Monday, September 28, 2009

In Which I Share Pictures!

Starting with a banned one! Not that the picture is banned, but that it is about something that should not be banned.

BOOKS!!!

Support the First Amendment, Read a Banned Book

(Graphic courtesy of Random House)

This week is banned books week!

I am not going to make much of a statement except to say that nearly every future dystopian book in which the society falls apart has banned books as part of its mythos. Fiction or not, there's a reason for that. Letting someone else decide for us what is and is not appropriate takes the power of judgment out of our hands. Do not give that power away! Some of my favorite books have been banned.:D Many others have been challenged. So I support Banned Books Week! To steal the old adage, I may not like what you read but I will defend to the death your right to read it!!

Okay, so the rest of these pics are seriously random. However, I am going to connect them all with very bad segues; you've been warned.:D

I love giraffes. A lot. Did you know that giraffes have purple tongues that can be as long as twenty-four inches? And did you know that despite having such a long neck, giraffes still only have seven neck bones, just like you? (And most vertebrates, not including the Arabian horse.) Yes, I adore giraffes. So when we went to the zoo last week and you could go feed the giraffes, I was SO all over that!!! So this is my up close encounter with a giraffe.:D Made me very happy. So worth the three dollars it cost.

And you know what was totally worth the entire four dollar admission to the zoo??? Watching a raven eat a rat. And not just eat a rat ***squicky details to follow!!*** but watching him rip this thing apart and carefully eat specific organs first and then swallow the tail whole. I kid you not. That was an amazing sight. Visceral, yes, and several people walked by us and surely wondered if we were future serial killers, but amazing none the less.

And speaking of amazing, my husband is amazing. Look at him sitting at our piano. He plays every day since we got it. It is not only beautiful, but it calms the children and makes me happy. I can't help but sigh and smile when I hear my husband play.

And while we are on the subject of playing, my son loves to play the DS. So much so that the other night he fell asleep with the stylus still clutched in his hand. That is a determined player.

And speaking of players . . . I kid, I kid!! I won't put you through another of my awful segues!! I will, however mention that I accidentally deleted the last picture I wanted to share which was of a car, about fifty feet off the road, crashed and propped up on a very steep mound. No other damaged cars in sight, I have no idea how it happened. But it was quite an impressive sight! (Especially since no one got hurt. Phew!)

So there is my picture journey this week. I have discovered that I have fully arrived in book land and find it difficult to focus on anything else. So I apologize that my blogs have been so infrequent.

Hopefully my pictures of awesomeness make up for it.:D

Ciao!

12 comments:

Mother in Zion said...

Whoa. Not only am I commenting, I'm the first to comment. This is exciting. Um, so nice post. Nothing to do with books, but nice. It's this blog that made me think I should get a blog. It's the "thing to do," right? Maybe one day it will help me arrive in book land...

MARY IN SCOTLAND said...

I'm celebrating Banned Books Week on my blog also!! This is so exciting!

My favorites are: To Kill a Mocking Bird, Lord of the Flies and Of Mice of Men.

Isn't it strange how once banned or challenged books are now classics and required reading to graduate high school?!

Speak Your Mind, Know the First Amendment, Read Banned Books.

molly said...

Banned Book Week! yay! One day not that long ago I looked up books that had been banned in various places and honestly couldn't believe some of them. and several I read in school.

anyway. loved the pictures of awesomeness. especially the giraffe.

Tana said...

OK, my son just hovered around to witness your son sleeping with his DS. Naturally he was concerned about the DS.

Book ban? I remember my English teacher making us read THE LOTTERY for fear it would soon be banned. It probably was.

Yamile said...

awwww! Such cute pics! Especially of your little guy. I have one of those determined players too; the DS is the only thing that keeps him quiet for long periods of time. Too bad we can't take it to Sacrament Meeting ;-)

Aprilynne Pike said...

"Too bad we can't take it to Sacrament Meeting ;-)"

Yes, *koffkoff* That's too bad.

*takes DS out of the church bag*

Anonymous said...

I always thought pictures were so telling, and I was right. Envisioning a 2 foot long purple tongue. Hmmm... Sounds almost supernatural. Except for the fact that my daugter's is so long she can easily touch her nose with hers...and is proud of it. Another picture to add to the vision. Anyway...I digress....I too fully support the availability of books and not limiting their audience based on personal opinion. This is why there's reviews, recommendations, reading lists, and oh yeah...parent involvement. My husband and I made a habit early on of reading what our kids read and ended up getting addicted to YA. There are some that I've read outloud to my kids so I could edit language, and they loved the book so much they wanted to go out and buy it. Well, I had to explain to them that it was a great story, but only because I took out the offensive words for them. They were disappointed, but I could still see their eyes burning with intrigue at the story. A word to authors perhaps that write for children. A few words can make or break a book. :) Happy reading everyone!
Oh and The Lottery is still alive and well. Love it!

Unknown said...

When I was tutoring 3rd graders in reading, way back in high school, one of the girls said I have a giraffe neck. At first I was insulted. But then... I realized that meant it was long and sinuous. And thus the envy of many a woman. And so my newly-rekindled love of giraffes was born. My first stuffed toy was a giraffe and I still have him. But he has no spots.

Speaking of spots, I like to play my DS. Pokemon, the new Kingdom Hearts game, and all the rest. Cooking Mama and FFIII were the two reasons I got the thing in the first place!

Speaking of first place, my husband wears glasses and plays piano, too! I liked playing the flute accompanied by his piano.

Kari Pike said...

Awww...love the picture of my grandson! and my son, too, of course. I can't wait to hear him play on your new piano. I'm with you on the banned book thing.

tomdg said...

There was a great scene in "The Simpsons" where they go into the school library and the teacher says that because they have no budget all they have is books that were banned by other schools. And you can see this line of books, and they are all without exception classic works of literature. Including Hop On Pop :) Brilliant scene. If we have to resort to censorship to defeat "dangerous ideas" then it begs the question of whether that's because we're on the wrong side to begin with.

I had to laugh at the DS picture :) and call my son up to see it. I got one so I could play Pokemon with him, it's nice I'm not the only one ...

Anonymous said...

When is the next book in the Wings series going to be released? I absolutely loved the stroy, and I'm going to buy the next one as soon as it hits the shelves!

Kenny said...

Anonymous--Book 2 comes out on May 4, 2010.