In 1993 I set my sights on getting an Associate's degree, took care of that business and walked away with a degree in Photography. In my mind it was a foregone conclusion I would decide what university to attend, take care of that business, and walk away with a Bachelor's degree. I had two brief layovers studying abroad in Europe much to the eternal enrichment of my life. Wanted to go to Europe to study abroad and make the credits really count. Ta-da...goodbye photography major and hello European Studies major. It was a slick switcheroo in my mind. Sadly, a life changing illness derailed all of those glorious plans.
My formal education quite abruptly ended in the Spring of 2000 with most of my life and self as I knew them. It burns something inside when you have a long-term expectation that seems to die a sudden and painful death. I would need to enter the work-force to pay for medical bills and get some kind of health coverage. Luckily I got a great job with a well respected company that provided me with decent pay and phenomenal health insurance.
I went about my life trying to navigate it with these bizarre new limitations in my health and well-being. It certainly has not been easy, was often times dark, but that is a different story for a different day. When I made my way home in 2005 to the literally and figuratively greener pastures of rural Maryland I found a new support network with my family close by. It has helped me tremendously. In the last eight years I have carved out a wonderful career for myself at the local hospital in my chosen field, that as an administrative assistant. With multiple stabilizing forces my life changed and what once was elusive became more obtainable.
Really that unfinished degree with so many credits sitting there unused was like a tick in the back of my brain. It never went away and it surfaced to bother me at different and unexpected intervals.
New educational systems have emerged since my days at university. Amazing, sometimes almost futuristic and alien, educational systems that allow people like myself who live in an outlying more rural location and who work a full-time job to access collegiate education. It was last summer and my 40th birthday was fast approaching. I was planning the big cruise trip and that was exciting, but a flyer in the mail at work, then an email advertisement in my personal email on the same day seemed like a possible cosmic sign.
I explored the University of Maryland University College website and their degree programs. I saw what was available and what might allow me to transfer the majority of my credits over and work towards a degree. Luckily they have a generic Humanities degree that fit for me. I was accepted and enrolled for class in less than two weeks.
I returned to college in August 2013. I took library science and student success classes that not only reminded me of things I had learned in the way distant past (13 years earlier) I was able to acquaint myself with the new online learning environment. It was amazing to learn about the online library. I've decided to go to school "year round". That means 6 classes per year spread out between late January and early December with one month breaks between the semesters. It will help keep me in practice instead of getting lazy and out of practice over the Summer.
A lot of people have asked why I am going back to school for a humanities degree. Am I doing it to further my career or change careers? No. Am I doing it for a raise? No. I'm doing it because that dreamed died, my expectations were shattered, and I was left feeling a bit like a failure. Now, I can say that I had the courage to go back and make it happen. I can resurrect and fix and succeed when for the longest time I had felt powerless. I have more respect for myself. The classes are energizing to my brain. I am thinking critically, interacting collegiately, completing challenging tasks, and it is excellent. Knowledge has intrinsic value. I'm glad it isn't interrupted anymore.
Shauna News
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
Things Happen, Personal Choice and God Blaming
I’m a believer in instinct. I believe that God can guide us down certain paths if we allow it. I believe that sometimes things happen for a reason, while other times they just happen. I have a very deep frustration (sometimes anger) when people like to lay blame at the feet of God. It’s an easy way out or an excuse. It’s a way to focus anger or blame externally. God isn't to blame for our problems, losses, sicknesses, death, war, or any other thing people like to blame Him for.
This has do with my belief in the gift of choice or what can be called “free agency.” God allows us this freedom to make our own choices. Using the concept that God is all powerful then it was possible that He could have allowed us to come into this life with no choice whatsoever, forcing our obedience and taking our will and choice away. Instead, God gifted us with choice.
When I taught children Sunday school at church I wanted them to be clear about this. I've always said that things happen for three reasons.
1. We make a choice and we must live with the consequences. We get to choose our choices, but we do not get to choose the consequences. An example would be if a person decided to drink alcohol then drive their car. If they get into a car accident, God didn't cause it, the person making the decision to drink and drive caused it.
2. Someone else makes a choice and we must live with the consequences. That person gets to choose their choice, but we too have to live with the consequences. An example would be if a person decided to drink alcohol then drive their car. If they caused a car accident where we got hurt, God didn't cause it, the person making the decision to drink and drive caused it. This is where a lot of ‘God blamers' get caught. They don’t want God to take their personal choices away, but they think that He should have taken personal choice away from the person who made a bad choice. Sorry, it doesn't work that way. We all get to choose, even those who make terribly bad choices and we all have to live with the consequences. Our world being the place that it is today has to do with more and more people making unwise choices. God isn't making it this way, we are using His gift of choice to make it this way.
3. We live in a “fallen” world. That term throws people off, but use it in the context that the Garden of Eden world was perfect without problems, pain or death etc. Once Adam and Eve “fell” then our world became fallen with them. In a more scientific way of saying it, our world is natural and is subject to the laws of nature and time. We cannot avoid the laws of nature or time. The Earth has winds, rains, oceans, mountains, land and many other natural things. God is not to blame for an earthquake, an avalanche, a tornado, hurricane or any other natural event. The price of living in a world subject to nature is our being subject to nature. Bodies in nature are exposed to the laws of nature as well. We age and our bodies change due to their environs. Our cells divide, our cells stop dividing, and our cells are attacked by viruses or cancers. All are natural, if not horrible, processes.
The last belief I have is more of a relational aspect. I believe that God knows what is going to happen and He can help us with what we are going to face. It may sound odd, but God will take the opportunity to help us, teach us, or even test us. While not the root cause He can and will make use of the existing opportunity. I’m going to use a very personal experience as an example.
I was given counsel by a wise man of faith that I had a great deal of respect for when I was 18. He told me that God had given me the blessing of a strong intellect and a keen mind. He said that God gave me those gifts so that I had them when I had to face the trials of my life and find my way through them. When I was 27 I fell apart and attempted suicide. I didn't know that I had bipolar disorder. After my suicide attempt I was properly diagnosed and started treatment. In the last 14 years I have been blessed to use that strong intellect and keen mind to help me cope and deal with this situation. God didn't give me bipolar. I think it was a combination of DNA and a painfully stressful childhood environment. However, God blessed me before the bipolar manifested with tools I could use to help me in my struggle. Many patients with bipolar live broken lives where they are unable to keep jobs, function in society, or have healthy relationships. I knew from day one what I wanted to do and what I had to do. I knew that I had to be my own advocate. They call me high functioning bipolar. I have and keep a job, I function in society, enjoy my life, and have healthy relationships.
People faced with so many difficult situations in this life struggle. I struggled. I just want it on record that we need to be awful careful when we attempt to assign blame to God for that which He is not responsible.
People faced with so many difficult situations in this life struggle. I struggled. I just want it on record that we need to be awful careful when we attempt to assign blame to God for that which He is not responsible.
Thursday, November 28, 2013
Planning the cruise for 40 Part 2
My organized planning to enjoy a southern Caribbean cruise with my best friend for my 40th birthday was in full swing in the winter of 2012-2013. We had put our down payment on the cruise at the end of November. The next step of the plan was to take our tax return money and pay off the cruise in the early spring. We then began sorting through the dozens of shore excursions to see what we wanted to explore.
First and foremost I am that person who goes and goes and goes on vacation because I have to see as much as humanly possible just in case I never get to that part of the world again in my life. I am that person who should plan a vacation after my vacation because I don’t really rest and relax on vacation.
Selecting the shore excursions has been a lot of fun for both Jamie and I. We took advantage of having a port of call in Puerto Rico and our cruise goes to the following intriguing destinations: St. Croix, US Virgin Islands; Philipsburg, St. Marten; St. John’s, Antigua; Castries, St. Lucia; and Bridgetown, Barbados. That’s five countries in five days. I find that so cool. Too bad we don’t get a passport stamp in each country. Plus, St. Marten is owned by both France and the Netherlands; its two countries in one island, so technically six countries will be visited.
The shore excursions booklet is full of great adventures. I made Jamie aware of one key fact. Hiking is not a vacation for me. I do not count down the days until I take a hike. It’s just the plain truth. So, I wanted her to keep that in mind as we selected our excursions. Swimming, snorkeling, walking, touring, riding and sailing are all acceptable 40th birthday activities, but I’m not paying someone to arrange for me to take a hike (pun not intended but funny). In addition, as my boss likes to say, “I only run if I’m chased.” I never liked running. Even in my youth when I was much thinner, more active, and interested in playing a sport. I played JV Field Hockey in high school and was in the position of Sweeper because it is the last line of defense before the goalie and you stay pretty close to the goal with minimal running.
Jamie asked up front for us to go to one particular shore excursion as it is something she has always wanted to do. She wants to swim with sting rays in Antigua. I’m all for it. What’s interesting is people in my life are giving me warning because the Crocodile Hunter was killed by a sting ray barb to the heart. I wonder if these people really know me. If I won’t hike, the likelihood of me doing something dangerous is slim to none. I do not like pain in any form and I am not going to do something knowing it may cause pain or death. Thrill seeking is not my thing. I like roller coasters, that’s it for me.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Cruise Planning Part 1
I love to celebrate my birthday. It’s just plain fun. I know many people agonize over turning 40. As it is inevitable should an individual be alive that long, I am inclined to make the most of the situation. While I have noticed some changes as this approached like the hot flashes, needing a new eye glass prescription, mild memory blips, and a few more aches and pains than before, I made the decision to put some things into place that makes it impossible to dread it and makes me absolutely enthused for the time to come. Take into consideration that in the autumn of 2012 I begin thinking and planning for this momentous occasion. I can’t help but be a little anal about preparation for such an important event.
For me traveling is a lovely thing. After living in Maryland from the age of a few months to 19 years with just some minor travel in the United States I have always been eager to see new places and do different things. Traveling is a wonderful treat for me. Knowing that I wanted to see some place I had never been, maybe even some place “exotic”, without having to fork out almost a thousand dollars in airfare I started talking to people who travel often. I met a man from Puerto Rico who had lots of good things to say about his home. Then a co-worker traveled there for vacation and gushed about how wonderful it was. I was initially looking at an all-inclusive resort in Puerto Rico.
Then in November 2012 my best friend Jamie and I were discussing my intended 40th birthday trip when she decided that she wanted to go with me on this trip. As comfortable as I am with traveling alone, it is always better with company. Then to have the kind of company that a best friend provides is a whole new level of fun and exciting. Jamie’s suggestion was not to go to one location to an all-inclusive resort, but to broaden our horizon and take a cruise. Brilliant! See and do more with the same amount of time! How could I say no?
I was excitedly checking out cruise lines and cruises that set sail from Puerto Rico which I had intended to see on my trip. I honestly wasn’t interested in Carnival as I heard too much about it that wasn’t all that positive even before the “poop cruise” incident earlier this year. I found out that Royal Caribbean has a lot of cruises that leave from Puerto Rico and that they have a solid reputation in the cruise industry for good deals on excellent products and services.
I found the cruise I was most interested in and informed Jamie about the Royal Caribbean Southern Caribbean Cruise with prices with a starting cost of only $499! One year to the day we would arrive in Puerto Rico we put our down payment on the cruise. The long term planning began in earnest.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
A Mormon Woman, the News, and Fairy Tales
This is a viewpoint
combining two things that have bothered me in the last year. These thoughts and topics have been stewing
in my mind. I am a Latter-day Saint
(Mormon) woman. This post is from that
view point. It is also about trust issues with our American news media outlets. I have recently expressed concerns about the
news media lacking for actual solid news, but having lots of drama and
spin. Taking facts and making
fiction. This is a huge glaring very
personal example to me.
Mr. Romney's presidential
campaign put a bright white hot light on my faith for quite some time. So,
while some people may perceive my views as more traditional and write off what
I am about to say, you couldn't be further from the truth. I'm not a traditional
Mormon. I wasn't raised Mormon, that
came later. I am not a
Republican, but that's a strained discussion for another time. Most of my family when I
was growing up were Democrats. I was
raised in a distinctly low income bracket where we relied on government
services to survive for things like food and shelter. I was the daughter of a single mother until I
was almost 12. I had an absentee drug
and alcohol addicted biological father.
I believe that without trying my mother and other important female
figures in my life were feminists for their times. The woman as a strong figure was an important
part of my upbringing. So, again, I
repeat, I am not a traditional Mormon. I
am not married and never have been. I
have never had any children and I am a career woman so to speak. Not a traditional Mormon, but a Mormon
nonetheless. Taking all of that
non-traditional-ness into consideration please read my words and digest them for
what they are worth.
I had problems with a
newspaper article that peeved me. The article that really set me off is from the New York Times, which I
often like to read online. It is about women wearing slacks or pants to church. Here is the link to the article - http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/20/us/19mormon.html?_r=1&
I was angry and frustrated
when I read it. I know I shouldn't let
it make me angry, but that is who I am - I am an emotional responder and I'm
being honest when I say I was angry. Let's dissect that article because I have
many a bone to pick with this one.
First, the death threats
thing was like screen worthy drama. This is one of those, "Really?
Are you kidding me? Who believes this sh, uh stuff?" moments.
I wondered if they could make Mormons seem more weird if they
tried. I've gone to so many different
Mormon congregations in different states and even in different countries that I
really can't count them all. I've seen
women dress in many types of clothes, even clothes I thought were a little to
revealing for church, but never a death threat.
Although when I could see that 17 year old girl's underwear through her
dress I did want to smack her on the back side of her head and say, "Could
you look more like hooker at church?"
I'm from the school of thought that if you are messed up in any other
part of your life the least you can do when you go to church is show some
respect. I mean you took the time to go
to church in the first place, at least pretend to be good for that hour or
more. Anyways, I think this article was total
B.S. and I don't mean the college degree.
Told you, not a traditional Mormon.
Second, when it says,
"Others said they could not participate because they were fearful of
ridicule or reprimand." Again
screen worthy drama. Where are these
people? I want to know what
congregations they attend so that I can tell someone to straighten this
out. This is not normal
"Mormon" behavior to ridicule or reprimand unless you are 17 and the dress is
totally like a hooker dress. Again, could
they make Mormons seem more weird?
Third, the comment,
"Organizers hope the dialogue will now expand to include issues like the
ordination of women, or women taking on more responsibilities at church
events." Holy Priesthood Batman! These women don't need ordination to be
whole. How have they missed this? For fear of my message getting lost in this
one piece of doctrinal deep water, let me express this as simply as possible. The Latter-Day Saint woman is whole and
glorious in the sight of God without being ordained. If I am whole in the sight of God without it,
why would I want it? For personal,
selfish, or self-aggrandizing desires. Not for good or God.
I must express my strong
feelings on the part of the quote about women taking on more responsibilities
at church events. Are you kidding me? Does the person who wrote this do ANY
research before spouting this nonsense?
What congregation are these women attending, because a congregation
where men take on more of the responsibilities at church events is perfectly
fine with me, but I doubt that it exists.
In the congregations I have attended all over the U.S. and Europe women do a minimum of a third to half of the
responsibilities at church events.
Depending on the event sometimes women perform 100% of the
responsibilities.
Fourth, the statement,
"They also cited the pronounced role of the Boy Scouts in the church —
boys routinely become troop leaders in the organization, but girls have no
similar outlet with the Girl Scouts."
Duh, if you want to put your daughters in Girl Scouts, do it. No one is stopping you. In addition, there are activities and
programs geared specifically for young women called the Personal Progress
program. It is based on LDS doctrinal
beliefs and is structured with developing leadership, goal setting and achievement for the young women only. There is also the young women camping
activity every summer. Obtaining the
Young Womanhood Recognition is the equivalent of the Boy Scout Eagle Scout
award within the church. I received mine
at 17 and I knew I was special for this unique achievement. So, again my response is, "Did this guy
do any research at all?"
Fifth and this is my most
anger-worthy sentence from the whole dang article, "the fact that young
men are expected to go on two-year missions to spread the faith, but young
women are not. The result: the vast majority of Mormon missionaries are
men." I served an honorable mission
for my church. I knew at the ripe old age
of 16 this is what I wanted for myself.
At no point in time in the 5 years between 16 and 21 did anyone ever discourage
me from wanting to serve or from going.
If anything it was the reverse. I
was encouraged. Yes, young men are ‘strongly’
encouraged to go, but not one person is stopping the young women. After last year's announcement lowering the age for women to go from 21 to 19 more and more young
women have started submitting papers and begun serving missions turning that
male female ratio to almost 50/50. Get
outta here with this junk.
Lest you think I am condemning the New York Times,
fear not I’m not a conservative picking on a liberal newspaper. That would
require me to be conservative, which I am not.
I’m a moderate looking left and looking right and seeing nothing but
polarization and fairy-tales. You cannot
trust the American news media to give you the cold hard facts. They expect others to look
through glasses with a prescription so wrong that you can never see clear reality or find intelligent objectivity.
To heck with that. Not this Mormon woman.
Monday, July 29, 2013
The Year of 40
I've always loved the ancient Greek aphorism "Know
Thyself.” I've learned it, like any other piece of language, has many
meanings. It’s a warning on boastfulness
or about being more humble, about not allowing what others think to manipulate
how you perceive yourself, an admonition to those entering sacred places to
understand their standing in relation to deity, a recommendation about being more
temperate, even an explanation that by knowing more about one’s self one can
know more about others and the world around them.
I’ve decided that 40 is about knowing myself better. It’s interesting to me that I am more
fascinated by it than afraid of it. I
know that it can be an impetus in a life for good or bad. Often you hear about the mid-life crisis of
those who lose their minds, divorce their spouses of many years, get sports
cars, lose weight, and marry people young enough to be their own children. I’m not sure what a mid-life crisis looks
like (yet) and I’m glad for it. I like
living the unusual life.
For me this last year has been about stopping, marking the
time, and trying to see what it means.
My Mom teased me earlier this year, “Ha, ha you’re turning 40.” To which I answered, “Ha, ha you’re the
mother of a 40 year old.”
One of the first things I’ve decided is I’m an adult now. You are allowed to laugh at that. I’m single without the responsibility of a
spouse or children and that makes a big difference in life expectations. I’m taking advantage of being an adult these
days. Went to lunch at a restaurant and
when I was done eating my cake and I hadn't eaten all of the icing I was told,
“You have to eat your icing.” My
response was, “No I don’t. I’m a grown
up and I don’t have to eat what I don’t want to eat.” I’m not sure who put these arbitrary rules in
place, but darn it, if I don’t want to eat the icing, I’m not going to. I will live with the repercussions of that
action because that is what adults do. I
can do what I want when I want, but will have to live with the repercussions of
those choices. Maybe 40 is being
prepared to do some things I don’t really want to do, because I don’t want to
live with the repercussions. 40 could
also be about the wisdom of knowing when to fight a battle and when to choose
not to fight a battle.
I have already seen some of the physical changes. What’s fascinating is that I thought to
myself, “Hey, it won’t necessarily happen to me.” HA!
I’m not sure if it was naivete wishful thinking, denial or a
combination of all three, but I was mistaken.
I want to make sure it isn't perceived as complaining, although I do my
share. I’m quizzical, want
to take it apart and see it from all of the different angles. Find my fit in this new era of my life.
I started peri-menopause.
I’m pretty open about it because it is a natural part of a human woman’s
life and shouldn't be considered an uncomfortable secret. It happens.
Deal with it. I needed a new
prescription for my eye glasses for the first time in almost 3 years. I started having the memory blips. I became particularly upset when things I
used to remember vividly were not so readily recalled any longer. Some of those details, particularly from my
youth are starting to slip away.
My most recent physical sign of approaching 40 has been an
increase in my aches and pains. Due to a
previous injury and surgery my right knee can tell the weather better than the
combined wisdom of every forecaster on the Weather Channel.
I know with absolute certainty that 40 is a time of change for the mind
and body. It may be a gateway to
better perception and is only that which I make it. It is learning when to
fight and when to concede. Right now 40 is
taking the time to know myself.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Really Digging the Hand Made Cards
I've recently started to really get into hand making cards. With paper and ink stamps and all the accouterments, dingbats, doodads,doohickeys, gizmos, and whatchamacallits. Its a lot of fun and the expense would basically equals the cost of buying regular cards without the personal touch. I love being creative. It fulfills me. I work to eat food and pay bills, but I create things to fill my spirit. I have a favorite little clip about creating things that I like to share, click on the underlined word to take you to the 2 minute video - Create.
The speaker is President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (a leader in my church). He invites us to rely on the Spirit and use our divinely inherited ability to create things of substance and beauty.
On another side of my creativity and in fulfillment of my humorous and art/art history loving side I found the following list on the blog called "Twisted Sifter". There are infinite views on creativity, here are fifteen famous ones for inspiration on your next endeavor.

Theodor Seuss Geisel ( March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer, poet, and cartoonist most widely known for his children's books written under the pen names Dr. Seuss, Theo LeSieg and, in one case, Rosetta Stone. Geisel published 46 children's books, which were often characterized by imaginative characters, rhyme, and frequent use of anapestic meter. His most celebrated books include the bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who!, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
François-Marie Arouet (21 November 1694 – 30 May 1778), known by his nom de plume Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, free trade and separation of church and state. Voltaire was a prolific writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works. He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets.
Donatella Versace
Donatella Versace (born 2 May 1955) is an Italian fashion designer and current Vice-President of the Versace Group, as well as chief designer.
Cecil B. DeMille
The speaker is President Dieter F. Uchtdorf (a leader in my church). He invites us to rely on the Spirit and use our divinely inherited ability to create things of substance and beauty.
On another side of my creativity and in fulfillment of my humorous and art/art history loving side I found the following list on the blog called "Twisted Sifter". There are infinite views on creativity, here are fifteen famous ones for inspiration on your next endeavor.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, known as
Pablo Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973), was a Spanish painter,
sculptor, print-maker ceramicist, and stage designer. As one of the greatest
and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is widely known for
co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the
co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped
develop and explore. Among his most famous work is Guernica (1937), a portrayal
of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch
post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional
honesty and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on 20th-century art. After
years of painful anxiety and frequent bouts of mental illness, he died aged 37
from a gunshot wound, generally accepted to be self-inflicted. He completed many of his best-known works
during the last two years of his life. In just over a decade, he produced more
than 2,100 artworks, consisting of 860 oil paintings and more than 1,300
watercolors, drawings, sketches and prints. His work included self-portraits,
landscapes, still lifes, portraits and paintings of cypresses, wheat fields and
sunflowers.
Salvador Dali
Salvador Domingo Felipe Jacinto Dalí i Domènech, 1st Marqués de Dalí de
Pubol (May 11, 1904 – January 23, 1989), known as Salvador Dalí was a prominent
Spanish surrealist painter born in Figueres, Spain. Dalí was a skilled draftsman, best known for the striking and bizarre
images in his surrealist work. His painterly skills are often attributed to the
influence of Renaissance masters. His
best-known work, The Persistence of Memory, was completed in 1931. Dalí's
expansive artistic repertoire included film, sculpture, and photography, in
collaboration with a range of artists in a variety of media.
Leo Burnett
Leo Burnett (October 21, 1891 – June 7, 1971) was an advertising
executive and was one among of the most 'creative' men in the advertising
business. The Leo
Burnett Company is the workings behind some of the most famous advertising
icons in our time like the Jolly Green Giant and Tony the Tiger. Burnett
was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the
20th century.
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw (26 July
1856 – 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London
School of Economics. Although his first profitable
writing was music and literary
criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly
articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He was also an essayist, novelist and short
story writer. Nearly all his writings address prevailing social
problems, but have a vein of comedy which makes their stark themes more
palatable. Issues which engaged Shaw's attention included education, marriage,
religion, government, health care, and class privilege.
Dr. Seuss
Charles Mingus
Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was a
highly-influential American jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader.
Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew
heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third
Stream, free jazz, and classical music. Yet Mingus avoided categorization,
forging his own brand of music that fused tradition with unique and unexplored
realms of jazz. He once cited Duke Ellington and church as his main influences.
Voltaire
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury (August 22, 1920 – June 5, 2012) was an American fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953). Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers. Many of Bradbury's works have been adapted into television shows or films.
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011)[5][6] was an American entrepreneur. He is best known as the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple Inc. Through Apple, he was widely recognized as a charismatic pioneer of the personal computer revolution and for his influential career in the computer and consumer electronics fields. Jobs also co-founded and served as chief executive of Pixar Animation Studios; he became a member of the board of directors of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, when Disney acquired Pixar.
Cecil Blount DeMille (August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959) was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films.He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies. Among his best-known films are Cleopatra; Samson and Delilah; The Greatest Show on Earth, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture; and The Ten Commandments, which was his last and most successful film.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and the most influential physicist of the 20th century. While best known for his mass–energy equivalence formula E = mc2 (which has been dubbed "the world's most famous equation"), he received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect" The latter was pivotal in establishing quantum theory within physics.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)