Either it works, or it doesn't

I found an interesting thing called parallelism. I wasn't sure what it refered to so I went ahead and checked it out. Parallelism is actually quite a detailed little grammar function, a bit too complicated to put into a simplified rule, but it entales making sentences cohesive by using like language throughout a sentence that has several different parts. (Ick...that was messy.) Anyway, let me show an example or two.

Wrong...
A time not for words, but action
Right...
A time not for words, but for action

Using the word for each time makes it sound better.

Wrong...
The French, the Italians, Spanish, and Portuguese
Right...
The French, the Italians, the Spanish, and the Portuguese

You wouldn't use the in front of just some of the list but each word.

Wrong...
In spring, summer, or in winter
Right...
In spring, summer, or winter (or) In spring, in summer, or in winter

Again, you wouldn't use in before some of the list, either each word or just the first.

There are other ways to bring sentences together for more cohesiveness by just rearranging them.
Wrong...
It was both a long ceremony and very tedious.
Right...
The ceremony was both long and tedious.

Check out a bunch more at:
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/parallelism.htm

The Truth Beyond the Conflict

Having grown up under the loving care of parents who incorporated religious beliefs into our upbringing, contention was just simply not allowed, nor did I allow it in my children as I raised them. As I read Deborah Tannen's article, The Roots of Debate in Education and the Hope of Dialogue (a lengthy title), I initially felt to challenge her pursuit of debate. As I read on I realized, "Ah ha, I've fallen right into the very premise of her notion. It is easy to argue and disagree with another's point of view."

I particularly liked the sections where she discussed the variety of teaching and it's effectiveness or lack there of. It made me want to go out and sit in classrooms and just observe to witness this scale for myself. Very intriguing.

Ms Tannen concluded with the supposition that truth should be and the root of our contrary nature, and that we should look at the whole picture rather than the this-vs-that attitude of most debate oriented discussion. It reminded me of the picture of Gaston, from Beauty and the Beast, that Ms Sutton used recently in one of her power points..."You're either with us or you're against us." What about those of us who want to know the rest of the story before we take a stand, either with or against or in another line altogether. Looking for more truth than lies at the surface is a much better motive than just proving someone is wrong.

All in all, I enjoyed Ms Tannen's remarks and found her style of writing easy to follow. She flowed easily from one point to another and the information was assimilated without too much conflict. I did have to look up a few of her vocabulary words, but I like that.

Did you check out the Doonesbury at the end of the article? I liked.

The PRICE of Education

I know it's not on our list of things to do, but I was browsing through our RA book and hooked into "The Achievement of Desire", an intriquing piece by Richard Rodriguez. His story is a retrospective autobiography on how he attained his level of success.

Without retelling the whole story, I will tell you that the part of his story that caught my attention deeply was how, being rised by an immigrant family, he lost his roots and relations with his family in persuit of his quest to be educated. Mr Rodriguez was embarrassed by his parents' heavy spanish accent and their lack of literary knowledge. As he became more and more educated, he distanced himself further and further away from his family and heritage. It wasn't until many years and awards into his adulthood that he recogized the loneliness of a scholar, hiding and living within the pages of someone elses ideas and concepts. He admits that his quest for education was mostly and merely a mimicing and parroting of others, and that he rarely, if ever, had a thought of his own but waited for others to tell him what to read and then what to think about it. He joined a literary community who met together in a museum and studied or read...but never conversed and built relationships with each other. This gave him an urgent yearning to "go home".

I found Rodriguez' writing just a little difficult to read, sometimes rereading the same sentence several times. Although he has a fabulous literary style, it's just a little upside down for me. I really enjoyed his story and just wanted to share, I guess.

NOW...to the real assignment!

I Don't Know How To Add Fancy Stationery to my Posts

So, I went to a grammar page to just meander through some grammarish stuff and I picked "confusing words". As I ran through the list looking for some that might be confusing to me I came across one that I didn't even know existed! Woo hoo! I love it when that happens.

Stationary and stationery. Did you know they were two different words? Anyway, it goes like this:
Stationary is to stay in one place.
We cemented the post so it would remain stationary.

Stationery is like fancy writing paper (or not fancy).
She wrote her letter on stationery she'd received for her birthday.

I knew there were the different meanings but I don't think I'd ever realized there were two different spellings. I hope I remember this in the future.

I found it at www.grammarbook.com/homonyms/confusing-words-4.asp

Not very useful, I suppose, but I liked finding something totally new to me.

Woo Who?

One of my favorite people in the whole world, Travis Cox, aka Bass, is an avid member of the theatrical community here at DSC. He often encourages me to polish my culture at the theatre. Not long ago he informed my daughter of an intriguing play not to be missed. Naci, and I stole a night away to enjoy "Ways to Woo, or How to Steal a Penny."

Unlike any of the other performances I've seen anywhere, this play was based on improv. There was a basic story line that must be followed, but there were no rehearsed lines. I felt unfortunate that I only attended one night. People who watched it multiple times said it was different each time.

The cast opened with some interaction with the audience to get their "creative juices flowing". It was really funny and gave you a feel for the personality of the cast. Likewise, during the play itself, the cast continued to interact with the audience giving them ample opportunity to create new lines and different outcomes. It was hilarious.

Well done, and bravo to the cast!

Whatever it takes

I can remeber two specific teachers that did something to make a considerable difference in my education.

Fourth grade. I had Mrs. Gentry. I didn't want Mrs. Gentry. She was just an ordinary teacher. She seemed oldish. (Looking back now I realize she was really quite young. Prospective of youth.) But we weren't far into the school year when a genuine misfortune helped me understand how to appreciate. We were playing fruit bowl, I believe, in the gym. Mrs. Gentry was the kind who would actually play with us instead of sitting around on a chair or on the stage. We were running and laughing and having a blast when Mrs. Gentry was accidently kicked in the back of the leg by one of the students. She rolled to the ground and cried out in pain. I'd never seen an adult in pain before. It turned out she'd broken her Achilles tendon, something that would require a LONG recovery period. She was replaced for the next 2 or 3 months with Mrs. Nelson. Up until this point I had taken my shy, quiet nature for granted. Education was easy for me and I was content to just sit back and learn...if I felt like it. Teachers rarely, if ever, called on me to participate in class and I NEVER volunteered. Much much to shy. Times tables, however, were a struggle and so I just figured it'd come when it came. No need to worry. Mrs. Nelson, shorter, older, rounder, and meaner than Mrs. Gentry, had no intentions of letting anyone slide through her class. Her first day there she walked up and down the rows, to each individual child and asked them a times table. Even me! I was horrified! And then she did it again the next day! My dred and terror turned to evasive action immediately...that very day. I went home and studied and learned my times tables just so I could breath easier with Mrs. Nelson at the helm.

It was in the 7th grade that I had Miss P. She was my English teacher. One fortuitous morning she decided to read us a book. She picked up, prefaced and began reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (LONG before there was a movie). It was entrancing. I couldn't wait for my class the next day where she read chapter 2. Day three you won't believe what she did. After the typical lesson, whatever it was, she picked up the book, turned it around a few time in her hands, eyed it carefully while watching our anticipation. Then...she put it back down!!! "I don't think I'm going to finish reading this book," she said. "If you want to find out what happens you'll have to read it yourself." WHAT!? It was the first book I ever check out from that library, but not the last. I read that and every other book in the series. Then I moved on to The Hobbit, which gave me nightmares. So I found some other books that piqued my interest, and have never quit finding books since she aroused my interest as to what lies beneath the cover of the next tale.

Thank you Mrs. P. Thank you Mrs. Nelson. (And thank you, too, Mrs. Gentry.)

AHHH...I STILL DON'T GET IT!

Good grief! I picked a doozie this time! Affect vs effect, do you get it? I know I never really have so I decided to make it my grammar post this week, so here you have it.

Apparently affect means to INFLUENCE something rather that cause...and effect means to CAUSE or to bring about or accomplish (or when preceded by A, AN, ANY, THE, TAKE, INTO, and NO.) Whatever! Have you got it? I peruse a bunch of sites and came up with the same thing over and over, which means we all pretty much agree on it's definition. But I still don't get it. I can kinda see the difference but each time they used it in an example, I was still confused.

For instance:
1. The family dialogue effected a positive atmosphere. (The family dialogue brought about a positive atmosphere.)
2. How long will we have to wait before the drugs take effect? (In this sentence, "effect" is preceded by "take".)

3. Will the campaign contributions affect his voting? (Will the contributions influence his voting?)
4. Her affect was greatly subdued when she made her decision. (Her emotion was subdued.)

The site I found helpfulish (not a real word) was http://hubpages.com/hub/Grammar_Mishaps__Affect_vs_Effect

Go ahead, check it out for more precise confusing details. And if you get it, take a minute to explain it in terms I can recognize.

A Discussion of Platitudinous Melee

I don't know that I've ever said I just want to be average, or nomal, or anything else of that nature. In Mike Rose's article, "I Just Wanna Be Average," he tells the stories of his classmates and his journey through the school system. Will all it's ups and downs, not to mention the plethora of attitude and personality, he makes it seem unbelievable that any of us make it through with anything that resembles an education. Were it not for one singular teacher of regard, his time spent would've been wasted entirely.

It appears that he grew up in LA going to a religious school, Catholic I supposed, where many of the teachers were underprepared, unstable, and/or lacked the authority nessecary to attain and deserve the respect required to hold the attention of a bunch of irreverent teenagers. At some point in his article, Mr Rose relinquishes complete blame on the educational system and agrees to accept some himself. At some point, however, he is presented with an unorthodox, but hip and befitting teacher that managed to pique his interest in things that matter and save him from his vocational training. This one fortunate happenstance made him into the person he would eventually become.

Mr Rose's style of writing is the kind that I appreciate most; the kind that tells a relevant story, that is flowery and full of detail, that makes me think about his perspective as well as my own, and appears to come from a different enough point of view than my own, that I get to travel to another destination and time. I appreciated his talent for diction.

I regret that I seemed to have lost what I thought was his objective somewhere early in the story, but it may be that I had a misunderstanding of where we were going.