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Gender is like orange.
Just because something is orange does not make it an Orange.
This is the same thing because.
Just because somebody is female does not make them a Woman and just because somebody is male does not make them a Man. Lastly, just…
John Green’s car breaks down
The Fault in Our Cars
John Green gets locked in a pub
The Fault in Our Bars
John Green writes a strongly worded pamphlet on the flaws of the Russian Monarchy
The Fault in Our Czars
John Green talks about un-scary dinosuars
The Fault in Our Rawrs
John Green writes about the flaws of Disney villains.
The Fault in Jafar.
I can play this game, too, tumblr!
John Green writes a novel about the character defects of Metallica’s drummer.
The Fault in Our Lars.
I thought it was
John Green writes a novel about his ex-girlfriends
The Fault in Our Lars
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Books, Books, Books. @elizziebooks @realjohngreen @jk_rowling @penguinusa @JRRTolkien
Somebody asked me today why I read so much (I read ~65 books per year). This was a simple two part answer to me. 1) Because all good authors read and 2) books are important.
Then that same person asked me the age old question… Why? Why are books important? Aren’t they just stories?
This is the “condensed” version of a ~90 min conversation.
Certain books are like monuments; because they are giant monolithic representations of something specific in a generation but are also timeless. As you can imagine this is a difficult feat to achieve.
- A book like To Kill A Mockingbird is raw and gritty and serves as a poignant reminder of the past while also serving as a reminder that for all the progress we have made, we have a long way to go.
- Books in the Harry Potter series tells the timeless hero tale while highlighting that even with all the technology magic in the world family is still very important.
- A book like The Fault in our Stars reminds us that there are good things that can happen even under bad circumstances and also highlights the fact that cancer is one of the biggest blights of our current generation.
- A book like The Great Gatsby serves as a reminder that even people who seem to have it all deal with silly petty things that can drag them down while highlighting the opulence of the rich during that era.
Even books of the day that won’t stand the test of time serve as a sort of organic snap shot that waxes and wanes with different popular trends like Vampires or Space Travel dominating for a time. While deeper down everything written serves as a tapestry that started with cave drawings and basic colours and has, over time, evolved into this sometimes messy and sometimes elegant picture with millions of colours. And now with e-publishing where just about anybody with desire, a computer, and an internet connection can publish its only going to get more vibrant.
The short version is that books (the written word) is one of, if not the, most significant parts of culture because it allows us to keep our history. Be that in an actual history book or a work of fiction they all blend together to create something amazing and without equal.
~Peeta
PS. These are my opinions. Feel free to agree or disagree (:
Title Credit to @elizziebooks
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This has been a numbing month. Work is busy. My son had a stomach virus. A friend moved in with us… http://wp.me/s2jrTT-762
This has been a numbing month.
Work is busy. My son had a stomach virus. A friend moved in with us from Indianapolis.
And then it was Patriots Day.
Being a Massachusetts native, Patriots Day was always a day met with enjoyment – a way to get out of…
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Sports on DFTBA News? Yep! check it out!! http://dftbanews.wordpress.com/2013/04/29/jason-collins/
Lets talk about Jason Collins, a Washington Wizards basketball player, and the fact that he is the first professional athlete to come out openly gay while still an active player and how badly some people are trying to spin it.
Let me be clear, This ISa big…
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If it were up to me, there would be no abortions except under extreme circumstances. Because there would be SO MUCH education and availability of contraceptives that they just wouldn’t be necessary.
But fighting abortion rights is not going to help us get there. It’s going to continue the stigma that having sex is wrong and if you have sex, you deserve to be punished by having to raise a child for the next eighteen years, even if you’re a child yourself. Or going through the extreme body changes caused by pregnancy and childbirth and then giving away that child, a decision that is not easy for anyone.
A perfect reproductive rights country would look like this:
- All students (home school, public school AND private school) are required to take comprehensive sex education courses around the time when they are going through puberty (13).
- Contraceptives are encouraged for all girls from the date of their first period and covered by insurance (preferably public insurance, but that’s a completely different topic).
- Sex is an open topic and, even if newly sexually active people aren’t comfortable discussing it with their parents, there is an adult they can comfortably talk to.
- Abortions are no longer limited to “clinics” or specific doctors and are available at most hospitals. They are covered by insurance and are seen as something that is an absolute last resort that should only be used in extreme cases. However, there are few (if any) legal limits on when they can be used such as they must be before 23 weeks, with smart exceptions.
Again. No one is pro-abortion. If you believe that, then you really need to have some empathy and try harder to understand the other side.
Could not have said it better…
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First, I am coming to you as a writer who is genuinely concerned about not presenting women in a subordinate objectified light in my stories. I deeply and truly want the all characters in my books to be real people and not just fill a role.
Having said…
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Maybe its because I have spent too much time on Tumblr but the phrase “you guys” is really starting to bother me.
Today at work I had to send an e-mail to a department that has both male and female (as defined by their sex) employees. The first draft*…
THIS. IS. INFURIATING.
I know that Good Morning America isn’t news, I know that they don’t matter, and I know that it doesn’t matter what they think about online video. But after watching this puffy hatchet job, I could not not post about it. Let’s just go through this point by point.
- Jenna Marbles is the “Queen of Clicks.” This is a seemingly innocuous phrase, but it’s indicative of the attitude here, making Jenna’s success not about the significance of what she does, but about a meaningless activity that other people do “clicking.” It removes all significance from the interaction people have with Jenna. This is what we call a backhanded compliment.
- “So Many teens and tweens hanging on her every word.” This is GMA’s attempt at attempting to make this story relevant to the people (moms) who watch their show. Except they miss the point that MOST OF THOSE MOMS WATCH JENNA MARBLES! They have no idea…NOT IDEA of Jenna’s reach because (apparently) they have NEVER USED AN INTERNET.
- Which is pretty insane considering that apparently she has “over a billion followers” on YouTube. This is a fact that can be checked and found wanting with a very limited understanding of reality (never mind the internet) since only 750 million people in the world SPEAK ENGLISH.
- “She may just be the most famous person you’ve never heard of.” Another backhanded compliment.
- Next we compare her facebook to JLaw and her instagram to Oprah…more attempts to connect with the issues moms in America really care about.
- “And all for making videos about, well, nothing.” REALLY?! DID YOU WATCH ANY OF THE VIDEOS?! First, comedy doesn’t have to be about something. But more importantly, Jenna’s videos aren’t about nothing, they’re about culture and sexism and growing up. Hiding in amongst all that “nothing” are often poignant insights.
And now we arrive at the interview portion, which is the most frustrating for me, and has to be much worse for Jenna. They intersperse Jenna’s comments with the most inane and out of context clips they can find, and then ask Jenna a total of TWO QUESTIONS.
1. What does it feel like to get a bunch of views? Which is innocuous.
…and the kicker…
2. Do you think you deserve to have as many fans as you do?
Which is just…makes me…on fire…flames!
The only way to ask that question is if you, as an interviewer, have made your mind up that the person does NOT deserve their success. And in the end, that’s how the entire segment feels to me, a bunch of people making fun of a creator who they are threatened by and who they do not understand. And of course they’re threatened by it, Jenna Marbles (on her own, with a cheap camera) can make a video that gets more viewed by more people than an episode of Good Morning America.
Instead of talking about anything interesting or criticizing Jenna for legitimate reasons (which they could have done) GMA spent five minutes making fun of one of the most influential creators that exists in the world right now. But what’s worse is they didn’t criticize her for legitimate reasons, they made fun of her for NOT MATTERING…for not being important…for being a meaningless cultural blip that they’re certain will just disappear. You wanna talk about something ridiculous…it’s you GMA, not Jenna.
Again, I don’t care that GMA doesn’t care about online video. I’m happy flying under the cultural radar for another few years, doing interesting things without legacy media paying attention (or, even with them actively attempting to marginalize us.) But I couldn’t watch this load of BS without commenting on it.
So Jenna, while I don’t agree with everything you’ve ever said, you absolutely deserve your success. You are innovative, intelligent, and hilarious. GMA is acting like you’re the new girl in school that all the cute boys like better than them and, guess what, you are.
If I ever have to go on television and talk about online video (not sure why I ever would…) I am consulting Hank Green about it so I can make sure to school some fools.
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Remember that no harm ever came from leaving something better than you found it.
