Kim’s Comments (group member since Sep 17, 2008)

Kim’s comments from the Runs with scissors group.

There was a filler article in the PDQ section of todays Plain Dealer that was all about I.Q. points and little fun facts about percentages. You lose 10 points, tempoprarily when a phone rings or you are notified about a new email. I figure that this may have something to do with the down fall of polite society and drivel on the internet.

If every time you hear a phone ring you lose 10 points, then think about how many you lose a day when some one elses' loud cell phone rings and goes un-answered? Or by people constantly tweeting or chatting? Makes you think now doesn't it?
Yes, it may be temporary, but add that up for a day, a week, a month.....maybe others don't get that back....hmmmmm....just a thought.

This was brought up in one of my other groups and I thought it was a fun idea. If you ever decided to write or for those of us who are amateur writers, what, if any, nom du plume would you use? (Please keep it clean!)

For me, I wouldn't. I have the same last name as another famous writer so I already have some marketability built in. What about the rest of you? Would you want to hide who you are or would you combine names of a late or favorite relative,or friend to make up a new identity? Would your nom du plume be different for different genres?

I guess if I went that route, I would have one or two if I wrote something I wouldn't want to be known for, then I might call my self Black Velvet or maybe Bacardi Breeze....

Yet, do people in positions like Brett, who I remind did appologize to me personaly and publicly, have an obligation to not perpetuate the stero types and try to shape how people see others by making sure what they say has some factual mertit as well as opinion?

Today marks the begining of Banned Book Week. Yes, they still ban books here in this country and in others. Censorship is still and will always lurk in the hearts and narrow minds of the un-enlightened and control freaks. I myself, make it a point to read books that are banned or are causing a contreversy because I find that most good ideas come from these books and not the currently popular tripe that is being pushed onto the public at the moment.

We have discussed censorship here before (there is a discussion dedicated to it) but this, to me, was a good separate topic. This week I am going to make it a point to read at least one banned book this week and I encourage all of you to do the same. Maybe some "Animal Farm" or "Tom Sawyer"....I don't know where I will travel, but I invite all of you to travel with me.

Save a banned book! Free ideas!

I know that we are currently in a discussion, but I would like to encourage all of you to start thinking to the next group read and start making suggestions. I was thinking sometime in October, maybe around the middle of the month or so.

So, keeping in mind that this book was published in 1960, but set in 1935, do you think that Atticus was a parent ahead of his time? I think that his practical side, the lawyer in him, allowed him to teach his children the best way he knew how. Did it make him progressive for the time? Sure, but did Scout and Jem turn out the better for it? Maybe.

I love how Jem uses the phrase "you're being a girl" to egg Scout into doing something. That threatening her with her gender is an insult to her tom-boy ways.

So, for those of you reading this for the first time, what are your first impressions? To those of you who read it for school and have not re-read it since, are you finding things you missed the first time?

I would like to add that as of today, 9/16, Brett did apologize in to the public in her column, quoting calls and emails, letting those she hurt, have their say. (Yes, she included me too.) This does not erase all of what was done by her or the head of the Clinic (who also apologized to employees for "remarks that sounded insensitive") or what a lot of us have been through,subjects of op-ed columns, and editorial pieces.

Sometimes, great damage had been done by a half inoformed individual with good intentions.....maybe this was one of them?

Last Friday, we had an op-ed column in our local paper that really upset me. This is a featured column, one that appears on the front page of the Metro section and normally, if I read it, they are generally slice of life or things that make you think. I was truly disapointed in this writer as she has done much for the libraries and was even named Citizen of the Year by the local library association.

That said, Regina Brett was responding to the comments made last month by the head of the Cleveland Clinic. who in recent years has made it policy not to hire smokers for any job connected with the clinic, even going as far as to drug test potential hires for nicotine. He stated that if he could avoid hiring large or obese people he would, if he could leagaly get away with it.

Brett agreed with him, and took it a step further by making the comment that since we have made it socially unaceptable to smoke, and drink and drive,that we should also do the same for overweight people. She suggested a tax on pop, candy and chips, and that larger people should have to pay more for health coverage (if we can get it, we already do). My question, again, is where does it stop?

Needless to say, I as in tears since I have always been a large sized person and have had to deal with this kind of ignorance all of my life. I emailed her to tell her, politely (Narzain can back me up) to tell her what I thought of her column and the damage she may have caused, not to mention the hurt she dealt to a lot of people.

Surprisingly, I heard back from her, and she apologized to me. I hope that she will in the next week or so, publish a public apology to all, but I may be holding my breath.

I know that everyone is entitled to an opinion, but when ignorance is perpetuated by people in a position of power, they need to do their homework and make sure of all of the facts.

Do people in power have responsibility for their words? Or do we, as a whole, need some salt to stomach it?

O.K. gang, here we are with our newest group read and I know all of you are anxious to get started. I myself just finally got my library copy (don't know where my personal copy stalked off to) on Saturday and I have cleared the first 3 chapters. I know that this book contains language that while historical to the time and place, is now considered inappropriate and offensive. I would like to keep this, and all discussions, as clean as possible, so if a certain word needs to be referenced, please just use the following "n"(upper or lower) to stand in for said word or words similar in nature.

Otherwise, I know that most of us read this for school and I will be interested in knowing what your thougts are now. I know that Narzain did not read this in school, so this is his first time with this great work. So, I think our general guidelines of 3 chapters at a time will suffice and we can go from there.

O.K., so if it's a mandatory list, how do you know if anyone read the books if there are no tests? Yes, most lists are by choice, but what about the books assigned in class? There is no choice there. You are told you will read this book and will be tested on it. I am all for choice and yes, I wish more kids would read, and that can be helped by parents, grandparents, and other adults in a child's life, who read to that child often. When I am working, I read to the child(ren) everyday, for at least 15 minutes or more, several times a day. Most definately before naps and bedtimes, but throughout the day as well.

I know that not everyone loves the written word as I do, but I do try to instill a respect for books and try to take the "chore" out of it. Reading came easily to me and I know from your standpoint as an educator Paul and mine as a nanny, it is hard for some kids to master the idea of reading.

I try to make it fun and let the kids in on the library book selection process and try to get books on subjects they like and introduce them to subjects they are not sure of. I try to get books on different cultures and holidays so that, hopefully, they will respect others and their beliefs. I give books as gifts and hope that they are read.

As far as graphic novels, manga and the like, I may be starting a fire here, but I feel that if a kid is reading even those (and quite a few are very word heavy) at least they are reading. I have been able to get through to a choice few reluctant readers by using those methods and got them to read actual books.

I understand why there are book lists and books you have to read, but I just like to play the Devil's advocate sometimes....

While reading the morning comics, I was inspired by the idea in "Frazz". Frazz and Cauffield are talking and Cauffield poses a good question. "If it is censorship to tell you what you CAN'T read, what is it when you are told what you MUST read?". The punch line has to do with summer reading lists, but it did make me think.

I went to school at a Lutheran run parochial school long before book lists, summer reading lists, or even proficiency tests were the norm. Yes, we had book reports and some were themed (try finding Christian fiction back then....NOT easy, or age appropriate....)and by the time I got to high school, I had read all the books on the suggested lists all on my own and years before.

So, my question, is it a form of censorship to tell you what you have to read, or is it just furthering education by handing out the lists? Our lists were suggestions, not required, as there were no tests on these books when you got to school or anything...Does it make it o.k. if there is a test? What about books you HAD to read for class, is that censorship or education? Is it the forcing of ideas or an opening for discussion?

I myself see it as a form of education. If you didn't make some books required, you'd have a lot people not reading. Others, like myself, would have probably found the book on my own, but sometimes I did resent being told what to read (Scarlet Letter, Great Gatsby) because I either failed to see why they were so great or just plain didn't like them. Yet, they did make me have to think and particpate in discussions.

What do you all think?

Since I have been asked what else to read by people in the club and at my local library, I thought that having a secition to recomened books to others in the club would be a good idea.

So here goes. Jim Butcher, Laurell K. Hamiliton, Kim Harrison, Kelley Armstrong, Tamora Pierce, Meredith Ann Pierce, Jim C. Hines, and Brandon Sanderson if you want good urban fantasy and good old school fantasy. Butcher,Hines,both Pierces, and Sanderson deliver the goods on the later. Butcher and the ladies deliver on the former.

For good mystery with a paranormal twist, check out Shirley Damsgaard and Casey Daniels.

For good urban fanstasy/super hero stuff, Viki Pettersson's Signs of the Zodiac series.

For funny and good action Tim Dorsey and Janet Evanovich.

The list goes on and on and on.....

Oooooh! Another fave! I have all her books 'cept the new one. Her Merry Gentry series is also most excellent. Try Kim Harrison and Kelley Armstrong's "Women of the Other World" series too if you haven't already. If you want a good mystery, I suggest SueAnn Jaffarian's Odelia Gray series. Odelia is a plus-sized (my heroine) para-leagal who becomes an accidental slewth. I have just recently discovered (thanks to Narzain) Casey Daniels, who is a writer based here in the Cleveland area, who writes paranormal mysteries. Pepper Martin is a cemetery guide who whacks her head and can now talk to dead people. They are funny and you don't have to be from Cleveland to appreciate them.

I also just found Shirley Damsgaard, who also writes paranormal mysteries about Ophelia and her grandmother Abby. Ophelia is a empathic psychic, and Abby is a mountain witch. They get better as the series goes on.

I could keep going on and on here, but I will stop for now. Hmmm, I think this could be a new topic.....book suggestions......

Welcome back! Glad to have facilitated your new addiction. The newest book will be "Changes" due out next year. (Thank you Narzain for that tip off.)

I did! Sorry, I took the spare....

Yes, for those of you who don't know, August 17, is National Running with Scissors Day! Don't put an eye out!

O.K. then, that will be the next read. I will send out a mass email soon with the start date.

That's alright sweetie! I understand. Anyone else have a suggestion or a problem with my suggestion?

Guy's, I'm serious. Do you want to continue with the group readings or should be abandon them entirely? If we're keeping them, then what should we read next? My vote is "To kill a mocking bird" by Harper Lee. Any thoughts?

I was thinking the 100 acre woods or OZ myself....