I found a great website called Good Reads.  It's a fun way of keeping track of what you are reading, exploring what friends and others are reading (and what they thought) and finding new books.

This is also a good way to manage our book club.  We can create an online group, make comments about what we are reading and recommend books to eachother/add books to our "to read" list.

Check it out!  Join my list of friends.  My screen name is JoAnn, and you all know where I live.

 

 

In selecting the theme for July's Book Club, I initially planned to encourage everyone to take time to focus on and celebrate their individual heritage, including learning more about their family history, etc., whether it was pleasant or not.

 For example, I know my family tree includes individuals that were involved in slavery in the US.  I have documented proof that uncles owned slaves and a direct ancestor was an overseer.  Most of the living males at the time of the American Civil War were enlisted in the Confederacy.  Reading books such as To Be A Slave by Julius Lester and Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe gave me an understanding of the time frame and in implications to the enslaved that I had not previously had, and helped me understand, at least in part, how hard it has been for the African American population to overcome the legacy of slavery, even through today.  The Emancipation Proclamation only granted freedom, but did little to help former slaves escape poverty and being under the white man's control.

June's Ensign, the 30th anniversary of the revelation of Blacks receiving the Priesthood,  and the recent Sock-Obama doll controversy have helped me understand that too often we don't realize our attitudes and beliefs are not always in harmony with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which says we are to love all men and judge not.  I also thought of Darfur, Cambodia, Myanmar, Nazi Germany, Bosnia and the numerous other places where genocide has been so devastating; the controversy over illegal immigration; the Crusades; and the current anti-Islam/Muslim/Arab sentiment.

I realized the common thread was lack of understanding of other peoples and cultures and the belief that we "should" all be the same.  Many of us don't realize we do believe in a rigid right and wrong, which does not take into account that others may believe or think differently.  It is the forcing our belief system on others that is the central to many of the conflicts today. 

It starts with small intolerances like our children shouldn't play with children of other faith. Our neighbor who is single should be married and must not be trying hard enough. Why doesn't the childless couple get busy, don't they know the Lord expects us to put posterity before temporal things?  Are they selfish?    Smokers/drinkers are bad people as are homosexuals (I mean the hatred of the individuals rather than unwillingness to support this behavior through legislation in favor of it. The prophets have said abhor the sin but love the sinner).  There's nothing racist or wrong with a sock monkey made to resemble a black man despite the fact that the black man has been thought of as less than fully human by the white man for how long?  What about, was it Al Joslyn that sang about his "Mammy" while painted up to look like a black man with a ridiculously huge white painted mouth?   It is not a double standard to say one white man (George W. Bush) is a chimpanzee because white men in general have never been identified this way, as the black man has. 

What I have noticed is these small intolerances lead to bigger intolerances and can lead to the belief that these people should not be allowed to continue to exist.  I believe the core is two fold: not understanding (or choosing to understand) people who are different or believe differently that ourselves and being unwilling to put ourselves in their shoes (or go the second mile with them) and the fear of those who are different created by lack of understanding. 

I do  not have the time now to reference the recent LDS Conference talk about focusing on what is common between us rather than what is different.  I believe that if we do that across the board with everyone we come in contact with and with the way we think about the different people and cultures in the world, we will be better, more sensitive people (and more Christlike, for those who are Christian, etc.) and the world will be a better place.

I encourage everyone this month to choose a book that will expand your understanding of a group or culture you do not understand.  I mean a positive title that is preferably written by someone within that group, has intimate connections to that group and has a LOVE for that group.  Avoid anything that involves hatred or intolerance of any kind, particularly towards that group.  I am assembling a list of titles for the July Book Club webpage. 

It is my hope that we will take the opportunity to learn about people who are different from ourselves and come to not only find they are not so different from ourselves, but come to love rather than fear or hate.

  Namaste (The divine within me salutes the divine in you as we are one)

JoAnn

I must be really smart too! 

Baldo, June 1, 2008

I stopped in Deseret Book yesterday for Father's Day and, on impulse, bought Gladys Knight' and the SUV Choir's album "One Voice", since it is on special.  I LOVE IT!!!!  I kind of feel guilty about not trying it sooner (and only paying $1.99 for it), particularly since I do like Gospel music.  Apparently it won a Grammy too.  I highly recommend it. 

I was hoping to post a picture of the album cover, but haven't figured our how (or if I can). 

My favorite tracks are: #5 Pass Me Not, #8 Did you Know, #9 I Am A Child of God, #10 Jesu Me Kanaka Waiwai (Polynesian) and #15 He Lives (written by Gladys Knight and William McDowell, who is possibly her husband, since she is AKA Gladys Knight McDowell).

With Mother's Day coming up, I think Mary and Martha would be an excellent theme for May's Book Club.  As women, we have so many demands placed upon us by the people we serve, that we frequently loose ourselves in the process.  The example of Mary and Martha exemplifies this dilemma.

I found two great books:
 
Mary, Martha, and Me: Seeking the One Thing that is Needful by Camille Fronk Olson

Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World by Joanna Weaver

Camille Fronk Olson's book has the advantages of being shorter and by an LDS Author.  I enjoyed it.
I have only read 30 pages in the other book, but what I have read has been excellent.

For the younger ones, I have two selections with Mother-Daughter relationship as a central theme.  The heroine in each of these novels are faced with difficult choices and great sacrifices though which they come to understand themselves in a more mature and meaningful way.  Both are Historical Fiction.

The Ballad of Lucy Whipple by Karen Cushman

Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan


In searching for links to these books, I found that The Ballad of Lucy Whipple has been made in to a movie.


I am still looking for an poem to go with this theme.  "The Song of the Shirt" by Thomas Hood comes to mind.  I love the rhythm  and imagery of the poem.  I found it through an ITunes Podcast called "Classic Poerty Aloud". 

Thomas Hood read by Classic Poetry Aloud:
http://www.classicpoetryaloud.com/

Giving voice to the poetry of the past.

---------------------------------------------------

The Song of the Shirt

by Thomas Hood (1799 – 1845)
 
 
With fingers weary and worn, 
  With eyelids heavy and red, 
A woman sat in unwomanly rags, 
  Plying her needle and thread— 
    Stitch! stitch! stitch!        
In poverty, hunger, and dirt, 
  And still with a voice of dolorous pitch 
She sang the “Song of the Shirt!” 
 
“Work! work! work! 
  While the cock is crowing aloof!        
And work—work—work, 
  Till the stars shine through the roof! 
It ’s Oh! to be a slave 
  Along with the barbarous Turk, 
Where woman has never a soul to save,        
  If this is Christian work! 
 
“Work—work—work 
  Till the brain begins to swim; 
Work—work—work 
  Till the eyes are heavy and dim.        
Seam, and gusset, and band, 
  Band, and gusset, and seam, 
Till over the buttons I fall asleep, 
  And sew them on in a dream! 
 
“Oh, Men, with Sisters dear!        
  Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives! 
It is not linen you ’re wearing out, 
  But human creatures’ lives! 
    Stitch—stitch—stitch, 
  In poverty, hunger, and dirt,        
Sewing at once, with a double thread, 
  A Shroud as well as a Shirt. 
 
“But why do I talk of Death? 
  That Phantom of grisly bone, 
I hardly fear his terrible shape,        
  It seems so like my own— 
It seems so like my own, 
  Because of the fasts I keep; 
Oh, God! that bread should be so dear, 
  And flesh and blood so cheap!        
 
“Work—work—work! 
  My labor never flags; 
And what are its wages? A bed of straw, 
  A crust of bread—and rags. 
That shatter’d roof—and this naked floor—        
  A table—a broken chair— 
And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank 
  For sometimes falling there. 
 
“Work—work—work! 
From weary chime to chime,        
  Work—work—work, 
As prisoners work for crime! 
  Band, and gusset, and seam, 
  Seam, and gusset, and band, 
Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumb’d,        
  As well as the weary hand. 
 
“Work—work—work, 
In the dull December light, 
  And work—work—work, 
When the weather is warm and bright,        
While underneath the eaves 
  The brooding swallows cling 
As if to show me their sunny backs 
  And twit me with the spring. 
 
“Oh! but to breathe the breath        
Of the cowslip and primrose sweet, 
  With the sky above my head, 
And the grass beneath my feet, 
For only one short hour 
  To feel as I used to feel,        
Before I knew the woes of want 
  And the walk that costs a meal, 
 
“Oh, but for one short hour! 
  A respite however brief! 
No blessed leisure for Love or Hope,         
  But only time for Grief! 
A little weeping would ease my heart, 
  But in their briny bed 
My tears must stop, for every drop 
  Hinders needle and thread!”        
 
With fingers weary and worn, 
  With eyelids heavy and red, 
A woman sat in unwomanly rags, 
  Plying her needle and thread— 
    Stitch! stitch! stitch!        
  In poverty, hunger, and dirt, 
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, 
Would that its tone could reach the Rich! 
  She sang this “ Song of the Shirt!”

Hooray! I finished listening to the Book of Mormon Thursday!

I am so glad Moroni had time to write more after Mormon and Ether.  Mormon has to be one of the most depressing books in the Book of Mormon.  Ether doesn't end on much of a high note either.  Moroni's words are the perfect ending, uplifting and challenging as well.

Now I think the next challenge will be reading the selection for Sunday School each week.

Well, I finally did it! Here's the debut of my blog.  Thanks to Bloosgirl for inspiring me to get it done.