Valentine's Day - and why this is such a good month to be on a Facebook fast

One very great consequence of my Facebook fast is that I miss out on Valentine's Day on Facebook. I've posted about this before, and call me the Valentine's Day grinch, but I can't stand this particular day on Facebook. It is PDA to the extreme. Everyone loooooooooves their significant other so much and everyone has the BEST significant other in the world. Everyone seems to post all the flowers, balloons and chocolates that their significant other got them. And they all need to publicly tell each other and all their friends so they can prove how good their relationship is. Call me a cynic, but I know for a fact that most of my friends who are the worst offenders of this practice are having the most trouble in their relationship. Of course tell your sweetie that you love him/her, but be secure enough in your relationship to not have to broadcast it to your entire list of 1,000 friends! I know I'm a total brat, but I was glad to miss the PDA insanity this year!

I also never post pictures of food I make (it's one of my Facebook pet peeves....which I soon need to post about). But since you guys asked, and I consider it cultural enrichment, and since it seriously is so stinkin' good, here is a picture of my Raspberry Roulade I made for Valentine's Day!



It's basically meringue, cream, and raspberries all rolled up and it is DELISH! I can't believe we don't have it in this country. Here is the basic recipe in case you want to try it out.

Dr. Coyne's Raspberry Roulade
Beat 4 egg whites until soft peaks form. Then gradually add 1 1/4 c sugar until stiff peaks form. Cover a large cookie sheet (with sides) and cover with wax paper (with 2 inches extending off the ends) and spray the heck out of it with cooking spray. Then pour the mixture on the cookie sheet and spread out, careful not to touch any of the sides. I then crunch up and sprinkle almonds on the top.

Cook for 8 minutes at 400, then reduce temp to 325 and cook 8 more minutes until meringue is light brown. Take out and lift by the wax paper. Flip the whole thing over on your counter on another piece of wax paper and CAREFULLY peel off the top layer of wax paper. Cool for 25 min.

In the meantime, make your cream (I use about 1 1/2 c of heavy whipping cream, 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of sugar) all mixed up in your blender. When meringue is cool, spread the whipped cream on the top, careful not to touch the edges. Put a bunch of raspberries, strawberries, or whatever on the top of the cream and then carefully roll the whole thing up (starting with the short sides), pulling away the wax paper as you go. Put on a plate and top with whipped cream/raspberries however you like!

Good luck and enjoy!

Facebook fast - and a challenge to you!

I just posted this message on my Facebook account:

I teach a lecture on social networking in my media class every year. This year as an experiment on the function of such sites in my life, I am going completely off Facebook for the rest of February. Cold Turkey. If you need to contact me, please call or email me! See you all in March!

I teach about social networking every semester and always say I'm going to "quit" for a week or two, just to see how life is without Facebook....but I've never actually done it! But this is the year! I generally check Facebook a few times a day - mostly on my phone when I'm bored. So this will probably be difficult at first, but I really want to find out if I feel like I'm missing anything or if life will simply go on. I have a feeling it will be the latter.

Feel free to join me in this Facebook fast if you think you can do it! Our social networking lecture is March 1st!

Dr. Coyne's recommendations for TV shows for children

Alright, Rachel, this one is for you! In class, I was asked the question what are my favorite TV shows for kids. I had a chance to think about it a bit more and here are my favorites, broken up by age (as any good child development scholar would do!) Hopefully, this list will be useful for you in the future, as I think it provides some good recommendations for kids of a variety of ages. Plus, you might enjoy the nostalgia of some of these! :)

INFANT

Haha, tricked you - according to the AAP we should avoid media at this age (as you all now know)! :) Though I must admit, in truly desperate moments, I would throw on a Baby Einstein, but only when my kids were older than about 18 months.

TODDLER

Little Einsteins - combines art, music, and so much more to teach good life lessons

Blue's Clues - Classic

Curious George - George is so stinkin' cute and really creative. I also love the relationship between him and the man with the Yellow Hat. Plus, my son Aidan, just loves it so much, it's hard not to love it too! In the mornings, we usually snuggle together on the couch on watch "Georgio" (as he calls it) while he drinks his milk.

Wonder Pets - 3 pets that save the day...in Opera Style!

PRESCHOOL (there are really a TON aimed at this age!)

Super Why!: We already discussed this in class, but it helps kids to read...and they are superheroes to boot!

The Backyardigans - group of 5 animals who get together and engage in pretend play. There are a lot of really good themes in this one.

Ni hao Kialan - Little Chinese girl - SUPER good life lessons here!

Octonauts - This is a new one for us - it's a group of animals that live underwater and rescue hurt sea animals. If I weren't a professor I would probably be a marine biologist (or a doctor....yeah, I changed my major a lot). So I really like this purely on educational value.

Doc McStuffins - another new one. Doc is a little girl who wants to be a doctor when she grows up so she helps her stuffed animals when they get sick.

Strawberry Shortcake - So many good messages about friendship. Though I despise how they made her look more "cute" in recent years

SCHOOL AGE

Magic School Bus - love, love, love! So educational, so interesting, love that Miss Frizz!

Phineas and Ferb - a little dumb at times, but I love how inventive and creative the boys are. Plus Perry the platypus is stinkin' funny

Cyberchase - fantastic show that highlights problem solving skills

WordGirl - another superhero one, aimed at a bit older age, where she uses vocab skills throughout the show

Rugrats - Okay, this isn't super educational or anything, but those babies are so cute! And Tommy is such a defender (you know I love defenders!), already, at age 1!

Hey Arnold! - One I grew up with. Arnold is a great character of just a normal, but great kid, with some really good qualities

Doug - I can't find this on anymore but this was one of my favorite ones growing up. Again, just a great kid and role model. Plus, he turns into Quailman. Doesn't get much better than that!

VeggieTales - this is what I let my kids watch on Sundays. Some really fantastic themes here, plus it always ends with the phrase "Remember, God thinks you're special - and He loves you very much!" And did I mention they are Veggies?

TEENS
We aren't there yet! I'll let you know in a few years!

I'd love to hear any additional recommendations you have! I'm sure my kids would thank you! :)

Les Mis!

Paul and I were able to get away from the kids for a few hours on Saturday so we watched Les Miserables.


Here are some of my major thoughts:

1. The most powerful story in the film is the transformation of Jean Valjean. He goes from a prisoner to a truly amazing individual, full of integrity. When things get difficult, he always chooses the right, even when it seems impossible. I love so many of the songs, but I particulary love "Who am I?", when he is having an internal battle about what to do - remain as mayor or reveal his past and by doing so, freeing an innocent man. This is such a deep question that we should all ask oursevles - "Who am I?" What do I stand for? How do my choices make me the person I am today? I was so inspired by this line of thinking, that I ditched my Superbowl themed Primary singing time (I'm the Primary choirister in my ward) and we seriously had a Les Mis themed singing time. I started out by telling the kids the G rated version of Jean Valjean, and I'm not kidding, all 87 kids in our senior primary were transfixed!! We then sang some songs that really answer the question "who am I?", including I am a Child of God (really, the ultimate answer to that question), I'll walk with you, Nephi's Courage, I'm trying to be like Jesus, etc. I love it when I can use the media, and especially really positive messages in this kind of way.

2. The story between Jean valjean and Javert is definitely the best. Once Javert jumps (which is super intense in the film!), I kind of wanted the movie to end, but it seemed to drag on forever! The love story between Cosette and Marius has always been just so so for me.

3. Loved Anne Hathaway! Definitely worth the hype! I've seen the play probably a half dozen times in my life and have never felt such an emotional and wrenching connection to the character of Fontaine.

4. This show is definitely PG-13. As in the play, there is some sexual content (though I didn't feel it was over the top, and I've seen worse on the stage), swearing, and violence. There was more violence than there usually is in the stage production and the battle scenes were longer. I thought they did a good job at portraying the consequences of violence (something that is often lacking in the media) -the scene with the women cleaning up the blood was chilling, but a good one. The song "Empty chairs and empty tables" really hits you hard - that these people....his friends....are really never coming home.

Overall, I REALLY enjoyed this film!

Dancing babies - Gangnam style!

As promised, here is a link to the full clip of those dancing babies. You have to watch the full thing- these kids have serious talent!  Love it!

 

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4700990876243

NPR interview - violent video games

Today I was on NPR! For those of you who haven't yet made the leap to talk radio, NPR stands for National Public Radio. They have certain programs that literally are broadcast across the nation, and then some that are state specific. I was on the latter today, on one in Oregon. The topic: Violent video games. With the Sandy Hook shootings fresh on everyone's minds, we all want something to blame. Obama just announced TODAY his intention to tighten down on gun control laws (which if you've taken my adolescent dev class, you know how I feel about that!) The NRA (National Rifle Association), in a very interesting statement is more or less blaming media violence (and specifically has mentioned video games) as a primary cause of gun violence in the US. Check out the story here: http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/21/16069537-nra-blames-media-music-and-more-for-culture-of-violence?lite


And ironically, two days ago the NRA just released an iPhone app where you can practice and hone your shooting skills on a virtual range.



My own thoughts are that until we look at the ENTIRE scope of aggressive behavior, we won't get very far. Media violence, access to guns, poverty, bullying in the classrooms, child abuse, etc. etc. etc. They are all small parts of a very large problem.

I was absolutely sickened by the shootings in Sandy Hook Elementary - but I'm glad that we are seriously talking about violence as a nation. And I was excited to do my part today. The interivew lasted about a half hour and really focused on the question - does playing violent video games influence aggressive behavior? I focused on the research showing it does, and they had Prof. Christopher Ferguson come on as the expert who says that it doesn't.

We will talk ALL about this very topic in our class - and remember the name Christopher Ferguson! He'll come up later. But I really contemplated saying no to this interview. I've had quite a bit of experience talking with the media, but I despise live radio interviews (live TV is even worse - I've done that twice!) You can't take back anything you say, the presenters can ask you ANYTHING, and I always end up feeling very anxious and rather stupid - even if I'm saying good things! But this is one way to get what I feel is a very important message to parents, so I do stuff like this.

You'll note I haven't really talked a lot about video game violence in this post. I want to save it for our massive discussion on the topic, BUT, the thing about today that struck me is that this issue is not going away any time soon. The debate rages on. It will be very interesting to see what this next year brings us!

What's your favorite TV show?

I was telling my family about our class today and I realized that in all the times I've taught this class, I've never asked my family what their favorite TV show is and why! So that was the topic of conversation at dinner tonight. Here were their answers:

Nate (age 8) - Favorite show: Pokemon. Why?: "Because the pokemon are like animals. Like you know Wailord? Well, he is like a WHALE. And I just love animals".


Hannah (age 5): Favorite show: Strawberry Shortcake: Why? "Because she is so nice and is such a good friend and always does the right thing" (can we get a collective "ahhhhhh" here?)

Paul (husband): Favorite show: West Wing. Why? "Because Kristin Chenoweth is in it" (cheeky bugger).


Aidan (age 2): Favorite show: "Georgio" (Curious George) Why?: "Because it's my favorite" (Here is a great pic of Aidan sitting by his favorite character on a boat to Ireland! So cute!)

Well, there you have it! No surprises for me AT ALL and not all that insightful, but it was fun dinner conversation anyway!

Hallelujah!

Today was our ward Christmas sacrament meeting. This is my favorite Sunday of the year (well....after the Primary program). I always sing in our ward choir and I just love singing the songs at Christmas! We also have a fun tradition in our ward - we always close with the Hallelujah chorus and invite anyone in the congregation who knows the song to come and join us. Today we had at least 60 people up there - not bad for a ward choir! We usually have this girl, Tiffany, who is a piano major at BYU play the piano part for this song - but she got married and isn't in the ward anymore. SOOOOO, they asked me to play it! YIKES! I play a lot for the choir, but this particular song is a stretch for me and I had to practice for weeks to get it up to scratch. I was super anxious about the whole thing as I really didn't want to mess it up! However, the whole thing was an amazing experience for me today. I was concentrating so hard throughout the whole song and when I played the last note and the choir finished, I experienced absolute joy! I just couldn't stop this giddy smile on my face! Partly because it was all done and I hadn't screwed up (too badly) but mostly because the spirit was so strong as we all sang praises unto Christ this Christmas season.  And that's how it should be. I loooooove singing this song at Christmas, but playing it was pretty awesome too. I absolutely love Handel's Messiah and it was a privilege to be a small part of it today.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!