The River of Life “Bilbo used to say there was only one Road; that it was like a great river: its springs were at every doorstep, and every path was its tributary.” Frodo, The Fellowship of the Ring Bilbo Baggins had a very consistent way of life, but when Gandalf Read more…
A Wish’s Journey It starts with a shiny penny plunging through the fountain. It continues with the quick flick of a fallen eyelash. Next it’s blown and travels the air from a dandelion, And it blossoms when met with a shooting star’s dashing flash. It is dazzled when encountered by a simple wishbone. Read more…
The author is persuasive and clever. “I was confused, of course. I’d fallen in love not with this person, but with this place.” This reveals who she is and how she was in love with Vermont, rather than the person that brought her there. Also, “What’s so compelling to me about the mountains? Is it that there’s always somewhere to go? Is it the supramundane perspective afforded by a summit? Is it genetics?” The repeated “Is it …” provokes us to learn all the reasons why Bechdel would stay in Vermont. “I always feel a little out of place, but it’s place, of course, that binds me to these people.” This reveals that the reason she remained is that she truly adores the state, viewing it as more than the people there. Through this, the reader can feel as if Vermont is Bechdel and Bechdel is Vermont, since the place is what keeps her lingering: “…our microclimate, our brief spring-times, the particular contours and declivities of our rural, plural habitat.” The readers feel an invisible bonding among the citizens of Vermont, their unique love for their state, and their independence.
The Federal Writers’ project assigned over six thousand American writers, researchers, and others to put together something that would represent America. Each state had a guide, some of which were over 500 pages, composed of essays written on all imaginable topics of that state. Weiland and Wilsey thought that 21st century America needed something similar to the Guide Series, a book that would explain America to the people who lived in it. As Weiland put it in his preface to the book, “despite drive-time radio and the nightly news and the Sunday paper, despite all the books and blog posts, the documentaries and songs, America and the lives lived here remain strangely and surprisingly under described.”
Xue Tao and Yu Xuanji: Female Poets of the Tang Dynasty China is one of the oldest civilizations in the world, and it has been a patriarchal society ever since several millennia B.C.E. In the agricultural system of the Tang dynasty, at least, men held power over women. The Tang Dynasty Read more…
