We're studying The Canturbury Tales in English. We watched this and I thought it was WAY cool.

Guess Who Made the Front Page!

Monday night The Young Democrats Club and The Young Republicans Club had a sort of presidential debate. There were three speakers for each club. Two debated the economy crisis, two debated foreign affairs, and the last two gave a candidate over-view. My friend Judith, president of the YDC, organized the whole thing. She called me the night before to see if i could bring a package of cookies. I told her that my mom had offered to make a cake, and she said that would be awesome. The debate coach for our school, Mrs. Caldwell was so excited about this cake that at the end of the debate (which was a great success) asked me if I could bring it out for a picture. She proceeded to tell the entire audience about how my mom had generously contributed and pointed out the business cards I had printed out for mom's cake decorating. This was on the front page of Lindale ISD's website:

Anybody Who's Anybody Reads Poetry

Right.



As you all may or may not know, my big thing in high school has been Oral Interpretations. This includes Poetry, Prose, Original Oratory, Humorous Interp, Dramatic Interp, and Duo Interp. The last four that I listed are NFL (National Forensics League) events, not to be confused with this "National Football League" that I keep hearing about. The NFL has different rules and regulations than Poetry and Prose which are UIL (University Interscholastic League) events.



These two events are then broken down into two different categories (A and B) every three years. This year Category A for Poetry is "Excellence in Poetry" This means that The author you use for this category must have at some time won an award that the UIL deems "excellent". These poems are usually depressing and the authors have most likely been druggies or simply have committed hari-kari. Fun. Not only is this the most "blah" category, but it's also really hard to find pieces that haven't been used a thousand times, and that are also worth reading. Believe me, if you can find a great Category A- you're in. Category B is much more open. Basically, if you can prove that the poetry you use is published- you can do whatever you want.



So now that I've bored you with the rules and whatnot, I get to thrill you with my discover for Category A!! Don't jump out of your seats just yet! Actually my poetry buddies and I are totally stoked with my discovery.... Billy Collins! All last year I'd never heard him performed once, but my wonderful English teacher, Mrs. Brody, introduced me to him. She told us he was the Poet Laureate for the USA a few years ago.



...Wait. There's a government position for poetry??? Well I want to be the Poet Laureate! Who knew?






Anyways, I read his poem "The History Teacher" in English and just thought it was fantastic. I looked it up, just in case, but he was qualified for Category A (I mean come one... Poet Laureate). I stopped by Barnes and Noble yesterday to buy one of his books. I bought "The Trouble With Poetry" and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. I can't wait to show off my brilliant discovery to my Interp coach, Miss Thomson!

Watch. Read. Listen.

Watch:

I remember I was asking my mom last summer if some of my friends and I could go see the midnight showing of the fourth Indiana Jones that weekend. Dad, overhearing and misunderstanding, said, "Yeah let's go tonight!" He thought I was asking my mom if we could go see Iron Man that night. This surprised me since it was Monday- and school was still in session. But that night me, Paul, and dad went to Tyler and saw Iron Man with the promise that Paul and I would get up for seminary the next morning. It was fantastic and I told everyone how incredibly awesome it was. This was also the first time I had ever seen Robert Downey Jr. in a movie before and I have to say, he is incredibly good-looking. We got Iron Man on Netflix this week- I don't think I'll let mom send it back.

Read:

I suppose this section will be determined by whatever we are reading in my English class. Right now it's Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I really want to like this book- but I swear it's hard to read. I feel like a moron admitting this but I've had to go to Sparknotes more than once for help. Luckily I've gotten just enough to write my essays for the tests and contribute adequately to the discussions in class. I'm only half way through it though- maybe I'll get more into it as we get closer to the climax.

Listen:

Okay so I was first really introduced to the musical Wicked during the summer of 2006 when I visited the Blair's in New York and Erin took me to see a show on Broadway. I wanted to see the Phantom of the Opera but she persuaded me to move Wicked to the top of my list. Unfortunately we didn't get to see it and instead saw the Phantom. That same summer I returned to Lansing, Kansas to visit some of my friends. My friend Bobbi Walden had the soundtrack at her house. She told me it was AMAZING, but we never listened to it. This summer, my friends in the Band saw it during their trip to Chicago. It's all they've been able to talk about. I felt out of the loop so I went ahead and bought the soundtrack.

OH. MY. HECK.

I cannot listen to anything else. I listen to it on the bus, in the car, at the gym, when I'm sneaking my headphones in during class, everywhere! I think if my choices ever came down to going to see this musical or having a car- I would choose Wicked. It's coming to San Antonio this summer, so a bunch of friends and I are saving up our money to go down there for a Senior trip before we all leave for college.