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Online Book Club: The Handmaid’s Tale
A few weeks ago I joined an online book discussion group hosted by Trish at Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’? The actual discussion takes place at Classic Reads Book Club and the discussions are truly awesome. We’re reading The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, this is one of my favorite books. I read it in high school and again in college. I’ve even referenced it in papers when I took women’s history/studies courses. Honestly, the topics for discussion are endless: women, fertility, religious freedom, tolerance, politics, marriage, children, etc. If you’ve never read this book, I’d highly recommend it. I’ve tried to read other Margaret Atwood’s but I just didn’t get…
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Back in the Saddle Again
Tonight I attended the New Adjunct Faculty Orientation at the university where I’ll be teaching. Yay! Can I tell you how excited I am to be back in the saddle classroom again? I truly enjoy teaching and interacting with students, I think I learn just as much in the process as they do. For me, learning is a collaborative experience between the students and the instructor. If I stand in front of the students droning on and on about whatever, they learn absolutely nothing but when the students are engaged and challenged, oh my gosh, you can see the wheels turning. Seriously, nothing is better than hearing a student say “You…
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17 Years Ago Today…
I gave birth to my first child. Like all mother’s I remember that day as if it were yesterday…. It was a hot and sticky day and I was stationed at Fort Polk, Louisiana and I was 4 days past my due date. To say I was miserable would be putting it mildly. I woke up early that morning with a slight tightening of my stomach but nothing that indicated that labor would be occurring any time soon. My doctor had scheduled a check up for later that afternoon, so I went to work and waited for my appointment. I was literally praying that the doctor would induce labor. Being…
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Music Review: Chamber Music Society by Esperanza Spalding
Chamber Music is a form of classical music that is written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. The term “chamber” implies privacy and intimacy, therefore, “chamber music” has been described as the “music of friends.” And by the time you finish listening to this CD you will feel as if you have been accepted into a society of friends. Which is appropriate, since I was introduced to the music of Esperanza Spalding through the ravings of an old high school friend. Backed by pianist Leo Genovese and drummer Terri Lynne Carrington, bassist Esperanza Spalding’s vocals blend so seamlessly with the instruments…
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Tony Preparing for the Race
Every now and then I write about Tony and his racing and how much I enjoy riding in the car with him. I don’t ride often but when I do, it’s crazy fun. Imagine whipping around the orange cones in a big ol’ parking lot, tires squealing, smoke and exhaust filling the air…. Woot! Tony does what they call “cone killing” with the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). I haven’t been able to get video of him racing yet, but I did catch him setting up for tomorrow’s race…
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Coffee Talk: Magazines and Women Over Forty
Here’s the article from the Today Show that I was referring to in the video. When magazines put “real” women on the covers, the sells go up and outsell the mags with young and thin on the cover, so why don’t more magazines cater to the average woman?
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Second College Visit: Lock Haven University
Today Miss 16 and I went on a tour of Lock Haven University and we both fell in love. The drive down was fairly uneventful, actually that’s not true ~ I did break out into song and dance during our 2 hour drive. Miss 16 sat quietly staring at me while shaking her head. On the way down we wondered what the campus would be like and if we’d like it. Miss 16 said she hoped it would be something like the scene from Oz ~ that we’d drive through the rain and Emerald City would burst through the haze. Well, it wasn’t Emerald City but it was The Haven.…
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Is This Bad Parenting or Just Kids Being Kids?
I watched this video of the Masche sextuplets on the Today Show and I was absolutely floored. Fa~loored! Those kids were absolutely positively out of control and the parents weren’t doing anything to stop it. You’ve got little boy standing behind Natalie Morales in the chair swinging at the other kid and hitting her in the back, the others are running around like they’ve just escaped from prison… Of course, the parents couldn’t regain control of their kids because their home training should have started at home. Seriously folks, you don’t let your kids go to someone’s house (and for all intents and purposes, the Today Show set is the…
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Book Review: What We Have: One Family’s Inspiring Story About Love, Loss, and Survival by Amy Boesky
What would you do if your family was genetically predisposed to cancer? Would you live your life in fear of developing the disease or would you live every day as if it were your last? This is the backdrop against which author and English professor, Amy Boesky, has lived her life. The women in her family have what can only be described as a generational curse ~ by the age of forty~five all of them develop and ultimately die from ovarian cancer. This memoir is a touching tribute to the women in her family and their attempts to live life to the fullest even in the face of overwhelming odds.…
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First College Visit: Wilkes University
I took another step towards letting go of Miss 16. We visited Wilkes University today. Commence wailing and moaning. Our appointment was at 1 PM, the admissions rep didn’t meet us until 1:17. I’m the type of person who is early for everything, especially when other people are dependent on me. Needless to say I was slightly peeved and told Miss 16 that we were leaving if our rep didn’t show up by 1:20. It’s not like we just showed up, we had an appointment… Anyway, the rep (along with two of her colleagues) met with us for about 20 or 25 minutes. I took notes while Miss 16 asked and answered questions. …
