What is your absolute favorite musical group? What makes them so special to you?

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After the Storm

"After the storm the world is left in a brief moment of purity, stripped of all its airy evils, the air is fresh and sweet to the smell. Its breathtaking to see a rainbow after a drizzle, one of Gods beautiful marvels". (N. Belt)

Lately I have not felt so great of joy as when I emerge from a building after a storm and breathe in the beauty of clear, clean, pure, crisp air with the rays of God blinding those who see and feel. It is a renewal of spirit and nature that almost makes the storm a desired cleansing agent. I wonder at the metaphor of storms in our lives. Storms that churn, twist, flood, and cause such pain and turmoil we cry out for deliverance. ...And when it comes...Ahh...the joy...Ahh...the peace. He was there during the storm. He is here now.

How are you planning to ring in the new year?

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World War III

You thought World War III might be in the Middle East or EurAsia, but you were wrong! World War III will not be fought over a physical piece of land or even over a political leader. World War III will be a battle over right and wrong. A battle over idealogies...perhaps the beginning of a real Armageddon.

Who decided it would be war? Sore losers. When almost all of the United States individually oppose same-sex marriage by ratified state amendments, one state (who also has since opposed same sex marriage) had an illegal legislative bench determine a law never written. When the state voters determined to write the law, the Gay Rights Activists (who lost) declared war.

The majority of the United States citizens are and have been against this from the beginning, but through violence, vandalism, and blackmailing, the minority seeks to bully the rest of the United States into allowing their illegal activity to continue. In the name of Almighty God, we must rise up and fight back. Fight for the freedom we have in this nation to have a majority, not a minority rule through anarchy. We must not allow the demonstrator to frighten and terrorize innocent citizens from their views and rights to vote. The very essence of our country is at stake and all those who oppose these new terrorists must stand up and be counted. I say unto all who are in this majority, "Fear not, for they who are with us are more than they who are with them".

Where have all the good books gone?

 I don’t consider myself a religious fanatic. I don’t believe that religious thought or topics are the redeeming factors in whether literature is well written. Having said that, I have come to a point in my life where I am literally crying out for literature that does not offend who I am as a person because of the description of overt, graphic violence, explicit sexual content, and/or constant use of offensive explicatives I NEVER hear or use in my daily life.

Do regular publishers even publish writing without the gratuitous use of offensive content? If so, I want to have some guidance to help me find those books. I read book reviews, listen to morning show critics’ recommendations, believing them to be valid. “Surely this book will be good,” I think. NOT! I question the values of the anonymous book reviewers. Who are they? What is their standard?

Am I against banning books? Not necessarily…(I just want the information so I can make my own educated choice). One year I had read an historical fiction book on a state elementary book list by an award-winning author and determined that it was invaluable in helping my students understand what really happened during the bus boycott during this true account of the Civil Rights movement. I did not put a copy in their hands because of the ‘N’ word being used, but whenever I came to that word, I would simply say that the character was called a bad name. At the completion of the book, the students had real empathy for that era and an entire race that had suffered at the hands of a prejudiced people. Unfortunately, that book (which turned out to be a favorite book of my class) was quietly pulled from the library shelves, due to the vocal discontent of parents of that particular race. I wanted to write Oprah. How can you ever tell the history of your people without correctly telling the story? What is the value of banning that literature or hiding it?

I believe, however, more information should be given to readers in determining use of the book. As an elementary teacher, I had purchased  a class set of a recommended book. I read it aloud to the class, but had to frequently skip over inappropriate words (words, that if I had used them aloud in class, would have been fired). The next year, because a movie was being made based on the book, I forgot how bad the language was and passed out the book to a literature group to read independently. Wow! The responses from parents and students were fast and furious. I picked up the books, publicly apologized, and read it aloud with the omitted words. I am sure there were some parents who didn’t care because that language may have been the language they were accustomed to using in their home, but I had no right to be the one to determine its appropriateness for ALL the students.

As a parent, I found there were countless books with language and sexual acts (I didn’t want my child being exposed to) recommended and/or required to be read in the public schools. I began reading books from the yearly secondary list that students read and vote on every year. I was appalled. Many of the books I would have considered ‘soft’ porn. Yet, there were the students, reading long graphic descriptions of acts, that had they been shown in video form or actually happened in class, would have resulted in a national scandal.

Why is there a double standard? Who are the book reviewers? I am not just talking about children's and adolescent's  literature; I want to read a good book for myself. I don’t want to feel like I have been spiritually raped after reading graphic descriptions of violence or sex. I’m tired of wasting my money on recommended books only to throw them in the trash.  I'm tired of the sick feeling after reading a 'questionable' book to the end (hoping for a redeeming reason to be reading) and after the climax, wondering what was the point and where is the good feeling among all the 'sick' I feel. I WANT good writing, but I WANT redeeming content. (I know you are going to go back in history and drag up classic literature that would be offensive to me. I do not want that discussion; I just want to read a good book now).

Is there anyone who feels like I do? Do publishers even publish books I want? Can there be a disclaimer on book reviews, warning and documenting potentially offensive literature for parents, educators, and people like me? I want to take back the power from the reviewers. I want the power to decide for myself. Where is the information (not in judgment form, but literal informational form) to help me decide? Does it exist?