Bring It On
What will the new year bring? This is a question that many people will be pondering over their cocktails and beer this evening as they gather with friends and family to welcome in 2006.
For me 2006 will always be remembered as the year I received my BA/Bed from UNBSJ. This is something I have worked hard for and look forward to seeing what doors will be opened for me because of this accomplishment. I hope to find a teaching position in the Middle School area but I will be content with any teaching job as I have a love of learning and hope to share that with my students.
But before I think about what 2006 has in store I must take a moment and think about the great gifts I received in 2005. This past year has been a year of firsts for me. It was the first time I had the opportunity to go to university without having to work full time (thank you for that Will). I spread my literary wings and began reading SF (thank you Dr. J.). I have been blessed with the gift of friendship from Emily, Debra, Jane, Melanie, Valerie, Dr. J. and Doc M.
Along with the joys of the year, there was sorrow. Will lost his dad to cancer, his mom has been in and out of the hospital on several occasions, both my parents received news they need to have surgery (nothing serious, thank goodness), and my sister has some medical issues she is dealing with. We all know that we have to take the bad along with the good but the good is so much easier.
As I sit at my desk thinking of what 2006 might bring I am confident enough to say, "Bring it on," I'm ready for anything.
I hope you and yours have a very Happy New Year and I wish you all the best in 2006. Party on!
Merry Christmas
It looks like Santa is running a little late this year!This picture is so cute I just had to post it. I wonder where Mrs. Claus is? Perhaps she is out warming up the sleigh. It is great to see that Santa knows his way around an iron.
Some of the old Santa art is beautiful. The Coke ads were always my favorites. Check out
these great ads from the old National Geographic magazines.
The pic of Santa sneaking a coke was found at
Rare Ads, a great site to see old magazine art.
I hope Santa gets his ironing done on time to make his special deliveries to you and yours this holiday season. All the best to you and your loved ones.
Happy Holidays, Lucy
Happy Ending
You can call me a hopeless romantic if you must but I was glad
Miss Betsy Thoughtless had a happy ending. Maybe I was happy because Betsy found the strength and courage to leave that no good husband of hers. It was interesting to read a book depicting a heroine struggling with the consequences of marrying the wrong man as most of our readings up to this point end with a marriage and we didn't have the opportunity to see what the marriages were like.
Betsy's marriage to the brutish Mr. Mundane was very unfortunate. She did not have a choice in this marriage as her guardians decided she was too flirtatious and wanted to marry her off before she ruined her reputation. This same flirtatiousness also scared off the man she whould have married, Mr. Trueworth. Once Betsy was married she was totally under the control of Mr. Mundane. Shea Stuart writes in her essay, "Subversive Didacticism in Eliza Haywood's
Betsy Thoughtless," that "men govern women through a natural law of superiority." Stuart calls this control over women "divine-right patriary." Living in a marriage under this kind of rule would be a nightmare. I believe Haywood is arguing for a marriage contract that women and men enter into with mutual consent and free will. This is something we take for granted in our society but this was not the case in Haywood's time.
"Thus were the virtues of our heroine at length rewarded with a happiness, retarded only till she had render’d herself wholly worthy of receiving it"
What will the new year bring? This is a question that many people will be pondering over their cocktails and beer this evening as they gather with friends and family to welcome in 2006.
