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brightbluegirlI am impressed with J.K Rowling's writing because it isn't sexist, ageist (agist?), or racist. I have decided that this series is a good series to keep for our children - more so than most of the books I read as a child.
I mean - there are lots of books that I adored (and still adore, now), that formed my thinking in prejudiced ways - thinking that I don't want my children to have, but the stories were too good to pass up. I figure, if we talk about it, that might do the trick. ("What's different in those stories? They had funny ideas, didn't they? Why don't we agree with those ideas? It's ok for stories/other people to have different ideas than we do...")
For example:
I'm certain I've forgotten some, but that will do for now. You get the gist of it. It's funny - I never realized just how many mystery books I read when I was growing up, until I put them in a list like that.
Andrew has the day off today, lucky boy. I'm happy for him. He finished the job for the new people yesterday - it took him 6 hours and they paid him $100. That does NOT suck. I bet he's reading Harry Potter right now.
Last night we went to the co-op again, and picked up some food for a couple of days of eating. We're going to stay raw as long as we can (unless I stop losing weight), with a cooked meal every once in a while (I figure that'll help me stay raw longer). Apparently raw-ists receive the greatest benefits at 75% raw or higher, so our goal is to stay above that, but not to worry about being 100%.
On a side note, I firmly believe that a 100% raw diet caters to rich bored folk. Either people who have money (to buy the fancy dehydrator, and champion juicer, and etc that are useful for the diet, and that most raw-ists swear by) and a lot of time on their hands (so they have the time to make all the food this diet requires), or they have a lot of money so they can pay someone to make food for them (Demi Moore pays some guy $1000 a day to not cook her food)
As it is, with 2 of us active in the kitchen, it takes time to find recipes and get all the ingredients and put everything together. We both work, and we both get tired, and some times we just don't want to do what a recipe calls for.
We're working on variety though. I found a recipe for a nut pate we're going to try, and a tomato spread, and a pistachio nut dressing. Now I have an idea of what I like, and I also picked out relatively easy recipes.
And really - I figure I've had almost 30 years of getting to know recipes I enjoy, it's going to take me more than a week to have a repertoire of good raw recipes at hand. I know I won't stay raw forever - I like cooked food, and the optimally healthy diet is high in fish, unrefined grains, and vegetables, with at least one serving of soy a day. You can't get most of that, raw.
We stopped off at Walmart on the way home, to get some little things. I was fiddling in the nail polish aisle (NONE of their blue nailpolish was good colours - but then again, I really don't need any blue nailpolish, I have tons), and I couldn't help but overhear a child talking to her father. This poor child repeated itself over and over and over and over and over. After the fifth time or so, the father would respond, and she'd say something else, and he wouldn't respond, so she'd say it again, and again, and again...
Some people would find that annoying. I just wanted to go over that man, smack him upside the head, and say "PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CHILD! MAKE HER FEEL LIKE AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR LIFE! SHE OBVIOUSLY WORSHIPS YOU!"
It's so rough to see people treat their children in ways I hope not to treat mine.
On the other hand, when we were in Barnes and Noble getting change for the bus the other day (and incidentally getting the Harry Potter Book), we passed a scene that I thought was great. A small girl started to cry, and the mother crouched down to the girl's eye-level, touched her on the arm, and in a calm, caring, firm voice said "Take some deep breaths, calm yourself down, and I will talk to you about it." and repeated herself, so the child could grasp what was being said.
I thought that was great. I want to be the kind of parent that takes care of my children first and foremost, no matter where we are or what we're doing. I want to have the patience and forbearance to deal with them on the level they need, instead of on whatever level I want. I don't have that yet, but maybe when the time comes, I'll be ready.
I mean - there are lots of books that I adored (and still adore, now), that formed my thinking in prejudiced ways - thinking that I don't want my children to have, but the stories were too good to pass up. I figure, if we talk about it, that might do the trick. ("What's different in those stories? They had funny ideas, didn't they? Why don't we agree with those ideas? It's ok for stories/other people to have different ideas than we do...")
For example:
- The Little House on the Prairie books.
- Little Women, and Little Men, but the rest of Louisa May Alcott's books in the series are too preachy, with not enough story.
- All of the books by Lloyd Alexander
- Of course Tom Sawyer, and Huckleberry Finn
- And Treasure Island
- And Swiss Family Robinson
- Robinson Crusoe
- Gulliver's Travels (Around the time I first read this, my grandparent's house got hit by lightning and burned down, and they stayed in a place called Gulliver's Inn for a while. It had a big picture of Gulliver on it. I always expected to see itsy bitsy people, but it was never more than an inn. I still felt it was an adventurous place for them to stay.)
- The Trixie Beldon books (which are the most sexist of the bunch, but sweet in a country way, and out of print and hard to find, anyway)
- The Nancy Drew books
- The Hardy Boys books
- All the Encyclopedia Brown books
- ALL of the Gordon Kormon Books
- The Tripods Books
- The Three Investigators books (apparently there are at least 11, although I only read the first 3)
- And maybe even The Bobbsey Twins Books
I'm certain I've forgotten some, but that will do for now. You get the gist of it. It's funny - I never realized just how many mystery books I read when I was growing up, until I put them in a list like that.
Andrew has the day off today, lucky boy. I'm happy for him. He finished the job for the new people yesterday - it took him 6 hours and they paid him $100. That does NOT suck. I bet he's reading Harry Potter right now.
Last night we went to the co-op again, and picked up some food for a couple of days of eating. We're going to stay raw as long as we can (unless I stop losing weight), with a cooked meal every once in a while (I figure that'll help me stay raw longer). Apparently raw-ists receive the greatest benefits at 75% raw or higher, so our goal is to stay above that, but not to worry about being 100%.
On a side note, I firmly believe that a 100% raw diet caters to rich bored folk. Either people who have money (to buy the fancy dehydrator, and champion juicer, and etc that are useful for the diet, and that most raw-ists swear by) and a lot of time on their hands (so they have the time to make all the food this diet requires), or they have a lot of money so they can pay someone to make food for them (Demi Moore pays some guy $1000 a day to not cook her food)
As it is, with 2 of us active in the kitchen, it takes time to find recipes and get all the ingredients and put everything together. We both work, and we both get tired, and some times we just don't want to do what a recipe calls for.
We're working on variety though. I found a recipe for a nut pate we're going to try, and a tomato spread, and a pistachio nut dressing. Now I have an idea of what I like, and I also picked out relatively easy recipes.
And really - I figure I've had almost 30 years of getting to know recipes I enjoy, it's going to take me more than a week to have a repertoire of good raw recipes at hand. I know I won't stay raw forever - I like cooked food, and the optimally healthy diet is high in fish, unrefined grains, and vegetables, with at least one serving of soy a day. You can't get most of that, raw.
We stopped off at Walmart on the way home, to get some little things. I was fiddling in the nail polish aisle (NONE of their blue nailpolish was good colours - but then again, I really don't need any blue nailpolish, I have tons), and I couldn't help but overhear a child talking to her father. This poor child repeated itself over and over and over and over and over. After the fifth time or so, the father would respond, and she'd say something else, and he wouldn't respond, so she'd say it again, and again, and again...
Some people would find that annoying. I just wanted to go over that man, smack him upside the head, and say "PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CHILD! MAKE HER FEEL LIKE AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR LIFE! SHE OBVIOUSLY WORSHIPS YOU!"
It's so rough to see people treat their children in ways I hope not to treat mine.
On the other hand, when we were in Barnes and Noble getting change for the bus the other day (and incidentally getting the Harry Potter Book), we passed a scene that I thought was great. A small girl started to cry, and the mother crouched down to the girl's eye-level, touched her on the arm, and in a calm, caring, firm voice said "Take some deep breaths, calm yourself down, and I will talk to you about it." and repeated herself, so the child could grasp what was being said.
I thought that was great. I want to be the kind of parent that takes care of my children first and foremost, no matter where we are or what we're doing. I want to have the patience and forbearance to deal with them on the level they need, instead of on whatever level I want. I don't have that yet, but maybe when the time comes, I'll be ready.
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no subject
Date: 2003-06-29 08:21 pm (UTC)Hrm. . . I feel like I rarely have anything of much substance to add to your entries. ~ Youmna
Re:
Date: 2003-06-30 08:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-06-30 07:22 am (UTC)Anyway, are you not an "Anne of Green Gables" person? I find that most chixors of my generation all have a very -decided- opinion on AoGG. They either love the books or hate them. Me, I don't care so much for the first book, but all the later books make me smile. :D
Re:
Date: 2003-06-30 08:25 am (UTC)