Moscow is a pocket of joy, especially today. The sky is blue, but it’s not a friendly, midsummery sort of blue; it’s more like the color you see on a forty-five degree fall day, the kind where the sidewalk dances under your feet and the buildings meet the sky. It’s the kind of day that doesn’t need coffee to survive, where you can almost hear the words to the tune that composes the world. The lichen on the tree glows yellow in the noon sun, smiling up at the God that made it.
Fiction
Rachel’s Thoughts: Satire: US Security
I wrote this for my Lit class. 🙂 …
Illegal immigrants. Drugs. Terrorists. Mexicans. Canadians. Soviets. Germans. Iranians.
Escargot.
The government is afraid of all of it. Hence the tight borders and rigorous policing of said borders. Nuns get patted down at airports. Handicapped children’s wheelchairs are searched. Old women with metal hips cause delays and annoyance for security guards, and woe to anyone who tries to bring their own water bottle into the terminal. You’re traveling home from the funeral with your inheritance, a set of twelve full silver place settings? A likely reason for carrying a dozen knives. Full-body scanners have been installed at most major airports, an incredible invasion of privacy to be addressed at some other time.
Suffice it to say, the United States of America is highly safety-conscious. Seat belts. Speed limits. Airbags. Flotation devices disguised as airplane cushions. How much money do we spend each year paying security people to dig through travelers’ underwear looking for bombs or guns disguised as perfume? The primary reason for this is the September 11 incident, one of the biggest strikes of terrorism against the United States. A worthy reason and a just cause, to be sure, but one that has spawned incredibly ineffective counter-measures. Our defenses are just as flawed as they ever were—terrorists are devious, villainous, diabolical, and downright sneaky.
Americans are getting annoyed. People are dying in droves while we’re stuck in line with plastic bins and no shoes, trying to get all the liquids out of our purses and into little plastic baggies so they can go through the scanner. Terror is still striking, and America is still defenseless.
Only one thing can be done. Continue reading
Rachel’s Thoughts: The Glory of Shakespeare
I am hooked on Shakespeare. Not as much as I am on Edmund Spenser, but considerably more than Sidney.
“Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,
One foot in sea, and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.
Then sigh not so, but let them go,
And be you blithe and bonny,
Converting all your sounds of woe
Into hey nonny nonny.”
Rachel’s Thoughts: Sonnet: How to Train Your Dragon
Another sonnet, this one slightly more ludicrous than the last.
The dragon lays so still, a crumpled heap
Of scales and flame, a smoldering wreck of glory.
His eyes are shut; he rests now; snores, asleep.
So great his tale, unparalleled his story.
Once great he soared, the monarch of the skies,
Then caught by stealth, the trap of one young boy.
In fear he fled, in pain and turmoil cries;
His tail a hole had grown, the kid’s smart ploy.
He crashed to earth and hid within a vale,
He rescued him, on brink of death and saved
The frightful beast, although with cheeks so pale
And friendship grew; companionship they craved.
So thus came Toothless, joining Hiccup gladly.
He sleeps there now till Death will claim him sadly.
Rachel’s Thoughts: Old English Poem
For my Brit Lit class. Old English poetry has a split in the middle of each line, with two accented syllables on either side of it. The first of the second pair of syllables has to start with the same sound as one of the ones on the first half of the line…it doesn’t have to rhyme, but I liked it better when it did.
Creation
When darkness reigned and dimmed the sky,
The stars knew not their seats on high.
The Sun had yet to spill her grace
On Earth’s broad span, the shadowed-place.
Then one light flashed and filled the gap,
And Darkness fled to dens unmap’d.
The Fauns and Satyrs found their way
From holes deep hid’, and hailed the day.
The winged-ones came from winds-retreat,
They sang delight at Dark’s defeat.
The gods ascended to great Mount Ida;
And sphinxes dwelt in south Al Minya.
The Kings arose and reigned with might;
The people passed the period of Night.
Mankind grew strong, and cared for life;
When Time decreed, they captured Strife
And did not let him loose again,
Till man-kind lost what might have been.
Rachel’s Thoughts: A Series of Unusual Events, Part 3: Flathead Lake Monster
Flathead Lake is an innocent lake in Northern Montana, the largest freshwater lake in the Western United States. But does some mysterious creature lurk beneath its tranquil surface?
Like Loch Ness, rumors have flown for decades regarding a mysterious beast dwelling in the water. Witness accounts describe the creature in ways that make it closely resemble Nessie; similarities which have led to speculation regarding its authenticity. Perhaps the monster of Flathead Lake is a myth created to attract more tourists…but like Loch Ness, several different people have ‘seen’ the monster-or evidence of it- over several different years in several different locations.
In fact…my parents and I recently spent a weekend at Flathead Lake, and while we were sitting on a dock reading one morning large wakes rocked the dock. We didn’t see what caused the waves (all three of us were, as I said, reading), but when we looked up as the dock wiggled around, there was nothing on the lake. There were no boats, swimmers, jet skis, or any other man-made devices that could have caused the wake.
Is the Flathead Monster simply folklore…or something more?
Rachel’s Thoughts: A Series of Unusual Events, Part 2: The Loch Ness Monster
Loch Ness, Scotland, has a claim to fame that only one other place in the world can brag of. It has its very own monster, and its name is Nessie.
People have taken pictures and videos, but with so many faked images out there it’s impossible to tell which ones are real and which ones are hype. However, the fact remains that a great number of people have been sighting it since as early, possibly, as the 7th century. Or at least, they claim they have.
Is Nessie real? Is it simply, as some claim, a giant sturgeon-like creature? Or is it something…different?
What do you think?