I had some adventures this week with “Flat Ruthie.” She is like Flat Stanley, if you have ever heard of that trend.
Check out the post (mostly pictures) over at Cardboard me! *(There is a link to Flat Ruthie Info here!)
She has a great idea, travelling the world and having adventures with all kinds of people in all kinds of places. Pretty fun!
Cheers,
Miss E
****So, after getting a few reader questions, I have posted links to more info about the Flat Stanley and Flat Ruthie for you all đ This was my first experience with a “Flat” anybody, and I would highly recommend trying it- twas a lot of fun!
I bought Ammon Shea’s book, Reading the OEDÂ a couple of weeks ago, but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. It looks pretty good, and is about one man’s experience reading through the OED (Oxford English Dictionary).
Instead, I found my housemate’s dog curled up with the book and sleeping in the sun. It was too fun not to share!
Curled up with "Reading the OED"
She is a beautiful Great Dane, but still loves to curl up with a book occasionally.
I wonder how this is comfortable, but I definitely know what it’s like to fall asleep while reading đ
I have had a few questions recently about some of the terms that we use here often at Looking For Pemberley. Although many of the terms that I use range from academic to very informal, made-up words, there area  few that I think you should know about when you are reading posts here. I don’t want anyone to feel left out.
So, I’ve decided that I will start a “definitions” post series, so you can familiarize yourself with some potentially unfamiliar terms.
In the future, look under the “defined” category to find the posts in this vein.
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Let’s start with the term Queer Theory, as I have had a few questions about that.
For many people who grew up when the word “queer” was pejorative, this term may seem a little alarming. Really, queer is not a bad word.
Queer theory came out of gender studies, which derived from feminism, and is used as a lens or framework to view different media or texts, such as works of art or books, for example.
It is a type of theory that challenges binary constructions like “male” and ‘female,” but is not at all limited to gender. One of the reasons many people may be confused about what queer theory actually is, is because it has so many applications. Scholars and others often use the ideas from “queer theorists” such as Judith Butler and Jack Halberstam and Chandan Reddy (as mentioned previously here) to understand and question any given text, ideology, simplistic construction, or social situation.
Queer theory can be a very freeing tool, and remains politically important, because it also allows for personal identity to fluctuate, and resists definition of who we are as people, what makes us the way we are, and what we can or should prescribe to.
I myself am very interested in queer theory and studied it in school, so if you have questions about it, feel free to continue asking!
Also, if you have anything to add, please pitch in through the comment section or e-mail me from the “about” page! I would love to hear your personal definitions.
I also have some resources that I think will help you understand the purpose and goals of Queer Theory listed below that might help.
Last night I saw Jane Austenâs Emma played in the theater! I posted about it yesterday, and had pretty even- level expectations. The evening was lovely, and I made three new friends with the Meetup members I attended with.
Posters
I did mention the night in yesterdayâs post here. However, some of you will disappointed, (others will be relieved, Iâm sure), to know that the âmusicalâ I referenced was in fact not a musical after all. I was laboring under a misapprehension (bonus points for knowing that reference), and in fact ended up seeing something completely different: a regular play. To clarify, there exists a musical version of Emma somewhere- itâs  just not what I went to.
During a somewhat comic twist of events, I found out about my error an hour before the show, and I must say that I was a tad bit heartbroken at first. A group of us were discussing the night over dinner, and two of us thought we were going to see a musical. After the option of musical was introduced into the conversation, a horrified organizer was very relieved to discover via smartphone that her original desire to see (not a musical) adaptation of Emma was indeed correct. Another playgoer and I were a bit bummed out, although we were still ready to see Austen on stage.
Personally, I had been mentally preparing myself for weeks for cheesy ridiculousness, potentially ridiculous music, and possible tongue-in-cheek modern commentary geared towards die-hard Austen fans.
Donât worry. What I saw was actually just as satisfying, if not more so.
In fact, now that I think about it, Iâm not sure that a Jane Austen-based musical would be the most brilliant production to witness on stage (or would it)!? Iâll hold out hope that someday I will see the musical version and rate it here for you, but for now, I have the play to summarize.
What we actually saw was the adaptation by Michael Bloom, directed by Victor Pappas, and is simply titled Emma (not Emma, the Musical), at Jones Playhouse in Seattle. It was a production from the School of Drama at the University of Washington, and tickets were very reasonable.
I liked the program, which featured a pink, black and white design, and archery symbolism (an Emma reference made famous in the Gwyneth Paltrow movie adaptation).
Program Design
Closer view
Inside the Program
The theater itself was a very egalitarian half (or more than half) stadium circle structure, and even though we were not the first in the door for will call seating, we had an amazing view of the performance and the actors on the round stage.
The casting was incredible, and despite some players drifting in and out of the faux English accent, each character was chosen thoughtfully, and brought a unique flavor to the personalities of the likes of Emma, Mr. Knightly, Miss Smith, and Mr. Woodhouse. They actors were extremely expressive in their facial expressions, and although the play stuck close to the original plot, the acting brought a vibrant energy to the storyline. Mrs. Elton was sufficiently obnoxious, and Miss Smith ran around the stage with frivolous teenage excitement.
Excuse the poor quality of some of the pics below. I was taking many from an upward angle most of the time- they were quite high above me, and using my cell phone. I swear I will get a digital camera soon!
People looking at the head shots and bios of the wonderful cast.
I took some pictures of my favorite players to share with you:
Harriet Smith, by Monique Robinson
Phil Kruse as Frank Churchill
They had pretty great costumes for all of the actors, but Mr. Knightly, Mrs. Weston, and Frank Churchill pretty much had the best. Â They all look completely different in these headshots- the hair and makeup team did a wonderful job too!
Scott Ward Abernathy. A very convincing Mr. Knightley, and very emotive actor. "swoon"
Robert Bergin as Mr. Woodhouse- he looked completely different in the play- about 50 years older, and was hilarious.
This adaptation interestingly showed Emmaâs internal thought process (very comical) by dimming the lights during her asides to the audience and herself. Also, the usual ending was challenged a bit by a longer courtship period between Emma and Mr. Knightly, more examples of their life post-declaration of love, as well as a more involved scene between the couple and Mr. Woodhouse when they announce their marriage. Â I was pleasantly surprised at how well the additions were pulled off.
Sarah Loveland played Emma. She was incredible, and rivaled the best Emma's I've seen on film, actually.
Even though it was not a musical, I was not sad about a lack of music. Not only were Emma and Jane Fairfaxâs characters excellent singers and pianists during the âexhibitionâ scene in the drawing room, but there was also a âsoundtrackâ feature enriching the background of the entire play.
Very talented musician Miss Fairfax played by Marua Tang.
All around, I would highly recommend this play, and I heard whispers of the production returning in the summer. So, if you happen to be in Seattle, you may want to check it out!
Tonight I am going to see the theater adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma with a meetup group I joined a while back. It should be a fun night, and I am very excited about it.
I read a review of the musical today that was not so enthusiastic.
Photo credit: Charles McNulty
It was also not a diatribe. The reviewer was ambivalent about performance he saw  but I am still excited to see it!
The one I’m going to see is a student performace, and after reading the reviews surrounding it, I don’t have any great expectations.
I do love Jane Austen, and I also love musicals, so this seems like a wonderful combination.
Since I started blogging, I have learned about so many more adaptations than I had ever seen or heard of before, and I count that as a major benefit.
Once I see the “Musical and Romantic Comedy,” I will certainly share my opinion of it here with you!
Hope you are all having a great Monday evening (or potentially Tuesday for some readers across the world). Iâm writing at night instead of this morning- got caught up with work-related writing. Hope you had a great weekend!
In the last post when I asked for your opinion about what you most wanted to see us highlighting on Looking  for Pemberley, a surprisingly high percentage voted  âAdvice for English Majors.â So, when I came across this scathing yet satirical article from Holy Taco today listing âThe 10 Most Worthless College Majors,â I was dismayed but not surprised to see English Lit as number 3 on the list.
English gets a bad reputation, not because it is academically âworthless.â It is fact, it is quite the opposite, and may be one of the most rigorous courses of study one can take in the College of Arts and Sciences (I am admitting some bias here, of course). One of the reasons English is tough is that English majors are not trained with skills for one specific career. For example, if you get a degree in Accounting, you will probably become âan accountant.â Likewise, if you get a degree in Paralegal Studies, it is because you probably would like to become a paralegal. I think you get the point.
Bad Reputation foods (Kool Aid and cookie) at Bauhaus Coffee shop, Seattle
If you are majoring in English, you can be almost anything, which leaves many at a loss for what to choose after graduation. Generally speaking, it is difficult to establish a career in literary analysis or essay writing. This is the case with many Humanities degrees, yet people still choose to pursue them. Why? In my opinion, degrees in the Humanities are fun, and also because they challenge students to become well-rounded citizens who question, analyze, think creatively, write and communicate effectively, present (literally and in writing) coherent arguments, and look at issues holistically.
In an earlier post, I mentioned a few helpful sites for English majors to look at, one of which is called 4 Humanities. In recent years the validity of the Humanities has been heavily questioned and disputed by academics. This is in large part because although the Humanities departments at a university level are responsible for the largest percentage of core course instruction, the research coming out of the Humanities doesnât procure the same level of grant funding for the academe as the sciences. Also, since the level of research considered âpublishableâ is much more rigorous in the Humanities (solo-written 15-30 page monograph researched and written and edited by one individual) than in the sciences (rigorous and time consuming direct research is often performed by a team of people who all get author credit and a line on their CV), scholars in the sciences often have many more âpublishedâ articles.
Outside the route of graduate study and teaching at a college level, (and even those options are limited), the world can look pretty bleak for the unprepared English major. I remember that when I graduated from college I was extremely excited, but had a hard time finding a job that directly related to my skill set. I worked in a restaurant and also in a winery for a little over a year before returning to school. A lot of my fellow English grads either did the same, or pursued graduate study right off the bat.
If you major in English, you will often hear the questions, âoh. do you want to teach?â and âwhat can you do with that major?…teach?â
Let me just say that I believe teaching is an incredible profession, and many people I know did in fact pursue English degrees in order to become better educators. But, if teaching is not your passion, there are many other options for English majors, and possibly many more than pursuing a more specific field of study.
More good news: businesses are beginning to notice that hiring English Majors and people with other âworthlessâ degrees helps them convey specific messages, improving inter and extra company communication. and many of the jobs I have seen on craigslist recently require my skills.
I am proud of my major, and I feel lucky to have gone the route I did (trust me, I am well-aware of what a privilege it is to be able to pursue an education). My English major has helped me grow in countless ways. I have explored, and am still exploring career options in writing, editing, content writing, blogging, proofreading, teaching (yep, and I liked it!), private tutoring, marketing, researching, and transcribing for different authors and companies.
Since my reading and writing workload in both college and graduate school was so intense, I have drive and passion to do a wonderful job at any task which requires comprehension, mastery, or use of language. Furthermore, many of the jobs I have seen on craigslist recently require my specific skill set.
English Majors and other majors in the Humanities with a bad reputation (such as Philosophy) are often students who choose to pursue their degrees without a set career path or a job guarantee after college. Their professors expect them to study for the sake of learning, to read and present well, and to attempt to write more perfectly. To me, those goals are admirable and brave, not foolhardy.
What can I do with my major (and Masters Degree) in English? Anything that interests me. Just to prove that others can do the same, here is some inspiration about other English Majors who went on to do varied things in the world after graduating.
Oh, and here is a song for you:
Hence, in my (admittedly biased, yet research-based) opinion, English Majors are badasses, who often don’t give a damn about their bad reputation. Let’s keep it that way and carry on with what we love.
Happy Saturday! I hope yours is going well, and that you have a fantastic weekend.
I want to know your thoughts and opinions about the type of posts we do here, which will help me get an idea of who my readership is and what you enjoy reading most.
Pretty Seattle sun for you! (and maybe wishful thinking for me:)
This doesn’t mean I’m going to drastically change my site, but I am curious about what you are interested in seeing when you visit here.
If one topic wins overwhelmingly, I’ll attempt to write more frequent posts about it!
If you could take my poll, I would really appreciate it! Â And, if you mark “other,” or have more feedback for me, please write about it in the comments.
Another post! This makes three days in a row, not quite the norm yet here on Looking for Pemberley. I do have another book finished, so I figured, why not post about it?
In an earlier post I mentioned the difficulty I was having reading books that were actually on my official list. Instead, I keep reading outliers, the books that find me, that for whatever reason, grab hold of me and make me buy them or check them out from the library. (Ok, so maybe itâs not this dramatic).
One such book is called Carrots âNâ Cake, by Tina Haupert, a blogger (you should check out her blog– lots of good recipes and workout stories).
I just finished reading through this one, and thought Iâd share my review of it here on Looking for Pemberley. If Iâm honest, I was left feeling ambiguous about my reading experience at best.
Here are the problems I had with it:
The writing was very episodic, and did not create a coherent story line. If I hadnât gone into it expecting a story, I would have probably enjoyed it more. It was just like going through the blogâs archives and reading each post. Obviously since I blog and read the blogs of others, I donât really have a problem with that writing style.
Title page of my copy.
However, I do see a distinction between the rhetorical situation of a blog, and the rhetorical situation of a book that is bound and printed. Call me old fashioned, but I feel like the latter requires a bit more forethought, teamwork, and professionalism. It kind of felt like a blog archive in print a lot of the time.
The way the book was organized felt very disruptive, and I even have a pretty short attention span. However, there would be one chapter, that jumped all over the place in time and was hard to follow, with 3-5 recipes thrown in at the end. Honestly, the recipes should have been highlighted more. They are good recipes! The publisher, Sterling Epicure, is more focused on food than story, and the book falls into the Cooking/Nutrition genre. That being said, because there was so much text I felt like it should have been more coherent.
The typeface and photo of a carrot at the beginning of each chapter were pixilated and poorly printed in my copy (not sure if this would be applicable to all copies), which just bummed me out and made the design seem cheap. Knowing how expensive publishing hard copies is, I would venture a guess that this book was anything but cheap to produce.
The slightly difficult-to-see text (I also need to get a digital camera)!
That being said, I donât want to write a scathing review of Carrots âNâ Cake. I did really enjoy aspects of the book, and found many positives to it as well.
What worked well:
I loved the idea of this book (which is why I bought it in the first place). Her whole premise is that if you eat real food and focus on holistic nutrition, using moderation in your diet and workout, you will likely become healthy. I very much like the idea of eating both carrots and cake, and have been working out a lot lately trying to get healthy, so the premise of the book appealed to me.
Slightly blurred subheading which reads "Real Food."
She uses her personal experience, and even though she has little empirical evidence to back up her claims in most cases, she doesnât really need it. Sheâs just telling her story and hoping that other people can benefit from it. I can honestly say that although the benefit for me was minimal, I did gain something from reading the book.
Her healthy recipes rock. I am definitely going to try some of them, and she did inspire me to get some more protein in my diet, something I struggle with. I also find exercise fulfilling, and have been doing some of the same things she seems to do (except way way less intense). So, for me, Â message worked.
I bought her book from Barnes and Noble in the sales bin (trying to keep the Northgate one from going under), so I am not sure where it originally appeared in the bookstore, but I would imagine that you would find it close to the cookbooks. It definitely belongs there.
Cover and spine, lying open on my desk.
My advice would be to read the first couple of chapters, then just skip through to whatever appeals to you most. Because there is no coherent storyline, there is really no reason to read from cover to cover, and honestly, if I go back to this book for any reason, it will be for the recipes, not the text.
I would not necessarily recommend this book, unless you can find it in the sales bin, garage sale, or at a used bookstore. Looking back, I canât say that I really enjoyed it, although I also didnât hate it.
Donât read this if you want to read something with a juicy or plot-driven storyline, and donât expect great writing or editing.
Read this book if you are interested in Bodypump and nutrition for weightlifting regimes, if you enjoy reading food blogs, and if you want a personal story with nutritionally balanced recipes.
Carrots n Cake title art from Amazon books. As you can see, there is a discrepancy in her name here as opposed to my copy. I wonder if she changed her pen name in later editions?
I give this book a rating of 2/5 stars, and most of that is because of errors from the publishing end, such as the formatting of the book, the editing, and the poor image quality/ lack of design. It gets one star for the great recipes, and one star because I think itâs great that Tina Haupert got an opportunity like this from blogging and I would like to support her in that success.
Read with carrot cake and a protein shake, preferably after a Bodypump class.
Because of the incredible amount of encouragement that Looking for Pemberley has received lately, I finally decided to take a step forward with it.
This morning, I bought the domain for this site!
Posting here and developing my writing has been a dream come true!
I have been considering it for a while, but was not sure that many people would be interested in what we talk about here, or that I would have the stamina to continue posting on a regular basis.
Honestly, this blog was kind of an experiment at first, to see if I could really do it. I’ve made it this far, but I would love to continue this journey.
Your support and feedback really have inspired me, and I feel like I’ve been inducted into a community here on WordPress.
I have enjoyed my blogging experience here, and feel that even though I do not post as frequently as I’d like, I do have something that interests me in the finished posts. Usually, I have a hard time getting to 30 site views per day.
Yesterday was pretty amazing though. I had over 200 site views (Looking for Pemberley Record)! Plus, I got over 300 more followers!
Thanks to you all!
This is how I feel right now- hyperbolic joy explosion.
I feel a renewed sense of purpose in writing, and a revitalized dedication to not only making more regular posts, but also to seeking out new and interesting contributors so that we can produce dynamic and interesting points of view.
Today I am celebrating! Probably with a bottle of one of my favorite wines, Molly Dooker’s Blue Eyed Boy.
A photo I took of this incredible wine (and also one of my favorite labels).
I have been really fascinated lately (and pretty much for life, actually), with the concept of stories, their impact on us when we read or hear or tell or write them, their importance for history and culture, and how they function on large and small scales. Â As I say in our âAboutâ page, stories are all around us, and they constantly inspire me.
Recently, a high school student I was tutoring asked me why people even began to write in the first place, or how did writing even become a âthing,â as he put it. I told him that I had some ideas, but didnât know for sure, and we spent a few minutes brainstorming on the board. Some of his answers included âbad memory,â âart,â âreligion,â âaccident,â âfun,â and âboredom.â I was highly amused by his list, and a favorite of ours was âbad memory.â It seemed like a pretty viable option, that writing could come about as a way of helping keep track of life so as to prevent forgetting.
Some student answers during brainstorming session
We both agreed that photos and facebook are largely serving that purpose for us now (for him more so than me), although writing is very important, and feels different from imagistic storytelling. Through those electronic means, which can become virtual and visual âtimelinesâ or representations of lifeâs moments, we can not only share our lives with friends, but we are reminded of our happy memories and significant events.
I could go on about the possible detriments of social media platforms for record keeping, and the short term and long term memory loss that our culture seems to be experiencing as a result of reliance on technology, but that might be too much digression, even for me (I tend to ramble and diverge when I tell stories).
As you might imagine, my answers when we were brainstorming was slightly different, and more long-winded. Some of them included teaching future generations about lessons learned during previous ones, exploring the strategies, successes, and failures of others, and for storytelling purposes.
I have always loved listening to stories, and telling them. Itâs probably also apparent that I enjoy reading, since I have discussed it on Looking for Pemberley fairly frequently.
I was having a conversation with my friend not too long ago about my interest in stories. For me, I think that my love of stories comes from the feeling of relating to others, of understanding more about myself and people in general after reading. Iâm a social person, Iâm interested in people. Stories are generally about people, their growth, reflections, lessons, and interactions.
Stories are living, and they also teach us how to live. They are influenced by the culture and historical moment of their time, but when they last (as when they are written and future generations read them), they can be interpreted by each individual reader, changing not only with each person, but also with each reading.
For example, I have read Pride and Prejudice many times over since the first reading, but it feels different each time. It becomes different because of my perception, and the novel feels different for each reader, despite the words staying more or less the same as they were over 100 years ago.
A dear friend of mine recently told me, after I told her that I had an undying love of stories, that âof course you love stories. I live for stories, to hear the stories of others, and to tell my own. That is the greatest pleasure in life.â I certainly agree. Her beautiful words inspired me to write this post.
Writing, to me, probably began as a way to make stories last for as long as possible. I am thankful for the ability to read works from years in the past because of the development of writing and its varied progressions. Whatever the real âanswer,â Iâm glad we have writing, because stories can be read and re-read, changing with each reading, and serving as a time capsule of sorts for the âbad memoryâ of the authors who write them.
Please forgive the crude drawing style. This is my first attempt at a comic.
Thanks to all the bloggers and authors I read for sharing your stories, and if you would like to tell me a story, or share your view on stories, please do. Iâd love to listen and live.
Looking for Pemberley 