Thanks for partying with me over here in Miami, FL. I appreciate all of you who took the time to join me on my day of the
RRBC Springtime Book and Blog Party! Here are my winners:
Today's Prizes - 04/11/17:
*an e-book copy of one of my novels (winner's choice) - 5 winners (KRISTY MODIA, MARETHA MENICHINI, C. S. BOYACK, JOAN HALL & CHARLES W. JONES)
* a signed copy of The One Discovered (continental US only) - 1 winner (MAE CLAIR)
* a signed copy of The One Enlightened (continental US only) - 1 winner (MAGGIE THOM)
* a signed copy of The One Betrayed (continental US only) - 1 winner (MIKE LYNES)
* a signed copy of The One Revealed (continental US only) - 1 winner (SUZANNA BURKE)
* Author Spotlight on my blog - 1 winner (LARRY HYATT)
Total Winners: 10! :-)
I will be contacting all of my winners within the next couple of days to send you your prizes. Congratulations! :-)
If you did not win on my page, there are plenty of prizes still out there to win. Just go to: https://ravereviewsbynonniejules.wordpress.com/rrbc-2017-springtime-book-blog-block-party/
Let's get this party started!
In order to win a prize, you need to leave a comment at some point today (04/11/17). You don't have to be a member of
RRBC to win, but if you love reading and/or writing,
RRBC is the place to be. That will enter you into the drawing. That being said, you are more than welcome to share this post with others. :-)
With each of these
#RRBC book and blog parties, I have told you about my
Chronicles of the Diasodz series. You can see those posts
here and
here and
here. I am thrilled with the responses that I have received to each of my novels, and I thank each of you who have taken a chance on me and have read my series. If you are new to my work, you can read about my series
here and
here.
Today, I want to do something a little different. I want to share with you something that I did not write. This was written by my very talented sister, Kristy Modia. She is a high school Language Arts teacher who sponsors a creative writing club called Writer's Ink. Her students perform in spoken word competitions through the
Jason Taylor's Louder Than a Bomb organization. Recently, the coaches were asked to share a piece of their own writing, and the following piece is what my sister shared. Enjoy! :-)
This is my 19th year of teaching.
So much has changed since I first started,
And as a mentor, I’m tired,
Tired of education being one–sided.
So listen to my side.
You know what I hear often?
"Miss, what can I do to pass?"
I feel like answering by saying,
“What you should have been doing
While you were engaged in your routine of puff, puff, pass.”
That’s how so many of you end up blind-sighted.
You don’t want to learn.
You want a get-out-of-jail free card,
But this isn’t monopoly.
Education isn’t a game
And it’s not my job to bail you out.
In fact, you’re the one who bails when I try to help,
But somehow I am supposed to care.
Most of the time when I am teaching
Half of you aren’t even mentally there.
You see, I’m in a battle,
Always fighting off the lure of social media.
I’m left competing for your attention, and
Well, that’s not right!
I ask you to face the book and
You pull out your phones and hop on Facebook.
I ask you to follow me in the chapter and
You wonder how many followers you have.
You’re more concerned with Tweeting,
And you’ve perfected the art of cheating.
Yes, you’ve cheated yourself out of an education,
Cheated yourself out of real social interaction,
Cheated yourself out of living in the moment,
Moments that you will unfortunately never get back,
And while you should be working on improving yourself,
You're too busy taking selfie after selfie,
Hoping to get as many likes and hearts as you can.
Truth is, you wouldn’t do this if you really liked yourself.
You need affirmation from friends who don’t even know you,
But you don’t care; you don’t even know yourself.
You know how to use those filters on your Snapchats,
But you don’t know yet how to filter in reality.
So long as you have a cute Instagram,
You’re happy…
So I can’t compete or even instill a gram of knowledge into
your heads.
You are the generation of instant gratification,
But few of you are ever really satisfied.
Education partly died when the word text went from a book from which to gather knowledge
To an abbreviated version of English used for virtual communication.
Congratulations! Your phones are now truly smarter than you.
So, you ask me how you can pass?
I will answer by saying, "Stop passing."
Stop passing on opportunities that I give you,
Stop passing the time on mindless acts,
Stop passing by your classes and actually go inside,
Stop trying to hide -
Hide from responsibilities,
Hide who you really are in favor of false appreciation,
Hide from the only gift you have - the present.
Learn to present yourself as a student.
This generation is connected to being disconnected,
So here I am, representing one of many tired educators
Because students continue to give us less
And their only true connections to life remain wireless.
Besides being an author, I am also a middle school Language Arts/Intensive Reading teacher, so this poem resonates with me, and I hope it impacts you as well. Many of you are parents who can also connect with this poem. Technology is both a blessing and a curse, and it takes strong will-power and character to know what role it should have in our lives. Too many people have forgotten how to enjoy life and have become prisoners of their own devices.
My sister has written two novels, but she is a perfectionist, so she has yet to publish either one. She's afraid that they aren't good enough, so she keeps them hidden from the world. She almost didn't give me this poem because she "just wrote it on a whim for the LTAB presentation." One day, I will convince her to publish her works, so remember her name. ;-)
