Wednesday, August 24, 2016

School Has Started

Monday was the first day of class for Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA.

For me, my classes are on Tuesday/Thursday during the day, and Thursday night. So, I've been to one class, once. It was really just a"get to know ya" class meeting, so nothing much happened.  I am looking forward to a great semester.

We are using McKee's newest book, Dialogue. I've read the first chapter and preface. Not bad. It's the second class that bothers me. We have to read Carrie by Stephen King. I've read the first 28 pages and it's just disgusting. ick...

Wish me luck.

Friday, August 19, 2016

School has not started due to disaster

Hello everyone. Sorry, but school has not started. It was supposed to have started on Wednesday, but it won't start until Monday, August 22, 2016.

I live in Southeast Louisiana, and we received torrential rains a week ago today, that has caused massive flooding. It is so severe, that we, as a state, lost many things.

Just in my parish alone, six people died, and over half of our citizens have lost their homes. Some of my friends have lost everything, while others have lost only vehicles, and still more had no problems at all.

In Denham Springs, close to Baton Rouge, nearly everyone lost their home. Homes have to be gutted down to the bare bones, or completely torn down and built again. Others, have to cut out their walls from just a foot above the floor to several feet above the floor. They will have to be re-dry walled.

We have what is called the Cajun Navy. It is a group of Cajuns who love to go fishing and each have their own boats. When the disaster hit, they got in their boats, and went and rescued people out of their homes. And not just people, they took their animals too.

This is the second severe flooding in this area of Louisiana in less than six months. The rain came down so hard and so fast, that it had nowhere to go. A lot of times, people in this area, don't keep their ditches cleared out of debris, so it is already standing full of water. Other times, like in my neighborhood, just the week before the flooding, the surrounding ditches had been cleaned out. They were ready for the flooding.  But did it help? No, it came just too fast and the ditches are small, so flood we did.

I work at Southeastern Louisiana University as an Administrative Assistant. The university got the students who were on campus together, asked them to volunteer to clean up, and they did.  Wednesday and Thursday, students went out in groups around our parish and the surrounding area and helped with the recovery effort. They pulled out damaged furniture, carpeting, personal items and whatever else was needed. Then they helped to clean up the homes, and worked in the yard. We are a resilient state, but only so much can be done. We need help.

I am asking everyone who reads my blog to please pray for the people of Southeastern Louisiana, that we may be able to recover, and to do so quickly.

Friday, August 12, 2016

A Year Has Passed Since...

A year has passed since I started back to school, and I know, I haven't done very well in upkeeping my blog. I do apologize.

Monday, August 15, 2016, starts the new fall semester at Southeastern Louisiana University.  It also starts my fourth semester.

Spring 2016 I took English 303 which was English Literature II. This past summer I took Philosophy 313, and this fall I have two classes.  I am taking English 380 Creative Writing: Drama and English 484 Topics in Writing: the Novel.

In English 380 we will be writing a one-act play. Now I am in trouble. I have never written a play, much written a one-act play. oh no... The book we are using is Dialogue by Robert McKee. I told a former co-worker, that for my one-act play, I was going to title it: Laura and Her Red Soled Shoes. She has a pair of Louis Vuitton's with some bling on top. They're cute, but I wouldn't pay over $600 for a pair of shoes. I don't care who the designer is.

I was telling my friend Jeanette about the one-act play, and I was thinking of doing a comedy piece on my neighbor. I don't know. I will have to wait to see what the teacher has us do. oh boy...

In English 484 we will be writing a novel. We will have 3 1/2 months to accomplish this. At the end of the class, if your novel is ready, he will suggest where you can submit it for publication. For this class we have to read Carrie (ick) by Stephen King and his memoir On Writing. I'm not a King fan so this will be a difficult class for me.

Although I am slowing working on a story, I won't be using it for class. Until I think it is ready for publication, I don't want anyone else reading it, but my friend Alara.  She reads and then critiques for me. She's honest without being harsh.

Sine I returned to school in Fall 2015, I have taken three classes - 2 English and 1 Philosophy, and I have earned an A in all three classes.  This is good for my GPA.  I need a good GPA.

I hope to be more active with my blog for the rest of this year.