Who The Hell Thinks They Have The Right To Rewrite A Mark Twain Classic?!

Here's the CNN Video Link

Seriously? I mean, really? They want to remove the word "nigger" from Huck Finn and Mark Twain.

That's right, I used the word, instead of saying "n-word" like they're doing on CNN. To me, it is just a word. I would never use that word when describing another person. I use that word when referencing the way white people used to refer to blacks.

I read both of those Mark Twain classics back in school. We were taught that the books were written to sound like the people of that time spoke. The people of that time called black people niggers. It's a historical fact. When I was in school, it was understood that, just because it used to be acceptable then, it is not acceptable now. If any of my classmates had been caught calling someone else a nigger, they would have been corrected and disciplined.

In my opinion, this is a simple matter of laziness. People, teachers even, are too lazy to teach students about context, about history. They would rather just change the word "nigger" to "slave." So does this mean we are going to pretend that black people were never called horrible things? Does this mean we are going to pretend that the racism and bigotry weren't as bad as they were? As they still are?

History is history. No, we can't change it. No, it wasn't always good, BUT, we can learn from it. We have learned from it. We ended slavery in our nation. We pushed through with the civil rights. Look at our current president!! Imagine what people from the time of Tom and Huck would think about Obama. Look how far we have come!

I am completely disgusted that people think they can rewrite Mark Twain. They are, in my mind, trying to change history. And it's not going to work. It is censorship, and I believe it is wrong.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Kiss My Ass...

I promise I won't drag this out.

I have a few friends that believe "we" should stop being "politically correct" and only say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays."

I would agree, if we all celebrated Christmas. But as it is, I celebrate Christmas and Chanukkah. I have friends and family that only celebrate Chanukkah. I have friends that celebrate Yule instead of Christmas. I probably have some friends that don't really celebrate anything at all.

Thing is, when you see someone on the street, how do you know what they celebrate? I have been known to respond to a "Merry Christmas" with a "Happy Chanukkah," even if it's past Chanukkah. Then again, I'm a bitter person.

So why is it so wrong to wish someone a Happy Holidays, knowing that it includes any winter holidays they may celebrate. When I wish someone a Happy Holidays, I mean it to include the new year as well. I will NEVER be offended when someone wishes me a Happy Holidays, because that includes all the winter holidays that I choose to celebrate. I do, however, get sick of hearing Merry Christmas all through my Chanukkah celebrations, even on years like this when Chanukkah is over well before Chriatmas.

In other words, it's not rude, or offensive, when someone wishes you a Happy Holidays. Perhaps they do not celebrate Christmas, and wanted to include you if you do. So take it easy and stop pushing your holiday on everyone. Stop being offended if they want to include you in the happiness of their season.

Love Beats Hate

Love Beats Hate


I know quite a few people with chronic pain of various kinds. I myself have chronic migraines and use prescription medication to help control them.

Apparently, some people have decided it is OK to make fun of us, to ridicule us and insult us. I know it is difficult to understand chronic illness if you have not experienced it yourself, but to make fun of someone for something you do not understand is the lowest of low. It's so childish that children look down on it.

I have chronic migraines. My pain levels to not reach as high as people expect, but I get all the fun side effects. I get sensitivity to light and sound, fatigue, dizziness, vertigo, loss of concentration, tingling in hands and/or feet, random pains (usually in my temples), nausea, and other things. These used to last for days, even weeks, before I would get the standard migraine pain and get over it. I had a manager at one point who also got migraines, but not as frequently, with fewer side effects and higher pain. She couldn't understand that I could work through my migraines, that I didn't have to just go home. She didn't understand that if I went home every time I was getting a migraine, I would never be at work.

With some lifestyle changes and prescription medication, I have been able to somewhat control my migraines. Somewhat. But many people still don't understand.

I have friends with fibromyalgia, MS, migraines, crohn's, depression, bipolar, thyroid diseases, and other things that are chronic and often misunderstood. When I find out a friend has some kind of illness, disease, condition, etc., I educate myself. Of course, I am a little addicted to researching stuff on the internet. But I learn enough that I can be understanding.

I will admit that I am guilty of expecting everyone else to be like me. I expect people to be patient and willing to learn. All the while, I know I'm wrong. So many people are not willing to take the time and learn about a person. They judge, ridicule, and move on to the next victim.

I'm lucky in that my chronic condition is well known. Everyone knows about migraines, so people are more understanding. But diseases like fibro and crohn's are not well known, some people have never heard of them at all, and instead of learning, they ignore.

So how do we fight ignorance? Simple - with education. Educate yourself. Educate your family and friends. Do you know someone with a chronic condition? Look it up, learn about it.

I have focused on health issues, but the reason I am blogging today is to speak out for marginalized populations. This includes so much more. Homosexuals, even among themselves, do not always share understanding. Different races, nationalities, cultures, religions do not understand each other. Even people with different hobbies and styles can't seem to get along. People can't even agree on Star Trek vs. Star Wars (I'm a fan of both, by the way).

I'm not saying we should all be the same. That will never happen. We can, however, learn to get along. Tolerance, people, tolerance can work wonders. I don't agree with everyone's point of view, but I try to not let it get to me. If I greatly disagree, I just don't associate with them. They live their way and I live mine, but we both live in relative peace.

I do tend to ramble, don't I? Let's find a point and wrap it up. Education is the key. We don't all need college degrees, but through education we can learn to tolerate, if not appreciate, everyone around us. I know I'm talking about ideals here, but who doesn't have ideals? The best we can do is to work on ourselves and our immediate surroundings. Stand up for someone you know if they are being hurt or ridiculed. Educate those around you. Spread love, and it can defeat hate.

On a more personal note....

...My hometown newspaper SUCKS BALLS!

A friend who still lives in my hometown posted on Facebook about a rock slide that happened Green River, WY. GR is 15 minutes from my hometown of Rock Springs.

So I went to the local newspapers websites to look for updates.

Green River Star
Rocket Miner

Check those out and tell me, on appearance alone, which site you would trust more.

I knew my hometown paper, the Rocket Miner, was a piece of crap, but I hadn't been to the website in ages. HO-LY CRAP! They don't even have any local news on the home page! Hell, I can't even find any local articles!!

Seriously? How is a newspaper supposed to be taken seriously when they can't even post their local news on the main page of their website? On any page? Are they that ashamed of their articles? I know they have a tendency towards typos and misquotations and all sorts of other BS, but to have such a crappy website?

Rock Springs has a population of about 18,000 people, while Green River has about 12,000, yet GR has the better newspaper. Does this sound completely wrong to anyone else?

To end, let me give a personal example of the Rocket Miner's capabilities. My mother submitted an article for my wedding, back in 2005. They got all the names right in the article (Mr. and Mrs. Welch), but the caption under the picture says, "Mr. and Mrs. Zuehlsdorff." Yes, that is my maiden name.

/rant

Some people really need to get a life

The Dyson guy, you know the one, white hair in all the dyson vacuum commercials? Yeah, him. He needs a life. He claims, in one commercial, that he has been obsessed with perfecting vacuums for 17 years. His obsession is almost an adult!

Really? Who obsesses with vacuums. Is he OCD about cleaning his carpets or something? 17 years spent on making the perfect vacuum?

My sister has a dyson. She won it online (she would never dish out that amount for a vacuum). She loves it, says it works great. So yay! Your vacuum works well.

But I bet if you cut the price in half, many more would buy it. Do a search for Dyson Vacuum on Amazon. Sort it by price, low to high. You will see vacuums in other brands that are cheaper than the dyson accessory kits! Even their hand-held vac is $150!

Seriously, I bought a bissell stick vac for $20 and it sucks up my pet hair like a hungry monster. Why spend 7 times that on a hand held that doesn't even convert to stick?

I guess that is for the same people who obsess with perfecting vacuums for 17+ years.

Vampires are Old News. Get over it.

Just saw a commercial for Revlon's Just Bitten Lip Stain. OMFG. Now we're naming makeup to catch on with the whole twilight-sparkly-vampire trend? Puh-lease!

I was a vamp fan back in the day. I read Anne Rice novels. I watched Forever Knight. I saw vampires as sexy because they were dark and dangerous, not sparkly teenagers.

I read the first 2 twilight books. I saw the first movie. I want nothing to do with it now. It's a sparkly, fluffy little view of vampires. What happened to my messy, dark, and dirty vamps that were all evil and sexy? Even in Forever Knight, he flashed back to his evil days.

I hadn't planned on this going into a twilight rant, but then again, I hadn't really planned anything except pointing out the stupidity of that lip stain name. Just bitten? Really? Makes me want to avoid it along with the rest of the twilight-insanity.

Ok. I got distracted by the TV. I love House. Great show.

I want vampires to go back to their dark scary days. And I want Hot Topic to go back to it's goth days and burn all the cutesy trendy shit in there now. Just saying.

Water, water everywhere

Just saw a commercial for bottled water. We are now advertising water. Yes, I'd much rather people drink water than soda or sugary juices, but why spend all the money on bottled water when we can get it from the tap?

I'm one of those people that can drink water. Period. Tap, bottle, sparkling, hose, melted ice, warm, cold, frozen, doesn't matter. I like water.

I've met people who don't like the taste of water. They have to add flavor to it to make it "drinkable" to them. Hence all those little packets of powdered flavor sized perfectly for - you guessed it - bottled water.

In my city, I keep hearing people say the tap water taste bad. I don't taste anything bad about it! I drink it all the time! But quite a few people around here have water coolers in their home and buy lots of bottled water. Ok, so my taste buds may not be as sensitive as yours, but let me present a cheaper option - water filters.

Take the Pur filter for example. It screws right onto the faucet and filters your water. It costs about $25 (at least that's what it cost years ago when I bought it for my sister's wedding gift). You change the filter probably once or twice a year, maybe a little more if you have really hard water.

You'll never run out of bottles, or water. You just turn on the tap, and if you want to drink it, turn a piece on the filter. It's easy.

This isn't to say that I don't drink bottled water. It's great for times when you don't have a faucet handy, like at the zoo or park. When I forget to bring water with me, I might buy a bottle. Hell, I even buy 6packs of bottled water for home. BUT, I don't throw those bottles away. I refill them and use them again, and again, and again. My hubby and I will keep them in the fridge and grab one when we're thirsty, or to take in the car with us. They are easy to clean and reuse. After about a month of use, I'll put them in the recycling and buy new ones.



I think my train of thought is headed down the wrong track. I seem to have lost my momentum. So let me wrap it up - take a look at your water usage. Are you constantly buying bottles of water and throwing said bottles away? Look at the costs of that, then price a couple reusable water bottles and a water filter. Make the investment in a good filter and some durable bottles, and see if you don't save money in the long run. They have all kinds of reusable bottles out there now for all ages and styles.