is his story, primarily. It is a quick and easy read, and a nice way to get back into the Ender story line… although the comics are a nice way to do that, too.
This is a winter season read, which I enjoyed, even though it is now February. It will likely be a novella I pick up in the future in December, as a way to remind myself that gifts are not just for receiving… they do a lot for the happiness of the giver, too.
Maybe Bill Gates isn’t the most popular man with everyone, but he is definitely a very intelligent man who is dedicated to improving the world with his vast resources. Surely, his goals are noble.
But yesterday he crossed a line and started down the path of supervillainy when while making trying to educate people on the issue of malaria he unleashed a swarm of mosquitos on some of our brightest minds saying that ‘There is no reason only poor people should be infected’.
I’m sure it seemed like a good idea to add a little discomfort to the world’s elite to prove your point, but what will you do when it doesn’t work?
Next time will you ensure they’re malaria infected mosquitoes? Will you poison our drinking water to teach us how much we’re polluting it ourselves? Will you carve your face into Mount Rushmore to prove how much more you care about us than our most famous presidents?
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