LOST gems...Quote a Day

This was truly a sad week for LOST fans as we had no new episode. But fear not, I've decided to use my quote a day to share some of the LOST quote goodness. I asked for favorite quotes on Twitter and of course am sharing some of my own...LOST fans..enjoy. Everyone else...well sorry if they don't make sense!!

From Monica

Locke: You guys have electricity? How do you manage that?
Ben: We have 2 giant hamsters running on a massive wheel in our secret underground cave...

Sawyer: How'd you learn to speak Latin?
Juliet: Others 101. It's the language of the enlightened.
Sawyer: Enlightened, my ass.

From me....because this always always always makes me laugh:
Sawyer: So what happened out there in the jungle?
Jack: Exactly what he said happened. He found a camp-
Sawyer: I ain't talking about Mike. You and Freckles. Before you found him, you all were gone all night.
Jack: We were caught in a net.
Sawyer: What the hell is that supposed to mean?
Jack: It means we got caught in a net.
Sawyer: Is that what they're calling it these days?

Penny to Desmond: Because all we really need to survive is one person who truly loves us. And you have her.

Libby: OK, hey, guys, guys: How about no-one's in charge, OK? I'm sure everyone can manage to just take what they need
Sawyer: Great plan, Moonbeam. After That we can sing "Kumbaya" and do trust falls.

Because Juliet rocks...
Adam: [On Stephen King's Carrie] It's not even literature, it's popcorn
Amelia: And why isn't it literature, Adam, I'm dying to know?
Adam: There's no metaphor. It's by-the-number religious hokem-pokem.
Amelia: No metaphor?
Adam: It's science fiction. Now I know why Ben isn't here.
Juliet: Excuse me?
Adam: I know the host picks the book but seriously, Julie, he wouldn't read this in the damn bathroom.
Juliet: Well, Adam, I am the host and I do pick the book, and this is my favorite book. So I am absolutely thrilled that you can't stand it.

Sawyer and Ben on Of Mice and Men...

Sawyer: What, don't you read? It's from Of Mice and Men. You'd like it. Puppies get killed.

Ben: A guy goes nuts if he ain't got nobody. It don't make no difference who the guy is, as long as he's with ya. I tell ya, I tell ya a guy gets too lonely and he gets sick.
Sawyer: What the hell are you talking about?
Ben: It's from Of Mice and Men. Don't you read?

I could actually do this all day...I'm having a blast... but one final one from last season...

Ben: Those things had to happen to me. That was my destiny. But you'll understand soon enough that there are consequences to being chosen. Because destiny, John, is a fickle bitch.

What are your favorite LOST quotes??

Quote a Day: Day 3 -- The Glass Menagerie

I love Tennessee Williams' plays. And short stories. The Glass Menagerie is one I fell in love with many years ago. There's a version out there with John Malkovich and Joanne Woodward...I wish they'd put it on DVD, it's lovely.

Anyway, from The Glass Menagerie....

"I know I seem dreamy, but inside -- well, I'm boiling! Whenever I pick up a shoe, I shudder a little thinking how short life is and what I am doing! Whatever that means, I know it doesn't mean shoes-- except as something to wear on a traveler's feet!"

You know, I used to really love to read plays. I love Arthur Miller's plays as well, and the plays of Ionesco. I really should spend more time reading plays. Life is just so so so so short. (see above quote)

The Wise Frederick Buechner (Weekly Geeks)

There are few writers/thinkers as quoteworthy as Buechner in my book, and here's one that got me recently....

“Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace."

So true. So hard to find the grace in those painful boring moments, though, eh?

A Quote a Day--Weekly Geeks

I'm a little late to get started with this week's Weekly Geeks, but what better time to share a bunch of my favorite quotes? Last time this Weekly Geek happened was during BBAW and it was impossible for me to participate at that time.

Anyway, my favorite poetry is the Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot. It probably helps that we spent 6 weeks on Burnt Norton alone in high school. My favorite of the four quartets is Little Gidding and that's where the following comes from:

"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
Through the unknown, unremembered gate
When the last of earth left to discover
Is that which was the beginning;
At the source of the longest river
The voice of the hidden waterfall
And the children in the apple-tree
Not known, because not looked for
But heard, half-heard, in the stillness
Between two waves of the sea.
Quick now, here, now, always—
A condition of complete simplicity
(Costing not less than everything)
And all shall be well and
All manner of thing shall be well
When the tongues of flame are in-folded
Into the crowned knot of fire
And the fire and the rose are one."

Just go read the whole poem, it's worth it!

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." --Martin Luther King, Jr.

I love that quote because I think our natural inclination when faced with evil is to hate. When we hear about terrible acts, things we don't understand, we hate those who commit those acts. It makes sense, but it's not the solution. I believe in Jesus, who said, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. He said many hard things, and that is one of them. But it's because love alone is a force more powerful than hate. Love heals and cleanses and makes things right. If not our outward circumstances, love mends our souls.

Tomorrow, Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th president of our country. From what I can tell, most people are really excited. They now believe that change is here for our nation, and though I'm not 100 percent sure they all agree what that change will look like, they believe it is within reach.

And the event itself...the actual act of Mr. Obama becoming president is historic. It's historic in a way that speaks to hope of change. It's historic in a way that says just because in some years and some lifetimes things are one way....they won't be that way forever.

But Mr. Obama is taking the presidency in a difficult time for our nation. For the world, really. People are losing their jobs, their homes. Years of disgusting greed is wreaking its havoc on our nation. And let's face it...when we don't feel secure financially, we don't feel secure.

So now is when reality hits. Now is when beautifully spoken words and inspirational speeches will no longer be enough...they must be supported by action. They must be supported by steps that show an understanding of American people. And understanding of world government.

I'm in Barack Obama's corner. I want him to succeed. I am praying that he will be a great leader for our country, that he will govern wisely, that he will listen to counsel, that he will serve everyone in our country and not be afraid to make hard decisions. Because if even a fraction of the hope that has been placed in him by so many people pays off, we will be okay. But the pressure he is under is tremendous and honestly speaking, he is largely untested.

I can't imagine the pressure he feels. The eyes of the entire world are on him as he takes office. I'm hoping for good things for our country, but I'm a little nervous, as I always am, when change comes. How are you feeling?

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Nobel-prize winning Alexander Solzhenitsyn has passed away at age 89.

"It is not because the truth is too difficult to see that we make mistakes... we make mistakes because the easiest and most comfortable course for us is to seek insight where it accords with our emotions - especially selfish ones.”

“The one and only substitute for experience which we have not ourselves had is art, literature"

“How can you expect a man who's warm to understand one who's cold?”

"The battleline between good and evil runs through the heart of every man."

Happy 90th Birthday Nelson Mandela!

"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."
Nelson Mandela

On Life Always Changing....

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."
~Dr. Seuss

Thought for the Day

"Ah, summer, what power you have to make us suffer and like it." ~Russel Baker

Yes, summer has hit for real, it's hot here now. I don't know about liking the suffering, but I can certainly agree that summer makes us suffer!

Thought for the Day

"It is easy to love the people far away. It is not always easy to love those close to us. It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home. Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start."

-Mother Teresa

Making it to the Finish Line

One of my favorite students has decided to exit the program.

It took me by surprise. The option to exit instead of complete the program has been available to her for a long time. She seemed determined to complete the program and redeem the year plus she has spent with me. I really believed she could do it. She had the intent (one of our three key ingredients to learning a process) and she was even putting in extra time at home.

So what happened? Over the past year, we've talked about her insecurities in the educational realm. We've talked about her family and her struggle to feel accepted by her in-laws. We've talked about her seven year old son's intellectual zeal. All of these things were battling against her.

So much of education is a sales pitch. I'm actually pretty passionate about what I do. I believe it works. I would love to see all of my students graduate rather than merely satisfy the company's minimum requirements. I've seen lives changed for the better. I've seen my former students get promoted as a result of their new ease with reading, and therefore increased capacity to take in knowledge. I've had students tell me I've taught them more than anyone else in their lives. I've listened to stories of students buying their first ever novel, starting to read their mail, feeling confident about reading to their children and grandchildren. So I know that what I do works and matters.

But that's the other side. That's the end of the road. That's after the struggle. That's after several pep talks. That's after hours of wondering if this is really going to work. It's the victory at the end of the war.

Isn't that life? Wondering if the victory will be real? If the struggle and the strife and the pain and the time will be redeemed? And wondering most of all, if we'll make it?


From Robertson McQuilken's poem, Let Me Get Home Before Dark:

It's sundown, Lord.
The shadows of my life stretch back
Into the dimness of the years long spent.
I fear not death, for that grim fore betrays himself
at last,
Thrusting me forever into life:
Life with you, unsoiled and free.
But I do fear.
I fear the Dark Spectre may come too soon--
or do I mean too late?
That I should end before I finish or
finish, but not well.
That I should stain your honor, shame your name,
grieve your loving heart.
Few, they tell me, finsih well...
Lord, let me get home before dark.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
Martin Luther King Jr.