You Might Be A Janeite If……

You might be a Janeite if…..

• You being many a sentence with “It is a universally acknowledged….”
• As a single person, your dates are compared to the following
  • If the date was good (and your female and/or straight): Captain Wentworth, Edmund Bertram, Fitzwilliam Darcy, etc
  • If your date was bad (and your female and/or straight) : Mr. Elliot, Henry Crawford, Mr. Collins, Mr. Wickham,
  • If your date was good (and your male and/or straight): Anne Elliot, Fanny Price, Elizabeth Bennet, etc.
  • If your date was bad (and your male and/or straight): Elizabeth Elliot, Mariah Bertram, Caroline Bingley, Mary Bennet etc
• You frequently drop references to Austen characters and story lines in your every day conversations: i.e.- when sharing the details of a bad date with a friend: He was such a Mr. Collins. I wanted to puke.
• You compare your parents to the parents in Austen and thank your lucky stars that your parents are not like them.
• You want to see, have seen or own one of the following because more than one Austen actor is on the cast list. This is regardless of whether it is a period piece, if it is related to Jane Austen or how the reviewers reacted.
  • The Kings Speech
  • Love Actually
  • Gambit
  • Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
  • Possession
  • Harry Potter
  • A Little Chaos
  • Daniel Deronda
  • Summer In February
  • Captain America
  • Much Ado About Nothing
  • Nanny McPhee
  • Effie Gray
  • Brideshead Revisisted
  • Jungbug
  • Bridget Jones Diary
• You own more than one copy of her novels (I have three physical different copies of Pride and Prejudice, well four if you count the digital copy).
• You have attended or plan on attending one or more of JASNA Annual General Meetings.
• You drool over period costumes, especially regency era clothes.
• The top of your travel bucket list includes Chawton and Lyme Park.
• You spend way too much time on youtube watching Austen related videos, thinking of songs that would make good videos, writing Jane Austen related fanfiction or killing time by looking up Jane Austen related products on etsy.
• You still think Colin Firth is one of the hottest guys you’ve ever seen.
• You own more than one filmed adaptation of the books.
• And finally, you have a group of friends who are just as crazy about Jane and her books as you are.

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Selma Movie Review

Sometimes in life, we have a calling so powerful, that it supersedes any logic or sense.

Martin Luther King Jr. had such a calling.

The movie, Selma, released last year, is the story of Dr. King’s campaign to secure voting rights for the African-American residents of Alabama.

Dr. King (David Oyelowo) had his allies, but he also had his adversaries. Then President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkins0n), preferred to avoid the issue. Governor George Wallace (Tim Roth) was dead set against integration and had no qualms about using any means (violent and non-violent) possible to prevent it.

I found this movie to be very powerful. As the legendary Dr. King, David Oyelowo is magnetic. His on screen struggle is a reminder of just how far we have come, but also how far we have to go. As President Johnson, Tom Wilkinson is caught between a rock and a hard place. He knows that integration and the Civil Rights movement cannot be ignored, but he also knows that that his country is going through a turbulent time. As Governor Wallace, Tim Roth is another stark reminder of the fact that it was only a few decades ago that African-Americans had to fight for the simple right to vote.

I highly recommend it.

Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County Book Review

History is often personal. But sometimes, it can be too personal.

Something Must Be Done About Prince Edward County: A Family, a Virginia Town, a Civil Rights Battle, by Kristen Green is a very interesting view of American history. 

Born and raised in Prince Edward County, Virginia, Ms. Green attended an all white school as a child. The only African-Americans that she came across were the household help. It was only when she left her hometown to attend college and find a job did she come to know people of other races. A journalist by profession, Ms. Green began to dig into the history of her town.

She discovered that American history did not extend farther than her own family.

In the wake of Brown Vs. Board Of Education (1954), the elders of Prince Edward County rebelled against the ruling in the best way that they knew how. All public schools were closed. White children whose parents made enough money were lucky enough to attend the private school established specifically to keep black children out. Black children and white children whose parents were on the lower end of the economic scale were forced to find other educational avenues for their children.  In her research, Ms. Green came to discover that her grandfather was one of the men responsible for the establishment of the all white school.

I found this book to be riveting. Ms. Green mixes known history with interviews from people who lived through the era (including members of her own family) as well as clips from newspapers and official documents. In the end, Ms. Green makes peace with the past, but she also speaks of the potential that was lost when the public schools were closed. It is a lesson to be well learned.

I highly recommend it.