Not All Who Wander Are Lost

Alright, full disclosure here . . . I gave damsels in distress a bit of a drubbing in my last blog post and I do stand by every word I said. I am so happy to see some strong heroines out there kicking butt, but I am also a sucker, every now and a then, for a well done D.I.D. tale. In fact, I use the line myself in the the blurb on the back of MY book--"She's a damsel in distres . . . " Of course, it's a little tongue in cheek and ten minutes after meeting the hero my heroine maces him. So . . . On to the gentlemen. We'll stick with the principals of the three stories I culled out last time-- Harry Potter ,  The Hunger Games and Twilight. Interesting to note that there are more guys in the stories than girls. Hmmm. Maybe that clues into not only the knight in shining armor fantasies as we speculated last time, but the desire to be persued? Something to think on. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. I know, they aren't both vying for Hermione's hand, and for ...

Katniss. Hermione. Lessa. Polgara. Lady Macbeth. Alright, I'll even give you Jane Eyre, but I refuse to add Bella into the mix of heroines who I believe are really kick ass. Now, admittedly, most of them are grown women, so I don't think it's fair to really pull them into the mix. I'll stick to the girls in the group--Hermione and Katniss, and because she's their exact opposite in all ways, Bella. Think about it. Back when all we had were fairy tales told to scare children, the spunkiest of the fairy tale heroines was Gretal who had the wherewithal to shove the witch in the oven and free her brother. I suppose she was one of the first heroines who really took the story in her own hands and proved to the world that we were more than damsels in distress waiting languidly in some tower for Prince Charming to rescue us. Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White--all waiting around for a prince to come and save them. Or in Cinderella's case weeping for a Fairy Godmot...

I've been a teacher for fifteen years. I've seen my students struggle, succeed and fail. I've watched them cross the stage and receive their diplomas. I've given them a metophorical kick in the back end when they needed it and literally been their shoulder to cry on or the hand to hold. I've held their children and stood at their coffins. I celebrate their successes when I hear of them and mourn the loss of their potential when I hear that another one has fallen off the straight and narrow. Think for a moment about your favorite teacher. We've all had one. Some of us have more than one. I do. I wouldn't be a teacher if there weren't multiple wonderful influences in my life. Everyone had that one teacher who gave them that extra push, that spare moment, the words that made a difference. Ms. K and Ms. Stopka. Mrs. Nosek and Mr. Reynolds . . . like I said, I had a lot of great teachers. Ms. K told me I should write. Ms.Stopka got me Robert Aspirin's a...