Banned Books

September 25 through October 1, 2016 is Banned Books Week.

Banned books on display at the LeClaire Community Library

We’ve all read banned or challenged books. You would be surprised by some of the titles that people/organizations have tried to have banned - many of them are very well known and loved books. Also, the list of banned and challenged books is llllooooonnnnnggg! Your favorite books might be on the list. Mine is.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees our right to read and write whatever we want (it’s called freedom of the press.) The first Amendment also guarantees the right to protest against something you find disagreeable (it’s called freedom of speech.)

Ironic, isn’t it? The First Amendments supports both sides of this argument. It says, “Go ahead, and complain. It’s your right.”  But it also says, “Tough luck, Chuck. Our citizens can read or write whatever they want!”

Libraries across the United States of America are displaying some of the books that have previously been banned. They’re reminding us of our rights as Americans—something we can never take for granted. They’re inviting us to expand our minds, and challenge our own thoughts and ideas. That’s important. Keeping it real, folks.

"If all books were banned and you could
save only one, what would it be?

One of my all-time favorite books, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, published in 1967, has been banned and challenged because of gang activity (the rich kids verses the poor kids), underage smoking and drinking, and family dysfunction. Seriously. What teenager could possibly relate to that? (Sarcasm Alert! Sarcasm Alert!)

Maybe we could have learned about real life from the late 1960’s family sitcoms.  My Three Sons, perhaps? No. That family was a blended family. For shame! The Andy Griffith Show? No. That show had a town drunk and Opie didn’t have a mom.

How about music? Well, Mrs. Robinson by Simon and Garfunkel was big in 1968. Seduction of a younger man by an older woman was the theme of that song. That won’t do at all. How about Lady Madonna by the Beatles? It’s about a woman on welfare who has one night stands with all her kids in the house. Riigghhtt!  I’m sure all those TV shows and songs had no effect on society. Certainly no mirror of society.

Yep. This one is on the banned list too.

You can see my indignation is for real.

I’m linking a list of banned books right here. Check it out. Better yet, read a few!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

P.S. If it weren’t for the First Amendment, there would be no place for Facebook, Twitter, Blogspot, etc.

Reading: An Introvert Just Doin’ Her Thang

Being a reader is something that I do not take for granted.  I’m not sure at what age I became a “good” reader.  I remember being in the “middle reading group” in elementary school. If you’re old enough, you’ll remember the groups were named after birds.  You know: The Blue Bird Group – they were the top readers, The Red Bird Group, and the poorest readers: The Buzzards Group—(not really their name).   And like all kids, I envied the Blue Bird Group. 

I have a distinct memory of my third grade teacher (nasty ol' Miss Brown) making a big stink over me mistakenly using the word ‘kids’ in a sentence when the text said  ‘children’. It went something like this:  The text sentence:  The children ran outside.  What I read out loud:  The kids ran outside. I remember she made me read that sentence several times until I finally realized my mistake. (I know now, as an experienced teacher, that those kinds of word substitutions do not change the meaning of the text, nor is it the end of the world if a kid can understand the meaning of the passage even if using an incorrect word.)  Geesh lady, take a chill pill.

I think sixth grade might have been the year that I stood up and took notice of literature. My teacher that year read many books to our class that I considered “risky.”   I wrote in a previous post about The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton and how that book changed me.  That may have been the beginning of my love of reading.  This particular school year was an all-out whole language paarrtayyy.  We got together in small groups and wrote extra chapters for The Outsiders, and then made the book into a play.  I remember my friend, Connie, was talked into being the lead female, Cherry Valance, because she had the best clothes of all the girls in our class.  We also wrote a newspaper based on the events of that story.  It Was All Good.  No taking turns reading out loud up and down the desk rows that year.  Mrs. Juanita Jackson (my teacher) knew what was what when it comes to engaging kids in reading.

When I was in junior high, I was put in an accelerated reading class.  This class literally was a speed reading course.  After reading a text that flashed on the screen-- I’m not talking computer screen, I mean reach-up-and- grab-the-handle-pull-it-down silver screen-- fired from a slide projector, we had to complete a comprehension quiz before moving on.  Oh, man did I love the status of that class and I was determined to stay above the line that would send me back to the regular reading class. The cool thing about this class is that I didn’t have to read out loud in front of the other kids. --  Because whenever I had to read out loud you could just forgggedddabout comprehension at that point!

I’m rather confused and disoriented when I’m in a crowd. (My husband often leads me through them.) I don’t do well with small talk. I’d rather just sit back and talk with one or two people- and even that’s difficult sometimes.  I get overwhelmed in unfamiliar surroundings.  I often observe rather than participate.  I like to people-watch. I like quiet. I am an introverted person.

It seems that introversion and a love of reading go hand-in-hand. My fellow employees at the library are all self-confessed introverts who would rather not be part of unorganized social situations. They’re all readers (of course) and they’re all cat people. (But that’s a different story.)

I’m not saying extroverted people don’t read. They do.  I’m just saying that for me, reading is a natural part of who I am, as much as being introverted is who I am.  I contend that extroverts read more for information and introverts read more for entertainment. Do you agree? Disagree?

What are your reading habits and preferences? Do they align with your personality?

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself.

~Nadine

God’s Good Grace and meeting Goals

First, I need to apologize for this post being late today. I’ve tried very hard to make a concerted effort to have my thoughts and ideas posted by 8:00 AM, Central Daylight Time, every Wednesday. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen today.

***

This past weekend Tim and I had the opportunity to visit our Son and Daughter-in-law at their home in northwest Iowa. They live nearly a six hour car drive away from us, so we don’t get to see them as often as we would like.

Every time we visit, I’m always overwhelmed with pride at the life they’ve created for themselves way up in the “Arctic of Iowa.” (While it’s beautiful there in the summer, the winters are long and hard – much more so than our southeast Iowa location.)

They have a lovely home, furnished and decorated with things they’ve created themselves. Nate is a woodworker (remember, he made my office desk), and Kiley is the queen of creative home décor. She used to write for a magazine and actually published articles about some of their frugal, yet creative projects. I think she could have a whole blog on just that topic - creative, frugal living.

On Sunday afternoon, we went to a pet shop in the Des Moines area. (We were all in the area for a wedding on Saturday.) Kiley was in need of a rat. Yep. A rat. She works at a nature center and one of the pet rats died and since she was in a city that actually had pet stores, she bought one for work. She buys rats as part of her job responsibilities…

 Any who, she got the wrong color of rat- it needed to match the picture by the cage at the nature center- because she said she had to rescue it from the pet store. The little rat actually hid in her purse while she paid for it. The pet store man asked if they needed a box for the rat, Kiley said no, that she had a cage ready, and put the rat on her shoulder as we walked out of the store. The rat happily slid into its pretty little pink and purple jungle gym type cage for the two hour ride home.

We went to Nate’s church on Monday morning because he had some obligations to take care of. He and Kiley are both active in their church. As a Mom, I can’t be more thankful that my children and their families trust in God to guide their lives. I’ve seen good people lead their lives in an apathetic way, and it’s just not. Not bright. Not beautiful. Not appreciative. Not thankful.

I learned that my son, Nate, is an excellent instructor. He has exceptional skills – due to massive training and a gift from God- in his profession. He shared his knowledge with me and Tim. We were impressed by his abilities. As a teacher myself, I was impressed with his ability to teach. Many people have great skills in life, but not just anyone can teach what they know.

I loved this past weekend. Nate and Kiley have reached some of their goals, but they are nowhere near finished.  Hard work and trusting in God’s grace have lead them this far. It’s going to be exciting to see what He brings to them next.


Until next time,
Be Good to Yourself,
~Nadine

Back Porch Revival: A Journal in Photos

The very first concert in Kinnick Stadium happened on Saturday August 27, 2016 and we were there!

Dallas Clark and Ashton Kutcher  worked together to create the Native Fund. It's an Iowa charitable organization that helps Iowans in their time of need- typically due to natural disasters like floods or tornadoes. (See link below.)

The Bethard boys. 

Tucker Bethard sings his country single "Rock On" 

as his brother CJ sways to the music.

I think it's sweet that Tucker wore a Farm Strong Iowa t-shirt, 

while CJ wore his brother's Rock On tee, each supporting the other.

Cowboy Troy doing some country rappin'  and Big Kenny showin' off his guns!

Big And Rich put on a fun and crazy show. 

They definitely got the crowd pumped up for Thomas Rhett and Blake Shelton

Kinnick Stadium was packed and rockin!

The artists played a great mix of county and rock. 

I was surprised to hear them all play covers of other artists, but it worked! The night was electric!

When I found out Thomas Rhett was scheduled to play at this event I was so excited. He was the act I wanted to see over all the other performers.  My favorite part of the night was when he sat down and played the drums while singing Cake By The Ocean By DNCE. Even though it's not his song, it  (he) was fantastic!  Unfortunately, my picture did not turn out very well.  Every picture I took after dark of the jumbo looked blurry.  Bummer

We sat right next to a beer tent at about the 50 yard line. At two different times during the night, I saw armed police, with guards carry FULL  grocery bags (the re-usable kind) out of the back of the tent... and, no, they were not full of beer! BIG $$$$ was spent on the drink that night. This picture was taken at about 9PM of the empties along side the tent closest to my seat.

Our seats were not great, but we didn't care. We had a blast!

Happy 33rd Anniversary to us!

We got married on Saturday, August 27, 1983.

Wow! How time flies! 

The Native Fund: Iowans Helping Iowans

Iowans helping Iowans. I like it.  The fund raiser was one to remember. Top Notch.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself and listen to some music!

~Nadine

Z is for ZINE

Have you ever heard of Zines?

I hadn’t until four days ago. Now I’m a little bit in a daze because I can hardly believe this form of communication existed and I knew nothing of it!

When my co-worker told me she went to a Zine convention I had absolutely Zero Idea of what she was talking about. I didn’t even understand the word Zine. She enlightened me. Now I know, and I’ll share what I’ve learned, right here, on this little BlogSpot.  Excited? Me too!

Zine, pronounced zeen, (like the end part of magazine, explained my co-worker) is an old form of communication. Dating back to the 1930’s, it’s had highs and lows in popularity. 


A zine is a mini book about an off-beat or maybe unconventional, unpopular, or un-politically correct, what-have-you topic. Zines are self-published. Some are more complex, with bound spines, while others are simply photo-copied and stapled paper booklets

.

Way back in the early history of the United States, Thomas Paine printed a pamphlet in 1776 called Common Sense. It was 48 self-published pages that pushed for the colonists to fight for independence against Britain. It was of course, blasphemy to the Monarchy, therefore, an underground communication that spread like wild fire and caused men to take action.  Perhaps it could be considered the first Zine?

A zine can also look somewhat like a small comic book. I think the important thing about zines is that no matter how quirky the topic is, there will be interested buyers. Yes buyers.  Zines can sell for as low as a dollar each.Etsy even has zines for sale.

I’m attempting a zine of my own. A Nadinezine, if you will…

It’s a super rough draft of the first chapter of my novel, The Ink of Time. I’m not sure if the topic is ‘quirky’ enough to be a true zine, but I don’t care. It’s a new fun and creative way for me to do my writing thang. 

That’s what makes zines so amazing.

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Big Step and Maybe a Leap!

A couple of months ago I registered with a local writers’ group. This particular writers’ group meets every two weeks, and for the past two months, since I registered, I hadn’t attended one meeting. It’s not that I forgot- they send reminders to my e-mail. It’s that I was always “too busy.”

It’s hard for me to join any group, but joining a writers’ group, while exhilarating sounding in theory was too scary to put into practice. Until this past Monday night. I did it. I put on my big girl panties and walked into that coffee house and joined in!

There were about 9 or 10 people already there when I sat down, they simply acted like I belonged. We went around the table and said our names and a brief description of what each of us write.  I was brief alright: “My name is Nadine. I write fiction.”

Stellar intro- don’t you think? I have a gift.

Anyway, this eclectic group of people- at various stages of writing success- talked with one another and me like it was the most normal thing to do. 

The format of the meetings alternate between seminar style and workshop style.  This week was seminar and the topic was about on-line tools for writers. The next meeting will be workshop, where participants may have a writing prompt and also share and ask for feedback on their personal writings.

Workshop is what I’m really interested in. When I feel comfortable, I’ll share some of my novel, The Ink of Time, which, as you know, I’m trying to get some representation for.  (See my post “Rejection with a Smile” on April 13th, 2016)

So. I’ve taken another step in this big scary world of authorship. I’ve joined a like-minded group. I am hopeful. I am excited.

I’ll keep you informed.

Let me ask. What leap are you ready to make? Go for it!!

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine

Dear First Year Teacher

It’s back to school time!

Today I’m going to share an oldie but goodie.  I wrote the following list for a class I took in June of 2005.  I think it’s just as relevant today as it was back then.

Have a productive year, my teacher friends. I’m thinking of you always.Help the new ones along the way. The Good Lord knows we need them!

Survival of the First Year of Teaching

These are the important things to remember to help you survive (yes, survive) your first year of teaching.  They’re listed in no specific order of importance, because they’re all important.  Please remember the following:

1.  When you arrive at your new school, introduce yourself and always greet the office staff, custodians and aides.  They’re invaluable to you.  They can make your life easier…or NOT!

2.  Save everything.  You never know when you’re going to be asked about some random report, memo, or assessment. Don’t get rid of anything until the final report card is in the mail!

3.   Be as organized as possible.

•    Keep your files neat:

• Have a file on each student.  In that file save notes from parents.  Also save your personal notes and observations of student progress- you’ll be glad you did at report card time!

• Try to put things away after you’ve used them.  One can create a huge pile in a short amount of time.

5.  Have lesson plans ready each day, and be able to justify what it is that you’ve planned.

4.Dress for success. Dress for comfort. (HA! Try to make that work!)

6.  Take time to get to know the kids.  Talk with them at appropriate times— don’t let them

monopolize learning time with their stories.

7.  Don’t gossip or criticize.  But do vent (in an appropriate place) when necessary!

8.  Learn from your mistakes.  Think: How can I do that better?   What went well?  (and why?)  What went wrong?  (and why?)

9.   Give yourself a break.  Nobody is perfect.   Give yourself the time to master your craft.

10.  Be honest with your students and with their parents, but be tactful, too.

11.  Be in charge of what is happening in the classroom.  Don’t let students control what happens. Project confidence, even if you’re not! (That’s not to say to ignore the “teachable moment.”)

12.  Help student to learn to be responsible for their belongings and their actions.

13.  Talk to every person in the system that you think might be able to help you with a question or concern.

14.  Be flexible.  There are a lot of people who have a vested interest in these kids.  Everyone has to take turns!!!  

15.  When in doubt, ask yourself:  “Is what I’m asking of the child/ children  going to prepare them to be/make them a better citizen of  the world?”  Our ultimate goal is to give these people the skills and building blocks to become responsible, productive citizens!

And finally, from the late John Finnessey, Superintendent of Bettendorf Community Schools,  Number 16:  Be the kind of teacher who gains 20 years of experience in the first year of teaching….not the kind of teacher who teaches for 20 years, but has only one year of experience.  (circa Aug. 1996)

Until next time,

Be Good to Yourself,

~Nadine