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Flashbacks are so tacky
Jan. 30th, 2005 11:40 pmFor my young adult lit class we need to write a "reading autobiography" about our experiences with reading. This is an odd experience for me. Apparently most people don't clearly remember learning to read and all the major books they read in first and second grade. And those books weren't usually Doctor Dolittle and The Lord of the Rings. harumph. Anyway, it's been a fun trip down memory lane. Ms. Barone and Ms. Wood, if you're out there, I'm still very grateful to you for your support and understanding when I was an itty-bitty snot nosed brat of a grade schooler. You guys were the sine qua non of my childhood survival.
Ms. Barone was the principal in my grade school. I got sent to her for discipline problems. I was kinda bored. Didn't like having to color airplanes all blue to prove I read the instructions (which consisted of reading the word "blue" printed on the sheet with the airplane on it, as I recall). She gave me all these tests and discovered I could actually read, and after that my assignments were a lot more fun and I gave my poor teacher far less hell.
We had to read Rules of the Road and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle for class, and I was struck by how many books have really awful fathers in them. The dad in the first is an alcoholic and the dad in the second is a cruel authoritarian. Apparently this is all tied to the search for identity and creating novelistic tension but it makes for rather depressing reading as an adult. Especially back to back.
And we have to interview two people, one of which can be ourselves, about our early experiences with getting our licenses and driving. Which would be swell if I *had* a license, but I don't. Failed the test at 22. My first time. For speeding. Ah well.
For non-fiction I'm reading about Boudica (spelling highly variant), the Iceni warrior queen who led a rebellion against the Romans. If people came into my castle, killed my husband, flogged me, and raped my daughters, I might be inspired to lead a rebellion too. Seems perfectly plausible. It's kinda funny that the british tribes were fighting guerrilla war against the Romans, considering how when it came time for the American Revolution they were so unprepared to fight off guerrillas themselves. I suppose the thousand and a half years in between and all might have something to do with it, and I know it wasn't even the descendants of the same people, but the comparison keeps coming to mind.
Time to go do something useful or sleep. Whichever comes first. After all, Sleep is for the Week. (I even have a nasty old stained T-shirt that says so. Long story. Misprint, tired person. Running joke of sorts.) All best to everyone.
Ms. Barone was the principal in my grade school. I got sent to her for discipline problems. I was kinda bored. Didn't like having to color airplanes all blue to prove I read the instructions (which consisted of reading the word "blue" printed on the sheet with the airplane on it, as I recall). She gave me all these tests and discovered I could actually read, and after that my assignments were a lot more fun and I gave my poor teacher far less hell.
We had to read Rules of the Road and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle for class, and I was struck by how many books have really awful fathers in them. The dad in the first is an alcoholic and the dad in the second is a cruel authoritarian. Apparently this is all tied to the search for identity and creating novelistic tension but it makes for rather depressing reading as an adult. Especially back to back.
And we have to interview two people, one of which can be ourselves, about our early experiences with getting our licenses and driving. Which would be swell if I *had* a license, but I don't. Failed the test at 22. My first time. For speeding. Ah well.
For non-fiction I'm reading about Boudica (spelling highly variant), the Iceni warrior queen who led a rebellion against the Romans. If people came into my castle, killed my husband, flogged me, and raped my daughters, I might be inspired to lead a rebellion too. Seems perfectly plausible. It's kinda funny that the british tribes were fighting guerrilla war against the Romans, considering how when it came time for the American Revolution they were so unprepared to fight off guerrillas themselves. I suppose the thousand and a half years in between and all might have something to do with it, and I know it wasn't even the descendants of the same people, but the comparison keeps coming to mind.
Time to go do something useful or sleep. Whichever comes first. After all, Sleep is for the Week. (I even have a nasty old stained T-shirt that says so. Long story. Misprint, tired person. Running joke of sorts.) All best to everyone.
