I don't really know where to begin with this post and I don't really know where I want it to end either. I just have some thoughts about a lot of things that were said and it may not come out in as organized a fashion as I intend, but here it goes...
-I thought a bit more about the Miss USA discussion we had tonight. I decided that Miss California did the right thing. Although I do not happen to be in alignment with her views on gay marriage I believe that she stayed true to herself and spoke honestly. I would much rather have someone tell the truth about something, no matter how controversial, as opposed to fabricating some sugary sweet, tailor made answer that the public at large may favor. She wasn't the most articulate of speakers, but she had a limited amount of time to respond to a question she hadn't heard in advance- I give her a little credit for stating her opinion, regardless of how unpopular it may have been.
-I really enjoyed the video clips we watched in class. I am actually thinking about checking the video out from the library.
-The picture books that Natalie and I flipped through from Deb's library were appalling. I feel like every week I become increasingly more disappointed by the state of children's literature and what is being made available for their consumption. I'm hoping that I can write down the titles of some quality books when we share our projects in a couple weeks.
-I stand by my feelings about Boy Meets Boy. It was, by far, my favorite book of the semester. I was disappointed to hear that some people saw it as "in-authentic" and "unrealistic" because I just didn't see it that way. Levithan said that the book represented where he wished society was (i.e.- more accepting and progressive.) He wasn't attempting to fool people into thinking that the world he created in the book was the same world we live in right now. So what if he is being idealistic by writing this book? What would we do without the dreamers and idealists? Stagnate in the poor conditions of our world today, that's what. I don't know, I'm just not willing to settle for what we've got going on in the world today. We can do better and I plan to assist in the betterment.
Step 1: Believe things can change.
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I completely agree with you about the quality of the children's books. Looking at books for my final project has left me feeling dissatisfied and frustrated with many of the books. There are decent ones out there, but even those ones could be much better!
ReplyDeleteLyndsay, I absolutely agree with your take on the Miss California debate. Someone had commented in class that one should only state their opinion if it was not "wrong" and upsetting, otherwise the world would be unable to progress towards acceptance. I found this statement to be overwhelmingly hypocritical and problematic. How can we progress as a society if "wrong" opinions never come into play? How would we even begin to educate others about progressive thinking if alternate thoughts did not exist? My point then is,should everyone begin to speak in terms of political correctness regardless of their true feelings toward hot topics, how would we as a society advance? This certainly is not progression, it is mere censorship...
ReplyDeleteLyndsay, as we had talked about during our book discussion, I am glad you see Boy Meets Boy in the light that I saw it. I feel that there are so many books about the "struggles" and "conflict" regarding the LBGTQ community that this book was refreshing. I now wish that Levithan would include his quote about why he wrote this book in be preface so that readers would understand where he was coming from.
ReplyDeleteWithout dreams we would get nowhere.