Readers Find Simple Faith in Karon's Books
Since 1994 Jan Karon's Mitford series of novels has sold more than three million copies, with the latest, A New Song, occupying the number one position on Amazon.com's list during the last week of April this year (Jones 71). The Mitford books focus on inspirational stories, spiritual themes, and small town humor. Readers identify with the realistic characters in the stories. Rogene Kellar, 83, in a Newsweek article said she has read each book four times. Kellar further remarked, "I think you feel better having read them, but it's not goody-goody." Kellar's daughter, Carol Montgomery 57, said, "It gives you peace." The Mitford books enjoy a following of devoted readers and have also become marketable in another way. Hallmark plans to release the Mitford collection of greeting cards and collectible knick-knacks soon. Penguin Books publishes a quarterly Mitford reading group discussion guide and the newsletter, More from Mitford. Additionally, respected women's magazines such as Victoria have retained Karon as Writer in Residence publishing pieces of short fiction about Mitford.
However, despite all of the attention, some readers want more of Karon. Lauren Winner in a recent article, "Karon's Agenda," published in Christianity Today finds:
The Mitford books are strikingly bereft of anything controversial--no women priests or church wardens, for example, are ever mentioned, nor is the issue that is currently threatening to divide the Episcopal church in America--homosexuality. . . .I believe Karon would only do her readers a service by tackling these admittedly explosive questions head-on. (Winner 65)
Winner asserts Karon avoids such issues in the books "presumably because they...
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..., but they remain the issues that most, common, citizens face in their communities. So perhaps a simple, "day-to-day" faith is sufficient after all.
Works Cited
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Karon, Jan. A Light in the Window. New York: Penguin Books, 1995.
Kaorn, Jan. These High, Green Hills. New York: Penguin Books, 1996.
Karon, Jan. Out to Canaan. New York: Penguin Books, 1997.
Karon, Jan. A New Song. New York: Viking Books, 1999.
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Winner, Lauren. "Karon's Agenda." Christianity Today July 12, 1999: 64-65.
Hartwick, Harry. The Foreground of American Fiction. New York: American Book Co, 1934, p. 17-44 Rpt in Crane,
Wal-Mart has had a significant economic impact on the US, as well as the economies of countries that have relations with the US. Wal-Mart is the world’s biggest company of any kind, with 80 percent of the households in America purchasing something from the superstore; it is the nation’s largest retailer. Wal-Mart’s continuing price reduction has given Americans the advantage of being able to afford 15 to 20 percent more than they previously could. (Hansen) In a world governed by globalization and greed, competition has become rigid; as a result firms like Wal-Mart have utilized advanced marketing strategies to insure that they are on the ‘neck’ of competition, and are the core deciders of the market. (Ortega) However, Wal-Mart made decisions that were of a disadvantage to aspects of the economy, including the depletion on a small scale of Small Town USA.
Wal-Mart represents the sickness of capitalism at its almost fully evolved state. As Jim Hightower said, "Why single out Wal-Mart? Because it's a hog. Despite the homespun image it cultivates in its ads, it operates with an arrogance and avarice that would make Enron blush and John D. Rockefeller envious. It's the world's biggest retail corporation and America's largest private employer; Sam Robson Walton, a member of the ruling family, is one of the richest people on earth. Wal-Mart and the Waltons got to the top the old-fashioned way: by roughing people up. Their low, low prices are the product of two ruthless commandments: Extract the last penny possible from human toil and squeeze the last dime from its thousands of suppliers, who are left with no profit margin unless they adopt the Wal-Mart model of using nonunion labor and shipping production to low-wage hellholes abroad." (The Nation, March 4th 2002 www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=hightower).
The success of Wal-Mart has yielded admiration and sometimes condemnation from numerous stakeholders. While some people applaud the retail giant for improving the living standards of citizens, creation of jobs, and improving the welfare of its employees, others argue that the retail giant has disrupted communities, brought down small retailers and compromised the living standards of
Morris, M. (2000). Some facts and dates in Canadian women’s history of the 20th century. Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women, 20(1). Retrieved from http://criaw-icref.ca/millenium.
Wal-Mart has been a huge debate subject in the news since it began to pop up in large quantities across the entire United States. The majority of that conversation focused on the negative impacts that Wal-Mart has on the communities and economies in which its super stores are located. Richard Vedder and Wendell Cox take a different approach and while they recognizes the downfalls and negative impacts that Wal-Mart can have, he focuses more on proving that the positives that Wal-Mart has on economies and communities outweigh those negatives.
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Sethi, Parkish. "The World of Wal-Mart." Carnegie Council. N.p., 18 May 2013. Web. 26 Jan 2014. .
Religion, which is meant to enhance the faith of it followers, has done the opposite. The practices of religion have become overwhelmingly factual that the faith component of religion has vanished. In order to be a genuine beliver one must comprise an authentic faith. Both religious leaders and followers must realize that their religion is not factual, but sustained through faith. The key to the gates of heaven is faith, not facts.
Perkins, Geroge, and Barbara Perkins. The American Tradition in Literature. 12th ed. Vol. 2. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print
Perkins George, Barbara. The American Tradition in Literature, 12th ed. New York: McGraw Hill, 2009. Print
Belasco, Susan, and Linck Johnson, eds. The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Vol. 1, 2nd Ed., Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 1190-1203. Print.
The topic I have selected for my essay will be on 3D printing in education, I chose this emerging technology because of my place of work and how 3D printing may be involved their within the next few years. This would require me to research how 3D printers work and how to operate them. I also believe that having 3D printers in schools will generate a new wave of creative children in the future. In this essay I will be showing how a 3D printer works and how the machines operate. I will be providing example on why I think 3D printing is important for education, as well as showing what hurdles 3D printing has to overcome in regards to Intellectual property rights and the legality of what you can and cannot print. In this essay I am going to point out the advantages of what a 3D printer can achieve for the future and how it can possibly shape the way we educate our children.