Shifting thoughts

This blog started originally as a place where I intended to add to information provided to my students. I thought it would focus mostly on school and composition and writing strategies, but that didn't end up being very satisfying to me. After all, I was creating written lectures and a web site devoted to the needs of each course I taught.

Then I thought it might function as a bit of a journal, a place where I would write about my life. That wasn't very satisfying, either. Maybe because I don't have a life that's all that interesting. I cook, clean, shop, prep, teach, go to the cabin with my hubby, play with our dogs. It's a good life; it's just not very exciting.

Maybe those are the reasons I don't write in my blog very often. Maybe I'm just lazy. Anyway, I'm thinking a better use of this space would be for my personal rants and raves. There are a few of those sorts of posts that found their way here already. I'm thinking now that I will go back through my FB timeline to cull ideas worth expanding. If it works, what I have in mind is taking my rant or rave, doing the appropriate research, and then writing an article that either supports or refutes my original position.

I wouldn't hold my breath, though, as I tend to be a maximum slacker. :)

Room by Emma Donoghue

Room by Emma Donoghue
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My rating may be a bit low because I enjoyed the book. However, the 5-year-old narrator's voice just didn't ring true, even though the character made a great deal of sense in context. The premise was intriguing and showed a great deal of insight into a situation none of would choose as part of life.

Orphan Sunday

While I'm usually more than willing to debate my political beliefs ... to the point of annoyance ... I rarely take on spiritual debates. This is because I am LDS, a Mormon, but there are so many I love who are another Christian faith, or Muslim, or Atheist, or spiritual in another way ... or live according to other principles. I love and do not want to offend those who believe things that are inherently unprovable, even as I do.

However, the political spills over into the spiritual now and then, so today I'm making an exception. There are children, very young, very vulnerable, very at risk children ... children *already born* ... who are in desperate need. Regardless of what one's stand on abortion or birth control or faith might be, these children are already alive and struggling to survive in this hostile world. THEY need help. And, if each of us sets aside for just a few moments our own ideological preferences, we could make a HUGE difference in these little lives.

You see, there are families who want to adopt these children "with special needs" ... these children who have been literally thrown away in their home countries. Yes, these anxious and willing families may not share your views on faith; I know their views are different from mine. But I also know that their faith informs their lives in ways I cannot imagine. Because of their faith, they are willing to take on challenges that would cause me to wilt.

So how can people who care but cannot do what these families are willing to do help them? How can YOU and I help a tiny child to find a loving family ... to find a way out of an orphanage where care and comfort are minimal at best? Simple: We can donate whatever we can afford (or maybe a bit more than we *think* we can afford) to help fund the horrendous cost of this type of adoption. Even committing to donating the equivalent of one trip to Starbucks could make it possible for a family to bring home the child it already loves.

Here are some links. The first is a personal story. The second is to the organization committed to helping each child find its family. The third is another organization committed to relieving the suffering of orphans.

http://covenantbuilders.blogspot.com/2012/11/an-orphan-tale.html
http://reecesrainbow.org/new-family/thechildren
http://orphansunday.org/

Great article about plagiarism...

http://gigaom.com/2012/08/20/plagiarism-defamation-and-the-power-of-hyperlinks/

This is one I need to share with students.

Choosing books

I enjoy reading, but I have a terrible time deciding what to read next. Mostly I beg friends to make recommendations or scan the groups at goodreads. Just ran across a couple of new ways to get recommendations, though. The first is whichbook. Set up to four range choices, such as Happy .... Sad or Easy .... Demanding, and the site makes suggestions. The other is BookLamp. It calls itself "the home of the Book Genome Project" and works similar to Pandora.

Pain of politics...

We're deep in the throes of an election cycle now, and it's all I can do to bite my tongue.

Yes, I'll admit it... I tend strongly toward liberal ideas. That doesn't mean I LIVE them. My life is actually lived very conservatively because I choose to align it as much as I can with the tenets of my LDS (Mormon) faith. However, I make a conscious effort to think in such a way that my beliefs do not impinge on the rights of others to have their own beliefs. That is, believe it or not, one of the basic tenets of my faith.

Here's how it plays out for me. I find abortion to be abhorrent. However, I know that many women find themselves in circumstances I cannot begin to imagine. So, even though I believe abortion to be wrong, I understand that is my personal belief, born of my personal faith. And it is a faith-based position that is NOT shared by everyone. Thus, I must leave procreation decisions up to the woman who is facing them. Only she knows her circumstances. Only she knows her position on abortion. Only she can make decisions for herself because SHE has agency over all her own choices (another of my faith's tenets). Because of this, I would never fight to overturn Roe v Wade.

So what in the world does this have to do with our current political climate? Too many of the Republican objectives are intended to directly interfere with the rights of others. They seem mean-spirited to me. The goal of overturning Roe v Wade or of preventing same-sex marriage is a matter of circumscribing someone else's life based on religious convictions that other person may not hold. What would those who rail against same-sex marriage have to say if they were faced with being required to wear a burqua? Outrage about their rights being infringed would ensue, and justly so. None of us should be forced to adhere to religious principles which we do not hold.

In the meantime, I will continue to live my life as closely as I can to LDS principles, but I won't be voting for Mr. Romney.

DRAFT

Ran across a new blog today: Draft at The New York Times. Where has it been hiding? I check out the NYT opinion pages regularly. Why haven't I seen this nifty blog? I must not be paying as much attention as I should. This is definitely one that will be shared with my students.