Goodbye, Lit class with Mrs. Carnes!

Mrs. Carnes, Oh, Mrs. Carnes,
Where do I begin?
I can't say I remember
Everything from start to fin.

From writing a letter to future me
To reading classic books
(I must admit, some were quite sad),
To being classroom cooks...

The past three years of school with you
have gone by way too fast.
And holy cow, today's the day!
How can it be the last?

I cherish all the special days
And moments our class shared.
And through it all, amazing teacher,
You've always loved and cared.

Thank you for everything, Mrs. Carnes!

Senior Superlatives

Most likely to . . .

Make $1,000,000 in 10 years Garrison

Have lots of kids Lindsey

Accidentally start a cult Gabbi

Have a glass eye Travis

Get arrested Chandler

Be on the news Stefan

Have lots of tattoos Grace

Vote Democratic Tess

Be a conspiracy theorist on the History Channel Nathan

Become a household name Stephen

Come back to Fideles to teach Macy

Live on a different continent Kaitlyn

Summit Mt. Everest Rigg

Be the first one married Hannah

Become a hippie vegan Anna

Most likely to be a #soccermom Brooke

Have the biggest transformation Jordan

Join the circus Indigo

Be a helicopter parent Mitchell

Become internet famous Bryson

I don't like goodbyes :'(

Before I start, I love you all so much!! I can't imagine having done this year with anyone else, and I'm going to miss you all! I hate saying goodbyes because they make me sad so I'm going to skip that part...
First, I'm glad we had lit as the first class of the day :) Thank you for putting up with all of our craziness Ms. Carnes!
On a literary note, I loved the Screwtape Letters the most. I felt like C.S. Lewis has some of the best advice, especially for those of us going off to secular colleges. I loved our food days, crazy days, fun days, and even work days. Love y'all!


P.S. Shout out to Jordan for listening to me ramble about country music :)

Bittersweet

This year was fantastic, and I am a little sad to see it end (sad about school, what??). From the shade being thrown at people who didn't show up to someone's mysterious newfound love of poetry, it has been quite the ride.
My favorite book was Brave New World or Lord of the Flies. They were interesting and also provoked discussion. Stephen and Rigg acting out Hamlet scenes was pretty swell as well.
The competitions were also super fun. It makes you and your team work together and makes literature even more fun!
I wish we could have finished the Screwtape Letters though, I really enjoyed reading and discussing it.
Having Mrs. Carnes as our literature teacher will be a wonderful memory, and the school will be losing a teacher who cares and also loves what she teaches. Thank you for the memories!

This year

My favorite part about any and all of your classes was the competitions. They made reading literature so much more fun and they helped me tremendously. I wish we had done more than just the one competition. I will miss the intriguing conversations we had and any debates. I will also miss the interesting lessons we had such as the personality test. Although I truly hated most of the literature we read I really did have a lot of fun in your classes over the years.

favs

I really liked the Frankenstein feast. The ribs were a definite added bonus. They were really yummy. I didn't really like many of the books we read this year. But, I did like Lord of the Flies and Screwtape Letters. Those actually captured my attention, and not disturbing. Frankenstein wasn't too bad either. I actually REALLY enjoyed the senior project. I loved going to the CDC. I loved getting to further explore the opportunities that a nursing degree could lead me to. It really warmed my nerdy soul and heart. The paper really scared me at first, because it was supposed to be so long. But once i actually started writing, it was really easy to write. I had some speed fingers. Just pouring my heart and soul into that paper. I actually really enjoyed writing it. 

IM GONNA MISS YOU SO MUCH NEXT YEAR MS. CARNES. 

Thanks for all the memories

I remember at the beginning of the school year being most excited for Modern Lit, and that sentiment as not changed all year. I have loved all the books we have gotten to read and all the discussions we've had. I had a love-hate relationship with the senior project (I love what I accomplished, but it was not easy to get there). I actually kinda liked Brave New World (except for the "explicit content" obviously), but then again I'm a sucker for dystopian novels. My least favorite book we read was Heart of Darkness, not necessarily because I didn't like the books, but there are other books I think I would have enjoyed more. Overall I will take many great memories and funny stories from this class and carry them throughout my college career and the rest of my life. Thank you so much.

memz

My favorite part of Modern Lit this year was the senior project. I LOVED that i could do people's makeup and call it school work. It's something i would've done anyways but i got to use it as homework!! Also, Carnes Cookies are my favorite. I'm super grateful for your catering skills at prom. It was delicious and we appreciate you so much. Thankyou for all of the memories we've had in this class! I'm going to miss everyone!! ((:

Riggs post or is it

My name is Rigg

I think this year has been pretty fun I enjoyed making the videos and the debits we had and watching classmates go head to head in word battles. Also i thought the senior project was really fun. It was enjoyable because I got to write and present about something that i love doing and experiencing. As much as I hate writing or reading the senior project paper was really easy for me because i understood what i was writing about. The reading was confusing, but that's because i get detracted easy and confused from books that don't interest me. I did however enjoy reading lord of the fly's because that book was like something i could totally seeing myself do besides the killing. Being able to survive of the land is something that has interested me for years so this book stood out.

thanks for a fun year!

The final countdown (10 days)

This has been an incredibly eventful year in my life. I switched schools, took some extra classes, made new friends, etc. Personally, what has been most helpful to me in this class is your feedback on our papers. I am taking 1.5 semesters of literature this semester, so I have been writing and reading a lot. The feedback you give me actually helps me see how to improve my writing, not just fix my paper and the grade. From this I have improved my quality of writing in both of my lit classes which will be helpful for the rest of my life. That is something that I have not yet had in a lit teacher. Beyond the writing, I have read books that I would have never even opened otherwise. Your explanation of the books has helped me learn to read further into each page. Overall, I have really enjoyed this class, despite literature being a weakness of mine.

First and last year!

I am so glad I got to be in this class this year I learned a lot from literature to music with Tess. Literature is pretty easy for me overall since I like reading and writing (even though I’m not that good at it). Writing the papers were helpful because now I know how to write better than I did before. I once wrote this child book and now I can go back and edit it because I wrote it when I really didn’t know how to write. I liked reading all the books besides Frankenstein because it was not my type of book reading. Throughout the year though doing the blogs were super fun because I got to read how everyone else thought, and the senior project was super fun because I got to see people I love and haven’t seen in a while. I already knew a lot about my topic so it was fun just getting to see my old workers and extended family. 

The end is where we begin

I'd have to say my favorite thing about modern lit this year was the senior project. Other than the fact that it was for a grade I loved getting to research my topic and getting to just go mountain biking whenever I needed to "work" in lit. My least favorite part was reading Brave New World, that book didn't make any sense to me and it was just weird. However, I can understand why the people in that book worshiped Ford so much, he did make an awesome truck and he built my college while he was at it.
Lit has definitely been a hard class this year due it being the first class of the day and me always being tired but I did appreciate having the class it was a lot of fun. Thanks to everyone for a great senior year.

Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End

Here it is: your last blog entry of the year! I'd like to hear from you about your favorite (and least favorite) parts of Modern Literature this year. Let me know what you thought about the blog, the senior project, the literature, and the papers. Are there topics related to the modern world you wished we had covered? What about books you wish we had read?

For my part, I most enjoyed teaching The Stranger and Hamlet and hearing your reactions to the ideas in those books. I loved the edible Frankenstein's monster, the Hamlet acting exercises, and the Lord of the Flies competition. I looked forward with great anticipation every week to reading your blog entries; I appreciate how much you shared about yourselves, your beliefs, and your ideas.

On the downside, I wish we had time to read more. I would have liked to have read authors such as Vonnegut, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Woolf.

Finally, I hope you know how much I've enjoyed teaching your class for the last four years and that I love every single one of you. Knowing that this could be my last year teaching, I'm glad I'm ending my career with you. We've come a long way from wrongly-accused tennis-ball throwers. I can't wait to see what you do in the future!

BE STILL.

I believe doubt is more of a "thirst for faith" than a period of darkness. When I doubt, I feel like my faith is being tested and strengthened. It is becoming more meaningful, more true. I don't quite know how to explain it, but I know that a strong faith is impossible without doubt. When I was really little (like 4 or 5) I struggled so much with the concept of infinity, forever, etc... I didn't doubt the existence of an infinite God because I was young and my values, reason, and logic were wrapped around the truths of our home. But as I got older I started questioning these things more. I wanted to know Christ more and develop a stronger faith. But I had to face my doubts in order to grow. As I leaned into Christ more and more, and as I desired my truth to line up with God's truth, I realized how much the world doesn't want me to do so. I am either overwhelmed with distractions (to keep my mind off of Christ) or faced with those doubts that force me to make a very important decision: I can either give in to the ways of the world, what the "popular" people say is true, my doubts. OR I can continue to lean on Christ and trust in Him with all I have, even when I don't feel free, or joyful, or any sense of peace or certainty. I strive to trust in the Lord in all of my uncertainty. He strengthens me as I call on Him in times of confusion, doubt, or anxiety. But so many times the distractions of life crowd my soul and rob me of the opportunity to draw closer to Him. When I give into these distractions and don't take time to be still with Him (especially in times of doubt), I am leaving my faith behind despite my soul calling out for time with Him.


Take time to BE STILL. Let your soul ponder the wonders of God and face the doubts it must face to grow stronger in faith.

Everyone doubts

Blind faith is really not faith at all. To strengthen faith you have to test it, question it, and delve into it. It is easy to believe something, but that could mean nothing in terms of life change. You must make your faith a part of your life, not just another fact stored in your head. This is true with everything, not just religious faith. You could have faith in a friend, but doing this blindly will result in a lack of true trust.

Doubt

Faith without doubt is not faith; it is ignorance. Faith is belief in the sight of doubt, the determination to follow truth because it is truth. When a child of four years old excepts Christ at their Savior, she has no idea what that means. She will spend the rest of her life figuring out what that decision meant, whether she meant it, if should even knew what she was saying. She will doubt. But, she will have to use faith, hold with white knuckles to the truth that all those that confess and repent are forgiven. She will "work through her faith," discover the mysteries of God and His Word to fully formulate this faith that she has taken hold of. Satan will use her readiness to receive the Gospel against her, but she will fight against the doubt and come out victorious, with a faith stronger because of it.

18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”[d] 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthenedin his faith and gave glory to God,

doubters

I feel like doubt can be a good and a bad thing for Christians. I think as humans we tend to be scared of things we can't see. We are very materialistic. It is just apart of our sinful nature. But I also feel like it is our doubt that eventually brings us closer to God. For me, I have been able to battle my doubt with situations where I have truly seen God's hand work. I know that in some things it was not only my doing, but God's help and strength as well. I think through our doubt God teaches us how big He is, how able He is, and how much He DOES NOT need us. God's will will be done in this world with or without our individual contributions. He is THAT mighty.
I look at doubt in relation to inventions and science. Someone has to doubt and think that their is a better way to do something for there to be new ideas. Doubt is what drives ingenuity. I feel like that relates really well to doubt and faith. Without doubt, our faith wouldn't increase. We wouldn't find ways to further and deeper trust and rely on God. Although times of doubt can be rocky and uncertain, they are absolutely necessary to be able to mature in Christ.

Doubt can be good because..............it causes us to be cautious and keep an open mind.

Doubt can be good because it causes us to think and research instead of just blindly believe what we are told. It is this kind of doubt that has caused man to try and figure out where it came from for centuries. This kind of doubt is what causes us humans to grow in our faith. Doubt is kind of like asking questions. God will show you what you need to see and hopefully it will bring you closer to him. Doubt however can be bad for lazy people who wont research to find the answers. This kind of doubt only causes us to put a barrier between us and god. Doubt exists for a reason and it causes us to be cautious and keep an open mind.

Doubt...

The nature of doubt for a christian is a part of the life. You always want to try harder and do better in order to try and please God. When we go through periods of doubt God teaches us that He will never leave or forsake us. He wants us to be able to trust and lean on Him when we need help. However, we seem to always want to do it our way and not wait on Him to lead us on the right path. The saying "Not only is there nothing more but there can be nothing more" means to me that there is nothing more we can do to help ourselves but to wait and pray. I believe that you can be comfortable with doubt if you can trust that God will take it for you and provide for you.  

"Hi, my name is Ted."

TED Talks are so interesting!! I am always very intrigued, no matter the topic really. One of the things that really stands out in these talks is that the speaker always has some sort of story to tell. They bring in personal experience and draw their listeners in with an interesting narrative.

Also, these speakers tend to keep a very steady train of thought. They stay on topic and are not usually redundant. Their words and ideas flow smoothly, which helps listeners understand what they're saying.

Finally, TED talk speakers don't typically read off of notes. They know exactly what they are going to stay, and they speak to the audience as if in a conversation. This keeps their listeners connected!


In my presentation of my senior project, I can use my personal experience to explain certain concepts. I can start by telling a short narrative and tie it in throughout. I can also write out the basics of my presentation (like an outline) to make sure my ideas flow well. And I will practice so that I'm not interrupting my story with unnecessary "um"s and such. Finally, if I use notes, I will only refer to them in my presentation. I won't read off of them. Or I will not use notes so that I can further connect with my audience. I think I will have a successful presentation if I prepare and explain my concepts in an organized, connected manner!

GO TED TALKS!!

I want to believe

I think doubt is a vital part of being a Christin. Examining your beliefs and asking yourself why you believe what you do not only lets you know that you’ve doing what you truly believe in and not what you we’re told to believe in, but it also makes that belief seem more real. In fact, finding evidence for you beliefs and comparing them to things against it tends strengthens people’s beliefs and prove that what they believe in is right.

Dostoevsky on Doubt

"I will tell you that I am a child of the century, a child of disbelief and doubt. I will remain so until the grave. How much terrible torture this thirst for faith has cost me and costs me even now which is all the stronger in my soul the more arguments I can find against it. And yet God sends me sometimes instants [sic] when I am completely calm. At those instants I love and feel loved by others and it is at those instants that I have shaped for myself a Credo where everything is clear and sacred to me. This credo is very simple. Here it is: To believe that nothing is more beautiful, profound, sympathetic, reasonable, manly, and perfect than Christ. And I tell myself with a jealous love that not only is there nothing more but there can be nothing more. Even more, if someone proved to me that Christ is outside the truth and that in reality the truth were outside of Christ, then I should prefer to remain with Christ rather than with the truth.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky, in a letter a woman who had helped him through crisis.

Dostoevsky said the 19th century was one of disbelief and doubt, but we Christians in the early part of the 21st century might argue that is a title for our time. Our larger culture responds to sincere faith with curiosity, hostility, and mockery. Within the church some hesitate to reveal periods of doubt, yet Jesus himself asked for the cup of his crucifixion be taken away from him as he prayed in Gethsemane.

What is the nature of doubt for a Christian? Is it a single period of darkness, or is it a "thirst for faith" that lasts a lifetime? What does God teach us through periods of doubt?

Like Dostoevsky, do you have a Credo (Latin for "I believe") - a single statement of your faith?

What does he mean when he says, "[N]ot only is there nothing more but there can be nothing more"?

Contemporary pastor Tim Keller says this about doubt: A faith without some doubts is like a human body without antibodies in it.  People who blithely go through life too busy or indifferent to ask hard questions about why they believe as they do will find themselves defenseless against either the experience of tragedy or the probing questions of a smart skeptic. Can you be comfortable with doubt? What are the benefits of doubt to your faith?

Finally, what do you think of his assertion that even if Christ were not true, he would rather remain in Christ than in truth? It might remind you of Pascal's Wager. Or it might remind you of Puddleglum in The Silver Chair:

“One word, Ma'am," he said, coming back from the fire; limping, because of the pain. "One word. All you've been saying is quite right, I shouldn't wonder. I'm a chap who always liked to know the worst and then put the best face I can on it. So I won't deny any of what you said. But there's one more thing to be said, even so. Suppose we have only dreamed, or made up, all those things-trees and grass and sun and moon and stars and Aslan himself. Suppose we have. Then all I can say is that, in that case, the made-up things seem a good deal more important than the real ones. Suppose this black pit of a kingdom of yours is the only world. Well, it strikes me as a pretty poor one. And that's a funny thing, when you come to think of it. We're just babies making up a game, if you're right. But four babies playing a game can make a play-world which licks your real world hollow. That's why I'm going to stand by the play world. I'm on Aslan's side even if there isn't any Aslan to lead it. I'm going to live as like a Narnian as I can even if there isn't any Narnia. So, thanking you kindly for our supper, if these two gentlemen and the young lady are ready, we're leaving your court at once and setting out in the dark to spend our lives looking for Overland. Not that our lives will be very long, I should think; but that's a small loss if the world's as dull a place as you say.”