As if the user policy isn't there for a reason

Today's Lesson:
Why Fifth Graders Should Not Be Using Facebook


My favorite subject to teach.

Ash

For he knows our frame,
He remembers that we are dust.

snowsnowsnow

We haven't seen this much snow in a long long time, and it's still falling strong. School's already been called off for tomorrow, so combined with President's Day vacation, that makes for a six day weekend. I'll take it, no complaints here.

There's been much shoveling involved in the day already, and still much to go. An igloo has been made, although it wasn't all that exciting for the little guy. We attempted to bake French bread, but it turned out quite dense. I think the culprit is too much salt, as it tastes a bit like a soft pretzel. But it's still quite edible; it's really easy to mess up a loaf of bread, really hard to ruin it completely. Other than that, not a whole lot has been accomplished other than some grad school work. Wes and Roshelle are on their way over; they've been trekking all over the Lehigh Valley feeling confident in their new Subaru. The governor has closed all the major highways in PA, but apparently granted an exemption to those two.

On the 'to do' list for the rest of the day? Fix the iPod, finally, hopefully, and watch at least one movie. And maybe play a game by the fireplace? If I could somehow find a way to record some music without being interrupted, that would just be amazing, too good to be true.

Cityscape

Something about this, I find, is really quite mesmerizing.

It doesn't hurt that just the other day I drove under the hill-to-hill bridge in Bethlehem and thought to myself, "I love this structure."

I've never been terribly fond of Eluvium's music, but paired with slow visuals like this, I just might be able to change my mind.

Frankweiler and Paul

Claudia said, "But Mrs. Frankweiler, you should want to learn one new thing every day. We did even at the museum."

"No," I answered, "I don't agree with that. I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal. But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything. And you can feel it inside you. If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you. You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them. It's hollow."

- E.L. Konigsburg, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler


The wise words of this old woman in the book we just finished with my students remind me a bit of the apostle Paul:

"If I can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, but have not love, I am nothing."
and
"Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up."

Silent Light

With yesterday's Sabbath came good rest in the form of the first movie I have watched, stayed awake for, enjoyed, and gave full attention to in a very long while. Let's put it this way, I now know exactly how Netflix makes all the money it does: off of customers like me who are apparently too busy and too sleepy to watch any movies.

The less you know about Silent Light, the better, so I'll keep it brief and vague. It's an interesting glimpse into a subculture of Mennonite farmers living in Mexico, with a story of a husband and father trying to decide what he believes and what he should do about the adultery he is committing. Oh, but it's about so much more than that!

It's long and slow, meaning it's not exactly for everyone unless you go into it with the right mindset and can settle in with its pace. But if you can embrace (or endure) that, the rewards are well, well worth it, visually and thematically. I think I can truly say of all of its quiet surprises, it's unlike anything I've ever seen before.

And at the start of this much needed new, fresh week, it made me thankful for a God of new beginnings.