Word: bethe
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...When I first moved here, the Haunted Happenings thing was hardly anything," said Beth-Anne Williams, a Salem resident since 1981. "Now it's getting bigger and bigger...
...school is young and the picture incomplete. Critics argue that the funds lavished on early "showcases" like Dodge-Edison will dry up as Edison investors begin demanding a return on their money. But in Wichita parents and teachers still marvel at what they see happening to their kids. When Beth Loos' son David started third grade at Dodge-Edison, he was unable to read, period. A year later, in fourth grade, he is reading at third-grade level. "Before I arrived here, I heard many negative things about the school," says Loos, who teaches Spanish. "Now I feel blessed...
Delbanco's underwhelming explication is by no means limited to his protagonists: a certain sense of abruptness pervades Old Scores. The frequent, dramatic changes are never foreshadowed and are rarely discussed for more than a sentence. Beth suddenly gets married; years later her husband suddenly announces he is gay; Sally suddenly demands biographical information from her biological mother Beth...
This lack of precision is maddening, especially where emotions are concerned. "Renouncing her calmly, [Ballard] sent [Beth] away," Delbanco notes when, after the accident, Ballard distances himself emotionally from Beth. No other explanation for his sudden termination of the affair is given. Equally inexplicably, it is shortly after the accident that Beth discovers she's pregnant and chooses not to tell Ballard but to give the baby up for adoption. Delbanco explains that Beth "was twenty-one, an adult...[who was] in control of things and could make up her own mind...
...fated lovers Abelard and Heloise. The parallel between the two stories is obvious--both are tales of ill-fated love affairs between teacher and student--but the comparison is specious. The passion between Abelard and Heloise has inspired great literature and art for eight centuries, but the passion between Beth Sieverdsen and Paul Ballard is just a rip-off of their love; it has produced only the disappointing Old Scores...