It has been a long time since I’ve checked out Blogger.com, but I believe you’re right in that it will not meet your classroom needs. Though I have enjoyed using Ning, Edmodo, and Edublogs, my favourite has been 21classes. I used the free educational option and did not upgrade to the premium package. With the free package, there was advertising on the site, but nothing outrageous.

For the past two years, I’ve been using Moodle, but I intend to return to 21classes at my nearest opportunity.

I hope one of the above options works for you.

As a father, the most poignant lines to me that express the emotion a parent feels when holding a child for the first time (and, I imagine, when later letting them go) are “You broke my heart from the start, made me work, work so hard to get where I am, to where I’d let you do it all again.” Think of saying goodbye to your last child as you listen. It gives the song all new meaning that speaks to the album name — We Are the Same — every parent’s love and also fear that their children are the same as them, with all their favorite traits and also faults.

Must it be a film? Much of Whedon’s television work seems to fit the bill: and since he uses season story arcs, you would have much more than the usual amnesiac episodes where everything begins and ends more or less in the same place. That would be relevant in the context of the hero(ine)’s journey.

Rachel in the new Batman films is held up by some as an ideal, possibly an ideal essential to Bruce/Batman: but she seems inherently powerless in any significant manner. Almost, I might think her character was written in as a specific rebuttal of the Superman / Lois Lane relationship.

If you are using novels: might I suggest Leia’s hero(ine)’s journey in Timothy Zahn’s opening Star Wars trilogy? It seems to parallel Luke’s (from the OT) rather closely, and the writing / story was of a very high calibre. (And let us leave nearly all of the rest of the Expanded Universe to a merciful silence.)

Among films: what of “Elektra”? Or, for a non-local note, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”?

Considering these and other sources: one does wonder whether the path of the female heroine inherently follows a rather different path to her power and her (oh, let’s borrow Maslow) self actualisation than the conventional male hero.

Patrick, I greatly appreciated your thoughts on the value of writing and publishing. I see in my students that true pride in one’s work must ultimately be achieved outside of the classroom. An article published does more for my students’ self-esteem than prime placement on the classroom bulletin board.

I also read “Aunty High Over the Barley Mow” last year, and have recently got my hands on a copy of “Fair Days Along the Talbert.” These books confirm for me what “Lark…” suggested: that your father’s (and, Dennis, your great grandfather’s) writing is some of Canada’s finest.

I wish I could tell the author that “The Lark in the Clear Air” remains a favourite of mine; I think of it often and am truly grateful for its writing, for its publication, and that it was placed in my hands. I highly recommend it to readers everywhere.