Lovers and Dreamers

Lovers and Dreamers (original):


If I could become a character in any book, I would become Laura, from the series Lovers and Dreamers written by Nora Roberts. Laura is a normal women suffering, but surviving, through divorce and custody of her two daughters. It’s more with sympathy that I relate to this character than personal experience. Though she has family wealth, Laura insists on working to support what’s left of her family, showing will power when everyone would expect weakness, and pride when everyone would show her pity.
A strong woman no doubt, but if I could change the things that happen through out not only the series of books, but her novel especially, I would change the circumstances with her ex-husband. A modern day chauvinist, Peter tells Laura with whom she can associate, what she can spend her money on, etc. Instead of allowing such a shallow and self righteous man to take an upper hand in my life, I would have told him to disappear. I would not have allowed any man, none the less that man, to run any part if my present or future. I like to think that I would have more respect for myself and my children than to allow such a vindictive man to come in between what I know is right and what he says should be done.
Although looks of pity are always present in circumstances of divorce, having something to throw in back in their faces would have been self satisfying for Laura. Not allowing others morose for her would have kept her on a higher step than allowing herself to fall into the inevitable depression that follows divorce. If Laura had taken her cheating husband in stride and thrown some slaps of her own, although pithy, I believe it would have made her feel better.
I agree with Laura’s decision to work for her family, and in doing so she was standing up to the upper society that she was supposed to be a part of. I would not have changed the way that she worked her way through her pain, but I would change the position she held in her own families industry. Instead of starting at the very bottom of the food chain in the hotel management service, which was a job she was more than capable of doing, I would have aimed a little higher in the food chain. Owning part of the estate that she was working for, she was able to get a much higher position, and should have tried for something better.
I think that in changing how Laura looks at her relationship with her ex-husband, you would change the whole flow of the book. Falling in love would be easier for her, and introducing that man in her daughters’ lives as a step father would have been less complicated. Instead of allowing people to walk on her after the divorce, it would have been easier for her to stand up to the people trying to hold her back. To restrict her financial struggling, it would have been easier to do the things for her girls that they wanted. I would have done these things differently, not only to ensure my own happiness, but for the comfort and stability of a home for my children.
Although Lovers and Dreamers is not my favorite book, it is one that has stuck with me for years, and one that I’ll read over and over again. I enjoy all the characters in this series, and although they all face problems, Laura is the one with the most realistic issues. I’m hoping I’m never faced with her pain, but in seeing her character, it helps to think there’s always a way through it.

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Lovers and Dreamers (revised):
If I could become a character in any book, I would become Laura Templeton, from the series Lovers and Dreamers written by Nora Roberts. Laura is a normal women suffering, but surviving, through a nasty divorce case and a custody battle involving her two daughters. It’s more with sympathy that I relate to this character than personal experience. Though she has family wealth, Laura insists on working to support what’s left of her family, showing will power when everyone would expect weakness, and pride when everyone would show her pity.
Laura Templeton is given a chance to change not only her life, but her friends, and her children’s lives as well. Faced with a cheating husband, she is given a choice. Does she live on pretending that her marriage of ten years going perfectly, or does she take a stand? Laura decides to take the lesser road traveled when it comes to the wealthy. She gets a divorce, throwing her husband out of the house, and ultimately out of his fifteen year career. Laura continues changing her life by selling her wedding ring and opening a second hand retail store which her and her two best friends labeled ‘Pretenses’. The title is an example of all three females’ lives and what they’re going through over the course of the series. Laura is given the chance to raise her daughters as she pleases, and show them love like she hasn’t been able to do before. With her new job, and the one she works at the hotel her family owns, and the added bonus of having a live in tenant, Laura is able to have the income she needs to buy her daughter a horse, put them both in art or ballet classes, and still have the income to pay their tuition. Laura also has a very new experience with her tenant, a relationship that has grown from childhood lust, to pure adult infatuation, and slowly growing into love. Laura is a prime example to all divorcee women. Weather you want life to go on or not, it’s forced upon you. Laura wanted nothing from her childhood crush, but ended up giving herself a new husband and her children a better father.
A strong woman no doubt, but if I could change the things that happen through out not only the series of books (lovers and dreamers), but her novel especially, I would change the circumstances with her ex-husband, Peter. A modern day chauvinist, Peter tells Laura with whom she can associate, what she can spend her money on, where she can go, and how to live her life. Instead of allowing such a shallow and self righteous man to take an upper hand in my life, I would have told him to pack his bags. I would not have allowed any man, none the less that man, to run any part of my present life or future goals. I like to think that I would have more respect for not only myself and but my children also. To allow such a vindictive man to come in between what I know is right and what he says should be done would be a sacrifice of all I live for.
I think that in changing how Laura looks at her relationship with her ex-husband, you would change the whole flow of the book. Falling in love would be easier for her, and introducing that man in her daughters’ lives as a step father would have been less complicated. Instead of allowing people to walk on her after the divorce, it would have been easier for her to stand up to the people trying to hold her back.
Although looks of pity are always present in circumstances of divorce, having something to throw back in their faces I believe would have been self satisfying for Laura. Not allowing other peoples morose for her would have kept her on a higher step than allowing herself to fall into the inevitable depression that follows divorce. If Laura had taken her cheating husband in stride and thrown some slaps of her own, although pithy, I believe it would have made her feel better.
I agree with Laura’s decision to work for her family, and in doing so she was standing up to the upper society that she was supposed to be a part of. I would not have changed the way that she worked her way through her pain, but I would change the position she held in her own family’s industry. Instead of starting at the very bottom of the food chain in the hotel management service, which was a job she was more than capable of doing, I would have aimed a little higher. Owning part of the estate that she was working for, she was able to get a much higher position, and should have tried for something better. To restrict her financial struggling, it would have been easier to do the things for her girls that they wanted. I would have done these things differently, not only to ensure my own happiness, but for the comfort and stability of a home for my children.
Although Lovers and Dreamers is not my favorite book, it is one that has stuck with me for years, and one that I’ll read over and over again. I enjoy all the characters in this series, and although they all face problems, Laura is the one with the most realistic issues. I’m hoping I’m never faced with her pain, but in seeing her character, it helps to think there’s always a way through it.

The Highest of Compliments

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The Highest of Compliments

In my college experience, I have never had a class that compares to Mr. Paul Gasparo’s English 111 course. An insightful teacher who also manages to be down to earth, Paul is an encouraging instructor who is always willing to lend a hand. The eight-week course is not something that I would be willing to do again,
but Paul had a way of incorporating each assignment and presentation in a timely manner that was not as difficult as it could have been.
The class itself was fun to be in. With the ability to have open-ended conversations, each student was able to voice their opinion in an inoffensive manner. Class discussions were always lively, and although they often strayed off topic, they were insightful and intelligent. Paul was able to insert something from each student’s personality or interests into each class.
Paul was able to include videos, amusing stories, and appropriate literature for this class. Though the assignments themselves were difficult trying to fit everything into eight weeks, they had the ability to make you think. The assignments incorporated literature from Shakespeare to Hunter S. Thompson. The essays that we were instructed to do helped further the students writing and thinking abilities. While writing each essay, I did not feel that I had to hold back my opinions with the thought that the professor would be biased. I was also able take bits and pieces of each essay and add just a hint of them into others, and not think that Paul would mind.
Students were able to further their learning by editing and revising other students essays and assignments. You were able to have conversations with a small group of people without having repercussions. Paul encouraged students to work together on certain projects and allowed presentations to be given by groups of people versus having to do all the work alone. He also encouraged working through technology such as blogs and sending assignments via email. It’s rare that you find an Instructor who tries to keep you updated in the world beyond pencil and paper.
Throughout the course of the class, the teacher and students were able to hold debates and conversations about everything from the 2008 election to obesity in America. Students did not feel like they had to hold back, but they didn’t feel forced to add input either. Everyone was able to speak their minds and not worry about the consequences.
My goal with my college education is to get the appropriate degree to teach English. My goal as a teacher would to mimic Paul’s classes. He is the type of instructor I have always wanted to be. I am a very strict judge and critique of English courses, so coming from me, this is the highest of compliments I could pay. I truly enjoyed my experience in Paul’s class, and if possible would like to continue my English education in his classes. He is a wonderful professor and really found his calling when he decided to teach college courses.

The 12 Steps to Obesity

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“The 12 Steps to Obesity”


Paul Gasparo is insane. But on the flip side of that coin, he makes a good point. Americans are famous for eating their way into the coffin. I’m not sure if this is exactly what the author was trying to get across in the short essay 'The 12 Labors', but it seems like a valid point. Buffets are a disgusting example of the American way of getting what you pay for.
There are many steps to becoming obese; one of them is the growing love of fast food. Now, I know buffets aren’t necessarily considered fast food, but what difference is there between eating five or so helpings of fried chicken and mashed potatoes, and having a greasy burger and what McDonalds is allowed to call a large french-fry? Well the difference is that you get more disgusting unlimited food for a cheaper price! Which is a valid point the American doctors must love.
The part of this ritual that I love is mentioned in The 12 Labors as number twelve:
“12) Now force down that fortune cookie that’s been sprung on you at your final moment…” Yes America, after your multiple trips through the line and your three or so trips to the dessert section of this ‘restaurant’, here’s a cookie, have another. You can’t imagine my disgust while watching people force themselves to eat this (if you don’t your fortune doesn’t come true!).
I believe this whole buffet style eating is another conspiracy by the American government (shortly following 911 and Kennedy). I’m sure that somewhere in this great country there is a man in a suit figuring facts on how much food the average person can force down there throats at a specific sitting. Figuring how much he can con off the fast food population and production. Once that figure is made, he’ll explain it to fascists such as our beloved president, Bush and ex vice runner, Palin (they couldn’t figure something like that on their own you know). The end result will be an upraising on how grease does not clog your arteries, that it is in fact good for you. That fast food should be a daily dietary staple. The end result of this testing will be the overall extinction of the American people as we know it.

Generation NeXt: Not Gonna Do It

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Generation NeXt: Not Gonna Do It

I am ashamed to say, I am a part of generation next. It’s not something I can help; my parents just decided that they would have babies. If I could have picked a generation to be born into, well, within the past couple centuries I couldn’t tell you which one I would choose. I assure you however, it would not have been this one.
I’m not illiterate, which is something that is recommended for our generation. I also, am not lazy. I will get up and do whatever it takes to get my job done correctly. But I’m one of the few. So many people of my generation do not complete high school, not to mention college. Our generation wears pregnancy like a prada bag. Babies left and right, what’s worse is that we’re just babies ourselves. We cannot do our work if we do not have some form of technology to make it easier.
Students in college courses are increasingly slack in their work. “They expect high grades without significant effort and often just for showing up;” described President William C. Durden, president of Dickenson College. Students of the next generation expect things to be easy, they expect good grades to be handed to them. My question is, if our parents had to work to get where they are, what does the Next generation think slacking off will get them?
It’s amazing to me the number of people I meet who have either dropped out of school or are currently flunking their way into the unemployment lines. Why is America becoming stupider by the day? We have everything handed to us as students, we have everything guided by knowledgeable adults. All we have to do is follow the steps that are set out for us, but we are Generation NeXt: we’re not gonna do it.

Textspeak

Is textspeak sabotaging younger job seekers?

The answer to this question, in my opinion, is an absolute yes. If you walk into a job interview, and do an amazing job at presenting yourself, your goals, your strengths, and what you can do for this company, then turn around and reply to an email with horrible grammar and punctuation, you're proving yourself nothing less than an idiot.

A quote from this article reads “We don’t feel emoticons have a place in any formal communications… It’s not professional” And why should it? Animated smiley faces do nothing for your credibility, and they do nothing in the way of getting you hired. So you’re happy, good! With a smile on your face, call the place of business, and thank them for giving you their time. Do not send an email with abbreviations like OMG and words such as Thanx, tell me- how much more difficult would it be to add the K and the S?

If you are unable to communicate with the professional world, go back to elementary school. In all the twelve years you spent complaining and abusing your right to an education, one would think this generation of teens could have picked up something useful. You go through at least four years of a basic English class alone in your public high school (not to say the strenuous classes in a private school), wouldn’t you think these theories would be permanently repeating in your head every time you sat down to write a letter or email?

To conclude my ranting, all I have to say is that the way American teens speak to one another is disgustingly common, and to use that way of communication in a professional atmosphere is a bad way of showing your maturity and Independence. If the belief that you’re an adult is so profound, then show it. Speak properly, write properly, make an effort to make yourself a better person.

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