Yet another English teachers' conference

Attending the NCTE national conference last year was one of the best things I have done.  I was a bit overwhelmed by the vast amount of sessions that I could attend, but I fought my way through the thousands of English teachers and managed to sit in on some really amazing sessions on writing workshops, using Google, and not using Google.

 To that end I am pretty excited to attend North Dakota’s Council of Teachers of English Conference 2011.  Taylor Mali is the keynote speaker and conducting two of the sessions.  If you think you’ve heard his name before, you’re probably right.  He wrote the famous poem “What teachers make”.  I think the poem has been forwarded to death through email, but there’s nothing like seeing him perform the poem, so check out You Tube to do that J

Faked into Non-Fiction

I just got done reading The Red Tent, a book that’s been on My List for quite some time.  Although I enjoyed the story, I couldn’t help wondering how much of what Anita Diamant wrote was actually true.  Given the fact that she is an esteemed non-fiction writer, I give her the benefit of the doubt, but how much filling in of the pieces really is there?  Have I been faked into believing the story is actually true even though it isn’t?

To answer my question I went to Diamant’s webpage http://www.anitadiamant.com/.  On it she answers a few of my questions.  Questions, it seems, others also had.  Here she is very clear on the fact about her facts.  She readily states that her prose is simply that, creative work of her own.

This is a work of well-researched historical fiction, but are there limits to what one might find in the historical record – how does imagination take up the task when research is done?

My research focused on the everyday lives of women in the ancient Near East. I discovered tantalizing details about those lives – for example, the process of spinning wool was pretty much ceaseless as far as I could tell. There were spindles for use while walking, which suggests that women’s hands were rarely, if ever, idle.

But there was a great deal I could not find. Women’s accomplishments, until the very recent past, have been "written" on the bread they baked, the clothing they fashioned, the children they bore and reared. These are monuments that crumble into dust and that is where imagination took over. In many ways, my research focused on avoiding anachronisms: details and ideas that belong to a later historical period. Thus, there are no chickens or tomatoes in the food that appear in The Red Tent, but I did invent "recipes" based on foodstuffs that would have been available in that time and place.

          The answer, then, is that just like all historical fiction, this is an imaginative piece of work centered on the historical time about which it is written.  Diamant attempts as much as possible to recreate many accurate details of the time period as possible. The trouble, of course, being that very little evidence of the time exists.  As Diamant says there is no evidence of the tiny details which novelists crave.

          Perhaps it is because the book is written in some context of The Bible that I (and many others) have become so caught up in the truths and half-truths.  Whatever the reason, the novel has given me a push in an interesting direction. . . Genesis.

Peanut Butter and Birthdays-A Dirty Combination

I just read another of Janet Evanovich’s books; she’s known for her quirky humor and her Stephanie Plum series.  Finishing The Grand Finale in two days, wasn’t really grand at all.  But I had to do it, because it was due back to the library, and because it was a quick read. 

As I’ve commented in a previous blog, I often feel a sense of shallowness in easy reading, but in Ms. Evanovich’s book I’ve found reassurance, or at the very least, an excuse.  I found at the very end of the novel the quote below:

"Romance novels are birthday cake and life is often peanut butter and jelly. I think everyone should have lots of delicious romance novels lying around for those times when the peanut butter of life gets stuck to the roof of your mouth."
— Janet Evanovich

Since it is my thirtieth birthday month, I intend to eat as much birthday cake as I can.  Thank you Janet!

Sacramento

Last week I visited the lovely city of Sacramento for the first time.  Have to say that the capital of CA was nice.  Yep, that’s the only adjective I can come up with.  The weather was nice (It never got to the usually posted 100 degrees.  Plus, it’s dry heat; something that most North Dakotans appreciate).  The people were nice, but there were many homeless people.  And the shops were nice, but we saw many, many businesses closed down.  No doubt from the struggling economy of California.

The problem maybe, is that I’ve been lucky enough to visit San Diego and the surrounding area  a few times, and so my expectations were quite high.  Add to that the time factor: I was only there for five days, and my trip was just. . . . nice.

Don’t get me wrong.  Napa Valley?  Everything I’d hoped for and more!  But the wine adventure is another story.

uggghhhh, Grammar

So I finally ventured out of the beach/vacation book, and I landed straight in proverbial hell.  That is, unless you’re an English teacher, or extremely eccentric (some would consider them synonymous).  I am now perusing Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson.  But not so fast, this book, rather than the typical language handbook, is a book about how to teacher grammar within writer’s workshop.  No more worksheets, People!  If you’re like me, you remember diagramming sentences and copying sentences out of a language book in hopes of unlocking the mystery of commas, apostrophes, and dangling modifiers. What are those anyway???  Hopefully this book can relieve some of the mystery and trepidation that I feel in teaching grammar. 

At first glance I am impressed.  The opening quote is from a book that my grandfather actually gave to me; which means it’s about 50 years old (sorry Grandpa Jim), but its lessons still hold true:  Eats, Shoots & Leaves.  The familiar title makes me comfortable, so I continue on.

The next tidbit is THE LIST.  Yes, the 20 most common errors made by students according to Andrea Lunsford and Robert Connors.  After checking out Lunsford’s website, http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/lunsford/Lunsford_Home.aspx, I found my source to be just a little bit out of date.  Lunsford’s new list looks like this: 

1.        Wrong word

2.       Missing comma after an introductory element

3.       Incomplete or missing documentation

4.       Vague pronoun reference

5.       Spelling (including homonyms)

6.       Mechanical error with a quotation

7.       Unnecessary comma

8.       Unnecessary and missing capitalization

9.       Missing word

10.   Faulty sentence structure

11.   Missing comma with a nonrestrictive element

12.   Unnecessary shift in verb tense

13.   Missing comma in a compound sentence

14.   Unnecessary or missing apostrophe (including its/it’s)

15.   Fused (run-on) sentence

16.   Comma splice

17.   Lack of pronoun-antecedent agreement

18.   Poorly integrated quotation

19.   Unnecessary or missing hyphen

20.   Sentence fragment

I do have to say that I agree, and maybe with a list, I can start to tackle these key issues.  This will be a little test for me.  Can I get through all twenty “issues” in one year?  And better yet, can I actually change some of the poor writing habits that I see. .  . maybe even some of my own?  As Grandpa Jim would say, “To be continued. .  .”

Guilty Pleasures

Is anyone else a sucker for Nicholas Sparks? Or Danielle Steele? Or Stephanie Myers?  If you are, you’re probably not writing about it in a blog, maybe too ashamed to admit it?  Well,  I should be.  I find myself steering toward the aisle of no-thought-dom instead of careening towards the shelves of more profound titles and authors. And instead of hiding my guilt in the beach bag, I'll share it with you.

 What is it about these romance-filled books that allure me?  I have no idea.   I could go easy on myself and say that it’s summer, and I deserve a little light reading.   I could warrant my actions by thinking it’s just a little entertainment;   I’m not at work after all.  But I just can’t.

I can’t get over the fact that I’m reading a book meant for a young-adult audience, sporting vampires, werewolves, and hyper-sexual teens.  Or a book meant for menopausal women, whirlwind romances and perfect second marriages all covering up mistakes that were made twenty years ago.  Nicholas Sparks is always a good pick too because I always know I’ll end up crying in the end because it’s so sweet how they finally found somebody to love right before they die prematurely (sorry to spoil that one for you).

For now I will assuage my guilty by watching Jeopardy! and doing crossword puzzles.