Monthly Archives: October 2014

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Posted by wordsmithxx on

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I loathe Fifty Shades of Shit. The characters need to be drawn and quartered, the story is ridiculous,  and my 10th grade students write better.  So I am seriously hoping this is what 50 was attempting to pull off. I already know that Day is a far better writer, but can she pull this off?
I got books 1-3 at a thrift store for under $9 (it’s weird reading a real paperback book!!!), so I decided to give it a go.

ETA: Okay, so I have read books 1-3 in the series, just as book 4 is getting ready to surface. Here are my thoughts (also posted on goodreads:

If you’re looking for an angsty, sex- laden read this is your book. If you enjoy reading about characters who have had bad things happen in life come together, then this is your book. Gideon is damaged, yes, but so is Eva. Instead of being an abusive moron, Gideon is firmly seated on the Touchy, Lovey, Fuck A Lot bus, which is so much better than watching him make the woman he professes to love cry for 335 pages. I could go on, but seriously, you should read it. There are MULTIPLE stories out there with billionaire, sex on a stick men and the women they become obsessed with and fuck into submission, repeatedly. So I’m baffled as to why Day is the one who gets flogged for copying whatsherface, when these stories are VASTLY different. Oh, and this one is actually well written! Shudder! Gasp! Noooo! The horror!
If you don’t like stories about these types of sickly beautiful and beyond wealthy characters with their baggage and relationship woes, DON’T READ IT. It’s that simple. If you do like that story, want a bit of panty – melting fluff for your brain (because really, who doesn’t want to be Eva for 5 minutes?), then read the series. It’ll keep you occupied and give you something to drool over.
Is it nobel prize material? Umm, not so much. It is an escape; it is entertainment. Take it as it is intended, and you should be fine.

What I’m not going to tell you…

Posted by wordsmithxx on

I’m not going to tell you how teenagers today feel entitled to the things they have not earned.

I’m not going to tell you this because I have to have some hope that the majority of people know and agree with this; the parents of said teenagers notwithstanding.

I teach 145 members of the graduating class of 2015. My job, my course this year, is college prep reading and writing. The standard these students are held to with regards to both areas, is college level. And I hold them to this standard.

Last week a student of mine turned in his final draft with some added effort made. But this was not a good effort. This was a smart ass effort. The kid is apparently in the running for valedictorian, so I knew when I read his paper and saw that he had changed virtually every phrase to archaic language, that he was attempting to make a point: See Teacher Lady, I can use academic language!

I called him on his bullshit, especially when he said he was just trying to get a better grade, and he had no idea why on earth he was given a zero. Whatever is wrong with phrases like “the occular perceiver” instead of eye of the beholder? Oh yes, he did. The ENTIRE paper was written like that.

While I had him at my desk discussing this, I told him fine, benefit of the doubt and all that jazz, rewrite it. But 75% of the first page of his paper was a retelling of a bible story, which would have been spectacular if it had anything to do with the rest of the paper. While I was talking to him, I crossed it out and wrote that he should shorten it and connect it, or remove it.

By the end of that day, that paper, my comments on the paper (craftily edited), and some very slanderous comments about me, both professionally and personally, were all over the internet. I was called religiously intolerant. I was called racist. I was told that I was the embodiment of what is wrong in public education, and that I should be removed from the classroom. The post implored readers to pass it along to aid in my ruining my career. In less than 3 hours, this had hit every social media outlet available.

And all of this (supposedly) was posted by a friend of my student; a kid who isn’t even in my class, has no reference of the assignment, the conversation I had with my student, or me personally. I have never even met this kid. My student of course said he had no idea his friend did that.  I call bullshit again.

Before I knew about the postings, I regraded the paper, and it received an A. The student amended his post. He said that I regraded the paper and gave it an A because I got in trouble with administration.

I call bullshit repeatedly.

That same day, one of my colleagues asked a 9th grade girl to stop talking or to leave the room for the remainder of class because she was keeping others from learning. The girl went home and told her mother, and the mother called wanting the teacher reprimanded claiming her daughter now felt unwelcome because she was asked to leave the room, and how dare she discipline her child when the teacher should do nothing more than teach.

The following day, another of my colleagues was asked by a student what classes would be important for an aspiring doctor to take. As my colleague comes from a large family of doctors, she responded to the the student that math and science classes are the way to go. The student went home and told the parent that the teacher had crushed her dream of being a doctor. Why? Because the student apparently is not so great in those subjects.

Once again, bullshit.

I’m sorry, but if you are a parent who thinks the students were right in any of the above situations, shame on you. Shame on you for allowing these attitudes of entitlement to thrive. Because of this, we are sending these people out into the world, into the workforce, and God forbid, into the voting booths. People who, in their world, everything should be handed to them, and everyone should give them what they want, when they want it; they can act without thinking and without repercussion; and where when their feelings are bruised for any reason, hell and damnation for those who did the damage should swiftly follow.

This is the future of America. Are you prepared for a bunch of entitled whiners with no common sense, no work ethic, no morals, and no idea what personal responsibility is to be in charge?

Oh, wait. Those types of people already ARE in charge. And look where it has gotten us.

 

What else can I do with a degree in English?