Retold

This week, from September 27 – October 4, is the 2008 Banned Book Week.  Banned Book Week’s mission is to bring public attention to banned books, the infringement of our First Amendment rights, and celebrate, above all, the beauty of literature in it’s diversity.  Overall, Banned Books Week’s purpose is to remind American’s not to take our liberties for granted¹.  I support Banned Book Week.

For me, Banned Book Week is a reminder that there are those who would strive to rob others of their rights as Americans.  When a person or group of people takes it upon themselves to challenge books and have them banned, they are depriving others of their right to access that material.  The First Amendment to the constitution grants us the right to freedom of expression and press, every American has the right to read whatever s/he chooses and to make that impossible by the banning of literature is adverse to the very fundamentals of the American system of liberty.  If it offends you so, simply don’t read it, but it is immoral and unconstitutional to force others to be deprived the right to chose for themselves what may or may not offend them.  Your license² extends only so far as it doesn’t deprive another of their liberty, it’s a fundamental idea, put more eloquently into words than I could ever dream by John Stewart Mill in On Liberty, and it applies here, to this circumstance.

So, who is it trying to take away our rights?  Generally, it’s parents with school age children, Jr. high and high school students, educators, and school administrators.  These people, out of offense by certain types of literature, their religious or racial objections to said literature, personal prejudices, or some misguided attempt to pander to any of the above groups, will challenge books before their school boards and/or city government to have the books removed from school and/or public libraries.

The difference, according to the ALA, between a challenged book and a banned book is in the actions taken.   The ALA says…

A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group.  A banning is the removal of those materials.

They go on to explain that a challenge is not simply an opinion.  I could give my opinion, on this blog, about a certain book, but that wouldn’t make the book challenged.  A challenge is an out right attempt at having a book banned, and all the actions one takes in that endeavor.

The top five most challenged books from 2000-2007 are:

1 Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
2 Alice series, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
3 The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier
4 Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck
5 I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou

Other notable banned books include: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and Grendel by John Gardner.  The complete list of challenged/banned books from 2000-2007 can be found here.

If you’re interested in learning more about Banned Book Week, why books are banned, or how you can participate in the Banned Book Week activities in your community, please see the American Library Associations website at http://ala.org or your local community library or college webpage.  Above all else, take the time to read this week and celebrate your constitutional right to do so.

…(¨`·.·´¨)
…..`·.¸.·Kristyn

It’s that time again!!  November brings NaNoWriMo, late September and the month of October bring relentless chatter about NaNoWriMo!!  The site usually re-opens for sign-ups, the forums come live again with no posts for a fresh noveling season, and all the goodies are available on October 1st.  This year, much to my surprise, their site came live early as a surprise for the 10th anniversary of National Novel Writing Month.  As usual, I’m looking forward to the frantic month of November.  This year, I’m hoping to actually finish!!

I’ve been participating in NaNoWriMo every year since 2004.  I found the site on October 30th of 2004 and though I wanted to sign up, I was really hesitant.  We’d just moved to S’vill a few months prior, I was going to school at Tarleton (as I still am), and there was only two days to go before the noveling began.  I talked to Matt and he encouraged me.  I actually won that year, with no preparation and no forethought, I put my heart and head into it and managed to make 50k words in 30 days.  It was crazy!!  I actually did 14k words in one day that year and I had a blast. Now, ever year, I look forward to NaNoWriMo with excitement.  Sadly, every year has proved a failure, except that first, but that doesn’t take away the fun.  Winning is awesome, but just participating is the fun part.

So, like the last four years, I am again participating in the NaNoWriMo fun!  The month of November is going to be complicated by the impending end of the semester and the fact that World of Warcrackft is releasing their second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King.  I think, though, all things considered, I can still manage NaNoWriMo!!  It’s become a tradition for me, something I await with a thrill, and to skip it, that would be a shame.  I love NaNoWriMo and I’m participating!!

Last year, I tried having a separate NaNoWriMo blog to talk about all this stuff, this year, I’m just putting it here.  I’m sorry to those who’re bored out of their gourd with NaNoWriMo chatter, but it’s something I love and since this is my blog, that something goes here!  I’ve placed the participant badge on the sidebar, as you can see, along with a word count widget, something their offering new this year.  I’m going to be accountable this year, I’m showing my progress!!

So what about you?  Do you NaNo?  It’s a little weird to say “NaNo” since it literally means “National Novel,” but the term NaNo has become something more, it’s taken on it’s own life.  It’s become a verb, like “to google” it’s “to NaNo,” it’s become an action all on it’s own!!  So, do you?  If you do, please let me know and we can perhaps be writing buddies.  I love the encouragement and accountability, having someone to say, “hello, get your ass back to work” it’s priceless.  If, on the other hand, you don’t NaNo, you should consider giving it a try!  It’s an unforgettable experience, I must say!!

Oh, one more thing before I go. I’m probably going to be doing videos this year.  It’s going to be frightening but I look forward to it.  If so, I’ll be on Viddler, I’ll keep you posted.

…(¨`·.·´¨)
…..`·.¸.·Kristyn

Matt and I have a 2004 Pontiac Sunfire.  Other than the battery going dead once, and the back tire needing to be replaced, we’ve never had a single problem with it, ever.  We bought it brand new, paid in full, and to this day it still has the original tires — though like I said, the back passenger tire needs replacing.  It’s a good little car, we like it, a lot.

Today, while taking the trash to the dumpster, Matt put a few bags in the trunk, drove them down there and came back, and when he got back the trunk wouldn’t latch closed.  My first question was, “What’d you do to it?!” to which he promptly told me he did nothing.  I looked at it, but there’s nothing wrong with it that I can tell.  The latching mechanism is a little stiff, but it’s not broken.  We push it down and rather than latching closed it just springs back up from the momentum of being pushed down.

I immediately called mom and dad.  Whenever I have a problem I can’t solve,  I call them.  They were getting ready to walk out the door to church, so they couldn’t talk long, but my dad suggested putting in the key and turning it to lock the trunk, he also suggested WD-40.  I tried the key thing, but it appears that unlike door locks, the trunk keys only work to spring the locking mechanism, not to put it back in place.  There’s nothing wrong with it besides.  So, I tried the WD-40.  It loosened up all the mechanisms, I even got it to latch when I pushed on it manually, but when I tried to close the trunk, nothing.  Gah!

So, our trunk is sitting open in the drive way.  We’re going to have to get some bungee cords to secure it shut so we can drive it to the dealership and get it fixed.  I’m hoping it’ll be cheap.  I also have an eye doctor appointment tomorrow, which I have to get to.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to get the trunk fixed in time to get to the doc.

If anyone has any suggestions about what the hell might be wrong with it, please, don’t hesitate.  I’m about at my wits end (where I seem to live of late).

…(¨`·.·´¨)
…..`·.¸.·Kristyn

I called Sprint/Embarq today and changed our phone number.  We’ve been getting harrassing phone calls from phone solicitors and creditors.  The catch is, most of the calls are automated messeges telling us to call them.  Ha!  A lot of the calls aren’t even for us.  For the past four years we’ve been getting calls and mail for someone named Tony Gifford.  I have no idea who Toby Gifford is but if I ever meet him, I’ll have a thing or two to say!!  Recently, a doctor’s office called her looking for him to give him test results.  This guy is either a terrible dylextic, or he’s using our phone number and address for his business.  I have no idea why he’d do that, but that’s what’s happening.

So, the point is, our number is changing so if you’re trying to call us, it’s not going to work with the old number after Monday.  If you’ve got a reason to call me, send me an email or use the contact form and I’ll get back to you!  Oh, we’re also unlisted, best $1.75 ever spent, in my humble opinion!  So, looking us up won’t work either.

Talk to you soon!

…(¨`·.·´¨)
…..`·.¸.·Kristyn