GGS

Recs – New Series

Standard

The Flash began on The CW network in the fall of 2014. Our family is avid comic book readers, and Flash is one of their favorite characters. I knew they were going to be watching this new series, and I gave it a try.

This is one of our favorite shows, and the one we watch live as a family. There is something for everyone, and you don’t necessarily need to have read the comics to enjoy the television series. (I’ve never read the comics, and I love this program.)

I think they’ve done a great job with the characterizations. They’ve made it superhero-y while retaining some of that reality I like in a fantasy show. I like the blending of real world and fantasy world. The Flash does this really well. It has family dynamics, a love story, a nemesis, and the supernatural sci-fi effects and story fit right in. The Allens and the Wests could be your next door neighbors.

They have a great cast, and span an age range and gender balance that is admirable. Whatever demographic they were going for, I think they’ve hit on all of them as fans. I like it just as much as my ten year old son, and we are equally talking about the plot and speculating. As I said, a great family show!

After watching Tuesday night’s finale, I was surprised by some of the events, which is always good for a season finale, and it left me wanting more. I, for one of many am definitely looking forward to season 2.

Give it a try. You won’t regret it!

The CW is showing the entire first season through the summer on Tuesdays. This will catch you up before the fall start. Check your local listings.

TV Season Finales

Standard

This week is the end. All of our favorite shows are coming to an end, going on summer hiatus. Yes, it is TV season finales time. When I was a kid, you could practically set your watch by the television schedule. Second week in September they all started. Nothing was ever switched or pre-empted except in the case of a national/international event. In June, about the third week, everything ended, justin time for the kids to finish off school and head back out into the fresh, summer sun, which did not cause cancer, and a sunburn or tan was the mark of a healthy child.

All the shows ended the same week.

Our lives revolved around our televisions. They were the center of the living room with all the chairs facing it. We could almost always see the TV from the dining room even though we rarely ate in front of the TV in those days.

I remember the old timey TV dinners, Swanson of course with the metal tins and foil over the top. No microwaves. You had to have patience for both the start of the season and your dinner. Fried chicken and corn was my favorite.

We had no VCRs. There was no ‘let’s watch it later or tomorrow.’ You missed it, you missed it. Forget about internet spoilers, it took an act of Parliament to find out what you missed on the episode that you would not be able to see until summer reruns. We wanted spoilers. Desperately.

When TIVO was first introduced, I was offended as a capitalist that you could fast-forward through commercials. Commercials were the price you paid for a good television show.

Things are a little different for my kids. We will often have dinner in front of the TV for a special viewing – a holiday special or newly watching a series on Netflix – our newest one is Heroes and we all love it.

We’re (well basically just me right now) are planning a premiere party when The Walking Dead returns in the Fall. Although now, the modern Fall season begins in October, not everything begins on the same couple of weeks, and it ends in mid-May, if you’re lucky.

My kids, especially my oldest knows what it means to jump the shark, but they are surprised that it is not a metaphorical admonishment of going too far, but that it was a literal shark and I watched it happen on live TV. Well, if not live, then on a premiere episode that everyone else was watching at the same time.

We plan meals around special episodes – Scottish fare for the most recent Doctor Who, fish fingers and custard for the last one. I traveled 500 miles for a premiere party of the Supernatural TV series. Every week, my husband and his friend and I would have chicken parm heroes with our Star Trek night. I even made gagh (a Klingon noodle dish) for one auspicious event. I even coordinated a cookbook associated with a fan-fiction of Harry Potter.

We have no real food plans but we do have finales coming this week: The Flash and Supernatural (Arrow was last week). Then we wait for Netflix to get them, and we can rewatch this season before the next one starts in October.

Not to mention, new series that begin when the regular ones end: Major Crimes (returns June 8th), Orphan Black, loads of new things on BBCAmerica and TNT and old favorites on TBS. We still call it primetime, but it is nearly all-time!

I thought I was a TV junkie as a kid, but this new schedule is an enabler with the best of them. ANd there is almost as much television off the TV as on it with online discussion groups (they’re not just for books anymore) and a variety of Wiki entries. For many, the television season doesn’t necessarily end. They have Tumblr, fan fiction, and fan art, and stores like Hot Topic and FYE with fandom merchandise to keep them going until the hiatus is over.

I’m certain (because I’ve seen many of them) that the actors associated with Firefly wish that this onset of fannishness was around when they were cancelled. They would have been switched to a web series or a podcast. As it is now, they are welcome at all manner of sci-fi conventions. We still clamor for George Takei and William Shatner.

I’ll leave you with the description of a popular image on the internet. It is a picture of an iceberg. The big, dangerous part is hidden underneath the water, and the only visible part is tiny in comparison. The visible part is the original material and the giant, well hidden but a force to be reckoned with that hits you unexpectedly is the fandom.

TV is a limited series, but fandom is forever.

Called

Standard

The imaginary lightbulb hovers over your head. We all metaphorically slap our foreheads wishing we’d had that V-8. We’re thrilled with our secular epiphany that we’re practically skipping along with excitement and trying to share it with anyone and everyone we meet.

In the church, I’ve found that they use different words to describe this sensation: their mission, a ministry, a calling.

It was brought home to me so clearly last year at my Rite of the Elect, signing the book of the Elect. I was called by name. G-d had my name long before I entered my church on happenstance. I was called by name again at my confirmation when I chose my saint.

This past week was my Diocese’s Spring Enrichment. I know I’ve mentioned it before. This week is one of those weeks that fills me with excitement, with dozens of light bulbs popping on, hovering over my head. I’m loving every minute of it. I had a full schedule of fourteen classes. I chose everything with a little help from my friend, and I can’t wait for next year to see the offerings. I don’t think I’ll take fourteen classes again, but I have some ideas of what kinds of classes I want to take now that I’ve got the hang of it.

I spent this week leaving some more of my shell behind. My comfort box is collapsing under the weight of hearing myself and the response to what I’m feeling and saying. My opinions and beliefs aren’t changing but the way I’m explaining and expressing myself is. I don’t expect to agree with everyone, but I do want to be able to have rational discussions.

I took a Pastoral Care and Depression class. I chose this, not because I’m a pastoral care associate, but because I have depression. I’ve had depression all of my life. It is only in my diagnosis and looking back that I can see all of the signs, the symptoms. I asked questions in class, I offered insights. I was able to bring up thoughts about how to support LGBT youth in the church – the heightened abuse, homelessness, and suicide of that age group. I was able to offer what not to say to a suicidal person, and what’s worked for others in that position. I asked about gender identity. Between Social Justice, Everyday Divine, and Pastoral Care and Depression, I found a little niche of note taking.

In the middle of that class, I had a lightbulb moment. I felt a calling. I can’t describe it as anything other than being called. One moment I was taking notes, the next moment, I was thinking how I could bring my experiences to the people who need it in my parish. How can I protect and support people who think that the church won’t be there for them and their struggles, whatever they may be?

This also fit in with the whole theme of the keynote address, taking the history of the church and looking at the aging of the church. The average age in the US is 37, but the average age of white Catholics is 45. In my parish, the ones that I primarily see are older than that. I bring up age because many of the people with the struggles – LGBT equality and issues, depression and mental illness, money – are in the younger demographic, but those caring for them are a bit older. This older group lived in a time (and some still feel this way) of stigmatizing mental illness, of don’t ask, don’t tell, of pink for girls and blue for boys. Much of this is a product of their times. Everyone I’ve met though are exceptionally giving and helpful. It’s not a matter of being unwilling to be supportive, but not knowing how to.

I’m somewhere in the middle. I’m in the older demographic of the forties and being a white Catholic, albeit a new Catholic, but I’m in touch with a younger generation. I have different thoughts about LGBT. I have the experience of having depression, and having been suicidal for a time. I have coping techniques that I can share. I evangelize and witness, but I also ask questions. Apparently, you can teach an old dog new tricks. At least I try.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but I’m called, and I feel the tug of actually using my experiences to help others. I was told recently to think about this and pray on it, and that is what I plan to do. However, my writing is part of my life and my ongoing therapy and recovery and spirituality, and here are my first thoughts about being called. Sometimes it feels a little overwhelming, but I do know that I wouldn’t be given more than I can manage.

It’s not the first time I’ve been called, but it does seem to be the most important calling because it affects so many others, both in my life and not yet in my life.

Recs to Keep Learning Alive

Standard

At my kids’ elementary school it has been the tradition that the fifth grade field trip at the end of the year goes to the Six Flags. It’s an adventure, it’s exercise, it’s outdoors, and it’s friendships. Recently, this year when my son is in fifth grade, they decided that the field trip isn’t educational enough so it was canceled.

My first reaction was can’t you let kids be kids.

My second was that as educators they should know that there is education in everything, and Six Flags is no exception.

Instead of canceling it, they could have created learning experiences within the field trip experience. Scavenger hunt. Math problems when buying food or souvenirs. Map-making. Journal writing. These four ideas were literally just off the top of my head as I typed this. It’s sad that an entire school and school board couldn’t come up with a compelling reason to continue this fun tradition as these students go on to middle school and thoughts of career and puberty.

There are so many ways in your everyday to keep learning alive. My three favorite things are:

1. Read. Read. Read. I’m constantly talking about my Kindle Fire, but it’s not the machine as much as what it allows me to do with my limited time and my limited space.

Read the books sitting on your shelf for years. Re-read child favorites. If you like historical fiction, check out some of that history on the Internet or the Outernet, like at your local library.

2. Visit a local museum or historical site, or take a tour of the local attractions as if you were on vacation. I’m often surprised at how much has happened in my little corner of the world. Instead of trying to get away to do fun things, stay home and do what the tourists come to your neighborhood for, and learn something new!

3. Google. When you’re scrolling down your Facebook newsfeed, click the link, read it, and then hit Google for more information on the subject. It’s amazing at how much is left out of those quick posts. Get the other side of an opinion piece. Find out the history of what’s going on in the headlines.

Most importantly, remember that learning is fun, and it’s not all taking place in a formal classroom between the ages of 5
five and twenty-five.

Pope Francis on Education

Standard

“Education cannot be neutral. It is either positive or negative; either it enriches or it impoverishes; either it enables a person to grow or it lessens, even corrupts him. The mission of schools is to develop a sense of truth, of what is good and beautiful. And this occurs through a rich path made up of many ingredients. This is why there are so many subjects — because development is the results of different elements that act together and stimulate intelligence, knowledge, the emotions, the body, and so on.”

“If something is true, it is good and beautiful; if it is beautiful; it is good and true; if it is good, it is true and it is beautiful. And together, these elements enable us to grow and help us to love life, even when we are not well, even in the midst of many problems. True education enables us to love life and opens us to the fullness of life.”

— Pope Francis, Address with Italian school teachers, parents, educators, pupils and other workers, May 10, 2014

Continuing My Education

Standard

Whether we know it or admit it or not, life is a constant series of learning new things. More and more of us are redefining what getting an education is. It used to be over 60s were considered a non-traditional student. Then, housewives who were trying to break back into the work force. Then the second careerists were non-traditional, and then the youngish ones who made bad choices or were waiting to have enough money.

Now, all these groups and more are less non-traditional and more changing with the times. Schools are needing to adapt through course requirements, including credit for practical experience and travel and life lived to new financial aid options, although this will always financial information even though parents are paying less and less if any of their child’s college bill.

When I started college, it was expected that I’d go. As much as I wanted to write, I was encouraged to go into something practical. I was pre-law. There was never any question about paying for school. We never even talked about it. My parents paid from that moment through all of my formal secondary education. I was stuck on a trajectory that I would have liked to have changed.

I’ve will be spending the better part of this week in a classroom, expanding my knowledge, meeting new people, meditating in nature, contemplating my journey so far. Spring Enrichment with my Diocese is still new to me, but it si also comfortable. I have my notebook, my pen, my camera and I am ready. There is something kind of spiritual about being in a classroom, especially hearing new things about religion and its place in history. Imagining myself there is something I’ve always reflected on my readings, whether they be Scripture or historical text. I’ve since discovered that this form of contemplation has a name: lecto divinia. I had always called it daydreaming. 😉

This week’s immersion  into so many Catholic ideas and opinions give me the thoughts that not only do I belong but I can continue to grow as a spiritual person while learning something new.

Recs for Children’s Book Week

Standard

Children’s Book Week

Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

Aliki

Anno

Charles G. Shaw

David Macaulay

Doreen Mulryan Marts

Ed Young

Eric Carle

Graeme Base\

Jan Brett

Janell Cannon

Margaret Hodges

Tomie de Paola

Trina Schart Hyman

Children’s Book Week

Standard

I love Children’s Book Week, but I also feel as though it’s somewhat redundant, especially for schools and libraries. Don’t get me wrong – there is no such thing as too many books, but I also sometimes feel that there isn’t a need for a special week to introduce books to your children and encourage them to read. We do this without thinking from the time they’re born; before they’re born.

Think of all the reading your family already does with your children: street signs, storefronts, grocery and Christmas lists, comic books, magazines, and of course all the books that line our shelves.

The huge varieties of available children’s books today meet the needs of all kids including those who are kids at heart. I still recall my favorite children’s books from childhood – The Magic Tunnel by Caroline Emerson, Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys, Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder – timeless treasures that can be read again and again. They continue to reside on my bookshelves.

I truly believe that almost all books can be used in all grade levels. Picture books have moved well beyond simple stories and large illustrations. I would read higher end picture books to toddlers when I was teaching in the early childhood field, and I’d read picture books to elementary level kids. Everyone loves to be read to.

Here’s a sampling of what I mean. They can all be read with and without the words, and they can be used as supplements to other subjects. I would bring in A Medieval Feast by Aliki yearly on Halloween to explain how my medieval costume was similar to a princess, but I wasn’t a princess. I was sometimes surprised at how much young children will accept when talked to on their level, with respect and honesty. I used the same book with a sixth grade class as part of their unit on The Middle Ages. It Looked Like Spilt Milk by Charles Shaw is beautiful on its surface, and is a jumping off point to exploring our imaginations and simply lying out in the grass surveying the clouds above us.

Good places to start for selecting books are with the Caldecott Medal and Newberry Medal winners.

These are five of my favorites that are appropriate across all ages, but they don’t begin to scratch the surface of good books for children:

Stellaluna by Jannell Cannon

The Eleventh Hour: A Curious Mystery by Graeme Base

St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

The Mitten by Jan Brett

Castle by David Macaulay

At the start of this I said that I didn’t feel there was a need for Children’s Book Week, but you know what? Why shouldn’t there be a week to celebrate children’s books? Children’s books are wonderful and we should promote them everywhere, so I’ll admit it – I guess I was wrong. And it perfectly lined up falling right after Free Comic Book Day!

Enjoy the rest of this week, the 2015 Children’s Book Week!