Sunday Snippets

"So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."
-1 Corinthians 10: 31

What I Just Finished Reading

I'm a sucker for a memoir, and I devoured this gem of a novel over Christmas break.  

It's the beautiful and heartbreaking story of the Wakatsuki family, and the hundreds of thousands of other Japanese Americans, who were thrown into internment camps after Pearl Harbor.

Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston develops her story with grace and speaks honestly about the terrible conditions her family faced at Manzanar.  More importantly, Wakatsuki-Houston uses part of the novel to focus on the family leaving Manzanar and the difficulties they had reentering a society that three years earlier had shunned them.  

It's a fascinating tale of a girl trying to figure out who she is and where she belongs and who she belongs with.  An brilliant look into a young woman trying to find a balance between being the Japanese girl her heritage begs her to be and the American girl she needs to be to fit in. 

I loved the descriptions of her time in the camp and how honestly she discusses her trials and triumphs there.  Equally I loved how she explained her reintegration into society and her trials and triumphs there, too.

In Farewell to Manzanar, the reader is given a peak into American history that is generally left out of our textbooks and World War II lessons, and I loved every word of it.  

If you pick up a copy, I'd suggest the one with the new afterword by the authors.


Happy reading,

Sunday Snippets

"I knew ahead of time that if someone looked at me with hate, I would have to allow it, to swallow it, because something in me, something about me deserved it."
--Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston


~~~~~


"Most of those interned in the United States were native-born American citizens; they were all civilians, imprisoned inside the borders of their own country, without a trial, and their captors were other Americans."
--Farewell to Manzanar, Jeanne Wakatsuki-Houston


~~~~~


"Marriage is a friendship recognized by the police."
--Robert Louis Stevenson, qtd. in Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, Elizabeth Gilbert


~~~~~


"Felipe and I had each learned firsthand this distressing truth: that every intimacy carries, secreted somewhere below its initial lovely surfaces, the ever-coiled makings of complete catastrophe."
--Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage, Elizabeth Gilbert


~~~~~


Have a great week,

The Puppy Children

Hub and I have two puppy children, and that's all we'll have.  I have a rule about not having more animals than humans in a house. 


I call them our puppy children because that's how we treat them.  We get excited to bring home a new toy.  We love watching them run around the apartment.  You know, as if they were real humans.


At first I felt strangely about this, but then I decided that most people regard their pets as integral family members even if they refuse to admit.  So, there ya go.  I'm admitting it--we treat our dogs kind of like they're people, kind of like they're our children, and I'm okay with that.  In fact, I like it.


You met Miss Maisie back in July just after she came to live with us. 

That's when she looked like this.

Now she looks more like this.  She's a whopping 6.5 lbs.  What a big girl.


In December we got Mr. Melvin.  Isn't he a cutie? 

Here he is riding around in my mom's apron pocket over Christmas.

Maisie and Melvin became the best of pals within minutes.  They play all the time, and when one wanders off, the other searches until the missing friend is found.

If you look closely at Melvin's eye, you can see that his is half-blue, too, just like Maisie's.
Presh.

Happy Saturday, 

I'm Back, Y'all. I think.

Fear not, friends.   I have returned to the blogosphere, though I doubt you had major concerns for my safety.  I didn't really mean to leave in the first place; I was all committed to a blog schedule and promising myself I'd use more pictures and... well, you know how I do.  At least this time I have a good excuse for my half-year absence.


Ladies and gentlemen, though I'm certain you already know because the only people who read me are my mom and dad, I got a big-girl job.  That's right; I'm a real, live teacher molding the minds of the future generation, students who are only 6ish years younger than me, but who's counting.


I got hired quite surprisingly only six days before the school year began. Talk about fabulously stressful.  It made for an interesting transition from stay-at-home-work-part-time-go-to-grad-school-some to full time, first year teacher.  Six days is a tiny window of a transitional period, but I survived, and now I'm back to tell the tale.


In the time I've been gone, many things have happened:
-I got a big girl job. (I know I already mentioned that, but I still find it exciting).
-I hit a cement column with the rear passenger door of my car.
-I added an "r" to the word "best" in front of a classroom of high school sophomores.  Talk about a great way to wake up 1st period.
-A bestest friend Charles got married!
-Hub and I got another puppy!  (His name is Melvin.  Pictures coming SOON).
-I made some resolutions for 2012.  (You know I love those).
-And much, much more, but the details escape me now.  See, this is why I really should keep up my blog.  Otherwise, I forget my life.


Anyway, I came to say that I'm back.


Stay tuned,