Games Make Me Hungry Too!
First of all, if you’d like to win a copy of Just Between You and Me, please check out my friend and fellow author Carla Stewart’s blog HERE. You have until Friday! And isn’t her blog cute? I like it. And I don’t mean because my face is currently on it. I mean because it’s like visiting a Starbucks.
You can also read more about Maggie Montgomery, star of Just Between You and Me HERE at Relz Reviewz. And pray for Rel. She lives in Australia and doesn’t know what SweetTarts taste like. This made me very, very sad. Iwill add that to the portion of my prayer time I like to call “Food Talk With the Lord.”
By the way, I had such a huge response to the earlier giveaway for Kathleen Fuller’s Amish fiction tale A Man of His Word, I wanted to share with you her Amish Hearts website. If you click HERE you can see directions for a contest to win An Amish Christmas, a book she co-wrote. I know you’ll love it if it’s even half as good as A Man of His Word was.
Finally, you can also get in the running for a copy of Catching Fire, book two in the Hunger Games series. I will totally riff on Hunger Games in just a moment. You can find this contest at the blog home of my FAVORITE teen librarian Sarah, the Green Bean Teen Queen. She always has SUCH great reviews. When Sarah blogs. . .I listen.
Happy Four Day Week! Woooo!!! I love four day weeks. Except they make me selfish. Instead of being grateful I had a day off, I wake up Tuesday with this thought, “No! I want today off TOO!!!” I have got to work on that whole content thing.
So we all know my eating habits are OUT OF control. I have really buckled down lately to do something about it. And when I say lately, I mean in the last two and a half days. But they have been the LONGEST two and a half days. I’m eating lots of veggies. (gag.) And no sugar for like 2 weeks. (gag.) I have to admit, tonight I broke down and got a granola bar (Kashi chocolate chip–my favorite) and a glass of milk. My body was freaking out with no sugar. I felt weird. (Weirder than usual…) And after that granola bar? I felt fantastico! It’s been hard though–I have had this GIANT (turbo-sized, bigger than a Hawaiin island, could double as a C.S.I. body bag) bag of candy to pass out treats to my students and other random people. (Okay, not random. I don’t just roll my window down on I-54o and chunk them at hobos, smokers, and people who hog the passing lane.) And I have stayed away from that bag. Mostly. (Okay, I’ve had one. But out of a few hundred, that’s not bad!! Are there medals for this? Someone should be serenading me with the national anthem right about now.)
So I vowed from blogging day one not to ever get political. It’s just not my thing to talk about in a public forum. If I read or watched more news then maybe I would. But I’ve really avoided all that in the last few years. (Heck, I gave up half my life during the weeks following 9/11. I’m paid up on news watching.) And I’m not called to influence anyone in politics in this particular forum, this I know. BUT…here was my Tweet from yesterday: Breakdown of Prez’s speech: wash your hands, stay in school, and don’t post your naughty bits on Facebook. He forgot bring your teacher candy… As an educator, I am very (insert “the stare”) disappointed that there was so much politics and witch hunting associated with this mini-speech. President O and I do not share similar views on many an issue, but personally, I’m proud of the guy for wanting to talk to our kids. For wanting to offer encouragement. For reminding them that anything is possible, even for an African American boy with humble beginnings. Our kids NEED to hear that. And it makes me sad that many (and I do mean MANY) kids in America didn’t. It makes me sad to see a dad on the news saying, “I didn’t feel comfortable with my child listening to that at school without my being there.” Hey, parent involvement is GREAT. We don’t see enough of it. But I would love for my fellow Conservatives to expend THAT much energy on something that matters. Now, had the hypothetical “lesson plans” gone through, then yeah, maybe not so cool. But if you’re in the education world, you KNOW you don’t blow your nose in front of the class without being able to tell the state department what the purpose was. We are trained cyborgs in justifying and “educationalizing” everything. When we do a quick five minutes of “Would you Rather” in class (would you rather eat worms or eat roaches) just to take a brain break, I have to justify that with an educational objective. On the board. Clearly stated for all to see. So on one hand, yeah, lesson plans tied to the speech, not good. But on the other hand, I have a feeling a group of people with educational backgrounds did it out of a knee jerk reaction. Because that’s what we do. We lesson plan EVERYTHING.
People were up in arms over the politics of it all at school. Words were thrown. Ridiculous emails sent. Eyes were rolled (mine). And it was just a sad outcome. I felt sorry for our president. I really did. We are his nation, whether we like it or not. He is our leader. I’m gonna respect my president, and I want to teach my students–all of them–to do the same. We can disagree, but we do not ignore. Instead today was a lesson that the kids have already learned–that we only show respect if we feel like it. That we can cater to our own whims and not care about anyone else. (Am I still talking? I did not mean to go on this long…) Anyway, if you had your nose bent out of joint about some sort of hidden agenda from the White House, yes, there might’ve been one initially. I dunno. It simply doesn’t matter now. But I just wanted to share the back side of the tapestry and show you the perspective we see on the educational front. And mostly I’m sad for our kids. There might’ve been just one who needed to hear “you can do anything” from our first African American president. The kid who needed that message wouldn’t care what political party it came from. Schools in our area did not show the speech. Honestly, in 12 years of teaching I’ve never been allowed to show a presidential “talk to the kids” speech. And no one has ever shown me the educational objective of that choice.
But don’t even get me started on health care. ; )
Okay, onto happier things. (This is what eating healthy does to me! I’m no fun! I’m talking politics. Make it stop! I need Fruit Loops!) I finally read Hunger Games this weekend. I’m proud of myself because I got it from the library. And not Amazon. Because cereal isn’t my only addiction… Anyway, it was interesting. Okay, I was slightly let down. It has been THE BUZZ of YA books since this summer. So maybe it was too hyped in my head. But it was like The Giver meets The Lottery meets The Truman Show meets Blade Runner. (Google Blade Runner. I can’t explain that one anymore than I can explain why I have to eat a balanced diet.) The book is about a girl named Katniss who is basically in charge of her family (I totally relate. HOW MANY times did I have to go out huntin’ for squirrels for my own mother? SIGHHHH). The story takes place in kind of a futuristic post-Apocalyptic setting. The world as we know it is gone. The new world order seems to be 12 communities. And every year they draw names, and every community sends two child representatives. These kids are thrown into this arena and forest and must kill each other. These are the Hunger Games. Whoever is left alive is the winner. And it brings much honor (and much needed food) to your community. Good times, eh? Sign me up! But here’s what I liked about it: it’s not Twilight. I am sooo ready to see some other book in the hands of teenagers and my students. These guys are reading the Twilight series over and over and over. So here’s you a new book! Hunger Games has action, blood, murder, romance (though that is debatable), social issues, futuristic thinga-ma-bobs, and a girl who kicks some butt (also slightly debatable). But my luke-warm attitude towards the book is RARE from what I’m hearing. All my students who are reading it are luuuvvvving the book. And it’s a clean, rated PG book (okay, a little too much hunting for me. Leave the animals alone! You don’t need meat to eat in the wilderness. Eat more berries! Eat some Kashi granola bars!), so you should not take my word for it and check it out.
And what have you read lately? Anything good? I’m not sure what is up next on my list. Maybe The Help, which has been sitting on my shelf since May calling my name. Maybe that Sarah Dessen novel I’ve yet to crack open. Or maybe I will have to find out what happens to Katniss and read Chasing Fire.
I have rambled on enough. I hope you have a fabulous rest of the week. I promise not to get political again. Or at least for a very long time. I’ll leave that to Fox News. And the Terminator.
See you Friday!
JEN
P.S. If you liked this post, you might also like:
 |
|
|
8 Comments so far
Leave a reply
I totally agree with you! I’m so tired of having to “educationalize” everything. We had the same drama with “the big speech” over here where I teach. About 60 different decisions were made and honestly, it just made me so mad I didn’t want to even watch it or talk about it or hear about it. BUT, I agree with what you said. Some of our kids probably needed to hear what he had to say. I actually could have shown it, but it was during my plan time, so I didn’t. I may show parts of it in the next couple of weeks when we do our “citizenship” unit. What better way to learn about citizenship than to learn to respect the office of the President, even if you don’t like the guy sitting behind the desk in the Oval Office? Okay…my rant is now over!
You should check out Catching Fire. I’m finding it addictive!
And seriously, anytime we got to watch anything on TV in school, that was the greatest treat! Give the teachers a break and let the kids do something other than listen to lectures all day!
Don’t feel too sorry for Rel. Aussies have access to way better chocolate in their snack aisles than we Yanks do. And she can get Timtams!!!! Rumor has it these yummy biscuits (that’s cookies for those of you who don’t speak Australian) are coming to Target this fall, and that excites me a little more than it should.
The Hunger Games’ plot is probably most similar to that of The Running Man, a movie based on a Stephen King novella. It stars the current governor of California and features some of his best (i.e., cheesiest, punniest) one-liners.
That’s really interesting about the president’s speech. I never thought of it from a teacher’s perspective.
Woohoo to you for eating healthy!
You’re brave to go without sugar for a week. You might want to WebMD that before proceeding though, just in case there are health risks involved or something. Risks like death.
Can you share your squirrel recipes with me?
Wow! So much to say about all of that! I, too, wish we could have shown the speech…at the very least, in seminar. Hopefully they will allow it. I know of at least one person who will approach the “powers that be” about that. I do know of many students in my classes who could benefit from it. Even I need a pep talk every once in a while (okay…every day but, oh well!)
Oh, and Chip…best squirrel recipe in the world…
Hunt and clean one squirrel (yes, clean inside and out…I won’t go into the complete details…my daddy always did it out by a tree where I couldn’t see the horribleness of it all!)
Pour BBQ sauce in (cleaned out) cavity
Wrap completely in foil (seal it well!)
Bake for 30 minutes to 1 hour…depending on size of squirrel and until falling off bone.
YUM, YUM!
Okay maybe that doesn’t sound good but when I was little it was my fav meal…
I just entered the drawing at Carla’s blog…thanks for the heads up!
And my condolences on your vegetable-intensive diet.
I thought that The Hunger Games was AMAZING!!!! One of the most intense and heart-pounding books I ever read, I had to read it in one sitting and I was just sucked in.
Catching Fire is almost as good, and I got *that* two days after it came out.
And please don’t even compare to Twilight, the writing quality is so different.
(Of course I also based my reading of Peeta on a guy I know, so I was probably more attached to the story personally… :S )