Social Changes

We were introduced to the idea of Social change by Giovanni in the Life Changes piece we read last week. Social Change could be the Civil Rights movement, or other ways that change has come through while watching society grow and evolve. I want you to think about a time in your history that has impacted you.

For me, the explosion of the Spaceship Challenger, Desert Storm, and Oklahoma Bombings have all impacted the way I see the world. Now, there have been many more events that have impacted me, but these happened when I was in school or just outside of high school. My mother has said on many occasions that she will never forget where she was when she heard that JFK was shot.

Desert Storm was a tumultuous time for my family. My father was endanger of being activated and sent to fight. I was a senior in high school and the world was supposed to be a place filled with possibility, not war. My dad made T-shirts in the basement that said, "These colors don't run" underneath an American Flag. My school choir sang "Proud To Be an American" at the Spring concert and on April 12th, 1991 I joined The Army National Guard. Patriotism flowed through my family and school.

Think about a moment in your history that has impacted you. Where were you? Who were you with? How were you impacted? What changed in you at the moment?

Lessons Learned

Our book, The Glass Castle, is about family, survival, identity, and lessons.

Think about all of the lessons you have been taught by your family. These lessons may have come deliberately by your parents or family telling you directly, through your observation of family behaviors, or through movies, media, books, your family reads together.

My family has taught me many lessons. My Grandma Stella was a frugal woman. She was raised in a world where people didn't have much. She grew up in a holler--at the base of a mountain in West Virginia. She raised her children and her grandchildren to be spiritual. Religion was woven into the fabric of our family by her quoting of scriptures, running a Bible camp, and through her daily prayer.

My mother also taught us many lesson. One lesson that she taught her daughters had to do with fashion. She always would tell us when we went shopping to buy clothes because they looked good on us, not because they just looked good. Clothes should accent the parts of your shape that you like and hide the stuff you don't want people to see.

My Grandma Murphy taught me through her actions that it is our job in the world to be nice. Everyone deserves to be spoken to with respect, given the right to have kindness put upon them, and that silence in the presence of meanness doesn't make you weak, but wise. I never saw her speak harshly to another person. She was always gentle and kind to everyone.


These are three lessons that have been taught to me by the three woman who have most impacted my life. My daughters and my mother-in-law have also taught me many lessons.

For this post, list three lessons that have been taught to you by three different members of your family. Give a little background about the lesson and the person who taught it to you. How did you learn the lesson? Was it told directly to you, implied by their actions, a family tradition?

You only have until Friday at 7:00 p.m. to post. Anything after that time will not be counted!!!!

Parenting Memories

All of us have memories of our parents that will forever be stuck in our minds. These memories can be good, bad, sensory, emotional etc... Never the less, these memories help us to define our parents and who they are in our lives. Our parents influences through their actions, words, and beliefs.

One of my favorite memories of my dad comes from when I was five years old. A blizzard had taken Ohio by storm and many people were stranded. My father, a member of the Ohio National Guard, was called to duty--activated. This meant that he had to leave our house and help everyone else. We lived on a 33 acre farm and the roads were covered. My mom could not drive anywhere and food was getting slim. She called my dad to tell him we needed milk, eggs, bread, butter and the like. He promised to see what he could do. Later that day, I sat on the floor in the living room of our old farmhouse. I was watching television. I heard the propellers--whoosh, whoosh, whoosh--before I saw them. In the back of the house the snow swirled around in the air. An Army green helicopter landed in our back yard. In the middle of the swirling snow and propeller noise, my dad climbed out of the helicopter carrying bags of groceries. He walked through the white snow in his Army uniform--the hero to his family.

I'll never forget that moment. I think it was this image that motivated me to go into the military. I wanted to be more. I wanted to fill those big boots. I do know that not everyone will have a helicopter and the military in their stories. But think about a memory of a parent.

Describe the memory. Use vivid descriptive words. Explain why the memory is important to you. I want lots of details!!!!!!!! You may need to think about this and then come back to the writing. I also know that there are some memories that are not good. By the negative nature of the event, we are impacted. Share memories you do not feel uncomfortable having others read and respond to.

You only have until Friday at 7:00 p.m. to post. Anything after that time will not be counted!!!!

Sentence Scavenger Hunt

We are going on a scavenger hunt. Your mission, since you have no choice in accepting it, is to look through your favorite books--and not so favorite books, to find sentences that are interesting.

What does interesting mean? It means the structure of the sentences is interesting. Your sentences could be very long and complicated or they could be shorter but filled with solid strong vocabulary.

An example from The Glass Castle:
"I loved The Grapes of Wrath, Lord of the flies, and especially A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I thought Francie Nolan and I were practically identical, except that she had lived fifty years earlier in Brooklyn and her mother always kept the house clean. Francie Nolan's father sure reminded me of Dad. If Francie saw the good in her father, even though most people considered him a shiftless drunk, maybe I wasn't a complete fool for believing in mine."

These sentences are interesting because of the lists and the way the author interrupts her own writing with her thoughts.

This is what I want you to do. Find a small passage from a book that you have read, look at the sentences, determine what makes them interesting, and then tell us, the blog audience, why?

It's a very special time of year. Just as the summer reaches its optimum temperature, it is time to climb out of bed, put on jeans and funnel into the building with all of the others who have abandoned sleep.

I love to sleep in. Coming back to school takes 4 hours of sleep away from me. I cannot drink my pot of coffee each morning. I cannot sit and read for hours. I cannot just lay around. Now, I have two daughters, so the sitting around and doing nothing is not normal. Running the girls around and watching them engage in many new opportunities keeps me busy.

School is also about so many wonderful opportunities. Think about what you sacrifice as a result of school starting, but also think about what opportunities you gain. I gain new conversations, new friends, a new appreciation for learning and my passion is ignited. To everything, there is a pro and a con. What are the pros and cons of coming to school and educating yourself. What are you sure that education can and will do for you?

Be sure to speak to pros and cons!

Helping each other out!!!!

Use this opportunity to help answer each other's questions about the multi-genre essay. Do not give each other answers:(

Feel free to ask for revision help.
Feel free to ask about a specific genre.
Feel free to ask for opinions on word choice.

Do not ask for answers or for someone to write for you.
Do not ask for someone to think for you.

Enjoy working and helping each other.

Truth

It is interesting to me how we "spin the truth." We add details, leave them out, embellish. How do we know "the truth?"

One author that I adore, makes reference to the idea that truth is a matter of perspective. No matter where you are standing, your perspective determines what you see, feel, know. I saw a car accident once. I was getting ready to pull into the intersection and a car ran the red light. I was lucky. I was distracted and did not pull into the intersection as quickly as normal. The car across the way, however, got nailed.

My sister-in-law and I pulled over to call the police. We were both in the front seats and yet, both of us saw something different. Does her account of the story make mine wrong?

How do we know when the truth stares us in the face? Is the truth a logic based ideal or is it rooted in the heart and we know the truth by how guilt free our heart feels?
Does the truth ever evolve?