Stuff

I wasn't going to open this can of worms, but I am getting so annoyed by it I'm just going to open the can.

We all know that race, gender, orientation and all of the nonsense that we use to discriminate against people and to place people in inescapable boxes is wrong. We all know this. And that being said I get so tired of hearing about Hillary being a WOMAN and Barack being African American. Yes, Hillary is a Woman. Barack is biracial. Okay folks. He's biracial. Like I said it doesn't matter, but since the media keeps tooting this horn, why can't they toot the correct horn. He's biracial. Halle Berry-biracial. Jasmine Guy-biracial, Soledad O'Brien, Mariah Carey, 4 of the Diana Ross brood, Wentworth Miller and Lenny Kravitz-and his rockin' hot body-all biracial. And a whole host of other folks both in the public eye and not in the public eye are biracial. Since the media is so keen on placing labels, they should place the right labels. Just think about it. Enough said.

Since I've been sick so much this past month I've been going through my to-be-read-pile. I just finished The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. I can see why this book won 2008 Caldecott Medal, was a finalist for the 2007 National Book Awards in the Young People's Category and was named one of the New York Times Ten Best illustrated books of the year.

I also read The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. This is a departure from my unsual nonfiction and mysteries, but I enjoyed it. Even if you aren't a knitter, but you like a good story filled with interesting, evolving female characters set in an urban setting, then this is the story for you. Even when I was reading this novel I thought I thought that this would be something that could be adapted for a movie. Rumor has it that I was correct in my assumption. I was hoping Julia Roberts wouldn't be the main character, even though I know she is an experienced knitter, but was hoping for someone not so mainstream.

I came across some more documentaries that I would like to see. Run Granny Run, Hear and Now, and one that hasn't hit the screen yet, Ken Burns National Parks (2009, and Secrecy. I also think I'm going to check out the female buddy movie Bonneville when it is released at the end of this month.

While I was browsing through different publishers websites looking for reference books I found quite a few interesting reference books on McFarland & Company's website. Before I even get to some of their cooler reference works they have sheet music books; Confederate Sheet Music, Presidential Sheet Music,Suffragist Sheet Music, and Early Broadway Sheet Music.

Here are some of the titles that caught my eye. I don't necessarily have an interest in some of these, but I do think it's interesting that someone wrote about the subject.

Children’s Counting-Out Rhymes, Fingerplays, Jump-Rope and Bounce-Ball Chants and Other Rhythms by Gloria Delabar

Forts of the United States by Bud Hannings

Graves of Southern Musicians by Eward Amos

Funeral and Memorial Service Reading, Poems and Tributes edited by Rachel R. Baum

Psychotherapists on Film,1899-1999 by John Flowers and Paul Frizler

Radio Crime Fighters by Jim Cox

The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia by Peter Dendle

I could go on, but you get the gist.

"Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous. It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood." - Maya Angelou