Embrace the Cheese

My New Testament class has ended as well as my instructional unit for my ninth-graders. Student Teaching will conclude May 10^th. So, in the slowing down of all things literary for a while, I have begun reading entertainment literature again. It has taken me a while to work out in my head the negative response from many people in my area of study to literature that is considered “fluff”. As English majors and English teachers, we spend so much of our lives analyzing classical pieces of literature—stories that involve the deepest issues facing humanity and the greatest of heroes facing them back—that we develop a sort of tunnel vision, become like literary robots so constantly searching for the greater meaning that smoke starts to come out of the literary device bolts in place of our ears and the Venn diagram shaped spheres in place of our eyes start to spin out of control. It is easy to forget the reason we decided to study literature in the first place; we enjoy it.

When I was a scared freshman at BYU-I, just starting to take my literature courses, I took the rampant criticism of popular books as what I “should” think, instead of what it was, just an opinion. It is all too easy to bandwagon on to ideas that show a clear contrast in opinion of “normal people” and therefore proves a uniqueness of thought and strength of understanding. Or so we think…

I love Stephanie Meyer. I love cheesy stories and cheesy writing. I embrace the cheese. I find meaning in writing that may not last through my descendants and value in spending as much time as necessary reading it. In fact, Young Adult Literature is one of my favorite genres, even though when surrounded by my English major friends, I sometimes have to suppress a desire to profess undying love for books like Moby Dick, All My Sons, Of Mice and Men, and Lord of the Flies. The truth is, some influential and lasting pieces of literature can simply be infernally boring or awful. So, although many, many pieces of classic lit make my list of life changing, forever favorites—anything Jane Austen, most William Shakespeare, Willa Cather, L.M. Montgomery, Bronte, Orwell, etc.—they share a page with works from Stephanie Meyer, Vince Flynn, Catherine Murdock, Rick Riordan, Suzanne Collins, and many other wonderfully dramatic authors.

I just finished reading The Host. Of course, inspired by the recent movie release, I decided to re-read the book that had been one of my favorites as a teenager and remind myself of the story before I let someone else’s vision of it corrupt the vision in my head. I’m glad I did, because in my opinion the actors they cast as the main characters look like children and nothing like their descriptions in the book. That may not seem to matter, but the size and look of these characters are a big part of certain characteristics and events in the story.

In The Host—a futuristic story, post-apocalyptic in a sense—the earth has been conquered by a species of world enveloping, body snatching aliens. The chaotic, violent takeover of the world generally depicted in Hollywood has no place in Stephanie Meyer’s take on beginning of the end.

In this new existence, Earth is green and beautiful. A society of kindness and moneyless productivity drives all behavior and alliances. All are happy. Peace is everywhere. Everywhere, that is, except in the hearts and minds of those who remain their human selves.

New to this world but uniquely experienced among the collection of “taken” planets in the ever broadening universe, Wanderer learns the true meaning of humanity. As if it wasn’t difficult enough to deal with the unbalanced emotions and overwhelming senses natural to this body, Wanderer is not alone in her head. The consciousness of the human host should be gone, right? The way she felt about people in her life, should not exist anymore. Do the people themselves still exist? Whose world is this, really?

The Host is one of those wonderfully dramatic and exciting stories, filled with adventure, discovery, and love of all kinds. I love the take on what it means to be human. It is easy to forget what is really important, until it is all taken away.

“You never know how much time you have.”

To Kill a Mockingbird... (Not an instruction manual.)

I just finished teaching my first literature based unit to my group of ninth grade honors students. I read this book in high school, as many have and continue to. I don’t remember disliking it, but I don’t remember loving it either. This piece of lasting literature has meant much to many in situations similar to those in the book.

After re-reading this story, this time with my students in mind, the perspective I gained as the teacher has been quite interesting. I had the opportunity to collaborate with another student teacher in my department in creating this unit for our collection of over 200 ninth graders. As we developed and planned and created and stressed, we ended up with something that we felt pretty good about. At the end of our student teaching experience, we were required to present a book of information compiling all that we did in our unit and the results of our teaching. Personally, to understand something fully, to see the vision completely, I have to have it physically in my hands or laid out before me. I can narrow something done from way too much information much easier than I can create something from not enough. Creating this book was a great experience for me. My tangible example of the work put into this unit for my students has been helpful in organizing my thoughts for my review board as well as helping me think through what I would change if I were to teach this unit to a new group of ninth graders. I passed, by the way.

This is the “Unit Overview” that was part of a required section in my work sample portfolio. It is my explanation of the “big picture” outlook on this unit, the “why is this valuable?”:

To Kill a Mockingbird, is a powerful book to read with fourteen and fifteen year olds. Ultimately, the goals behind introducing students to this book are to grow students’ familiarity with classic literature, their ability to connect literature to their own life, and most importantly to introduce the concept of humanity and accountability for their choices. Through themes in To Kill a Mockingbird, students begin to recognize that their choices and their opinions affect their world and the people around them. Students learn about times in our country’s history that have been dark and how, as a nation, we have come out of them. They learn about the seriousness of life and the factors that make a difference in the characters’ lives and in their own lives as well, such as education, family, gender issues, and social interactions. This book provides many great opportunities to engage in class debates, discussions, and projects in which the students learn to think critically and realize that their opinion is not the only opinion. It in turn provides opportunities to practice expressing these new ideas in writing, both analytical and persuasive. Just as To Kill a Mockingbird is a coming of age story of the young characters in the book, students are allowed to embark on their own coming of age process as they contemplate the important lessons taught in this book alongside the clearly taught literary themes (symbolism, flashback, stream of consciousness, dialect, etc.).

I do love To Kill a Mockingbird. Somehow, in high school, my focus on life around me overwhelmed some of my ability to experience literature like I do now. Always, though, there was a spark. Always, the themes stayed in the back of my head, just waiting for me to pick it up again. This time, when my focus was clear and my mind, trained, I loved it. The characters created by Harper Lee represent a unique aspect of life that can apply and teach each of us something. Scout is the tempestuous little girl just beginning to deal with the reality of life. Jem is the young man, trying to figure out his place in the world. Atticus is the imperfect hero, doing all he can to succeed, but failing in the definitive sense of the word. Atticus is a great success in the eyes of his friends, however. Boo is misunderstood. Miss Maudie is a maternal hand. Calpurnia is the glue that holds their family together. This entire world of characters, set to the background of the real and igniting world of the time, presents us with a sense of self and quality of life to live up to. The Finch-bar, set in morals and values, is imperfect but attainable, requires hard work but gives much hope. It is almost impossible to read this book and not come out wanting to live a noble life.

One of my favorite days and activities in our unit was:

· Boo Radley day- Leading up to this day, we created a character chart as a class and watched the development of the different characters in the book. It ended up that Boo showed the greatest change, as planned. As characters and students opinions of him wavered and then changed, we began to discuss what this all means. Are our opinions and treatment of others always correct? Boo Radley was grossly misunderstood and in turn mistreated by those who could have loved him. How do we create "Boo Radleys" in our own little worlds.

On Boo Radley day, we began by reviewing the literary term, symbol, and discussing the symbolic nature of the mockingbird and Boo. I then divided students into groups of about 5 and told them to stand in tight circles around the room with one person standing outside of the circle. After quieting the excited-to-out-their-desks 14 year olds, I gave them one very specific instruction, “People outside of the circle, your job is to get into the circle.” As you can imagine, the fun began. Instantly, the circles tightened, students bore down, held their ground while those outside the circle jumped, rammed, ducked, and pushed to complete their goal. 14 year old are a little bit like dogs (and if you know me, you know that I love dogs!). Tell them one thing, and they jump at it without knowing exactly why. Do now, ask later.

Once people got into the circle, cheered, and taunted those they believed to be the “losers”, we switched and played the game again. Finally, using my newly discovered “teacher voice”, I gathered the class back together, and restored order in my classroom. Although they had fun, they were confused and intrigued. They required explanation, “Miss that was random, why did we do that?”

“What were my instructions to you?”

“To not let them in the circle!” they shouted in excited unison.

They were wrong however, and were playing my game perfectly. I reminded them of my exact words, “People on the outside, get into the circle”, not, “circles keep the others out.” We then proceeded to discuss the applications of this activity to our lives. Why do we naturally keep people out? Where do we see this happening at our school? How can we stop creating “Boo Radleys”? This conversation turned serious and we found real examples of this happening around us.

We then watched the cutest and most inspirational YouTube clip of all time, “Kid President: Pep Talk”, and we assigned them their project. Students were received a handout laying out a week long assignment in which they were to figure out a way to either correct a mistake or reach out to someone. They were to provide evidence somehow of their effort but that was all. This project was to encourage intrinsic motivation. We told them this was their opportunity to just do something good. The next week was fantastic. Of course there were plenty of confusions and emergency emails about the project the day before and the day of, but reading through those personal stories and the efforts, that were huge to these kids, was amazing. I had a unique opportunity to see inside the minds and emotions of so many of my students. I will for sure do this project again.

The Final Week

As Christ’s ministry came to a close, He made a decision to go back to the city. His apostles knew that going back was a death sentence for him and possibly for them. The apostle who becomes known for doubting what he should have had faith in, “Doubting Thomas”, convinces the group that it is worth it to go with Christ and die with him than to not go at all, “Let us also go that we may die with him.” Christ’s apostles were almost prepared to head up his church when he was gone. Much happened the last week of Christ’s mortal ministry.

Day 1	Day 2	Day 3	Day 4	Day 5	Day 6	Day 7 (Sabbath)	Day of the Resurrection
Jesus rode through the city gates on a donkey. Those who knew him shouted “Hosanna”. Jesus went to the temple and took note of what he saw there, then retired for the night.	Jesus went back to the temple and drove the money changers from the outer courtyard, in effect challenging the Jewish leadership. “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.	The priests of the temple found Jesus and questioned him about his authority to do the things he did the day before. Jesus publicly denounces them and condemns them. They begin to plan how to bring about Jesus’s death until one of Jesus’s own apostles offers to betray him. Jesus begins teaching only his apostles.	This day is spent outside the city. Jesus knew of the plot and of what his apostle had done. Other than that, not much is said about this day.	A house is privately prepared for Christ and his apostles to commemorate the Passover. This is his Last Supper. Jesus introduces a new ordinance, the sacrament, the prophesied that one of them in that room would betray him. Jesus took the 11 apostles still at dinner with him to the garden of gethsemane, and then took Peter, James, and John right outside where he would pray, to wait for him. He proceeded to pray and suffer for the sins of the world. Jesus was betrayed by Judas that night.	Jesus was brought to an illegal trial (the night before) and charged with blasphemy and sedition against the state. The leaders of the Jews were trying to discredit him before the Jews and then incite the crowd to order his execution. Jesus was crucified and “gave up his spirit”. Jesus’s body was removed from the cross and buried in a sealed tomb by two disciples.	Jesus’s body remained in the tomb while, in spirit, he ministered to the realm of departed spirits.	This is the day the word “gospel”, “good news”. Jesus Christ emerged from the tomb, alive, and appeared before Mary and was seen again by many. Christ was resurrected providing a way for us to be one day too.

Parable Principles...

• 1.       Luke 16:1-12- In this parable of the unjust steward, the Lord makes the point that we cannot be on both sides of the line and be okay, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Those who focus on the things of the world or “that which is highly esteemed of men,” will lose focus on the important things.
• 2.       Luke 16:19-31- The parable of the rich man and Lazarus discusses the importance of living the best life you can with what you have been given. The rich man had much in life, but squandered it and was miserable, whereas the other man had a difficult life, but was comforted in the next life.
• 3.       Luke 17:11-19- The parable of the ten lepers teaches us that gratitude is a part of faith. Only one of the ten lepers returns to give gratitude to the Lord and he is healed, “thy faith hath made thee whole.”
• 4.       Luke 18:1-8- The parable of the unjust judge is an example of  the idea that the Lord judges us by what is in our hearts. The man decided to help the widow. The deed, on the outside, was good. But the reason he did it was because he knew she would continue to bother him. An act of service loses its meaning when done for selfish reasons, “when the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on earth?”
• 5.       Luke 18:9-14- The parable of the Pharisee and the publican we see the difference between humility and pride. The man exalts himself with faux humility, saying that the Lord made him this great. But the honest man is the one who ended up actually strengthening his relationship with the Lord. 

The Seventy

In Luke chapter 10, the Lord appoints the seventy. He gives them specific instructions on how to teach His people and gather His sheep. He speaks of the power that they are endowed with and says, “Behold, I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” The Lord instructs the seventy to go into the cities and speak of Him and share the gospel. He tells them that those who accept them, are in turn accepting Him and those who reject them, are also rejecting Him. The article of faith, 1:6 that says, “We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church,” is referring to the organization of those like the seventy. To this day, there is an organization of the seventy, called by God and acting in his name, upon the earth, just like there is a Prophet called by God who receives revelation for us and in whom I believe and follow him. Trusting in the organization that is still here on this earth brings us closer to the Lord now. 

Prince of Peace

One of my favorite scriptural stories is the portion of John 9 that tells about the a blind man that was healed by the Lord (my contribution to my families Christmas Eve talent show was actually a historical-fiction type story of this!). He had been blind since birth. A beggar. The Lord healed him by rubbing mud on his eyes and telling him to wash in the pool of Siloam. It was a miracle. The non-believers were offended, and cast him out. As soon as he knew what happened to the man, Christ searched for him and found him like he searches for each of us. Liz Lemon Swindle painted a picture of a Christ face while he is searching for him. She says, “I could see the determination on Christ’s face as He made His way through the crowd. I draw comfort from knowing that if He will search after him, He will search after me.” Liz Lemon Swindle

For my New Testament class assignment, I was asked to create a chart showing three people in the story’s spiritual blindness or spiritual sight:

Pharisees- Spiritual Blindness	Blind Man- Spiritual Sight	Parents- Spiritual Blindness
“How can a man…” v16 “And there was a division among them.” v16 “Did not believe…” v18 “Give God the praise, we know…” v24 “did not hear…” v27 “We know not from whence he is.” v29	“I do see” v15 “He is a prophet” v17 “I know one thing…” v25 “I have told you already and ye did not hear…” v27 “Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, yet he hath opened mine eyes.” V30 “if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” He knew. He knew he would be found. He knew he would be saved.” v31 “Lord, I believe.” v38	“We do not know” v21 “He shall speak for himself.” v21 “feared the Jews” v22

One of my favorite lines in this story that I had not noticed before reading it this time, is “why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, yet he hath opened mine eyes.” Even after all the grief the Pharisees and people were putting him through, he still responds with what he knows. He even sounds a little sassy at that… “Well look at that. You not knowing where he came from doesn’t change the fact that he healed my blindness… I mean, look at me guys…” I love that the experience this man had was so special to him that nothing could make him forget it. Even his own parents were so afraid of being cast out of the synagogue that they would not take a side, even their own son’s side. Their fear was valid, the man was cast out. The important part of this story is that because he defended his faith, stood up for righteousness, and was persecuted for it, the Lord came to find him personally. Just as he does in our lives. Even in impossible looking and feeling circumstances, something always work out when we are standing for our faith. The man says to the Pharisees, “if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” (v31). He knew he would be found. He knew he would be saved. The last verse of this story he says, “I believe”. It is the perfect ending because he believed and had faith throughout the whole parable. He was the only person to believe and the only person that got to be with the Lord himself. 

Peter and the Storms of Life

When the apostles first saw the savior walking on the water toward them, they were frightened. But, once the Lord told them who he was and not to fear, Peter’s immediate response was “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” As I think about that response, I try to put it into modern terms. In my life, storms sometimes rage. Whether it is drama natural to the life of a young single adult or major and all encompassing difficulties, storms rage. In my little boat of sanity, that can be thrashed in the waves, I sometimes don’t understand how to escape the encompassing storm, until I realize that the one who can and wants to save me, is waiting for me to hear Him, to recognize that he is just outside of my boat.

I wondered if Peter’s response, “if”, was asking for a sign rather than exercising faith, but I feel that that is actually just his desire to run to the Lord, the part of Peter that had just great faith that he knew the impossible was possible for something so important. Being human, however, Peter began to sink when fear rose back up and pushed away that child like faith. The Lord “immediately” grabs him and asks why he would doubt. Peter had the faith it took to step out of the boat, but the moment he took his focus off of the Lord and onto the distractions of the world happening around him, it was not strong enough to withstand the currents pushing against him.

Doctrine and Covenants section 88 verse 67 says, “And if your eye be single to my glory, your whole bodies shall be filled with light, and there shall be no darkness in you; and that body which is filled with light comprehendeth all things.” The point of this life is to get better at it. Peter’s first reaction was the reaction I would hope to have and to keep in all of my distressing times. However, it is not always how I react. Sometimes I take a while to recognize that I am not alone (that’s usually when I get the most dramatic about things…), but only when I hear Him calling, “Be of good cheer, it is I! Be not afraid!” do I finally figure it out.