But I Was Just Getting Started

Has the time of our parting come so soon? Aw, geez, I was just getting started. Ah, well. We made the best of what little time we had together, didn't we? (sniff, sniff . . . HONK!) Pardon me. Ahem.

Now that I've regained my composure, let me think of some memorable way to sign off. Oh, I know. I will leave you with the most memorable parts of my favorite writing by John Donne, Meditation 17. It's an eloquent testimony to the fact that we as human beings are interconnected and interdependent. No one can exist independent of another; we need one another. I've put the parts I like the best in bold:

The bell doth toll for him that thinks it doth; and though it intermit again, yet from that minute that this occasion wrought upon him, he is united to God. Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world? No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Thanks for partaking in a week in my life. Stay tuned for more fun-filled weeks from other former 90&9 bloggers!

Spanish word/phrase of the day: una semana (OOH-nah seh-MAH-nah) = a week

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Championing the Novel

I was enthralled by the article in this week’s issue of 90&9 by Kent d Curry and Lee Ann Alexander about going to hear a presentation by Turkish novelist and 2006 Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk.

Some of the discussion centered around the novel’s ability not just to define a general social consciousness and identity, but to reveal specific instances of individual characters’ experiences that resonate on a more personal level. The novel’s ability to capture both the collective and the individual at the same time is what makes it such a brilliant (if not functional) medium.

After I read this article, I felt a familiar warmth within me. It was as if I understood for the first time why I have such a love for literature. In the article, Pamuk is quoted as saying “Life can only be happy when put into a frame. Not life itself, but the meaning we give to it.” That’s what literature is! Putting life into a frame. And when we look at life in that frame, we’re allowed to examine it and reflect on its meaning.

The article mentioned a very famous character from Spanish literature, Don Quixote. The novel (of the same name of this character), written by Miguel de Cervantes, is defended as the first modern novel. I took a Cervantes class when I studied abroad in Spain, incidentally, in the same city where Cervantes was born, Alcalá de Henares. How fitting. I quickly fell in love with El Quijote, as the novel is often referred to in Spanish. I saw how the novel provided entertainment in an age where reading out loud to pass the time was common, but on a grander scale, I saw how the novel could have been Cervantes’s tool for social critique and commentary. If nothing else, Don Quixote offered me a slice-of-life view of the times of Cervantes.

The librarian at the school where I work was trying to get rid of a bunch of books that were either slightly damaged, old editions, or considered out of the scope of a middle and high school library. I thought the prospect of free books would bring people out of the woodwork, so I got there as soon as the library officially opened. How wrong I was. There were only two other people who came around the same time I did. How could people not flock to snatch up free books, for goodness sake?

Sometimes I’m afraid that reading will become a lost art in our technologically savvy world. Come what may, I will continue to believe there is nothing more satisfying than reading a good book.

Spanish word/phrase of the day: la novela (lah noh-BEH-lah) = novel

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

Being Sick Is Not Fun

One of the downsides of being a teacher is that you're exposed to the germs of your dear darling students all day, every day. It's cute that they want to hug and love you, but in the process they are putting their germy little hands all over you.

This is so uncool. Being sick is not fun. Especially with my break coming up. What good is a break when you're hot, shivering and aching with a searing sinus headache while coughing up junk? Ugh.

I hardly ever get sick, like, sick sick, but when I do . . . grrr. I'm just praying that I'll make it through the rest of the week. Well, off to pop some cold and sinus pills.

Spanish word/phrase of the day: enfermo (ehn-FER-moh) = sick

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

4-Year-Old Spiritual Reflections, or Let Jesus Crack Your Heart Open

I picked up a 4-year-old little girl who spends a lot of time with my family from daycare this evening. We were admiring Christmas lights as we drove through the neighborhood to my house, and this is the conversation that ensued:

Little Girl: Ooh! Look at those Christmas lights, Chantell!
Me: Yeah, they’re pretty. But do you know what Christmas is for?
LG: Jesus. Christmas is Jesus’s birthday.
Me: That’s right.
LG: Is Jesus going to come down on Christmas?
Me: Ummm . . . maybe. No one knows when Jesus is going to come down.
LG: (pouting) Hmmph. I want Jesus to come down. Jesus is never going to come down.
Me: Yes, He’s going to come down someday. But do you know where he is right now?
LG: Where?
Me: In your heart.
LG: Yeah, one day he’s gonna come out your heart. He’s gonna crack your heart open and come out.

I almost lost control of the car from laughing so hard. Why would she think a thing like that? Jesus cracking your heart open? It sounds almost brutal.

But I thought about it for a while. Children really have an uncanny sensitivity about things. I thought that maybe Jesus cracking your heart open isn’t such a bad idea. Maybe Jesus coming out is the point, the goal, even.

We begin our walks with God and we “let Jesus into our hearts.” But as time goes on, sometimes we keep Him locked up in there, all to ourselves. We don’t allow Him to fill us to overflowing, allowing Him to spill over into the lives of others around us. But we need to be His hands and feet, as Audio Adrenaline proclaims. We need to let Him out.

Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes (Matthew 11:25).

Spanish word/phrase of the day: el corazón (ehl coh-rah-SOHN) = the heart

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

‘Tis the Season to . . .

10. Be jolly. (Like that wasn’t a given.)

9. Get jostled by eager shoppers at various and sundry malls and shopping centers all while in pursuit of that elusive, perfect gift.

8. Feel like the odd girl out at the annual church Christmas banquet as contemporaries appear beside better halves for the occasion.

7. Sashay around the house blasting Louis Armstrong’s “Is That You, Santa Claus?” while decorating the Christmas tree.

6. Luxuriously sip nutmeg-dusted eggnog while curling up with that always-meaning-to-have-read book sometime during two weeks of unadulterated, work-free bliss. (Teaching definitely has its perks.)

5. Get all toasty and roasty in front of the crackling, house-warming fire in the fireplace.

4. Pull dozens of freshly baked Christmas tree, Santa Claus, star, and gingerbread man-shaped sugar cookies out of the oven, awaiting their sprinkling with colored sugar.

3. Have “Carol of the Bells” incessantly ringing in your head. Ding-ding-a-ling, ding-ding-a-ling . . .

2. Teach the lyrics to the song all Spanish teachers are expected to teach the lyrics to during Christmas time, “Feliz Navidad,” compliments of José Feliciano. (Before my time.)

1. Remember the reason for the season, and refuse to allow it to turn into yet another commercialized, self-glorifying, meaningless byproduct of our society. For unto us a child is born (Isaiah 9:6).

Make your own additions to the list by leaving a comment!

Spanish word/phrase of the day: los días de fiesta (lohs DEE-ahs day fee-EHS-ta) = the holidays

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

This Just In . . .

One of the coolest and most brillant people in the world, Malcolm Gladwell (just read The Tipping Point and Blink, and you'll agree), mentioned the Borat and Pentecostals thing in his most recent blog entry. Here's what he had to say:

I thought the scene in Borat, similarly, where Sascha-Cohen attends a Pentecostal service, goes up for the altar call, and then mocks the religious esctasy of the other worshippers, was as deeply offensive as any movie scene I have witnessed in some time. Since when is it okay to invade someone's house of worship, and make fun of their most sacred religious rituals?

Read the entire post here.

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!