'Ella Enchanted' and 'Fairest' by Gail Carson Levine

by Burdge-bug

And from 'Fairest':

"Who judges the judge who judges wrong?"

"Voices and faces aren't manifestations of good or bad."

edit :: 1 April 2014

From 'Fairest', pg. 35

"And I expect you to wear both skirt and underskirt," the duchess had said. "I won't have you scantily clad."   Scantily! It would take a carpenter a month to drill through the skirts to find my legs. 

Blessed Assurance

i decided to record my singing for you- it's not perfect and i was interrupted a couple times, but i thought it would be humorous than something "perfect" and "put together".

here are the lyrics, 

blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! 

O what a foretaste of glory divine!

heir of salvation, purchase of God,

born of his spirit, washed in his blood.

this is my story,

this is my song,

praising my savior all the day long! (x2)

perfect submission, perfect delight! 

visions of rapture now burst on my sight; 

angels descending bring from above

echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

this is my story,

this is my song,

praising my savior all the day long! (x2)

perfect submission, all is at rest,

i in my savior am happy and blest;

watching and waiting,

looking above,

filled with his goodness, washed in his love. 

this is my story,

this is my song,

praising my savior all the day long! (x2)

Friendly Neighborhood Diagramming

First of two things: I diagrammed a sentence, Matthew 5.16 to be exact [: Wan'a see it?

I don't know that I put the word -that- in the right place, hence the floating question mark, but I figured the word -that- functioned the same as a conjunction (and, but, or). Although I guess technically -that- has an implied -so- so that is a conjunctive adverb... Right?




Second of two things: Who is my neighbor?

I am more familiar with the New Testament than with the Old Testament, I'm sure there are a bajillion reasons why that is, but for now, none of those will be expressly discussed. For now, I want to point something out.

Jeremiah 11.13,14 reads (originally formatted as poetry), "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his upper rooms bu injustice, who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing and does not give him his wages, (14) who says 'I will build myself a great house with spacious upper rooms.' who cuts out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion. ..." (ESV)

Now, there are hundreds of other references I could pull out that contain the word 'neighbor' (and that's just in the ESV) but I'll just reference the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10.25-37; ESV) which follows the question and answer:

"What is the greatest commandment? What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" / "You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind and your neighbor as yourself." / "And who is my neighbor?"

A man falls among robbers and is beaten to death. A priest, and a Levite walk by (men who are supposed to practice the greatest commandment), and a Samaritan (half blood/half caste) helps the man.

"Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?" / "The one who showed him mercy."

 Therefore, woe to him...who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing... Neighbors aren't just next door, across the street, or in the same town- the parable does not say that the priest, the Levite, and the victim, and the Samaritan (who probably lived in Samaria anyway, a place the priest and the Levite would've otherwise avoided) lived near each other when they weren't traveling. The parable purposefully chooses four men who are traveling, likely to come across anyone: friend or stranger.

"And Jesus said to him, 'You go, and do likewise." 

Good Readers

The following isn't really about teaching, but I would be remiss if I as an English teacher didn't at least once talk about reading.

Lately, I have been daydreaming about opening a tutoring center. Just me. In a house down the street and to the right. It's blue. I was thinking about teaching kids how to read properly. I don't mean how to read properly, like, "See Spot run." No, no, no, I mean, like translate Shakespeare and Tolstoy, and understand their context. But then, I don't know that parents would want to pay me just to let their kids read in cozy corners, they can do that at a library. But they don't. It's just, you know, parents sometimes already pay the stores in the mall for their kids so why should paying me to teach their kids to read a bad way to spend your money.

Because reading isn't passive. Reading consumes (or should consume) a person's entire being.

Reading won't develop your biceps any time soon (unless you're bench-pressing encyclopedias), please don't expect them to, but the ability to read well doesn't mean you can read 950 words a minute, or can discover the solution 30 pages before; the ability to read well, however, does mean that no matter what you read you allow yourself to be challenged by its theories, themes, conclusions, insights; etc.

Good readers appreciate a good plot, but crave a challenge, a statement, a purpose that requires more than me just turning the page. Good readers don't just want to find out what's next, they want to participate in what happens next for more than just experience, but for empathy. In books they may come across ogres, but in real life they'll be prepared to meet bullies.

Of course, all this has been said, but I should like to keep saying it: read, and read well.




Here's the teaching (-ish) bit!

Though I enjoy teaching English grammar (some phonetics), and literature, sometimes I feel those things futile when I don't have enough time to tell my students to use the tools I give them to read well because, I'll just be honest, having the tools to write and read well is very different from actually using those tools. Sure, I want them to know the difference between a question and a statement; sarcasm versus sincerity; a noun and an adverb; passive and active voice,, but if only there were an explicit, easy way to connect the two seemingly separate things.

Why should they be separate?! Working out is a vital part of any sports game, right? So why isn't the homework and in-class assignment I assign a vital part? Oh, that's right...because our educational system is more screwy than helpful. Man, I really need to learn how to make the system work for me.

i regret that i did not see [...]

i should have been a time traveler
to visit Ancient Egypt and Rome;
to dance with Cleopatra;
ridden dust storms under the Arabian sun.

i should have been a time traveler
to hunt woolly mammoths with Neanderthals;
to cover my mouth from the Black Plague;
to march with my ancestors against the colonizing brigades.

i should have been a time traveler
to build the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower,
then climb their unguarded rails without gear;
to hang from their pointed tops alone.

i should have been a time traveler
to ease Christ's pain, and van Gogh's, too.
but the former received redemption for his solitary sacrifice;
the latter chased after wispy, proper winds:
worried and irredeemable;
loving, but inconsolable.

i should have been a time traveler
to watch people meet and collide;
secretly, to help them along- a little push toward, or strong tug away.

i should have been a time traveler,
then i'd expect every cause from its every action.

i should have been a time traveler.

i should have been a time traveler
if only to erase my worst mistakes.

Tears Without Heart

Dear God,
   When was the last time you humbled me? I have no immediate recollection. Should I be worried because that means you're going to humble me soon? I don't know if I should ask for it or not. Even if my request were incredibly specific I should not like to ask wrongly, or let you work its loophole(s).
   Still...
   Please reveal to me the sins I unknowingly commit. I haven't arrived; of course I'm doing something wrong that requires all my attention (or at least most).
   I'm sorry that I sound too guarded and collected, but I don't always have the heart to weep. Besides, I always cry unexpectedly--I suppose that's true vulnerability: unplanned, unscheduled. Apparently, I'm not as vulnerable as I thought I am. Should I-?
   Help me be vulnerable. The walls I build between myself and the world are shoddy anyway; they try too hard to replace you. How do you do it? How are you strong enough to hold back the flood waters, but are willing to let me fight on the front lines? The former, so that I don't die (haha); the latter, that I might not cower.
   I know I already do very little, but thanks for sticking by me, anyway. And I know it'll never happen, but I'd like to strive to deserve you now that I have you...you have me? Whatever, it's a mutual belonging. You're all I've got, though I'm heartless and stubborn. Hell, you even gave me people on this side of heaven who love me. Thank you.
   Love you.

The call of Christ is always a promotion. -A.W. Tozer

i like circles.