Ahoy there.
I'm Courtney, first time blogger, long time reader, and lifelong pirate enthusiast - feel free to call me Captain (just kidding, don't call me Captain; that would be kind of strange). While I do have an obsession with pirates, my life does not revolve around them (entirely), and will not be the central focus of this blog. Not now, at least. This blog is mainly for my other obsession listed above.
When I say that I'm a long time reader, I mean it - I literally cannot remember a time when I haven't been reading something. The majority of my spare time has been spent reading. When I'm not doing this, I'm typically watching and obsessing over a vast variety of movies and television shows, many of which I can quote far too well (so be warned - it's more than likely that, at some point, I'll start quoting Star Wars or Pirates of the Caribbean...you didn't see that last one coming, did you?)
Anyway, back to reading.
While I've read the big series of my generation - you know, Harry Potter, Twilight - I'm a huge horror nerd. I'm particularly enthusiastic when it comes to Stephen King. 'Salem's Lot, IT, Bag of Bones, and - of course - The Stand, just to name a few King novels I'm particularly in love with. However, while I can't get enough of my horror fiction (or mysteries - big Agatha Christie fan here), I'm also a fan of a great deal of other types of literature. I've read and fallen in love with The Things They Carried, A Tale of Two Cities (makes me cry every time I get to the end), and The Great Gatsby - I think it should probably go without saying, but a huge horror nerd is bound to love Frankenstein, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Strange Tale of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and (especially) Dracula above all others. I have yet to get to Treasure Island, but my obsession with pirates will only let me go without it for so long.
And this, ladies and gentlemen, brings me to the question you're all probably asking yourselves (well, maybe you are; I'm not a mind reader).
What is The Jar of Dirt?
The answer to that question is quite simple - homework.
This English major has to write this blog for class - for World Literature, to be exact. Instead of writing a paper on every book we read, we get to do blog entries. I find this pretty cool, and not just because it means not having to write five lengthy essays. It's something new, something I've never done before. As I read, with the rest of my class, over the next few months, I will be posting a variety of blog entries. There'll be a close reading analysis (or three), a couple of entries making connections between the themes we discover in class and things going on out there in the world today, and even an entry revolving around a foreign film I'll have to watch (I don't know much about that last one yet - stay tuned for more details).
So far, my class has made it through the novel Icarus Girl and a variety of poems by Anna Akhmatova. The latter has served to fuel divisions which began to form on the very first day when we read Naomi Shihab Nye's "The Traveling Onion." Mutiny may very well be on the horizon (forgive me, I had to make at least one piratey comment).
Well, I do believe that's all for now...
More coming soon!
