Masland Library Blog

In honor of April being National Poetry Month I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on some of the great poets and their works. I could admire the great Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost, or even Edgar Allan Poe, for they all have such unique styles and wonderful pieces of literature. Although they are all certainly great in their own way, there is little poetry that is closer to my heart than that of which I read in my younger years. Certainly Shel Silverstein who wrote Where The Sidewalk Ends and The Giving Tree are children’s poetry books that all of us should have read when we were younger. Although these two are great classics and even aimed at children, my personal favorite is not as well known as the works of the great Silverstein, but is written by Carol Diggory Shields. The book is titled Lunch Money and Other Poems About School. I remember reading this book as a child, but forgetting about it until later in a middle school English class when I rediscovered it when analyzing children’s literature (and sure was I glad to find it and reminisce a little bit!) The poems in this book are pretty straight forward with no hidden meanings or themes, but they sure are cute and have some light-hearted humor. If you are an elementary education major you also may get a kick out of some of the poems since they are rather realistic when it comes to the behavior of young children.

Below is an example of one of the poems in the book. The poem is written in cold language (meaning a child with a cold/ is sick) and I think although it is a silly poem, it is certainly a feeling we can all relate to at one time or another.

Code
I dibbin go to school today,
Bom looked at be and said, “No way.”
Wend back to bed and here I’ll stay,
‘Cause I hab a terrible code.

By throad is sore, by eyes are bink,
By node dribs like a leaky sink,
By head’s so stuffed it hurds to think.
I hab a terrible code.

I challenge you in honor of National Poetry Month to take advantage of the library’s collection of poetry. Peruse through the PN, PR, and PS sections of the library when you have a few free moments. Maybe even head over the children’s section and find some children’s poetry, so that you too can reminisce a little.

CJC

Shields, Carol Diggory. Lunch Money and Other Poems About School. New York: Puffin Books, 1995. Print.

April is National Poetry Month. For some, this brings a happy reminder to quiet nights spent curled up in a corner with a slim, old-smelling book. For others, it brings the feeling of immediate incarceration within a bare, near-windowless classroom with badly-photocopied sheets being passed along the desks. But, in general, poetry is not approached with ambivalence.

Almost anyone who had to take any sort of English class knows the challenge (or tedium, depending on the perspective) of taking in a poem. I remember being told to explicate a poem that was written by a man in an insane asylum about how wonderful and angelic his cat was. My teacher did not appreciate my conclusion that the poem meant that the man was exactly where he needed to be. But, at the same time, though rather disgusted with that particular example, I still found myself stealing off with the poetry anthology, wanting to absorb more of the curious words.

One of the poets who I discovered during high school was Billy Collins. I like to think that he understands the inherent frustration in tackling poetry, but I could be wrong. At the very least, here’s his Introduction to Poetry.

I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide

or press an ear against its hive.

I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,

or walk inside the poem's room
and feel the walls for a light switch.

I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author's name on the shore.

But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with rope
and torture a confession out of it.

They begin beating it with a hose
to find out what it really means.

I doubt that the Academy of American Poets will make anyone magically begin to like poetry by instituting this monthlong celebration. But for anyone who is loves poetry already or who maybe is interested in learning more about how poetry works, the library has a display that contains guides to poetry and a sampling of works from a variety of poets. Read with joy.

abbie.


Collins, Billy. The Apple That Astonished Paris: Poems. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas, 1996. Print.

There has been a lot of talk in the press and news-boards about e books lately. With the arrival of the iPad and other tablets to the market, electronic books are highly visual lately. One of the many debates about e books are the cost, e books are digital representations of books, they aren't something you can stick on your shelf, and yet the cost the same as many paperbacks. However as a PBU student, you have the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from the immediacy of electronic books for your work, and the cost to you is part of your tuition. What is it? Ebrary Academic Complete.

Last year the Masland Library added over 40,000 electronic books to our collection. The books range from Religion to Science, from Literature to Business and everything in-between. The books available are searchable through the PBU Library Catalog and readable on your computer or mobile device. If you create an account for yourself in Ebrary you can also make notes, and highlight sections of a book as necessary.

So if you are in the market for a tablet computer, have a web enabled device, or you are longing for something to read, instead of purchasing a book through the Kindle or BNreader App, use Ebrary- it's free and wonderfully informative. Watch for more reviews of books that can be found in Ebrary!

We had a mission’s week, and I think many students heard His calling to the mission field. Some may go for a short-term mission, and some may go for a long-time.

I’ve been here for almost 3 years since I came from Japan in 2007. So, I can say that traveling overseas and living in a foreign country are totally different things! I had traveled the US more than 10 times before, but once I started living here…I was shocked by so many things. I felt myself as a little girl and so many times I thought “why did I come here? Why did God send me to the US?”

I still think that Japan and the US have many commonalities like the way of living, but I also experienced many differences (yes, it is called “culture shock”)…and of course, language barrier is very big (still for me, so many struggles…). Therefore, I really recommend you to read good books before going to your mission field! The Library has many books which were written by the missionaries who served Christ and the people in foreign countries. These testimonies are so powerful that you can prepare for your mission. I read some of them, written by the missionaries who were working in Japan, and their insights were really interesting. “Hyakubun-wa-ikkenni-shikazu” …this is a Japanese proverb which means “Seeing it gives you stronger impact than hearing it 100 times.” (Maybe “Seeing is Believing” is similar proverb in English.) But, still to know from the books and the testimonies helps you a lot. Plus, I recommend you to have some good books with you when you go to your mission field; especially if you go to non-English speaking country…you should have any books written in English! These must comfort you a lot.

Someone told me that people will be depressed and homesick 3 days, 3weeks, and 3 months after moving to a foreign country. I don’t know why, but these really happened to me! 3 years after…I haven’t experienced yet…but, hope I will be alright then.

CI

Today is Ash Wednesday. It is not a day that is observed by the evangelical community, but perhaps it should be. The following entry can be found in Oxford Reference.


Ash Wednesday. The first day of Lent, six and a half weeks before Easter. This was symbolized by the imposition of ashes, in token of mourning and penitence, upon the heads of clergy and people, a rite still ordered for AshWednesday in the Roman Missal. In the American Books of 1929 and 1979 AshWednesday is mentioned as a special fast-day (with Good Friday), and in the Scottish Book of 1929 it is named (together with the six days before Easter) a ‘Greater Fast’.

"Ash Wednesday" The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Ed F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone. Oxford University Press Inc. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. Philadelphia Biblical University. 17 February 2010

T.S. Eliot also wrote a poem to commemorate Ash Wednesday it can be found here. Or for a modern interpretation you can read an article by Ryan Hamm.

LAS

We hope all of the students and staff enjoyed their 2 consecutive snow days. I do not believe I have experienced 2 snow days quite like these (and I have been here since 2001). I hope you all had some rest and were able to catch up on your work.

We also wish to thank all of the participants of the Poetry and Art Contest. We received a number of entries which are currently being judged. Please look out for them as we will be placing them on display shortly.

Enjoy the snow!

LAS

This week is the due date for the Art and Poetry competition. We have a number of submissions and are excited by the work we have seen. With that subject in mind I wanted to introduce you to Camio or Catalog of Art Museum Images Online.

This collection has a number of images that can be used in your studies, whether you need a piece of art to critique for Prof. Ebersole's Lit and Art's class or you are trying to jazz up your powerpoint presentation for Prof. Ferner you can find thousands of images of art from around the world. One of the best aspects of this database is that when you have to cite an image the information will be available.

For more information on resources for art and architecture click here.

LAS