Tocqueville on Elections

     "The presidential election [in the United States] may be considered as a time of national crisis...Long before the appointed day arrives, the elections becomes the greatest and, as it were, the only matter which occupies people's minds. Then political factions redouble their enthusiasm; every possible phoney passion that the imagination can conceive in a contented and peaceful country comes out into the light of day.

     As election draws near, intrigues multiply and turmoil spreads. Citizens divide up between several camps each of which adopts the name of its candidate. The whole nation descends into a feverish state; the election becomes the daily theme of newspapers, the subject of private conversations, the object of every maneuver and every thought, the only concern of the present moment.

      It is true that as soon as the result has been announced, this passion is dispelled, all returns to calm, and the river which momentarily overflowed its banks returns peacefully to its bed. But should we not find it astonishing that such a storm should have arisen in the first place?"

           -Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America

 I am just so tickled by the fact that Tocqueville found elections in the U.S. so strange! :)

Today Part 2

Remembered a post I wrote a few years ago where I listed the things I did that day. It was fun. So I thought I'd do it again for today, just because I like to see things like this written down...maybe you do too.

Woke up at around 6am, after pushing the "snooze" button a few times

Jumped in the shower, and drove off to school

Had to switch seats in Gov. class because the new semester started. I liked where I used to sit better.

Learned in English that I have to have up to chapter 10 of the Scarlet Letter read by Wednesday, and I haven't even started chapter 1

Then my teacher randomly walked up to me and asked me if I believe in Global Warming (I think he does this on purpose because I knows I am a Christian and very conservative)

I told him NO...but then I was stupid and couldn't come up with any very intelligent come-backs

So when I got home, I searched the house for every book on Global Warming my dad has

I couldn't find any, so I read the section about it in my old Physical Science book...I now feel somewhat educated on the subject...but I might not get another chance to argue the issue with my teacher! Oh well

Then I started freaking out about the Hillsdale interview I have tomorrow, and made sure I was pretty up to date on current events and political issues...which I am since I discuss these things with my parents every day.


But I just wanted to make sure

Practiced my violin for a little while. I have a competition coming up that I'm very nervous about.

Finished all my Economics homework.

Did history with JP (age 7) We learned about Ancient Africa and the Sahara Desert. I never knew the Sahara wasn't always a desert. It used to be very green, with flowing rivers and all sorts of animals!

In the lesson, there were African stories about Anansi the Spider. So I read them to JP in my usual overly-animated excited voice, and then I sang the Raffi song about Anansi. (Which is awesome!)

I pretty much love Anansi

Then we did science and learned about gravity and Earth's atmosphere.

I tried to get JP to draw a picture and write a summary about what he learned. He refused and ran away. I chased him and dragged him back to the table, but it was no good. Somehow he ended up watching Spongebob instead...I'm a bad teacher, I know.

Jenna made some watery brownies, and wanted me to fix it for her, but those brownies were past the point-of-no-return.

So that has been my day so far! Tonight parents and my sister and I are leaving for our little college visit excursion. We will stay in a hotel tonight, arrive at Hillsdale tomorrow, and then visit Taylor University on our way back. It should be fun!

Why I Hate It When People Say They Don't Care For Politics.

"All the opportunity for self-government through the rule of the people depends upon one single factor. That is the ballot box...The people of our country are sovereign. If they do not vote they abdicate that sovereignty, and they may be entirely sure that if they relinquish it other forces will seize it, and if they fail to govern themselves some other power will rise up to govern them. The choice is always before them, whether they will be slaves or whether they will be free. The only way to be free is to exercise actively and energetically the privileges, and discharge faithfully the duties which make freedom. It is not to be secured be passive resistance. It is the result of evergy and action....

Persons who have the right to vote are trustees for the benefit of their country and their countrymen. They have no right to say they do not care. They must care! They have no right to say that whatever the result of the election they can get along. They must remember that their country and their countrymen cannot get along, cannot remain sound, cannot preserve its institutions, cannot protect its citizens, cannot maintain its place in the world, unless those who have the right to vote do sustain and do guide the course of public affairs by the thoughtful exercise of that right on election day."

-President Calvin Coolidge

Writing, Books, and College

First, I would like to say a few words about writing. Yes, writing. I was just reading over a paper that I wrote for a Great Christian Classics class I'm taking, and I found myself cringing and heming-and-hawing over it...I was so disgusted, I couldn't even finish it! I already turned the paper in, and received it back with a grade...I just can't believe I turned it in like that. I don't know about you, but I hate reading over my own writing. When I try, it becomes such a painful experience that I just give up, turn it in, and hope for the best. Oddly enough, I always get great remarks about my writing. Am I missing something that other people see?

I believe writing and I have a kind of love-hate relationship. I often find writing things down hard, unfruitful, and horribly lonely. Words are tricky- and I'm pretty sure they purposely try to make my life more difficult. Yet it gives me such satisfaction when I can at least, however inadequately, get what I'm thinking on paper. What are your thoughts on writing?
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College, college, college, college, college. It's all I can think about these days. It is still uncertain where I'm going, and what I even want to do with a college education. My first choice is the deliciously prestigious Hillsdale College. It's my "if I could only go to Hillsdale" choice. I finished the application, and I won't know until February if I got accepted. In a few weeks I'm visiting the school to take a tour (given by my lovely Hillsdalian friend), sit in on a class, and then have an admissions interview. I. Am. Excited. And nervous. This sounds stupid, but I've been worrying most about what I am going to wear! haha!

My other college choices are Wisconsin Lutheran College, Taylor University, and UW Stevens Point. I'm very uncertain about how it'll all turn out. It's funny to think that God already knows where I will go to college (or if I go to college!) and He even has my whole life planned out! When I think about that, it makes all my nerves and worries seem like such a waste of time!
_______________________

Now I should like to tell you about a book I am reading. Both my grandparents strongly recommended it to me, and that is saying something because my grandma is an avid reader, and a very critical one at that. She would have made an excellent book critic, and that's why I keep telling her to get a blog so she can write all about the books she reads! Just to show you how much my grandma reads, when she was younger, she made herself a book stand to keep by her ironing board so she could read even as she was ironing!

So anyway, this amazing book is called "Peace Like a River" by Lief Enger. It's basically just a story about a family in the 1960s. The content is actually sort of boring when I think about it...but the author's writing style is just INCREDIBLE! He uses lots of subtle references to literature, which make me feel proud when I actually know what he's talking about, and it's just so, so, amazing. I wish I could write like that. So yeah, I guess that's all I had to say about it. :D
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That's all for now. Sorry if this post was painfully boring, It just needed to be updated. Peace out,
Maddie

Authentic People Blog Party

1. What is the nerdiest/geekiest/weirdest thing about you?

I have a not-so-secret crush on a fictional literature character. His name is Edward Ferrars (from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility) and I love him. The end. 

2. If you could live in a fictional universe from any book, movie, or television show, what would it be?
iCarly all the way. I watch that show all the time and I LOVE all the characters. Especially Spencer. I always say I'm going to marry a Spencer someday, so if I was in the show, I could marry the real him! He makes me laugh.

3. Little or big, practical or frivolous, what is one of your favorite items in your house?
Our piano. It's beautiful and I love it so much. I just wish I could play it well!

4. Do you like animated movies? If so, what is your favorite?
Yes, I love animated movies. I have 7 younger siblings so that's just about all I watch! All the original Disney movies are awesome...my sisters and I were talking this morning about Disney princesses and I said I like all the princesses, but Prince Philip (from sleeping beauty) is my favorite prince...he's amazing.
But, anyway back to my favorite animated movie. Although it's a very hard choice, I'd have to say Ratatouille is the best. I can repeat back to you entire scenes from that movie! Love it!!!

5. What is your favorite household chore?
Cleaning off the kitchen table after a productive day of homeschooling! It's so fun.

6. What is your favorite thing to get at Starbucks (or your favorite coffee shop)?
I do like Starbucks' frappacinos...but my favorite drink is the campfire mocha from Carribou Coffee. YUM!

7. What is your favorite pizza topping?
Black olives.

8. Waffles or Pancakes?
They both taste the same to me...I guess waffles are more fun.

9. Have you ever let anyone win a game?
No...I almost never win board games anyway. The truth is, I'm sort of dumb at games. I'm a book-smart person with almost no quick common sense! lol

10. Have you ever died your hair?
Do highlights count? My mom gave me highlights before my 15th birthday...and I cried. Because I hated it. But I got over it and my hair is now back to it's normal color...plain brown. :D

11. Do you make your bed every morning?
On the weekends, yes. Weekdays, no.

12. Picasso or Norman Rockwell?
 Oh my gosh, I LOVE Norman Rockwell! His paintings are so cute, and they portray life in such a real, heartwarming way. Sorry, but Picasso's paintings creep me out. This is my absolute favorite Rockwell: 

13. If you could put one thing in a safe under your bed, what would it be?
Wow, I'm having a really hard time thinking of an answer to this one! I don't really have anything that is extremely valuable because I have little siblings that wreck almost everything I own. Ha!

14. What is your favorite condiment?
Um, Mayonnaise? That's a condiment, right?

15. What was the last thing that made you laugh? 
My sister Jenna. She makes me laugh all day long. If you ever need some cheering up, spend an hour with my sister...you'll be sure to get a laugh. :D

16. Think fast...what's the first song that pops into your head?
Don't you dare laugh. My new favorite song is If I Ruled the World by Big Time Rush. Yeah, I'm still a 12 year old girl at heart. <3

Okay, that's all. Be sure to visit Abigail's blog to join the blog party fun! :)

I'm back!

Hi!

My name is Maddie, the author of this humble blog.

I don't expect you to remember me, as I have been inexcusably absent for so long.

But that's ok, because I'm back now, and you are reading this post, though I still have no idea what I'm going to say, or even if I have anything to say. Sometimes I feel like my brain is like the matrix of a hair follicle: there are so many cells (or thoughts in this case) that are floating around, undifferentiated. I know they mean something, and they will. But for right now they are just scattered and unidentified and probably not even rational. And that's what you will read in this post.

So this year I have been taking two AP classes at the local public high school. I thought I'd never see the day after I was pulled out in 7th grade, but here I am as a senior in high school, walking the halls of a jam-packed public high school. I probably looked like a little lost puppy trying to find my way around. But now I at least know how to get to my classes and all I want from the this experience is to pass the AP exams in May.

I like my U.S. government teacher and that class is going fine. At first I thought it would be a total waste of time, seeing as I feel like I've spent all my high school years immersed in the workings of our government. But I have been learning so much, and almost everyday I come home from that class with something new to discuss with my mom.

But then there's the English class. I want to love this class. I really, really do because English is MY subject, and I adore it. But the teacher and the books we read make things complicated. The teacher is, shall we say....well actually I can't really think of a word to describe him. He's not the way a teacher should be and he tells the class things I probably would have been better off not hearing. Yet I don't dislike him exactly because he's actually a rather nice, personable guy and he looks out for me, since I'm the weird homeschooler.

We finished reading "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.S. Sallinger. I hate that book with a passion. I still don't understand what makes it a classic, because I did not find anything in that book that would make it worth studying in school, or even read during leisure time. I mean, I thought the author's characterization of Holden, the main character, was good, but he didn't even go anywhere with it. He killed his own character's spirit and potential! What kind of author does that?

Right now we are working through this quarter's "independent novel" which is a novel of each student's own choosing (from a list, of course). Today we did discussion and broke into groups according to what book each student is reading. But guess who was the only one reading "To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf? You guessed it. Apparently the teacher is reading that book right now, so he and I were in a lonely group together. We were talking about one of the characters, who is an athiest, and the teacher was saying that since he is an athiest, he has no purpose in life...and he is trying to find it in his intellectualism. He knows I am a Christian so he said,

"So coming from a Christian background, what is your purpose in life?"

and I said "To glorify God."

Then he said, "If you take God out of the picture what is a person's purpose then?"

And I sat thinking for a while. I was going to say something about trying to find fulfillment for the self through worldly means, but he said,

"There is none, is there? Atheists, like myself and this character, don't have the the beauty and greatness of God, so they try to find purpose and fulfillment elsewhere. I haven't found it yet."

I couldn't believe it. I didn't say anything...what could I have said? Should I have said something? I really don't know. I will definitely be praying for him.

So anyway, I sort of liked going to school, and then I started hating it, and now I like it again. I still think that homeschooling is such a wonderful blessing, but I know that kids can excel in school no matter where they go, as long as they have the will to learn and do well. I hope to homeschool my kids someday not because I'm against public schools, but because I want them to have a firm Christian foundation, especially in their studies.

In other news, I have been thinking about and applying to colleges. Sometimes I feel so confused and worried that I'm not doing the right thing, that I'm not heading in the right direction. I have been praying about it and I've decided to just do the best that I can on the applications and then let God show me what he wants me to do. I will keep updating you about how that goes.

Ok, this post is getting pretty long. I will try to start posting more!
love, Maddie

The Love of Jesus

 O Father of Jesus,

Help me to approach thee with deepest reverance,
not with presumption,
not with servile fear, but with holy boldness.
Thou art beyond the grasp of my understanding,
but not beyond that of my love.
Thou knowest that I love thee supremely,
for though art supremely adorable, good, perfect.

My heart melts at the love of Jesus,
my brother, bone of my flesh, flesh of my flesh,
married to me, dead for me, risen for me;
He is mine and I am his,
given to me as well as for me;
I am never so much mine as when I am his,
or so much lost to myself until lost in him;
then I find my true manhood.

But my love is frost and cold, ice and snow;
Let his love warm me,
lighten my burden,
be my heaven;
May it be more revealed to me in all its influences
that my love to him may be more fervent and glowing;
Let the mighty tide of his everlasting love
cover the rocks of my sin and care;
Then let my spirit float about those things
which had else wrecked my life.

Make me fruitful by living to that love,
my character becoming more beautiful every day.
If traces of Christ's love-artistry be upon me,
may he work on with his divine brush
until the complete image be obtained
and I be made a perfect copy of him,
my Master.

This is a prayer from the Puritan prayer collection called Valley of Vision. I put my favorite parts of this one in bold...I hope this prayer will touch you the way it touched me. It helped me remember to keep my eyes fixed upward: on Christ rather than on myself. I spend so much time angry at myself for acting the way I do. It's funny because most people think that I am a very good girl...and they tell me so. Probably because I'm quiet...but oh, if they could see the ugly sin and pride within me they would not think so. Sometimes it even crosses my mind that God must be very disgusted and angry with me...that maybe I have fallen from grace. Yet though I disobey him too many times to count, he still loves me. "Make me fruitful by living to that love, my character becoming more beautiful every day." May I continue my walk remembering that Christ has redeemed me and loves me and everyday may I seek to do everything for his glory and put my past sin behind me and keep moving heavenward. <3