I missed another day of my Write Every Day Challenge. Darn, this is becoming a pattern. So today is now Day #17 and I will write double today to make up for the missed day.
So today I think I'll voice my opinion on a recent hot-button subject: Katy Perry's (lack of) clothing on Sesame Street. (This photo is from the website www.thestir.cafemom.com)
So the story goes that Katy Perry did a remix of her song "Hot N Cold" with Elmo for an episode of Sesame Street. As I understand it (and I might be wrong), they released a preview of the segment and lots of people thought that her clothing was too revealing for the show, so Sesame Street producers pulled the segment.
I watched a clip of it online, and I have mixed feelings on the subject. I'm not a fan of censorship, but I do have a son, and that changes my views a bit. However, my son, who loves Elmo, is only one, and he would probably just be paying attention to Elmo and dancing to the music if he saw this segment.
But then I thought about my best friend. She has two children: a 4 1/2-year-old girl and a 2 1/2-year old boy. While her daughter may be "beyond" Sesame Street, her son probably isn't. And while her son might not do much but what my son would do, her daughter, upon seeing this, might have a different reaction. She might begin to want to dress like that. Yes, Katy Perry is an adult and she can do what she wants, dress how she wants. But when it comes to performing on a children's program, she has to think of the example she sets for little girls. I personally would never dress like she does. And I definitely don't think it's appropriate clothing for children under the age of 18.
A "friend" of mine (I say "friend" because he's really just an acquaintance, but we're "friends" on facebook) posted this quote on his facebook profile the other day:
We were not born critical of existing society. There was a moment in our lives (or a month, or a year) when certain facts appeared before us, startled us, and then caused us to question beliefs that were strongly fixed in our consciousness -embedded there by years of family prejudices, orthodox schooling, imbibing of newspapers, radio, and television. This would seem to lead to a simple conclusion: that we all have an enormous responsibility to bring to the attention of others information they do not have, which has the potential of causing them to rethink long-held ideas. Howard Zinn, 2005
This made me think about the time when I began to question the beliefs around me. I was in the fourth grade, living in a suburb in the Bible Belt of America. I was raised Lutheran, and sometimes I would attend a Baptist church with my next door neighbors who had a daughter my age. Stephanie and I were good friends, but I had another friend, Kelli, who I thought of as my best friend, and I think that Stephanie was a little jealous of this fact, especially since I had known Stephanie longer. But I enjoyed spending time with both of them, and I enjoyed going to church with Stephanie and her family.
Then, one day, Kelli's dad died. He had a sudden heart attack just after running/biking around a park with Kelli. I remember my parents telling me about it, and my whole world view changed. I suddenly was so overcome with grief for my friend, and so scared at what would happen to me if my father was to die. I spent that school day with Kelli at her house. I remember giving her a hug and watching television with her while our mothers talked. While this was a horrible event, and it surely was worse for Kelli than for me, this wasn't the event that started making me question things around me.
That event happened a few days later, when Kelli came back to school. I remember being on the playground with her, and Stephanie came up to us, and I don't remember the whole conversation, or if there was even anything said besides what Stephanie said to Kelli. She told Kelli that her dad, who had just died, was going to hell because he didn't go to church. Now I know that Stephanie was just a kid (we were only 9 or 10), and that she probably was just upset that Kelli was getting most of my attention before her father died, and certainly was getting all of my attention since her father died. I do not hate Stephanie for this sentence (although Kelli might), because I do not think that she was really that horrible of a person. I'm sure, if Stephanie remembers this now, she feels incredibly guilty for saying this. She is not a bad person.
But neither is Kelli and she did not deserve to hear something like that. And her father, although I did not know him well, was not a bad person either. So this statement did not sit well with me at all. I disagreed with the idea that not going to church meant you were headed for hell. I also disagreed with the idea that the simple act of going to church meant that you were safe from eternal damnation. These two ideas may seem like they are the same thing, but they are not. People can be horrible and go to church, but this shouldn't mean that they won't go to hell simply because they attend services every Sunday.
So thus began my questioning of the beliefs that were around me. I started re-thinking religion. I started re-thinking things that were important to my 9 or 10-year-old mind: being popular vs. being a so-called dork; doing what others wanted me to do vs. what I wanted to do or thought was right; etc. And I realized, at some point, what I now know to be the utmost important thing in life: kindness. I know this sounds very "make love not war" or like I'm a hippy or something, but I really believe that being kind to others is the most important thing, for me, in life. And this affects everything that I do, every idea I have about the world, about politics, about religion, about society. You might call me crazy, think that I'm unrealistic and too optimistic (actually, I think of myself as more of a rationalist), but I truly believe that, simply with more kindness, the world will be a much better place.
I missed three whole days of my Write Every Day Challenge! Boy, I stink at this! So I'm going to do what I've done before when I missed a day. Today will be Day #15, even though I should be much farther than that by now, and I will write something for every day that I've missed. So I have a lot of writing to do!
I thought that I might get a bit of that writing behind me since I went to the first meeting for this year's NaNoWriMo. But I should have known better. We never get any writing done in those meetings, especially the ones not in November! We always have so much to talk about. But we had fun and we've got some ideas for upcoming NaNo meetings. This year should be a blast!
I watched the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 the other day online. It was awesome! It included quite a few scenes that weren't in the previous trailers. I'm so excited for the movie! It's less than two months away now! Yea!!! Head over to Mugglenet to watch the new trailer (and for all things Harry Potter, for that matter).
Anyway, I'd better get to that writing. I think I'm going to try some more of the prompts from www.creativewritingprompts.com.
14 days down on the Write Every Day Challenge! 2 weeks, woot woot!
So I've just got some more random things for you today:
1) Why oh why do they have to show Dairy Queen commercials on television in a state that does't even have Dairy Queens anymore? It makes me want a Blizzard soooo bad! Oh, wait, I'm wrong. I just went to their site and found out that there are several in my state, just not that close to me. I apologize, Dairy Queen gods, you have not completely failed me. I guess next time I see a commercial for a Brownie Batter Blizzard, I'll pick my happy ass up off the couch and drive 40+ miles to get one!
2) I am soooo loving the blog Mark Reads Harry Potter. So is my husband. He said yesterday that Mark can't put down Harry Potter, and we can't put down his blog! It's hilarious. A definite must-read if you are a Harry Potter dork like me.
3) Speaking of Harry Potter, the new trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 goes online tonight at 9/8 central. I'll be heading over to Mugglenet to view it. So excited!
4) I almost hit one of my friends today. One of my friends!!! I'm a dork. I was backing out of a parking spot and yes, I looked behind me, and he must have been in my blind spot for a second, because when I looked again, there he was. I wasn't that close to hitting him, but you get the picture. When I realized who it was I debated whether I should say hi (he worked with me at my previous job and we're friends on facebook but we're not real close) and before I knew it, he was inside. I'm a double dork. I sent him a message on facebook apologizing for both almost hitting him and not saying hi. Triple dork.
5) I'm only halfway through Oryx and Crake It's going sssllllooooowww. It's not that I don't like it, it's just that it's not action-packed and I'm so interested in other things right now (like Mark Reads Harry Potter and No Plot? No Problem! and watching fall shows and taking care of my son, etc.). I just did an automated renewal online so that I don't have to check it back into the library on Friday, but I still can't seem to want to read it instead of everything else. Damn you, Mark, you've got me addicted to your blog! I can't stop! ;) Hopefully I'll pick the book back up soon. I guess I'll have to, or just turn it back in, because pretty soon I'll have to start reading the October book selection for my book club.
So I guess that's all my randomness for today. See you tomorrow!
I thought it might be time to explain why this blog is called "The Mantis Connection." Well, first of all, when I first decided to start this blog, I wasn't sure what I was going to write about (and I still don't have any one theme, besides the Write Every Day Challenge), so I couldn't give it any kind of specific title describing the content of my posts.
As far as the mantis thing goes, I simply love praying mantids. Yes, spell-checker, the plural is "mantids," "mantises," or "mantes," so stop it with your annoying squiggly red lines.
I have always loved them. One of my first pieces of writing, that I can remember, was a poem about a praying mantis that I wrote in elementary school. My school actually put together a big book of student's work, and I remember my poem being in there. I still want to go back and look for it and get a copy of it.
I have had 3 pet praying mantids, named Zorak (named after the awesome mantis on Space Ghost Coast to Coast), Zorak 2, and Buddha. I also collect all types of praying mantis stuff, but I don't have much because praying mantis knick-knacks are hard to find. Sure, there's tons of butterfly stuff and dragonfly stuff, but hardly any mantis stuff.
I always thought that if I got a tattoo, I'd get a praying mantis, most likely the praying mantis image that was used by the band God Lives Underwater (great band, btw). This image is from the website http://www.enjoyglu.com/. But, alas, I have always been too much of a wuss to get a tattoo.
A couple weeks ago, on an episode of Leverage, there was tons of art featuring praying mantids on the wall of character Nate Ford's bedroom. I'm not sure if they were photographs, paintings, or what, but I want them. I can't seem to find anything about them online, but just take my word on this, they were cool.
A not-so-well-known fact about praying mantids: the female does NOT always eat the male after intercourse. It depends on how well-nourished she is at the time. She may eat the whole male, part of the male, or none at all. See, you learned something on my blog today. Yea! ;)
I shall return again tomorrow, to continue my Write Every Day Challenge. See you then!
So yesterday I forgot to write again! Gasp! So I'll do what I did last time: write this blog and then write in some other way to make up for my lost day, and today will be Day #12 (it would have been Day #13 if I had written yesterday).
Book club on Saturday was fun. We all had a LOT to say about Mockingjay and then we played The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Movie Board Game. A couple of the girls in my book club are total die-hard Twilight Saga fans and they kicked our butts. I came in fourth, but only because two girls left before the game was over. We all brought our "last meals" (what we would want to eat as a last meal), and we had quite a spread! I brought sushi, and the others brought ribs, chicken parmesan, salad, ice cream, and cake. We all ate too much and drank waaay too much wine and had lots of fun! I heart my book club! ;)
My husband and I have been reading the blog Mark Reads Harry Potter ever since I found out about it a couple days ago. It's hilarious! I'm still on the posts about Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, but my husband is ahead of me and I keep hearing him giggle and I want to get to what he's reading! We both think that Mark's next project should be The Hunger Games trilogy.
I'm gearing up for NaNoWriMo, and I think I may be onto a plot. I think we're supposed to have our first meeting this coming Sunday. I'm excited!
I'm not sure what else to write about today, so I'll go ahead and work on my other writing task. I'll be back tomorrow (hopefully) with Day #13 of my Write Every Day Challenge!
A few random things today...
On my last post I decided that, since I had missed a day of my Write Every Day Challenge, I would write more than just a blog post on Day #9. I looked online and found a website called Creative Writing Prompts. I perused the different prompts and found one that caught my eye: #4 challenges you to rewrite the ending of Cinderella so that the glass slipper actually fit on one of her ugly stepsisters. This is right up my alley, because in high school I wrote poem that was a different take on Cinderella, and I love the books of Gregory Maguire (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West; Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister; and Mirror, Mirror). So off to write I went. I wrote a bit that day, and a bit more yesterday (to fulfill my quota for Day #10), and let me tell you, I had so much fun doing it! It reminded me just how much fun I can have while writing, while making up characters and describing their actions. If NaNoWriMo is anything like that for me this year, I'm sure to reach the goal of 50,000 words! I also found No Plot? No Problem! at the library yesterday! Score!
I went to see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World last night with my friend, Courtney. It was great! I'd like to write a review of it someday, but I think I'll watch it again first.
I was on Mugglenet the other day and they had a post about this really cool looking blog: Mark Reads Harry Potter. It's this guy who is reading the Harry Potter books for the first time, and posts about each chapter after he reads them. He only knew a few things about Harry Potter before he began his quest, and he asks his readers to not reveal any spoilers within their comments (he is currently on The Half-Blood Prince). I've only read one of his posts, but this seems like a great blog! He uses a lot of adult language, so this blog isn't really for kids, but adult lovers of Harry Potter will get a kick out of it! Oh, and there's supposed to be a new trailer for The Deathly Hallows, Part 1 online on Wednesday! Sooo excited!
So tonight I have book club! We're (finally) discussing Mockingjay. We all love this series, so we are all going to have a lot to say! We are also doing a kind of potluck thing this time: only we're each bringing a dish that we'd want to have as our last meal. We were inspired by the meals that Katniss and Peeta eat on the train on their way to their first Games. I'm bringing some sushi. I wanted to bring escargot (my absolute favorite!) but I wasn't sure that others would like it as much as I do. I'm so ready for the meeting; it should be a blast!
