Archive | August 2006

Fighting for Dear Life by David Gibbs and Bob DeMoss

I can’t imagine that this book, which purports to tell “the untold story of Terri Schiavo and what it means for all of us by the attorney who fought for Terri,” will change any minds about the sad life and judicial murder of Terri Schiavo. You see, I’ve signalled already that my mind is made up about the subject. I agree with author and lawyer David Gibbs that “the quality of a person’s life and the hearsay testimony of a spouse who has moved on to another committed relationship regarding end-of-life medical treatment wishes should never again become the basis for which life can be ended.”

So, you can read this book in order to reinforce your own opinion about the Terri Schiavo catastrophe and to get more facts to add to your arsenal of arguments whenever someone tries to convince you that Terri was already dead or didn’t want to live when the court ordered that she be deprived of food and water. For instance, Michael Schiavo testified in court in 1992 during the medical malpractice trial that eventually ended in a $2 million award for Michael to use to care for Terri:

“I believe in the vows I took with my wife–through sickness, in health, for richer or poorer. I married my wife because I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I’m going to do that.”

He then refused to allow Terri to receive rehabilitation therapy. In fact, Terri Schiavo “received absolutely no rehabilitative services, swallowing tests, or therapy of any kind between 1992 and her death in 2005.” And Michael began living with his new companion, Jodi Centonze, in 1993. Do these actions sound like the acts of a loving husband who should be trusted to give truthful testimony concerning Terri’s wishes or make decisions about her medical treatment or have anything at all to do with his abandoned and handicapped wife, Terri Schiavo?

Did you know that Judge Greer, the judge who made the decisions in Terri’s case, never once went to see her nor did he ever have her brought to his courtroom?

Did you know that a number of people, non-family members including Mr. Gibbs, claim to have seen Terri interact in a meaningful way with other people respond to her environment?

Did you know that Michael Schiavo refused to have Terri evaluated by an independent physician after 2002 even though her family asked repeatedly that she be re-evaluated?

Still not convinced? If not, you could read the book and argue with it. I’ve done that before with other books. However, I warn you that Mr. Gibbs’ arguments against the travesty that was Terri Schiavo’s death are irrefutable. But, then, I was already on Terri’s side.

A few other items of interest in the book are: Mr. Gibbs’ opinion of living wills, answers to some frequently asked about Terri Schiavo’s case, and some ideas on what Christians, and others who deplore the direction our society is headed as exemplified in the Schiavo case, can do to change that direction.

I saw this book on the new books table at Barnes and Noble last night, and I hope lots of people pick it up and read it. Maybe an inside view of what really happened to Terri Schiavo will change some minds. Maybe we’re not as far gone as I fear we are. I pray not.

I received a review copy of Fighting for Dear Life from Bethany House publishers. Thanks to them and I do hope my pessimism about the effects of such a book won’t keep them from publishing other books that defend the sacredness of all life.

Find It in a Library

Aug18

OCLC stands for Ohio something-or-another, and it was a primitive source on the computer (pre-www) for librarians to get cataloging information for books and other materials. Back in the dark ages when I was in library school, I remember having to log in to the OCLC system and jump through all sorts of hoops in order to find bibliographic information about a given book. But it was really nifty, no more cataloging and figuring out stuff all by yourself. Just check OCLC and copy what you needed and check it against the actual book that you wanted to put into your library.

Well, now OCLC has something called WorldCat, a unified, more-or-less, catalog of lots and lots of libraries. And they just came out with a search box which you can install on your website or blog that enables you to type in a title or an author, get a list of books that match, and then get a list of libraries near you that have a copy of the book you’re looking for.

The main attraction of the site is the WorldCat search box, which allows Web users to search the entire WorldCat database with the method most familiar to them: simple keywords. Search results in this public view of WorldCat are generated directly on WorldCat.org, instead of through Google or Yahoo! Search. Just as in Open WorldCat, each linked search result leads to the WorldCat information page for an individual item. There the user can enter geographic information, receive a list of nearby WorldCat libraries that own the item, and link right to a library’s online catalog record to initiate circulation activity or access electronic content directly.

I put a search box in my sidebar, so if you see something here at Semicolon that you’d like to check out of the library, enter the title in the search box and get a list of libraries in your area with your book.

My, how times they are a’changin’!

Friday’s Center of the Blogosphere

Aug18

“The truth is that nobody can do everything, and that learning is a lifelong process. Setting goals and celebrating achievements is good; collecting assignments and checking off pages just so you can say you’ve “done it” is not.” Dewey’s Treehouse: Teaching to Standards (found via last week’s Carnival of Homeschooling hosted at Sprittibee.)

“In the fall I’ll be teaching a new course I’m creating for the University of Pennsylvania called “What’s So Funny?” It’s a critical writing course that focuses on understanding humorous writing. Students will be reading essays, articles, reviews, plays, stories, maybe a couple of novels, Internet sites, whatever else I can find, and then discussing the use of humor and writing papers analyzing the whole thing.” Scott Stein, author and teacher, is asking for suggestions on material to use in the course. I gave him my Best Laughs list. Go over and add your favorite humorous literature to the comments.

Tangentially, I’m interested in what makes writing funny. I’ve read that one thing that makes us laugh is incongruity, something startling or unexpected. However, a gunshot or a clap of thunder can be unexpected; it’s not usually funny. My reaction to the thunder might be funny. What do you think makes humor humorous?

Is a school that requires boys to do nothing but memorize the Koran all day acceptable in America? Spunky says it is, although she’s not a fan of Islam, and I agree. If parents believe that memorizing the Koran is the best education they can offer their young men, then they should be free to send their boys to Koran school. I don’t like the idea, but some people wouldn’t like what I’m teaching (or not teaching) my children either.

Rebecca lists kid-friendly hymns, a much better and more enjoyable and more valuable thing to memorize than the Koran, in my humble opinion.

Finally, in honor of Fine Art Friday, I’ll leave you with a beautiful watercolor painting by a self-taught artist. I think she’s quite talented, and I’m not a bit prejudiced.

Gay-Neck: The Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji

Aug16

If you’re interested in carrier pigeons, or pet birds, or India, or birds used in war, this Newbery award book from 1928 might just fit the bill. Yes, it’s somewhat dated in style and content. Yes, the first half of the book is a nature story reminiscent of Jean Craighead George’s books such as The Other Side of the Mountain, and the second half changes focus and deals with themes of fear, war, and religion. Yes, the narration jumps back and forth from the boy who owns and trains the pigeon to Gay-Neck himself telling his own story by means of “the grammar of fancy and the dictionary of imagination.” Yes, its audience would probably be limited, but I think there are some children and adults, especially nature lovers and bird lovers, who would really like this book.

Dhan Gopal Mukerji was born near Calcutta in 1890 and came to the United States at the age of nineteen. So, I’m fairly sure he gets the atmosphere of life for a boy in early twentieth century India. Mukerji wrote other nature stories, including Kari the Elephant and Hari the Jungle Lad. In Gay-Neck, Mukerji gives a lot of information about pigeons and about training pigeons, and he imparts that information by means of a fascinating story of the adventures of one particular pigeon, Gay-Neck or Chitra-griva.

The descriptions of the pigeons’ defense against their enemies, eagles and hawks, and of their capacity to deliver messages even in the midst of battle are detailed enough to make the reader feel as if he could go out, purchase a pigeon, and begin training tomorrow. And it sounds like fun. As an adult and a non-animal lover, I’m sure it’s not that simple, but don’t be surprised if a child, after reading this book, wants his own bird to train and watch and admire.

Gay-neck is admirable. Even when he gives in to fear after a deadly encounter with a predatory hawk, and again after his war experiences, Gay-Neck is able to make a comeback. “Love for his mate and the change of place and climate healed him of fear, that most fell disease.”

The story does take place in India, and it’s filled with lamas and monks and Hindu or Buddhist prayer and meditation. If that’s going to bother you or confuse your child, but you still want a book about training pigeons or about India, try something else. However, if you can appreciate the story as a picture of another place and another time, a vivid portrait of a boy and his pet bird, and a good imaginary tale of India and its culture and a childhood in the Indian countryside, you should enjoy this book

Gay-Neck is a good homeschool book. It would make a fun read aloud for children who haven’t been spoiled by too much action in TV and movies. Gay-Neck has lots of action, war and predators and natural disasters, but the reader or listener must have an imagination to appreciate the story. Gay-Neck would be good to read during a science study of birds or ecosystems, or as we’re doing, during a study of India and its culture. The boy in the story spends most of his time with his pigeons, caring for them and training them, and he learns a great deal about birds and about communication and about fear and courage. I can see a homeschooled child making the raising of pigeons a cross-curricular project and learning more than just how to train birds, too.

Finally, I leave you with a sample of Mukerji’s observations on nature, especially animal life:

I thought, “The buffalo that in nature looks healthy and silken, in a zoo is a mangy creature with matted mane and dirty skin. Can those who see buffalo in captivity ever conceive how beautiful they can be? What a pity that most young people instead of seeing one animal in nature–which is worth a hundred in any zoo–must derive their knowledge of God’s creatures from their appearance in prisons! If we cannot perceive any right proportion of man’s moral nature by looking at prisoners in a jail, how do we manage to think that we know all about an animal by gazing at him penned in a cage?”

Best Lovers

Aug16

THE BEST LOVERS (according to the Penguin List)
A Room with a View
E. M. Forster
Wuthering Heights
Emily BrontÃ«
Don Juan
Lord Byron Byron and his alter-ego were a couple of promiscuous show-offs as far as I’m concerned. Can anyone name the female of the this suppposed pair of “best lovers”? Case closed.
Love In A Cold Climate
Nancy Mitford I read the description of this one at Amazon, and if this is love I can do without it.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Tennessee Williams A Southern sexpot in love with an alcoholic? This qualifies as “best lovers”?

Best Lovers (according to Semicolon)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Yes. Heathcliff and Cathy were actually the worst of lovers –capricious, unfaithful while remaining bonded to one another, but let’s not quibble. “I am Heathcliff!” says Cathy, and what better description of the marriage of two souls is there in literature?

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Jane and Mr. Rochester are as radically faithful and loving in their own way as Cathy and Heathcliff imagine themselves to be. And they actually get together before they die, surely an advantage for lovers.

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Darcy are the epitome of lovers in tension that finally leads to consummation.

Gaudy Night by Dorothy Sayers. Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane are such a hesitant, battle-scarred pair of lovers that thye almost don’t get together at all, but that’s what makes the series of romance-within-a mystery novels that culminates in Gaudy Night so very romantic. They’ve used the same formula in TV series ever since, but Sayers is much better than any Remington Steele (Laura and Remington) or Cheers (Sam and Diane). And Ms. Sayers was even able to write a credibly interesting epilogue novel in Busman’s Honeymoon, which is better than the TV writers can do most of the time.

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon. Who says love is only for the young? Father Tim and Cynthia make it through thick and thin and through five or six books, still in love, still throwing quotations at one another. They’re great lovers in the best sense of the word.

I am female. I see the words “best lovers,” and I read “best romance.” Then I think of the most romantic courtships and marriages in literature and throw them into a list. Byron’s Don Juan and Tennessee Williams’ Brick and Maggie are not romantic, although they may very well be great literature.

So whom do you nominate for the Best, Most Romantic Lovers in Literature?

Works for ME Wednesday: Hot Chocolate

Aug15

I don’t like coffee, that all-American stimulant. I do, however, like to wake up in the morning before Z-baby, age four soon to be five, climbs on the cabinet to get the cereal and falls off or samples the cat’s food or . . .

So, since I don’t really wake up until two or three hours after I get out of bed, and since coffee/caffeine is not an option, I drink . . . hot chocolate. Every morning. I put the milk in the microwave, stir in the instant hot chocolate mix, preferably mint or raspberry flavored, and I drink. I drink mindlessly, and somehow by the time I finish my cup of hot chocolate, although I’m still not awake, I am alert enough to keep Karate Kid from building a campfire in my gameroom.

I’ve added a new element to my morning routine just this week, and I have yet to see how well it works. I’ve been getting up before most of the urchins, making my precious cup of hot chocolate, and taking it outside. I sit in the front yard, meditate, read my Bible, pray if my mind engages to that extent, and absorb some sunlight. I read that twenty minutes of sunlight per day will help you to sleep better at night. I don’t have much trouble sleeping, but I figure, what can it hurt? And it’s way easier than exercise, another addiction that like coffee has no place in my life.

It may be simple, but that’s exactly what I am in the mornings, and it works for me.
Visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer for more Works for ME Wednesday tips.

Best Journeys

Aug14

In keeping with our school theme for this week, Maps and Globes, I think I can pick out some classic journeys that will amaze, astound, and enlighten. Any journey story would be better than Steinbeck. Bleck! And I already listed Alice in the Best Laughs category.

THE BEST JOURNEYS (according to the Penguin List)

On the Road
Jack Kerouac
The Odyssey
Homer
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck
Three Men in a Boat
Jerome K. Jerome
Aliceâ€™s Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll

Best Journeys (according to Semicolon)

The Odyssey by Homer.

Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns
driven time and again off course, once he had plundered
the hallowed heights of Troy.
Many cities of men he saw and learned their minds,
many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea,
fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home. Translation by Robert Fagles.

Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan.

Then said Evangelist, “If this be thy condition, why standest thou still?” He answered, “Because I know not whither to go.” Then he gave him a parchment roll, and there was written within, “Fly from the wrath to come.”
The man therefore read it, and looking upon Evangelist very carefully, said, “Whither must I fly?” Then said Evangelist, (pointing with his finger over a very wide field,) “Do you see yonder wicket-gate?” The man said, “No.” Then said the other, “Do you see yonder shining light?” He said, “I think I do.” Then said Evangelist, “Keep that light in your eye, and go up directly thereto, so shalt thou see the gate; at which, when thou knockest, it shall be told thee what thou shalt do.” So I saw in my dream that the man began to run. Now he had not run far from his own door when his wife and children, perceiving it, began to cry after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears, and ran on crying, Life! life! eternal life! So he looked not behind him, but fled towards the middle of the plain.

Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift.

Thus, gentle reader, I have given thee a faithful History of my Travels for Sixteen Years, and above Seven Months; wherein I have not been so studious of Ornament as Truth. I could perhaps like others have astonished you with strange improbable Tales; but I rather chose to relate plain Matter of Fact in the simplest Manner and Style, because my principal Design was to Inform, and not to amuse thee.
It is easy for us who travel into remote Countries, which are seldom visited by Englishmen or other Europeans, to form Descriptions of wonderful Animals both at Sea and Land. Whereas a Traveller’s chief Aim should be to make Men wiser and better, and to improve their Minds by the bad as well as good Example of what they deliver concerning foreign Places.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by JRR Tolkien.

“That leaves you just ten minutes. You will have to run,” said Gandalf.
“But—,” said Bilbo.
“No time for it,” said the wizard.
“But—,” said Bilbo again.
“No time for that either! Off you go!”
To the end of his days Bilbo could never remember how he found himself outside, without a hat, a walking stick, or any money, or anything that he usually tok when he went out; leaving his second breakfast half-finished and quite unwashed-up, pushing his keys into Gandalf’s hands, and running as fast as his furry feet could carry him down the lane, past the great Mill, across the Water, and then on for a mile or more.

Byzantium by Stephen Lawhead.

I prayed as fervently as ever I have in my life. I sought wisdom and guidance, and my seeking was sincere, I swear it! I prayed:
King of the Mysteries, who wast and art,
Before the elements, before the ages,
King eternal, comely in aspect,
who reigns for ever, grant me three things:
Keeness to discern your will,
Wisdom to understand it,
Courage to follow where it leads.

100,000

Aug13

Sometime tonight I should get my one hundred thousandth visitor to Semicolon since I started counting. We need to have a party!

Anyway, thanks for reading!

UPDATE: I think my 100,000th visitor was someone searching Google for “why is the semicolon bad.” Ouch. I didn’t know it was bad, but welcome to everyone anyway. (I know the searcher was talking about the punctuation mark, but if I believed in signs and omens . . . )

Maps and Globes, or On the Road Again

Aug13

We start school tomorrow morning. I’m ready. The urchins have been alternating all day long between asking if they could watch TV and asking for a snack. I’m ready for some structure and scheduling and plans and . . .

Let’s play school for a while. I’ll get tired of that eventually, too. But for now school days, merry old golden rule days, sound really appealing.

Around the World is the theme for Semicolon School this year, and our first week’s theme is Maps and Globes.

Here’s the basic plan for this week:

Music:
Antonio Vivaldiâ€”Four Seasons
Mission Study:
1. Window on the World: Missionary Kids
2. WotW: Children of the Streets
3. WotW: Gypsies
4. WotW: Navahos
5. WotW: Refugees
Poems:
Spectacular Scienceâ€”Lee Bennett Hopkins
Science Theme:
What Is Science?
Nonfiction Read Alouds:
The Book of Where, or How to Be Naturally Geographic–Bell
Fiction Read Alouds:
Mr. Popperâ€™s Penguinsâ€”Atwater
The Boy Who Sailed Around the World Alone–Graham
Picture Books:
Mapping Pennyâ€™s Worldâ€”Leedy
Somewhere in the World Right Nowâ€”Schult
How To Make an Apple Pie and See the World–Priceman
Elementary Readers: (We won’t read all these this week, but the sixth grader and the fourth grader get to chooose one each. Brown Bear Daughter chose Open Your Eyes, a collection of adventure stories, and Karate Kid chose Ghost in the Noonday Sun, a pirate story.)
Windcatcherâ€”Avi
Ghost in the Noonday Sunâ€”Fleischman
Open Your Eyes–Davis
Other Books:
Wild Places (Usborne)
Maps and Globes—Knowlton
Games of Many Nations–Harbin
Movies:
March of the Penguins
Eight Below Actually, we already watched this movie, and I thought it was a good family movie, It’s about dogs and Antarctica, even though I’m not an animal person (how many times have I written that?), I really enjoyed the movie.

In addition to this list of resources, we’ll be doing math (Miquon and Saxon) and grammar (Dailygrams and Easy Grammar) and handwriting (cheap practice books). And we have a family Bible reading and prayer time each morning. And soon they all start outside classes at co-op and dance and drama and piano and karate and Spanish and an English/history class for the tenth grader. If that sounds way too busy, it is, but we don’t ALL do all those things, and I do have eight children after all.

Oh, I almost forgot I have to send two of them to college next week. Yes, we really are on the school bus road again.

Best Conversion

Aug12

Penguin’s lists and categories are (mostly) all about sin, degradation, and sadness. Because I am so ingenious and clever, I combined some categories (decadence and debauchery, subversion and rebellion) and freed two categories for which I can create my own topics. I’m not sure if the editors at Penguin classics are fond of conversion stories, but I am as long as they’re done well. In the following books the author tells a powerfully moving story of a character who is reborn in the Biblical sense, from death to life.

Confessions by St. Augustine. I’ve not actually read all of St. Augustine’s spiritual autobiograpy, but I have read excerpts. This book constitutes the most famous and most admired Christian conversion story.

The Brothers Karamazov by Feodor Doestoyevsky. Alyosha accepts the mercy of God in spite of the intellectual questioning and emotional temptations that he shares with his two brothers.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I was plannning to put this book, my favorite novel of all, in the Best Heroes category, but I decided that there is no better picture of redemption in literature than that of the bishop who forgives Valjean his theft and charges him to live for God. Still, Valjean is a slave to the Law, pursued by Javert. Valjean doesn’t truly become free until he forgives and frees Javert.

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. The devil Wormwood cannot keep his patient from receiving salvation; nor can seriously undermine the faith that in growing within the man to whom he is assigned. But he tries.

In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden. I recently rediscovered this book that follows the journey of Phillippa, who first becomes a faithful Catholic and then is led to a vocation as a nun in an enclosed order. It’s a beautiful story, rather matter of fact in some aspects, but deeply spiritual at the same time.