TJ Hirst

The discussion of the May Selection for the Bodacious Bloggity Book Club is starting. I’m a day early with my post, but I’ve already planned my Sunday post on another topic. After you’ve read my review of Watership Down by Richard Adams and you want to follow the discussion, visit Marathon Bird on May 25 and check out the other links.

First of all, I know there is a word for animals that are given human characteristics—yes, I am right, anthropomorphism. I typically detest that sort of book or movie and feel it is the bane of parenthood to be subjected to them. But, I took a chance by remaining open to suggestion, and It was worth it.

I am not sure if this is a true example of anthropomorphism or just a creative interpretation of how a warren of rabbits may actually live. Adams was not overtly saying, “Here is a human disguised as a rabbit.” And that is why I think this book was not only tolerable but struck me with great curiosity.

Whatever the author’s intended approach or form, I recognized numerous examples that showed similarities between the personalities of the rabbit characters and human personalities.

Identifying each rabbit’s personality and then observing how it fit into the group showed a theme of governance and individual agency. Leadership that allows for individual ownership and participation by making choices and acting upon responsibility increases the growth and survival of the whole group. On the other hand, dependence upon others takes away the opportunity and the capacity to make decisions and stifles growth.

The leader of the main group of rabbits in this story follows the first philosophy of leadership as they encounter the other types of leaders and groups. As such a leader, he even extends freedom to other animals, recognizing and using their traits in exchange for protection or service. Hazel, who becomes the Chief Rabbit of stragglers escaping a doomed warren, said, “If anyone finds an animal or bird that isn’t an enemy, in need of help, for goodness sake, don’t miss the opportunity. That would be like leaving carrots to rot in the ground.”

When they come across some hutch rabbits on a farm, they learn quickly that captivity destroys not only the use of agency to make choices but diminishes the ability to develop the reasoning to do so. Describing some hutch rabbits that the wild rabbits turned loose, “They did not know how to make up their minds. It was not within their capacity to take a decision and act on it. These rabbits had never had to act to save their lives or even find a meal.” Self-reliance encourages long-term survival.

Of all the characters, my two favorite personalities are Fiver and Big Wig.

As a sensitive soul myself, I adore Fiver, the small rabbit who can sense danger or wrong choices. He is the one who insisted on leaving the doomed warren in the first place. At first, the others doubt his ability to see and listen to the signs around them, but he has a gift that through several experiences is proved invaluable.

Big Wig is a tough but smart fighter who does not shirk from a difficult task. About him Hazel predicted in the beginning, “He was certainly no coward, but he was likely to remain steady as long as he could see his way clear and be sure what to do. To him, perplexity was worse than danger.” These were true statements, but Big Wig learned to not only face danger but to also make decisions in the midst of it.

These characters and all of the others are leaders in one way or another as they use and develop their particular gifts to benefit all. Their struggles to create a warren of their own, protect it against their enemies and help it flourish with buck, does and kittens is an apt analogy for our own life experience as families, communities and nations.

I am surprised that I liked it and admitted that to my daughter’s 3rd grade teacher who saw me carrying it at a classroom performance. She said, “I used it as a read-aloud with my kids—my own kids at home, not my classroom students.”

Intrigued, she gave me an idea of how to extend my May Reading Challenge in a summer read-aloud of Watership Down with my children.

This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

Joshua 1:8

My daughter’s eighth grade English class has been reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and it is the April selection for the Bodacious Bloggity Book Club hosted by Marathon Bird.

I hoped reading it together would prompt conversation with her. Even though my daughter is now my height and the story brought us into the same frame of reference, we were still looking through the window of those words from our own places. She is experiencing this story for the first time. I am relearning and refining.

The first time I read To Kill A Mockingbird is the first time I understood the power of perspective. In the concluding scene the main character, a young girl named Scout, recognizes her change of perspective:

Atticus was right. One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them. Just standing on the Radley porch was enough.

I occasionally stand on my neighbor’s front porch to try this exercise. That change of perspective certainly reveals the weaknesses and uncovers the strengths of my own home.

Now, I am reading this book again with parent eyes, with added experience and adult-like assumptions.I am not nearly as fresh. And neither is my perspective.

But only in this place could I discover something new.

Harper Lee’s did not choose Scout to tell the story of misunderstood Arthur “Boo” Radley and maligned Tom Robinson so that younger readers in high school literature discussions could relate to her.

Instead, I believe Lee gave us this story through the young eyes of Scout to replace our tired adult perspectives. In this way, she could strip the prejudice of experience and offer the opportunity to relearn like a child.

Scout’s childhood perceptions aren’t innocent. In fact, as her brother Jem said, it was when they were trying to get their reclusive neighbor, Boo, to come out of his house that this story of overcoming prejudice begins. They think he is quirky and weird, and he is.

But Scout and Jem have to go through the miserable punishment of reading to Mrs Dubose every day for ruining her shrubs and the horrific racial injustices in their community before they prepared to meet and accept the real Boo Radley.

I want to parent like Atticus. He seems like the kind of father that teaches by example rather than always trying to teach with his mouth. For example, in the process of guiding Jem through his punishment with Mrs. Dubose he shows his children how to love someone who is hard to like. Atticus overlooks her flaws and discovers what is majestic about her—her bravery to overcome an addiction.

I teach with my mouth because I like words. As a family we recently watched the movie Amazing Grace (read my review of that here). When my daughter and I considered the impact of that movie on reading this book and what our own prejudices might be against African Americans, it was she who taught me. She said, “It was like when slavery ended, it didn’t end.”

Ironically, it is in the dim light of Jem’s room when Scout finally meets Boo and comes to her own understanding.

They were white hands that had never seen the sun, so white they stood out garishly against the dull cream wall in the dim light of Jem’s room. His face was as white as his hands.

It took her describing him as the individual he really was, not just a creation in her mind for her to see him and know who he is. Later she says,

I wondered why Atticus was inviting us to the front porch instead of the living room, then I understood. The living room lights were awfully strong.

Boo is sensitive to light. This brings this story to a symbolic conclusion for me. While light makes it possible for us to see, being sensitive to that light helps us to not only see but to perceive slight attitudes, feeling and circumstances of others.

Try-It With-Me Tuesday, an interactive weekly time and place to foster connections that challenge and encourage the process to become a well-rounded person.

The April Reading Challenge is to memorize something you have read that inspires you.

The students I teach in an early morning religion class are encouraged to memorize 25 scriptures from the Old Testament of the Bible this school year. One student has expressed that memorization helps her recall what she has learned and answer questions about her religion.

I am no longer a student with a need to recall for tests, but like this student, I have discovered there is still value in memorizing even after leaving formal school. In fact, it wasn’t until I discovered the value beyond recall for tests that I was enthused and motivated to memorize. Memorization develops my mental concentration in all tasks and is a tool to control my thoughts. In addition, when I memorize something that has inspired or enlightened me and then bring it back to my mind, I retain the emotions and knowledge I initially felt and also gain new understanding from it.

What important benefits have you gained from memorization?

Even though my goals (and yours) to memorize are valuable, for me to actually memorize this document will require diligent, almost vigilant, daily attention. A deadline (April 29th) helps. Being accountable to another person (anyone who reads this) also helps.

Here’s what else I am doing and plan to do to help me memorize:

I write each paragraph out on a note card.

I study the first card until I can say it without the card.

It takes me at least a day or two, sometimes even a week, to learn each card.

When I know the first card, I move on to the second card and study it.

I actually study my cards while I exercise or wait.

I try to say both cards together before I move on to the third card.

When I think I know each card, then I study the document as a whole.

I try to recall each paragraph, one at a time, until I can say it all together.

Then I rehearse it in front of the mirror, and finally say it to my family.

This is not a proven method, just what works for me.

How do you memorize?

Your tips and these tips for How to Memorize will be a help to me and those who want to try to memorize something with me this month. Good Thinking to You!

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Note: I did not post my review of the biography from the March Reading Challenge on Saturday as I promised. (I am sure no one was anticipating it). But my change of plans is an interesting insight. I was reading the biography on Dolley Madison with my mom, who lives in another state. She is listening to it on audio tape as she drives home from work. I finished reading the book last week. When we had a brief conversation about it, I was reminded of my desire to try it with her and connect through our discussions. I am going to wait to post my review until she has finished and we have had more over-the-phone book discussions. Those connections are as important to the process as the end result.

Join in by trying the challenges with me, commenting, linking, or suggesting a challenge. If you want to write a post on your blog about what happened when you took the challenge, I will publish your link. Just link to my website in your post and send me your link.

Try-It With-Me Tuesday, an interactive weekly time and place to foster connections that challenge and encourage the process to become a well-rounded person.

I completed the March Reading Challenge with a day to spare and have the April Reading Challenge to try. Want to try it with me? Details are at the end of this post.

I have to admit that the challenge to read a biography this month was a challenge. Biographies in general are not like reading a novel in which the story carries you through without concentrated effort. Let’s just say that this wasn’t something I could just read on the elliptical. But overall, I do love biography and understanding the lives of interesting and inspiring people, and I was glad for the challenge.

What is/was your experience reading a biography? Even if you did not complete what you are reading, I would love to receive a comment from you about it. Just tell me what biography you read (or are still reading), a few facts about the person in the biography, and something that person did or said that inspires you.

I will do a full review on Saturday of the biography I read and just give a short synopsis as part of the discussion on biographies here today.

I read A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation by Catherine Allgor. To be perfectly honest, I did not choose this book because I admire Dolley Madison. Rather, I was inspired by the idea that she was an integral part of a marriage “team” and that team of James and Dolley Madison established some important characteristic foundations for our country.

Dolley Madison was the wife of James Madison, the principal author of the Constitution and the fourth president of the United States (after Thomas Jefferson). He took office in March 1809. Although women could not vote at the time,

Dolley brought the feminine values of civility and emotion into government business. The presence of ladies in the audience at governmental proceedings shaped how the ruling men presented their arguments and chose their issues, with the effect of toning down the usual violent rhetoric.

^{Catherine Allgor
A Perfect Union:
Dolly Madison and the Creation of the American Nation}

Her tempering influence was inspiring to me in that she “did her best to bring everyone in the capital—locals, officials, and visitors—together under her roof” in a way that provided a non-confrontational and hospitable forum for understanding and discussing many points of view. I think we cannot underestimate the influence of the tone a woman sets in her home. This biography revealed that Dolley’s tone helped establish national rituals which cemented the foundation of our nation’s capital and the symbolism of the White House.

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The theme of home is deep in my heart and my mind as I present the April Reading Challenge:

During the month of April memorize something you have read that inspires you.

Before you think this is too challenging, please consider that this does not have to be long unless you want it to be. For instance, it could be an important quotation, a meaningful scripture, or a short poem.

In the past year I have discovered the joy of memorization as a way to overcome discouragement, control my thoughts, and think positively. I had never memorized anything until I was inspired to memorize a written testimony of Jesus Christ. Now, I have been working toward memorizing a proclamation about home and family.

I need some help and encouragement to complete my memorization by the last Tuesday in April, which is April 29th. Will you offer your tips and Try-It-With-Me?

If you want to write a post on your blog about what happened when you took the challenge, I will publish your link. Just link to my website in your post and send me your link by Monday April 28 at 6 p.m. (Central Time).