The Death of Books as Caused by Mass Emails

(This blog is no way an expression of feelings toward anyone I have gotten one of these emails from. These are my feelings about the emails themselves).

Today, it happened again. I got one of those emails that clipped excerpts from books and then, subsequently proceeded to bash the entire book based on just that which was quoted. There were not page numbers listed, so I can't go back and look up those passages to read them in context, as part of a larger work. I can only take them for what and how they are presented to me in the email.

As a lover and creator of literature, this infuriates me. With emails like this, people are not given the chance to make up their own minds about the book (or the person that the book is about as was the case with the email that quoted sections from Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama). All it really does is circulate information that is not given in any context but that which the sender wants to be seen in. Why is this bad? I feel it’s bad because the majority of Americans will take this information at face value. They will not take the time to actually read the work (with an open mind) and then judge it. That scares me.

How are we supposed to actively govern and decide what’s best for our nation if we can’t even take the time to research all angles and sides of the problems that we face? The answer: We can’t. We are letting our nation down when we take information, especially such as what to read and not to read, at face value. We are letting someone else make our decisions for us.

If you have read the book and do not agree with its contents, then fine do whatever. But, if you have not read the book (or seen the movie, etc.), I do not believe you have any right to openly criticize it and pass on your thoughts about it BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOT ACTUALLY READ IT. Those are not your thoughts; they are someone else’s. (Although I do appreciate that the person who sent this to me stated that she had no actually read the book. That was nice! So, thanks!)

Please people, stand up for yourself and decide your own thoughts about something before you criticize or judge it. It isn’t fair to yourself, or the author.

And if you don’t want to read the book because of what it is supposedly so bad about it, then read it for something else. Read it for its use of symbolism, metaphor, style, or tone, whatever! But at least read it before you give your opinion of it.

And another, final thing: Sending emails like that could have the reverse effect of what you want. Before this email, I’ve heard a little bit about this book. I think I may have seen it in the bookstore or something. Didn’t think much of it. Wasn’t going to read it. Now, I want to read it! I want to see what is so “bad” about it. It’s the same thing like when everyone was saying how bad The Golden Compass and those books were. Saying all of that made me want to read them because everyone else said I shouldn’t or couldn’t.

If you want to ban the book from your house after you’ve read it, fine. But, let everyone else make that decision on their own, after they have read the book themselves.

Because of the nature of the book in the email, I want to say that all of this comes from a very literary stance, not religious or anything of that nature.

I am do not at any time wish to force my thoughts on you. This blog is written with the hope that you read it, as you should read anything, with an open mind, and then take from it what you will.

My name is Nikkie Prosperini. I believe in the power of words.

Articles from Washington Post

Another way of seeing the U.S. Economy Crisis. This was a very interesting article Doc showed us in class today.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/10/13/AR2008101302701_pf.html

The Washington Post endorses Barack Obama! Excellent piece of argumentative writing. Check it out!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wpdyn/content/article/2008/10/16/AR2008101603436_pf.html

nikkie (n.) def. not found

I've said it a lot lately. It seems like its made its way into multiple conversations and even more papers, projects, and blog entries for my comm classes. What is this "it"? It is simple: Lately, I have undoubtedly referred to or classified myself as a writer more times than I am sure I even remember. It seems to come up everywhere in reference to who I am - to what defines me. I don't know why I have been doing this so much. I don't usually. Here's my theory as to why. I am trying to convince myself. Maybe if I say it enough times it will be true. Maybe I will magically start writing again. Aside from a play or two, I haven't finished anything in nearly three years (that's just my estimate). And, now that I obviously won't get any younger (I've resigned to that fact), the fact that I haven't finished anything scares the shit out of me.

I feel lost without writing. For the longest time in my youth, my characters were the only friends I had. Thinking of myself as someone who doesn't write, the type of person I'd be then, is frightening. I can't comprehend who that person is, but I know that is not who I want to become. I can't let myself be that person. I don't know that person. In straying from writing, I am losing sight of who I am. That scares me too.

If writing defines who I am so much, why can't I write? It's not something I was ever taught. Sure, I had to learn the rudimentary skills and what not, but I've always been able to put stories and words together, to weave in theme and characterization. To eloquently combine words in a way that inpsires or incites a desired emotion. Those things are easy for me. And I'm not even sure that can be taught. I just have a feeling that it's an innate ability, a sense and way of looking at things that some people are born with. And I think these people (like myself) can't ever put their stories and characters out of their head. They linger and follow and nag at our everyday thoughts like a cosmic Jiminy Cricket.

What all of this boils down to is that I need to write. And I haven't been. So, I have come to the point where I am trying to will the writer in me to tell the regular me to "shut the fuck up." I think that's the only way I will be able to write again. And I must. Writing is the way I keep my spirit alive, and in the dark, violent, ultra-modern, consumer-driven times in which we live, your spirit must be kept alive.

family politics

So, here I am at my parent's house. Eric and I are watching the ball game, and I am making us some dinner. Some general chatter with my mom about school and work leads to a comment that I thought was pretty cool. I told my mom that my professor said I should go ahead and submit part of my paper on the Obama/Biden rally as a Letter to the Editor for our local paper, The State Journal Register. Aparently, I was wrong! The next thing my mom asked me was what it was going to say about Obama. I couldn't really get my thoughts out before she went on to say "because Nana and Grandpa read all of that . . ." So, because my grandparents are not for Obama, I can't articulately and eloquently express my thoughts in a published, public forum? Don't get me wrong, I love and respect my grandparents so much. But, I also think that they respect me and my viewpoints. So, it's happened again. I've let something someone else has said affect whether or not I should write something or express my feelings. This kind of makes me think that my mom doesn't respect my thoughts, at least not enough that I have to hide them from my other family members. I am a 23 year old woman. When am I going to be able to have my own established thoughts? Or more importantly, when will they be respected by my parents? I love them so much, but just wish that I felt like they respected my thoughts. My grandparents have read different things that I have written, seen my plays performed. They know my controversial tone and style. Would they really be upset to see a Letter to the Editor from their grand-daughter about how she was impressed by the kindess of the crowd around her? I wonder.

Obama Biden '08!!! Hope for the Future

On Saturday, August 23, 2008, nearly 35,000 people were a part of history in the making as Democratic Presidential nominee, Barack Obama, shared the staged with his newly announced running mate, Joe Biden in Springfield, Illinois. And to be one of the thousands of people in the sweltering crowd that stood for hours to see these two together was a wonderful experience. It is certainly something that I will remember for a lifetime.
It wasn’t only Obama’s and Biden’s speeches that made me feel good about where America could be headed (and what our country could become under them); it was also the little things I saw in my four hour wait that bolstered my once-shaky faith in our society. In a word, I saw pure, unadulterated decency. People around me shared food, water and ice with one another. Everyone was making sure that women and children were okay. I felt that most people were genuinely concerned with the well-being of those around them. A really tall man standing next to me even lifted me up into the air so that I could see Senator Obama when he appeared in front of the crowd. These are the people that, along with Obama and Biden, can be a changing and positive force for our nation.
The set-up of the event was actually very organized, reminding me of my departing flight from Heathrow International Airport last winter. Volunteers gave directions to the crowd before they entered the security checks, which led to less hold-ups going through the metal detectors. Inside the event, the biggest problem, however, was the lack of water for a crowd that waited in 80 degree heat for hours on end. With secret service not allowing bottled water in the area, event coordinators didn’t plan well for the combination of not enough water, too many people, including infants and toddlers, and a high of 88 degrees.
In regards to coverage of the event, the State Journal Register offered readers many different angles of the event in its August 24th issue. They not only covered the event itself and the speeches, the SJ-R wrote pieces covering the problems that arose, such as their not being enough water and people needing medical attention. Also, they featured different members of the crowd and their thoughts on the events as well as a brief bit about the competing Blues and BBQ festival. And the SJ-R even featured an article against the Obama-Biden campaign with quotes from U.S. Rep Shimkus. Overall, I think the State Journal Register did a very good job of covering all of the bases when it came to covering such a historical, yet local, event.
Other articles I found, however, spent less space covering the event itself and more space covering what Biden brings to the Obama campaign. An article in The New York Times talked about the process that Obama went through in choosing his running mate. I found that article to be interesting because I had never known about how that worked. I thought it was a little different and slightly more interesting than some other articles I found. Other articles I found came from The Guardian, The London Times and CNN.com. Mainly these articles either analyzed what Biden brings to the table or began to play off of Biden's previous remarks of Obama’s inexperience. They also threw back and forth the pros and cons of the Obama-Biden team and whether or not the team will succeed in winning the White House.
In conclusion, I am very pleased about what I saw on Saturday, both on stage and in the crowd. What happened that afternoon gives me hope – hope in people, hope for our country, and hope for change.

Walking through a park

Walking through a park

One thousand and 91 days after he died,
I wore a blue sweatshirt that said London on it because
I had been there over the past winter

I had been thinking about him all month
Even though people said it would get “easier”
But it really hasn’t after three years

But it really hasn’t helped that I see him everywhere,
That I walk across the stage he performed on
When he was in high school

When he was in high school, we met at a party
And talked about high school things,
Walking through a park