Another Book Meme

I'm way overdue in playing along with Patrick the Paragraph Farmer's book meme, but I plead busyness. Now that school is out, here goes:

1. Most treasured childhood book(s)?

Nancy Drew (My mom saved them all, so PalmGirl has read the same ones I always had my nose in.)
Anne of Green Gables


2. Classic(s) you are embarrassed to admit you’ve never read?

Working through Omnibus with the PalmKids has significantly reduced this category for me, but I've still never read The Lord of the Flies, anything by Ayn Rand, Brave New World, The Grapes of Wrath, just to name a few.
I'm not embarrassed, though. I figure I'll get to them one day.

3. Classics you read, but hated?

Like Patrick, I hated Catcher in the Rye. Hated it!
I also really didn't like Gulliver's Travels. And don't tell anyone, but I can't stand the Lord of the Rings series.


4. Favorite genre(s)?

It's hard for me to narrow that down. I love historical fiction, history, biography, books about education and teaching, theology, Latin texts and grammar books, and lots more.

5. Favorite light reading?

legal and detective thrillers from folks like Michael Connelly

6. Favorite heavy reading?

Theology. Right now I'm very slllllloooooowwwwwlllly working through Packer's Knowing God.

7. Last book(s) you finished?

How Should We Then Live by Francis Schaeffer

8. Last book(s) you bailed on?

Not because I didn't like it, but just because I didn't have time -- Liberal Fascism by Jonah Goldberg. I'll try to get through it this summer, but PalmPilot has it right now.

9. Three (only three!) books on your nightstand?

Honolulu by Alan Brennert
Pompeii by Robert Harris
Knowing God by J.I. Packer (I've been reading it for over 5 months now!)

10. Book(s) you’ve read more than once?

Stepping Heavenward by Elizabeth Prentiss
Anne of Green Gables
several of Maeve Binchy's books


11. Book(s) that meant the most to you when you were younger (i.e., college/young adult)?

The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Boettner (my uncle gave it to me as a high school graduation gift, and it rocked my world)
The Pleasures of God by John Piper


12. Book(s) that changed the way you looked at life?

The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination by Boettner
The Pleasures of God by John Piper
Spiritual Depression by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Age of Opportunity by Paul Tripp

13. Favorite books

The books in #12 above, plus:

John Adams by David McCullough
The Great Divorce by CS Lewis
Till We Have Faces by CS Lewis
When People Are Big and God Is Small by Ed Welch
Peacemaking Women by Tara Klena Barthel and Judy Dabler

14. Favorite author(s)

C.S. Lewis, Maeve Binchy, John Piper, Doug & Nancy Wilson, just to name a few.

15. Desert Island Book (apart from the Bible and a wilderness survival text)

Stepping Heavenward - Elizabeth Prentiss


BONUS! Desert Island Book for Your Worst Enemy

I suppose it would be unusually cruel to inflict the aforementioned Catcher in the Rye, the Left Behind series, and books on open theism on anyone -- desert island or not. It would be a recipe for serious despair & depression. In order to love my enemy, I'd give him/her a Bible and Piper's The Pleasures of God.

If you take up this meme, please leave a comment and let me know so I can add more books to my wishlist.

Quote of the Day

From Doug Wilson:

I too would hope that a wise Latina woman would do better than a doofus white guy. Ya know? And I would be willing to think, and perhaps even to say, that a wise white male with the richness of his experiences would make better decisions than a ding dong Hispanic who doesn't know nothing. But comparisons of the best from one class to the worst of another is the kind of thinking that has no place in a hall of justice, still less on the High Court.

Read the whole thing here.

Homeschooling Demographics

A new federal government report says that more girls are being homeschooled than boys:

The ratio of home-schooled boys to girls has shifted. In 1999, it was 49 percent boys, 51 percent girls. Now, boys account for 42 percent; 58 percent are girls.

Henry Cate at Why Homeschool has a poll up now, and he'd appreciate homeschooling parents heading over there and participating. The PalmFamily doesn't really shed any light on the subject as I homeschool 1 boy and 1 girl. The comments on the post are interesting as people speculate why more girls are homeschooled. I think it can be partially explained by the desire of many parents to have their sons participate in organized sports at school. And I also know there are some Christian families who keep their daughters at home to train them to be wives and mothers, but send their boys to schools so they can learn to be breadwinners.

Neither of those explanations apply to the PalmFamily, and I'd have homeschooled my children no matter their gender. Homeschooling fits our lifestyle and has allowed us to follow a Christian and classical pedagogy and curriculum when there have been no Christian classical schools available. I teach at one now, but my children are too old to attend it.

But I take reports like this one with a grain of salt. After all, they didn't ask for my input. :-)

Objectivity

Make sure you read Andy McCarthy on Judge Sotomayor today. Here's a peek:

In every trial — every single trial — judges solemnly instruct American citizens who are compelled to perform jury duty that they will have a sworn obligation to decide cases objectively — without fear or favor. If a person is unwilling or unable to do that, if the person believes he or she has a bias or prejudice, especially one based on a belief that people are inferior or superior due to such factors as race, ethnicity, or sex, the person is not qualified to be a juror. Indeed, prospective jurors are told that they are not qualified if they harbor even the slightest doubt about their ability to put such considerations aside and render an impartial verdict. If the judge or the lawyer for either side senses bias, the juror is excused "for cause" — the parties are not even required to use their discretionary (or "peremptory") jury challenges to strike such a juror; rather the judge makes a finding that the juror is not fit to serve.

He asks, "Forget Whether She Qualifies as a "Racist." Would Judge Sotomayor Qualifiy as a Juror?"

Imagine

If the following quote by Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor doesn't bother you, just consider the possibilities. Here's what she said:

I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.

Now, just imagine the following quotes:

I would hope that a wise white man with the richness of his experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a black male who hasn’t lived that life.

I would hope that a wise black woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Hispanic woman who hasn’t lived that life.

I would hope that a wise Christian woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a Muslim male who hasn’t lived that life.

I would hope that a wise heterosexual woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a homosexual male who hasn’t lived that life.

So what do you think now?

Thoughts on Memorial Day

Purely accidentally, the last three before-bed books I've read have detailed the horrors of being born female in certain times and cultures. The two Khaled Hosseini books I read described women under the oppressive and cruel hand of the Taliban, and the book I'm currently reading, Alan Brennert's Honolulu, reveals how difficult it was to be a woman in early 20th century Korea. In both of those cultures, women have/had few options and virtually no freedom. When Regret, the main character of Honolulu, secretly learns to read and then confesses this to her father when she asks to go to school, he explodes:

"How dare you disobey your father's wishes!" he shouted. "What you have done is shameful!"
"No, it's not!" I shot back, bravely but foolishly. "If my brothers can go to school, why can't --"
I never finished. In a fury, Father gave me the back of his hand across my face. I staggered backwards. he lunged forward and struck me again, this time in my left eye, dropping me to the floor.
"A woman without ability is virtuous!" Father shouted down at me. "You are not virtuous! You dishonor your clan!"
My mother rushed in from the kitchen and saw me cowering on the floor. The color drained from her face.
Father yelled, "There is an old proverb: 'Women who read become foxes.' And by your deceit you are the proof of it!"

Yes, this is fiction, but I would guess that it's not far off the mark of reality. It's hard for me to imagine, sitting here in 21st century America, that simply learning to read could be an act of rebellion and shame for a family.

As I've pondered this recently, I realize that I owe a great deal of thanks to those men and women who have died to allow me the simple freedom of reading a book, studying the Bible, taking a class, teaching my children, and keeping a blog. And Memorial Day is a good day to acknowledge that. I am filled with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for allowing me to live in this time and place, and I am grateful for the men and women who were committed, even unto death, so that this holiday can be spent in peace and freedom and even trivial pleasures like grilling and swimming. I've also been blessed to be around military men and women and to see regularly the kind of person who makes the choice to serve his country, foregoing those trivial pleasures and comforts and living in faraway deserts and jungles and ships. I've even been allowed to share a small part of the sacrifice as my husband recently served in Iraq.

We who live in this time in this country owe a debt of gratitude we can never repay. But I will spend part of my morning studying Latin, and being grateful for that privilege.

Transition

Whew! What a week. PalmPilot came home after a year away, and we're in the busyness of the end of the school year. We were also down to one car while one was in the shop, and now with a third driver here who will need to commute to the other side of the island starting next week, we need another set of wheels. PalmPilot and PalmBoy have spent a lot of time looking for something, and that's what they're doing again today. Meanwhile, I've had piles of grading to do for my Latin classes, and I'm studying for the final exam for my online UGA class. I'm also trying to keep us focused on finishing our homeschool year next week.

You fellow military wives will also understand the weirdness of having to re-learn how not to be the head of the household. For a year I've handled things on my own -- from house problems to parenting challenges -- and suddenly I have help and leadership. This suck-it-up-girl is used to doing things on her own, and suddenly I have someone offering to help or just stepping in and making decisions. I confess that it's stressing me out to hand it all over in one fell swoop, and I didn't adequately prepare myself for that. Don't get me wrong -- I am 100 percent thankful that my husband is back and is the kind of man he is. It's just harder than I remembered from previous deployments (you know, because 1 year is twice as long as 6 months) to find my place again. As is all too often the case, the problem is me.

I know that it'll all shake out in time, and we'll find our routine. In the meantime, I'm going to make a cheesecake. That will help, right? :-)

Quote of the Day

From Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live?:

I believe the majority of the silent majority, young and old, will sustain the loss of liberties without raising their voices as long as their own life-styles are not threatened. And since personal peace and affluence are so often the only values that count with the majority, politicians know that to be elected they must promise these things. Politics has largely become not a matter of ideals -- increasingly men and women are not stirred by the values of liberty and truth -- but of supplying a constituency with a frosting of personal peace and affluence. They know that voices will not be raised as long as people have these things, or at least an illusion of them.

He wrote that in 1976.

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh

That is the sound of relief and gratitude and peace. And it's the sound my soul is making. My beloved PalmPilot is home, safe and sound and tired, after a year in Iraq. I didn't blog about it because I didn't want to announce that we were home alone, but some of you have been aware and have been praying. Thank you. Your prayers were answered, and our four-piece puzzle is back together again. God has been good to us, and we are truly grateful.

More later.

Giggle of the Day

Pelosi First Heard of 9/11 Attacks in Late 2003.

Blast From the Past

I really don't have time for this today, but I couldn't stop myself from watching this, courtesy of Joe Cribbs Car Wash:



I was at that game with my family, and it's a wonder we all didn't fall through the rickety bleachers in the end zone that night. I grew up just 30 miles north of Tallahassee, in Georgia, so it was extra sweet that night when Auburn beat FSU.

It ranks in the top 3 of my favorite football games, along with the first time Alabama played Auburn AT Auburn, on the weekend before PalmPilot and I graduated and were married, and the 1983 Auburn vs. UGA game at Athens.

Good times.

Let the Debate Begin

As a registered Florida voter, I'm seriously looking into Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate in 2010 for two reasons:

1. He's running against Charlie Crist
2. The NRSC is supporting Crist
   

Islam Day

Hawaii legislators just passed a bill to celebrate Islam Day in September:

Hawaii's state Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill Wednesday to celebrate "Islam Day" -- over the objections of a few lawmakers who said they didn't want to honor a religion connected to Sept. 11, 2001.

The Senate's two Republicans argued that a minority of Islamic extremists have killed many innocents in terrorist attacks.

"I recall radical Islamists around the world cheering the horrors of 9/11. That is the day all civilized people of all religions should remember," said Republican Sen. Fred Hemmings to the applause of more than 100 people gathered in the Senate to oppose a separate issue -- same-sex civil unions. The resolution to proclaim Sept. 24, 2009, as Islam Day passed the Senate on a 22-3 vote. It had previously passed the House.

I'm against Islam Day, but I'd wouldn't have argued against it with Senator Hemmings' reasoning. It's outside of the scope of government to celebrate a particular religion. Isn't that what the "separation of church and state" folks always say? Where are they today?

Big Brother in the Car?

I'm re-reading George Orwell's 1984 for Omnibus III. I read it in high school, but it's much scarier to me today. This passage seemed pretty abstract to me when I was a teenager:

There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.

It's not so abstract anymore. Via Laer at Cheat-Seeking Missiles, I found this from Okie on the Lam:

In the upcoming “deal” that will keep General Motors afloat, at least for awhile longer, the federal government will “own” 50% of GM’s stock. I’m betting that it will be at least 51%, gotta have that undeniable control don’t ya know? Along with Cadillac, GMC, Buick and Chevrolet, the feds will be getting control of OnStar — that little ditty of a “communications” package that has been installed in most GM vehicles in the past decade. So what?

Go read the whole thing. It's creepy.

A Must Read

Go read Charles Krauthammer on torture today. Here's a peek:

The second exception to the no-torture rule is the extraction of information from a high-value enemy in possession of high-value information likely to save lives. This case lacks the black-and-white clarity of the ticking time bomb scenario. We know less about the length of the fuse or the nature of the next attack. But we do know the danger is great. (One of the "torture memos" noted that the CIA had warned that terrorist "chatter" had reached pre-9/11 levels.) We know we must act but have no idea where or how -- and we can't know that until we have information. Catch-22.

Under those circumstances, you do what you have to do. And that includes waterboarding. (To call some of the other "enhanced interrogation" techniques -- face slap, sleep interruption, a caterpillar in a small space -- torture is to empty the word of any meaning.)

Did it work? The current evidence is fairly compelling.

He's right, and I especially appreciate his pointing out of the misuse of the word torture to describe merely uncomfortable things. Seriously, if sleep interruption is torture, you'll need to have every infant arrested immediately.

Go read the whole thing.

Quote of the Day

From Gene Edward Veith's Postmodern Times:

Neil Postman has argued that education should be “thermostatic.” When the room gets too cold, the thermostat clicks on the heat; when it gets too hot, the thermostat makes the air conditioner kick in. The thermostat keeps the temperature in balance by countering the prevailing climate. Postman says that education needs to do the same. When the culture is static and hidebound, education can loosen up people’s thinking. When the culture is in a state of constant change, education needs to be a force for stability. In a visual television-oriented environment, schools more than ever need to stress reading and writing.

The church too needs to be “thermostatic.” In a cold, cerebral age, the church needs to draw on its rich and comprehensive spiritual heritage to cultivate human emotions, without compromising its theological integrity. In an emotional, subjective age, the church needs to cultivate objective thinking. In the postmodern age, the thermostatic church will need to emphasize morality and truth.