I just want to say, for the record, that I'm not "one of those people" who thinks Harry Potter books are bad, or ought to be avoided. I think they're very well written, a blast to read, and I would have no problem allowing my own children to read them. I'm not interested in any kind of book-banning or book-burning. I'd much rather encourage critical thought and Biblical critiques of pretty much any reading material. I think that's much more valuable than simply labeling something as "bad" without having ever actually picked it up and read it to know why it might be bad (or why not!)
That being said... I have some pretty big reservations about this book. I'll admit that it's well-written enough to have had me up WAY past my bedtime last night and has me eager to hop into bed tonight and throw back a chapter or two before I conk out... but wow. There are a couple of themes that I'm seeing that I just really don't like.
The main character, Bella's, attitude of "I don't care" when she finds out that her love interest Edward is actually a vampire. It was made clear before this point in the book that in the world of this novel vampires are categorically bad, which is normal for the genre. Edward himself acknowledges his own evilness and repeatedly warns Bella away from himself because of the danger he presents to her. This is tossed off by Bella herself as an irrelevant fact in light of her infatuation with him, and is also tossed aside by the style of writing itself as it glorifies Edward's mysterious, sexualized persona. This casual treatment of evil is atypical for vampire literature and represents a shift that I don't like. In typical vampire literature, the female character is usually intrigued by the vampire, but is put off, conflicted, by the evil represented in the vampire. There is almost always a conflict between her "goodness" and his "evilness". Bella has no such qualms.
The sexual appeal I just mentioned is another big problem. Lots of time is spent on describing Edward's very sensuous actions and appearance. There is nothing graphic, necessarily, in what is said. But he is obviously intended to be (as are most vampires in any literature) an intriguing, mysterious, sexual being.
Added onto this sexually charged atmosphere, and making it MUCH worse, is the fact that Edward also has a mean temper. He has moments of tenderness, but by and large his behavior can best be described as bipolar. His extremes of behavior, anger, and treatment of Bella verge often on abusive, even in the midst of a scene where he was saving her life. This is also worth noting, especially considering her level of emotional attachment to him. She almost literally worships him, and sees nothing wrong with being physically dragged to a vehicle by the back of her shirt and ordered into the car. This is presented as an act of care by Edward (it was raining, she was wet, she needed a ride but didn't want to inconvenience Edward, etc), not as what it really is - rude at best, and not the sort of treatment I would ever want my daughter or friend to put up with from ANY man.
I'm definitely glad that I spent the $9, if for no other reason than to be able to talk about these things if any of "my girls" have read the book and mention it. I don't have a problem with reading the book. What I do have a problem with is the subtlety of the messages in the book, and I hope that they will act as springboards for discussion, rather than stumbling blocks.
My goal for the weekend was to go out and deadhead all the spent roses so that the bushes will bloom again, weed the entire thing, pull all the leaves out, and just generally get it looking more like a flowerbed and less like the rose garden around sleeping beauty's castle.
Three hours in the sun and 90+ degree weather, three big bags of sticks and weeds and leaves, lots of scratches, sore knees, one garden gnome and a bit of a sunburn later:
Yesterday I ran to Maurice's, a cute little girlie-girl clothing shop up in north Denver. They usually have pretty cute stuff, but the best part is that they sell jeans in my size (9/10 long). This size is virtually impossible to find, especially if you're at all concerned about how jeans look on you. Like me. I'm concerned with that. I've literally been looking for jeans, a Jeans Quest if you will, for MONTHS. And I've come up with absolutely nothing. Except one pair that was okay cute but I used them for paint pants so now, you know, that's really all they're' goign to be good for long-term. So anyways, I found TWO, count' em, two, pairs of very cute jeans in my size at Maurice's yesterday. This is a whole new level of Exciting that I just haven't felt in a while. I know. It's dumb and I'm far too easily excited. I know. But honestly. I've been wearing the same jeans for close to a year and it was time for a change ladies and gentlemen.
My little sister said "They're okay. They're just jeans." She doesn't understand. They're NOT "just jeans." They're jeans that fit and don't make my hips look disproportionate. That is worth twice what I paid for them right there.
Chewie let me sleep in this morning exactly 7 minutes longer than yesterday. Very nice of him. Both times were still before my alarm even went off, but at least I got a little more sleep in before our morning game: auntie wants to sleep for five more minutes. Chewie is really persistent when it comes to waking me up. He'll let me sleep between a couple of snoozes, curled up right beside me. But as soon as the alarm goes off he gets agitated and starts nudging me and licking me like "come ON Auntie! Don't you get it? There's so much to DO today!" His technique this morning was to lay right on my stomach. Since I had to pee, that got me out of bed pretty quickly.
I did manage to get His Highness outside in time for some quality time with the sprinklers this morning. Very exciting. Then I brought him back inside while I took my shower. I don't trust him outside if I can't be immediately available to run out there and stop him doing whatever bad thing he's doing. Like barking at my neighbor's Harley boyfriend at 7am or trying to physically swallow the sprinkler heads. So anyways. I brought Mr. Mudpants inside while I showered and let him roam. Huge error. When I got out of the shower, this is what I found.
Oh sure, like it's not enough that I let him destroy my yard and track mud all over my floors. This is asking too much.
At the end of a busy day, full of squirrel stalking, patrolling the perimeter fence every 30 minutes, searching diligently for sticks worthy of shredding all over Auntie's floor, lying in flowerbeds, catching frisbees, chewing a rubber chicken while leaning fully body weight into Auntie, licking Auntie's face while she talked on the phone (repeatedly), barking at a dark moving spot in the field across the fence, barking at the neighbors, knocking over a garden gnome (twice), eating a bunch of dirt, oh yeah, and peeing lots of times... well... Mr. Bigglesworth is spent! He is absolutely so exhausted he can hardly speak to ask for just a small, yes that's right, just a dash of gin, very small gin and tonic. It would be just the right thing to help these aching feet of mine to feel better. Yes that's right. Thank you so much Auntie. You're such a dear. Now... where's my smoking jacket. Ah yes. Very nice.
(Sidenote...LOL! He was running for his orange ball across the wood floors, got his head caught in a sheet I had draped on the couch, turned around with his head still wrapped in the sheet but yes! holding the ball!, and ran straight into a wall... )
A big drawback today is this cutie pie tearing up my yard right now. It's a huge distraction!
Slowly but surely, Chewie is finding all the sticks in my yard and and neatly (er...actually not very neatly) putting them in my house. I'm not sure if he's thinking there's going to be a shortage at some point, or maybe he's concerned about me hitting them with the lawn mower. It's really anybody's guess. But whatever the motivation, I've gone from my normal No-Sticks-In-The-House to Four-Sticks-In-The-House... and probably more by the end of the day. We'll see.
Oh, and it's not just that they come into the house and then just sit there. He makes sure to thoroughly taste test each one, leaving shreds of bark all over the place.
I'm not even kidding. As I was writing that last paragraph, he trotted in the french doors with Stick #5, set it down with the others, and trotted out the side door. It was apparently just a delivery. The taste-test will undoubtedly happen shortly. I can see him out there looking for another one.
My sis and her hubby are visiting family over the weekend in Texas. Last night they brought over my "nephew," a one-year-old Australian Shepherd mix, Chewie so that I can watch him for the weekend.
This dog is a trip. He is SO wound up all the time. He did chill out and sleep last night as soon as I turned off the lights (which is good, we'd have had big problems if he had kept pacing after that point). It made me a little nervous having him loose in the house (he's a chewer - his name is well deserved), but he did fine, and woke me up like he always does. By lying on top of me and licking any part of me that comes out from under the covers.
I talk a lot of crap when it comes to this dog. I try to be tough with him... but really I plan on letting him have full run of everything for the next few days. Just because I'm THAT KIND of Auntie. This morning the sprinklers came on at 6, right as I let him out the door for the first of many pees (one of his alter-egos is Mr. Pee Pee Hanks, in reference to the scene in A League of Their Own where Tom Hanks' character pees for like a minute and a half). I'm pretty sure he thinks the sprinklers are a special gift just for him. Within 30 minutes, he looked like this:
I'm going to work at home as much as I can today, so that he can get his play on in the back yard. Tomorrow is a stay-at-home day for me (the first one I've really had since I moved in), and I plan to work on my flowerbeds some more. Chewie will undoubtedly find many new and interesting things out there to ingest, bark at, get dirty with and mess up. I'm looking forward to it and I'll bet he is too.
:)
What is the biggest lie you've told?
Submitted by lazywong.
"I'm okay."
Thousands Continue to Suffer as Burma Tragedy Slips From the Headlines
Ben Rogers
June 30th 2008
Cutting Edge Burma Desk
Almost
two months after Cyclone Nargis ripped through Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta
region, leaving tens of thousands of people dead or homeless, thousands
continue to suffer with little or no relief.
Burma’s military regime followed its initial decision to restrict and obstruct the delivery of aid with new regulations which serve only to further impede humanitarian efforts.
Only 1.3 million of the estimated 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone have been reached by international aid agencies, and only a few hundred foreign aid experts have been allowed into the country – and even fewer into the worst-affected areas.
For a few weeks, the crisis in Burma dominated the headlines. For a short time, the US, Great Britain, and France had naval vessels anchored off Burma’s coast, poised to go in with aid supplies. The talk was of whether the UN’s much-trumpeted "Responsibility to Protect" principle could be exercised. For a brief moment, the idea of military intervention on humanitarian grounds looked – for the first time – like a possibility. The British Government said no option was off the table, and the French appeared to be leading the charge.
But then the moment passed and the world moved on. The ships sailed away, complete with their cargo of aid undelivered, and Burma fell off the news agenda. The corpses, however, of people and animals – killed either by the cyclone or as a result of the regime’s inaction – continue to litter the streets and pollute the waters.
The cyclone victims have not gone completely unhelped. Some international aid is now, belatedly, tricking through, and the Burmese people themselves have organised a relief effort. Buddhist monks, Christian clergy, celebrities, and businessmen within Burma pulled together, and churches, monasteries, and schools provided shelter and food. In the words of one church leader, nothing, not even the regime’s obstruction, "deterred them from the sacred duty of saving lives." Churches and monasteries, he described, were turned into refugee camps. "With death and mayhem threatening them in their villages, thousands took refuge in sacred spaces. Even before the government could move in, or the do-gooders and NGOs could move in, spontaneous charity sprang forth with Buddhists feeding Christians and Christians feeding the Buddhists. Nargis broke many things in an evil way. Goodness broke all parochial borders that fateful night when death danced arrogantly across wounding a nation."
Local government authorities, however, did little. In the few villages where the regime made a show of assistance, the supplies were paltry. One village in Rangoon Division received aid from the junta three times in the three weeks following the cyclone. On each occasion, according to eye-witnesses, every family received six cups of wet, rotten rice. The first distribution also included one potato per family. The second distribution resulted in half the families in the village receiving a packet of noodles. On the third occasion, a few fortunate families were given one egg, each, and a tin bowl. They have yet to receive clean drinking water.
The regime’s failure to clean up decomposing bodies has resulted in a chronic deterioration in health and the spread of disease. The price of fish has plummeted, because people are avoiding eating fish that are believed to have been feeding on floating corpses. The costs of pork and chicken, meanwhile, have soared. The police, meanwhile, are reportedly stealing valuables from the dead bodies they find – and the regime has arrested and beaten up Burmese people attempting to help the cyclone victims. The comedian Zargana is now in jail, for criticising the regime’s failure to help its people.
On the political front, the regime is more entrenched than ever. Burma’s democracy leader, Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, marked her 63rd birthday on 19 June – and is now in her 13th year of house arrest. The regime declared that she was "a danger to the state" who deserves to be punished with "flogging… as in the case of naughty children." It is difficult to imagine how much worse the behaviour of the junta in Burma can get.
On Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1820 on Women in Armed Conflicts. This follows Resolution 1325 in 2000. According to the Global Justice Center, Burma is clearly violating these resolutions – and is also in breach of the Geneva Conventions, the Genocide Convention, and the Rome Statute. The European Parliament has already called for a case against Burma’s Generals to be referred to the International Criminal Court, on charges of crimes against humanity. If the situation in Burma does not change, pressure for such a course of action is only likely to mount.
As the world focuses now on the crisis in Zimbabwe, the parallels between Robert Mugabe’s reign of terror in that failed state and the disaster unfolding in Burma are stark. Both countries, former British colonies, were once the most prosperous in their regions – Zimbabwe, the "bread basket" of Africa and Burma, the "rice bowl" of Asia. Both are now ruled by paranoid tyrants who have ruined their economies and terrorised their people. In both countries, there is a legitimate democratic opposition that has won elections but been denied their rightful place in government. The rulers of both nations remain in power illegitimately, having stolen their elections through intimidation, harassment, and rigging – or simply by ignoring the real result. And in both countries, the regimes are guilty of the same sad litany of human rights violations: torture, rape and murder, and the refusal to allow international aid organisations to help their people. And yet, so far in both countries the world’s politicians and media watch, report, and condemn – and then move on.
Benedict Rogers is the author of A Land Without Evil: Stopping the Genocide of Burma's Karen People (Monarch, 2004), and has visited Burma and its borderlands more than 20 times. He also serves as Deputy Chairman of the UK Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission.
-------------------------------------------
Benedict Rogers
Research & Advocacy Officer, South Asia
Christian Solidarity Worldwide UK
PO Box 99
New Malden
Surrey KT3 3YF
Direct dial: (+44) (0)208-329-0041
General line: (+44) (0)845 456 5464
Fax: (+44) (0) 208-942-8802
Christian Solidarity Worldwide is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom, works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs and promotes religious liberty for all.
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