Maundy Thursday

Maundy Thursday, also known as Holy Thursday, Covenant Thursday, and Thursday of Mysteries, is the Christian feast or holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter, commemorating the Last Supper of Jesus Christ. It is the fifth day of the Holy Week, and is followed by Good Friday. The date is generally between 19 of March and 22 of April. In the Julian calender, the date of Easter corresponds throughout the twenty-first century to 1st of April and 5th of May in the more commonly used Gregorian calendar.

The Mass of the Lord's Supper initiates the Easter Triduum, the three days of Friday, Saturday and Sunday that commemorate the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.

The Washing of the Feet is a traditional component of the celebration in many Christian Churches, including the Armenian, Ethopian, Eastern Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, Brethan,

Mennonite, and Roman Catholic Churches, is becoming increasingly popular as a part of the Maundy Thursday liturgy in various churches, as well as in other Protestant denominations.

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lenten character of the services is for the most part set aside, and they follow a format closer to normal. The liturgical colours are changed from the somber Lenten hues to more festive colours (red is common in Slavic practice).

Holy Communion on Great Thursday. It is customary to cover the Altar table with a simple, white linen cloth on this day, as a reminder of the Last Supper.

Epiphany 2009

Happy Epiphany! Yes, today is the day the three wise men (Balthasar, Melchior, and Caspar) journey to Bethlehem to see the newborn Jesus.

Epiphany is celebrated on January 6.

Story:
In the Bible, the story starts out, introducing the Three Kings...

Caspar: King of Tarsus, land of myrrh
Melchior: King of Arabia, where the land is ruddy with gold Balthazar: King of Saba, where frankincense flows from the trees

They also introduced the evil king Herod, who knew this newborn baby would take over the throne. So he tried to trick the Three Kings to tell him where the baby was. Without the Kings knowing how evil he was, they agreed. They each brought gifts from their countries, and started their journey on camels. They were guided by a great bright star, called "The Northern Star". When they made it to the stable, the star was exactly above the stable. They were astonished as they gave their gifts.

That night, the Three Kings had a dream. An angel told them not to tell king Herod where the baby was, for he wanted to kill Jesus. They obeyed the angel and went back home a different route. Joseph had another dream, telling him to leave Bethlehem to escape from king Herod. They escaped to Egypt, and since the Three Kings didn't tell him where the baby was, he ordered all the boys under 2 to be killed.

Epiphany Prayer:
Dear Jesus, as You led the Three Kings to You by the light of a star, please draw us ever closer to You by the light of Faith. Help us to desire You as ardently as they did. Give us the grace to overcome all the obstacles that keep us far from You. May we, like them, have something to give You when we appear before You. Mary, Our Mother, help us to know Your Son.
Amen.

Image Gallery:
Click Image To Enlarge





We Three Kings ~ Song Lyrics:
We three kings of Orient are,
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder Star.

O, star of wonder, star of might,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to the perfect light.

Born a babe on Bethlehem's plain;
Gold we bring to crown Him again;
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Chorus

Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, all men raising,
Worship Him, God on High.

Chorus

Bibliography:
http://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/santaclaus11.shtml
http://www.worldofchristmas.net/christmas-stories/legend-of-magi.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_Magi

Thank you for reading :) Happy Epiphany! Have a great year of 2009!

Native Americans, African Americans, And Japanese Americans

Native Americans

Q&A:

Q: When did the first Native Americans arrive in America?
A: Most say that Native Americans were always there. Most scientific evidence suggests that Indian ancestors came from Asia in prehistoric times, either by foot, over a land bridge, or by using ancient boats. This would have happened more than 20,000 years ago.

Q: Where did the Native Americans come from?
Nobody knows for sure, but most people think they come from Asia.

Q: How many Native Americans are there today?
A: Today, there are about 2 million Native Americans.

Q: Where do Native Americans live today?
A: Most still live in North America (Canada and the United States)

African Americans

Q&A:

Q: Where did African Americans come from?
A: They came from Africa.

Q: Where do African Americans live?
A: African Americans are all around the world, Africa and America probably have the most Africans.

Q: When and where did the African Americans first arrive in America?
A: Around 1619 in Jamestown.

Japanese Americans

Q&A:

Q: When did the first Japanese Americans arrive in America?
A: About 1959.

Q: Where do Japanese Americans live?
A: Most live in Japan, but some live in America.

Q: Where did Japanese Americans come from?
A: Japan.

Charles Ives

(Click on a picture to enlarge)












Born: 1874 Died: 1954

Born in Danbury, Connecticut on 20 October 1874, Charles Ives pursued what is perhaps one of the most extraordinary and paradoxical careers in American music history. Businessman by day and composer by night, Ives's vast output has gradually brought him recognition as the most original and significant American composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, Ives sought a highly personalized musical expression through the most innovative and radical technical means possible. A fascination with bi-tonal forms, polyrhythms, and quotation was nurtured by his father who Ives would later acknowledge as the primary creative influence on his musical style. Studies at Yale with Horatio Parker guided an expert control overlarge-scale forms.

Ironically, much of Ives's work would not be heard until his virtual retirement from music and business in 1930 due to severe health problems. The conductor Nicolas Slonimsky, music critic Henry Bellamann, pianist John Kirkpatrick (who performed the Concord Sonata at its triumphant premiere in New York in 1939), and the composer Lou Harrison (who conducted the premiere of the Symphony No. 3) played a key role in introducing Ives's music to a wider audience. Henry Cowell was perhaps the most significant figure in fostering public and critical attention for Ives's music, publishing several of the composer's works in his New Music Quarterly.

In 1947, Ives was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 3, according him a much deserved modicum of international renown. Soon after, his works were taken up and championed by such leading conductors as Leonard Bernstein and, at his death in 1954, he had witnessed a rise from obscurity to a position of unsurpassed eminence among the world's leading performers and musical institutions.

List of Works:

Symphonies

* Symphony No. 1 (1901)
* Symphony No. 2 (1902, revised 1910)
* Symphony No. 3: The Camp Meeting (1901, rev. 1911)
* Symphony No. 4 (1916)
* A Symphony: New England Holidays (1919)
* Universe Symphony (1928, unfinished)

Sets

For orchestra

* Orchestral Set No. 1: Three Places in New England (1912–16, revised 1929)
* Orchestral Set No. 2 (1909–19)
* Orchestral Set No. 3 (1919–26; notes added after 1934)

For chamber orchestra

* Set No. 1 (1912); includes Calcium Light Night
* Set No. 2 (1912); includes "Gyp the Blood" or Hearst—Which is Worst!? (inc.)
* Set No. 3 (1917)
* Set No. 4: Three Poets and Human Nature (1925-30?)
* Set No. 5: The Other Side of Pioneering, or Side Lights on American Enterprise (1925-30?)
* Set No. 6: From the Side Hill (1925-30?)
* Set No. 7: Water Colors (1925-30?)
* Set No. 8: Songs without Voices (1930?); derived from Set No. 5
* Set No. 9 of Three Pieces (1934)
* Set No. 10 of Three Pieces (1934) [There are also two more chamber sets assembled in 1934 that are found listed in the same Work-List of Compositions.]
* Set for Theatre Orchestra (1915)

Overtures

* Alcott Overture (1904, mostly lost)
* Emerson Overture for Piano and Orchestra or Emerson Concerto (1911–12, incomplete)
* Matthew Arnold Overture (1912, inc.)
* Overture and March: 1776 (1904, rev. 1910)
* Overture in G Minor (1899, inc.)
* Overture: Nationals (1915, mostly lost)
* Robert Browning Overture (1914, rev. 1942)

[edit] Marches

* Holiday Quickstep (1887)
* March No. 2, with Son of a Gambolier (1895?)
* March No. 3 in F and C (1893?, inc.)
* March No. 3, with My Old Kentucky Home (1895?)
* March No. 4 in F and C (1894?, inc.)
* The Circus Band (1898)

Others

* Central Park in the Dark (1906, rev. 1936)
* Chromâtimelôdtune (1923?)
* Country Band March (1905?, rev. 1914, inc.)
* The General Slocum (1910?, inc.)
* The Gong on the Hook and Ladder (1934)
* Piece for Small Orchestra and Organ (1905?, mostly lost)
* The Pond (1906, rev. 1913)
* Postlude in F (1899?)
* Three Ragtime Dances (1911, mostly lost)
* Four Ragtime Dances (?)
* Nine Ragtime Pieces (1902?, mostly lost)
* The Rainbow (1914)
* Skit for Danbury Fair (1909, inc.)
* Take-Off No. 7: Mike Donlin-Johnny Evers (1907, inc.)
* Take-Off No. 8: Willy Keeler at Bat (1907, inc.)
* Tone Roads et al. (1915?)
* The Unanswered Question (1908, rev. 1935)
* Yale-Princeton Football Game (1899, inc.)

Band

* Fantasia on Jerusalem the Golden (1888)
* March in F and C, with Omega Lambda Chi (1896)
* March Intercollegiate, with Annie Lisle (1892)
* Runaway Horse on Main Street (1908, mostly lost)
* Schoolboy March in D and F, Op. 1 (1886, mostly lost)

Chamber/Instrumental

String quartet

* String Quartet No. 1: From the Salvation Army (1900)
* String Quartet No. 2 (1913)
* Pre-First Sonata for Violin and Piano (1913)

Violin sonata

* Violin Sonata No. 1 (1917?)
* Violin Sonata No. 2 (1917?)
* Violin Sonata No. 3 (1914?)
* Violin Sonata No. 4: Children's Day at the Camp Meeting (1916)

Other

* Decoration Day (1919)
* From the Steeples and the Mountains (1901)
* Fugue in B-flat (1895?, inc.)
* Fugue in D (1895?, mostly lost)
* Fugue in Four Greek Modes (1897, inc.)
* Fugue in Four Keys on The Shining Shore (1903?, inc.)
* Hallowe'en (1914)
* In Re Con Moto et al. (1916)
* Largo for Violin and Piano (1901)
* Largo for Violin, Clarinet, and Piano (1934? arrangement of Largo for violin and piano)
* Largo Risoluto No. 1 (1909)
* Largo Risoluto No. 2 (1910)
* An Old Song Deranged (1903)
* Piece in G for String Quartet (1891?)
* Polonaise (1887, inc.)
* Practice for String Quartet in Holding Your Own! (1903)
* Prelude on Eventide (1908)
* Scherzo: All the Way Around and Back (1908)
* Scherzo: Over the Pavements (1910)
* Scherzo for String Quartet (1904)
* A Set of Three Short Pieces (1935?)
* Take-Off No. 3: Rube Trying to Walk 2 to 3!! (1909)
* Trio for Violin, Violoncello, and Piano (1907, rev. 1915)

Keyboard

* Variations on "America", for organ (1891) (arranged for orchestra by William Schuman and also arranged for piano solo by Lowell Liebermann)
* Piano Sonata No. 1
* Piano Sonata No. 2 Concord

Songs that were orchestrated

* General William Booth Enters into Heaven (based on a poem by the same name written by Vachel Lindsay)

Choral Psalms

* Psalm 14 (1902, 1912-13)
* Psalm 24 (1901, 1912-13)
* Psalm 25 (1901, 1912-13)
* Psalm 42 (1891-92)
* Psalm 54 (1902)
* Psalm 67 (1898-99)
* Psalm 90 (1923-24)
* Psalm 100 (1902)
* Psalm 135 (1902, 1912-13)
* Psalm 150 (1898-99)

Bibilography:

Biography- Schimer.com
Wikipedia- List of Compositions by Charles Ives

Renaissance

Picture Gallery:














Above are all examples of Renaissance art.

:Q&A:

Q: What is Renaissance?
A: Renaissance is a period that started at the close of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern world.

Q: What does the word Renaissance mean?
A: The word Renaissance means "rebirth".

Q: What are some famous artists from this era?
A: Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Bellini, Raphael, along with many more artists.

Q: How long did Renaissance last?
A: It lasted from the 14th century to the 17th century.

Q: What's probably the most valued painting made in the time of Renaissance?
A: I'd say that The Mona Lisa (painted by Leonardo Da Vinci) is most valued.


On the left is the normal Mona Lisa...But on the right, it shows the digitally restored one! After centuries, most of the color must've faded. (And I always thought that Mona Lisa was painted like the one on the left!)

Français Écouter

France, officially République française, is the largest country in Western Europe.

Paris [paʁi] is the capital of France. It is located in the north-bending arc of the river Seine.

In France, kids play with a bilboquet. A bilboquet is a "ball and cup" game, similar to the Japanese kendama.

Madeline is a famous French character in children's literature.

Tour de France is a bicycle race held in July. Bikers ride for 2299 miles!

Cheese Essay

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INTRODUCTION

No matter how far archaeological finds go, there is evidence that cheese came into being in prehistoric times. Cheese can not really be said to have been

"invented". This delicious food must have resulted from the simple observation that milk left in a container ends up by coagulating, even more if it is hot.

People living in areas where the climate changed seasonally would also have noticed the effect of temperature on this process: in warmer weather the milk

would curdle faster than in the cold. This might be considered the first technological cheesemaking discovery.

There are hundreds of different types of cheese that can be differentiated both by the type of milk - raw, skimmed or pasteurised, and by the animal's milk -

cow, goat, sheep, buffalo, horse or camel.

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KINDS OF CHEESE

Soft white cheeses

This is the simplest type of cheese. They are neither fermented nor matured. Their high moisture content, coupled with the high humidity, attracts and

encourages the growth of the classic white penicillium mould. This type of cheese is creamy and smooth. They are based on cow's milk, skimmed or

unskimmed, and sometimes enriched with cream.

Bloomy-rind cheeses

These cheeses are neither pressed nor cooked. They are salted and seeded with Penicillium candidum that gives them their bloom (the white down that

takes on a golden aspect as it ages.)

Washed-rind cheeses

The curd, which may or may not be cut depending on how soft the final cheese should be, is scooped into moulds and left to drain. The high moisture of the

curd and the humidity of the maturing rooms attract a bitter-tasting, grey, hairy mould called "cat fur". They are raw or pasteurised milk cheeses that come

from the north of France, the east of Belgium, Luxembourg and the western marches of Germany. The maturation period lasts from two to six months, then

the cheeses are washed in slightly salted brine. These cheeses are rather spicy and outrageously piquant in taste and aroma. They can smell yeasty or

almost meaty.

Pressed, uncooked cheeses

For this type of cheese the raw or pasteurised milk is heated to 36 C and coagulated at a slightly lower temperature. The curds are fragmented into tiny

particles the size of rice grains and pressed through cloths to extract the whey. The maturation takes two to three months. The rind is brushed to obtain a

regular patina and prevent patches of humidity.

Pressed, cooked cheeses

Hard, pressed, cooked cheeses are virtually identical to the semi-hard, pressed, cooked cheeses. These cheeses are made using the evening's milk, left to

stand overnight and skimmed, mixed with that of the next morning. Maturation takes place in a cool, humid cellar, and lasts four to ten months, during

which the cheese is washed in a low-salt brine and scraped.

Blue-mould cheeses

The blue mould is a strain of penicillium that is added to the milk before the rennet is added either in liquid or powder form. Most blue cheeses are normally

wrapped in foil to prevent them from drying out. They are neither pressed nor cooked. They are usually made from cow's milk.

Natural-rind cheeses

These are mainly goat's and sheep's cheeses. When young, they have a slightly wrinkled, cream-coloured rind. In time they dry out, the wrinkles become

more pronounced and the character and flavour increases, along with the growth of bluish grey mould. Their taste is fresh, almost fruity, with undertones of

goat. To mature, these cheeses must be kept dry.

Processed cheeses

These are the result of melting one or more pressed, cooked or uncooked cheeses, and adding milk, cream, butter and sometimes flavouring agents. One or

several ripened cheeses are heated and mixed, then pasteurised at high temperature (130-140 C) after other dairy products, such as liquid or powdered milk,

cream, butter, casein, whey, and seasoning, have been added.

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CHEESE FACTS

* Did you know that there are over 2,000 varieties of cheeses! Sureeee Enough! This information is heaven for us cheese lovers.

* Did you know the #1 cheese recipe in America is "Macaroni and Cheese"

* Did you also know that "Macaroni and Cheese" is on the Top 10 list of childrens favorite foods? Well it surrre isssss! It's everybody's childhood favorite and

its been served since the late 1700's.

* CHEESE HOLES: The most recognizable characteristic of Swiss cheese is its holes which punctuate the pale yellow exterior. These holes, also called

"eyes," are caused by the expansion of gas within the cheese curd during the ripening period.

* MOLD: Mold may develop on the surface of cheese. Although most molds are harmless, to be safe, cut away 1/2 inch of cheese on all sides of the visible

mold. Use remaining cheese as quickly as possible.

* Did you know that what appears to be the remains of cheese has been found in Egyptian tombs over 4,000 years old!

* Cheese was popular in ancient Greece and Rome, but fresh milk and butter were not. This was probably due to the fact that olive oil was available in the

Mediterranean area, where the climate would have spoiled milk and butter quickly.

* The terms "Big Wheel" and "Big Cheese" originally referred to those who were wealthy enough to purchase a whole wheel of cheese.

* Cheese takes up about 1/10 the volume of the milk it was made from.

* Greek historian Xenophon (430?-355? B.C.) mentions that goat cheese had been known for centuries in Peloponnesus.

* The first cheese factory to make cheese from scratch was started in Rome, New York in 1851 by Jesse Williams. He had his own dairy herd and purchased

more milk from other local farmers to make his cheese. By combining the milk and making large cheeses he could produce cheese with uniform taste and

texture. Before then, companies would buy small batches of home made cheese curd from local farmers to make into cheese, each batch of curds producing

cheese with wide differences in taste and texture from one another.

* Cheddar, Cheshire and Leicester cheeses have been colored with annatto seed for over 200 years. Carrot juice and marigold petals have also been used to

color cheeses. Coloring may have originally been added to cheese made with winter milk from cows eating hay to match the orange hue (from vitamin A) of

cheeses made with milk from cows fed on green plants.

* A giant wheel of Cheddar cheese was given to Queen Victoria (1837-1901) for a wedding gift. It weighed over 1,000 pounds. A normal Cheddar wheel

weighs 60-75 pounds.

* Almost 90% of all cheese sold in the United States is classified as a Cheddar type cheese.

* Chevre is French for goat and refers to cheese made from goat's milk.

* Americans are eating more cheese than ever. In 2003, American s consumed 8.8 billion pounds of natural cheese. On a per capita basis, the average

American ate 30.6 pounds of natural cheese in 2003. That's four pounds more per person than in 1994 and 19.5 pounds more than in 1970. Overall, Americans

ate 1.8 billion pounds more cheese in 2003 than in 1994. Approximately half of that increase was supplied by California, the fastest-growing cheese producer.

* Americans are stuck on mozzarella. It will be no surprise to pizza lovers that the single most frequently eaten cheese is Mozzarella, which recently edged

past Cheddar in popularity. Americans ate 2.8 billion pounds of gooey Mozzarella in 2003, the majority of which came from California, the country's largest

producer. Cheddar was a close second and we ate 2.7 billion pounds of that.

* Americans purchased $40 billion worth of cheese last year. The market value of all cheese consumed in the U.S. was nearly $40 billion in 2003. In addition

to supermarket sales, this includes cheese sold through restaurants and fast food outlets, as well as the cheese sold as ingredients in frozen and packaged

foods.

* America has 440 cheesemakers.This includes more than 350 producers of specialty, artisan and farmstead cheeses. While most states have at least one

cheese plant, more than two-thirds of the specialty cheesemakers in the country are located in just three regions - California, Wisconsin and New England.

Many cheesemakers now invite visitors to stop by and sample cheese and learn more about Cheesemaking practices. For a visitor's map to California

cheesemakers.

Bibilography:
http://www.gone-ta-pott.com/Cheese_Facts.html
http://cheese.com/

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Prayer:

WE GIVE THANKS

Our Father in Heaven,
We give thanks for the pleasure
Of gathering together for this occasion.
We give thanks for this food
Prepared by loving hands.
We give thanks for life,
The freedom to enjoy it all
And all other blessings.
As we partake of this food,
We pray for health and strength
To carry on and try to live as You would have us.
This we ask in the name of Christ,
Our Heavenly Father.

History Of Thanksgiving:

THE FIRST THANKSGIVING
Most stories of Thanksgiving history start with the harvest celebration of the pilgrims and the Indians that took place in the autumn of 1621. Although they did have a three-day feast in celebration of a good harvest, and the local Indians did participate, this "first Thanksgiving" was not a holiday, simply a gathering.

The Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast -- including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives. The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.

Thanksgiving was proclaimed by every president after Lincoln. The date was changed a couple of times, most recently by Franklin Roosevelt, who set it up one week to the next-to-last Thursday in order to create a longer Christmas shopping season. Public uproar against this decision caused the president to move Thanksgiving back to its original date two years later. And in 1941, Thanksgiving was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday, as the fourth Thursday in November.

Bibilography:
http://www.godweb.org/thanksgivingprayers.htm Thanksgiving Prayer
http://wilstar.com/holidays/thankstr.htm History Of Thanksgiving

Opinion: Interesting story, Thanksgiving is really fun to learn about!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Hope you enjoyed! Happy Thanksgiving!

Coco Chanel

Born: August 19, 1993, Saumur, France

Died: January 10, 1971, (Aged 87) Paris, France











Early Years
Gabrielle "Coco" Bonheur Chanel was born second daughter to Jeanne Devolle and Albert Chanel. Her parents married in 1883. She had five siblings, Julie, Antoinette, Alphonse, Lucien and Augustin. When Coco was 12 years old, her mother died of tuberculosis, soon after Coco's father leaving to take care of the other children. Young Coco Chanel spent 7 years in the orphanage of the Catholic Monastery of Aubazine. When she turned eighteen, she left the orphanage and became a local tailor.

While working at a tailoring shop she met and soon began an affair with the French playboy and millionaire Étienne Balsan who lavished her with the beauties of "the rich life", diamonds, dresses and pearls. While living with Balsan, Chanel began designing hats as a hobby, which soon became a deeper interest of hers. After opening her eyes, as she would say, Coco left Balsan and took over his apartment in Paris, France. In 1913, she opened up her very first shop which sold a range of fashionable raincoats and jackets. Situated in the heart of Paris, France it wasn't long before the shop went out of business and Chanel was asked to surrender her properties. This did not discourage Chanel, it only made her more determined.Later in life, she told an elaborate false history for her humble beginnings. Chanel would steadfastly claim that when her mother died, her father sailed for America and she was sent to live with two cold-hearted spinster aunts. She even claimed to have been born in 1893 as opposed to 1883, and that her mother had died when Coco was six instead of twelve.

The Chanel Empire
Chanel always kept the clothing she designed simple and comfortable and revealing. She took what were considered poor fabrics like jersey and upgraded them. She was instrumental in helping to design the image of the 1920s flapper, a "new breed" of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to jazz music, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior.

Later Years
In 1939, at the beginning of World War II, the designer closed her shops. She believed that it was not a time for fashion. She took up residence in the Hôtel Ritz Paris and for more than 30 years, Chanel made this hotel her home, even during the Nazi occupation of Paris.

Death
Chanel died in Paris on January 10, 1971, 87 years old, in her private suite at the Hôtel Ritz, and she was buried in Lausanne, Switzerland. Her tombstone is carved with stone lion heads representing her birth sign, Leo.

Bibliography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coco_Chanel

Poetry- For The Want of A Nail, Jimmy Jet And His TV Set, Knoxville Tennessee, And How Doth The Little Crocodile

For Want of A Nail
(Traditional)

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary:

A clever set of lyrics in "For want of a nail" encouraging children to apply logical progression to the consequences of their actions. "For want of a nail" is often used to gently chastise a child whilst explaining the possible events that may follow a thoughtless act. 

"For want of a nail" American usage
Benjamin Franklin included a version of the rhyme in his Poor Richard's Almanack when America and England were on opposite sides. 

During World War II, this verse was framed and hung on the wall of the Anglo-American Supply Headquarters in London, England.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Knoxville, Tennessee
By Nikki Giovanni

I always like summer
Best
you can eat fresh corn
From daddy's garden
And okra
And greens
And cabbage
And lots of
Barbeque
And buttermilk
And homemade ice-cream
At the church picnic
And listen to
Gospel music
Outside
At the church
Homecoming
And go to the mountains with
Your grandmother
And go barefooted
And be warm
All the time
Not only when you go to bed
And sleep

Knoxville… Tennessee!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Summary:

Lines 1 – 2

In each line of this poem, the speaker identifies something about summer. It is clear by the simplicity of language and affections that this speaker is not an adult but perhaps a child. It seems to be told from the point of view of a young person who is both nostalgic about a past summer spent and also looking forward to the return of summer's delights.

Lines 3 – 12

In these lines, the speaker focuses on the taste sensations of summer and the quality of abundance. The presence of the family patriarch is perhaps the only slightly political statement in the whole poem. This poem can be determined as political if one considers the times in which the author was writing this poem and the feeling that black men were under siege. Otherwise, having a "daddy" who has a "garden" could not be more natural to a child's memories.

Lines 13 – 17

Now, the speaker evokes a higher sensation, perhaps an almost spiritual quality to the memory by asking the reader to consider the "gospel music" and the tight-knit community centered on the "church." The fact that these lines fall in the center of the poem suggests that perhaps this is the heart and soul of the speaker's memory. The importance of this vision of a "homecoming" cannot be overlooked and can perhaps tell the reader that the speaker is not always in this earthly paradise.

Lines 18 – 24

Finally, the speaker makes the connection to the place itself. The place is identified by "mountains," which often represent truth or vision. That the speaker goes to this place with a grandmother re-enforces the idea that wisdom is somehow shared by osmosis. The way that the speaker connects to the time and place is like the feeling of a good dream and perhaps that is why the reader is taken to the end of the day, to "sleep."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How Doth The Little Crocodile 
By Lewis Caroll

How doth the little crocodile 
Improve his shining tail, 
And pour the waters of the Nile 
On every golden scale! 
  
How cheerfully he seems to grin!
How neatly spread his claws, 
And welcomes little fishes in 
With gently smiling jaws!

Opinion: Uh oh! Run fishies run!

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Summary:

"How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a poem by Lewis Carroll which appears in his novel, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It describes a crafty crocodile which lures fish into its mouth with a welcoming smile. "How Doth the Little Crocodile" is a parody of the moralistic poem "Against Idleness And Mischief" by Isaac Watts. Watts' poem begins "How doth the little busy bee," and uses a bee as a model of hard work. In Carroll's parody, the crocodile's corresponding "virtues" are deception and predation, themes which recur throughout Alice's adventures in both books, and especially in the poems.

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Jimmy Jet And His TV Set
By Shel Silverstein

I'll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet --
And you know what I tell you is true.
He loved to watch his TV set
Almost as much as you.

He watched all day, he watched all night
Till he grew pale and lean,
From "The Early Show" to "The Late Late Show"
And all the shows between.

He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,
And his bottom grew into his chair.
And his chin turned into a tuning dial,
And antennae grew out of his hair.

And his brains turned into TV tubes,
And his face to a TV screen.
And two knobs saying "VERT." and "HORIZ."
Grew where his ears had been.

And he grew a plug that looked like a tail
So we plugged in little Jim.
And now instead of him watching TV
We all sit around and watch him.

Opinion: I don't watch TV much, but watching him would be quite interesting :[)
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Summary:

"Jimmy Jet And His TV Set" is a poem included in the book "Where The Sidewalk Ends", a children's poetry book, by Shel Silverstein. It is about a boy who watched TV all the time and didn't do anything else really, not even sleep! So after awhile, he turned into a TV!