Holocaust Survivors' Love Story

Okay, so I'm a sucker for a great love story. So when I got the assignment to comment yet again on another Holocaust story, I sought out something that had some assemblance of a "happy ending". I am a true believer of God's written word which states that all things are used for His glory and, in this, I think He has shone.

I'll begin with, once upon a time there was a young boy named Herman Rosenblat in a concentration camp in Nazi-controlled Germany. A girl a bit younger than the boy was living free in the village. Her name was Roma Radziki. Her family were posing as Christians. She spotted him through the barbed-wire fence and thought him handsome. She tossed an apple over the fence, for which he gratefully ate. Day after day, for months she would return and toss over the apples. They never spoke a word to one another in all that time.

This young man's father's life was one of the many cut short by the tyrantical abuse thrust upon the Jewish people. But on his deathbed he told his son, "If you ever get out of this war don't carry a grudge in your heart and tolerate everybody." Herman was only 12 years old.

One day Herman spoke to Roma. He told her he was being relocated and for her not to return again. So at that point, they thought their brief dalliance was at an end. They both went on to survive the war. Roma went to school to become a nurse in Israel, and Herman went to London and became an electrician.

Eventually Herman moved to New York. One day a friend fixed him up on a blind date. He was not very interested, but agreed to go. All went well, she was Polish and easy to talk to. Eventually their conversation turned to wartime experiences. When he spoke of the camps he was in, she in turn mentioned her time in Schlieben, hiding from the Germans at the same time as Herman. She spoke of the handsome boy she tossed apples to and how he was sent away. Herman's only response was, "That boy was me."

Herman proposed to Roma that night. She declined, thinking him crazy, and eventually said yes two months later. They were married at a synagogue and have loved one another ever since. Their story has inspired a children's book entitled "Angel Girl". There are plans to make it into a film called "The Flower of the Fence". Herman is planning to publish his memoirs next year.

Herman and Roma have been married 50 years. They often tell their story to Jewish and other groups. He believes his father's words led him in his life lessons. He says, "Not to hate and to love- that's what I am lecturing about. Not to hold a grudge and to tolerate everybody, to love people, to be tolerant of people, no matter who they are or what they are." He has forgiven the anger and atrocity.....now he has a life filled with love and his father's lesson to carry on.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081012/ap_on_re_us/holocaust_love_story_3

"Night" a novel by Elie Wiesel

I found reading Elie Wiesel's novel Night to be both sad and insightful. It's still so difficult for me to imagine how these atrocities could have occurred in a modern world. And yet, they did. It pains me to think of this teenaged boy, with his whole life ahead of him, having to endure things unimaginable. He describes his memories with such painstaking detail...the good and the bad. I would think the happy memories of childhood would be as painful to recall as the events occurring thereafter that left him without a family and with a fearful sense of surviving alone.

It is a difficult book to read, but I can't help but turn the page to get closer to finding out how he is able to survive. I am not one to ever enjoy reading about any type of suffering that someone, or many, have endured. But this book was an excellent depiction of the loss of youth and is worth the read. If only to arouse tender feelings towards another in his suffering.

Intro Paragraph to Research Paper on Louis XIV, King of France

Okay, here goes my first effort!

Title: A Vision of Style

The capacity of which one person can affect a whole country’s culture is summed up in the reign of one man. Louis XIV, King of France, set precedence for the lifestyle culture of France, which has exceeded into today’s world. Not a man to be complacent or bored, he catapulted France into a new age with vigorous energy, personality, and not always with consideration of possible consequences to others. This is a tale of a man whose vision surpassed most men’s wildest dreams. The affects of this one man would change France forever.

Research Blueprint

Suffice it to say, this is not an easy project for me so I am taking every spare moment possible to focus on each detail. I have finally landed on an idea for my thesis, not being either of the original ideas I posted previously, and am trying to fine tune it into a thesis statement. It is pertaining to a fastidious character, Louis XIV King of France, and the effects on the French Culture then, and now as we know it. I find him to be quite intriguing and bizarre and am hoping an actual thesis statement will not be too difficult to come up with.

Now that the challenge of picking a topic is eliminated the next thing was to collect all of my sources so I may be thoroughly informed of my topic. This involved perusing many, many online sources both from the web and databases. I had one book that actually inspired the idea, and was able to find another related book fairly easily.

The next step will be to read through all of my sources to get a broad and well-informed base from which to begin. Of course there will be a great deal of note-taking and outline after outline to create as well. I am planning to keep a list of works cited as I go so as to keep the final process of the Works Cited page fairly simple and straightforward.

After all that I will begin drafting my paper. Collecting my thoughts and putting them on paper is not always an easy process for me. With this topic there are many details to sift through and assemble. Hopefully I have gathered plenty of source information, but if not, I will go back and look for more to round out my paper.

Finally, after the draft has been edited and revised (probably many, many times) I will complete the final draft. Hopefully, this will yield me a decent grade!

Research Idea Assignment

The Rat Pack (research idea #1)


The Rat Pack would be a fun subject to research. I have listened to this music since I was little. I loved watching old movies with my mom when I was a kid and this music takes me back. Questions that spring to mind are:
How did they meet? How did they become "The Rat Pack" and where did that name arise from? How did each of them arrive to their famed proportion when they eventually collaborated in "The Rat Pack" venture?

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (research idea #2)


My second interest would be the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They were a group of seven (sometimes one or more would join in) young men that formed a secret "brotherhood" during the Victorian era. Questions to zone in on would be:
How did they meet? Who were the women in their paintings and how were they associated to the artists? What led up to the demise of the Brotherhood? Why was it a secret?

Which one do you think I should pick?

Outline: Interpreting A Poem (SYW.com assignment)

Interpreting a Poem

I. Recognizing a poem when you see one
A. The Line
1. line breaks at end of sentence
a. end-stop
b. enjambment
B. Greater focus on sound of words
1. the rhythm
a. rhyme at end of sentence
b. half rhyme-matching certain words mid-sentence throughout
C. Density-richness and level of thought process to pick up on the meaning and/or emotion
1. connotations-what is implied
2. denotations-what they literally mean
3. simile
4. metaphor symbolic language
D. Associations
1. concrete images vs. abstract concepts
E. Irony
1. using two conflicting points to make a point of irony

II. Elements of a Poem
A. Meter
1. rhythm/foot
a. stressed
b. unstressed
2. iambic pentameter
3. metrical pentameter
4. trochee
5. spondee
6. free verse
B. Form – prescribed pattern
1. stanza
2. open form
3. blank verse

III. Tools of Analysis
A. Practical Criticism
1. do a close reading
2. pick out levels of meaning
3. scan the lines
a. meter
4. identify the form
5. examine the diction
6. make general observations
a. history
b. social context
c. psychology
d. gender concerns
e. subject matter
B. Enjoy what you are reading!

who am I?

Who am I? That is such a vast question and it is one I am currently, deep down, trying to answer. At my age (early 40-something) most people have an idea of who they are, I suppose, but I am still searching. I had a relatively normal, uneventful childhood. I enjoyed the 80's era in high school with my high school sweetheart, whom I married. We've been married for almost 21 years....happily I might add. We have two daughters, aged 18 and 13, that have filled my life with much joy. But I have yet to fulfill any personal goals at this point. I have returned to college for one class this semester in hopes of sparking some interest, some glimmer of something imagined long ago and forgotten. I don't know....it's too late to go back, but I am hoping to stumble upon something that may lead me towards a richer more creative life.