What's Up Wednesday: Cliché vs. The Band Perry

Dear Readers,

I am back to the Meme-ing thing.  You would think it'd be easy to remember that every Wednesday is What's Up Wednesday by the lovely Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. Well, it is easy to remember, but seriously, my weeks have been so crazy.  Can you believe the end of summer vacay is right around the corner? 



What I'm Reading:  Country lyrics.  That's right.   Country Lyrics.   So, this is what I am basing my whole post around for this week's edition of What's Up Wednesday. 

Every morning I drive about 25 minutes to teach some of the greatest high school students in the world.  Yes, the regular school year ended, but I moved on to teach college courses for soon-to-be seniors who have elected not to take a summer break.  Anyways, every morning I "turn up" to The Highway on XM/Sirius radio, and of course, there will always be some tune about a pickup truck liftgate, a Friday night, and a dirt road under the moon with girl.  Oh, and the kiss that tastes like moonshine. 

How much more cliché can it get?

But, then there is The Band Perry (and many other great country artists!) and song lyrics like "Who would have thought forever could be severed by the sharp knife of a short life."  Guys, I could base a whole English lesson around this--around the slant rhyme, the alliteration, the assonance, the whatever that makes this line lyrical and not unlike a poem.  That lyric is from "If I Die Young," by the way.
Or, what about one of their newer songs? "When you're young you can fly. But we trip on clouds 'cause we get too high."  I know the idea of flying through clouds is nothing new, but the whole idea of "trip on clouds"--well, there is a whole poem waiting to be written there. 


What I'm Writing:  Nothing except this blog post.  Seriously.  Here is excuse number 223--I was unexpectedly recruited to teach the second summer session of the college course.  I found out on the day before it was to begin.  Here is excuse number 365--I got a new job teaching Theatre Arts next year!  I am so excited, so all my thoughts are on course planning, field trip brainstorming, and pinning theatre stuff on Pinterest.  Of course, there is still all the working, the mothering, the wife-ing, and the unfinished writing.  I am in the middle of my life.

What inspires me now: 
 

 

This should actually be the true inspiration of all writers!

What Else I've Been Up To:  Here is the rundown.  I already told you about my new job.  I will be leaving the best high school/college students in the world, but I will be working 10 minutes away from home now in my hometown, and I will be teaching crazy drama type, middle school theatre arts kids.  This means no standardized testing.  This means no core-subject.  This means no more un-graded pile of 6 page papers with documentation. 

Besides this, we took our older children to visit UT-Austin and Texas State University, followed by Sea World.  Our roof is being completely redone and being paid for by our insurance.  Our oldest pet, Skippy, pretended she was pregnant and in full labor.  She is back to normal now, but no puppy was born.  2 days ago I realized the last time I had a baby was 12 years ago.  Today, my two oldest are at band camp and the youngest is at football camp.  Folks, the summer is over.  Which only means my life will continue to be crazy, but it also means the return of "The Walking Dead."  So, yay for that.


Here is the song "Don't Let Me Be Lonely" by The Band Perry. Enjoy!