Culture Blog #3 :)

I decided to watch the movie Shakespeare in Love. This was one movie that I had heard of and one in which I thought would be interesting. I spent this afternoon watching it (since it was raining outside anyways) and I truly liked it. I think what really grabbed me was that I have always liked Romeo and Juliet. When I read it my freshman year of english, I really enjoyed the story and the time period. We watched the older Romeo and Juliet and the re-make but I have to say that out of both of those, I liked watching Shakespeare in Love because I was able to see the actual time period. I was able to see the conditions in which Shakespeare lived which really caught my attention. I think that the conditions were such a contrast between Queen Elizabeth and Viola compared with William. He was more of a simple man of the time while they lived in luxury.

I am such a sucker for love stories and the whole concept of forbidden love really grabbed at my heart. To me, I loved how William and Viola were in such a similar position as Romeo and Juliet and the fact that was shown in a film was what impacted me so much. I laughed at them in certain parts and wanted to cry in others. They couldn't do anything about the circumstances they were under at the time and it was hard to watch knowing that it wasn't going to work out.

Something else that was shown in this film was how women were treated. They were under the rule of man and their opinion did not count in any way, shape, or form. However, Viola did get the chance to act but she did not get to pick who she married. She loved William but was forced to stay with the man her father chose. The reason that this all happened was because Lord Wessex wanted money. This to me, was very sad and I thought it was neat to see how far women have come now. Seeing the line of respect for the Queen was really cool as well. They respected her so much that at times the Queen seemed tired of it. She was a person but they forgot to treat her like one sometimes.

There was some nudity....that I really didn't want to see so I closed my eyes. :P But other than that, Shakespeare in Love was a great movie that shows love, action, and really pulls on a person's heart strings.

LAST BLOG EVERRRR! :)

In the past week, I have really been thinking about my hometown. I live in good old Washington and I have never really thought about how fortunate I am to live here. I have always joked about coming from a community that I thought was boring and snobby. However, this past week showed me a side of Washington that I am so proud of; the part of Washington that I knew was there but only showed itself when in competition. Washington has shined compassion and selflessness particularly in the case of 2 year old Dax. I don't know if you have heard about this little boy but he has been diagnosed with a rare case of leukemia and has been sick his whole life. There is nothing else the doctors can do now. Everyone in Dax's neighborhood has decided to "decorate for Dax" or in other words put up Christmas decorations since this sweet boy may not live until Christmas. His family had the idea of treating every day as though it were Christmas for him and the neighborhood hear about it and decided to partake as well. Now it has not only been taken on by most of the Washingtonians (including myself) but also other parts of Central Illinois and it is now going worldwide. To me, I think this is such a wonderful thing to do for support. It is nothing big but instead shows compassion and a love for one of Washington's own. I am proud that this is where I live because I have seen the support of community and family that I never was sure that I would see. Maybe Dax won't make it, or maybe there will be a miracle. We don't know but what we can be sure of is that many people are praying and supporting Dax and his family and this is something we don't see everyday.

Why do things have to change? Week 11

Last week I received some news which to some people, it maybe wouldn’t be a big deal. However, for me,this news was a life-changer. I have been a part of the same church my entire life and the same high school group for 4 years. This past year, a very large group of us graduated from the high school group and moved to college. There were about 25-30 of us and we were very close to our amazing high school youth group leader and his awesome wife. They came into the picture about 3 years and 9 months ago and when they arrived, our youth consisted of 7-10 people. Our grow has grown to about 50 kids now (give or take a few) so I bet you can imagine how hard it was for me to grow up, graduate, and move on to a new group. However, it was nice to still be able to see them even though I was out of that group. I was and still am best friends with my youth pastor’s wife. She is an encouragement to me and someone I appreciate...she is just like the sister I never had. However, things were about to change. Last week, we found out that they were leaving our church because they felt like they were being called to a church in which the youth group was really struggling. Of course, if they feel led there, I am not mad or sad because God has a plan for them. However, it is just hard to let go of 2 people that have truly helped me to grow and been there for me through thick and thin. I will miss them but I know everything will be okay. I always think, why do these things happen when life is going great? Why is there sadness when things begin to move in a positive direction? I guess, it just shows me that I don’t have control over my life. I can think that I do but all I have is freewill. I can’t control whether tragedy or blessings happen. I just have to trust that He knows what is best when I can only see a small part of the picture.

My Verbs! Week 10!

I have always had some trouble when it came to using verbs creatively. I love creative writing but I used the same verbs over and over to the point that it was incredible repetitive. When it would be repetitive, I hated it because I was bored trying to read it. I know since I have been taking english 110 that I have been much more conscious of the way I word my sentences. I want my writing to be exciting and interesting. I desire a writing voice and style of my own and using fun verbs really helps! Stephanie has shown me that I don't always have to use those boring "be" verbs and I know that has truly helped my writing so that it is more effective. Substituting "is" for a more unique word sets dry, research writing from fun, creative writing away. Using description makes things so much more interesting in my opinion. Not to mention that writing in this way expands my vocabulary and with the college I am going to next fall, having an expanded vocabulary and better writing skills will be extremely helpful. There is a great deal of writing done at this college and for my major, I need to have the best writing that I can so I may grow as a writer. Since writing is such a vital part of life and communication, I feel that when I am able to describe things better, I am able to add some zip to what I try to communicate. :)