Update: March 2006
Hi Everybody:
Well, March is coming to an end and Spring is here. Pretty soon we'll be changing our clocks again and losing that hour we got back in October. With Spring comes a sense of renewal for some, the sense that life is all around us. And for those of us in the education field...Spring Break. All I can say is...not a moment too soon.
So what's new this month? First up we have a couple of new poems. They are about drastically different subjects although they do have a common denominator. One poem is called My grandmother’s hands. During my childhood, my grandparents were a huge part of my life and they made a huge impact on me, yet it is only today that I realize how strong the impact was. The other poem is called Today. This one came to me all at once. I think the editing was limited to some minor things, that's pretty rare for me.
The essay this month departs from my usual topics and I delve into my grad student days. The essay is titled National Security? It was prompted by the recent push by the Bush administration to put the best face possible on the situation in Iraq. As a teacher of American Government to high school students I tend to present both sides of an issue, my role there is to get my students to think for themselves not give them my thoughts. It was nice to leave those constraints and put down on "paper" my thoughts the current situation. Expect more political essays in the future
The Literary Website focuses on one of my favorite American authors: John Steinbeck, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 1962. For this one all you have to do is scroll down a bit. I hope you enjoy it. Finally, you'll notice on the sidebar a section called "Blogroll." Here I've put links to some of my favorite blogs. I've started with a very cool blog by a young woman that works extensively with marine life, especially Orcas. Check her blog out.
Enjoy,
Roberto
Technorati Tags: essay, poetry, writing
Literary Website: John Steinbeck
Literary Website: John Steinbeck
Last month I highlighted one of my favorite Latin American poets, Pablo Neruda. This month I decided to focus on another Nobel Laureate, one of my favorite American authors, John Steinbeck. What got me back to Steinbeck the last few weeks is that I’ve been reading quite a bit on issues of globalization and the plight of workers. This reading, coupled with my fascination of the human dynamics in all types of relationship, led me to pick up The Grapes of Wrath. By the time I was done with the first chapter I remembered why I liked Steinbeck so much. Aside from the social message of his novels, few writers have the ability to put you as a reader in the setting where the action takes place. By the end of the first chapter you feel like coughing from all the dust.
It’s been years since I read Of Mice and Men and even longer since I read Tortilla Flat; both of which I plan to revisit soon. Meanwhile, if you want either a refresher on Steinbeck, or to familiarize yourself with him, here are a few websites that might help:
The National Steinbeck Center
A brief biography of Steinbeck written around the time he received his Nobel Prize for literature.
For a more extensive biography and review of his works try this entry in Wikipedia.
A rundown of characters and summary of plots of some of his major novels
Technorati Tags: literature, author, Steinbeck, writing
Update: February 2006
Hello friends,
Here we are, another month speeding by. Can you believe March is already here? Unfortunately my day job has been keeping me pretty busy. As many of you know I teach a couple of AP courses and we are getting down to crunch time. So for the last few weeks writing as a whole has not been a priority. I do have a couple of new items though.
This month I remembered to do a Literary website piece. This time I’ve highlighted one of my favorite poets, Pablo Neruda. I would be a complete idiot if I didn’t thank the man that introduced me to Neruda back in college, Dr. Marambio, of the University of San Diego. I took a few courses from him and learned a great deal of Latin American Literature. (He might disagree about the learning part.) In that piece you’ll find links to Neruda’s poetry both in the original Spanish and translations into English. I hope you take the time to take a look at it.
I’ve always said that when inspiration strikes, I never know where it’s coming from or where its going to lead me. For me, most of the time the muse comes and it speaks to me in English. This month was a bit different, maybe it was all that Neruda I was looking at, but the new poem this month is called Recuerdos, and it is one of my very few Spanish pieces. Since most of you who are victims of my monthly updates aren’t Spanish speakers, I’ve included an English translation. But I have to tell you, the Spanish sounds better to my ear.
A third item this month is an essay titled The Power of Belief. It’s been a couple of months since I wrote one. Actually, this one has been brewing in my head since January, but I finally got it finished. It deals with beliefs and how our beliefs influence our lives most of the time without us even knowing. I would really enjoy any feedback you might have on this piece. I tried to keep it to a manageable size, but I could have written much more. Perhaps I’ll revisit the topic in the future.
Just in terms of an update, Three Bucket Money Management is moving along. I just got the edits for Chapter 7 from my friend and trusted reader/editor and overall encourager, Jaime Jeffries. Chapter 8 is about half written. The whole thing was supposed to be done by the end of this month, I’m now a couple of weeks off, but it’s not too bad. I look forward to sharing some excerpts with you once I know if this is going to be published in the traditional way or if it will end up being a self-published book.
Finally, I’m happy to announce that I have found a permanent home for my blog. The new address is very simple http://roberto-rodriguez.com. I know, its a bit egocentric but what the heck. Blogger.com is a great free service and I would highly recommend it to anybody that wants to keep a blog. Yet, having my own domain gives me the freedom to post what I want….Nah…it’s all about the ego and the cool factor. For now though, some of the links are still pointing to the blogger website, which is still up, at least until I can get all the links to work properly.
Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.
Roberto
Technorati Tags: essay, life, poem, poetry, writing
