Shannon Costello

Finally, a taste of National Velvet in real life!
Actually, my real life experience with jumping horses consists of driving past a farm and not being able to watch because, of course, I’m driving.  Frustrating.
Well, at the Grand Prix I finally got to watch, and watch, and watch.
It’s neat watching large, heavy animals leap over fences. [...]

Monday I ventured alone into D. C.  
I was going to take the red line of the metro to the Tenleytown-AU stop and then take a bus to the American University campus.  
I am afraid of buses, mostly because I can’t figure them out.  Once in Mexico I needed to take a bus back to where I [...]

All forests have secrets, but this one seems to guard them more closely than most. Even the vegetation encroaches on the winding mountain roads, hiding the forest floor from view.
My quest to uncover what I can begins with the trees. I spend time with them: delight in the softness of their [...]

There is a multi-story patio within the Organization of American States headquarters in Washington D. C. A stately marble fountain, too tall for me to reach the top, presides over the center of the tiled floor. The Peace Tree’s upper boughs brush the glass-paneled roof high above the arched entryways and balconies. [...]

is in Spanish.  None of the characters are behaving properly.  The heroine locked herself in her room four days ago.  The hero has sunk into a deep gloom.  The priest is plotting against the hero.  The hero’s aunt meanders blithely along, certain that everything will turn out well.
Chapter titles are along the lines [...]

Recently a fellow teacher observed quite casually that movies can never be as good as the books they are based on because our imagination will always be better to us than what is on the screen. I find I am never completely satisfied with movies based on books, but fortunately I get a great [...]

Of course I think the movies are fantastic. But I do have a couple of observations, things I didn’t notice so much at first, but that really stood out to me upon subsequent viewings.
1) There is a consistant pattern of exaggeration (unfortunately common in such movies) which is unnecessary given the [...]

I seem to have this idea that being 30 (a fact which I find I’m very conscious of) implies that I know too much to be surprised by anything.
But of course I don’t. Part of my mind is having difficulty adjusting to the Mexican-American War, or the existance of revolutionaries such as [...]