Where Every Scroll is a New Adventure
I agree with this so bad
Can't express how stress free being open minded is.
Some lesbians use he/him? Oh cool.
Some people have people inside their head and sometimes it's fictional chars? Sick your brains like a pirate ship they're all working to run.
Some people like being treated like a pet dog? Bark bark bro.
Being fat isn't unhealthy but a perfectly normal type of body to have? Kinda beautiful how different we can all be.
Something doesn't make any fucking sense? Cool an opportunity to learn. And even if I can't figure it out it's cool we still have mysteries today.
As stated, books are great at taking the reader in and allowing them to experience something new. In the late 2000s and continued today, multiple researchers find that while the Harry Potter series focused prejudice specific to the wizarding world (blood status, class, speciesism), children who had read the series had translated the messages of equality into their own lives and lessened their prejudices of class, race, immigrants and others.
With an easy skim, two of my favorite children’s books/series are on this list: Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling (of course), and The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. While this large list of 130 of the most frequently challenged books overall (2) does not give the reasons why by looking at the titles you can see these of Cuban-stories (anti-communism, immigration), children growing up (books that mention changing bodies, sex-questions), “attacks” on religion (books with a non-Christian focus: witchcraft mostly), and challenged due to LGBTQIA+ content are again about trying to keep children “pure” and to block them from learning about the world around them. The list focused on YA novels, noted as those written for a YA audience, with a YA main character or frequently on high school reading list (3) has a similar content of banned books but with the addition of some books that to some may just be traumatizing such as The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney and Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl.
We know these stories, fiction or non-fiction, can improve young people’s mental health by knowing they are not alone with their feelings or questions, and that introducing someone to a different culture and mindset will increase communication, open-mindedness and reduce violence. I can understand not wanting to children exposed to things too early, but for most and as with my parents, what was seen as too old for me was not accurate and more of a personal desire. We must also remember that children are stronger than we think and children who grow without a diverse experiences will lose out not only because they will have less in life to enjoy but that as they interact with those who are different they have shown to be afraid and become violent.
(1) https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-everyone-should-read-harry-potter/
(2) http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/childrensbooks
(3) http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/YAbooks
Ugh, this movie hurts. It’s one to watch by yourself, in a overheated basement, in the middle of the day after you’ve already eaten--be as comfortable as you can get, because once you stop watching it, you can’t restart. So please, watch it, just know you can only watch it in one take
Many movies have stayed with me long after I have watched them, but this film remained on my Netflix que until it was going to be removed in a few days (I think it’s been put back one--regardless) I ended up seeing it around the time a friend of mine who had survived the Holocaust had just passed. While for most of the time I knew him he spoke very little, he lived to be 100, to “fuck the Nazis’”
I didn’t know too much about the film before I saw it, I had some understanding about the general synopsis but not even for sure that the boy was in an official Nazi camp. The ending of the story is of course heartbreaking and accurately works as the nail in the coffin. But the real heartbreak for me is the story for the mother and all parents who sees as we see with her, her daughter transform in one direction as we see her son transform in a different direction. Knowing and seemingly uncomfortable with the situation around her, she remains quiet and does very little to stand up for others and pays a very dear price for it. Now, this is not because I feel more for those caught between what is good and what is easy--no. But focusing on this story that focuses on a family that either just follows orders, chooses to ignore the truth of their world, follows the crowd or is too naive to know the difference (in his, and only his case it’s understandable as he is a child) and shows how choosing to be blind not only doesn’t make your inaction okay but it also may lead you to some ugly realities and consequences as we are all connected in this world.
While overall it is heartbreaking, I truly love and adore the story of Bruno and Shmuel’s friendship. While they are young they become friends and true friends, as while Bruno blames Shmuel out of fear, he apologizes and Shmuel both walks away and then later forgives Bruno. There is a lot of hate given to child-like wonder and this film should remind all how child-like wonder is a truly wonderful gift. While Bruno is clueless to the dangers and hate of the world around him, he takes things in as he sees them seeing those imprisoned as different than the “Jews” he’s being taught about and questions his adults--who should know and act better. He and Shmuel both also remind us how as people it is ourselves, and only ourselves, that stop us from living in a peaceful society