The BIG Review of New Moon

And so the saga continues. Will Bella and Edward ever make out for longer than a few seconds? Will Charlie ever realize that Jacob and Edward are in fact not humans? Why is Bella so attractive to both werewolves and vampires? Why doesn't she want to be a werewolf instead of a vampire?

My students lament that of all of the books, New Moon was the worst. I suppose it's because Edward and Bella are apart for so much of the story. By the third chapter I was tired of Bella's whining, but when I flipped through the pages that were marked October, November, December, etc. I thought I would have to close the book. I can only take so much angst, but then realized (again) what a master Stephanie Meyer really is. While her writing isn't reaching new levels, she has quite a handle on the psyche of a fourteen-year-old girl. It makes sense that Bella would feel nothingness for so long after Edward abandoned her, and I stopped feeling irritated about it, eventually.

I thought for sure when Bella did the destructive things that Edward knew she was doing them, yet at the end when she tells him, he seems surprised. Are we supposed to conclude then that Bella is crazy? That his love was so strong she kept his voice and his thoughts with her?

I can't wait to crack open Eclipse and read it tonight curled in bed awaiting my dreams of Edward and the woods.

Being that "That Teacher"

I just called a student out of class and yelled at her in the hallway. For the first time this year I just yelled at a student. At first it was class as ususal. Then, she started talking about New Moon and I said, don't ruin anything for me, I'm still reading it. Well, a student looked at her and ruined a part of the story, and she started to whine. Not quietly, but fairly loudly. And so I asked her to stop, and hoped we could all go back to reading the play. Romeo and Juliet is taking a lot out of me this year, and I just want it to be finished.

Well, she didn't stop whining, and then she closed her book. I asked her what she was doing, she said "I'm finished with my part." I explained rather loudly that just becuse she was finished with her part didn't mean she didn't have to follow along with everyone else. Then, she opened up her book and began folding the pages in half like loops (not actually creasing them, but putting the edges of the page in the margins) I gave her the eye and said her name. I thought she got it. She undid the pages. Yet, I looked up and she had started doing it again. I told her to stay after class.

We finished reading early, and I asked her into the hallway where I basically unleashed. I said that I didn't want her talking anymore. She was taking the class for the second time and she should do the work. Did that make sense? I want you to go in, sit down and do your assignment and hand it in by the end of the hour. She said "I probably won't do it because I can't pass." I told her I didn't care if she could pass or not. Just because she was failing didn't give her a free pass to not do the work.

Not too long ago, Laura said that teachers are perhaps the only workers who have to beg to do their jobs. People who work public service have some difficult times, but it really isn't the same as begging students to be quiet so we can do our job. Yes, price checker, a customer may be rude to you, but he doesn't take away the clothes or food as you are attempting to scan it. On days like this I feel like I work against everything. The natural order would have been to sit and let everyone talk. Maybe I should start being that teacher.

Happy Thanksgiving, Mrs. Fritts

Last week I was at Dillon's stocking up on food for the week, when I saw her. Standing in front of the crackers as I looked at the sharp cheddar cheese was my high school counselor Mrs. Fritts. Everyone has those moments in their educations that, when looked back on, are quite pivotal in deciding one's future. One of those moments happened between Mrs. Fritts and I in the cafeteria of Kickapoo High School.

High School Flashback
Fritts: Well hello, Leslie. Let's take a look at your schedule.

Sophomore LS: Okay (slide a stack of papers to Fritts.

Fritts: This looks interesting. Yes, it looks like you'll have enough credits to graduate. But, wait; this Algebra II class. You can't take it until you finish Algebra I, and you're not good at math. Why would you want to take all of these math classes?

SLS: I want to go to college, and most colleges want to see Algebra II.

Fritts: Yes, but you aren't really college material. You're best bet is getting a job or choosing a trade school after college.

SLS: Are you telling me I can't take the math classes?

Fritts: No, but I don't think you'll be successful in them. I can't stop you, but I'm marking down here that I don't agree with your choice.

SLS: Stunned silence
I took the math classes, aced algebra II, and wound up going to college. But for so long I harbored a grudge against Mrs. Fritts for telling me that I should choose a trade. And there it was again--the gnawing feeling that I would be a high school teacher.

And now I am. WhenI saw Mrs. Fritts at Dillon's buying groceries in a white pants suit, she didn't recognize me. It was though we had no history--no past, no grduge. I quickly got out iPhone and took her picture. Since then, I've looked at her picture each day, and I've been trying to let the grudge go. So, for what it's worth, Mrs. Fritts, I hope you had an excellent Thanksgiving. I'm thankful that you didn't beleive in me, so I would have to start.

The BIG Review of Twilight

I must confess at the beginning of this story I had little or no intention of reading the enitre series. I'm typically opposed to series books--since my rapture with V.C. Andrews ended when I was thirteen. Edward and Bella's love seems so unrealistic--and perhaps that's why young girls swoon over it. Thirteen year olds love the idea of love at first sight; for that matter so do some forty year olds, but I'm not entirely in love with that idea anymore.

Meyers does a good job describing the details of the vampires, and she breaks the traditional ideas we have about vampires (sleep in coffins, burn in the light, etc.). If I were to become a vampire, I would look most forward to my heightened sense of smell.

I made Witt get online and order the series for me as soon as I was finished. They should be here in time for me to devour them over Thanksgiving break.

Twilight...Finally

So, I am finally in the throes of the love story between Edward and Bella. Twilight started out rough for me. I just didn't like as much as I thought I would at first. I decided that I had built a resistance to it--too many people loved it for me to like it. But then I began reading on Wednesday and I read a hundred pages in twenty minutes. I had to wrestle myself to the point that if I weren't enjoying it, I probably wouldn't read it so quickly.

Twilight is the story that Laura first called "literary candy" and in part the reason I finally found the name for my blog.

In some ways, Bella reminds me of Weetzie Bat--so involved with someone that she has trouble separating herself from him. It's intoxicating. It's difficult to imagine it on screen--but I am excited about it!

Their Eyes Were Watching God

I read this book during homerooms mostly, and selected it because it's required for the AP class I'm teaching. I didn't choose the book, but it's one of those that I always anticipated reading, yet never picked up. Their Eyes tells the story of Janie, a woman who survives three different marriages, but barely. Perhaps the most interesting thing in the story is the fact that when Janie finds the love she has been looking for through the stroy, she winds up having to kill the source of it before he kills her. This is one of those stories that to truly understand I imagine I would have to read several times. The dialouge's dialect (how's that for alliteration?) are difficult, and each time I picked it up I would have to concentrate on hearing my internal reader. A lot of times after reading a "CLASSIC" story, I'm not sure if I "got it." Should I reflect on different scenes or think of something that I haven't considered yet? That's kind of how I feel after reading Their Eyes. I'm probably misisng something that I will find after a second or third reading.

Happy Birthday, Grandma

Today we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house for her birthday party. Grilled chicken and pork chops laid across a baking sheet, a bowl of pea salad, Watergate salad, fruit and dip, macaroni and cheese. It was just like a Sunday dinner when I was little, and it was also completely different. Before, the food was all homemade, and this afternoon it was from a box. When I was little, the house was packed with people, but this afternoon it was a bit sparse.
Everyone has their own families, and everyone has their own jobs, but even people who were right there couldn't stay longer than a few minutes, or couldn't be bothered to come at all.

Patty didn't bring Maddie over because she was what? Too tired? Too angry? Too bored? What I wanted to say, though, was that it seemed a bit ominous that she lives in the same place where Misty and Gary lived when they wouldn't come over all of those years. Misty would hole up in her trailer and chain smoke instead of walking the two hundred feet to Grandma's house. The whole scene seemed to be straight from an alternate universe. All I can say is "Happy Birthday" Granny.