Week 2C - Freestyle

I was reading an article about how reading affects our life for this class. Before I go to sleep I have been reading the Anne of Green Gables series, it's fun reading and I don't have to think about it. I haven't read the books since I was about 11 years old. As I've been reading I find a lot of the things that the character "Anne" does or did I have also done something similar. What do you think about the theory that what we read as a child influences our lives even if we don't realize it? Hmmm... something to think about!

Week2B Quote-Response "Miss Brill"

"And Miss Brill's Eyes filled with tears and she looked smiling at all the other members of the company. Yes, we understand, we understand, she thought-though what they understood she didn't know." (Mansfield, 86)
When I read this part of the short story I became emotionally involved. I felt her lonliness, she imagined all of these people in the square as her friends and allies in the Sunday production of the park. Up to this point she was just a woman who liked to put on one of her favorite things and go and listen to music in the park.
If she wouldn't have shown such emotion when the two young lovers made fun of her and quietly wished she would go away, it wouldn't have been such a big deal. But they were betraying her, her friends. It made me like her a little more and feel disdain for insensitive people who only can see themselves as the stars of their own production.

Freestyle - Week 1C

My son is in Kindergarten, he is 5 years old and loves to go there everyday. We recently had a meeting with his teacher because he doesn't want learn his letters. He loves everything else about school and never is mean or confrontational about not wanting to do his work, he just sits and looks at what he's suppose to be doing and takes such a long time in doing it that he never gets anything done.
We talked about what we could do to help him and if it was a question of him being ready to learn this material or if it was a matter of motivation. Since he has shown us the ability to learn complex things (the difference between a dump truck and an articulated dump truck, the names of various species of fish and such) we decided it was just because he had no motivation to learn these things. He isn't connecting the need to learn letters with anything that will be worthwhile to him.
This issue is of great importance to me because he is forming opinions about school and learning and work ethic right now and everything he learns is helping to shape his character and his sucess in life. We want him to feel the satisfaction of success! But how do you explain all this to a 5 year old?
I recently bought him a little book with a computer game at Wal-mart that has a bunch of worksheets in it that will help him to learn his letters. He saw it on the counter and asked what it was, I said "It's a book about letters that will help you learn to read, like you are doing in Kindergarten." he followed with "I don't want it, I don't want to buy it", then I told him after a couple more unsatisfied responses "It will teach you to read so you can read how to use a fishing pole and read how to catch a catfish", his immediate and enthusiastic return was "Okay, I want to buy it!"
I think this is more common that not in our society in regards to reading. Not just in those just learning to read but in all ages. Why should I read this book? What am I going to gain from this? How is this concept going to make me more money? Sometimes we can't see the immediate gain from our work but any concept learned, usually from reading to learn it, is going to give us some kind of positive return. We may not see it immediately, it may be so grand we can't even imagine it!
I recommend that even when we cannot see the reward, we should go ahead, accomplish the hard tasks! Like the old saying, Very rarely is something worthwhile easily attained.

Week 1C -Quote-response

"She kind of led them, the other two peeking around and making their shoulders round. She didn't look around, not this queen."(Updike pg.15)
This couple of sentences in the story "A+P" struck me as important because it sets the tone of the personalities of the girls and helps to set up the fascination of the boy at the cash register to this girl "Queenie". At first you think that he is attracted to the girl in the green two-piece by the way he takes such pains to notice where the sun has hit her body and how. But this is the turning point. It also helps us to understand Sammy's thought process a little further also. He admires the girl for taking lead and having the courage to walk through a grocery store in nothing but a bathing suit! If this queen in the bathing suit wouldn't have had such a hold over her friends courage, if all of them would have been bashful and embarrassed the story would have had an entirely different tone. He may have ridiculed all of them with his internal dialogue or even been the one himself to call them on their indecency. It's interesting how the author, John Updike, put such accurate reactions of human nature in this short story. It seems that when someone is doing something against the grain with confidence, we all wonder, "Why are they so confidant, should I be doing the same?". But if the person goes about the same thing with rounded shoulders and insecurity, there are no end to the people jumping at them to correct their behavior.

I remember the first book I read was a book at my Grandmother's house about a bunny. I was so proud of myself and felt so accomplished! As I grew older I read quite a lot even though our house really didn't have books in it. My favorite things to read were the "Anne of Green Gables" series. That book series really shaped my young life. I would read it and pretend I was "Anne" and would include my friends and sisters and then read it again. I loved the 'free' feeling I got when reading and when I was in high school I loved that my opinion, not the right answer was valued. Now I read to learn, such as ways to help my children, learn to cook, how to garden, and for enjoyment also. It's a nice little break from everyday thoughts and concerns.

I decided to interview my mother: She really likes to read to learn about household and farm things. "I want to spend my time reading as productive as I can. I'm really not into fiction." Her current interest is in raising angora goats, so she's been reading how-to books on that subject.

My mother's interest in "how-to" books really sparked my interest in reading to learn various skills. I'm really more of a novel reader but I noticed she was learning a lot of useful knowledge.

My husband likes to read to gain skills also. His "how-to" likes are: How-to be your own contractor, how-to trade in the stock market etc. He also like to read Westerns and Mystery novels. He reads these because he want to gain knowledge of a particular subject and reads the latter for a fun, relaxing escape. The books he reads are not what I would choose for myself but because they are in the house I do read them sometimes when I feel like a change. I learn things from those books and from being around him that I would not if he wasn't reading them.

My sister doesn't read much at all. If she does sit down to read she really like magazines about decorating. Her favorite is Country Living. She likes to read in short bursts, she has a 1 yr. old and 3yr. old, so she looks at the pictures and gets ideas for her own home and so on. I also like to read magazines and so we get the same one and even though she lives far away we can look at the same pictures and have fun talking about what we like and dislike.

My Introduction

Hi! April Simpson here from just outside of La Grande in lovely Summerville! (although we are entering the time when it really should be called 'Winterville')
I live on a small farm with my dog, ponies, children (7,5 and 2weeks) and husband of 8 years. I enjoy lots of things, including cooking and baking, gardening, reading, and working on various DIY projects.