the giving tree by shel silverstein

Once there was a tree . . .

and

she loved

a

little boy.

And every day
the boy
would come

and
he
would
gather
her
leaves

and make them
into crowns
and play king of the forest.

He would climb up her trunk

and swing from her branches

and eat apples.

And they
would play
hide-and-go-seek.

And when
he was tired,
he would sleep
in her shade.

And the boy loved the tree . . .

very much. And the tree was happy.

But time went by.

And the boy grew older.

And the tree was often alone.

Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, "Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy."
"I am too big to climb and play," said the boy.
"I want to buy things and have fun.
I want some money.
Can you give me some money?"
"I'm sorry," said the tree, "but I have no money.
I have only leaves and apples.
Take my apples, Boy, and sell them
in the city. Then you will have money
and you will be happy."

And so the boy climbed up the
tree and gathered
her apples
and carried them away.

And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away
for a long time...
and the tree was sad.
And then one day
the boy came back
and the tree shook with joy
and she said, "Come, Boy,
climb up my trunk
and swing from my branches
and be happy."

"I am too busy to climb trees,"
said the boy.
"I want a house to keep me warm,"
he said.
"I want a wife and I want children,
and so I need a house.
Can you give me a house?"
"I have no house," said the tree.
"The forest is my house,
but you may cut off my branches
and build a house.
Then you will be happy."

And so the boy cut off
her branches
and carried them away
to build his house.

And the tree was happy.

But the boy stayed away
for a long time.
And when he came back,
the tree was so happy
she could hardly speak.
"Come, Boy," she whispered,
"come and play."
"I am too old and sad to play,"
said the boy.
"I want a boat that will take me far away from here.
Can you give me a boat."

"Cut down my trunk
and make a boat,"
said the tree.
"Then you can sail away . . .
and be happy."

And so the boy cut down her trunk

and made a boat and sailed away.

And the tree was happy . . .

but not really.

And after a long time
the boy came back again.
"I am sorry, Boy,"
said the tree, "but I have nothing
left to give you---

My apples are gone."
"My teeth are too weak
for apples," said the boy.
"My branches are gone,"
said the tree. "You
cannot swing on them---"
"I am too old to swing
on branches," said the boy.
"My trunk is gone," said the tree.
"You cannot climb---"
"I am too tired to climb," said the boy.
"I am sorry," sighed the tree.
"I wish that could
give you something...
but I have nothing left. I am just
an old stump. I am sorry . . . ."

"I don't need very much now,"
said the boy,
"just a quiet place to sit and rest.
I am very tired."
"Well," said the tree,
straightening herself up
as much as she could,
"well, an old stump is good
for sitting and resting.
Come, Boy, sit down.
Sit down and rest."

And the boy did.

And the tree was happy.

The End

By Shel Silverstein

God Bless,

lv

here i am and i'll wait in line always

New York City was wonderful. I had a fabulous time. Took umpteen classes at Broadway Dance Center (up to 4 1/2 hours a day), saw 4 Broadway shows (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Phantom of the Opera, All Shook Up and Sweet Charity) and an ABT Ballet, Raymonda. I saw my friend Joan for the first time in 4 years, went to Little Italy and Canal Street (but didn't buy a purse), put Miss Karen's baby to sleep several times, went to Ground Zero which so unfathomable and has even more impact than one would expect. The extent of damage is just beyond belief. And they've cleaned it up! I cannot even imagine what it must have looked like initially. I took no pictures of Ground Zero, because I couldn't figure out what to take a picture of. The destruction was so devastating. Pictures could not even begin to capture the level of destruction which the empty hole represents.

I've been home since Sunday afternoon, and I'm leaving today for Charleston, South Carolina. Ashley's getting married on Saturday! Wow. Scary to think that will be me before long. The wedding's going to be a blast though; I'm really looking forward to it. Bridal luncheon on Friday morning, rehearsal and rehearsal dinner Friday evening, girl stuff saturday morning, wedding saturday afternoon, reception following, family brunch sunday morning...I'm going to be exhausted! I love being so busy though, as long as it doesn't have to do with school. :)

I have New York pictures that you can see here. I'm not going to take the time to post them all, because I had a lot of trauma with them already. Don't want to go through that again. Just look, and enjoy. I'll be making a video slideshow before long--for those of you who know me well. ;)

I'll be back from South Carolina Sunday evening. Until then, don't have too much fun without me! And, if you're a member of St. Johns youth, be sure to check out the DV8 blog, adminstrated by Megan and me.

Oh, the results of the SAT quiz will be up soon (i.e. as soon as I find the Reader's Digest that it was in!). Which I'm almost tempted not to do, since only 2 of you actually did it, and then you went and checked your own answers. Poo.

Love you all, and hope you're having summers full of blessings and grace!

God bless,
lv

sat prep

Flipping through the most recent Reader's Digest, I found an article that might be pertinent to those of us eerily close to embarking on our college-bound journey. It's a "vocabulary quiz" if you will, though I'm sure most of my fellow Providence students will be shocked to find how many of these they know, thanks to a particular English teacher. I got 14 out of 16 correct, even having to guess on a few (it helps to pay close attention to the type of speech the words are in) . Post your answers in the comment box (no cheating!), and I will post the correct answers at a later date. :) Enjoy!

"With the SAT just revised to add more reading and writing, those taking the college entrance exam have many new study aids to pick from. We like The Intuitive Learning Co.'s vocabularly shower curtain (tilcoweb.com), the basis for our quiz. So lather up..."

1. enhance (v.) A: to weaken. B: improve. C: undergo, as in hardship. D: sign up for.

2. antagonist (n.) A: murder victim. B: ancestor. C: scientist. D: opponent.

3. diligent (adj.) A: very careful. B: excessively late. C: harmful. D: unprepared.

4. scrutinize (v.) A: to examine closely. B: ignore completely. C: consider skeptically. D: view casually.

5. procrastinate (v.) A: to produce offspring. B: show interest in. C: delay. D: dissappear.

6. disdain (v.) A: to throw away. B: to regard with scorn. C: humiliate. D: disappoint.

7. spurious (adj.) A: authentic. B: reluctant. C: false. D: casting blame on others.

8. empathy (n.) A: pity. B: identification with others' feelings. C: strength. D: mixture.

9. venerable (adj.) A: green. B: stripped bare. C: corrupt. D: resepected because of age.

10. querulous (adj.) A: constantly complaining. B: curious. C: cooperative. D: compact.

11. florid (adj.) A: smelling of flowers. B: bright, as a light. C: ruddy. D: cheap.

12. impute (v.) A: to calculate. B: to pierce with a sharp object. C: attack as false. D: attribute to.

13. evanescent (adj.) A: mild, as with weather. B: brightly lit. C: religious in nature. D: short-lived.

14. superfluous (adj.) A: extra. B: overly proud. C: heavely. D: believing in the supernatural.

15. sagacity (n.) A: history of a city. B: courage. C: wisdom. D: ignorance.

16. perfidious (adj.) A: marked by foul odor. B: treacherous. C: wandering. D: routine, mechanical.

I enjoyed this little sidetrack. I'm sure y'all will think I'm a nerd. :p

Graduation is this afternoon, at 3. I'll be sure to not wear mascara! :tear: Jenna's very nervous about making her speech, and thus I am nervous for her. But, she's good at things like that (it's too bad she can't sing it...). AH, I'm going to miss her a lot. And Heather. And Jessica. And Jacob. And Michael (sorry, I wish I had time to make you more cookies!). I can't believe they're all leaving!! And next year it will be my brother, Jeri, Austin--everyone!! How disheartening.

God bless,
lv

O.A.S.N.
Aren't you guys impressed with my terribly frequent updates? I just have so much to say. ^_^

it's leslie with an S.

An Ode to Lezlie

By Josh Thompson and Brad Talbert

Lezlie, Lezlie, quite contrary

You walk around like a fairy

The fragrance in your hair

It's so ambrosial and so fair

You and me* go together like the sun,

And a dry desert

You are like the apple of my pie

And the star in my sky

I cannot help but chasing [you]

If you keep refusing [me]

There are many others for your choosing

Like Spencer, Dane, and Jason Kelly

I know you love me though you rarely

Rarely let me believe

On this I conclude my love for you

Now that I am at the end all I want to do is be

Friends

Okay. So, technically, it's not an ode. But it is hilarious. And, for those of you who don't know Josh, Brad, and this whole little situation, there is no real point or substance to this poem. No, I don't like them (Anyone will contest to this, no?). No, they don't like me. The whole thing is a fluff and a joke. And it's SO funny.

I do have to say, though, where the asterik is placed (*), I needed to correct a grammatical error that deeply saddens me. I've been in English class with these boys as Mrs. Sylvia drills these grammar concepts into their pea-sized brains (did I say that outloud?), and they still continue to say "you and me". No. No. NO! "Me go together" makes not a lick of sense. "I go together" sounds soooo much nicer. :D Thanks for the poem, though, guys. It was priceless, and will be going in a frame before long. And thanks to Katie T for helping them out with the idea. ;)

Today was the unofficial last day of school. I guess I'm technically a junior then. How strange.

My vivacious Vicki-tortilla (or, once you get to know her anyway) found my book. The book. The book I've been searching for my whole life. She's made a huge discovery.

And thanks to all of my fabulous friends for making my sweet sixteen the sweetest it could ever be! You guy are awesome, and I am blessed to have you all in my life.

God bless,
lv

'i cannot say i lov'd, for who can say hee was kill'd yesterday?'

School's cutest couples (as decided by Me):

Emily and her darling Danish.

• Emily and Dane (Sophomore/Sophomore)
• JuliAnne and Michael (Junior/Senior)
• Kalynn and Richard (Junior/Junior)
• Lauren and Brandon (Junior/Sophomore)
• Lauren and Chris (Junior/Junior)
• Karlie and David (Freshman/Freshman)
• Mrs. Sylvia and Paul (Erm. Teacher/Husband)

Mrs. Sylvia and her precious Paul

School's cutest should-be couples (if circumstances were different):

• Victoria and Mark (Sophomore/Senior) ^_^
• Emily and Spencer (Sophomore/Sophomore)
• Rachel and Josh (Sophomore/Sophomore)
• Jesse and Joel (Sophomore/Sophomore)
• Kelly and Bryson (Freshman/Sophomore)
• Austin and Milu (Junior/Junior) HAHA!
• Katie and Neil (Sophomore/Sophomore)
• Katie and Spencer (Junior/Junior)
• Erin and Phillip (Sophomore/Sophomore)
• Tiffany and Perry (Sophomore/Sophomore)
• Emily and Jimmy (Sophomore/Sophomore)

Katie and Neil (Adorable!)

School's cutest used-to-be couples:

• Magan and Trey (Senior/Senior)
• Caitlyn and Eric (Junior/Junior)
• Sarah and Chris (Junior/Senior)
• Megan and Coats (Junior/Sophomore)
• Katie and Tommy (Junior/2004 Graduate)

So, I was feeling kind of bored and decided that I needed a distraction from studying. This is what happens when my mind gets restless. Haha. I almost went for the "weirdest couples" and "weirdest what-if couples" lists, but I opted out, figuring it would be best not to offend anyone. I'm sure most of you can formulate these lists in your heads, though. Let's think back to those early 7:30 mornings in the car, with nothing to look at but untinted windows...Oh brother. Let me know what you guys think of these lists though, and feel free to comment and add your own. There's just one rule: You are not allowed to "place" me with anyone. ;) Such things do not need to be done in my own personal space. Ha.

Well, I'm off to study for my last two exams of tenth grade. Nothing like Geometry and History! Joy. And tomorrow is my birthday. Eee. :) We're all going to the beach after school which is extremely exciting. I just hope it doesn't rain! :gah:

Have a wonderful end of the week everyone!

God bless,
lv

you and me and all of the people

Wow. It's been an interesting last two weeks of school. I don't care to recall all of the events, though I will say that I'm glad it's almost over. I officially have four more exams, not including our "dance" exam, in which we will be critiquing our recital pieces--entirely pointless, if I do say so myself. Tomorrow, however, I have English and Bible and Thursday (my birthday), I have Geometry and World History. What fun! Although, the happy thing is, I won't have any exams to study for on the evening of my birthday. In fact, a bunch of us are going to the beach after school, so I'm really looking forward to that.

I don't have anything of substance to talk about. Rachel and I had our party on Saturday which was a blast, though I was sad more people couldn't be involved. But, moving on, we swam for a little while, then ate some really good dinner, then we went boating and tubing (the Townsend's brought their boat and we brought ours), so that was very fun. And the sunset. Wow. The sunset was simply phenomenal. Such evidence of God's creativity and beauty. Then we came back and ate cake and opened presents. I have to say, not to offend anyone or anything, but Josh and Brad's present was the greatest. Truly. I loved everyone's gifts, but...a poem? By Brad Talbert and Josh Thompson? That's priceless. Maybe I'll post it later if I'm feeling generous.

Because I'm in a listing mood, and I'm a bit ... excited and stressed out about all of my upcoming events ... I'm going to post them for you:

• May 18: New York meeting, including What Not to Wear!
• May 19: The beach with school peeps, and my birthday
• May 20: The last day of school (unless you are one of those unfortunate people who is actually going to school on Monday)
• May 21: Providence Graduation :cries: followed by Lindsay's graduation party to which I am not invited, but will be watching my little brothers during such
• May 22: Michael Kelly's graduation party to which I am invited and quite looking foward to (if not for particular reasons that I'm leaving unsaid to the world wide web, then for the simple reason that Jenna will be there and I will get to see her one last time [and get her to sign my year book] before she goes away to Tennessee. Sniff)
• May 23: The real last day of school, which I am not planning on being a part of. There's something else happening on this day, but I can't seem to think of what that is.
• Sometime next week: Going to the orthodontist to set my final appointment at which I will be getting my braces off forever and scheduling my jaw surgery for 2 some odd years from now and also going to my dress alteration appointment to get my massive size 2 maid of honor dress altered since it's 5 miles too long and 2 miles too wide. Heavens.
• June 2: Rascal Flatts concert. Which I can't go to. :tear: I'm sure Amye and her posse will have a wonderful time though. :)
• June 4: Jason Kelly's birthday party. Mmpah. No further comment.
• June 6: I'm leaving for New York City with my grandmother and the Village Dance troops. Miss Karen's baby is coming too, which I'm very excited about. Not that I'll have time to spend with him, or even the opporunity to hold him since I'm sure Miss Van and Jennifer will be hogging him the whole time, but still. I love babies. And, Joan and I are going to try to see each other, if she can somehow hop into our crazy plans without disrupting anyone. Haha. We'll just keep it on the down low. ;) Joan's not tall or anything. Hehe.
• June 12: I return from New York. How sad.
• June 13 and 14: I am volunteering at St. Johns' VBS. I'm really excited about this. I love kids, and I love helping out with things like this. Children make me happy.
• June 15: I leave for South Carolina with my mom to prepare for Ashley's wedding! I'm very excited about this trip, because, not only am I going to be the maid of honor in my cousin's wedding (the last time I was in a wedding was when I was like 5, and I was a flower girl) but also because her fiance has the coolest little brother. He's 14 (maybe 15 now) and he's just awesome. You know, he's got those southern hospitality manners, and we can have conversations as if we've known each other forever. And his mom! She's precious as well. I really love Cliff's family. The southerners you know. They're just neat people. ALSO on this day, Annie Pajcic's fourth baby is due. AAH. I'm thrilled. I hope it's another girl. Hehe. Curry needs to be the only boy. It will help keep him schweet.
• June 17: Bridal luncheon and rehearsal dinner. :)
• June 18: Ashley and Cliff are getting married!
• June 19: I return from South Carolina while the Sauls head off to their honeymoon!
• June 23: I officially go back to South Carolina with Providence Competition Team for Encore Nationals. This, my friends, is going to be a BLAST. I'm thoroughly excited.
• June 26: we come home from SC. And I finally get to rest. Although, sometime after this, Katie and I are taking driver's ed. together with some private guy. Hm. Fun.
• July 14: I get my license. Or, it will be my one-year-of-having-my-permit day. Whether or not I actually get my license, I cannot say.
• July 17: FITS! AAAAH. I'm SO excited about this. I may even be more excited about Fun in the Son than I am about New York. Simply because I am so anxious for that awesome spiritual waterfall, and I have a feeling NYC won't exactly give that to me. Woosh. FITS is going to be amazing. David Crowder band! :gah: :falls over from excitement:
• July 21: come home from FITS. :cries: Also, Katie's birthday. Max's is the previous day.

So, this is all I can think of off the top of my head. I'm sure there's more. :spazz: Yes, my life is insane. I'm not even sure there's time to breathe! Well, it's better to be busy than bored. Although, I certainly hope there is time in here for me to read. Because, Lord knows, I have a lot to do in that particular area. Required and unrequired summer reading lists. I'm thinking I'll start with the latter. ;)

Have a beautiful week (hopefully last week of school) everyone!

God bless,
lv

schedule joys

One week from tomorrow, I will be 16.

One week from Friday, I will be a 16 year old in the beginning of my summer before my junior year of high school.

Three weeks from Monday, I will be going to New York City for the first time.

Five weeks from Saturday, I will be in the maid-of-honor in my cousin Ashley's wedding.

Joy.

Perhaps these happy events will make up for my sucky last week of school.

God Bless,
lv

O.A.S.N.
May 4th was Rachel's birthday. May 9th was Dani's birthday. Today was Erin's birthday. Tomorrow is Bethany's birthday. May 15th is Dedad, Grace Anne and Amanda's birthday. HAPPY MAY BIRTHDAYS!

administering poison

A couple weeks ago, I finished reading Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible. I had been asked by Mrs. Sylvia to read it, as she was considering it as a summer reading novel for her upcoming 10th grade students. I accepted her request, borrowing her book so I could get started on it as soon as possible. That was about 4 months ago. Needless to say, I read it off and on for 2 months, and then stopped reading it all together. My complaint was not that it wasn't good, or even that it was un-enjoyable. It just seemed slightly pointless? The story appeared to be going nowhere, and it was simply 5 girls telling a story that seemed to have no purpose. By the time I had come to this conclusion, I was on page 150 or so. One weekend, I decided I would try again. It turns out that I had stopped a page too early; I could not put the book down. Something had happened in one page, and it suddenly all made sense. I became emotionally attached to the characters--feeling Ruth May's pain when she fell from a tree and broke her arm, sensing Leah's mature but girlish attraction to Anatole, picturing Rachel's eyes wander to her little cosmetic mirror every possible chance she got, dragging my left side behind me in my sleep and understanding Adah's struggle through life. It was as if I was living in the Congo with the Price family. It ended much too quickly, and I will sit alone sometimes and imagine how Adah is managing in nursing school, or decide what Leah is doing inside her little African hut.

The Poisonwood Bible is the story of Nathan Price, his wife Orleanna, and their four daughters: Rachel, the eldest, Leah and Adah, the twins, and Ruth May, the baby. But, really, it is not Nathan's story. It's the girls' story. Interestingly, each chapter is written in first person by a different daughter, and the opening to each "Book" is written in first person by Orleanna. Nathan does not have his own chapter, his own say, or his own voice in the novel. All that we know of Nathan is what the girls tell us. Their accounts of his discipline methods ("The Verse," in which he would make them start with a specific verse in the Bible and write the next 100 verses that followed it until they ended up at the verse which rebuked and corrected their sinful action), their memories of his temper toward those who disagreed with his evangelism methods, and his holier-than-thou attitude toward everyone, even God Himself. Nathan Price picked up his family from Georgia one day and moved them all to the African Congo, where he had a vision and a plan to convert the tribes to Jesus. There was a fault in this vision: it was all about him. He was so determined to fix the people, to change them, and to make them a certain way that he forgot to allow God to be the ultimate "fixer". And rather than converting the Africans, he deverted his family. They were drawn away from God and the church; because all that they had known of it was their father, and all they had seen of it was the destruction of Nathan and their family. He made himself like a god to them; they were afraid of him, they desired (specifically Leah) to please him, they loved him while simultaneously hating him.

All in all, Nathan's mission failed. He didn't change a single African's life. Sure, when they were praying to their gods and their children were still dying, they would run to Tata Price's God, hoping He would save their children. When their children continued to die, they went back to their beads and stone. God was nothing more than another god to them. Rather than making this fact clear to them, and allowing God to work in their lives, Nathan continued to press and condemn them for their evil (as if he was infallible himself). Not only did Nathan not change a single African's life, but he completely ruined his wife and daughters' lives. Any faith they had had in Jesus before they went to Africa had been eaten away by the killer ants that swept through their village. If this was what God was, they wanted nothing to do with it. If Father was God's definition of a good man, they wanted to find a bad one. Nathan didn't teach about God. He taught about himself; he taught about his selfish desire to fix everything, darnet, if it was the last thing he did. It was the death of him and of his family. He was so concerned about fixing everything, and everyone else, and making everything the way he saw fit that he was blind to what was really occuring. His family was turning away to an eternity of hell, as was his "beloved Congo" and he had all of their blood on his shoulders.

The girls move on with their lives after the year and half they spent in mosquito netting and mud piles; but they are eternally effected. They lack personal relationships with Jesus Christ. They lack the knowledge and confident belief and comfort of the Father God. All they know is Father Nathan; and Father Nathan believed in God, and look where it got him? Nathan destroyed his family with his selfish intent and his stupid desire to fix other people--and the confidence that he could do it himself.

This book encapsulates the esesence of humans today. We are control freaks. We want things particular ways, and we are determined to make it happen. We forget, though, that God has to be in control of these wants and desires, or all that will be produced is an overwhelming amount of destruction.

-

Have a wonderful week, everyone.

God bless,
lv

-

O.A.S.N.
Well, it's not really side note because it pertains to the above. But, I am posting Barnes and Noble's wonderful review of Poisonwood below:

-

Barbara Kingsolver calls her new novel, The Poisonwood Bible, her "magnum opus." And it is—500-plus pages of "the deepest-delving" fiction she's ever written, not to mention a fresh new locale. Packed with themes of cultural diversity, political morality, and environmental ethics, this one, unlike her three previous Southwestern novels, is set in postcolonial Africa. The narrative begins in the relatively tame Belgian Congo of the late 1950s, gains speed in the tumultuous early '60s (with the coup of the independent Lumumba government toppled by the CIA-backed, UN-funded Mobutu government), then branches out several decades in the future. "I set out to ask a very long question," Kingsolver says. "What have we done as a nation, a culture, a people to Africa, and where do we go from here?"

Kingsolver has been waiting her entire life to write this novel. When she was seven years old, her mother and father, both public health officials, moved their family to the Congo for several years. She laughs and says, "I'm happy to say my parents are wonderful people, not at all like the family in the book." There they practiced their medicine while young Barbara kept a journal. She explains the impact: "Living in that part of the world during the formative years of my childhood introduced me to the possibility that everything I had always assumed was right could be totally wrong in another place." Although the story is in no way about her personal familial experience, much of the setting and detail are torn from the pages of that journal. That's not to say she didn't do a heapofresearch; there's an extensive bibliography included at the end of the novel. She also made a number of trips back to Africa and had many experts comment on the manuscript, including the activist, journalist, convicted murderer, and cause célèbre Mumia Abu-Jamal, who gave it the thumbs-up from his cell in the Pennsylvania state penitentiary.

The Poisonwood Bible is the saga of the Price family, a rural Georgia family wrestling with inner demons while living in the small African village of Kilanga. It revolves around Nathan Price, an abusive southern Baptist evangelical minister who forsakes his family on his quest to save the souls of the natives. What begins as a church-sanctioned mission ends in a dangerous battle of wills that separates the Price family forever. The action is filtered primarily through Nathan's four daughters, à la As I Lay Dying, with future-time flashbacks from the mother's point of view. It's through the girls that we learn about Nathan's proclivity toward physical and mental abuse, his lack of fear regarding growing political unrest, and his stubborn insistence that the villagers be baptized in crocodile-infested waters. And through their mother, Orleanna, we find out why Nathan lives with such a heavy and hurtful God-fearing heart: In World War II his entire company died during the Bataan Death March. Although Nathan was honorably discharged, survivor's guilt led him to the jungles of Africa and did not permit him to retreat, no matter what the cost. The price of this intractable attitude is disease, death, and madness.

The novel's post-Congo years, which describe what the Price women do with their lives after the 17 months in the bush, are slightly anticlimactic, but the first 400 pages of this book are stunning and historically accurate to boot. Two scenes in particular are extraordinarily vivid and powerful. The first is a depiction of the biannual migration of ants, a literal sea of ants eating its way across Africa. Kingsolver has seen this natural phenomenon firsthand. "It's thought of as a cleansing. You try to remember the baby and the chickens and let the ants go on about purifying the country." The second happens the day the villagers, plagued by starvation, set fire to the high grass to burn out game. Kingsolver has the ability, in a beautifully painful sort of way, to make these scenes come alive with a single sentence: "Birds hit the wall of fire and lit like bottle rockets."

Although Kingsolver does as few media appearances as she can and ignores media hype with "every molecule" of her being, she has once again consented to do a multicity book tour for her new novel. "I was raised Southern," she says. "It's almost not in me to disappoint people. But what's most important to me is being a mother, a writer, and a responsible member of the community in which I live. The other stuff is incidental. Somehow our culture has dragged authors into this celebrity scene, and it's a place where we really don't belong. I have more to offer if I stay at home and write another book."

The Poisonwood Bible is certainly Kingsolver's most daring and quite possibly her most engaging and provocative outing yet. And if staying at home means another book like it, well, surely the world will survive with one less book tour.

Nelson Taylor is a freelance writer who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He currently writes for Time Out, Paper, Bikini, Bomb, and Salon.

camera shy europeans and their food counterpart

Our dinner cruise was last night, and it was awesome. I didn't actually have time to eat the dinner because I was mingling and taking pictures, but it was very fun. A lot of people ended up coming, though there were a lot of people who weren't there who were sorely missed. You guys really missed out on an awesome evening...

I can't speak for anyone else, but I had a great time. I danced a bit - mostly when it was the line dances that I know. I don't like to dance to hip hop music unless I'm given something to do; so, I would quietly step away when they played Usher and "Goodies". Not really my cup of tea. But we did Cotton Eye Joe, the Electric Slide, the Macarena, and Max made up and taught a dance to Redneck Woman. That was exciting. :-p When I wasn't dancing, I was taking pictures, talking with Tiff or others who were not dancing, or being endlessly picked on by Paul Sylvia for my smallness. It's too bad I have no wit, and can never come up with something decent to say back to him. Instead, I just tried to push him off the dock, but Mrs. Sylvia saved him. Darn. (Ah, Paul. You know I love you. ^_^)

Everyone looked so beautiful, and I think it's probably safe to say that everyone had a good time. I was very proud of the guys. They (for the most part) did a nice job of dressing well. There were a few who needed a couple of pointers from the "What Not To Wear (to a highschool dinner cruise)" crew, but everyone looked nice and sharp in their ties (which, by the way, they had all been taught by their fathers to conviently throw it over their shoulders while they were eating. Emily and I were slightly amused by this fact).

Oh, I have to explain the title to you. Hm. Well, as I was on my picture taking rampage, I managed to snap one of the servers. One of them said "Hey, please no pictures. I am camera shy," with a magnificant accent. So, I asked him where he was from, he said "I am from JapAn," I said "No way," and he said "No. If you could guess I was from anywhere in the world, where would you guess?" "Ireland, Scotland, Germany?" "No, Manchester, England." Then I asked him if I could take a picture of the food or if it was camera shy, too. Anyway, we had a nice little discussion about England. Sort of. Haha. He had such an awesome accent though, and red hair. Hm. He may have been making it all up...

Ah, a new week is beginning. May God bless you all, and give you strength to get through every moment! :)

God bless,
lv


O.A.S.N. [edit]
To see my full collection of photos from the dinner cruise, feel free to inquire about my KodakGallery/Ofoto account. Or, you can visit my flickr account which does not require a username and password: http://flickr.com/photos/lesterva.

'i don't want a childhood; i want to be a ballet dancer'

Lindsay and I went to the ballet tonight; the Russian National Ballet performed Swan Lake, and it was stunning. I must say though, that the best part was not the ballet itself, as beautiful as that was, but rather, spending time with Lindsay. You know, living across the street from your best friend for seven years and having her suddenly move far (10 minutes is far from 30 seconds, alright?) away from you is incredibly disheartening and upsetting. We still see each other, but our schedules so often conflict, and usually only end up colliding when it comes to dance. So, we had an opportunity to spend time together (since she got her license you know, everything is dandy...she actually drove us downtown!) like best friends again; it was lovely. I've missed her a lot. Lindsay is such an amazing person, and she's the kind of friend who you know will always be there for you no matter what you go through. She's the kind of person who you can always be yourself with, and know that she loves you even more because of who you are. AH, I adore her. :)

Along with my fabulous person, the ballet was excellent. The costumes were beautiful, the props were done very well, the dancing was phenomenal, and the lead was quite good. All in all, it was a magnificant performance and a nice recollection of my previous visit to the "Swan Lake" this past summer in London. It is a beautiful ballet, though I cannot imagine dancing it. I suppose lead wouldn't be that terrible, but the corps has so much strenuous standing around, port de bras, tendus, etc...and they all have to be perfectly together! As I was watching, I was imagining what the artistic directors must have corrected them on numerous times. "B-plus! Tendu! Degaje!" Sheesh. I could never be a professional ballerina.

Wishing you all the best, and a blessed rest of the week!

God bless,
lv

O.A.S.N.
My precious Providence people...Pleeeeease come to the dinner cruise. It simply won't be the same without you! Also to Provies, be sure to buy your tickets for the play (Emily Clemmons has them readily available ^_^); if you purchase matinee tickets, you get out of most of school! Cheers, anyone?

to: the office of Apostropher Royal

"On a TV news bulletin, the results of a vox pop item were shown on screen under the heading "Grammer Test"--the spelling of which I assumed was a joke until I realised nobody in the studio was laughing. Meanwhile well-wishers sent hundreds of delightful/horrific examples of idiotic sign-writing, my current favourite being the roadside warning Children Drive Slowly--courtesy of the wonderful Shakespearean actor Timothy West. Evidently, this sign--inadvertently descriptive of the dissapointing road speeds attainable by infants at the wheel--was eventually altered (but sadly not improved) by the addition of a comma, becoming Children, Drive Slowly--a kindly exhortation, perhaps, which might even save lives among those self-same reckless juvenile road-users; but still not quite what the writer really had in mind.

"Carved in stone (in stone, mind you) in a Florida shopping mall one may see the spendidly apt quotation from Euripides, 'Judge a tree from it's fruit: not the leaves'--and it is all too easy to imagine the stone-mason dithering momentarily over that monumental apostrophe, mallet in hand, chisel poised. Can an apostrophe ever be wrong, he asks himself, as he answers 'Nah!' and decisively strikes home and the chips fly out. Meanwhile a casual driver in America is quite as horrifying to a stickler as it is in the UK. Childrens home; readers outlet; please do not lock this door between the hour's of 9AM and 6:30PM.

"Either this will ring bells for you, or it won't. A printed banner has appeared on the concourse of a petrol station near to where I live. 'Come inside,' it says, 'for CD's, VIDEO's, DVD's, and BOOK's.'
If this satantic sprinkling of redundant apostrophes causes no little gasp of horror or quickening of the pulse, you should probably put down this book at once. By all means congratulate yourself that you are not a pedant or even a stickler; that you are happily equipped to live in a world of plummeting punctuation standards; but just don't bother to go any further. For any true stickler, you see, the sight of the plural word 'Book's' with an apostrophe in it will trigger a ghastly private emotional process similar to the stages of bereavement, though greatly accelerated. First there is shock. Within seconds, shock gives way to disbelief, disbelief to pain, and pain to anger. Finally (and this is where the analogy breaks down), anger gives way to a righteous urge to perpetrate an act of criminal damage with the aid of a permanent marker.

"Everywhere one looks, there are signs of ignorance and indifference. What about that film Two Weeks Notice? Guaranteed to give sticklers a very nasty turn, that was - its posters slung along the sides of buses in letters four feet tall, with no apostrophe in sight. I remember, at the start of the Two Weeks Notice publicity campaign in the spring of 2003, emerging cheerfully from Victoria Station (was I whistling?) and stopping dead in my tracks with my fingers in my mouth. Where was the apostrophe? Surely there should be an apostrophe on that bus? If it were 'one month's notice' there would be an apostrophe (I reasoned); yes, and if it were 'one week's notice' there would be an apostrophe. Then 'two weeks' notice' requires an apostrophe! Buses that I should have caught (the 73; two 83s) sailed off up Buckingham Palace Road while I communed thus at length with my inner stickler, unable to move or, indeed, regain any sense of perspective.

"Part of one's despair, of course, is that the world cares nothing for the little shocks endured by the sensitive stickler. While we look in horror at a badly puntuated sign, the world carries on around us, blind to our plight. We are like the little boy in The Sixth Sense who can see dead people, except that we can see dead punctuation. Whisper it in petrified little-boy tones: dead puntuation is invisible to everyone else - yet we see it all the time No one understands us seventh-sense people. They regard us as freaks. When we point out illiterate mistakes we are often aggresively instructed to "get a life" by people who, interestingly, display no evidence of having lives themselves. Naturally we become timid about making our insights known, in such inhospitable conditions. Being burned as a witch is not safely enough off the agenda. A sign has gone up in a local charity-shop window which says, baldly, 'Can you spare any old records' (no question mark) and I dither daily outside on the pavement. Should I go in an mention it? It does matter that there's no question mark on a direct question. It is appaling ignorance. But what will I do if the elderly charity-shop lady gives me the usual disbelieving stare and then tells me to bugger off, get a life and mind my own business?

"On the other hand, I'm well aware there is little profit in asking for sympathy for sticklers. We are not the easiest people to feel sorry for. We refuse to patronise any shop with checkouts for 'eight items or less' (because it should be 'fewer')...When we hear the construction 'Mr. Blair was stood' (instead of 'standing') we suck our teeth with annoyance, and when words such as 'phenomena', 'media' or 'cheribum' are treated as singular ('The media says it was quite a phenomena looking at those cheribums'), some of us cannot suppress actual screams. Sticklers never read a book without a pencil in hand, to correct the typographical errors. In short, we are unattractive know-all obsessives who get things out of proportion and are in continual peril of being disowned by out exasperated families."

-

I could share plenty more with you all, but I'm afraid I'm being terribly obsessive. These are select excerpts from Lynne Truss's brilliant book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation. It's amazing; I'm afraid I have finally found someone who relates to my obsessive compulsive disorder over grammar and punctuation. It is such a delight to read this book--I feel as if I could have written it! My mom found it and bought it for me, thinking I would enjoy it, though I had heard many a thing about it from Mrs. Sylvia and Victoria who both described it as "Your book". My mom thought it would be perfect for me, though I had never mentioned it to her before. Great minds think alike, I suppose. Or, my mother knows me all too well. ;)

I'm sure this totally bored all of you, but I felt it my obligation to share it, because it brings me such joy and excitement. Reading this literally brings me to tears simply from laughing so hard. And, alas! An explanation for those who just don't know the proper way to use apostrophes. Not to mention "there" (there, they're, their), "to" (two, to, too), "your" (your, yours [no apostrophe!], you're), and "its" (its [possessive], it's [contraction]). They should make every person who reads, writes and speaks English to read this book. It's incredible!

Alright, I'm leaving now. I'm not having a very good day/week/month, etc...but I didn't feel like dumping that on everyone. Instead, I decided find something to be ebullient about; I think I've been somewhat successful. :)

God bless,
lv

O.A.S.N.
After all of that rambling, you still can't decide if you're a stickler or not? Take the quiz; I got a 100%! ^_^

come on babe why don't we paint the town

Chicago was amazing!

Rachel and Emily met Mamaw and me at the American Cafe, where we had nervous and/or gay waiter who was simultaneously "flirting with" Emily. He made us very uncomfortable. I think maybe his boss was considering firing him, so he was under a lot of pressure. Or maybe he was just wierd. "Bye Emilyyyy." :-p

We walked over to the theatre where we stood around for a little bit waiting for the doors to open. We went in right at 7:30, as soon as the doors opened, and found our seats--in front of the balcony on the center line of the stage. They were wonderful seats, though personally, I would have liked to be closer (i.e. not in the balcony) so I could see the actors' faces more clearly. Though, I shouldn't be complaining. I should feel bad for those who are literally blind and simply see little blobs of black moving around crazily.

Rachel, Emily and I were contemplating for several minutes whether or not their was an orchestra. We noticed, however, that the orchestra pit was open, and filled with chairs on which people were sitting. A few minutes after our discussion, Emily noted some music, and said it was the orchestra practicing. "That's just background music," I said matter-of-factly. "Nope. They're warming up." The curtain came up, and there was the orchestra - fully outfitted on the stage, outlined by a huge gold frame which was hung at a diagonal angle and it made the orchestra look as if it was a painting that had come to life. The play had limited proppage, but the orchestra was the primary backdrop and it was all incorporated into the play. At one point, Roxie Hart went over the the conductor, showed him a newspaper with her name on it, forced him to read it, and took his stick--attempting to conduct the orchestra herself. Very impressively, they stayed perfectly on tempo, and it made me wonder why they needed a conductor at all. I thought it was extremely clever though--the incorporation of the orchestra with the cast. The conductor even had a speaking part or two, introducing some of the numbers.

The whole play took place in front of the elaborate orchestra set up, and each corp cast member doubled, tripled, even quadrupled as various parts. From prisoners, to club dancers, to reporters, to court observers (and a one man jury), they did it all. And, not only did they switch characters, but a fascinating element was that they never switched costumes from the very beginning. So, kind of odd, but the reporters were wearing the same thing that the club dancers were wearing. In other words, Chicago was full of women in fish nets and 10 inch high heels and men in black leather pants and mesh shirts. So, very little props, almost no costume changes ... and the show was nonstop singing and dancing.

So, was it better than the movie? Well, having seen the movie first, I went into to see the play with that as my expectation, because it was all I knew. At first, I kept comparing the show with the movie. Finally, I had to separate the two deliberately so I would stop anticipating something only to be disappointed when it didn't match the movie. I don't think one is better than the other. I think the play is phenomenal, and if you like the theatre, you'll love the play. I think the movie is awesome as well, but it's a film. It's not the theatre. And they did try very hard to give the feel that it was on stage. But it's not. They are both completely different spectrums, and you can't really compare them. However, I think that the play was more entertaining in terms of the singing and dancing--because it's Broadway. And, you can't top that. Not even with a movie; not even with Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellwegger. It's still a movie and it always will be, and Broadway will always be Broadway.

I'm presently at my mom's office, and anxiously awaiting her to get done with whatever it is she needs to do so we can go the the Town Center. Hm. I wonder if we're always going to call it the Town Center of if we'll always call it the new mall. Or the mall. Or St. Johns. :thinks: Anyway, that's where I'm going when my mom's done. Hopefully I'm going to find a sweater, shoes, and jewelry to go with my dinner cruise dress. :) Hope everyone's having a good Saturday!

God bless,
lv

O.A.S.N.
I don't have any set plans over spring break, though there are some in the making, so let me know what you guys are up to. I'd love to hang out with some lovely people. :) Maybe...the beach when it warms up? ^_^

can't go over it . can't go under it . oh no . have to go through it

Well, I made it through the week guys! I didn't think it possible, but God held my hand and let me through it. Boy am I glad to be through that icky mess.

Spring break officially begins today, and I'm starting it off with a bang, literally, by going to see Broadway's production of Chicago--primarily about a woman, Roxie Hart, who murders her husband with a gun (>>there's the bang for you<<) and sings and dancers her way out of prison alongside Velma. How exciting! Haha. Mamaw, my grandmother, is my escort and Rachel and her older sister Emily are also coming with us. So, it should be a fun night. I'm bringing my camera with me. :)

The juniors are in DC and the seniors are in New York. According the Austin, the juniors are having a great time. I haven't talked to any of the seniors, but I would hope and assume that they are having a blast as well. I am highly anticipating my trip to New York this summer! June 6 (happy birthday em) cannot come fast enough. :eek: Oh, speaking of New York (and Broadway), I wanted to ask some of your opinions. While in NYC, we usually go to see 4, maybe 5 broadway shows. I've compiled a list of those which I personally desire to see, but I was wondering a) if anyone had opinions on my picks and b) if anyone had any other ideas and suggestions. You can go to Broadway.com to see which shows will be playing this summer. I don't know how many of you are into the Musical Theatre thing, but it's very exciting. Here is my "suggested list of Broadway musicals to see in New York City, summer of 2005":

• Wicked
• The Phantom of the Opera
• Little Women
• The Light in the Piazza
• Disney's Beauty and the Beast
• Disney's The Lion King
• Fiddler on the Roof
• The Producers
• The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
• Steel Magnolias (not a musical)
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (not a musical)

Okay, so, I'm a nerd. What can I say? Anyway, let me know your opinions! I'd especially love to hear from those of you who have actually seen some of these. ^_^

Hope you're all doing wonderfully, and if your spring break is just beginning...maybe it be a safe and blessed week off!

God bless,
lv

and so it begins

And so it begins...the dreaded days of exams. I don't even understand the point of third quarter exams anyway. It's just another excuse for us to be stressed, to be tested, and to be disappointed when you don't do as well as you had hoped, despite your studious efforts. Oh yes. Welcome to exam week. :sigh:

I had an interesting day. I think it's one of those weeks, because, I was feeling slightly emotional and irritable. From the beginning of the day, I was ready to go crawl in a corner and hide. I was completely unfocused, unmotivated and uninterested in anything anyone (including teachers -- which is a really bad thing the day before exams begin) had to say. The only good part of the day was lunch with Erin, Amye, and Lauren. That's gotten to be quite wonderful, especially when we sit outside. Sitting outside puts me in a good mood. It was very nice out today too--very quiet and tranquil. Those girls make me laugh. They're very fun to eat lunch with. :) We have some very interesting conversations about :cough:coachmartin:cough:. Ahem.

We also got our artist essays back today in English .. and it put me in a bitter mood. I'm not even going to attempt to explain to everyone why, but just accept it. Haha. Just for the record, getting good grades is not always as fun and dandy as it may seem. They come with their price as well. :humph: I'll leave that free to personal interpretation.

So, I have to get through this week. Just this week. After this week, I'll be done with this hip hop dance that Katie and Max are absolutely brilliant at but that I want to run away and cry everytime it's mentioned (okay, I'm exaggerating). After this week, I'll be done with all of these review guides and 45 minute exams. After this week, I can look forward to going to see Chicago with Mamaw, Rachel, and Emily. After this week, I might be able to finally get caught up with my confirmation workbook that Ellie and I haven't really been working in much. After this week, I should be able to breathe a little bit again. I can't wait for this week to get over!

Well, I should run and squeeze in a bit of studying time before dance. Exam week is a bad time to be unmotivated, aye? I wish you all a good week, and, for my sake and anyone else's who is experiencing trauma similar to mine ...

"Life may not be the party we thought it'd be,
but since we're here, we might as well dance!"

Thanks to Victoria for that uplifting quote, by the way.

God bless,
lv

O.A.S.N.
Emily and Tiffany: You guys are amazing. Thanks. :-D

can anybody fly this thing before my head explodes

I haven't had much to blog about in the past few weeks. I've been a fairly boring person leading a typically boring lifestyle. I have, however, been thinking about a lot of different things in these boring moments I've had recently. Mind you, boring does not imply that I have nothing to do--there is always something more to be done. There is rarely time for me to breathe on my own, much less sit and be bored. Boring moments, however, come with stress, and with boring moments comes time to ponder (for me, anywho).

We just got done reading H.G. Wells's Time Machine, and are being tested on it tomorrow. I strongly disliked the book, as I have never really taken much of a fancy to science fiction. It was slightly adventurous and exciting seeing as Mrs. Sylvia was teaching it, but the book itself was "dreadful" (to put it in Tiffany's terms). I found quite a few loops holes, which Mrs. Sylvia said many scholars, if you will, had publicy pointed out and scoffed at the many mistakes which were hidden beneath the surface of Time Machine. Needless to say, the movie (from the 1960's; not the God-awful one from several years ago which only made everything worse) was not any better--in fact, it may have been worse. I don't want to undermine Wells, because he must have been quite a brilliant man. He had a vision for this book, but I think it was much clearer in his head than it was on paper. So, besides the dull writing, the list of loop holes, and the unclear situations, the concept was very interesting. The Time Traveller, or Wells if they are one in the same, is very pessimistic about the future of mankind which is one of his incentives to travel through what he refers to as "the fourth dimension". After his travels, his pessimism is only increased because of the tragic fate that had come upon the world in the year 802, 701. Humans have apparently evolved through the course of the years into small, dwarf like creatures called Eloi who spend all their days laughing, bathing and playing in the sun. There is no intellect, no knowledge, and no depth. They are entirely vapid and apathetic. He visits a library, and finds the books there are only held together by the dust -- one touch, and they would crumble instantly. His frustration increases when he finds that the human race has actually been split into two drastically divided creatures: not only the oblivious, shallow Eloi, but also the pallid, disturbing Morlocks. I won't ruin anything more for you all who haven't read the book, but, I wanted to discuss the Traveller's pessimism and the reason I think he is entirely wrong.

What is the point of all of knowledge of today, and the inreasing advances we have every moment in technology and intellect of any importance if, in the end, it will simply be decaying in a rotted library? And, from a Christian perspective, why would God have even given us the opportunity for advancement if it was simply going to be useless to us in the future? We must embrace knowledge and intellect, as the narrator of Time Machine does. Despite the Time Traveller's incredible stories of futurity and the decay of knowledge and technology, the narrator (whose name I think is mentioned once as Hillyard--once more than any of the other human characters' names are mentioned) chooses to look upon the future of mankind with optimism and hope, represented by the unidentifiable species of flower which Weena, a friend of the Traveller's from the dark futuric age, gives to the Traveller and which he brings home to show as a token of his travels. I am so thankful that this awful place which the Traveller went to and experienced is not what we have in store for us. I can say this with authority, because I know God has created us as wise, brilliant people in His image. When that is gone (when we are gone), there will be no more earth. There certainly won't be fuzzy little teddy bears and skinny white apes running around controlling it. If this was Wells's outlook on life, and the eventual fate of mankind, I pity him greatly--for he must have lived a dreadful life drinking a half empty glass of water.

Whew. I'm sure you all were incredibly interested in all of that nonsense. :-p But, I had to think of something to talk about! Tomorrow is Friday, and I am so grateful for it. Next week we have quarter exams, Friday the 11th we have a half day, Monday the 14th through Thursday the 17th we have Stanford Achievement Tests which means half days, and no regular classes, Friday the 18th we have off, and Monday the 21st through Friday the 25th we have Spring Break! What a fabulous schedule I have to look forward to. :) Lots of down time; hopefully I will get some good quality reading time and maybe even become well acquainted with the vacuum which needs to come visit my bedroom! Haha.

I wish you all a wonderful Friday, and an exciting weekend. And, for those of you who have been there for me recently, and have been wonderful listeners (you know who you are ^_^), I appreciate it more than I could say. Thanks. :)

God Bless,
lv

~On A Side Note~
Congratulations to:
*Jericha: Miss Congeniality (love the poem, by the way. It was fabulous)
*JuliAnne: Most Photogenic and 2nd runner up (Ah! Your sign language was beautiful--very heart felt and meaningful)
*My should-have-been-big-sister, Austin: Most Talented and 1st runner up (You danced so beautifully, and nearly moved me to tears. Ee; I was so proud of you!)
* Katie: Miss Providence 2005-2006 (We probably couldn't have a picked a more sweet, gentle-spirited person than you to represent our school!)
*And to everyone who competed in the pageant: You all were so wonderful, and each of you deserve to represent the school invidiually. You don't have to be Miss Providence to make an impact. Go out, and be the people that I saw on the stage Friday night. Live the way you told the audience you want to live, and be a light to God's kingdom!