Adah of BuffanBlu

Here they still look at me, the school of mostly Rachel's. It seems as though everyone has another one just like them, a twin. My twin isnt so similar, sucking the potential out of me while still in the womb. The cause of my hanicap, my "gift from god". I manage to limp behind but only due to my incapable left half. In my new academic life i am an Impala, like the ones we longed for in Africa rejoicing after a successfull hunt. I stride along in unison with the pack, once in a while i even leap ahead, gaining the edge I never will physically. They other students stare at me with the streak of competitiveness in their eyes. A 16th century proverb states that a persons eyes are the windows to their souls, if this is true, these souls are on fire. Fire, hire, higher, a dire need for knowledge and growth fuels the inferno of heated examinations. A heavy fog hangs in the air thick with persistent contest, I am glad because for once I can compete.

Nathan Price Needs A Slap

Our literature figure eight's goal was to focus on the characters over the next cycle, and I have found Nathan Price's stubbornness to be the most pressing issue.
He has one of the worst attitudes so far, and is outright rude towards the Congolese people and their culture. Immediately upon his arrival in Kilanga he ridicules and publicly humiliates one specific (but probably many others)woman and her clothing choices, or lack there of. He constantly tries to push his beliefs into everyone Else's lives and when the locals try to help him avoid mistakes, ie. Mama Tataba's gardening methods, he flat out rejects their advice. He is proven to be wrong on many occasions and he still remains unwavered in his ways. I've read pretty far into the book and he's still the same after a whole year of failure due to his tightly closed mind, and I cant even begin to guess what it will take for him to change, if he does so at all (which i don't think he does). Nathan does have good intentions, we know this, he is just so stuck in his ways that he is blinded to the idea of collaboration with his environment and this new culture he's been plopped into, which would be much more beneficial for everyone.

I googled the name Nathan Price and this was the first image that came up. It has absolutely nothing to do with PWB, i just thought it was funny.

Words for The Lexicon

Here are some words from Genesis so far that our group found challenging throughout our reading.

cockade-"The Reverend towered over the rickety altar, his fiery crew cut bristling like a woodpecker's cockade." (p69): an ornament (as a rosette) usually worn on a hat as a badge

Stipend-"Our Father is a renegade who came without the entire blessing for the Mission League, and bullied or finagled his way into this lesser stipend." (p69): a fixed sum of money paid periodically for services or to defray expenses

Dirge- "We finished off Susanna by singing "Amazing Grace" at the speed of a dirge." (p72): a song or hymn of grief or lamentation; especially : one intended to accompany funeral or memorial rites

Socratic-"One of his socratic moves" (p73): of or relating to Socrates, his followers, or his philosophical method of systematic doubt and questioning of another to elicit a clear expression of a truth supposed to be implicitly known by all rational beings

Bovine- "...it was designed to show us all up as dull-witted, bovine females." (p73):having qualities (as placidity or dullness) characteristic of oxen or cows

Prattling-" He Made a habit of prattling at the top of his lungs through Sunday dinners at our house." (p74) : to utter or make meaningless sounds suggestive of the chatter of children

Interstitial- "intestines small and large, the skin, the bladder, the male and female reproductive tracts, interstitial fluids, even the cornea." (p76): situated within but not restricted to or characteristic of a particular organ or tissue — used especially of fibrous tissue

Specter- "His eyes in their bluging sockets ticked up and down, trying to understand the specter of this huge white man." (p81) : something that haunts or perturbs the mind

Definitions from www.merriamwebster.com

Christian World News

This is a video i found on YouTube. I thought it was extremely interesting to compare the tale of this christian family through their own words and experiences in The Poisonwood Bible with the real life happenings of these Christian organizations trying to make a difference in the Congo. It definately brings a whole new element of reality (and reassurence) to the reading experience of the book after being able to visualy see these improvements that are really happeneing.

Literature Figure Eights

I gotta say our literature figure eight group has seemed to start off slowly, probably becauses were all busy familiarising ourselves with the text, etc. My job in the group is to catch subtle hints that may lead into broader themes of the story, commanalities, things of that nature. So for the only thing that I personally ran across was the concept of being "left behind" during one of Adah's Narration on page 62 , "Last of all came Adah the monster, Quasimodo, dragging her right side behing her left in her body's permanent stepsong sing: left...behind, left....behind." I think each of the girls, with the exception of Ruth May perhaps, are experiencing some feeling of left behind. For Rachel, its missing out on the adolescence she feels necessary, for Leah it is in the constant struggle in satisfying her father, and for Adah it is often being physically left behind because of her Handicap. Also, the Congolese population seems to be left behind in comparison the rest of the world. (not so much in genesis but more so in further chapters)

Kayne Colton Leah Cassidy

The biggest thing that i found interesting while reading these essays was that 3/4 share the same veiws with each other as well as mine, in that although the media does influence the decisions we make, it is not the deciding factor that determines our values but rather there are also other things like family, religon, etc. that help us determine what we value.
So as far as reading the essay goes, i can imagine that reading essay after essay with 75% of the same ideas must be pretty burtal. Maybe it was just conincidence that we all essentialy made the same points, but im getting the feeling that that's just kind of how it works. Therefore, reading all these essays really brought out the importance of a strong voice and origianality. Something that "pops" in your essay, dragging the grader out of the sleep-deprived slump state in which theyve been for hours on end.
Another thing that I found difficult to manage was my time. I felt exteremly rushed and uneasy about my points and I think that had i made a breif outline before essentially writing my essay, my mind would have been a lot more at ease, and I think once you get in the literary groove youre able to let it all flow out, using your outline as a guide.
What worked esspecially well were specific examples. I know in Cassidys she used personal experiences and feelings that stood out, Kayne used American Idol as well. Another thing was the sentence fluency and word choice in Coltons was impressive and I definately think that aspect of the essay could really be a deciding factor for the grade you recieve.

SAT Practice Essay Numero Uno

Turn on your regular cable TV set. What do you see? Chances are there will be one or more tall, thin, bright-eyed women accompanied by an even taller, more toned man. No matter what program you tune into, the cast is no doubt easy on the eyes. I realize there are exceptions however, but even a high percentage of those are stories or reality shows or contests based off of the desire for ideal beauty. The media constantly broadcasts the small percentage of the poplulation that look, act, and live a certain way. Rarely do they portray an average lifestyle. Making those of us out of the spotlight want to be more like those in it.
Take one of my personal favorite shows, Desperate Housewives, for example. The story is about five not-so-desperate bombshell housewives that all live on the same street full of lust, betrayl, mystery and romance. In two weeks of the show I remember seeing a proposal, two murders, one drug bust, and another hospitilization. Entertaining, but pretty unrealistic. The fact is, the greater majority of us dont live these outrageous, spontaneous, lavish lifestyles, and we all want what we cant have, its human nature.
There are however some of us that take the exact opposite veiw, those disgusted with the media and "ideal" beauty. Although much of our population, (in America anyway), thrive off of celebrity entertainment, trends, and tabloids, there are still those brave enogh to be origional, living up to their own standards, or the standards of thir family or religon. Those people take in what the media has to say and immediately spit it back out, realizing the rediculousness of it all.
I think the media does determine what is important to some people, and by doing so decides what is not important to others. There is no doubt that the media influences the choices we make everyday but we are still our own people and the standards to whice we live up to, wether it be the medias or not, will always be up to us.