As my husband and I arrived at our pre-planned destination today, we received so many warm, smiling welcomes made by gracious, charismatic, kind people you'd think we were in Walt Disney World. But we weren't in WDW. In fact, we were far from it - and not just in terms of driving distance. And, while we did feel extremely welcome and were pleasantly surprised by the attitude of every single worker (note I did not say "Cast Member," another clue we were not in Disney), our destination was definitely not the happiest place on earth. Instead, it may have come close to actually being one of the saddest.
When we finally found various members of my husband's family waiting in the Smilow Surgical Family Lounge at Yale-New Haven Hospital, his uncle was already in surgery. The outcome could be pretty good or really not so good. The five of us spent the afternoon together waiting, eating lunch, conversing. His aunt paced - much as I would have done.
Shortly after lunch the doctor met with his uncle's closest family members, while we waited outside. Happily, the surgery was successful and things are looking up. He was in a lot of pain and we didn't get to see him, but he knew we were there, and that's what matters. It's a good day when things go the way you want them to.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Sunday, July 17, 2011
I Don't Care About a King's Speech
When I asked my husband if he wanted to watch the movie "The King's Speech," he replied that he didn't know. He said he didn't really care about a speech a king gave. I laughed (just a little) and explained that it wasn't speech as in giving a speech, it was speech as in how he spoke - that he had a speech problem. After that, he seemed a little more interested and offered to watch the movie with me.
We finally watched "The King's Speech" last night and I've been thinking about it all day. Even though I had heard some luke-warm reviews from some friends about the movie, I loved it. I don't know if it was the historical time period (the 30's and 40's always intrigues me), the English accents and wit, or the actors, but I found the whole thing well produced and entertaining.
In the movie, the "doctor," who is not really a doctor and much more of a teacher, works with King George VI to remedy his stammer when speaking. I liked a lot of his methods and, having just taken a Reading Diagnosis and Remediation course, wondered if any of it would work with students and reading aloud. For example, the "doctor" asked George VI to read aloud from Hamlet. When he cannot read aloud without stammering, the "doctor" put headphones on George VI. Before George VI begins to read again, the "doctor" turns up classical music so that all the future king can hear is the music, and none of his own reading. When he reads this second time, he does it perfectly. Maybe this same technique could be used with some of my own students? Maybe several of the techniques could... though not the swearing one. That might actually cause more problems.
Anyway, I highly recommend this movie. Colin Firth definitely earned all of the accolades he received for the role.
P.S. For all of you Harry Potter fans out there, Timothy Spall (Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail), Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange) and Michael Gambon (Professor Dumbledore) are all in this movie!
We finally watched "The King's Speech" last night and I've been thinking about it all day. Even though I had heard some luke-warm reviews from some friends about the movie, I loved it. I don't know if it was the historical time period (the 30's and 40's always intrigues me), the English accents and wit, or the actors, but I found the whole thing well produced and entertaining.
In the movie, the "doctor," who is not really a doctor and much more of a teacher, works with King George VI to remedy his stammer when speaking. I liked a lot of his methods and, having just taken a Reading Diagnosis and Remediation course, wondered if any of it would work with students and reading aloud. For example, the "doctor" asked George VI to read aloud from Hamlet. When he cannot read aloud without stammering, the "doctor" put headphones on George VI. Before George VI begins to read again, the "doctor" turns up classical music so that all the future king can hear is the music, and none of his own reading. When he reads this second time, he does it perfectly. Maybe this same technique could be used with some of my own students? Maybe several of the techniques could... though not the swearing one. That might actually cause more problems.
Anyway, I highly recommend this movie. Colin Firth definitely earned all of the accolades he received for the role.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Settling In
I can't believe how long it's been since I posted. I know that I am one who does not easily keep up with things like blogs and journals, but I love to write (and reading what I write, and hearing what other people say about what I write) so I always start these things and do my best to keep them going. I try not to chastise myself too much when I don't keep up with them the way that I believe I should.
Anyway, so much has happened since April that has kept me from the blog, yet so much of it made me happy and would have been worth at least a short entry. In May, I and two other amazing women produced our school's second annual dinner theater. In just one year the production grew from 20 cast members to 40 and from 1 night to 2. It was incredible to watch the students grow - their friendships, their self-confidence, their joy. It makes all of the tears, turmoil and tense moments worth and, in the end, makes me overwhelmingly happy.
And then, in June, my husband and I bought our first house together. He had had his own house, purchased at the ripe old age of 23, in which we lived together after our marriage. (Okay, and maybe a year or two before that.) Finally, though we found one that could be ours. Albeit, it's on the side of town I prefer, in a neighborhood of my choosing, on a piece of property he would never have chosen had it been solely his choice, but I love it. We've been slowly putting things together and having friends over one or two at a time. It's an amazing feeling to wake up in a house that you know you had a hand in choosing and financing. It makes me so happy.
Anyway, so much has happened since April that has kept me from the blog, yet so much of it made me happy and would have been worth at least a short entry. In May, I and two other amazing women produced our school's second annual dinner theater. In just one year the production grew from 20 cast members to 40 and from 1 night to 2. It was incredible to watch the students grow - their friendships, their self-confidence, their joy. It makes all of the tears, turmoil and tense moments worth and, in the end, makes me overwhelmingly happy.
And then, in June, my husband and I bought our first house together. He had had his own house, purchased at the ripe old age of 23, in which we lived together after our marriage. (Okay, and maybe a year or two before that.) Finally, though we found one that could be ours. Albeit, it's on the side of town I prefer, in a neighborhood of my choosing, on a piece of property he would never have chosen had it been solely his choice, but I love it. We've been slowly putting things together and having friends over one or two at a time. It's an amazing feeling to wake up in a house that you know you had a hand in choosing and financing. It makes me so happy.
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