intimates

Plays Well With Others...

Official NaNoWriMo 2005 Winner
My Photo
Name:
Location: Dallas, Texas, United States
E-mail me at: longhorntwice -at- hotmail -dot- com... All writings and photographs on this blog are my work. Give credit where credit is due.
daily polaroid
singleton muses






more singletons



My Amazon.com Wish List
Site design by:
Bonafide Style


Oct 1, 2004

Did you read this?
I read a post today by habitat girl that intrigued and dismayed me. Here's what she had to say:

As provisions of the USA Patriot Act cast a shadow on the freedom that
Americans have had to keep private the records of their book purchases and
library withdrawals, Banned Books Week and the protection of First Amendment Rights have special significance. There's a meme going around in which bloggers list the most commonly challenged books according to the ALA, and highlight the ones that they have read.


I read through the list and realized I had read quite of few of these books. So I will add my two cents and highlight what I have read. It is very disturbing to me that books like Catcher in the Rye, Outsiders and Lord of Flies could be missed by an entire generation because someone somewhere thought part of the book was offensive. Guess what, if you teach what is offensive and why, kids learn from it. There is so much more to gain from some of these books than the offensive bigotry or anarchy or violenc or sex. Children understand that. I did.

Here is my list:

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling

Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Dieby Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

posted by Ty @ 10/01/2004 | 0 comments
Kerry's ahead--but is he really?
I am very proud of Kerry and the way he handled himself. He showed his prowess as a debater, and suggested he might just have a plan. And he obviously plowed over Bush as a debater. Bush's facial expressions alone were depressing. Couple that with his stuttering and lack of real information and Bush was sunk.

But this is not to say Kerry was without fault. I was exceedingly proud of him and his plan for disarming nuclear weapons and stating that it was the biggest problem we have at the moment (been sayin' it for months, myself), until my boyfriend (a staunch, but fair, Republican) noted that Kerry didn't actually state what he would do to get rid of nuclear weapons. To my dismay, I had to agree with him.

And worse still was when I got to work this morning and discussed the debate with my father (an independent with conservative leanings). He said Kerry still didn't say what he would do to get us out of Iraq. I defended Kerry and said, well he only had two minute blocks to do it in. And my father retorted by saying, yes, but those two minute blocks added up to nearly 45 minutes.

With this depressing perspective, I am a little concerned. Yes, I know what Kerry plans to do. I receive e-mails from his campaign, and read them. And I actively seek out information about him, and I read his website and all of the well defined plans he puts on it, but given that majority of the country doesn't even have the internet at home, and given that most of them either don't have time to look up information, or don't care to, how are they going to know his plan? He can't stand up there and continue to tell us to visit johnkerry.com. He needs to TELL us what he wants to do. He has a plan. Why won't he vocalize it?

In an effort to help Kerry, I am going to post links to his plans about these issues (even though this still doesn't help the non-internet-going folks out there). To my .0001 readers, pass this on to anyone you know who is on the fence. In fact, pass this on to anyone you know. No matter what side of the election you are on, you should know what both candidates think. I would post Bush's plan, but I believe he informed us clearly last night that it will be more of the same, and he will stay the course. So without further ado,

Kerry's overview of his national security plan

Kerry's plan for Iraq

Kerry's general overview for dealing with WMDs around the world

Kerry's specific plan for dealing with nuclear weapons

And there are lots more. Just about any concern you have, he has a plan laid out on his website.

And I said I wouldn't but to not be completely biased, here is what Bush has to say.


posted by Ty @ 10/01/2004 | 1 comments