Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Back in the Groove . . . Hopefully


If you haven't already guessed, the last few weeks have been abnormally chaotic, hence my slacking in the blogging arena.

Update: My new kitchen is in! We decided to go for granite tile instead of the slab to save a little money, time and energy and so far it's looking pretty sweet (it's not completely finished, but it's functioning and after 3 weeks without a kitchen, that's a blessing in itself). We've still got a few things left to do (Noah's going to make me a stainless steel hood vent to save $600, we've still got to tile the back splash and finish the elevated bar on the island). I'll post on the kitchen when it's completed which hopefully won't take too long.

In regards to this month's book, Sidney Poitier's The Measure of a Man, I've decided to extend the book into April because quite frankly I haven't had much free time available because of all the remodeling going on. For those of you who are on the ball and have begun (or finished) the book, feel free to leave your comments to get the rest of us excited about reading the it!

10 comments:

Bruce Young said...

There's also the option of turning the TV off. Of course, I guess the kids know how to turn it on again. And there's also the Internet, etc., etc. But I'm not sure we have to be in the grips of all these things as much as it appears. Even without flying to Guatemala, we can spend less time gazing into screens and more time doing things and talking to people. (Hmmm, ironically, I'm at my computer right now typing this on an Internet site.)

Kaila said...

I remember as a child trying to float off a porch using an umbrella (after watching Mary Poppins), much to my dismay, I didn't gracefully glide down, I don't think the umbrella did anything at all.

So on one side, I can totally see the need to get rid of all TVs, on the other hand though, our society puts huge emphasis on pop culture, and you can almost pick out immediately the "wierd" kid whose parents won't let them watch it.

Bruce Young said...

To be sane in an insane world is to be counted insane. (I bet I'm not the first person to have said that, though I hope somebody else said it better.)

Bruce Young said...

Now back to Sidney Poitier: What was it about his growing up on Cat Island that helped make him who he is?

Bruce Young said...

You wish.

Bruce Young said...

Gulp. Some of you may notice that my picture has been temporarily replaced by a flying bus. Mainly that was because I was tired of seeing my face; also, when I'm in trouble I have a strong desire to hide.

Back to Sidney Poitier: what had made him the kind of man he is? What influences, choices, places, people, etc.?

Kaila said...

So Bruce, what does new picture suggest about where you are as a person?

In regards to Poitier, it's hard to say if Cat Island made him who he was--I'm sure many of his peers would have had a much different experience had they encountered a racist nation first hand. I must say though that I am deeply impressed with him (not so much his swearing), but his integrity--giving up a well paying acting possition because he felt the character was lacking--he would rather wash dishes or do stone work at next to no pay while supporting his growing family than compromise his pride (and his families) in who he was.

Now how do I raise my son (and daughter) to have such integrity?

Anonymous said...

A comment and a note: Integrity--yes, I wish we could all get ingrained more deeply in our souls that what ultimately matters is WHO we are, not what we have, what others think of us, even what we've "accomplished." Character and relationships--those, I think, are the ultimate realities and ultimate values.

Note: I'm restoring my picture to my earlier comments (but it was fun being a flying bus for a while). I've also figured out a way to make comments without showing my picture, which will be a relief to some of you.

Julie Young said...

Mom (oldersinger) has told me such good things about this book. She's convinced me to read it, so if she's done with her copy I get to start my read.

About the TV watching-- whatever brought you to discuss this, I think it's corrupting the world little by little. What's different about the internet vs. TV is that there is so much available on the internet that can be damaging, yet on TV they're more secretive about any damage they're doing. Allowing more profanity, advertisements (telling women what they have to be and telling men what they want,) making American's everywhere lazy--yet the lazy fat American's are helping to pay for the celebritie's liposuction, which in turn is telling the American what the standard is. I don't know if that made much sense, but TV is a waste, I tell you!

Anonymous said...

Wise words!