Dorothy Parker

Last night I read a short book with three of Dorothy Parker’s short stories in it. They were Big Blonde, The Sexes and Dusk Before Fireworks. All three amused me equally. I really liked the “reality” in them. The women characters and the way they thought or acted was very realistic. The way that she portrayed relationships was also very realistic.

Dorothy Parker was a critic, satirical poet, and short-story writer. She started her career as Vanity Fair’s drama critic and moved on to the New Yorker’s theater and book reviewer. She published many books throughout her time and even wrote some films for Hollywood. She also wrote two Broadway plays.

After researching her biography and finding out that she was a “Jersey Girl” I think that explains the realistic humor in her books and stories.

Technorati Tags: DorothyParker, BigBlonde, ShortStories, Poems, Movies, Plays, Critic, VanityFair, NewJersey

End of the year update…

Last weekend was the second anniversary of our decision to pull Michelle out of public school in favor of homeschooling which then turned into a combination of homeschool and school at home.  The only reason I know that it was the second anniversary is because it was the local homeschool faire.  We missed it this year because we were at RJ’s synchronized swimming meet.  I was a wee bit sad that we missed the faire but it was ok because there’s nothing we need in the way of curriculumn for next year anyway.  A combination of homeschool and dual enrollment at the community college is ahead and we’re all set with that. 

Michelle finished Geometry 1 and Spanish 2 last month – weeks ahead of schedule and she’s been sitting here with just the Chemistry final in front of her for almost a month.  We’re procrastinating that in hopes of getting a better handle on one module that was difficult for her.  She’s going to take the exam this week because she wants the 20 points of extra credit promised to those who finish before their 16 weeks in the class are up.  I’m not big on grades but they still mean something to her. 

At that point we could take her portfolio in for review and she could be considered a 10th grade graduate but I’m holding off – she’s got 3 books to read, a paper to write and 2 modules of language arts to complete before I’ll consider her really finished with the year.  We’re about to start work on a big project related to her kitchen explorations too – oops, I just ruined the surprise for her by posting this.  Ah well, I’m not good with surprises and she knows that.  😉

This summer she’s taking an SAT testing prep class.  I registered her because I worry that she may have poor testing skills, like both her brother and sister, even though her scores have never indicated she does.  I also worry because she puts a lot of pressure on herself in testing situations so the more prepared she feels, the better for her – emotionally.  And of course there’s the whole lack of "real testing" for the last two years.  We haven’t participated in the FCATS and the FLVS testing seems too much like her normal school work because it’s all done in the same sort of environment as the everyday coursework and mini tests/quizzes.  I haven’t assigned any real testing since we fiddled with some test booklets that first summer and I was trying to figure out exactly what she knew and didn’t.  So… this test prep course is going to reassure us both, I think – hope. 

It’s been a relaxed year – even with some struggles in Geometry and more struggles with Chemistry.  Her FLVS grades stayed solid.  Her dual enrollment testing went very well.  She’s read a lot of books and expanded her horizons in quite a few areas.  I wonder what next year will bring.

Technorati Tags: homeschool, endofyear, 10thgrade, portfolioreview, SATprep

Frozen Pizza vs. Homemade Pizza

Recently I started making my own pizza from boboli bread and packaged sauce. There is something about one of them that tastes kind of weird but I do like to put my own toppings on them. My favorite one is red peppers. I used to really like mini frozen supreme pizzas. I think that either are ok though. There’s a pretty good article at slashfood.com about which frozen pizzas are better.

Technorati Tags: pizza, frozenpizza, homemadepizza,

Oscar Wilde’s Portia, Written in the Lyceum Thetre

I marvel not Bassanio was so bold
To peril all he had upon the lead,
Or that proud Aragon bent low his head
Or that morocco’s fiery heart grew cold;
For in that gorgeous dress of beaten gold
Which is more golden that the golden sun
No woman Veronsese looked upon
Was half so fair as thou whom I behold.
Yet fairer when with wisdom as your shield
The sober-suited lawyer’s gown you donned,
And would not let the laws of Venice yield
Antonio’s heart to that accursed Jew-
O Portia! take my heart; it is thy due:
I think I will not quarrel with the Bond.

Goth Subculture

Today I read a good article about goths. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything that actually portrays gothic people for what they really are and not what the bible thumping christians think they are. Goths are very intelligient and in my mind a lot more classy than some subcultures. Most the goths I know are such intellectual people and when I’m trying to carry a conversation with them, I just can’t follow because they have very big vocabulary and after a conversation I always learn something I didn’t know. It was just definently a great article.

Technorati Tags: goth, subculture, portrayal

Oscar Wilde’s Requiescat

Tread Lightly, she is near
    Under the snow,
Speak gently, she can hear
    The daisies grow.

All her bright golden hair
    Tarnishe with rust,
She that was young and fair
    Fallen to dust.

Lily-like, white as snow,
    She hardly knew
She was a woman, so
    Sweetly she grew.

Coffin-board, heavy stone,
    Lie on her breast,
I vex my heart alone
    She is at rest.

Peace, peace, she cannot hear
    Lyre or sonnet,
All my life’s buried here,
    Heap earth upon it.

I really like this poem. It is about a woman being dead and buried. The author misses her. *shrugs* I just like this one.

Technorati Tags: OscarWilde, Requiescat,

Oscar Wilde Poem From Ave Imperatrix

For not in quiet English fields
    Are there, our brothers, laid to rest,
Where we might deck their broken shields
    With all the flowers the dead love best.

Fors ome ar by the Delhi walls,
    And many in the Afghan land,
And may where the Ganges falls
    Through seven mouths of shifting sand.

And some in Russian waters lie,
    And others in the seas which are
The portals to the East, or by
    The wind-swept heights of Trafalgar.

And thou whose wounds are never healed,
    Whose weary race is never won,
O Cromwell’s england! must thou yield
    For every ince of ground a son?

So I thought this poem was a good one to post today. It is about war and what a sad thing it is to have people die in it. It is also about how a lot of war is pointless in some ways. And how it is ridiculous to have to bury people because they died in a war.

Technorati Tags: OscarWilde, FromAveImperatrix, war, death

Risks for ‘goth’ Youths

In an article from WebMD titled Safety Riskes for ‘Goth’ Youths you hear of a survey done in Scotland that states that most of the youths who catagorise themselves under the ‘gothic’ subculture have admitted to doing bodily harm to themselves.

I don’t really think that this is surprising. But I also don’t think that this is only something seen among ‘gothic’ people. I do however know that most peolple that get into the ‘goth scene’ are into blood and gorish things.

The part about the survey that states how many admitted to trying suicide doesn’t surprise me either. But what does surprise me is that it’s supposibly less common in other subculture identified youths. Honestly I think that the only reason that the rate is half and half with ‘goths’ or whatever is because there are less of them. But if you were to do a survey of all the people that tried to kill themselves I bet that there would be just as many in most subcultures.

Technorati Tags: suicide, goth, cutting, harm, subcultures,

Poem in the Portable Oscar Wilde

Today I had to read a poem in "The Portable Oscar Wilde". It was Poem VI on pg. 689. In this poem it describes "a man killing something he loves". The poem basically states that when someone messes something up, which they always do, then it is only right for them to pay. I generally liked this poem. It was sort of "moving".

Technorati Tags: OscarWilde, Poem, VI,

National Geographic Extinction

Today I read in the National Geographic blog that a new study is said
to suggest that by 2050 1/4 of plant and vertebrate animal species will
be in danger of extinction. In the authors’ reports there is an
estimation of 25 biodiversity "hot spots" around the world of which
their habitat will change. The main spots include South Africa’s Cape
Floristic Region, the Caribbean Basin, and the tropical regions of the
Andes Mountains.

I personally think this is bad. It’s not fair that these animals and
plants will be gone because humanity was too ignorant to fix what we
have done. It’s sad because some of the best parts of the world are
going to be affected.

Technorati Tags: GlobalWarming, 2050, extinction, habitat, SouthAfrica, CaribbeanBasin, AndesMountains