I try to read at least a couple banned or challenged books every year for Banned Books Week. I think it makes me a better person. This is why, for example, I know all about Captain Underpants, even though I know no 10-year-olds.
Here are the 10 most challenged books of 2005. (Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the Alice series of books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain.) There are also some great books on the ALA's 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 list.
Which ones are you going to read?
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Banned Books Week 2006 is September 23–30
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Guerilla wedding at the Met
This is ridiculously sweet. From Modern Art Notes:
This seems just about right for the last week of summer: Wanna get married at the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Fuhgeddaboutit. Not allowed.
...Unless you're smarter than the system. Painter and Jeff Koons assistant Sarah Chuldenko and her beau Jeffrey wanted to get married at the Met. So they devised a plan... a plan to hold a 'guerilla wedding.' ("The plan: "Get married... Before they get kicked out.") The couple walked into the Met, paid admission, and proceeded to an apparently agreed upon place. Their guests did the same. The pictures are here.
Monday, August 28, 2006
News on my mind lately
Some good(ish):
Multitude of Pregnant Teens Causes Ohio School to Rethink Abstinence-Only Sex Ed, 21 August 2006
The Canton, Ohio school board rescinded its abstinence-only sex education program last week after learning that over one in seven female students attending Canton's Timken High School were pregnant. The school board will expand its sex education program to include information on contraception, and will deemphasize the previously taught abstinence-only philosophy in an effort to lower the rate of teen pregnancy in the region.
The new sex education curriculum “moves beyond, 'Just say no,' which doesn't work,” said the Rev. David Morgan, who worked closely with the school board to redesign the sex education program, according to the Associated Press.
Morning-after pill to be available without prescription, 25 August 2006
Women can buy the morning-after pill without a prescription, the government declared Thursday, a major step that nevertheless failed to quell the politically charged debate over access to emergency contraception.
The manufacturer, lawmakers and other advocates said they will press the government to allow minors to purchase the pills over the counter.
Some troubling:
S. Dakota Becomes Abortion Focal Point, Voters to Decide Fate of State Ban, 28 August 2006
South Dakota is the unlikely home of this year's most intense duel over abortion, a Nov. 7 referendum to decide the future of HB 1215, a measure that would institute a broad ban on the procedure. No exceptions would be allowed for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest -- abortion would be permitted only when the mother's life is in jeopardy.
And some from a few months back:
Oglala Sioux president on state abortion law, 21 March 2006
When Governor Mike Rounds signed HB 1215 into law it effectively banned all abortions in the state with the exception that it did allow saving the mother’s life. There were, however, no exceptions for victims of rape or incest. His actions, and the comments of State Senators like Bill Napoli of Rapid City, SD, set of a maelstrom of protests within the state.
Napoli suggested that if it was a case of “simple rape,” there should be no thoughts of ending a pregnancy. Letters by the hundreds appeared in local newspapers, mostly written by women, challenging Napoli’s description of rape as “simple.” He has yet to explain satisfactorily what he meant by “simple rape.”
The President of the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Cecilia Fire Thunder, was incensed. A former nurse and healthcare giver she was very angry that a state body made up mostly of white males, would make such a stupid law against women.
“To me, it is now a question of sovereignty,” she said to me last week. “I will personally establish a Planned Parenthood clinic on my own land which is within the boundaries of the Pine Ridge Reservation where the State of South Dakota has absolutely no jurisdiction.”
Tribal Leader Ousted Over Abortion Clinic, 30 June 2006
A Sioux tribe ousted its president for proposing an abortion clinic on the reservation, which would be beyond the reach of South Dakota's strict new abortion ban.
By a 9-5 vote late Thursday, the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council determined Cecelia Fire Thunder had pursued the clinic for the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation without council approval, and she was immediately replaced.
"The bottom line is the Lakota people were adamantly opposed to abortion on our homelands. The president was involved in unauthorized political actions," said Will Peters, the council member who filed the complaint.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Friday, August 25, 2006
Pescevino blu
If I had made a really crappy wine, I'd put it in a cobalt blue bottle. People will buy just about anything in a cobalt blue bottle. If it were really bad wine, I'd make the bottle in the shape of some animal, like a deer or a bird. No, wait, a fish! Then I'd be guaranteed to at least make some money off of people who bought the wine just for the bottle.
I MUST stop buying wines based solely on how cute the bottle is.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Michael Noer may never get laid again
(By a woman, anyway.)
Have you been keeping up with the brouhaha over at Forbes.com? Hilarious. On Tuesday, an article titled "Don't Marry Career Women" by Michael Noer went up on Forbes' website. Here are the first paragraphs:
Guys: A word of advice. Marry pretty women or ugly ones. Short ones or tall ones. Blondes or brunettes. Just, whatever you do, don't marry a woman with a career.
Why? Because if many social scientists are to be believed, you run a higher risk of having a rocky marriage. While everyone knows that marriage can be stressful, recent studies have found professional women are more likely to get divorced, more likely to cheat, less likely to have children, and, if they do have kids, they are more likely to be unhappy about it. A recent study in Social Forces, a research journal, found that women--even those with a "feminist" outlook--are happier when their husband is the primary breadwinner.
It pretty much goes downhill from there. Good stuff, right? Hoo....
Anyway, I didn't actually read the article, because, well, why would I? I get everything I need to know about the article and the author just from the title. But a lot of other people did, people who are smart, funny, and very irritated.
Forbes' reaction yesterday was to take down the original article, pull the print edition from the lines and remove the article, and then repost it online in a wussy "Point/Counterpoint" style.
Seriously?
Point: Women who work cheat, kill marriages, and have dirty houses.
Counterpoint: Oh yeah, well, you're an idiot!
And SCENE.
What I want to know is, why did Forbes greenlight this article in the first place?
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
So true
(Research has shown that) if women could choose who they'd like to be impregnated by, they'd choose a rock star. There's something about the rock star's genes that is signaling creativity, flexibility of thinking, flexibility of mind and body, an ability to express and process emotions -- not to mention that (musical talent) signals that if you can waste your time on something that has no immediate impact on food-gathering and shelter, you’ve got your food-gathering and shelter taken care of.
Read the Wired article: "Music Makes Your Brain Happy."
Monday, August 21, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Snakes on a Plane
Snakes on a Plane
Originally uploaded by kellygo.
One word review: BAD. No, wait, make that: DELICIOUS!
Friday, August 18, 2006
Ice cream for breakfast
Ice cream for breakfast
Originally uploaded by kellygo.
Thea celebrated Liam's luniversary by having ice cream for breakfast in her swim suit.
Liam is 9 months old today
Liam is 9 months old today
Originally uploaded by kellygo.
He has gotten so big! I couldn't say exactly how big: Liam had a doctor's appointment this morning that Todd took him to, but a series of unfortunate, scatological incidents obliterated the rest of the details. Todd did remember his weight, though: 21 lbs, 12 oz. (Apparently 21/12 is some cheesy Rush song?)
Anyway, Liam is officially crawling. It's the cutest thing. Don accurately described the way he lifts his hand and hesitates before setting it down again as looking like a lizard on hot sand. He can pull himself up into a stand and is cruising well. We hope he won't start walking on his own for a while yet, though. Once he's walking, we're in trouble.
Liam has four bottom teeth; it looks like more will be coming soon. He eats three jars of baby food in one sitting, but much prefers us to throw our dinner in the food processor for him. Even more preferred is food he can feed himself. We really should be giving him more of that, but a choking episode a few months ago has us ridiculously paranoid.
[Note to self: Sign up for those CPR classes so Liam doesn't grow up thinking all food has the consistency of rice pudding.]
He has the cutest way of waving. Instead of the palm of his hand facing the person he's waving to, his palm faces himself. It makes sense, right? That's how he sees a friendly wave.
It's very cool to watch him develop and make connections. Maybe by this time next month we'll be marvelling at how well he's sleeping through the night.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Patterns
Years ago when we were living in Arizona, Heather got into an argument with the ridiculous girlfriend of a friend of ours. The girlfriend, who was studying photography at the time, said that she loved taking photos of the randomness of nature and went on and on about how amazing nature is because absolutely everything was completely random. Heather, who has never suffered fools gladly, finally interrupted her and said that just because she was too self-absorbed to see the patterns didn't mean they didn't exist. She didn't actually say, "You're a pretentious twit," but everyone knew that's what she meant.
Anyway, I always think about that girl when I see things like this:
Mouse brain neurons
The universe
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Water for Elephants
I just finished reading Water for Elephants. It was a fun book, but I wanted to read it mostly because of this negative review:
"[Gruen batters readers] with barely serviceable, primary-color prose, full of sobbing, shrieking, fighting, boozing and whoring that comes off at the clip of an exaggerated Saturday-morning cartoon."
Who wouldn't want to read that book?
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Molly's meme
Molly has a fun meme on her blog. Go here and look through random quotes until you find 5 that you think reflect who you are or what you believe. Here are mine:
It is an illusion that youth is happy, an illusion of those who have lost it; but the young know they are wretched for they are full of the truthless ideal which have been instilled into them, and each time they come in contact with the real, they are bruised and wounded.
~ W. Somerset Maugham (1874 - 1965), 'Of Human Bondage', 1915
If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.
~ Bruce Barton
The greatest mistake is trying to be more agreeable than you can be.
~ Walter Bagehot (1826 - 1877)
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.
~ Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826), to Archibald Stuart, 1791
The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.
~ Martin Mull (1943 - )
Monday, August 14, 2006
Weird (but cute)
After her bath tonight, Thea took two of her nightgowns out of the drawer and carefully laid them next to each other so they looked like they were holding hands and floating. Then she ran circles around them naked, singing "Mo mo, MO MO MO! Mo mo, MOMOMO!"
I'm not quite sure what to make of that, but it was very entertaining.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
So cute
Lila eating cherries
Originally uploaded by kellygo.
Lila's been eating cherries. But it looks like she's just devoured a small, live animal. There's even a piece in her hair.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Aurora Borealis in 2008
I can’t imagine doing this now while the kids are still so small, but maybe in 2008: Frostbite Music Festival & Aurora Borealis in the Yukon.
After bath
After bath
Originally uploaded by kellygo.
Thea's pretending to be a horse named Carnia. I have no idea where she got that name. She wouldn't let Todd leave the room last night at bedtime, though, until he said "Goodnight, horsie" instead of "Goodnight, Thea."
Thursday, August 10, 2006
I love cake
In case you missed it the first time:
"I Love Cake."
(And the original "Cake" by Todd Colby, one of my favorite perfomance artists. I can't eat cake without thinking of this.)
From WFMU's 208 Versions of Todd Colby's "Cake".
I can't be any clearer than that.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Red Flyer
Monday, August 07, 2006
Heather and Amy visit
Walking Lance
Originally uploaded by kellygo.
This morning was more of a post-weekend let-down than usual after a whirlwind visit from Heather, Amy, Nikki, and Lance. We had a blast. The highlights: swimming at the hotel pool Saturday and the Wegman exhibit on Sunday, as well as just seeing them and hanging out. We were all very sad to see them leave. Thea went to bed last night asking me where Heather and Amy went, and if Nikki was her Kind-of Cousin or Kind-of Sister.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
At breakfast
At breakfast
Originally uploaded by kellygo.
The girls were effusive and a little painful with their love for Heather.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
After the pool
Picture007.jpg
Originally uploaded by haj1000.
Liam is 10 minutes from falling asleep.
Thea's first time swimming
Multimedia message
Originally uploaded by kellygo.
Although Amy swears Thea went swimming the last time they were in town, Heather and I think this is her first time.
Friday, August 04, 2006
HURRA TORPEDO total eclipse of the heart (J.Steinman)
| You've really got to admire the commitment of the guy who loses his pants. | |
Thursday, August 03, 2006
Grizzly Man
My friend John has a really interesting post about Grizzly Man. IMDb describes the movie this way:
A docudrama that centers on amateur grizzly bear expert Timothy Treadwell. He periodically journeyed to Alaska to study and live with the bears. He was killed, along with his his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, by a rogue bear in October 2003. The films explores their compassionate lives as they found solace among these endangered animals.
John, though, thinks probably quite rightly that Treadwell was dealing with serious mental health issues and wonders why the people who loved him encouraged him to live among the bears as one of them instead of getting him treatment. Writes John:
I was so angry because the people around Treadwell, people who said they loved him, ignored the obvious signs of a disturbed mind. All of the signs are there in the film, and I refuse to believe that the only time he exhibited them was when he was in front of the camera. There was at least one person who knew of his diagnosis who encouraged what he did.
Interesting stuff.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Someone tell Sam Jackson he's my bro
Snakes on a Plane could tank and it'll still be a cult hit. Such is the power of Samuel L. Jackson.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
I <3 Dan Savage
Did you catch Dan Savage's op-ed in the New York Times? Brilliant.
*********
Op-Ed Columnist
Same-Sex Marriage Wins by Losing
Published: July 30, 2006
Seattle
THERE were community meetings in Seattle on Wednesday. Some of the couples who had sued to overturn Washington’s ban on same-sex marriage, a case they lost before the state’s Supreme Court earlier that day, were going to appear. Gay and straight elected officials who support “marriage equality” were going to make speeches. I probably should have been there too.
But I had a previous engagement.
The Seattle Mariners were playing the Toronto Blue Jays at Safeco Field. My 8-year-old son — adopted at birth by my boyfriend and me — loves the M’s almost as much as he hates the way a breaking news story can keep me late at work. He would never have forgiven me for skipping the game.
I didn’t feel too bad about missing the meetings. Washington’s high court rejected same-sex marriage for much the same reason the New York Court of Appeals did earlier this month. The speeches in Seattle would no doubt be similar to those made in New York, and I didn’t need to hear them again.
Basically, both courts found that marriage is like a box of Trix: It’s for kids.
In New York, the court ruled in effect that irresponsible heterosexuals often have children by accident — we gay couples, in contrast, cannot get drunk and adopt in one night — so the state can reserve marriage rights for heterosexuals in order to coerce them into taking care of their offspring. Without the promise of gift registries and rehearsal dinners, it seems, many more newborns in New York would be found in trash cans.
At least the New York court acknowledged that many same-sex couples have children. Washington’s judges went out of their way to make ours disappear, finding that “limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples furthers procreation, essential to the survival of the human race, and furthers the well-being of children by encouraging families where children are reared in homes headed by the children’s biological parents.” Children, the decision continues, “tend to thrive in families consisting of a father, mother and their biological children.’’
A concurring opinion gave the knife a few leisurely twists: due to the “binary biological nature of marriage,” it read, only opposite-sex couples are capable of “responsible child rearing.”
These stunning statements fly in the face of the evidence about gay and lesbian parents presented to the court. Similar evidence persuaded the high court in Arkansas to overturn that state’s ban on gay and lesbian foster parents.
What the New York and Washington opinions share — besides a willful disregard for equal protection clauses in both state Constitutions — is a heartless lack of concern for the rights of the hundreds of thousands of children being raised by same-sex couples.
Even if gay couples who adopt are more stable, as New York found, don’t their children need the security and protections that the court believes marriage affords children? And even if heterosexual sex is essential to the survival of the human race (a point I’m willing to concede), it’s hard to see how preventing gay couples from marrying increases heterosexual activity. (“Keep breeding, heterosexuals,” the Washington State Supreme Court in effect shouted, “To bed! To bed! To bed!”) Both courts have found that my son’s parents have no right to marry, but what of my son’s right to have married parents?
A perverse cruelty characterizes both decisions. The courts ruled, essentially, that making my child’s life less secure somehow makes the life of a child with straight parents more secure. Both courts found that making heterosexual couples stable requires keeping homosexual couples vulnerable. And the courts seemed to agree that heterosexuals can hardly be bothered to have children at all — or once they’ve had them, can hardly be bothered to care for them — unless marriage rights are reserved exclusively for heterosexuals. And the religious right accuses gays and lesbians of seeking “special rights.”
Even if you believe that marriage plays a special role in the lives of heterosexuals with children (another point I’m happy to concede), can it not play a similar role in the lives of homosexual couples, whether they’re parents or not? Marriage, after all, is not reserved for couples with children. (Perhaps it will be soon, if courts keep heading in this direction.)
When my widowed grandfather remarried in his 60’s, he wasn’t seeking to further the well-being of his children, who were grown and out of the house. He was seeking the security, companionship and legal rights that marriage provides. The survival of humankind was the furthest thing from his mind.
These defeats have demoralized supporters of gay marriage, but I see a silver lining. If heterosexual instability and the link between heterosexual sex and human reproduction are the best arguments opponents of same-sex marriage can muster, I can’t help but feel that our side must be winning. Insulting heterosexuals and discriminating against children with same-sex parents may score the other side a few runs, but these strategies won’t win the game.
So I’m confident that one day my son will live in a country that allows his parents to marry. His parents are already married, as far as he’s concerned, as my boyfriend and I tied the knot in Canada more than a year and a half ago. We recognize, even if the courts do not, that it’s in his best interest for us to be married.
And while Wednesday was a dark day, the M’s beat the Blue Jays 7 to 4, so it wasn’t a total loss.
Dan Savage is the editor of The Stranger, a Seattle newsweekly.
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