My College Roadmap

Southwestern Illinois College is not the first college that I have attended. Being an Army wife, I’ve had the opportunity to attend other colleges in different states. Every military base has an education center. They provide information on local colleges for military members and their family. The nice part is that I was able to get in state tuition wherever my husband was stationed.

So, where did my college experience begin? At Cochise College in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Cochise College is in Cochise County, of course. It was only about 10 miles from Tombstone, Arizona.

The name Cochise might conjure up thoughts of a cowboy and Indian movie. But, Cochise was a real person. He was the chief of the Chiricahua band of the Apaches. Cochise County Arizona is named after him. Cochise fought to stay on the land of his ancestors while the US government wanted to move the tribe off of their land. After many battles and skirmishes, the chief finally got to retire on his land in the Dragoon Mountains of southern Arizona.

Another college that I attended along the way was Northern Virginia Community College (NOVA). This college campus was located in between the Bull Run Battlefield and the Manassas Battlefield Park. With the Blue Ridge Mountains off in the distance, the campus was very picturesque. After class I used to enjoy driving to Little Washington and Sperryville in Rappahannock County, VA. In the Fall God took out His paintbrush and created a beautiful mountain masterpiece with colors you could only dream of.

Make Cards Opening Day A Holiday!

April the 12th, 2010 was no ordinary day. This was the Cardinals home opener in St. Louis. While it may not be an official holiday, most St. Louisans treat it as one. Even if they don't have a ticket to the game, thousands of people show up at Kiener Plaza in downtown St. Louis to celebrate and cheer on their St. Louis Cardinals.

Although I don't who will win the game, I do know that each opening day thousands of hot dogs will be consumed, peanuts, popcorn, and Cracker Jacks will be eaten by the tub-full. The King of Beers will flow like the mighty Mississippi. And, at some point in the game the song "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" will be sung by over 46,000 faithful Cardinal fans.

Opening Day in St. Louis has never been an official holiday. I think its time we made it one. We all know that thousands of fans stay home from work and school that day. There are employers that give their employees off early that day so they can watch the game. We need to own up to the fact that it is a holiday and declare it one.

There are Cardinal fans in all 50 states. The Cardinals Radio Network is heard in nine states. There are even radio stations carrying Cardinal games near Chicago and Kansas City. They have their own baseball teams. When you belong to Cardinal Nation, it doesn't matter where you live.

As Jack Buck would say: "That's a winner!"

Standing In The Shadows Of Motown

I saw blog posts from some of my classmates talking about their favorite music and song lists. If I were to post a list of my favorite songs it would really date me. I grew up listening to the Motown sound and all of the great dance tunes of the 60’s and 70’s. I still think that Marvin Gaye had the best voice of any singer from that era. My sister Debbie and I used to dance for hours to the music that came from “Hitsville USA.” That was the house in Detroit where Motown founder Berry Gordy built his new record company’s studio and literally hundreds of hits were recorded. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitsville_U.S.A.

There were dozens of great singers and groups who recorded the songs that came from Motown records. But, from my point of view, the music behind the singers was unbelievably powerful. It was that musical sound that changed everything.

I used to wonder just who it was that played on all of those great records. Then, in 2002 there was a movie released called “Standing In The Shadows Of Motown.” http://www.standingintheshadowsofmotown.com/ It was amazing. From that film I leaned that the music behind the Motown sound was recorded by a group of studio musicians who called themselves the “Funk Brothers.”

The Funk Brothers truly revolutionized music by combining Jazz, Blues, Gospel & early Rock & Roll sounds to create the Motown Soul Sound. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funk_Brothers The 13 core members of the group have been awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. The Funk Brothers played on more number 1 hits than the Beatles, Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys combined.

My list of favorite songs would be much too long for a blog post. So, I’ll just say that Motown recorded the soundtrack of my young life.

Pulitzer, The Man Who Changed The Way We Get Our News

As I was doing some more research for my essay on immigration in St. Louis at the beginning of the 20^th Century I found some information about an immigrant who changed the way that newspapers were written and published forever. His name was Joseph Pulitzer. He was born in Hungary to Jewish parents and immigrated to the US in 1864. When he arrived he did not speak English and he didn’t have any money. When he was 18 he joined the Union Army and became a part of Sheridan’s Troopers and fought in the Civil War. He spoke three languages; German, Hungarian and French. After the war he was once again penniless and decided to travel by train to St. Louis. When Pulitzer arrived in St. Louis he said "The lights of St. Louis looked like a promise land to me." He also liked being in St. Louis because at the time St. Louis was a German speaking city.

In 1879 he bought two newspapers; the St. Louis Dispatch and the St. Louis Post and merged them into one newspaper, the St. Louis Post Dispatch. I heard an author, James McGrath Morris, on KMOX yesterday talking about his book: “Pulitzer, A Life In Politics, Print and Power.” Mr. Morris said that Pulitzer changed the way that news was reported forever. Before Mr. Pulitzer, newspapers were written for upper class readers. He decided to have his paper written for everyday working people. He told his reports to give him stories that everyone would be talking about at night around the dinner table. Early on he exposed corruption in St. Louis County government. Newspapers had never carried those kinds of stories before. They had been controlled by politicians. Pulitzer was also behind the creation of the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri.

Vitamins And Healthy Living

Several years ago while I was living in Arizona I was looking for information on vitamins and healthy eating and living. This was just before the Internet exploded into our lives and changed everything about how we gather information. On one of our local Tucson television stations I saw a show featuring University of Arizona professor, Dr. Andrew Weil, MD. Dr. Weil is the founder and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine (AzCIM) at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center, in Tucson.

I was walking quite a bit then and averaging 28 miles a week. When I found Dr. Weil on TV I was looking for some good vitamins to increase my energy levels or at least to keep the energy that I had up and maintain it. Dr. Weil said that many of the vitamins available over the counter at supermarkets and pharmacies were not completely pure. Many of those vitamins contained more fillers than the actual vitamins. That's when I found out about the importance of Vitamin B12. This vitamin is necessary to maintain many body functions. The lack of B12 can cause many problems. Symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include fatigue, muscle weakness, shortness of breath, dizziness, numbness, heart palpitations, bleeding gums and mouth sores, nausea, poor appetite and diarrhea.

The good news is that we are now in the Internet age and if you are looking for information about vitamins and healthy eating Dr. Weil has a very good website: www.drweil.com

The Missouri History Museum

Today I went to the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis. With a rainy drab day like today, it was a good day to walk through the museum.

To my surprise there was an exhibit for the 1904 World's Fair. I have always been interested in this subject. When I was a little girl growing up in St. Louis my grandmother who was born in 1893 still talked about how wonderful the fair had been.

The subject for my final essay is immigration in St. Louis in the early 1900s. While I was at the museum I found some good sources of information for my essay.

The picture I have posted is of workers who were living in an old streetcar on the fairgrounds in 1902. A plaque at the museum said that more than 10,000 workers had been employed by the Louisiana Exposition Company to transform Forest Park from a rough wilderness into the largest world's fair in history.

As I looked at the paintings and photos of how grand the fair was, I am still amazed that most of the buildings and exhibits were torn down in the years that followed. I've read that the track for the roller coaster was 3 miles long. The Observation Wheel (Ferris Wheel) was 264 feet high. Each car held 36 passengers. It took 20 minutes to go around 1 time. There were weddings and banquets on board. On May 11, 1906 the Observation Wheel was dynamited and sold for scrap. I think that was a huge waste. They should have left it up.

It was a nice day at the museum. I got a lot of good information for my essay.

Spring Flowers

I am so happy that Spring is just around the corner. It was over 70 degrees today.

In the Spring and Summer I like to plant as many flowers around my house as I can. As you can see from this picture of my front door I planted so many flowers last year that they overflowed the sidewalk. I really loved it.

I also planted flowers around the front, sides and back of the house. So, by the end of Summer my house is basically surrounded by a sea of colorful flowers.

This will be the third summer in my house. I am planning on adding more foliage and color to my flower beds this year than last.

I'm not alone in my love for gardening. Both my parents used to plant a garden of flowers and vegetables every year. My sisters all enjoy gardening as well. So, I guess it runs in the family.

My husband also likes gardening. He helps me with the flowers. But, he really likes to plant vegetables. We can't do much of that where we live now. At our last house we had an acre of ground. My husband planted 48 tomato plants one summer. We gave away over 60 bushels of tomatoes that year. They sure were delicious.

Happiness Is Grandchildren!

During Spring Break my grandsons, Tristan and Jarod will go to Disney World in Florida with their Dad, Aaron. This is not the first time my grandsons have been to Disney World. The first time they went was about five years ago. I remember how excited they were when they came home. They talked about all of the great rides at the park and how good the food was. There is an ice cream store that Tristan and Jarod love to go to when they’re at the park. My grandsons always tell me that ice cream should be the national dessert of the United States. And, I agree.

Their other thrill while in Florida came when they went to Discovery Cove and went swimming with the dolphins. They came home with videos and pictures of the event. It was such a blessing for me to watch them while they were having so much fun.

Tristan will be 14 years old on the 25^th of March. So, he will be there for his birthday. One of Tristan’s favorite foods, (besides ice cream), is crab legs. My son Aaron told me that he’s going to take Tristan and Jarod to a great restaurant down by the beach on his birthday. They’ll be able to hear the ocean while they eat.

My son Aaron will also have a birthday while they’re on vacation. He’ll be 36 while he and his sons are in Florida. The beach has always been one of his favorite places to go. Between the rides at the park, and going to the beach, my son and grandsons will be doing a lot of smiling and laughing. The definition of happiness is Tristan and Jarod.

My happy words are: ice cream, Tristan, Jarod, vacation, laughing Disney, birthday, plane, ocean, rides, family, food, dolphins, grandsons, beach, Florida, blessing and happiness.

Is The Ground Shaking?

At about 4:30 AM on the 18^th of April 2008 I was sound asleep when the bed started shaking. I looked up to see if my husband ran into the bathroom wall or something. I called his name. He answered from the kitchen. Then there was another rumbling. I got out of bed and turned the radio on. Then my phone rang. It was too early for anyone to be calling. I answered the phone to hear my little sister scream “we had an earthquake!”

On KMOX the radio announcer said we had indeed experience an earthquake and aftershocks would follow. The St. Louis Post Dispatch reported: “The quake measured a 5.2 magnitude and occurred at 4:37 a.m. CDT. It was centered in southeastern Illinois, five miles from the town of Bellmont, according to Timothy M. Kusky, director of the Center for Environmental Sciences at St. Louis University.”

Now that we’ve had two major earthquakes in the world in the first two months of this year, people are beginning to ask where the next one will be. Of course no one can predict where the next earthquake will be. Scientists are still trying to perfect a method of predicting earthquakes. But, when I looked at the US Geological Survey website I found that the New Madrid Fault is the second most active fault line in the US.

The USGS said: “the highest earthquake risk in the United States outside the West Coast is along the New Madrid Fault. Damaging tremors are not as frequent as in California, but when they occur, the destruction covers over more than 20 times the area because of underlying geology.”

The only question to ask is, when will the ground be shaking again?

Injury Didn’t Slow Lindsey Down, Vancouver 2010

I’ve been watching the Winter Olympics from Vancouver, Canada. There are a few events that I really like to watch. I like the downhill skiing, speed skating, and the Figure Skating.

The downhill skiing, Lindsey Vonn, WOW! She was speeding down the hills so fast that in some places I felt dizzy just watching. She actually went airborne in a few places. It was amazing. The happiness that she expressed when she won was wonderful. After her interview my husband and I both had tears of joy in our eyes for her.

I also enjoyed watching Shani Davis win Gold for speed skating. He has such control. The way he almost lays on his side as he flies around the rink. He put on a spectacular show for the whole world to see.

I also watched the Figure Skating. Last night there was an amazing performance by a young Canadian woman who had lost her mother two days earlier. Joannie Rochette was unbelievable. She skated with such grace and seemed to flow around the ice. At the end of her routine she cried because her mother was no longer there. I think everyone who was watching cried with her.

As of this moment the USA is still leading in the medal count. Our team has 26 total with 7 Gold Medals, 9 Silver and 10 Bronze.

One final interesting note. According to her Bio, Lindsey Vonn went to the University of Missouri.

Snow Squirrel

I have another snow picture. This is obviously a squirrel in the snow. He is also in Carroll County, MD. I wonder what he was trying to do.

Did he burrow a tunnel through all of that snow?

Does he have some food that got buried under it?

Is he looking for his friends and family?

Maybe he's getting ready to watch the Winter Olympics!

I wanted to post this with the last blog on snow. I was afraid that the squirrel would show up larger than the farm. I'm still learning how to use this blog!

Let It Snow

I read a good blog about Snow Days by Rob Diesel.

I have something to say about snow as well. I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing for all of that snow to pass us by and dump on the East Coast. I guess it was good for us since we didn't have to drive in it. But, I didn't get that Snow Day!

My husband's parents live in Carroll County, Maryland. The got 30 inches of snow over the weekend. Today they got another 20 inches.

That's a lot of snow! At 50 inches, the snow would be about neck deep for me. I don't know if I would want that here. That would make life hard for a lot of people.

I went out to the Carroll County Times Newspaper and pulled a couple of snow pictures to share with you. The farm looks inviting. I’d like to go there and get buried in it and sit by the fire and enjoy the view.

We have it in our power to begin the world again

“We have it in our power to begin the world again” Thomas Paine

When I saw this quote by Thomas Paine in the book, WCW, I knew I had to comment on the text.

These words were a part of a pamphlet titled “Common Sense” written by Thomas Paine in 1776. Historians tell us that this publication was written in a style that was understood by the common man and that it was probably the most influential piece of writing in our revolutionary war period.

Although this work was published 234 years ago, I find that the words are still meaningful today. Paine had a lot to say about society and government in general. It’s amazing to me that what Thomas Paine wrote all those years ago is still relevant. Common Sense was an essay that was written with a powerful purpose. If we’re talking about changing the world through writing, Common Sense is probably the most successful paper ever written. He really did change the world with his writing.

Common Sense sold over a half million copies in its first year of publication. Paine donated his royalties to George Washington to help finance the Continental Army. I guess you could say he put his money where his mouth was.

Since I had a lot to say about this, can you tell that it’s one of my favorite writings?

If you’d like to read the full text of Common Sense, it can be found at: http://www.earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/milestones/commonsense/text.html

New Year & Introduction

I am very happy that 2010 has arrived. I am looking forward to this new year as a year of hope and promise. I am starting a new class this semester, English 102. As a part of this class I am going to be posting to this new blog that I have created. Here is an introduction:

My name is Nancy Francis and you can call me Nancy. I am a student at Southwestern Illinois College (SWIC). I am pursuing an Associate In Applied Science Degree. I previously attended Cochise College in Arizona and Northern Virginia Community College in Warrenton, VA. I have been married for 24 years. My husband was career military. So, I have traveled quite a bit. I have two sons and two grandsons. One of my sons is a St. Louis Police Officer. I also have a one year old cat named Chessie. He is named after the cat in the advertisements for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.

I am currently reading a book named: The Gift In You by Dr. Caroline Leaf. The author is a researcher of "the science of thought." The book talks about how each of us have inner gifts and talents that we need to discover and develop. It looks pretty interesting.

My hobbies include gardening, reading, and cooking. Each Spring I plan the flower gardens that I will create around my house and yard. I look at lots of magazines and websites for ideas. But, in the end my yard is always very colorful.

Three words that would describe me are hopeful, generous and compassionate. I am generous to a fault. If a friend or family member is in need I will do all that I can to help.

I read the Belleville News Democrat daily and the Troy Tribune every Thursday when it comes out. I get my news throughout the day by listening to the radio while I'm in the kitchen. I do read some news online. But, I prefer the newspaper.

I am looking forward to learning more about researching and writing this semester in class.

Chessie Stalks Birds

My cat Chessie thinks that he is a big bad cat. He sits on the deck and slithers around as though he is going to pounce on the birds in the yard.

In reality he is nothing but a big black puff-ball with no front claws. But, I let him live in his fantasy world!