Gates of Fire

So for the past two summer, I've put together a list of books that I have always wanted to read during the school year, yet lacked the time to read all of them. This summer's book list include: Gates of Fire, Clash of Kings, Mere Christianity, Problem of Pain, Killer Angels, Doctor Who and Philosophy, and The Problems of Philosophy. Now seven books to read in a summer is very ambitious. Especially now that I'm in Gypsy, and helping my mom with art camps, and working.


So far, I'm twelve chapters into Gates of Fire. It's a novel about the Battle of Thermopylae. The narrator is a poor Greek young man who joins the Spartan ranks under King Leonidas. The whole thing about the novel is that this certain king and 300 Greeks held a pass against the mighty Persian army.


Two things come to mind when I think of Sparta, Persia, and Thermopylae. The first thing that comes to mind is a movie quote from The Last Samurai. In the last stand of the Samurai, the American tells the Samurai about the battle of Thermopylae because it pertains to their situation.

"There was once a battle at a place called Thermopylae, where three hundred brave Greeks held off a Persian army of a million men... a million, you understand this number?""I understand this number." 

The Samurai later asks the question to which the American responds.

"What happened to the warriors at Thermopylae?" "Dead to the last man."

Probably one of the most powerful memories in my subconscious is this moment. For some reason, I thought the quote would be in some cheesy movie where there were big explosions and bad guys, not cultural changes from the past to the more modern.


The second thing that comes to mind is nothing that matters to anyone, but it still is funny. It's the word Persia. Now this word does not just mean the most mighty empire in the East in antiquity, it is also a nickname. It's a nickname for a boy I know who doesn't even know it. It is my personal pleasure, along with some of my best friends, to call him as such, because we didn't know him at first and we needed a way of referencing him instead of that guy who blah blah blah blah. Or something confusing like that. :) That's my little schpeal (if that is even a word) for today. Nothing intellectual...I just thought I should post. Have a wonderful day, faithful readers!

Moo, Moo, Moo, Moo!

Earlier this week, Monday, actually, my littlest sister, Bella, was auditioning for the show, Gypsy. The show is about the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, a burlesque stripper, and the whole musical surrounds her life and her relationship with her mother, Rose. Bella was up for either a little girl in the chorus, or Baby June or Louise. So when I walked into the theatre, I was not expecting to try out. The director looks at me and says, "You are auditioning, right?" I looked at my calendar and said, "Why not?" My mom and I rushed home. I put on a dress and heels and ran back up to the theatre, searching for a song to audition with. I decided on Once Upon a December. Note: I have not auditioned in two years exactly. The last show I did was Light in the Piazza, beautiful show, if you haven't seen it or listened to it, do! It's amazing.

Anyways, I start getting those nervous jitters that I always get before auditions. Trying to breath and trying not to shake, it's probably one of the worst forms of torture there is. Bella gets up there and blows everyone away with her little song. Silently, in my head, I'm praying that Randy doesn't call me up next because following up that much cute in one person is just not fair. I haven't had that much cute since I was 8. Finally it's my turn. I try not to shake as I walk up the ramp to the stage.

I sing my song and the worst is over. The next step of the audition is dancing, which honestly is no problem whatsoever. I have danced since I was 5. I did choreography for the theatre before. This part was no problem at all. Needless to say, the director says, "Young girls and young women, if you can do the splits, try them at the end." Challenge accepted! Note: I haven't dance seriously in over a year. I am now sporting a bruise that could be described as rainbow on my knee. I had a ton of fun that night of auditions.

The next night, Tuesday, was the callback audition. This means we sing from the show and possibly read from the script. So far, I was content with just being in a show again. However, the further I progressed in the audition, the more I wanted to be one of the older versions of the daughter. I did not really care which one. With a mindset to have fun and do my best, I sang "If Momma was Married" and "Little Lamb." Then I was called up to read for the daughter parts.

Going home that night, I had no idea what I was gonna get. Content with being in the chorus, I went home for a cup of tea with my family and our friend, Cesara, who also auditioned for the part of Mama Rose. We were sitting around the kitchen, all on our various iPads, laptops, and smart-phones. :) Suddenly the cast list pops up on the Facebook group. Searching frantically for people we knew, we found that Bella got Baby June, Cesara got Mama Rose, and I got Dainty Louise....who later becomes Gypsy Rose Lee. :) Needless to say, I'm very excited for this show. I can't wait to work with the wonderful people in this cast and with Randy.

By the way, you should come see the show: Gypsy. It opens June 15th and runs through June 24th. It's going to be a blast. 28 days till opening night!!!

Iron Man Fan Art!

So I'm a huge Avengers fan, scratch that, I'm a huge Joss Whedon fan. When I found out he was doing the Avengers movie, I just about had a fan heart attack! :) In celebration of the wonderful, awesome film, Avengers, I decided to do a little fan art of my own.

This was the first pencil drawing that was inspired by a cartoon version of Iron Man. He happens to be one of my favorite Avengers and my mother, who does art camps in the summer, was doing a super hero art camp and since she wasn't feeling very well, she asked me to do an example for that particular art camp.

This was a photocopy that I colored in with marker. I did this so that the students could see the succession of how they were going to complete their super hero project during the camp. I'm very proud of my Iron Man to say the least. My little sister begged me for a copy of the Iron Man and asked me to draw Captain America for one of her friends. You might be seeing a post about Captain America fairly soon, I hope!

A Dedication

I apologize. I am awful at keeping up with a blog. Sometimes I have no idea what to write about. And then I decide well, I can just make something up and hope that it makes sense. So I've decided to start off with a poem I wrote earlier in the semester. This is dedicated to Knox Anderson and the Anderson Family. We love you guys!!!!

Big smile and blue eyes,
Runny nose and chubby cheeks.
Looking up at blue skies,
I keep remembering this week. 

You were a bundle of joy,
A picture of new life.
You are their precious boy,
Not knowing any strife. 

And then you were taken,
Leaving us bereft.
We miss you, dear boy,
Ever since you left. 

Now it's just one of those days,
Another one of those pilgrim days.
Where I walk through life and think of you,
Free of strife and mourning too. 

We love you, dear boy,
Live on in our hearts.
You are our joy,
Nothing will keep us apart.

School Pride...I Love My School!!!

Baylor University is a wonderful  university with a community for all kinds of students and for Anthropology majors like me. As a freshman, I came into Baylor not knowing what was going on. The Residential Community played an important part in making me feel right at home at Baylor. I moved into the Honors Residential College and immediately felt right at home. The Campus Living and Learning make it more comfortable and safe than I could ever have imagined. The transition to living at Baylor started when my family drove up in front of my dorm. Within five minutes of me being at Baylor, I met my roommate, and all my stuff that was packed was taken out of my car and taken up to my room. This is the beginning of Welcome Week at Baylor. The community at Baylor is eager to bring students into the community and feel at home. Baylor’s philosophy about student community is that community aids in a student’s ability to do well in classes. Baylor demonstrates this philosophy in every aspect from making room for more on-campus Residential Colleges to providing transportation to and from football games from campus to Floyd Casey Stadium.

The academics for Anthropology majors are very inspiring. There is no graduate department for Anthropology so all of the faculty members in the department are focused on the Anthropology students. The advisors work closely with the students and push students to experience hands on work in the field. The program Baylor has for Anthropology students will contribute to their career field by helping them get hands-on experience. Anthropology students are required by the university to do six hours of research or attend an outside field school for anthropology or archaeology. This part of the program ensures that the students have an adequate amount of field world under their belt before going off to graduate school for archaeology, or anthropology. The classes offered to Anthropology students incite hard work and individual research within the class with advising from the professor. In one class, Historical Archaeology, I participated in original research that is now an unpublished manuscript in the Texas Collection Library and in a field dig in Salado, Texas.

These things both offered at Baylor have made my life at Baylor amazing. I feel that Baylor’s community and academia has been both beneficial and preparatory for my career in Anthropology. These two things have shaped who I am personally and academically so that I can go on and have a great career in the field of my choice. I love Baylor for doing this for all of their students.