April Afternoons (4)

April Afternoons is happening here at MJAO every Tuesday (or Wednesday).

I've been really busy the past couple of weeks working on a historical fiction paper for class. Other than that I've also been working on a One-Act play, when I'm not doing math or chemistry even. Gosh I hate homework.

I joined Book Mooch so if any of you readers are on there you can friend request me if you like.

I also signed up to be review for Book Sneeze. I'm quite excited about that.

Last week on Amazon I ordered Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell and it came this week. It's 600 pages. I did not see that coming.

I'm saving it for summer reading, along with Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and the Three Books (below).

I'm also signing up for a Aussie Reading Challenge. I'm not an Aussie, by the way.

This is the button. It's suppose to go on the sidebar but I don't know how to put it there.

The Challenge is as following: Read at least 6 young adult books by Australian authors from 1^st January, 2011 to 31^st December, 2011.They can be old or new titles, however no re-reads.
 Books for the Challenge: (my picks)

I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar
Everything Beautiful by Simmone Howell
Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta
The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

I've already read (not for the challenge) The Book Thief (which I also own, too) and Jellicoe Road (which I don't own but would like to. Loved it.)

Wish me luck on this challenge and have a good April Afternoon! (it's raining where I'm at!)

April Afternoons (3)

April Afternoons happens here at MJAO every Tuesday for the month of April.
(Gosh, it's been a tough week!)
Did you know that April is National Poetry Month?
for famous poems by famous poets go to: http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/top_poems.html

Anyways I don't really know what this blog post is on. (if you look at the date it's Wednesday, because I forgot.)

Oh yes, I finished reading Northanger Abbey!!!!!!!!!!!!

I understand why the Which Jane Austen character are you? why I was Catherine Morland. We are a lot alike her and I.
So I'm glad to have finished MJAO book for the month of April--and also for March and February.

I also read a book called Keeping Corner, based on a true story. Highly recommended. It is about a child widow in Gandhi-era India who studies to go to school in the city. When women become widows they had to shave their heads, give up their bangles and jewelry, wear only solemn colors (like black and brown) and have to keep corner--stay in their house for one year.

I also read Farewell to Arms by Hemingway in English Class, but that's for another post.

In my finance class we watched Confessions of a Shopaholic with the red-head. Highly recommended also.
And the movie was based off a book, and there's a series, and the author writes other books too...I'm psyched.

I don't have much to write--or time--so I guess this concludes my April Afternoons post!

Have a good Tuesday (oh, it's really Wednesday, by the way). Have a good one, readers!

April Afternoons (2)

Hey Yall, welcome back to April Afternoons, happening here at MJAO on Tuesdays. Today's post isn't on anything on history. It's just about my FABULOUS day!

At my school, we paired up with Special Olympics Athletes for a special track meet. Our class walked over to the football field where we waited for them to arrive.  I was with a guy named Ted and we shared a athlete named Anthony. I wanted my own athlete, but Anthony was a lot of work for both of us and I don't think I could have handled it. We sat in the bleachers while some other athletes ran for opening ceremony. We were assigned to the Star group where our camper got to run, jump, and catch at Star. He also got his forehead painted with the batman symbol by one of my friends at the face painting booth. He was really hungry and thirsty and crabby in the beginning, but after he got something to drink it got better. I saw some of my friends when we weren't with Star and some of them gave me tootsie rolls. Anthony really like an orange-haired girl who is one of my friends at the Bubble station. He loved the bubbles and the sponge game. He liked winning tickets so he could get silly bands at the prize table. He always asked everybody for tickets. He wasn't hungry until the very end at the relays but he ate a lot throughout the day. I had two hot dogs with ketchup and mustard which were tasty.

After walking Anthony back to his bus, I hung out with my friends and then we walked back to school. I saw a lot of my friends with their athletes. Our class even got our photo taken together--but I didn't smile, although I did get to sit next to one of my friends. Pretty good day.

And I have this new blue t-shirt--with stickers Anthony gave me.

Have a great April Afternoon today!

Pefect You, See What I See, The Lonely Hearts Club

Reads: Perfect You by Elizabeth Scott, See What I See by Gloria Whelan, and The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg

Although disappointed by Scott's book, Bloom, I enjoyed Perfect You. It's about a high school girl, Kate, whose father has quit his job to see vitamins at the mall, making her and her brother work there. Her best friend Anna, now a popular cheerleader, doesn't talk to her anymore. Her mother has to work two jobs; their family is in debt. And Grandma, who has money, comes to stay with them. This is a novel of real life, which is why I guess I liked it some much. But there is also Will, a cute guy who works at another store in the mall. The moral of Perfect You is this "Things change, darling. That's what life is....Try to live. Try to be happy." Honestly, this was a novel full of flawed humans and it shows some of the best and the worst, as seen in her family. But, you know, isn't the world like that?

See What I See is a novel about Kate Talpert-Quinn, daughter of the famous artists, Dalton Quinn. I loved Kate's journey of self discovery and art, but felt like there were parts left out of this book and some undeveloped characters that I would have liked to see more. Kate goes to Detroit on an art scholarship to live with her dad who she hasn't seen since he left the family when she was seven. Her hometown is up north and she misses it. It is her inspiration for painting, a love her father passed on to her before he left. Also, her dad is sick and dying and only has a few months left. Kate does the unselfish thing and quits school to take care of him. The heart breaker is when he tells her that he loves his art more than his family, and that's why he left them. This book is a simple buildingsroman about art and love. I look forward to reading more of Whelan's novels.

The Lonely Hearts Club is about Penny Lane Bloom, high school junior, who is sick of dating boys who just want to get into her pants and don't really love her. She also hates how girls change for their boyfriends. And so the Lonely Hearts Club is formed by her and her two best friends, Tracie and Diane. This is a result of when she catches Nate, her childhood sweetheart, with another girl. Their other friends, Kara and Morgan, also enter the club. But what happens when they actually meet a good guy? And when one catches Penny Lane Bloom's heart? I loved this book and highly recommend it. It's about a bunch of girls, high-on-caffeine, struggling with normal high school issues (and Beatles names) and their friendship.

Still reading Northanger Abbey--Will I ever finish it?

April Afternoons (1)

April Afternoons will be happening here at MJAO every Tuesday, and is basically a post about anything and, you know some random things as well.

This week's April Afternoons is on People's Park and the violence with the hippies

At University of California Berkeley in April of 1969, there was an empty lot. Many people, including the hippies and students, were upset because UCB had taken the home of residents with eminent domain and demolished their homes on the lot and had not done anything with it. The lot became a junk yard, due to debris, rubble, and abandoned cars that people were leaving there. Outraged at this, the people turned the empty lot into a park, named People's Park. At this time, the Reagan (governor at the time)  called UCB “a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters and sex deviants." By May, Reagan also ordered the park to be destroyed and had a chain link fence built around it to keep people out.  Upset, the people decided to take matters in their own hands and go against the Reagan's orders. Police were called in and over 128 UCB students had serious wounds inflicted by the police. One student was killed and one was injured. Reagan called a state of emergency and called in the National Guard for a 2 week occupation of the campus.

In anger and revolt against the police, students planted flowers at night. The police destroyed them in the morning. Police attacked several people who were found walking near the park.

The People's Park shooting was one of the most tragic things that happened on the UCB campus and to the hippies, who were about peace and nature.

Source/Citation: "The Hippie Counter Culture Movement (1960′s)." Mortal Journey « Footprints past Shall Determine the Scope of the Journey Ahead. Mortal Journey, 2010. Web. 05 Apr. 2011.

 Weather Facts:
Here's how this works: I pick 3 cities anywhere in the world and post the current temperature right now
57 degrees in Naples Italy
37 degrees in Quebec Canada
48 degrees in Odessa Ukraine

Update: my reads this week were Perfect You and Under The Baseball Moon. More on them later in the week.

I hope you enjoyed my first April Afternoons post!

April Fools Day Quotes

April fool, n.  The March fool with another month added to his folly.  ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance.  ~Japanese Proverb

Here cometh April again, and as far as I can see the world hath more fools in it than ever.-Charles Lamb 

Mix a little foolishness with your prudence: It’s good to be silly at the right moment. -Horace

“The world is full of fools; and he who would not wish to see one,
must not only shut himself up alone, but must also break his looking-glass.”-Bioleau

“The full area of ignorance is not mapped. We are at present only exploring the fringes.” -JD Bernal

Also an update: still reading Northanger Abbey....yeah, still. Sigh. For more you can go to: http://www.quotegarden.com/april-fool-day.html

Also there is an interesting post on the Berners Street Hoax in London 1810 at Austen Authors blog. I encourage yall to check it out.

I played a really gotcha april-fools on my dad. Who did you play a joke on today?

The Awakening Notes

Characters

Characters: Leonce and Robert (foils)

Leonce: 40 years old, knows he's better, more secure, thinks of Edna as property, indifferent about Edna's relationship on the island with Robert
note: back then, men in their 20s were encouraged to find themselves, travel, get educated, set up a business, at 30 they were then eligible for marriage

Robert Lebrun: son of Mrs. Lebrun, when his father dies, their finances go down so her friends pay her to live on Grand Isle for the summer so she can maintain their wealthy lifestyle, Edna doesn't see him as a love interest until later, slightly annoying and bothersome due to being egotistic, somewhat of a player which is normal for age, 26 years old

Characters: Edna and Adele

Edna: reserved, shy, no motherly feel

Adele: outgoing, speaks her mind, child-bearing look, mother-woman, Creole-chastity

Mother-woman: (expectation of Creole society) motherhood defines them: their child are or become their identity

character: Mariequita

Mariequita: Robert saved her the past summer from his brother Victor, who was about to rape her; no right, no status, could only be Robert's mistress, flirt, hangs out with Victor, works for Mrs. Lebrun

Characters: Adele and Mademoiselle Reisz (foils)

Adele: cares about appearances, rarely leaves house, has a large house with light and children, doesn't want to deal with real life

Mademoiselle Reisz: alone, all about individual expression, lives in an apartment which is dusty, dark and not for entertaining, forces Edna to talk about hard things, wears the same clothes, doesn't really dress up

Characters (men): Leonce, Robert, Edna's father, Alcee Arobin

Leonce: sees Edna as property (Edna temporarily accepts this position)

Robert: lover, Edna loves him

Edna's father: Edna and him aren't close but get along, very oppressive of women

Alcee Arobin: Edna doesn't like him, sexually attracted to him, shallow, does not intrigue Edna, she does not love him, fling, "fake love"

Characters (Damage Control): father, Adele, Madame Lebrun, Leonce, Doctor Mandelet

Father: tells Leonce to "reign her in"

Adele: tells her to get away from Alcee Arobin, doesn't like Edna living alone, worried about Edna's safety and security

Madame Lebrun: sent Robert away to Mexico and made it look like his choice

Leonce: buys her diamonds, plans a summer trip and puts it in the paper, renovations to the big house

Doctor Mandelet: not understand and most sympathetic of Edna, suspects Edna is "stepping out" on Leonce

Characters (not interested in Damage Control): Alcee Arobin, Mademoiselle Reisz

Alcee: benefiting from it

Mademoiselle Reisz: tells Edna to have strong wings, have to stand up to societal judgment

Characters (women and types of women): Adele, Mademoiselle Reisz, Mrs. Highcamp, Madame Lebrun, Mariequita, the lovers, the lady in black, the quadroon

Adele: mother-woman

Mademoiselle Reisz: independent, social outcast but accepted, not a wife, artist

Mrs. Highcamp: married, flirty, independent, still dependent on Creole society

Madame Lebrun: widow, gives her a little more freedom

Mariequita: Mexican, lower class, can flirt and have relationships, be a mistress to Robert or Victor

the Lovers: young, excused for being passionate

the Lady in black: widow, mourns, pious, religious

the Quadroon: nannie, black, unmarried

All of these women contrast with Edna and their situations do not work for Edna. She could not accept being in their place.


Motifs

the Ocean: individuality and solitude, self-awareness, never ending, connection to childhood, enlightenment, freedom, death and fear, learning to swim=recognition of individuality, assertion of self, escape,

the Birds (owl, parrot, mockingbird): Edna and her feelings about her situation, caged (the pigeon house), inability to speak her mind, ability of women to communicate, flight=awakening and individuality

Sleep: escape (but not ultimate-she has to wake up) from reality or the prison of her life, provides refuge and revitalization, repairs tattered emotions, peace, alludes Edna sometimes, she feigns sleep-first desire for Robert (night like a dream in the hammock), allow her to awaken

Clothing: civilizing and restrictive force of society, Edna removes it-naked in front of ocean, her growing awakening and assertion of self,  white=chastity, virginity, purity, ect, also the color of summer, some women such as the lady in black do not change appearances

Art: connection to freedom, music, sketching and drawing, Robert sings a song and Edna sings it later in the book, self-expression and assertion, must have strong wings and the courageous and brave soul to be an artist, failure

the Moon: turning points, sleep (ocean, owl, sleep), revealing, sexual awakening, "white light", "strips of moonlight", romance and desire, "the first-felt throbbings of desire",
"new moon" means a new cycle and life, when the moon is absent Edna realizes that she can't have what she wants, sexual and romantic love