The Write Slice: Write or Wrong

So I have this textbook for one of my classes (drier than dry), and it has adopted a "style" of punctuation that absolutely drives me nuts. Now, in the great grand scheme of things, it really doesn't matter, especially since it is consistent throughout. But it just irks me, and since I have no where else to really complain, I'm going to spout off here. Then hopefully I'll be able to get over it and ignore it for the rest of the semester. This book has decided to put its initial quotation marks as single rather than double marks. So a direct quote would be, 'This is a direct quote.' Or 'This is a "quote within a quote."' Annoying. Especially since this is actually a collection of scholarly English essays. Come on, people. Hasn't anyone heard of MLA? Another grammatical pet peeve - bad signs. If you are going to expose something to the public (like on a marquee, flier, etc.), please for heaven's sake, make sure it's correct ...

So, I was reading an AP newsstory today about a new study coming out indicating that colleges really don't teach students anything. According to the report, having tested students across the country when they entered college and two years later as sophomores, they found that there was no increase in critical thinking skills, complex reasoning, or writing. Well, the writing aspect worries me a little bit because writing should be a part of every class regardless of subject area. But, according to the report, most of these students didn't have a single class that required 20 pages of writing (I understood that as a total amount, not a final paper), or 40 pages of reading per week. Now, I'm not expecting copious amounts of writing in many classes other than maybe English and history, nor do I think there will probably be much in classes like chemistry that are focusing more on the calculations/formulas. But, come on. Twenty pages?  That's less than a page-and-a-half p...

So one of my New Year's Resolutions is to blog at least weekly. I know, I know. I tried that once and then failed kind of miserably by the end of the year. But that's what new years are for, right? So, anyway, here I am, but I don't really know what to talk about. So I'm just going to kinda mention something I've been thinking about a little. So I'm working on my Master's and my current class is the Modern English novel ("Modern" not "Contemporary" -- think 1890ish through WWII). We've only discussed it a little bit, but we've examined a few novelists' philosophies on their art, and I have to say, they had it figured out a hundred years ago. Be realistic . Henry James and Virginia Woolf believed that in order for literature to "live" and breathe, it must be realistic. That does not, however, negate  fiction. Fiction in some cases can be even more "realistic" than reality if treated correctly. It just me...

I read this book a couple of months back, but the holidays were so hectic that I didn't get a chance to post my review before now. And this was such a fabulous book, there was no way I wanted to neglect it. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace...One School at a Time is written by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It is Mortenson's memoir told from his perspective, but is actually written by Relin from extensive interviews. The story starts out with Mortenson attempting to summit the world-famous mountain K2, but through various circumstances not entirely his fault, failing to do so. As he climbs back down the mountain behind his guide, he misses a turn because he is so weak and ill, and ends up in a tiny Pakistani village. The villagers, who barely survive on the mountain themselves, selflessly nurse him back to health. In gratitude to their service, he promises to return to the village with enough money and supplies to build them a sc...

Believe it or not, I am still writing.  Unfortunately, however, that writing has not been on my novel.  It's so hard to find the time to do everything I need to do, like manage a house, raise kids, complete homework, revise my novel, etc., etc.  But I've come to reconcile myself with the fact that I cannot do everything, so I just do what I can. "What I can" right now when it comes to writing is my homework.  As some of you know, I am working on my Master's degree, and I am currently enrolled in a contemporary poetry class.  This is still good for my writing, however, because it keeps my imagination and creativity going.  I am trying to make more time to get back to my novel, but in the meantime, check out some of the assignments I have completed so far.  I have some poems, and also a story that I wrote for my midterm.  Find them at my writing website .  I hope you enjoy, and I'd love any comments you have about them.

I apologize for the sporadic posts lately.  I'm still trying to get into the groove of my schedule with two kids now instead of one, especially since I am nursing the youngest one. But anyway, I am taking a poetry class at the college.  In one of the books we read, Fooling with Words, Shirley Geok-Lin Lim made the comment: "I share my poems, I guess, with unkonwn people, and I don't share them with the people I'm most intimate with [husband, children, etc.]...There's a part of me that I would like to keep sheltered that comes out in language, and once it's out in language, it's shared with the rest of the world.  But I want to shelter it from the people I spend my life with." My professor made the comment that he did not understand her statement until I responded that I knew exactly how she felt.  I too rarely share my writing with my husband, parents, or siblings - at least until it has been polished up by other people.  It's a little bit para...

Barbara Ehrenreich is a journalist who turns sociologist for her book Nickle and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America . When discussing topics with an editor, the concept of the liveability of a minimum wage position came up. Ehrenreich decided to take upon herself this challenge and record the facts. She tried several different jobs (waitress, maid, nursing home assistant, sales associate) in various places throughout the country (FL, ME, MN). At each location, she found a place to live, claimed no or limited work history, and hired on at virtually the first jobs offered (though she does admit mistakes throughout her experience in living/working choices). As a social commentary, the book is eye-opening. She found the living conditions that were affordable were deplorable, and often multiple individuals had to pool their resources in order to pay the rent. An apartment was almost impossible to rent because minimum-wage workers could not save up enough money for a dep...