Three Companies

You know what is dumb? People who smoke while driving. Why should they be allowed to smoke while driving but we can't talk on the phone while driving? Its basically just as reckless.

Home Sweet Home

So this last weekend I went down to St. George to visit my family and take some things down because I'm going to be moving home for the summer. My parents just barely bought a new house and had moved in the week before so when I got down there I showed up at the new house. When I walked in they pretty much had everything in its place, besides a few shelves and what not that my mom wanted an opinion on, and to my surprise I automatically felt at home. I was thinking that when I first got down there it would be weird driving to a new house and having things be totally different but it wasn't. I didn't have to adjust to anything (besides finding food in the kitchen!! haha) because it still felt like home. After thinking about this I realized how much family can make new situations and places seem comfortable. Family connections and relationships is what makes a house a loving and welcoming home. Life can be tough at times but all the experiences we have are so important because we can grow and mature from them, but in the end it's always comforting to know that there is home to go to where you are loved and supported no matter what (and moms home cooking is always a plus!!).

Fall English 2200 Course

Several of you have emailed me or spoken to me about my fall teaching schedule. I just found out I am teaching an English 2200 course, Intro to Literature, and I expect it to be a lot of fun. We will learn a lot about literary forms and genres and then apply that knowledge to discussions of really great literature. My hope is that after taking the class, you will never again read a poem, story, novel, or play in the same way again. If you have enjoyed the reading we have done this semester and would like some more in-depth discussion of literature, please come aboard.

This class is an HH course, which means it satisfies your general Humanities requirement, which all majors require as far as I know. If you are an English major, this will count toward your electives requirement. If you are one of those people who takes a course now and again just because you want to (gasp!), this might be a good one, too.

If you can't take the class (or don't want to), I would appreciate it very much if you would help me to spread the word that I am teaching it (the catalog just says "STAFF," a rather innocuous word that is not likely to inspire anyone). I'll be putting up some posters over the summer as well in case you want one for your refrigerator.

The details: English 2200 Section 001, TR 1:00-2:15.

Cheers. I'll see you on Monday. Remember: LIBRARY, Room 206, 11:00-1:00.

Painting a picture with words

As I was reading through the posts to make enough comments and such to not lose 5% of my grade by not being involved enough it occurred to me the difficulty of writing fiction. There is an extremely thin line dividing good from bad. A writer must describe enough to help people build images in their minds of what is going on, while not boring the readers with too much detail. I have friends that have stopped reading books because their is too much of nothing happening. The great depth of description can stop many readers today. Our world is very now and due in large part to the large media we have people do not use our imaginations as much as we used to. I think this maybe one of the reasons why graphic novels, a.k.a comic books, are getting more attention. While I being a comic fan have always looked at this form with respect and I feel now that as it gets some it maybe for the wrong reasons.

Happiness

I just wanted to write something on the blog about this wonderful sunny day. I notice that people around me are more active, dress differently and even behave differently on sunny days including myself to some degree. People sit out on the lawn in front of the library, walk outside, eat outside and even smile more when the sun is out. While i love knowing that it is sunny outside and it does make me happy, i don't think that the weather should determine a persons happiness. Its all in your attitude about life.
An example of this was last week when Orem was hit with the biggest snow storm i had ever seen in my life. All my friends were complaining about the snow, probably because they had to drive in it and were not happy just because of snow. While i do not like snow i found in this particular example that you can find good out of bad things. It wasn't cold that day and actually the snow was beautiful to me. It made walking outside brighter and i told my friends so. I was happy that day. Have any of you experienced something like this?? do you agree with me??

Presentations - Room Change

Because our room is so small and cramped, and because it is difficult to set up a projector in that limited space, we are going to be giving our class presentations in the library. On Friday, we will be meeting in the library, room 206, NOT in PE 102. Please make a note of this and be a few minutes early. If you are presenting and have not spoken to me about what you need, please let me know right away.

Thank you, and I will see you on Friday in the library.