I hate this. I am sick. I hate being sick. My brain is foggy and won't wake up today. I was sick to my stomach last night. Grr.
I am supposed to go to a presentation today for extra credit for one of my classes. But it's in 4 hours... and I don't forsee myself making it... I am still in pajamas... don't expect me to walk down the hill!
grr.
I hate being sick.
In my English reading, I had/got to read about the issue of book banning. After reading two quite good articles, I went to the American Library Association, and saw the kind of things they have on their banned book list. Some of the things there really don't need to be- for example, "Huckleberry Finn" is commonly challenged by communities, and called racist. Some other classic books were on the list, such as:
"Bridge to Terabithia", (Katherine Petersen)... I saw this movie.
"The Catcher in the Rye", (J D Salinger) ..Haven't read it... but it is supposedly a classic
"A Wrinkle in Time", (Madeleine L'Engle).. awesome book!
"The Witches" (by Roald Dahl...), Who doesn't like everything Roald Dahl wrote?
"To Kill a Mockingbird", ( Harper Lee)... another classic???
"A Light in the Attic",(Shel Silverstein!!), Ahh!!! Why did they ban this book... I own it and love it!
"Brave New World", (Aldous Huxley),.. Read this. Very thought provoking. Not for little kids, though. (what classics really are?)
"James and the Giant Peach", (Roald Dahl) Roald again! What grudge do they have against him?
"The Face on the Milk Carton", (Caroline Cooney) read it.. and some others by her. Not little kid material. But fairly good stories.
"The Adventures of Tom Sawyer", (Mark Twain).. COME ON!!! what on earth is so objectionable about this?
"How to Eat Fried Worms".... (Thomas Rockwell).. ok,... this might not be a classic... but I read it, and so has Benjy and my mom... and it's not bad. Funny.
Is "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck, a classic? I have heard of it.. :-) so it MUST be... lol
Some others on this list, I have read, but aren't quite classics...
like: "The Headless Cupid" by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. (In the childrens' section of our library.)
Since "Lord of the Flies" is in every literature program I have seen so far, (including the Progeny Press that sells homeschool stuff...) I should probably read it, too.
Ooh... Another book by Louis Sachar? "The boy who lost his face"... hmm.... maybe I shall have to check that out?
I have heard of, but not read "The Giver" by Lois Lowry....
"Harry Potter" is on the list.... mmm... I am not going to say anything about this.. other than that I read them, and don't have too much of a problem with them- but they're not little kid books.
A trend on this list: The only things on it are
1. homosexual promoting, (yech! These ones are the ones I think deserve to be on this list...)
OR
2. Classics! Or at least, books that have been around for awhile....and aren't too horrible...
One thing that they seem to forget, goes along with this quote on the ALA website...
"DON'T JOIN THE BOOK BURNERS
Don't think you're going to conceal faults by concealing evidence that they ever existed. Don't be afraid to go in your library and read every book, as long as any document does not offend our own ideas of decency. That should be the only censorship.
How will we defeat communism unless we know what it is, what it teaches, and why does it have such an appeal for men, why are so many people swearing allegiance to it? It's almost a religion, albeit one of the nether regions.
And we have got to fight it with something better, not try to conceal the thinking of our own people. They are part of America. And even if they think ideas that are contrary to ours, their right to say them, their right to record them, and their right to have them at places where they're accessible to others is unquestioned, or it's not America.
—Dwight David Eisenhower"
Ok... What part of this do they not understand? Isn't the Bible a book? Why does the ALA not put the Bible on their list, despite that it is banned from schools all over the country? Why do they not place it at the very top, considering the fact that it is the most opposed book in the world?
And why do they quote this, and yet refuse to let us have a Bible at school? Or have a Bible-study in a classroom? There is definitely an inconsistency here!
Here is one more awesome quote:
“[Confiscating a book and punishing its author] is a sign that one does not have a good case, or at least doesn't trust it enough to defend it with reasons and refute the objections. Some people even go so far as to consider prohibited or confiscated books to be the best ones of all, for the prohibition indicates that their authors wrote what they really thought rather than what they were supposed to think . . .”—Johann Lorenz Schmidt, 1741
Spring has arrived, and finally has brought with it, warm weather, and beautiful sunshine! I so enjoy this weather. The only problem I have is that I am just sure that next week or the week after, it shall ruin everything and snow again.....
For now though, the weather is stunningly beautiful. It is the perfect temperature outside... it almost makes me want to go wading or canoeing....
If only the ground would dry out so I could sit on it.......
Another thing I like about spring, is that it means summer is coming... and Fall! I like Fall the best, because it has "spring" temperatures, but a bit drier, and less muddy.. and oh... the leaves. I love fall leaves. Especially around my house. They are beautiful here in the Fall.
Now- I know... that was an awful lot of rambling about the weather.... :-)
I suppose I could ramble about passive and active voice in English... as that is what I have a quiz on next hour....
~Danette
This quote made me laugh...
------
Cat powered Antigravity:
the theory is based upon the principles that 1) cats always land on their feet and 2) buttered toast, when dropped, will always land buttered-side-down. Therefore, by smearing butter onto the backs of cats and throwing them into the air, they should (theoretically) twist about endlessly without ever touching ground. It's uncertain whether margarine will achieve the same results.
--------
Rather.... this whole site makes me smile...
www.gullible.info/
(that is correct... no "com" at the end.)
check it out.
More about Cat antigravity.....
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jcdverha/scijokes/2_21.html this site chatters about the differing forces of the cat foot power and the butter-bread fusion power.... lol!!!
http://www.c4vct.com/kym/humor/cattoast.htm this site is about cat antigravity, and the possibility of it being used to power UFOs... lol..... along with white shirts, tomato sauce, and Tide... :-D
Yay. That is the first thing I will say.
I have finally heard back from Thousand Pines, affirmatively, that I get to work at the camp this summer.
I am very much looking forward to it. :-D
Yay. Again.
~Danette
I feel like I should really be more creative... I need to write something. It's a pastime I enjoy... and now on Spring Break... I might actually have time for it.. :-D So... Let's see... What should I write about.....
hmm....
Anyone have suggestions?
I suppose I could just write a paper for when I get back to school.... but that's not FUN....
hmmm
And what should I do for my sign language presentation? Maybe I should go to the library and find a children's book to read/sign..... :-D
Ok.. I guess first of all, I will go dig out my stories i have already written.... so I can have them on my computer, to share with people..... and ooh.. I really must post my list of "you are a homeschooler if..." statements.. Those were fun.
Brain power time.. :-)
It is quite telling, how those who oppose Christianity and the Sanctity of Human Life, refuse to tolerate our right to free speech. Click on the heading of this post, to see an article about how Christians in IL have been struggling to keep their ad on a bus-stop bench, in Rockford.
How childish is it, that the pro-death side keeps vandalizing it?
Other more awesome news includes:
http://www.lifenews.com/state1520.html
The South Dakota Abortion Ban Legal Defense Fund now has $7K, and a donor is promising to give $1mil. to the fund when the case goes to court.
http://www.lifenews.com/state1521.html< AZ Consent Laws>
Go AZ!!!! Two parental notification acts were passed in the House in AZ, that would seriously limit the ability of minor girls to procure abortions without telling their parents. Yay!
Spring break has begun, and I am loving it.
It's a little bit stressful, with my cousin here... but it's still home. :-)
And I am still glad that I don't have any classes until a week from tomorrow. :-D
Tomorrow I am going to Eau Claire to find material for a dress; I want to go to the Edge formal thing in April... and I need a dress.... so... :-)
yay... I am excited, because I have never had much in the way of fancy clothes.... (an example is, when I was going to leave for college, I basically had to buy a wardrobe.... and um... it's not very big.. ;-)
Pray for my cousin Rachel. And my parents. And me :-)
Things are just getting interesting....
Yay.
1. My reference forms got to Thousand Pines.
2. I had an interview with Marco from Thousand Pines, today over the phone.
3. He said my interview went well.
4. I am going to get a call from Anita from Thousand Pines, soon.
yay. :-)
Regents pass RA proposal - Campus News
yay!!!
The RA policy is fixed!
Me and my desire for a challenge....
I may have met my match in Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725)... memorizing his "Follia" in 3 weeks? :-D
that is what I have gotten myself into.. and mind you... I CHOSE this piece... *sigh*... .lol. ... We chose them today. The teacher played through it for me... I think he was surprised I chose it.. but then.. .a lot of the people in my class have next to no piano knowledge...just what they learned in Piano 106 last semester.... me- I got to skip that class... so... along with my 10 years of piano lessons.... yeah- I can manage Scarlatti.... just... I am worried I won't memorize it in time. I am in for a ride..... hello piano during spring break... lol... I hope I don't make my family go nuts because I practice too much.... :-)
~Danette
The semester is nearly half-over. What have I learned? I feel like none of my classes have kicked into gear yet... except for the one I don't like :-) (Yeah.. that's the anthropology linguistics class...) I thought that the linguistics class would be fun... but it's not. Though the class itself can be interesting... it's hard. It makes sense, considering that it's a 300-level class... but still... There were no registration restrictions on it because of the level... so why does it have to be hard?
I am kind of anxious to get my last test back from the teacher... because I have no idea how I did. I haven't been doing all that great on the quizzes... and I really need the test to have gone well, in order for my grade to stay decent.
(I kind of hesitated writing that since I told my family about my blog... because I know how my mother thinks about grades... :-)
This semester I have been kind of relaxed... I am not going for a nursing major anymore... (and it seems to be such a blessing!) so if I don't get an A in every class... it's OK. I'd rather have a little bit of a life, and get some Bs.
I have also become fairly skilled at doing homework the night before it is due... Being short on sleep occasionally doesn't seem to harm me... (like... stay up until 1AM writing a paper or something...) even when I have to get up at 7 the next morning...
I believe I should still be getting As in my Vocabulary class... my Sign language class... and my Biology class... Piano... umm.. I think I am. I have not gotten anything lower than an 8 on the quizzes... (though that makes you have to retake them...) and I have gotten 10s too.... (and an A starts at 85% in that class...) so.. I am probably getting an A in that... otherwise possibly a B+.... But hey- I basically took that class for relaxation... it's piano. I like piano. It's fun. That's the reason for it.
I am probably getting a B+ so far in my grammar class... and all I have to do to fix that is to work a little harder on the assignments... and check my work a little closer before I finish. My anthropology class.... hrm... that one is the class where I am hoping for a B....(PLEASE don't let it be anything lower than that!!!!) I recognize though... it's only worth 3 credits. I have 17. If I get an A in everything else by the end of the semester.... it won't be of that much consequence if I get a B in it... or even a C, for that matter... though that would be an absolute worst case scenario.
but yeah... calculating it out... if I got a C in ANTH... and A in everything else... I would still have a GPA of 3.64.... and with a B.. I would have 3.82.... which is still less than last semester's GPA of 3.88... but oh well. That's ok with me now.
I have learned a lot so far from this semester... first things:
1. I will NEVER, of my own free will, take another evening class so long as I live
2. I will NEVER, of my own free will, take more than four or five classes... unless I have required classes that are worth 1 or 2 credits. Six classes and 17 credits is not fun. I am surviving.. but it is way too busy.
3. I will try to find a job for next semester BEFORE they all disappear... and I do not want to work at the infant/toddler center again. It is annoying. Not the kids, so much as Lisa, who runs it. (she isn't much older than me... and doesn't know any more about kids really, than I do... but she's in charge... and just happens to be one of those people who believes in "positive" commands...grr. (oh well. I am bad and use "NO" anyway... the kids get it at home. Not one of them has acted surprised to hear it from me... and... it works.)
4. I will remember when the room sign up dates are. I missed the one for next semester... so I will probably not get a room that I like so much.
5. I will not be so timid in getting to know the people on my wing. They are cool... and I wasted too much time this semester eating alone and spending time by myself.
6. I might even decide to start a small-group Bible study...
7. I will NOT have evening classes, most importantly, not on Monday, or Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday. Tuesday is the only day to consider one. (the other days, there are the different Christian group meetings... and I don't know which one I like so far.. but I haven't gotten to sample them much... because I have class during two of them, Monday and Wednesday... I should really go tomorrow night to Navs, though... it could prove to be very good. (besides... my roommate goes there occasionally.. and it would be good to encourage her to continue...) I haven't been able to try InterVarsity, though... because it is on Mondays...
8. Never again, shall I put off a group project until the week before it is due. It means too much work.
well.. that's enough for now....
~Danette
How come group projects have to entail so much INDIVIDUAL work? grr. I have worked ALL weekend on a group project in my Biology class, on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. It's been interesting.. but really annoying to put together the source lists... and stuff... ick.
too much work.
I am taking a little break now... and then... it's back to vocabulary, anthropology... and English.... :-)
~Danette
