While I was gone on the Texodus, I received in my email a copy of the book How To Write by Herbert and Jill Meyer. Yes, in my email. I got this ebook for free in return for my review (which I’ll write using the tips in the book just as soon as I get it read), but you can buy it here for only $1.99. What do you have to lose?
I’ll let you know what I think when I’ve finished the book, and you can see for yourself if there’s any improvement in my writing.
I woke up this morning and read the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. There I was informed that Governor Rick Perry had announced an evacuation return plan for going back to Houston in stages to avoid the traffic jams that occured on the way out. Unfortunately, nowhere in that newspaper did I find a story that told what the evacuation plan was, who was supposed to return when. I did, however, read about how no one is following the plan anyway. Could that be not only because Texans are independent and tend to want to make up their own minds about these things (which is true), but also because the major newspaper in the Fort Worth/Dallas area didn’t even bother to print the plan? I finally found Gov. Perry’s plan.
NOTE: I cannot verify that the Star-Telegram does not have the evacuation return plan available somewhere at its website because registration is required to access the website, and I won’t register. However, I searched my Sunday paper fairly thoroughly before leaving for church this morning, and I don’t believe it was there.
According to the WSJ, we’re not supposed to go back until Tuesday. I’m mostly concerned about having gasoline available along the way. I just heard a rumor that gasoline supplies are low to nonexistent as far away as Brownwood in west/central Texas. We’ll see . . .
Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground.
The Tempest, 1. 1
I would fain die a dry death.
The Tempest, 1. 1
Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!
You cataracts and hurricanoes, spout
Till you have drenched our steeples, drowned the cocks!
You sulphurous and thought-executing fires,
Vaunt-couriers to oak-cleaving thunderbolts,
Singe my white head! And thou, all-shaking thunder,
Smite flat the thick rotundity o’ the world!
Crack nature’s moulds, all germens spill at once,
That make ingrateful man!
Rumble thy bellyful! Spit, fire! spout, rain!
Nor rain, wind, thunder, fire, are my daughters:
I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness.
King Lear, 3. 2
Poor naked wretches, wheresoe’er you are,
That bide the pelting of this pitiless storm,
How shall your houseless heads and unfed sides,
Your looped and windowed raggedness, defend you
From seasons such as these?
King Lear, 3. 4
Why, now blow wind, swell billow, and swim bark! The storm is up, and all is on the hazard.
Julius Caesar, 5.1
O Cicero, I have seen tempests when the scolding winds
Have rived the knotty oaks, and I have seen
Th’ ambitious ocean swell and rage and foam
To be exalted with the threat’ning clouds;
But never till to-night, never till now,
Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.
Julius Caesar, 1.3
(My deepest sympathies to those who lost loved ones in the bus fire on I-45 this morning.)
I don’t mind being called a refugee; we’re taking refuge from Rita in Fort Worth with relatives. Maybe it won’t be as bad as Katrina since we don’t live in the New Orleans “bowl”—no levees to break. Anyway, we’re here until Sunday at least. We’ll know by then what Rita hath wrought.
We left yesterday (Wednesday) morning, apparently just in time. Word is that I-45 out of Houston/Galveston is gridlocked with cars bumper to bumper all the way up 100 miles north of Houston. Governor Perry has blocked the southbound lanes of I-45 and opened them for northbound traffic all the way through Houston and beyond.
All our neighbors in southeast Houston were preparing to leave as we left yesterday. Everybody boarded up their windows as best they could and made plans to get out. Even those who said earlier in the week that they would stay changed their minds as Rita turned into a category 4, then a category 5.
The weather is great here in Fort Worth–warm with a bit of a breeze. I’ll try to keep everyone posted on our adventure in hurricane evacuation. Oh, yes, the news article I just read helpfully reminded me that hurricane season doesn’t end until November 1. 🙂
Samuel Johnson, b. 1709, said to be the second most quoted author in the English language, after Shakespeare.
Some interesting facts about Samuel Johnson:
He was the son of a bookseller. (What fun!)
Johnson’s Dictionary of the the English Language, published in 1755 (making this year the 250th anniversary of the publication of Johnson’s Dictionary), was not the first English dictionary, but it was the authoritative English dictionary for over a hundred years until the publication of the Oxford English Dictionary.
Johnson never graduated from Oxford University, although he did attend there, and he became “Dr. Johnson” because he was given an honorary degree.
Samuel Johnson was half-blind, deaf in one ear, and suffered from scrofula, nervous tics, and depression. Some thought him so odd in his mannerisms that they considered him an idiot until he spoke and revealed himself to be an intelligent man.
Johnson married a widow, Elizabeth Porter, who was twenty years older than he, and by all accounts they were very happily married until her death seventeen years later.
Johnson on wine:
“One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.”
“There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten.”
“There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern.”
“Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say it makes him more pleasing to others.”
“Sir, I have no objection to a man’s drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess in it, and therefore, after having been for some time without it on account of illness, I thought it better not to return to it. Every man is to judge for himself, according to the effects which he experiences. One of the fathers tells us, he found fasting made him so peevish that he did not practice it.”
Johnson on blogging:
“No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money.”
“Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”
“A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.”
“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.”
“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.”
“I never desire to converse with a man who has written more than he has read.”
Good advice, but who can heed it? If a writer could bear to strike out his favorite passages, no one would need an editor.
Johnson on moral relativism:
“But if he does really think that there is no distinction between virtue and vice, why, Sir, when he leaves our houses, let us count our spoons.”
Yes, definitely, count the spoons. We watched a video in our Worldview class on Friday in which a young lady said, “I always follow my heart; it never leads me astray.” Scary . . . time to count the spoons.
Subtitled “one man’s escape from persecution in the Sudan,” this autobiography reads like a novel. Wiliam Levi, the founder and president of Operation Nehemiah, was born in a village in Southern Sudan and grew up in Uganda in exile from his native land as a result of persecution and war in Sudan during the 1960’s. He returned to Sudan as a young teenager to go to school, but soon found that Islamic persecution intensified and interfered with his schooling and, eventually, threatened his life. At one point, William and couple of other young men decide to flee to Kenya in hopes of continuing their education. They are arrested, however, and charged with intending to join the Southern rebels against the government in Khartoum, the SPLA.
It’s funny what you think about when you know you are marked for death. Perversely, I was filled with regret that I would not be able to go to school. When you are seventeen, you have your whole life ahead of you; but for me, the desire to finish school was the first thing that came to my mind. (p. 183)
William experiences torture but is able to escape from the custody of the Sudanese government soldiers. He and his family see that he must leave Sudan, and William eventually travels to Egypt, then Turkey, then France, and finally seeks asylum in the United States. Throughout all his travels and adventures, William remains faithful to God and to his vision for obtaining an education for the sake of serving his people in Southern Sudan.
I was impressed with several things in William Levi’s life as I read his story. First of all, he is passionate about becoming educated. His family sacrifices for the sake of William’s education, and his first thought after gaining asylum in the U.S. is to further his education. Oh, that our children would realize the value of education and the riches that they have here in the United States in being able to pursue an education amid an abundance of educational resources.
Secondly, I am inspired by Mr. Levi’s steadfast faith. At his baptism, William’s grandfather gives him a choice of weapons: the Bible or the axe? Wiliam consistently chooses the Bible and faith as his weapons to defeat both earthly and spiritual enemies. None of his struggles are made to seem easy, either, whether it’s the difficulty of living with worldly roomates or the confusion of not knowing where God is leading and how He will provide. The Christian life requires faith in a God who is there even when we cannot see His ways, and the story of William Levi gives numerous examples of the real life application of this kind of faith.
Finally, I see in William Levi a man who is dedicated to service in the name of Jesus Christ. At the very end of the book, Mr. Levi concludes:
In 1972, there was a peace accord, but eleven years later it was followed by renewed oppression and genocide. Please help us build a strong and united biblically based Christian community in the South Sudan and throughout the entire country during this window of opportunity.
He then tells about some of the ministries of the Nehemiah Project: church planting, education, trade school, health care, ministry to Sudanese widows and orphans, investment in micro-businesses, agricultural projects and construction and infrastructure projects. Surely ministries like this one and projects that are grounded in a deep Christian faith are the hope of Sudan and of Africa. The novel I read a few months ago, Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo does a good job of showing the problems and the temptations inherent in any kind of relief work, especially in Sudan and northern Africa. This true story, The Bible or the Axe? sounds a note of hope. The problems and divisions in the Sudan are rooted so deeply in history and in the sinfulness of the human heart that Christ is the only hope.
The challenge is to make a list of ten books that have “shaped or defined you,” “a list that reveals something about you.” Or as SFP asks, “Can you timeline your life with books?”
This list may take a while. In no particular order:
1. The Severed Wasp by Madeleine L’Engle. Why did this book impress me so much when I first read it several years ago? It’s about real people attempting to live authentic lives in New York City. It’s about community and how that community is formed. I’m very interested in how families interact, how intentional communities are formed and sustained, especially artistic communities and Christian communities. I think there’s something more there, too, but I can’t put my finger on it.
2. A Severe Mercy by Sheldon Van Auken. Van Auken tells the story of how he re-lived his life with his wife, Davey, after her death, by listening to the music they listened to together and re-reading the books they read together. It may sound maudlin, but it’s not. He also comes to terms with his loss and with the flaws in their relationship and with priorities, how marriage partners who find their ultimate security in Christ and His love can grow closer to each other. But those who hold onto each other jealously and possesively lose the thing they most want to preserve. I think I’m married the way I’m married, very happily I must say, partly because of this book.
3. Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton. C.S. Lewis talks about joy as an elusive longing for Something that is just out of reach. Tragedy is also an elusive feeling that depends on just the right combination of circumstances. Paton’s book about South Africa under the apartheid system and about the power of forgiveness to redeem, sometimes, is truly tragic. I also think this is what life is like: essentially hopeful, but tragic in the short run. Sometimes the Good is too little , too late.
4. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Life-changing. Lewis puts into words what I believe and why I believe. Definitely part of my mind’s landscape along with the Narnia books, The Screwtape Letters, and Till We Have Faces.
5. My first homeschooling book was John Holt’s Teach Your Own. This was before I had any children. Even though I use workbooks and curricula with my children, the unschooling, easygoing, let them teach themselves, philosophy is a part of my homeschool, too. I do want them to learn to learn and to enjoy learning, to be self-educators. I’m also drawn again to the sense of community that is present in Holt’s books.
6. The book that most shaped my life as a young Christian teenager was The Edge of Adventure by Keith Miller and Bruce Larson. I haven’t re-read this book in a long while, and I suspect it’s full of what I would now consider psycho-babble. But at the time the emphasis, again (note the recurring theme), on Christian community and basic Christian disciplines was exactly what I needed to hear. A lot of my ideas about prayer and discerning God’s will and following Christ in obedience came from this book.
7. All the Way Home by Mary Pride. I know that Mary Pride is a lightning rod for criticism and controversy, but her ideas about home and family being a center for economic, spiritual, and social influence were and are liberating for me.
8. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. Either I’m focused on the ideal of community tonight or else the theme of my whole adult life is comunity and how families come together to form real communities. I’ve wanted to live in Hobbiton, in a nice little hobbit-hole, ever since I first read Tolkien in the late 1960’s.
9. No Graven Image by Elizabeth Elliot. A young missionary finds that God is trustworthy, but not necessarily fathomable. I find the same to be true in my Christian life. This novel and the book of Job are my mainstays in the time of suffering and difficulty.
10. Cheaper by the Dozen by Ernestine and Frank Gilbreth. Was it from this book or somewhere else that I got the idea that it could be fun to have a lot of children and to teach them things in my own home? I think some of the nonfiction I listed above (and life) fleshed out the details, but Cheaper by the Dozen planted the seed of an idea long before I even realized the idea was there.
Hard task. On another day, I’d probably pick an entirely different set of books. And I didn’t even begin to list my childhood influences–the picturebooks that formed my imagination and the chapter books that made me think and made me grow. I’ll save all that for another post, but the ten books above have definitely shaped and do continue to define who I am. What books made you who you are or confirmed your direction in life and work?
I received this magazine, free to review, several weeks ago, and it’s taken me almost this long to read the entire summer 2005 issue so that I could write my review. So the first observation I have to make is that with this magazine you get your money’s worth in information and content. It’s about 200 pages long with ads, but lots more meaty homeschool content.
This summer 2005 issue of The Old Schoolhouse has dual themes: Homeschooling Special Needs Children and International Homeschooling. There are also several articles about homeschool blogging and THE hottest place in homeschool blogging these days, homeschoolblogger.com.
The articles on special needs children include information on homeschooling children with Down’s Syndrome, autism, ADD or ADHD, and other disabilities that may interfere with learning. These are practical, helpful stories of families who are homeschooling children with these needs. There’s also an article on homeschooling gifted children. One of the most interesting pieces in the magazine was about homeschooled art prodigy, Amelia Harper, a ten year old artist whose artworks have sold for more than $50,000 and whose paintings have appeared in print in Time Magazine and in other publications. You can see some samples of her work here. In contrast, there’s a story about the birth and life of Baby Hope MaryAnne Wuehler, who was diagnosed in the womb with a possibly terminal genetic problem. You can read the story of God’s grace in the lives of Hope MaryAnne and her parents and in the lives of many other children and parents of children with health issues. The message that comes through in both articles is that God gives us the children He has for us as blessings, with all their gifts and issues, and our job is to teach, encourage, and remain faithful.
Have you kept up with homeschooling trends in Japan? Switzerland? The United Kingdom? This issue of The Old Schoolhouse features stories about homeschoolers in each of those countries and more. There are advantages and disadvatages to homeschooling in other countries. Sarah Bachmann says, “Swiss chocolates keep the spirits up.” I can only imagine.
If none of the topic I’ve mentioned so far have tickled your fancy, there’s more. Sign language, summer travel, entrepreneurship, arts and crafts, living history, communication skills, storytelling (by Jim Weiss), natural foods, herbs and medicines, exchange students–all these topics are featured in articles written from a Christian perspective mostly by homeschool moms with expertise in these areas. And there are product reviews, contests, and prizes.
A couple of the articles recommend the books and ministry of Michael and Deb Pearl, authors of To Train Up a Child. I have major reservations about the Pearls’ ministry. Although the part of the book excerpted in The Old Schoolhouse emphasizes accepting your husband as he is and encouraging him to fulfill God’s purpose in his life– excellent spiritual advice–the book itself is not one I would recommend.
I almost forgot to mention the interview with Debra Bell, author of The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling. Now there’s a book I can recommend. Then, there’s also the field trip through the gardens of England. And . . . You’ll just need to subscribe to The Old Schoolhouse to get all the goodies that are a part of this magazine. By the time you finish squeezing all the goodness out of your first issue, in about four months, there should be another issue ripe for squeezing. A year’s subscription is only $22.00 in the U.S.
I wrote about these picture book authors last year, all of whom deserve your attention and that of your children:
Roger Antoine Duvoisin
Phyllis Krasilovsky
Allen Say
Tasha Tudor
Tasha Tudor deserves much more of a post, but I’m not prepared to write it today. However, I found out that a much more famous author has a birthday today, too. Leo Tolstoy was born on this date in 1828. Question: which of you has read both Anna Karenina and War and Peace? Which did you like better? If you haven’t read them, why not?
From War and Peace
“Princess Marya, Natasha, and Pierre all experienced that feeling of constraint that usually follows a serious, heartfelt talk. To resume the same conversation is impossible, to talk of trifles soesn’t seem right, and yet the desire to speak is there and silence seems an affectation.”
“Pierre’s madness consisted in not waiting, as he had formerly done, to discover personal attributes which he called ‘good qualities’ in people before loving them; his heart overflowed with love, and by loving without cause he never failed to discover undeniable reasons for loving.”
Final question: does anyone else have trouble with Russian names when you read a Russian novel? The characters all have so many names. In War and Peace, there are the following characters, to name only a few:
Pyotr Kirilovitch Bezukov (also called Pierre or Petrushka or Count Bezukov)
Princess Elena Vasilyevna Kuragina (also called Helene or Ellen)
Princess Marya Nikoleyevna Bolkonskaya
Natalya Rostova (also called Natasha)
Count Pyotr Ilyich Rostov (also Petya)
Too many names, used interchangeably. But it’s a great story, nevertheless.
Jan Karon’s newest and final Mitford book will be coming out on November 8th. Harry Potter, step aside. This book is one I can stand in line for.