Gone With the Wind Sandwich Project

            Gone With the Wind is about a stubborn Southern Belle, Scarlett O’Hara, who struggles with love and economic turmoil after the Civil War.  Scarlett has two true loves: herself and Ashley.  Most of the novel Scarlett chases after Ashley while ignoring her real love, Rhett Butler.  Scarlett’s vanity and ignorance to Rhett’s love leave her searching for happiness.

The setting is the South before, during, and after the Civil War.  Tara, a fictional Southern Plantation, and Atlanta are two main locations.  At the beginning of the novel before the war, the setting is plush and abundant.  During the war, the setting is dismal and fiery during the burning of Atlanta.  After the war, the plantations struggle to regain their plush atmosphere.  However, Atlanta is a busy and growing city after the War.

The novel is mainly tearful and dramatic.  There are sweet moments such as the birth of Scarlett and Rhett’s daughter, but the national conflict of the Civil War and the personal conflicts of hunger, poverty, and loss make the novel powerfully dramatic.  The South’s deep demise after the war, affects Scarlett and most of the South in such a debilitating way that you wonder will they ever survive.  This search for survival and rebirth make the novel tearful and heart wrenching.

The main character, protagonist, is Scarlett O’Hara.  She is raise on a thriving Southern Plantation, Tara.  She is raised by her Irish father and devout Catholic mother.  She round because the readers know her loves, her hates, her hopes & dreams, and her biases.  She is dynamic because as the South suffers through the war so does Scarlett.  She cares for a once thought and risks her life for her family.  Scarlett remains selfish and opinionated but she learns to survive and plunder through.

One of my favorite parts of the novel is the first meeting of Scarlett and Rhett.  She is throwing a glass to vent about Ashley, her supposed true love.  She is hysterical and vulnerable and just at this low point, Rhett is discovered hiding in this same room.  Scarlett is embarrassed and angry at Rhett for not revealing himself earlier.  She huffs and puffs out of the room and Rhett laughs the entire time.  This episode begins the love/hate relationship between these two characters.

My favorite craft of Margaret Mitchell is the characterization of Scarlett.  Her motto of  “worrying about that another day” and her selfish yet determined personality make her a character that you love to hate.  Also, the interaction between Rhett and Scarlett make the novel hard to put down.  This is my favorite book of all time.  I always tell my students that movies are never as good as the novel, but Gone With the Wind is the exception.  The movie is as good as the novel.

I believe in the death penalty

I believe in the death penalty.  This is hard for me to write about.  Most of my life I definitely did not believe in the death penalty.

            I was raised a liberal Lutheran Democrat in the deep South.  This was a rarity.  Almost everyone is Republican and Southern Baptist.  I embraced this difference and proudly boasted about my rebellious views about abortion and the death penalty.  I’ll come back to abortion, but first I want to focus on the death penalty.

            I would watch the news about murders and crimes and they didn’t really affect me.  Well, I thought they did, but they really didn’t.  These people didn’t impact my life.  There was no violence around me.  Then I would watch the crime shows on television.  My favorite was and still is Law and Order.  My love for this show started with the original L & O, but then moved to Law and Order SVU, special victims unit.  The debates about the death penalty on these shows always intrigued me.  And, I stood by my belief: If murder is wrong and against the law, then how can we commit murder by the death penalty.  We, the US, are hypocrites. 

            Then, two things happened.  One a family member was a victim of a violent crime.  This violence did impact my life.  I saw the bruises and the crying and the court system.  This person, this horrible awful, I better stop there, hurt someone in my family.  How dare they!  They have no right!  This really pissed me off.  Sorry no better words for it.  The worst thing was that I felt helpless. 

            Then, event number two: I became a mother.  As I looked at little innocent newborn Alex Walgate, I changed my mind about the death penalty.  Actually I think I believe in allowable parent punishment.  If someone hurts my children, I will go after them myself.  Ok, I tell myself I really won’t do that, but I definitely believe in the death penalty.  Law & Order SVU didn’t helped with this epiphany.  The violence done to children in that show transfers to my children and I want to crawl out of my skin. 

            Finally, back to abortion.  After having children, my staunch acceptance in abortion also changed to a more realistic acceptance: it should only be allowed in extreme cases.

            Wow, children really do change your life!  For the good,  of course

I believe in a firm handshake

I believe in a firm handshake.  Yes, I know some people say that handshakes are unsanitary and spread germs, but I still feel that a good, firm handshake is a great way to communicate trust and sincerity.  A former boyfriend first brought this to my attention.  The boyfriend is long gone but the belief in this simple gesture has stayed with me.

            There is nothing worse than shaking a cold, wet noodle.  Yuck!  This an instant  sign of weakness and distrust.  The lack of grip and coldness makes me yank my hand away faster than you can say cold pasta!  Yes, I know the temperature of someone’s hand is uncontrollable, but put a little confidence in that shake with a firm grip.

            However, too firm of a hand shake can also be a big no no.  A former pastor of mine would give a bone-cracking shake.  I would avoid going through the line to greet the pastor at the end of the church service just to avoid his steel grip.  It really hurt! 

            Ok, so it’s kind of like Goldilocks-not too hard and not too soft.  There is one more aspect to a perfect shake.  Don’t go crazy with the up and down movement of the joined hands.  Some people go too big and it seems that you are scraping an icy window.  Some people go too many times and you look like idiots just standing there holding hands.  This gets awkward. 

            So, a good hand shake should be as follows:

1)      Outstretch your right hand.  I don’t care if you are a lefty, most of the world are righties so this is a must.

2)      Clasp the other person’s right hand with a firm grip.

3)      Move the jointed hands up and down about two times. 

4)      Maintain eye contact.

Yes, I know I didn’t mention the eye thing but this finalizes the trust aspect of the shake and greeting.  There’s nothing worse than a shifty-eyed person who can’t look you in the eye.  What are they hiding?  What don’t they want me to see? 

            I definitely agree in a firm handshake.  It represents trust and confidence and familiarity and it’s just the right thing to do!

What is my dog thinking?

Dogs fascinate me.  They are sweet, kind, funny, and remind me of a little kid with a lot of hair.  In high school, I had two labs: Sonny & Teddy.  Sonny had a very short, yet sweet & happy life.  Teddy, Carl Theodore Dakota was his registered name, was with me for a quite a long time.  My senior year of high school I choose a new lab over a new car and I got Teddy!  We did everything together and he slept with me every night.  And, this was not a small task.  Teddy was a big lab-well over 100 pounds.  My parents would open the door to the house and I could hear him rumbling down the hallway toward my bedroom as if he were a freight train.  Then, he would pounce on me and my bed and crush me.  While sleeping he would stretch his legs and nearly push me off my small full-sized bed.  While at Clemson, occassionally I would bring him to my apartment to spend a few days.  This over 100 pound lab would thump and roam around my apartment and wonder why I took him from the vast expanse of my parents' home in Travelers Rest with over seven acres of land and horses and creeks and woods to explore?  The answer was simple: I missed him.  Now, I look at my new lab, Diet Coke or DC for short, and I wonder what he thinks about.  Why won't you walk me?  Why don't you feed me more?  Why can't I have a hamburger?  Can't I eat that blanket?  I love all, well most dogs.  But I have an affinity for labs.  They always have such a quizzical yet happy look on their faces.  As far as DC's thoughts go, they revolve about one simple thing: BALL! He is obsessed with balls.  We can't even say the word without a panic attack, so of course, we spell it.  I wonder how long it will take him to figure out that when we say B-A-L-L we are really talking about his ball.  I guess then we will have to call it broccoli or couch or some other substitute word.  Right now, as he has finally settled down and forgotten about his, well you know,  and is snoozing at my feet, I wonder what he is thinking: I really wish I could help Nicole clean the house.  She is such a great person! Yeah, right!

Too Much Free Time

Is too much free time a bad thing?  As a teacher, I have plenty of free time during the summer.  During the school year, I yearn for free time with all the grading, meetings, and sporting events involved with education.  Then, there are all the personal responsibilities from cooking and cleaning, to helping with homework & projects, and transporting children everywhere.  Then, the worst of all: LAUNDRY! But, then, summer arrives and I have so much free time.  After rushing & rushing and dying for one free moment during the school year, I have so much time-too much perhaps.  Be careful what you wish for.  Then, I get in the groove of the summer.  Just when I am able to manage all the free time, summer ends and I have to report to work for professional development and meetings and the cycle starts all over again.  So, is too much free time a bad thing?  I'm thinking no.  It's the paradox of having the greatest job of all time.  Teachers go and go and give everything of themselves for their students, but then they, the students, are gone and we, the teachers, feel lost.  I need an objective and a goal to be happy and I need my students during the school year.  But, in the summer, I've figured out to let them go and embrace my family, friends, and myself.  This summer I started riding my bike again and started blogging again, and I am going to start learning how to play the guitar!  (I still have a week to do this last goal).  I also read while sunning at the pool.  I also spent some valuable time with my friends.  I don't know what I would do without them.  With my family, I traveled, watched movies, cooked, played games, and swam (all the time) and hosted multiple sleepovers-too many to count.  I now know to embrace this glorious free time and discover new things about myself and others.