A few of my favorite things...

"raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens..." In the lighthearted spirit of that song, here's some of my favorite, trivial things:
~the popping sound when you open a glass bottle of tea
~blankets/carpets/couches that change color depending on how you stroke them
~facebook profile picture albums (because you can seriously tell a lot about a person by what picture they choose to represent themselves.)
~swishy skirts
~Kate and Pippa Middleton's Dresses!!
~homemade science (like making cheese with lemons and cream)
~other people braiding my hair
~scarves
~guys playing the piano
~Composition Books
~new paintbrushes
~potpourri sachets
~postcards
~towns that still have Main Street
~awesome choir songs
~green tea
~cards!

Et Cetera.

Questions

how do youtubers and flikerers get to know each other - all the talented people in the world seem to collaborate on cool things. How do they meet?

why are some words so fun to say (vouvrays, for example)?

What defines a generation? Yesterday was IV alum night and they kept referring to us as generations of college students, which I thought was unusual...

Who watched Will and Kate this morning? I did.

And...that's it.

Castles in the Air

Since I wrote the post some weeks ago about starting a book club I've been skimming through Louisa May Alcott's books (all available online), because I hadn't thought about her novels in a while. I came to the conclusion that they would be great novels for a book club, not of girls my age, but of those around 15 or 16 years old. The books are not hard to read, and most of the characters start out right around that age (and then they grow up in the sequels). I have a friend who told me she had never read the last few Anne of Green Gables books because she hadn't yet reached the point where her life paralleled Anne's experiences and so she didn't feel as if she'd truly enjoy them. So perhaps they should only read the books that are about girls at their age. Regardless, the books are full of wholesome old fashioned values, but are not without their spark of feminism (because Louisa May was never married, remember! She had her own thoughts on women's rights).

One of my favorite phrases from the Alcott books is "building castles in the air". I'm not sure if it's a term she originated, so in case you haven't heard of it, it essentially means making plans and dreams for the future, however improbable, for anyone you want. Something I personally love to do - I love building little dreams, dreams that don't span very far, sometimes dreams that are just snippets (for example, imagining a friend's wedding, but not the rest of her life, or imagining getting a really awesome job, but not how it would actually be to work there, or imagining myself being a teacher/professor maybe, but not thinking about the steps in between then and now). What kind of castles do you build?

The Things they say...

You know how on tests people are like "oh, that's not what they're looking for"

Or when people say "I can't believe they let that happen"

Who are these anonymous "they"s?

Debugging

I love debugging. I love thinking about the intricacies of the logic of my program, I love seeing how many alternate solutions there are to one CS problem, I love the feeling of control I get when the computer does exactly what I tell it to do. As frustrating as I may find the assignments, I love creating the sometimes cool, sometimes silly projects I'm assigned. I want to learn how to think outside the box, and how to recognize efficiency. I'm in a little bit of a mental high because I just finished commenting my code for a project, and I also really enjoy commenting, now that I think about it, because it helps me to debug by drawing my attention to the errors in my code. If you don't understand the draw of debugging, then this is a boring post, but in short I love the classes I'm in so I think I'm doing the right major - because it had seriously crossed my mind that I might not be since I don't know what I want to do with it when I graduate - but I'm pretty sure the satisfaction I get from programming answered my question. Sorry this is so scatterbrained, I'm counting down the days till I don't feel the obligation to bore you with whatever thought crosses my mind.

Smoking

Weekend home + Nice Weather + exam = terrible motivation to do any other homework, or to blog for BEDA.

Anyways. Thought for today is about smoking. I find it annoying and amusing to walk outside Sondheim where there are two clearly marked signs that say "this is a non-smoking zone" and then find smokers there. Who gave them permission to disregard the rules? Does smoking affect your ability to read the clearly labeled signs?

Also, hookahs - better for your health, worse for your health? They don't smell as bad, and you can't trail smoke behind you when you are walking, so my general opinion is that they are less gross than cigarettes.

Resurrection Sunday

.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzqTFNfeDnE

Arthur

Raise your hand if you watched Arthur as a child! I absolutely love this show, and I know the names of all the characters, and I try to stay caught up on new episodes. It's been running for 14 seasons, since 1996. There are 334 episodes. I'm fairly sure I've seen all of them. Arthur deals with some pretty intense issues in a light, easy to understand way.

A lot of the episodes are about good lifestyle principles, like recycling. Some are about things like cancer.

My favorite characters are Bailey, Muffy's driver, and then Mr. Ratburn and Dr. Fugue, Arthur's teachers. However, there's also Paige Turner, the librarian. Since her name is a pun I can't help but enjoy her. The contrast between the adults and the kids on the show is great. There's also a large number of famous people who have made an appearance (Yo-Yo Ma, Fred Rogers, Andy Warhol, etc.)

Breakfast

You know that Friday feeling when you're absolutely burnt out? That's how I feel. I went to bed at 11 last night, unprecedentedly early for a college student, and I still feel drained today.

I'm enjoying my usual breakfast hour with my newspaper (in the admin building today, too cold to be outside Chik-Fil-A) and I think the weather is affecting my mood. However, the chipper breakfast club that I see every morning is sitting in their normal corner, being all happy as usual, and I can't help but smile. I know some of them, but for the most part, yes, I'm being a stalker girl.

Moral of the story: you have no idea how your life might affect someone you don't know! A smile on your face means a lot to people! :) 

Phobias

Why are so many people afraid of needles?
Don't look, then you get pinched, and it's all over.
I'll admit, it's a little unnerving, but I'm surprised by how many people are outright terrified, and consequently don't give blood when there are drives (like today, in the Commons).

Of course, that's not fair, and slightly hypocritical, because I've been trained into shrieking when I see a live mouse. I can handle a dead one, although a dead one is gross, just like any dead thing. But a live mouse, even in a cage in a pet store, gives me the heebie jeebies.

I also don't like small spaces, or large crowds. I generally try to avoid lines, or ordering food in lines. So I have my own unreasonable phobias. I love snakes. I can tolerate bugs, even though I don't find them especially attractive. Where do these phobias or lack-there-of come from? I have a friend who tells me "you should at least try it once and I will never make you do it again if you don't like it." Should we approach all our phobias this way?

No Fear

Sparrows are really fearless little creatures.
It's a lovely day today, so I am again perched outside Chik-Fil-A, and there are sparrows and robins literally everywhere. I don't think I've ever been as close to a bird as I was just now. I've been luring them closer by dropping tiny pieces of biscuit from my breakfast onto the ground and watching in delight as they come snap it up. I'm also sitting right next to a wall, so some of them have come and sat very close to my head, which gave me a chance to observe how dirty the feathers are, but also to note how tiny their bodies are and how they quiver when they breathe. It was lots of fun to feed them. One smaller bird (probably a female?) kept chirping at the larger one to go pick up the bits I'd dropped but never got the courage to do so herself. I think that there are baby birdies somewhere, based on all the twittering. Which makes me wonder if these birds have been parents together for many seasons or not, and if birds are faithful to one mate forever or not, and how the birds and the squirrels share the food that gets dropped around campus.

Speaking of sharing, one of my favorite books as a child was "Tucker's Countryside", which is about a mouse from Times Square who saves a Connecticut meadow for his cricket friend. It's the sequel to "The Cricket in Times Square", which my Dad read to me in first grade. Part of the reason it was my favorite book was because it was one of the first "long" books that I read to myself. When I first read it, I didn't realize it was the sequel, so it was really fun and exciting to read the second book, especially 3 or 4 years later. Anyways, the point of bringing up Tucker's Countryside is that in that book, the creek floods and a robin shares his nest with a mouse and a cricket. I know that in real life the bird would eat the cricket, but I wonder if that kind of unspoken collaboration happens between mice and birds in real life. Or any animals. Does the mothering instinct that we portray so much in films, the friendly inter-species interaction, actually occur?

Music

YouTube. Musical Geniuses. Mind Blown.

So, last night, my roommate and I and our RA and some other friends went a little geek out and started sharing some of our favorite musical YouTube stars. If you don't know, you have to understand that my roommate is amazingly talented when it comes to music. She has a violin, a ukulele, and a keyboard in our room. Also, she's got pictures of herself playing all kinds of other instruments. So, you get the idea, she's fairly musically cultured.

Now, most of my musical experience comes from Classical Kids (Mr. Bach comes to Call, Mr. Beethoven lives upstairs...you get the idea). I love music. I can't play, and I have no desire to, but I do love to listen and I have more of a taste for classical music than the average non-musician. I'm also slowly getting more acclimated to music with lyrics (something I didn't really do as a child). Even so, next to Katrina I am woefully deficient. I simply absorbed.

In spite of a slight feeling of inadequacy, I did really enjoy last night's musical exploration. If you have time, go find these youtube channels:
KurtHugoSchneider
kemlye1
kolusola

Or these videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-XqoNSyFGs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFybwg4wadI

Good Morning

"Laura had never noticed before that saying 'Good morning' made the morning good."

So true. My day is so totally different when I exchange a good morning with my suite mates. I have a friend who says "good morning" when she greets me regardless of what time of day it is. A good morning always seems to get me started on the right foot.

Actually, the same thing is true of a goodnight. Saying good night gives closure to the time you've spent with other people throughout the day, but isn't as final as good-bye. Good night has the feeling of "I'll see you in the morning to wish you good morning". 

This morning as I was leaving for class, one of my floor mates stuck his head out of his door and said good morning to me. When I leave my roommate in the room every morning (or when she leaves me), we say "I'll see you later."

Conclusion: Good Morning and Good Night build a feeling of community and that's why they make the day better.

Alternate note: I do not enjoy when people just say "Morning". That takes the friendly "I wish you joy today" and turns  it into a frank statement of fact about what time it is. Very few people can get away with it. Some people, yes. And I'm certainly guilty of dropping the "good" from my morning greetings. But I don't really like it.

Interesting to note that as I've been writing this (I'm outside Chik-Fil-A) three people have wished me good morning. Hooray for college community! and for it being warm enough to sit outside! 

Palm Sunday

When I was a little girl, they gave out big palm leaves and the tiny little crosses folded out of palm leaves to all the kids on Palm Sunday. It's been a very long time since I've seen one of those palm crosses. I should learn how to make them. As little children, we'd run around outside shouting "Hosannah! He is risen!", just like we'd seen and heard on the Donut Man videos and tapes that my grandparents had given us. Today, I realized I don't really know what Hosanna means. "Hosanna" is, according to Wikipedia, an exclamation of praise that means "save us, we pray".

So. It's Palm Sunday. Rejoice and be glad for this is the day that the Lord has made, the anniversary of the day he rode into Jerusalem, rode towards his death, and resurrection, rode towards salvation. Matthew 21:1-11

Reflection

Have you ever noticed how you reflect the people you're with? I have. There are two friends in particular that I am thinking of. One is a senior history major with bright red hair, who speaks unusually fast. So when I'm with her, I have a tendency to talk really really fast. Another is a photography major with the best facial expressions and most adorable tendency towards laughter in all situations. When I'm with these two girls, I start talking like them, laughing like them, being them. My own thoughts and person stay the same underneath, but I change my style of talking to match the speed or style of the person I'm talking with.

Disney's Children

http://www.deadline.com/2010/03/ashley-tisdale-broadway-bound-as-sharpay-in-high-school-musical-spinoff/

I saw an add for this film the other day. It made me wonder how hard it is for a Disney child to grow up and out of the roles that they play. Wizards of Waverly Place is one of my personal favorite Disney shows - is there any chance I'll get to see David Henrie in some real roles once his character graduates Disney? or Bridget Mendler, from Good Luck Charlie - she's been in almost every Disney Channel show there is, and they finally just gave her the show "Good Luck Charlie" as her own - is she tied to it forever?

It's obviously possible for a Disney star to go elsewhere - Selena Gomez in Ramona and Beezus, Zac Efron in all his post HSM films, Dylan and Cole Sprouse as Danimals spokespeople. But how hard is it to get there? Is it just who has a better agent? Or are those who stay with Disney content with what they've got?

girl v woman

Monday night I had the opportunity, along with some other scholars in my program, to speak with the University president, Dr. Freeman Hrabowski. He has a very commanding presence and a deep oratory voice, but one of the things that he kept pressing on us was the fact that he too was a person. I quite like him, and highly recommend that students applying to our university make an effort to hear him speak. Anyways, he made a point of telling us that we were NOT boys and girls, that we were men and women. I don’t feel like a woman, but I guess, legally and physically, I am.

One short day in the Emerald City...

I've been listening to the soundtrack for "Wicked" as I study. Some of the lyrics are really striking, can I just say. Anyways, the song that caught my attention the most was "One Short Day". It's all about the Emerald City. So  I started to think about cities. In the Emerald City, I imagine the touristy place to be was the Wizard's palace, just like the touristy place in Baltimore is the Inner Harbor. However, Baltimore has homeless, and it's crowded, and all the other stigmas of a city. Did the Emerald City have those as well? Was the traffic in the Emerald City terrible around Rush Hour? Are there suburbs to the Emerald City? (maybe the peridot suburbs? just kidding.)

The Emerald City has always been one of my personal favorite fantasy ideas (my birthstone is emerald). But, like all other dreams, the Emerald City, without the green lenses, is just a simple city, filled with the flaws and imperfections that all cities have.

PS - if you've only ever seen Judy Garland or Idina Menzel's view of OZ, I highly recommend reading all 14 of Baum's novels. They're mildly entertaining, and the country is much larger than you might imagine.

"Wearing my hat"

Yesterday, it seemed like everyone was using the phrase, "wearing my ____  hat".
Where did that phrase come from? I really don't understand it. Actually, it reminds me of P.D. Eastman's book Go Dog Go. My favorite parts of that book are the exchanges between the yellow dog and the pink poodle, like this one: http://www.colliersinjapan.com/page32/files/first-hat-exchange.jpg (largely because my dad would read it to me in a hilarious way, expressing the pink dog's indignation perfectly.)

Anyways. What 'hats' do I wear? I prefer to think that I'm the same person, regardless of what activity I'm participating in, that the hat I'm wearing does not change the girl underneath. I don't know if that's true, but I hope it can be! The pink dog has some insecurity issues, going through all these hats to gain the attention of the yellow dog! (yes, I know I am over analyzing a children's book, but just look at her final hat! http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3231/2442393679_0898e1822e.jpg)

Also, point of interest - when I Googled for these pictures, I found that MOST people are under the misconception that Theodor Giesel (also known at Dr. Seuss or Theo LeSieg) wrote Go Dog Go. That is incorrect, it was written by P. D. Eastman, who also wrote Are You My Mother? another excellent book that was read to me as a child (for that book I remember my mother reading the line "you are not my mother. you are a SNORT." and the picture of the crane was absolutely terrifying because it looked like it had teeth! http://free.bridal-shower-themes.com/img/are-you-my-mother-snort_1.jpg)

So, in this conglomeration of metaphors and children's books, my question for you (because I always try to engage readers with a question) what 'hats' do you wear, and if you were to draw them, what might they look like? I always imagine the hat of a student looking something like the Sorting Hat from Harry Potter...the hat of a sister is a sunbonnet (like Laura and Mary Ingalls) and...what do you think? Maybe some of the pink dog's hats fit some of the roles you fill?

When to Borrow and When to Buy

After writing my post yesterday I went to Gutenberg press to see if I could find some of the old Alcott books that I'd enjoyed for their old fashioned charm. Looking over some of her non-Little Women novels, I remembered how often I used to check those books out of the library. I distinctly remember the green cover of "Jack and Jill", a lovely novel coined from the nursery rhyme. I must have read that books at least six times (and I'm sure my library record shows me having checked it out even more times that that!).

Which leads to my thoughtful question for today - when should you buy a book, and when should you borrow one? Mystery novels have been in fashion since Agatha Christie (and even before), but after you read those once, the fun of it is gone as you've already learned who the culprit is.

Sometimes when I've done research papers I've borrowed books that are scholarly articles and only used one of the articles in my paper, but wanted to read the rest. Should you buy books like that? Is there a use for them once you've read them? My father has a whole shelf full of highlighted books that he's read. In fact, I think I can safely say that every room in our house has a shelf full of books. In my dorm room, I have a desk drawer filled with the books I've brought with me from home.

Of course, this entire thought will be obsolete in a few years, as the Kindle and other e-readers take over the world. I've always said that I'd miss the actual action of turning pages, but part of me no longer feels that way as I've been using online versions of textbooks and checking project Gutenberg for some of my favorite old novels. My only question - can you read a Kindle (Ipad, etc) before falling asleep and safely drop it from your bed when your eyes do close? can you read a kindle while floating at the side of a swimming pool? Until they engineer that, I think books are safe.

The Jane Austen Book Club

OK, I have got to admit, I really like this movie. I love the small parallels to the Austen novels and the insights that the characters have on Austen's novels. I love the idea of having a book club that focuses only on Austen, for six months.

If you were to host a book club, what novels would you read? The idea behind the Austen book club was "let's pick books we've all already read". That premise does make a certain amount of sense. What books have all young people today read? Perhaps Harry Potter, although a book club on that might be unproductive as I feel like all it's secrets have been delved.

Going off the idea of Jane, Louisa May Alcott wrote several little pieces and eight (I think) main novels, all of which are fairly predictable but filled with old- fashioned goodness.Then, of course, there's Lucy Maud Montgomery. She, according to Wikipedia, wrote 20 novels. I think you'd have to choose which of her 20 to read, in order to keep any kind of book club short, but most of them come in sets of twos or threes (except the incorrigible Anne).

And speaking of Lucy Maud, if anyone wanted to get me a present (I don't see why you would, but just to make conversation), I would LOVE this book:
http://roomofbensown.net/the-blythes-are-quoted/

According to Wikipedia, LMM wrote this book just before her death to include snippets of the Blythe's lives after the devastating war in Rilla of Ingleside. This book was shortened and edited and published in 1974 as "The Road to Yesterday" (which I actually have, I bought it for myself around 4 years ago). However, a newly released "unabridged" version is now available in paperback, and it allegedly includes some poems that Walter Blythe wrote to Una Meredith (any non-Anne fans will be confused at that point).

While we're on the subjects of unknown novels, Austen herself wrote an unpublished novel that I would consider adding to the mix if I were to host an Austen book club. It's called "Lady Susan" and can be found in most complete collections of Austen novels but is not published alone (at least, I can't find it). Also, Louisa May wrote three novels under a pseudonym. I think those would be fascinating to read - they must not have been her normal style if she felt the need to write them as someone else.

And now, a question - do all writers leave work behind? It seems to me that every writer has something that was published posthumously. Why is that? Part of me thinks that we shouldn't publish works posthumously, because what if those works were not meant to be published? But then the selfish side of me, the side that wants to see more into the lives of the characters, decides that it's alright.

Newspaper columns

I wonder what it would be like to have a daily column. Wouldn't it be hard to find something to write about? Then I started thinking about some columnists.
1. John Grogan - who's really nice and writes some really neat stuff
2. James Marsden's wedding columnist character in 27 dresses
3. Candace Bushwell, of Sex and the City fame
4. The Minimalist from the New York Times (unfortunately just ended his streak)
 http://topics.nytimes.com/top/features/diningandwine/columns/the_minimalist/index.html
5. Corey's Corner from The Retriever Weekly (a sports column that I don't really read)

This is greatly a result of the fact that I have 21 days left of BEDA. I've done less than a week. And it's getting difficult for me to come up with things to write about. Hope you've been enjoying my less than profound thoughts about newspapers.

Newspapers cont'd

In the same vein as yesterday's BEDA post, when thinking about newspapers, is there a value in saving certain articles?

I have a tendency to clip out and save articles that I really liked from newspapers and magazines. Now that I have free access to three different papers and a subscription to a magazine, the stack of articles I've saved has gotten pretty large. Which of them should I save? They come from all different sections of the paper - some are cooking or health tips that will never get old, some are articles about the Orioles that are very time sensitive, some are news articles about things that will someday possibly be true (scientific speculation). Then there's the comics that everyone seems to save.

I remember when I first read "The Peterkin Papers" and I read about how Elizabeth Eliza kept a common place book (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book). I think that's where my idea of saving newspaper articles came from - keeping track of the little common bits of knowledge. Now I just need a book to paste them into!

(just barely made BEDA today)

Newspapers - Can we share them?

As I mentioned yesterday, my school graciously provides free newspapers (the New York Times, the Baltimore Sun, and USA Today. Each one comes with at least two subsections. I tend to pick up the New York Times for news, the Baltimore Sun for sports (I love my Orioles' news), and USA today for arts/entertainment.

Each paper also runs special sections on special days. For example, today the New York Times has the extra home section and the extra styles section. The Baltimore Sun is running it's Thursday only Health section. Yesterday, NYT ran a dining section that was absolutely FASCINATING (good article on Harry and David, you can read it here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/06/dining/06fancy.html).

But those are the sections I read yesterday/plan on reading today. If you take the sections that I do read from all three papers out, you're still left with a large stack of newsprint that I hardly touched, except to pull them away from my sections. These sections (NYT Buisness Day daily section, NYT sports section, USA today's news section, etc) are still perfectly good sections of the paper. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm probably the one losing by simply throwing them out, but I just don't have time to read them (I read the other sections of the paper while I'm walking too and from class and there's only so much walking one woman does in a day!)

So, my 'super-duper-uper-shmoper big idea' for today is a section recycle. Pull the paper apart not in the comfort of your dorm room, but right there at the stand. Then, neatly refold the sections you didn't want and place them in the section recycle location. Other people can then look through your recycled sections to only pick out the sections that THEY want to read. What do you think - can we share the sections of our newspapers?

thoughts on dates...(BEDA)

Yesterday I was reading the Baltimore Sun, which is graciously provided for free by my school. In the arts and entertainment section (the only part I read cover to cover everyday) there was an article about Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate and childhood home. The article discussed the new features of the house, announcing the springtime opening of the side garden that has been closed to the public for 3 years for excavation. The Mount Vernon staff announced that the garden is now "a much closer replica to what it was in 1799".

OK, so now if you're silly, like me, you think "1799? that's way to late in history! Washington was 1776." Well, that's a little over 20 years difference. So before you freak out, let's think about why some dates seem "closer" to us than others.

I think part of it is due to schooling. Example "In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue". After learning that jingle, you will associate Columbus with the year 1492. However, he died in 1506. His life was much more than the one year. But, 1506? That seems so much closer than 1492! Have you noticed how the century breaks seem to be so much bigger than they really are?

Or how about this - I forget that people who are only a year or two older than me were born in the end of the 1980's and not the 1990's. Decades, Centuries, Millenniums - how far apart does your mind perceive them to be?

Jung, Gregorc, and VAK, oh my!

As part of a program that I'm in here at school, we were asked to take the Jung personality test (also known as the Meyers-Briggs). If you don't know your type, take it here:
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes1.htm

Anyways. I find this test fascinating. I tend to score E_ _J. The blanks signify the general shift when I take this test. I've taken it five times now. Here's a profile of each of the times I've taken it:
1. Facebook app, ENFJ
2. HCC Engineering Pathways, ENTJ
3. AP Spanish, ENTJ
4. NASA Goddard Intern Lecture, ESTJ
5. CWIT, ESFJ

So a question - how do our scores on these tests change based on our mood at the time? Do they really change based on maturity, like so many people tell me when I ask for an explanation of the changes? How do the questions change your scores (because each test I've taken has had slightly different questions).

Another fun test is the Gregorc Style Delineator. On this test (which I've taken twice) I score Concrete Sequential (both times). It's a little more effort to take because you have to write things out on a piece of paper and do a lot of math, but I'd recommend it if you have the time.
http://www.thelearningweb.net/personalthink.html

Finally, there's the VAK learning styles test. VAK stands for visual, audio, kinetic. I'd highly recommend taking that one as well, but can't find a good internet link for it. Let me know what your scores are, and if you think they accurately represent you.

(obviously, this post is for BEDA)

A Question of Health

College Students -remember how people always told you it was healthy to eat breakfast before high school? And how you never did because school started to early?

Well, for me at least, being in college provides me the opportunity to eat breakfast everyday. Using my meal plan, I have access to breakfast sandwiches from Chik-Fil-A and the Admin building cafe. Or, if eggs aren't what you fancy, you can get a muffin, danish, or other breakfast sweet from the library cafe or Starbucks or the Commons.

So now the question: is it more healthy to eat a breakfast that is high in sugar/cholesterol, or to not eat breakfast at all? With a campus so focused on trying to eat well, with articles in the newspaper everyday about cutting down on our intake of fast food, when faced with the choice - fatty or starve - what will you choose?

(this post is for BEDA, aka Blog Every Day in April)

What's in a Name?

Friday night I had the great pleasure of seeing Romeo and Juliet as produced by Granite Classical. It was a lovely performance, with all the magic of Shakespeare and all the innocence of a high school play. Anyways, of course the famous title of my post comes from Juliet's monologue. However, I would tend to disagree with Juliet.

Think about the names that you've been called in your life. Think about the names of your friends. There are definitely certain social stigmas associated with each name. My best example is from camp - at Wildflowers I'm called Lotus (inspiration for the title of this blog). I will always identify with the name Lotus. There are many people in my life who know me by that name alone, and no other. Think about the nicknames and pet names you've been given. Each of those has a special stigmata. Think about your last name - it's your family name. If you like it or not, it's an important part of identifying who you are. Names ARE significant.

So I think there's a inerrant flaw in Juliet's speech. In fact, I think their entire romance was flawed. I think that when I read the play. However, as with most plays, they are far better when performed. Tom and Grace has a flawless performance, convincing me of their undying affection, and other members of the cast were also marvelous.

(PS - this is the first post for BEDA, aka Blog Every Day in April)