Society = Fail

From The Advocate: School Official Wants Gays Dead

The article details the Facebook ramblings of a school official in the Midland School District in Western Arkansas. Clint McCance railed against the call to wear purple to support LGBT youth and the recent suicides that has been rocked the LGBT community and the world at large. His response is that the only way he would wear purple is if ALL homosexuals committed suicide. He goes on to comment that wearing purple honors their deaths, which are a sin, and honors that they killed themselves BECAUSE of who they are, which is also a sin.

Wow. He completely missed the impact of the recent suicides. Those children felt alienated for being THEMSELVES. They were BULLIED by their peers. We should remember that we ALL have feelings, whether we are gay, straight, black, white, green, purple, or red. Someone may not be like us... may be different than ourselves. This is no reason to ostracize someone. Our differences should be celebrated not attacked.

Those kids didn't commit suicide because they were homosexual. They committed suicide because they were bullied. Because they felt alone, like they had no one on their side. We, as a people, should be more tolerant and accepting of others. We can't fix every thing or everyone. We can't prevent every suicide. But we FAIL as a society when individuals are committing suicide because they are bullied by their peers.

To anyone who has been thinking of committing suicide: Don't. Things can and WILL get better. But things can't get better for YOU if you're not here to witness it. Hold your head up high and keep moving forward. As Robert Frost said: "The best way out is always through."

The through is rarely easy. But the getting there? Through the through? You will be stronger than you ever imagined.

It Gets Better.

One of the reasons I love John Green

Author John Green writes really awesome books. They're funny. They're thought-provoking. They're real. They're ENJOYABLE. In addition to writing great things, John and his brother Hank participate in video blogs, each taking turns posting a new one every other day. All of them are entertaining, some of them are laugh-out-loud hilarious, but some of them are even educational. Like this one, in which John puts an end to the question "Is Obama a Muslim?"

Best Movies and Television Series of the Decade

As the decade dwindles to a close, there are a lot of "Best of" lists popping up. I set out to create my own "Best of" list. While some of my choices are more frivolous than others, these films are not necessarily films that I watch on a regular basis. These are films that I feel represent the decade or, rather, my experience of the decade.
Now, I tried to pare down my list of movies to ten, but it became difficult. I can rank the first few, but then the rankings blur and I can't decide. Therefore, I have 25 movies on my list:

The Departed
Ocean's 11
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Atonement
Erin Brockovich
Memento
The Last King of Scotland
Brokeback Mountain
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Oh, Brother Where Art Thou?
Fracture
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Crawford
Garden State
Crash
Little Miss Sunshine
Frequency
Lars and the Real Girl
Away We Go
The Life of David Gale
Runaway Jury
Life as a House
Revolutionary Road
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Gone Baby Gone

Making a Top 10 list for television series was a bit easier:
Alias
Gilmore Girls
Scrubs
Boston Legal
Veronica Mars
The Office
Commander-in-Chief
Crossing Jordan
Bones
Jack and Bobby

New Year's Resolutions

Well, it's time for some good ol' resolutions. While I generally don't make resolutions or keep any silly resolutions that I make. But this year, I decided to make a few and I'm going to record the resolutions here. Hopefully, in a year, I can come back here and reflect on the job well done. Or not.

1) Read a Tolstory. Preferably Anna Karenina. Preferably cover to cover.
2) Be more aware of my budgetary constraints.
3) Read at least 50 books in the year. I probably read close to that this year (if not more), but I didn't keep track. Therefore:
4) Keep track of the books I read during the year.
5) Being more organized in all aspects of life, not just work and/or school.
6) See more than one live musical performance by a favorite musician. This one will be the most tricky, I'm afraid.

Six is probably a good healthy number of resolutions. I think I'll stop there.

The Unnecessary Controversy

President Obama plans on addressing the nation's schoolchildren tomorrow morning. I know that there are many parents and schools who are not showing the televised address. There are many reasons for not showing the address, but the one I hear/read the most involves the thought that it is wrong for a president to address the kids. As if President Obama plans on indoctrinating the future generation with some kind of socialist regime.

As everyone can plainly see on the White House website, President Obama plans to speak specifically on the importance of education and the ability of every child to overcome his or her situation to choose (or change) his or her destiny. It is a speech that encourages the nation's kids to do their best in school so that they may have a better life than their parents may have had.

I think it is a tragedy that this will not be shown in some schools. I think it is a tragedy that individuals automatically think that the President will always foist his (or hopefully her!) own agenda on to everyone, even the nation's children. I think that it is so awesome that he even thought about addressing children. I would have loved to have had a special speech geared towards my classmates and me when I was in elementary school (or even the higher grades). He is reaching out to all people, young or old, voters or non-voters, in an effort to meet with each individual of this country at the individual's own level. President Obama campaigned using technology to reach and energize America's young adults into actually voting. We had the highest voter turnout among young people in a really long time.

It's kind of like Library 2.0. While I am not a fan of video games, I can see the usefulness of using video games in education and in the library (in order to attract young people to use their library). I understand that knowing and using technology will help me as a librarian to reach individuals wherever they are. It is all about accessibility. By using technology and reaching potential voters via text message and the like, President Obama seems accessible. (I'm aware that Secret Service would be all over anyone that got really close to President Obama.) Heck, I'd have a beer with him.

And I don't even drink beer.

2008 In Review

Things I learned in 2008:

Health insurance isn't worth having if they refuse to pay for anything and everything.

People like to hide behind your vehicle when you're backing out of parking spaces at Target.

Hulu is awesome! You can watch all sorts of things on there legally. It's wonderful.

Twilight isn't as evil as I thought it would be. However, it is not a literary classic. If you think it is a literary classic, I suggest you visit a library or bookstore more frequently. Also, the movie is quite fun.

Our president-elect inspires hope in many people of various backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, and beliefs.

Dr. Horrible has a Ph.D. in Horribleness. He is truly very horrible and very awesome at the same time.

I can navigate myself through airports and travel on my own! Who knew?

Jason Mraz sounds even better when you travel ten hours to see him perform live.

Having a job can be both a blessing and a giant nuisance.

Living in a house that is in a safe neighborhood is mucho better than living in a duplex in a semi-slightly-scary neighborhood.

Brooklyn is a wonderful place to visit.

I have way too much music and I keep acquiring more music. It's a disease.

Governor Blagojevich is an arrogant fool.

When going to Nashville, it is imperative to pay attention to the highway signage in Little Rock. Otherwise, you'll end up in rice fields. And rice fields can be scary.

I am a very good house finder.

The Olympics are super fun. The summer Olympics are far superior to the winter Olympics. Also, Michael Phelps is fan-freakin'-tastic.

It is quite comical to throw one's shoes at a foe, especially if the foe is the President of the United States.

Jim proposed to Pam! Also, do not cross Phyllis.

Wisdom teeth do not carry wisdom and are extremely painful to have removed, especially when they're yanked from your jaw while you're still awake and can hear the pliers hitting your other teeth.

Natalies are good things to have around.

When regular people are drowning in their debt, they file bankruptcy. When companies and corporations have financial trouble, the government gives them taxpayer money to continue making stupid financial decisions.

There must be something in the water because most people I know either got married, had a baby, or are currently pregnant or engaged. Good thing my water is filtered. ;)

Amy Poehler + Seth Meyers = Pure genius.

ETA: Also, Tina Fey is amazing and freakin' hilarious. Someone awesome reminded me that watching Tina Fey as Sarah Palin was one of the best things to come out of the election. Thanks, Amb!

Twilighting

The Twilight saga is kind of something you can't ignore at this point. The fan response to the book series and the movie is unbelievably overwhelming. And I try to stay away from things that garner such a huge fan following. It is my experience that those things (books, television series, etc) usually end up hurting the fans, whether intentional or not. Therefore, I had decided not to read the books.

But I became curious as to what the books were like. I mean, I'd heard people declare the books to be literary masterpieces. And while I was sure that they couldn't be masterpieces, I thought it was prudent for me to read the books. When I started the first book, I hoped that I would not like the series. I knew that I wouldn't like the series.

However, I found out that Twilight wasn't bad. I actually liked it. It was not a literary masterpiece by any means, but it wasn't horrible. It was highly entertaining and I really enjoyed some of the characters. The writing bothered me stylistically in places, but it wasn't unbearable. The relationship between Bella and Edward reminded me a lot of the relationship between Max and Liz from the television series Roswell. I found myself very interested in the Cullen family and not a giant fan of Bella. She was okay, but I really found her to be irritating at times. I wanted to know more about the Cullens.

I eagerly tore into New Moon, only to face disappointment. I must clarify that the book wasn't horrible. It just... without going into too much detail, my favorite part of the series wasn't around enough for my liking. This made the book kind of tedious and boring for me. The end of the book was much better.

Eclipse was good from start to finish. It ended well and I was very pleased with the book. I have no complaints with book three.

And then, Breaking Dawn happened. For me, Stephenie Meyer's highly anticipated finale to the saga left much to be desired. Now, to be fair, the book started out okay. But things got pretty ridiculous incredibly fast. It was like reading some kind of crazy fan-fiction that was written by someone in the midst of an acid trip. Every page increased the level of absurdity and I came close to giving up the book altogether. But it killed me to stop reading a book after I'd fought my way through 370 pages. So, I kept reading. The book got a bit better, but it never reached the greatness of Twilight or Eclipse. In my opinion, I really think Meyer dropped the ball with Breaking Dawn. She should have ended the series with book three. The fourth book ruined the series for me.

This snippet from Entertainment Weekly's review of Breaking Dawn really sums up my feelings:

Here's a third possibility: You whip through Twilight, New Moon, and Eclipse, then abruptly lose all patience with the franchise midway through Breaking Dawn, when Meyer takes her supernatural love story several bizarre steps too far.

I suppose I'm glad that I read the series because now I understand the appeal. I just really wish that I had stopped reading at the end of Eclipse. The last book was just too much for me.

I realize that many do not share my views on the series and that is okay. These views are just my opinion and are not meant to deter people from reading the books. But I would recommend stopping after Eclipse. Of course, that decision is entirely up to the reader.

I have read the rough draft of Midnight Sun that Stephenie Meyer has posted on her website. It's good. In fact, I think I might like it better than Twilight because I like Edward and the Cullen family in general. They're very interesting. I hope that she decides to continue Midnight Sun soon.