My family is big on tradition. As a child growing up, Christmas morning was one of the few times during the year where we kids got donuts. There would cream sticks, and regular donuts--glazed, powdered, chocolate. It was also the time when we could not go downstairs until mom and dad had turned on the lights, turned on the Christmas music, and turned on the coffee. While they did these things, we sat anxiously waiting to descend the stairs to see what Santa had delivered. My sister-n-law and I spoke of these types of traditions over the Thanksgiving breaks. We recalled them with great fondness knowing that we too liked creating traditions for our children.
So many of our memories are rooted in tradition. We look back and lasso those rituals from our past and then we attach our emotion and future choices to them. My own children know our traditions. We too make our kids sit on the stairs until the all clear is given. We await the arrival of our in-laws before opening presents. I make a breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls and then we spend most of the day, in our PJs. These traditions are more than just rituals. They are how we make sense of the world. They provide us with comfort and a sense of family.
Look at your Holiday traditions. What traditions do you have? Describe these traditions--who is involved, when do you do it, what happens, and why does it matter.
Spoken Word Poetry is amazing to listen to. This week we will listen to two poets. Their language. rhythm, and performance status is inspiring. Words on the page speak volumes. Watching the words come to life, well, this is magical.
If you click the name of the artist, you can watch their performance. Marshal Davis Jones performs a poem where he talks about misspelling the word Father in a spelling bee. Sarah Kay performs the poem "If I should Have a Daughter." Both poems speak to us.
Your assignment--Listen to both poems. Choose which one speaks to you. Explain why you like the poem. Pull specific lines, parts, images that jump out at you. Explain why you like them.
It is close to Thanksgiving. It is hard to believe. We are about to embark on the holiday season and all that it brings with it. On Facebook, so many people are posting what it is that they are thankful for. It seems cliché, yes. However, it is apropos. So, I would like for you to take part in this ritual.
For your post this week, please make a list of the following things you are thankful for:
1. A person and why.
2. A material possession and why?
3. A place and why?
4. A piece of advice and why?
5. A moment of learning and why?
I
will go first:
1. I am thankful for my two daughters. They remind me everyday of the person I want to be, should be, and the person I will be.
2. I am thankful for my iPad. I love having reading material forever at my fingertips.
3. I am thankful for my home. It is a place built with my husband, for our daughters and our new puppy. It is a safe haven, a place where sweatpants and a hoodie are always acceptable.
4. I am thankful for the advice my dad gave me when I was younger. He always told me that when you go into a fight never take something you wouldn't want used on you. It is appropriate in so many ways. I think about this when I engage in debates, when I face adversity and when I need to remember my human side.
5. I am thankful for learning how to cook. I worked in a kitchen with a woman named Bev who taught me so much about working with food and flavors. She taught me to not be afraid and to try any recipe that I wanted. I love to experiment with food and new recipes thanks to working in
restaurants during college.
When we read a book that speaks to us, it stays with us. There are many books that when I read them, I mark them up. I annotate them until the page becomes a mix of mine and the author's words. These words will resonate for some reason or another. Sometimes it is because we agree with the thinking; sometimes it is because on that day and time it fit with our state of mind; sometimes it supports a belief we have. The reason the words resonate is personal.
Your blog this week is to pull out a quote from a piece of school appropriate literature and explain why it resonates. Now, don't pick something that is so personal that it makes you uncomfortable to share. Type the quote, gives us some context, and explain why it matters to you!!!!
For example: This is from The Things They Carried by Time O'Brien.
"And in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war. It's about sunlight. It's about the special way that dawn spreads out on a river when you know you must cross the river and march into the mountains and do things you are afraid to do. It's about love and memory. It's about sorrow. It's about sisters who never write back and people who never listen" (85).
The Things They Carried is a book about the Vietnam War. I love this quote from the book. It reminds us that war is often not what we think it is. It reminds us that we are human. When we hear of war on television or in video games, it is about the fighting. O'Brien reminds us that at the heart of war is a human. It is about making a statement and no one caring what is said.
We have been looking at the author's purpose in the songs we listen to for Music Mondays. However, author's purpose is present in any text we read, any art piece constructed, any movie created, and so on. The way we see art differs from person to person just like the way we hear a song is different from person to person. I enjoy street art. I find it to be incredibly interesting and I love the commentary it makes about society. However, the word art has so many connotations.
The word "Art" like any word is subjective. We see art everyday and do not stop to appreciate it. Go to the site, Huffington Post, and look at what the different individuals say about the role or definition of art. Once you have have read through those definitions, go to the below websites and choose two art pieces to discuss.
What to discuss:
1. Give the title of each art piece before you discuss it. (If the art piece does not have a name, describe it as best as you can.)
2. Explain which artist's definition applies to each artwork.
3. Explain what you see when you look at the art piece.
4. What is the purpose behind each artist's piece of artwork? What is their message for society?
Websites to find the artwork:
1. http://kurtwenner.com/gallery/street_gallery/
2. http://www.streetartutopia.com/?p=8241
As always, keep all posts school appropriate!
As we approach the month of November, it becomes important that we look at those to whom we should be grateful. One of these individuals is the person who is the hero in your life. Putting the label or tag of hero on a person is a rather intimidating task. It begs to have the hero fall off his/her proverbial white horse.
Nevertheless, we all have someone who has made a significant impact on our lives. One such person is my grandmother. Her name is Frances Murphy and she passed away about four years ago. She embodied everything good. I know this sounds like a rather lofty description, but she truly was one of the best people I ever knew. She was raised with very little money. She had very little in material goods. As a young woman she attended school to become a preacher. This was an unprecedented event given the time period. She was the mother of six children and while raising her children, she worked multiple jobs: bus driver, she worked in a hospital, she taught Sunday school.
These things made her an amazing person. However, she is my hero because of her outlook on people and life. I never heard my grandmother ever say an unkind word about anyone. She accepted everyone and she loved unconditionally. She taught me how to embrace people flaws and all. For this, I am grateful.
Your blog for this ghoulish week: describe the hero in your life. Who is this person, what makes them a hero in your eyes, and what have they taught you.
There are moments in life that remind us of what it means to be human. We are born to die according to Shakespeare. We are born, and then well, we die. It is cliche to say it is what we do in the in between time; however, it is true. Zac Brown writes in "Chicken Fried,"...it's the little things in life that mean the most." I tend to agree with him. It is the little things: the first kiss, the smell of my babies after a bath, the gentle paw of my new puppy, the laughter of my daughters when they do not know I can hear them, the smell of pepperoni rolls baking, a kind word from another person, a hug when it is needed... I could go on for a long time about all of the little things I appreciate.
We often don't know how those little things can add up and mean so much to another. This week's blog is a challenge. I want you to do little things for others. You do not need money or even anything material in nature. All you need is the desire. I challenge you to do one little thing for another person for seven consecutive days. Now, each little thing does not have to be done for the same person. It could be a new little thing for seven different people. Or, you could pick one person and do something little for them each day. The following is a list of possible ways to do something little: write a thank you note; do the dishes without being asked or another chore without being asked; take dinner to someone who needs it; offer a seat to someone who does not have one; make someone some cookies or another type of food. The options abound.
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Once you have done your nice things, I want you to post about a nice thing done for you and how it made you feel. Don't blog about what you did. This is about how others made you feel.
My example: When I was pregnant with my youngest daughter, my husband and I moved to a new neighborhood. We did not know any of our neighbors since we moved in December and the cold weather kept everyone indoors. By the time summer came, we still did not know many. I knew that my next door neighbor had given birth to twins in April so she was very busy with taking care of her young ones. I never met her until I had my youngest. After I came home from the hospital, I was exhausted. Two children is a different story all together after having only one. I remember I was vacuuming the house when the door bell rang. It was my neighbor and she had her arms full. She came into my house bringing me two lasagnas, loaves of bread, salad, and dessert. I was not sure what to say. She just looked at me and said, "I thought you could use this." (or something like that.)
I have never told her this, but that day meant a great deal to me. She is currently one of my best friends and it all started with a kind gesture.
My family is big on tradition. As a child growing up, Christmas morning was one of the few times during the year where we kids got donuts. There would cream sticks, and regular donuts--glazed, powdered, chocolate. It was also the time when we could not go downstairs until mom and dad had turned on the lights, turned on the Christmas music, and turned on the coffee. While they did these things, we sat anxiously waiting to descend the stairs to see what Santa had delivered. My sister-n-law and I spoke of these types of traditions over the Thanksgiving breaks. We recalled them with great fondness knowing that we too liked creating traditions for our children. 
