I read Slammed by Colleen Hoover in about a day because I've been recreational-reading-deprived since school started last August (and it's a really easy read). I chose this book because I previously read Colleen Hoover's novella, Finding Cinderella (free on Kindle) and enjoyed it a lot.
I really like falling in love type stories, but I have to say, I'm a little tired of stories like Slammed. The fall in love immediately thing, and then lose my freaking mind when it doesn't work out thing. Then, super fast forward to the future where everything worked out perfectly thing. It made me really want to write a more realistic story, where the girl's feelings and actions towards herself and her entire family and life aren't completely dictated by her "relationship feelings." Maybe someday.
Monday, May 5, 2014
Sunday, May 4, 2014
Experimental Poem
In my Poetry Writing Workshop this semester, my teacher introduced us to something that is growing in popularity: digital poetry, which encompasses a lot of different things. People are experimenting with combining sound and words, video and words, pictures and words. These "poems" are not meant to be read without the accompanying visual elements. It is growing in popularity so much that there are now some online literary magazines that publish these hybrid pieces.
For the class, we each had to create our own digital (or experimental) poem, and it was a lot of fun to see what people came up with. Some inserted their poems into photos or paintings they had done, some created videos with music and voice, one created a Google map that pinpointed places where aspects of the poem took place.
Here is my experimental/digital poem. Enjoy! And I would LOVE to hear what you think of it, so leave comments.
For the class, we each had to create our own digital (or experimental) poem, and it was a lot of fun to see what people came up with. Some inserted their poems into photos or paintings they had done, some created videos with music and voice, one created a Google map that pinpointed places where aspects of the poem took place.
Here is my experimental/digital poem. Enjoy! And I would LOVE to hear what you think of it, so leave comments.
Hiking
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the little hike we went on yesterday, because my camera is still broken. I'm just so thrilled that the weather is suddenly allowing for extended periods of time spent outside. We went to First Dam and did part of a trail that wound up the hill. The boys loved it; Ciaran had to pick up and throw nearly every rock he came across, and Jude was happy to carry water and sunscreen in his "pack-pack." Justin and I were probably more exhausted than the kids were afterwards, but it was so nice to be outside together! Here's to summer!!
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Aforementioned (on Facebook) Willow Wand
"Forget all you know, or think you know. All that you require is your intuition."
One of my favorite poems of all time
Traveling Through the Dark
by William Stafford
Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River Road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.
By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off, she was large in the belly.
My fingers touching her side brought me the reason--
her side was warm, her fawn lay there waiting,
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.
The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.
I thought hard for us all--my only swerving--,
then pushed her over the edge into the river.
I love the contrast between the deer and the car in the poem, and how the car (in stanza 4) almost comes alive, at the same moment that the fawn is dying. And the speaker of the poem is so conflicted with what he knows he has to do. There's nothing else to be done, and yet, there is a sadness and responsibility contained in that decision.
by William Stafford
Traveling through the dark I found a deer
dead on the edge of the Wilson River Road.
It is usually best to roll them into the canyon:
that road is narrow; to swerve might make more dead.
By glow of the tail-light I stumbled back of the car
and stood by the heap, a doe, a recent killing;
she had stiffened already, almost cold.
I dragged her off, she was large in the belly.
My fingers touching her side brought me the reason--
her side was warm, her fawn lay there waiting,
alive, still, never to be born.
Beside that mountain road I hesitated.
The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights;
under the hood purred the steady engine.
I stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red;
around our group I could hear the wilderness listen.
I thought hard for us all--my only swerving--,
then pushed her over the edge into the river.
I love the contrast between the deer and the car in the poem, and how the car (in stanza 4) almost comes alive, at the same moment that the fawn is dying. And the speaker of the poem is so conflicted with what he knows he has to do. There's nothing else to be done, and yet, there is a sadness and responsibility contained in that decision.
Family Pictures
Look at these two!! They are so cute and getting so big!
Look at these two!! Aren't they just darling! haha
This is the last picture I took before I dropped and broke my camera :(
Friday, May 2, 2014
School's over, summer plans, and here we are...
Today was the last day of the semester! Hypothetically, this means I now have time to do other things, like write on our long-neglected blog. Yay! I'm not even sure anyone out there still reads this, but here we are.
My first year of grad school feels like a whirlwind. It went by so so fast; it's unbelievable. I've learned a lot (more than I thought I ever needed to learn!) and hopefully taught some things, too (since I was teaching English!). This summer will be spent taking classes, and preparing my syllabus and schedule and lesson plans for English 2010 in the Fall.
This summer is also a summer of projects (or, so planned). I have some things on my mind I want to accomplish, mostly home improvement/decorative little things. I'll post update emails to show you all what I've got going on over here.
We also have a trip to St. George planned for the end of June (Justin's anniversary present to me) and I'm so excited about that! We haven't been back for four years, and I really miss it. I'm scared to see how much it's changed (I hear it has changed quite a bit).
Justin's softball league starts in two weeks, which we're all really excited about. The kids and I love going to the ball park to watch him play. Jude and Ciaran run around with their friends, Amelia and Jace, and I get to sit and chat with Annie. Their team name this year is "Ima Hufflepuff" (previously named "Loganlicious"). :)
We also signed Jude up for tee ball this year. The league is actually for 5 and 6-year-olds, so we'll see how it goes. He's been hitting off a tee forever, so I think he'll do great!
Speaking of projects, I'm working on a version of this for our house:
http://seejamieblog.com/morning-board-calendar-time/
For what she calls the "memory verse" section on the board, I want to do children's poetry, since poetry is kind of important to me (I'm doing a poetry thesis for school). Here are some that I've made so far:
So cute, huh??
That reminds me, anyone have a laminator I can borrow?
My first year of grad school feels like a whirlwind. It went by so so fast; it's unbelievable. I've learned a lot (more than I thought I ever needed to learn!) and hopefully taught some things, too (since I was teaching English!). This summer will be spent taking classes, and preparing my syllabus and schedule and lesson plans for English 2010 in the Fall.
This summer is also a summer of projects (or, so planned). I have some things on my mind I want to accomplish, mostly home improvement/decorative little things. I'll post update emails to show you all what I've got going on over here.
We also have a trip to St. George planned for the end of June (Justin's anniversary present to me) and I'm so excited about that! We haven't been back for four years, and I really miss it. I'm scared to see how much it's changed (I hear it has changed quite a bit).
Justin's softball league starts in two weeks, which we're all really excited about. The kids and I love going to the ball park to watch him play. Jude and Ciaran run around with their friends, Amelia and Jace, and I get to sit and chat with Annie. Their team name this year is "Ima Hufflepuff" (previously named "Loganlicious"). :)
We also signed Jude up for tee ball this year. The league is actually for 5 and 6-year-olds, so we'll see how it goes. He's been hitting off a tee forever, so I think he'll do great!
Speaking of projects, I'm working on a version of this for our house:
http://seejamieblog.com/morning-board-calendar-time/
For what she calls the "memory verse" section on the board, I want to do children's poetry, since poetry is kind of important to me (I'm doing a poetry thesis for school). Here are some that I've made so far:
That reminds me, anyone have a laminator I can borrow?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)