{Monthly Miscellany} March

I just can’t get away from miscellaneous-ness, can I? But I like the alliteration, so we’re going with it. Anyway, welcome to a new monthly feature, where I’ll update you guys on what’s going on in various areas of my life.

Really, though—March is a long month, but it just flew by for me. How did it feel for you guys? I had a lovely white Easter—just a dusting, but it still meant I couldn’t wear the pretty new dress I’d been hoping to. *sighs dramatically* Oh, the things we must suffer.

{reading}

I read a lot this month, which is strange because I was also pretty busy. Maybe it was that one week off of work. Probably, though, it was the fact that I discovered some incredible books, and I just couldn’t put them down. Since I’m leaving tomorrow for a weekend youth conference, I may have to push my discussion of them back a week. We’ll see.

(all images from google)

Hood / Steve Lawhead

The War With Hannibal (selections) / Livy

David Copperfield / Charles Dickens

Foundling, Lamplighter, & Factotum / D. M. Cornish

A Ring of Endless Light (re-read) & The Small Rain / Madeleine L’Engle

On the Nature of Things / Lucretius

100 Cupboards, Dandelion Fire, & The Chesnut King / N. D. Wilson

Second Philppic & On Duties / Cicero

Have you read any of these?

{writing} 

HA. I really didn’t write for fun at all this month. Well, I take that back—I wrote a poem or two and some short fanfics. Oh, and I wrote a short story for a contest. But other than that, nada. That’s been pretty characteristic of my writing life recently, and I’m hoping Camp Nano (yikes, that starts tomorrow) will revive it.

{music} 

So I was trying to get a friend to read The Wingfeather Saga, and she said she would—if I listened to Hamilton, the new Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda. I didn’t exactly want to, because it’s primarily rap, and I don’t like rap. But I really wanted her to read Wingfeather, so I agreed.

Boy, am I glad I did. I read the lyrics on genius as I listened, which added so much to the experience. I was blown away by the complexity of the music—I didn’t realize so many types of rap existed, and how Miranda carefully picked each one to fit each character amazed me. The in-line rhyming, the clever wording, the rhythm, it’s all stunning. And it’s not all rap, either. I love the variety of music styles, how they’re so unique and perfectly suited to the story.

And then there’s the story. Wow. I love the historical element, first off, but even more than that, I love the themes. Family. Legacy. Standing up for what you believe. Redemption. It’s made me cry several times.

It’s hard to give you just one song, because each is more meaningful in the context of the whole, but here’s one I really like about George Washington stepping down from the presidency:

{life} 

What even happened this month? What happened to my memory might be a better question. I took the SAT, for one thing. Five hours of that is more exhausting than I’d expected. Oh, and concerts! I attended two this month. The first was ThePianoGuys and was absolutely incredible. They are all so talented—and hilarious. I wasn’t expecting them to be so funny. If you ever have the chance, you simply must go to a concert of theirs. It’s a beautiful, uplifting experience. The second was Byrne and Kelly, two members of the band Celtic Thunder who do their own stuff as well. I like Celtic Thunder as a whole better than just them, but I still enjoyed their music and hearing their Irish accents. 😉

{quotes} 

(Of course I have a whole section just for quotes.)

I posted a bunch recently, but here’s one from N. D. Wilson’s Dandelion Fire (those books are incredible, by the way, and I don’t know why I didn’t pick them up sooner. And I’ll never look at dandelions the same way again.):

“Sometimes standing against evil is more important than defeating it. The greatest heroes stand because it is right to do so, not because they believe they will walk away with their lives. Such selfless courage is a victory in itself.”

So, good readers, what’s up with you? How were your March and Easter?