Amanda-Leigh and Virginia Woolf's The Voyage Out (Part I)

This is the morning I would have begun summer courses. I have had time to pray about the situations last week. I felt powerless and empty after receiving the phone call from my nurse about the cyst along with the fact that I did not apply for Financial Aid for the summer semester. Being in such a vulnerable state was not easy for me. This vulnerable state took me back to Emergency Room visits where blood clots were discovered and life had to be put on hold.

As a thirty-three old woman, I don’t feel that life should be put on hold any longer than necessary. I am not in my twenties anymore where depression controlled my existence. I would rather direct my positive energy towards reading, exercising, writing, and recovering. For me, the Fall semester begins on August 12. I have from now until that date to enjoy summer. I don’t want to live for pain and suffering. I have to make each day memorable. Years from now, this cyst on my kidney will seem small compared to what this summer will hold. I want treasures. I want to write about readings and research on subjects that interest me. This is meat on the bone. I want to look back on my writings and share them in years to come.

I am getting back into reading literature again. The first book of summer is The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf. In the beginning chapter, one thing I notice from The Voyage Out is the color yellow describes the setting and mood. The mood is not too pleasant for Mrs. Helen Ambrose, who ventures on a voyage with her husband, Ridley. What good and caring mother leaves her own children behind? This thought of mine is expressed by the blunt words of Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway in a following chapter. In the beginning, I don’t view Mrs. Ambrose or Mrs. Dalloway as being productive members of their society the way of Rachel Vinrace. Rather, I view the married women in more of a negative light. At least Mrs. Dalloway tries to reach out to Rachel in the beginning.

Music and literature have always been an expression of  Rachel. After Rachel's mother's passing, Mr. Willoughby did his best to provide Rachel with a rich informal education. In the beginning chapters, Rachel’s talent of playing the piano is silently criticized by Mrs. Ambrose. In Mrs. Ambrose’s mind, playing the piano will spoil her niece’s chance of becoming a proper lady who should want to marry a proper man. The field of art is not considered being productive to Mrs. Ambrose. The field of art can be considered an idle act for a young lady to partake in. This train of thought comes from Woolf’s society where men held positions in the British Parliament. Men wrote literature, music, and painted. Women were to married off from their Father’s houses and raise a family. There was no equality in the arts for aspiring young women like Rachel.

As I read The Voyage Out, the more I feel a desire to read books on the British Parliament, the Torreys, and the English, I would like to have a better understanding of British society and history. I would also like to join the Virginia Woolf Society in England one day. With this being written, I am grateful things worked out in literature’s favor. I am interested in seeing where literature takes me this summer; what skies I lay under; and whose shoes I step into. Yes, my dear readers, life is good. Life is too good for pain. Getting lost in fine literature and great music are to be treasured. Writing this down also helps.

Amanda-Leigh Defends Cursive Writing

I am sure after my writing this morning, I may lose several readers. I do apologize in advance. I feel my real thoughts must be written. I feel the power of cursive writing is important in a person’s daily life along with modern technology. I do not feel modern technology should wipe out the old fashioned form of penmanship. I really do not. I feel both should balance each other the way an orchestra includes varieties of styles.

I would not be the woman I am today without learning how to write in cursive. Several states have taken cursive writing out of curriculum for students. Critics complain that teaching cursive writing is too time-consuming and other subjects are more valuable with computers. They claim this takes away from teaching other more important subjects students should learn. Teaching cursive is not comparable to our new and improved advancements in technology. Laziness is now going to be taught in the classroom. One young supporter of this lazy movement claimed that she only signs her signature on college forms. I guess the pure wholesome days of writing letters home in cursive writing have passed since the college years of Tom (Tennessee) Williams? What about teaching children the important value of writing letters to home from summer camps?

This new curriculum is a personal slap in the face for a woman like me. When I recovered from blood clots, my source of coping was hand writing journal entries in cursive. Sure, I had a computer, but my typing skills were terrible at the time. When I typed, my hand writing skills improved. I became proud of myself. This gave me a reason to go back to college and finish. I was able to express myself in ways only the journal knows. I wrote my goal to graduate in cursive. I was led to keep a daily planner of every event that happened. I have been faithful ever since that time. I have missed a couple days recently. Still,  I have kept up with this form of independence. When I have courses in college, I include everything I do. I include the times I study, type papers, read, and write vocabulary words and definitions. This experience has built my character better.

For example, yesterday, I got out my hand written vocabulary cards for literature. I began re-writing the terms and definitions on a new set of flashcards. I used color pens this time. I needed to practice my penmanship. After this is complete, I will then type the information into my computer. I believe in keeping a hand written version along with a printed version. In my college career last year, I knew that in order to be successful in the field of literature, I would have to make a set of literary cards to use as I examined literary pieces.

When I took Appreciation of Music during the summer of 2011, I hand wrote terms and definitions onto the book written by my professor and one of his colleagues. I did not begin college again to only pass a course. I entered college with the aim of applying concepts, values, and characteristic traits into my own daily life. I learned what made the great composers the great men they were. I learned the field of music was first a man’s world the literature was in early English and American literature. These artists did not have computer programs pounding out the correct formation and style. These artists were not slaves to a modern industry. These artists cultivated their talents by experimenting. These artists created movements. Some of the artists experienced hardships and personal tragedies of death, slavery, and bondage. Their escape became a personal expression through cursive hand writing.

One of the most tragic true stories I read in American literature came from the Barracks in California. Early Chinese settlers in America were held captive in Barracks. The guards would take the Chinese settlers on daily walks, chain them, and women cooked meals. This was not too pleasant of an experience. The way these settlers coped was by writing on the walls inside their jail cells. These settlers wrote about their despair, pain and suffrage, and dreams deferred.

I am aware that Chinese language is not like our style of cursive hand writing. Our founders of literature relied on cursive, old style pens, and candles to write great works. This was the culture for them. Great twentieth century English writer, Virginia Woolf, relied on her cursive penmanship. In the mornings she would compose work and then type it up on a typewriter in the afternoon. This is a method I can use in my own writings. When I write my books, I would prefer this style. Perhaps this may help my right hand to become stronger.

I am a woman who does prefer online college courses to in-class courses. My transcripts have shown that I perform better in online courses than regular in class courses. Two exceptions are the Religion and General Biology courses I took when I returned to college after surviving blood clots. I do depend heavily on technology for my communication and academic skills. I am able to type my thoughts each morning on this blogspot. Getting to this point involved learning how to write in cursive. I still rely on cursive to see what I need to present to the world. I am able to take notes in cursive and translate the thoughts and ideas onto this each morning as I type.

In Introduction to Law Enforcement, I read where police officers must hand write notes while gathering information for writing their police reports. The police reports can be read into evidence in court proceedings. This means the cursive penmanship must be taught to future police officers at an early age. The most effective form of community policing is foot patrol. For a police officer, a pad of paper and pen are easier to carry around than a small laptop computer. Cursive writing is needed in our society, especially with policing.

I disagree that cursive should be taken out of the classroom for our children. I believe cursive writing should still be taught and used in daily assignments. When – or if – modern technology ever fails our modern would, cursive writing will still be needed. Letters and documents from our ancestors will not be able to be read by recipients of this new form of curriculum. This is sad to me, and I refuse to be shy in my opposition. Cursive writing is an expression of the self. When anybody should happen to wind up in a similar situation I was in - which I pray not, cursive writing is going to be needed. This is a learned skill I use in my daily life. I remember exactly when cursive writing was taught to me in the third grade. I also remember how I learned to write in cursive. Not a day passes where I am ungrateful. If a girl with a physical disability can learn how to write in cursive, then so can the next young child. I strongly suggest putting cursive hand writing back into the curriculum.
  
Amanda-Leigh's Recommended Web Links Over Cursive Writing:

 http://www.wral.com/nc-schools-write-off-cursive-instruction/12035402/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/cursive-writing

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/05/pitt-county-schools-in-no_n_2079608.html

http://www.southtexascollege.edu/nilsson/8_Handwriting_f/8_Handwriting_Benefits.html

http://www.home-school.com/Articles/the-benefits-of-cursive-writing.php

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518.html

http://www.blog.montessoriforeveryone.com/cursive-vs-printing-is-one-better-than-the-other.html

Letting Go of The Simpsons

Last night I had to turn off The Simpsons. I did surprise my husband by this action. My husband knows exactly how I feel about the literature. I refuse to watch any show that is going to be offensive to my chosen profession. The comment made by a weak representation of the literature field was that manuscripts were chosen by “pill popping literature students.” This comment felt like nails being scratched on a chalk board in the olden days. I was horrified by the comment.

Perhaps I am too sensitive. Perhaps nobody else has stood up against The Simpsons. I do have to wonder how many impressionable young minds have been influenced by last night’s episode. After I heard the comment, I had to turn off the television. I have worked so hard writing each morning and in literature courses for readers to feel the complete opposite of the message from The Simpsons. Basically, my interpretation is that only idiots in our modern world write literature and pill popping literature students choose to edit their work. Also, literature is meant for marketing purposes only. The aim is to sell literature.

I chose to enter the literature field simply because I was vulnerable to its power. This is not a bad thing to admit. When I was a child reading Zoo Books and other hand-me downs from my older cousins, new worlds opened up to me. When I read a story about a young girl around my age tried to grow her hair into a ponytail, the message from literature provided hope. Literature has been the best form of coping in my life. When I read a piece of literature, I feel happier. I feel that expressing myself through words is acceptable. Literature provides me with power. Literary characters who have been victimized by the cruel wrath of their world have been dear to my heart. I love the writers’ pens whose minds have created them. I am able to run further with their creations. This brings joy to my life and world.

When I took Composition I, Composition II, and Responding to Literature in my early adult years, these courses were extremely challenging. My Composition II course and Responding to Literature were during the summer of 2001. Why I chose to take two literature courses during an eight week time frame is still something I will never understand. This provided me with a sense of discipline. My professors expected me to pay attention in their courses, think hard about the content I was writing over, and use skills I had learned. I am able to reflect on these courses with fondness and love. I still have my first literature textbook that nobody touches.

I have literature textbooks in my home that are sacred to me next to the Holy Bible. I have had to tape the cover of my English literature textbook. Literature textbooks represent a piece of who I have become today. When I first took English Literature and American Literature last year, I can honestly say I used the experience as a test. I wanted to see if I still had a burning passion and desire for the literature field. I wanted to make sure this was still my divine calling. I needed to see if everything in literature still made as much sense as in my early adulthood. The more literature courses I have taken, the more everything makes sense. I receive answers to life from literature the way I do from my Bible. I am able to evaluate the world’s issues and environments in the same manner.

For a media outlet to condemn a profession that began in caves and eventually onto pen and paper is uncalled for. Impressionable young minds can be affected if this message is sent in a harmful way. If I had a human child of my own, she would not be watching this negativity. I would be trying to teach her to love literature while this media outlet would be going against my parenting.  I do not want the field of literature to condemned period. This was done a demeaning and disrespectful way. I am able to walk away from The Simpsons the way I did with Dr. Pepper and sweets. None of these man-made products point straight ahead toward my goal of leading a happy, healthy lifestyle.