Holy Week Services

As I have written before, Holy Week is my favorite time of the church year. I feel so much closer to Christ as I walk in His footsteps through this week, experiencing just a little of what He did two thousand years ago.

Last night I attended an Instructional Seder meal with the Anglicans. My friends from our town, Luke and Sheri, came with me, and we enjoyed going through the Hebrew Haggadah as Father Acker showed us the parallels between Passover and the Last Supper. Filling up that wine glass four times was a bit dizzying, even though I didn't fill it more than a fourth each time. We also enjoyed a lovely meal together in fellowship as Ben and Holly provided the lamb (not a favorite of mine, I must say) and everyone else brought something delicious to the potluck meal. Hearing how Jesus broke the middle piece of matzoh that symbolized freedom from slavery when He said, "This is my body, broken for you" reinforced how Jesus frees us from the slavery of sin by His sacrificial death and glorious Resurrection. And learning that Jesus lifted the cup of Elijah, only to be drunk by the coming Messiah, when He said, "This is the cup of the New Covenant" demonstrated His Kingship and that He indeed was the Messiah to the disciples and now to us sent shovers up my spine. The symbolism is so amazing, so staggering. It was a beautiful meal and a beautiful time of fellowship with believers as well as an amazing realization of Christ as Messiah to the Jews and to the world.

Tonight I'll attend the Maundy Thursday service at Victoria House, I hope with my friend Teri. In the service tonight we'll celebrate the Institution of Holy Communion and will also have a footwashing. This service almost always brings me to tears as it demonstrates the extent of Christ's humility and love to each of us.

On Good Friday I'll take the kids to Lake Murray's Stations of the Cross -- 14 Biblical Stations with Scriptures and Old Masters' artwork from the Gethsemane to the Tomb. There's also a fifteenth Station on the Resurrection done in white, and an area for prayer has ben set up at the end, with candles lit in front of the "rugged cross" in the sanctuary. Then at noon we'll attend the ecumenical Stations of the Cross with five churches in Alpine, including the Anglicans. The crosses are outside, and as we walk to each one, different pastors will read Scripture aloud and Father Acker will lead us in praise choruses as we walk to the next Station. It's a lovely and deeply touching devotion. Then we'll go back to Lake Murray at 7 PM for their Good Friday service. I hate to miss the Anglican service as we usually read the account of the crucifixion from St. John's Gospel, each of us taking parts and all of us shouting with the crowd: "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" It's powerful and convicting. But I'm sure that Lake Murray's service will also be amazing.

Then on the evening before Easter, we'll attend the Holy Saturday Vigil with the Anglicans at Victoria House in which we'll light the Paschal candle, and then proceed into the house with each of us holding a candle. It's a solemn and beautiful service, ending with the first Evensong of Easter and an Easter feast -- Lent is officially broken and He is Risen!

We'll celebrate the Resurrection at Lake Murray. In Bill's Sunday School class, we've been studying St. Matthew's Gospel for over three years, and guess where we are as of Sunday? At the Resurrection! Then I hope that we'll have a beautifully joyful service second hour. (If we don't sing "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today" I will be quite unhappy!)

We're having Easter dinner with my side of the family up at the cabin; we'll have an Easter egg hunt with the kids and a lovely dinner. My brother and his kids are coming up, so the cousins will be together again.

So a blessed Holy Week to you all. May the sacrifical death and glorious Resurrection of Christ our Lord be more real to you this week than ever before. (That's my prayer for myself as well as for all of you.)

Sigh....

It's been a rough Holy Week thus far. I suppose that we're getting a tiny taste of Christ's sufferings this week as one piece of sad news seems to come after another; I sincerely hope that no more is coming because I feel quite burdened as is.

We received the news that our friends' daughter, age 10, who has undergone nearly three years of treatment for leukemia, has now had a recurrence. She has spent over a week in Children's Hospital and a bone marrow transplant seems to be the next plan. We're praying that her younger sister will be a 12-point match as a donor. We've been rejoicing as C. was nearing the end of her long treatment that started at age 7, and now she's back at the beginning again. Please pray for C. and for her dear family -- they are such wonderful people and it grieves me so much that they're having so suffer further.

We had been hoping that Keith would be able to work with C's dad as I have been working with C's mom, but we received word this morning that Keith and Jeff did not win the contract they were hoping for. So Keith's future job is up-in-the-air again, a very minor thing compared to the news of C's illness, but still a disappointment.

My sister-in-law has been in the hospital since Saturday with a viral infection of her gall bladder, and although home lately, may have to have her gall bladder removed if the infection does not begin to clear. She's been in a lot of pain that the pain meds don't seem to be helping much. We've also had news of a missionary whom our church supports who has been diagnosed with kidney cancer and had the kidney removed; his wife has been ill for the past six months with a form of hepatitus that has been resistant to treatment.

Then we've had smaller disappointments, like the cancellation of E's much-anticipated trip (supposed to leave today) to see her cousins in Phoenix over Easter and for whom she made lovely birthday gifts that she was planning to give them in person. My niece's and our neighbor's pets have died this week (a hamster and a rat, respectively) -- small things, but when compiled with the other sad news of this week, added to the general dejection of our household.

And I need to go finish writing the Bible study on joy that I'm preparing for Lake Murray's women's retreat in a few weeks. Perhaps writing about joy when I feel far less than joyful will give it the depth it needs.

Time to buckle down in prayer and watch LOADS of Jane Austen films (in that order), I think, to at least give us some lightness in the midst of our rather sad Holy Week. I know that our disappointments have been nothing compared to the sufferings of Christ, but I still need to allow the events of this week to increase my prayer and allow me to enter into His pain at least a little.

Saint Patrick's Day

The feast day of the patron saint of Ireland usually denigrates into partying, downing green beer while consuming corned-beef sandwiches. It seems as though all of America claims Irish heritage this day, wearing bizarre green leprechaun hats and sporting shamrocks on T-shirts, pins, and even tattoos.

But the true story of Saint Patrick has nothing to do with green beer and leprechauns. First of all, we must remember that the word "saint" is derived from the Latin word for "holy." The saints are known for us as men and women of outstanding holiness, who surrendered their lives to God in loving fidelity to His will.

Patrick was born in northern England or southern Scotland in the early fifth century, and at age 16 he and many of his wealthy father's servants were kidnapped by Irish pirates. Patrick was forced into slavery and worked for several years as a shepherd. During the long nights of watching the sheep, Patrick began to turn to the Christian faith of his parents; he wrote, "And there the Lord opened my perception of my heart's unbelief so that I remembered my sins even though late, and turned with all my heart to the Lord my God." Several years later, he was able to escape to France and entered the priesthood, becoming a bishop by age 43. He received a vision from God, telling him to take the gospel to pagan Ireland which was ruled by various kings and druid "priests." Patrick went and with his gentleness and quiet faith, he was able to share the Gospel with several kings in the north and west, and they supported him against the druids, who were angry at their loss of power as Christianity began to spread. Patrick was able to organize Ireland into diocese, train many priests among the earnest young men of Ireland, and build several monasteries which provided education to the Irish poor.

Patrick reportedly used a shamrock to explain the concept of the Trinity: three persons in one God just like the shamrock having three sections in one leaf. He stands out in history as one who recognized and accepted God's call, left family and friends, and took the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Ireland, who had originally kidnapped and enslaved him. With great faithfulness he shared Scripture and the teachings of the Christian faith, converting chieftains and their clans, winning the pagan population to Christ, baptizing new believers, planting churches, and training leaders for those churches. When Patrick died, the church was firmly established in Ireland. St. Patrick, if he were able to speak today, would challenge Christians to reclaim this holy day.

Here is the famous Prayer of Saint Patrick, one that many of us should pray, at least once a year on the annual feast day of this most Irish of missionaries:

As I arise today,
may the strength of God pilot me,
the power of God uphold me,
the wisdom of God guide me.
May the eye of God look before me,
the ear of God hear me,
the word of God speak for me.
May the hand of God protect me,
the way of God lie before me,
the shield of God defend me,
the host of God save me.
May Christ shield me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit,
Christ when I stand,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen.

A blessed Saint Patrick's Day to you, and may we all follow the example of Christ and Saint Patrick in sharing the Good News with those closest to us, and discipling new believers to a deeper and more profound love for and obedience in Christ our Lord.

(Sources for this post: Saint-a-Day daily e-mails from AmericanCatholic.org, Florentine Lives of the Saints: Saint Patrick, with Prayers and Devotions, and Celebrating the Christian Year by Martha Zimmerman.)

Palm Sunday

Well, despite the disappointment of no palms in church at Lake Murray as well as no reading of the Scriptures regarding the Triumphal Entry, I still enjoyed Palm Sunday greatly as the opening of my favorite time of the liturgical year: Holy Week. During this week I try to focus on Jesus' final teachings to His disciples, on His humility in washing the disciples' feet, on His institution of the Lord's Supper during Passover, on His agony in Gethsemane, on His trial before the authorities, on His suffering as He was beaten and scourged almost to the point of death, on the brutal mockery He endured for our sakes, upon the sorrow and passion of His crucifixion, and finally on the joy of His miraculous Resurrection. The fulfilling of Old Testament Scripture always strikes me so fully during this week -- so many details foretold hundreds of years ahead of the last week of Jesus' life.

In the 21st chapter of the Gospel accoding to Saint Matthew, we read:

"Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"

"The disciples ... brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and He sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before Him and that followed Him were shouting, 'Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!'" (vv. 5-9).

In liturgical churches, the palms used in Palm Sunday's services are bent and folded into crosses and then saved by being put behind icons or framed pictures of Jesus until just before the next Ash Wednesday when they are burned and the ashes used to anoint the foreheads of those attending the Ash Wednesday services the next year. I love how the palms come full circle: the Holy Week from one year coming into the beginning of the next year's Lent. As Benedict states in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, "There's a double meaning in that."

I missed any sense of liturgy in the Palm Sunday service at Lake Murray yesterday; our worship pastor mentioned briefly that it was Palm Sunday, but we didn't sing the praise song "Hosanna in the Highest." No palms. Just the "rugged cross" in the sanctuary draped with a purple cloth and a crown of thorns -- much better than nothing, I admit. We usually have palms along the front of the auditorium and at least some songs that mention "Hosanna" at least. And some day I'd love to have someone stand up to read one of the descriptions of the Triumphal Entry from the gospels. Oh well -- perhaps next year.

My week will be very busy with Holy Week services: setting up the Biblical Stations of the Cross on Tuesday at Lake Murray for prayer Wednesday-Friday, an instructional Seder with the Anglicans on Wednesday, Maundy Thursday services at Victoria House again with the Anglicans, an ecumenical Stations of the Cross at noon in Alpine on Good Friday plus a Good Friday evening service at Lake Murray, and a Vigil service at Victoria House on Saturday evening before Resurrection Sunday services at Lake Murray. On Sunday we'll be studying the crucifixion and Resurrection in Matthew in William's Sunday School class plus a hopefully joyful and exuberant celebration of the Resurrection during second service.

I sincerely hope that we'll at least be singing "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" at Lake Murray or I'll froth at the mouth. (Okay, not really, but I will be horribly disappointed!) After church we'll be driving up to my parents' cabin on Mount Laguna to celebrate Easter and T's 13th birthday with family.

A blessed Holy Week to you and yours, dear readers. May we all experience the sorrow of Christ's sacrifical death for us and the joy of His glorious Resurrection that saved all people, past, present, and future.

We're Home ... and a Surprise!

At oh-dark-thirty on Thursday morning, the kids and I got up, ate a quick breakfast, packed the van, and got on the road to Orange County to meet my parents and my brother and his kids in Buena Park. As I drove, the kids and I listened to Jim Dale's excellent reading of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. By 9:45 we were pulling into the Holiday Inn Parking lot ten minutes after my parents and ten minutes before my brother. As our rooms were not ready, we locked the vehicles and hopped on a shuttle to Knott's Berry Farm, loading my wheelchair as we boarded. Once inside the park, we made a beeline for the log ride, a longtime favorite ride with a good-sized drop at the end with a splash to boot. The kids also rode their favorite coaster, The Silver Bullet, and we enjoyed the Wild West Stunt Show photographed below:



We ate hamburgers in the Ghost Town area, and strolled through the rest of the park, allowing kids to board ride after ride, coaster after coaster. Okay, I did do the bumper cars with the kids as well as the Calico Mine Ride. We were wearing down by our 4:40 shuttle pick up time and went back to the hotel where we unloaded the cars and found our rooms, all beside each other with sliding doors opening onto little patios fenced in with black rod iron gates. We took the kids swimming in the very warm pool while Mom and I kicked back in the jacuzzi. After dinner in the hotel restaurant -- which was very good! -- we headed to bed with T sleeping with my brother and his kids, E sleeping with my parents in their room, and the two younger boys with me in our room.

On our second day we ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant and headed back to Knott's for a second day of coasters, shopping, and rides. We enjoyed lunch at Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant and also went through several of the shops in the Ghost Town and other spots. By the 3:40 shuttle pick-up, we were exhausted and gladly went back to the hotel where I took a two-hour nap while my brother took the kids swimming again. After a light dinner in the hotel restaurant, we all crashed, absolutely drained.

After breakfast in the hotel restaurant Saturday morning, we packed up, checked out, and drove over to the replica of Independence Hall directly across the street from the Knott's entrance. We enjoyed the chicken and gardens as we approached the replica (shown below):



We explored the Liberty Bell replica inside the Hall as well as the replica of the room in which the Declaration of Independence was signed. The gift shop contained amazing items for sale, including replicas of the Declaration, the Constitution, Colonial and Confederate monies, etc., as well as historical displays in the corners.

After getting back to our cars, we followed my parents to the Discovery Science Center about ten miles south on I-5 in Santa Ana to spend the rest of the day. We had considered going to Universal Studios, but the cost of $50 per person was prohibitive, and we had always wanted to check out this "big black cube" hanging over the freeway that we passed on our trips to Disneyland and Knott's each year. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the experience (less than $100 for all ten of us for admission), blowing huge bubbles, climbing rock walls, making smoke rings and smoke tornados, playing a laser harp, creating their own animation films, climbing on dinosaur fossil replicas, testing their reflexes, playing on computers, building sand dams, etc. Below you can see Cousin M and T climbing sideways along the wall without touching the ground:



Mom and Dad left after lunch, and my brother Tom and I left with the kids about an hour and a half later. I took a short detour to drive past the gorgeous Mission at San Juan Capistrano even though I didn't have time to stop (or a place to park). My mom grew up in San Juan and has talked so much about the town and the mission and the swallows that come back each year on the same day that the place holds a special attraction to me. I know my dad's home town of San Clemente much better as my grandparents lived there while I was growing up and I often went there for summer visits or holidays. But I know little about San Juan and would like to explore it far more. Some day....

We drove into our town in a shower of light hail and pulled into the driveway ay 6:15 PM, absolutely worn out. I crumpled onto the sofa after unpacking a little and watched the NCIS marathon. Around 8:30 I looked out and saw ... snow! Yes, snow in mid-March in Southern California. Here are a few photos I took this morning just before church:




So we had a lovely trip. It's always tiring but always fun to watch the kids have so much fun. Keith stayed home as he sprained his back recently and wouldn't have been able to ride any of the coasters and would have been uncomfortable walking around so much. Tom's wife also didn't come except for a quick stop over on Friday night as she was quite ill with some kind of abdominal infection; she left Saturday morning to check herself into the ER. My sister and her family couldn't make it out to CA from Montana where they moved a couple of years ago, so we were a small group of ten rather than the usual horde of 16. But it was still a great time, a wonderful birthday present to the entire family from my parents.

If you'd like to see more photos of our Orange County Trip and of our surprise snow, you can click here to go to my 365 photo blog. (You may need to scroll down a little to find them; as there are multiple entries I'm sending you to the general 365 blog instead of to a specific page, plus they are in backwards chronological order.)

Short Vay-Kay

The kids and I are heading up north at oh-dark-thirty tomorrow morning ... well, 7 AM anyway, for a short vacation. We'll be joining my parents and my brother and his family up at Knotts for a couple days and a third day of doing something else that we haven't completely decided on yet ... perhaps the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana.

Anyway, Keith is gonna "hold down the fort" and take care of the animals... or the dog at least (I think the rat and the fish will only need occasional food). He will work on the stained glass window and work on a couple of smaller jobs as well. Since he sprained his back a week or so ago roller coasters are definitely a no-no, so he wouldn't have been able to have much fun, anyway. And he will totally enjoy a silent house -- for a few days, anyway.

So the kids and I'll get back after dinner on Saturday night, and I'll have to get the Stations of the Cross ready to hang at Lake Murray after second service Palm Sunday. (I'm praying that we'll have real palms in church on Sunday!) And then my favorite week of the entire year starts ... Holy Week!

See ya all on the flip side!

Passiontide

(My prayer corner during Passiontide)

Passiontide is an observance that I hadn't practiced until this year. The Catholic Encylopedia states that the season of Passiontide encompasses the last two weeks of Lent, from Passion Sunday, the fifth Sunday in Lent, to the end of Good Friday or Holy Saturday Vigil. The second week of Passiontide is referred to as Holy Week, which we are more familiar with than Passiontide itself. During this time, all crosses, crucifixes, and images of Christ and His Saints are covered with an unornamented cloth of deep purple or black. I used black because I had no deep purple cloth at hand as I covered the crosses on my porch (one I covered with green as I ran out of black), the crosses just inside our front door (including the one Kitty just gave me for my birthday), my freestanding cross above my desk that I bring down with my stained glass candle for morning devotions, and my two icons plus my copy of an Old Master painting with Christ on the Cross in my upstairs prayer corner. (Perhaps I'll find some purple cloth to make neater coverings for next year....)

The Catholic Encyclopedia continues, "The crosses are veiled because Christ during this time no longer walked openly among the people, but hid himself. Hence in the papal chapel the veiling formerly took place at the words of the Gospel: 'Jesus autem abscondebat se.' Another reason is added by Durandus, namely that Christ's divinity was hidden when he arrived at the time of His suffering and death. The images of the saints also are covered because it would seem improper for the servants to appear when the Master himself is hidden."

In addition to the veiling of crosses and images, the Gloria Patri is omitted from the liturgy, and fasting is intensified. The focus of prayer is on the suffering of Christ: upon the humiliation He, the King of Kings, endured on our behalf. The lessons (Scripture readings) focus on His sufferings as well. Passiontide reminds us of the humanity of Christ and the extreme physical pain as well as spiritual pain He endured as the past, present, and future sins of the entire world were upon Him. This is the "cup" He prayed to the Lord about, asking if it could "pass by," but He concluded His prayer, "Not my will but Yours be done."

May that prayer resonate within all of us during Passiontide as we prepare our hearts for the sorrows and joys of Holy Week: Not my will but Yours be done.

Tonight at the Writers' Workshop

Tonight only four of us met at the monthly Writers' Workshop at the town library, but we still had a productive meeting. Our fearless leader, Dave, an English teacher at the local high school, had given us one of his short stories last time to read and comment upon -- a fact I had completely forgotten about until 6 PM tonight, with Judith picking me up at 6:15. I managed to not only read his story but also had time to pencil in a few comments which I added to as Dave read his story aloud to the group. We gave him some feedback on the narrator as well as some help with diction level, opening paragraphs, and flashbacks. It was an excellent story that needed just a tweak here and there about which we were able to advise him. Dave is quite talented; I'm really looking forward to reading more of his novel he's working on as well.

Jess, also an English teacher now retired, shared part of a short story with us tonight as well (and left us hanging, waiting for the next installation), and we'll be workshopping a story of his next week that he distributed before we left. Judith shared an excerpt from her novel -- a beautiful and touching scene of rain after a devastating drought. It grabbed all of us, and I am eagerly anticipating reading more of her work as I've never heard her fiction before, just her poetry which I teach to my writing students. And finally I shared a short poem that I worked on only this afternoon.

After talking with Kitty, my extremely-talented poet friend who's working on her MFA, I've been wanting to try utilizing form in my poetry rather than writing free verse exclusively. A few weeks ago, the boys had an assignment in their language arts curricula that included the study of some Japanese poetic forms that went along with their study of samurai warriors. The form they learned was called a tanka, a five-lined poem with the syllabic scheme of 5-7-5-7-7 (that many syllables for each line of the poem) that usually deals with nature. As I've been rather taken with daffodil season lately, I thought, in the tradition of Wordsworth, that I would write a tanka on daffodils.

I started out with a rough five lines in the correct syllabic structure, but I was only pleased with the first two lines. Then I thought about expanding the idea into a free verse poem just as an idea-generation exercise, rather like freewriting. After doing so, I was able to take an idea or two from the longer poem and work them back into the tanka, tightening the rhetoric and the imagery. I'm not sure I'm done with it, so I'll let it sit for a week or so and then come back to it. Here's what I came up with:

In the breeze they dance
Sun-hued, bobbing heads brightly
To unheard music.
So briefly we rejoice in
The pure grace of daffodils.

For next month's Writers' Workshop we're going to bring in short works of poetry or prose about our town. We'll "workshop" them together to improve them, and then we'll submit them to our town's monthly newspaper, The Valley Views (in which I published my first feature story in this month's issue on the They Poured Fire upon Us from the Sky authors' talk and booksigning). I may work more on the poem above as daffodils are our town's unofficial flower, or I may polish up my blog entry on the McCain Valley rock hounding trip. Or I may work on something else. We'll have to see what the Muses decide to whisper in my ear... (or what I can improve from my blog entries here).

Update on Homeschooling in California

I received this rather reassuring e-mail today from HSLDA. We had carefully researched our State Superintendent of Public Instruction before voting for him, and we were very happy to find a candidate that was pro-homeschooling, especially after the previous Superintendent tried time and time again to promote very anti-homeschooling legislation. According to today's update, our vote for Jack O'Connell waas a wise one, and better yet, he was elected. His decision is welcome news for the time being until further action can be taken with the state supreme court.
************

March 11, 2008

An update to HSLDA Members and Friends on the California Court of
Appeal Decision on Homeschooling:

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell comes to the defense of homeschool families. "The California Department of Education policy will not change in any way as a result of this ruling. Parents still have the right to homeschool in this state," he said.

After the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District in Los Angeles ruled on February 28 that parents had to be credentialed teachers to educate their own children the statement from O'Connell is encouraging news for the homeschool community.

"O'Connell has it right," said Michael Farris, Chairman of HSLDA. "But the court decision must still be overturned before homeschool freedom can be restored in California."

The Court of Appeal ruling shocked the homeschool community because in one sweeping decision it effectively outlawed homeschooling.

"We hope the statement from O'Connell puts the brakes on any enforcement action," said Farris.

HSLDA will be pursuing several legal options, including seeking review by the California Supreme Court and petitioning the same court to depublish the opinion in order to return California to being a state where a family can legally homeschool in California without fear.

"We have just started the legal battle to restore homeschool freedom in California," said Farris.

One Thing: Shakespeare

Hey Shakespeare fans! I just wanted to do a little ever-so-humble self-promotion and tell you about one of my upcoming endeavors. In May I'll be teaching a "One Thing Workshop" for the wonderful home school writing site BraveWriter.com -- and our topic will be THE BARD!

Here's Julie's spiel for the class:

We have such a treat for you! Susanne Barrett (best known as our Slingshot poetry guru around here) is back to teach our first One Thing Shakespeare. May is Shakespeare month in Brave Writer so we felt that offering a special workshop designed to make Shakespeare fresh and accessible would be a great addition to our workshop list. As with all of our One Thing workshops, you enroll as a family. Susanne will feature a bit of background about Shakespeare, will teach you how to read and enjoy one of Shakespeare's sonnets, and will walk you through how to read a play and watch it in a movie format to get the maximum benefit from Shakespeare. We'll enjoy "Much Ado About Nothing" together.

If you are intimidated by the bard, aren't sure you "get" Shakespeare or just want a fresh take on how to enjoy the delights of Shakespearean language, this is a wonderful month-long treat.

Wow, I'm blushing! (Really.) But all modesty (hem!) aside, I am really looking forward to having some serious fun with Shakespeare in May. My writing students at Class Day will be eyebrows-deep in their research papers which means no grading for me until said papers are completed in early June, and I will be finished with the grammar tutorials I'm writing for Carmen's composition class at Cuyamaca College. So, with all my time-comsuming stuffola completed or on hold, I will have a nice block of time to devote to teaching dear old Will.

I'm currently reading Shakespeare of London by Marchette Chute, and I'm such a Shakespearean sonnet fan that I can teach them in my sleep; I may even do one of the humorous ones. And doing Much Ado will be a blast with all of the hilarious speeches to pull apart and examine plus the wonderful Kenneth Branagh film to laugh over and discuss. It's gonna totally wonderful, and I'm really looking forward to it.

If you're interested in taking the class, you can register on the BraveWriter.com site right HERE. See ya there, Bard fans! "Will" do! (Geddit?)