Somewhere Quiet

QotD: Starting from Scratch

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 01:19:11 -0500

What would it take to get you to start a new life on a new world?
Sponsored by AVATAR. In theaters December 18. Buy tickets now.

Nothing short of a catastrophic natural or political disaster. The vast majority of my ancestors were not explorers; they were refugees, in a sense. They fled poverty, hunger, and religious persecution. I couldn't leave my home for anything less than that, either.

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QotD: The Worst Book Ever

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:41:50 -0500

What's the worst book you've ever read?

If a book is really, really crappy I will put it down. Crappy as in bad prose and a boring plot. So "worst" to me means books that I have read all the way through and still hated. Wuthering Heights is definitely up there. I hated all the characters. I mean, really loathed them. I wanted them all to die horrible deaths. Heart of Darkness gets the prize for most boring book. It wasn't very long, but good heavens was it tedious.

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QotD: Friends for a Day

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:18:39 -0500

If you could hang out with any movie character for a day, whom would you choose as your sidekick?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.

Listen, "Avatar Community", if I get to hang out with any movie character I choose, I'm gonna pick a leading man, not a sidekick. Let's be real.

If I had to pick a sidekick specifically, you can't go wrong with a wizard, elf, Dunedin, or a stouthearted hobbit, could you?

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QotD: My Favorite Movie Quote

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:16:19 -0500

What’s your favorite movie quote of all time?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.

Perhaps not of all time, but certainly of Christmas time:

"Fra-GEE-lay....must be Italian!"

Followed very closely by:

"Merry Christmas, Bedford Falls!"

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QotD: The One Movie Everyone Should See

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:12:15 -0500

What one film do you think everyone should see?
Sponsored by The Official AVATAR Community on TypePad. See AVATAR in theaters December 18, 2009.

Oh lord, so many. Right now I'm in the mood for The Fugitive, though, so I'll go with that one.

"Care to revise your statement, sir?"

"What?"

"Do you want to change you bullshit story, sir?"

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Another Carol

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:14:14 -0500

Christmas Sing Along - Bing Crosby - Silver Bells (1951)

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Light

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:02:55 -0500

I've always been interested in other people's stories and problems. Not in a busybody way, just in a curious way. That's why I am a psychology major, and it's why I watch shows about drug addiction, mental illness, and physical disease. The last few weeks I've been marinating myself in other people's challenges, and right now I feel like it's verging into unhealthy territory. Educating oneself and improving one's emapthy is one thing; drowning yourself in troubles that you can do nothing about is another.

So for today, at least, I'm veering into lighter territory.

How about a Christmas carol? I love Christmas music. I love carols that are as quiet and solemn as the snow that falls at night in December. I love big brass songs that play at warm and well-lit parties. I love singing in church with all the out-of-tune old ladies and I love listening to polished choirs.

I also like sparse, bright takes on traditional carols, like this one from Sufjan Stevens.

Joy To The World - Sufjan Stevens (Christmas music)

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Hello, Vox neighbors! I'm back...

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:20:04 -0500

Hello, Vox neighbors! I'm back from a class trip to D.C., which was a wonderful week all around. It was very, very busy, but we did a lot of sightseeing and a lot of volunteering. Now I'm back with about 10 hours of sleep debt and a lingering cold, so I'll just post a few pictures and be done for the evening.

National Adoption Week

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:05:55 -0500

It's National Adoption Week. I found out by accident; for my family every week is Adoption Week! I came across this article on Google News. The article talks about the complex reality of adoption:

The British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF) has published information today stating that one in every three parents looking to adopt would not consider a child born out of a pregnancy that included alcohol or drug abuse by the mother. This view on adoption is troubling given that nearly half of children in the U.K. that need adopted families originate from homes where drugs and alcohol were abused.

With National Adoption Week beginning today, BAAF wants to place an emphasis on steering prospective parents out of a fantasized ideal of adoption and into today’s modern reality of adoption. (Bolding mine.)

I don't blame adoptive parents for wanting a baby with a "clean slate". Raising a child with special needs, be that a disability or a troubled past, is heartbreaking and difficult. But the idea that a "baggage-less" adopted child will be just like a biological child is a fantasy. Every adopted child has a past:

Genetic ties and shared history can never be severed. An adopted child and their new family must always live with that difference.

YES. I want every person who has any contact with an adopted child or their family to understand that. I want people to understand that adoption is a beautiful and wonderful thing, but that it ain't perfect. Adoption is born out of hope, but it's also a connection forged out of the grief of parents: birth parents who have to give up a child and many adoptive parents who are unable to concieve. Adoption changes everything you know about family and genetics and love. I want people who know my family to acknowlege that. Don't put adoption or my family on a pedestal.

"Adoption is such a miraculous process!" Yes it is, but so is having a biological child, and that is messy and scary and frustrating while also being joyful and more fulfilling than anything else in the world.

Happy Adoption Week to everyone touched by adoption. God preserve all of us! :)

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If I had a million dollars...

nobody@vox.com(Alex) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:20:05 -0500

...I would buy everything in this store. I look at their website and salivate. I walk into their store and get weak at the knees. If I found some genie, my third wish would be to get a hundred-thousand dollar giftcard to this store, right after world peace and the elimination of hunger.

Seriously....this quilt? These shirts? This skirt?? To die for.

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