Holidays

      Well, we have about two weeks until Christmas.  I am in shock at how quickly the time has flown  this first semester.  It seems the older I get, the faster time goes.  My elders have been telling me this for years, but being that they are older and youth possesses a tinge of arrogance, I have listened with only one ear.  They are right.  It is easy for this time of year to go by very quickly.  One of the ways to slow the time down is to take the time to remember tradition.  Each of us has our own set of traditions that have either been started with our own immediate families or started with the previous generations.

      These traditions are what root us to the family tree.  These, more than anything, shape our belief systems, build our stories, and define who we are and will be.  In my family, we have many traditions.  One of our traditions is that I host Christmas Eve dinner at my house.  I invite my family that lives near by or is town for the holidays.  If everyone comes, I usually cook for about 25-30 people.  It is wonderful to have everyone one at my home.  Another tradition is rolled into the food.  Like most, I make candy: chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered Oreos, and chocolate covered peanuts.  I make pumpkin roll, and the usual cut outs for my kids to decorate.  I also make snicker doodles.  These are a family favorite.  Christmas would not seem like Christmas without them. 
      About seven years ago, my grandmother passed away.  I was in the middle of making this cookie when my dad called to tell me his mom had died.  It was a very hard time.  I tell you this because whenever I make this cookie and continue the tradition, it is more than just baking.  It is about remembering those who have impacted us in ways we can never find the words to appropriately describe.  It is about slowing time to spend one more moment with the ones we love and to build future memories for our children.  My brother once made the statement when he was younger that he wanted a good "Look back to his future."  We all laughed at the illogical nature of the statement.  But it is true.  Everything we do is about a "look back to our futures." 
      Your blog this week is for you to explain one family tradition at this holiday time and what "look back to your future" it has given you.  What will you remember and what has it taught you?

You have many Ayn Rand quotes listed below.  She is the author of many books: Atlas Shrugged, Fountainhead, and Anthem to name a few.  Her books have created and caused many emotion filled conversations.  I would like to pick one quote from the list below.  Copy the quote into your comment box and then respond to it.  Do you agree or disagree?  Why or why not?  Does it ring true?  Why or why not.


It stands to reason that where there’s sacrifice, there’s someone collecting sacrificial offerings. Where there’s service, there’s someone being served. The man who speaks to you of sacrifice, speaks of slaves and masters. And intends to be the master.


Run for your life from any man who tells you that money is evil. That sentence is the leper’s bell of an approaching looter. So long as men live together on earth and need means to deal with one another — their only substitute, if they abandon money, is the muzzle of a gun.

From this simplest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from a single attribute of man — the function of his reasoning mind.

Competition is a by-product of productive work, not its goal. A creative man is motivated by the desire to achieve, not by the desire to beat others.

Man’s unique reward, however, is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself. If a drought strikes them, animals perish — man builds irrigation canals; if a flood strikes them, animals perish — man builds dams; if a carnivorous pack attacks them animals perish — man writes the Constitution of the United States. But one does not obtain food, safety or freedom — by instinct.

Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual).

Civilization is the progress toward a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his tribe. Civilization is the process of setting man free from men.

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received — hatred. The great creators — the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors — stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.

I swear by my life and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.

Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion — when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing — when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors — when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you — when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice — you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that is does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot.

So you think that money is the root of all evil? ... Have you ever asked what is the root of money? Money is a tool of exchange, which can’t exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them. Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears, or of the looters, who take it from you by force. Money is made possible only by the men who produce. Is this what you consider evil?  —Ayn Rand

Stories and lessons

We all grow up with stories.  These stories are rooted in our families and the conversations that we have on a daily and seasonal basis.  I have shared with you before that I come from a family of story tellers.  We are always telling stories.  On Thanksgiving during dinner, my 91 year old grandfather told a story that caused my sister to turn five shades of red and me to stop mid gulp for fear of having my Diet Pepsi come out of my nose.  I cannot tell you that story, but I will tell you another. 

When my mom was a kid she would race her friend to school every day.  My mom came out of the house and was determined to win.  She jumped on her bike and headed down the street.  In her haste, she failed to see the uneven sidewalk and instead of gliding over it, she hit the sidewalk head on and flipped the bike.  She hit the ground, and her bike landed on top of her.  There, she was sprawled out on the sidewalk for all drivers to see.  As she lay there, the school bus drove by.  My mother looked the other way, and to the person driving by, she appeared to be unconscious.  At the same time, three men were on their way to the cemetery down the street to bury a family member.  They were in the limousine.  They stopped and picked my mother up to take her home.  My mom stayed home from school that day, but her sister had already left.  When her sister arrived at the school, the students who had observed the accident reported that my mother had died, and she had been picked up by the funeral car.  Needless to say, my aunt was hysterical with worry and fear.  The school called the house to confirm the story.  My mother answered the phone and assured them she was alive and well.  My aunt was comforted  once she heard the news.

In looking at this story, there is a lesson to be learned.  When my mother would tell it, the lesson would get lost in the laughter, but the lesson remained nonetheless.  The lesson could be to not allow pride to keep you from paying attention.  It could be that we should not jump to conclusions or make judgements until we know the whole story, or it could be that gossip never results in trustworthy information. 

Your assignment is to tell us a school appropriate family story.  Add the details--descriptions, thoughts and feelings.  Once you have told the story, tell us what lesson could be taken form your family story.  You must tell us the lesson.

I encourage you to read other stories posted this week.  These stories that we tell are about us and the community we live within. 

In a week, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving.  For many this is one of the only times we express our gratitude for those around us and for what we have.  This week's blog is a time for us to think about what we are thankful for. 

I am thankful to have a family that no matter my mood they are there for me.  They always accept me. I am thankful for the laughter and hugs of my children.  They are my smile.  No matter what my day has been like, my children remind of what is important.  I am thankful to still have my grandfather around.  He is the living embodiment of my family line.  He brings the history and stories of our past to the future.  He reminds me of what a man/father should be: strong, courageous, passionate about life, gentle, loving, an example for his family.  My grandparents were married for 62 years and my grandpa only ever had eyes for my grandma.  I am thankful for my husband and the family we have together.  I am thankful for all that I have worked for and earned through that hard word.  I am thankful that I get to go to work each day and be part of your lives, to watch you learn, to watch you prepare to embark on your greatest journey, and to watch you graduate at the end of the year. 

Your assignment this week is to post what you are thankful for. 

Happy Thanksgiving and welcome to the holiday season!

The music that we love

Music speaks to us in ways we cannot begin to explain.  It is not just about the lyrics, the artist, the notes written together to form a sound.  It is a conversation that takes place between the music and the soul.  It is the moment when you listen to a song and that song resonates with you like none other. 

We play the song over and over memorizing the chills that run up and down our spine, recalling the way we are transported to another world, internalizing the way we become consumed by a the music--wrapped in it knowing for the three to four minutes it plays we are held prisoner.  This is music.

My description my not be accurate for all of us.  I can only speak to the way music possesses me.  There are many songs that have become part of my DNA.  Many of them songs that others have not heard of or thought about.  One such song comes from the musical Les Miserables.   (Click Les Mis) Listen to the song.  It is not important to me that you like or respond to it the way I do.  What is important is that you think about your own song.

After you listen, respond by commenting on a song that is equally as important to you.  Explain why you like the song and why it is significant.  Is it the lyrics, the music, the moment when you heard it?  Sometimes the time and place we hear a song drives the song deeper into our emotion.  The last question you must answer is whether or not your song has "Musical merit."  Is your song respected in the music world?  Why or why not?  (The song I picked is part of a musical which is thought by many to be one of the greatest musicals written.  It has been performed by many and been around for over 25years.)

Happy blogging!!!!

Argument

Everywhere we look, we are faced with people, organizations, and groups making an argument.  We have looked at how these arguments are made and the techniques employed to persuade us.  We know that now with the election coming to a close, the debates, adds, and mailings are speaking the loudest.  This begs the question: what other mediums are trying to persuade us through their arguments?   

I would like you to pick one of the three songs presented here.  Listen to one and then, determine what argument is being made.  Once you have identified the argument, explain how they are trying to persuade us: facts and stats, author credibility, or emotional appeals.  Reference a specific part of the song lyrics or video that has helped you to come to this understanding.

Here are the three song links:
Cage the Elephant
Martina McBride
Common ft and Will.i.am

Happy listening!

A good story should...

We have all grown up with stories.  We tell stories at the dinner table, while driving in the car, or while walking with family members.  In my family, we are story tellers.  My mom would tell me stories while she brushed my hair or when we sat on the front porch.  These stories are what allow our family roots to grow together tangling each of us up in a common history.

As a little girl, we would visit my grandparents in Painesville.  Our ritual was to walk through the cemetery talking to each other, reading the headstones, and recalling other family histories.  One story that we loved to recount was the story of the man whose headstone read "not guilty." Additionally, we loved to hear about how my parents met, and how my dad lost his wallet in the Grand River while trying to impress my mother.  Stories help us make sense of the world.  They allow us to come to conclusion as to what is true and what is not true.  I want you to look at your list of things said to be true. 

Tell the story that helped you come to know this.  On my list, I wrote, "The more we let others into our lives, the richer we become in knowledge."  I believe this completely. Here is my story:

I have always been shy.  Social scenes make me nervous.  I am not good with letting others in my life nor am I good at sharing.  My husband, however, has always had a very strong group of friends.  When we started dating, I was welcomed into this very close-knit group whose history was so rich.  Every story told had all participating.  After twenty years, this group is still very close.  Our children are growing up together and we are there for each other even through the darkest of times.  Our futures have been written through our past relationships.  It took me a while to let my guard down and become  immersed in this group.  I am glad I did.  I have become a richer person through our friendships.  I know that should I ever need anyone of them all I have to do is ask.  They would be there for my family, my husband or just for me.  In letting them in, they have made my life richer. 

Take one item from your list of things known to be true and tell the story that helps to make it true. Your story must be school appropriate and true:)  A paragraph is sufficient.  Happy story telling!