Category Archives: Thought of the Week

Once-weekly posts on whatever nonsense crosses my mind.

Gedacht an die Woche: Ich Liebe Dich (Aber Nicht Wie Das)

Es scheint das ich für noch ein Preis ernannt bin! Dieses ist alles ein bisschen zu viel – bald werde ich mit liebe gefüllt, und tanze ich auf die Rückseite von rosa Ponys.

Nein – nicht wirklich.

Nichtsdestoweniger, meine gute Freundin Alexandra Corinth wollte mich mit der Liebster Pries zu schmücken, das ich zu mein staubig Sammlung hinzu fügen werde. An der Geist von alles ‘Liebster’, es scheint nur passend das ich dieses Artikel auf Deutsch schreiben.

Erste, Alexandra hat mich mehreren Fragen gebeten, das ich (peinlich) zu antworten muss. Ich sorge mich über ihre Meinung der Antworten, und wenn sie sie verstehen werde.

1. Name a book you would read over and over again?

Great Expectations. Diese Geschichte ist einfach wunderbar, mit Stimmung und Dunkelheit, und Hoffnung, und Tragödie gefüllt. Für mich ist es eine der größte Geschichte überhaupt gesagt, und ich mit Pip, Joe, Magwitch und Frau Havisham verlieren könnte. 

2. If you could have 3 wishes granted, what would they be?

Erste wünschte ich für unbegrenzt Wünschen. Dann wünschte ich das alle meine Romana und Lieder im Augenblick veröffentlicht werde, so das ich nie wieder arbeiten muss. Dann wünschte ich für viele Cocktails.

3. Who was your favorite teacher, and why?

Herr Sanderson. Er werde mein Musik Lehrer in der oberen Schule, in eine Klasse von nur fünf, und er war einer des erste mein Talent zu regen. Es war einer der glücklichsten Momente von meiner Lebensdauer wenn er hat gesagt, das wenn er meine Musik hörte, wurde er nichts ändern.

4. Where is your favorite vacation spot?

Nichts war besser als Cornwall. Es ist klein aber beträchtlich, verlieret und freundlich, und die gegeronnene Creme ist für zu sterben.

5. What chore do you absolutely hate doing?

Alles.

6. What is your favorite dessert?

Ich mag nicht zu viel Nachtisch, aber wenn sie ein Gewehr an mein Kopf gesetzt, es würde Schokoladenfondant meiner Frau sein müssen. Es tut Sachen mich an, erkläre ich ihnen.

7. What is your leave favorite mode of transportation?

Das Auto. Wenn ich antreibe, falle ich immer am Lenkrad schlafend.

8. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Ein Erbauer von Legos.

9. If money was no object where would you live and why?

An ein verlassener Fjord in Norwegen, mit trostlos Nebel umgeben. Oder Australien.

10. What is your dream career?

Ein berühmt Autor oder Komponist sein. Ideal mit jemand für mich alles schreiben.

11. What movie do you flat-out refuse to watch, no matter how good people say it is?

Alles das sie schreien lassen soll. Es gibt genug in der wirklichen Welt zu ungefähr schreien.

Und jetzt, wie üblich, ich lehne sonstes niemand ernannten ab; die Bloggers das ich liebe und schätze an der Unterseite von jedes Seite aufgeführt sind. Jedes von sie Anerkennung verdienen sind; bitte überprüfen sie heraus.

Thought of the Week: Oh, To Be a Dragon

I kind of have a thing for dragons.

You know what I mean. For as long as I can remember, these fantastic creatures have mesmerized me, awed me, and pulled me in with their frightful allure. There is a thrill in imagining the pounding of great wings overhead, of the shadow of that colossal beast as it passes over your head, of the dangerous intent in its eye as it bores its gaze into you.

Sculpture of a Chinese dragon

The history of dragons is long, and convoluted. Wikipedia has an excellent entry on them, but in a basic summary, dragons appear to have arisen in myth and folklore out of the common and widespread fear of lizards in general, and snakes in particular. Eastern and western dragons are substantially different, not only in their appearance, but in their demeanor, mythology and meaning as well. Snakelike in form, Chinese dragons are wise, long-lived, powerful and majestic. They are intelligent beyond men, and some legends hold that dragons first taught men to speak. Western dragons, with their legs and wings, are typically more brutal, representing a force of maliciousness and destruction, raining fire and poison from their throats.

I marvel at all of these, but it is admittedly the more western dragons that hold my attention (no doubt due to my upbringing). It’s likely that this was borne from my fascination as a child with dinosaurs (isn’t every young boy?); though I knew there were no longer dinosaurs, the idea that there could be, somewhere in the world, some living vestige of those incredible creatures fueled my imagination. I remember having a near obsession at one point over the Loch Ness Monster; I remember an odd movie with Ted Danson, of all people, as a scientist trying to prove the existence of the fabled creature. I loved that movie.

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher – Bruce Coville (1991)

Dinotopia, which I have already written about, bore the marvel of living dinosaurs to me, and the Skybax riders, soaring majestically on the backs of great, winged beasts, made me intensely jealous that I didn’t live on a remote, unknown island filled with saurians.

There have been numerous books and films over the years that have sustained my love of the creatures; I remember a lovely book from my childhood called Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. In it, the titular character comes across a mysterious object in a mysterious shop – a shop that disappears almost as soon as he steps out of it, carrying with him what he will soon discover to be a real, living dragon egg. He tends to the egg, hatches it, and begins to rear the wonderful creature as a pet. Soon, though, he discovered that the dragon – and he – have a much greater destiny, with the fate of the entire race of dragons in their hands.

Draco, from DragonHeart

Another favorite is DragonHeart, with Dennis Quaid and Sean Connery as Draco (yes – it’s a terribly imaginative name). A delightfully witty and dramatic adventure, it tells the tale of a prince, wounded in battle, who is healed by the generosity of a dragon – the creature passes to him half of his heart, so that he might live. Yet as he grows, the boy becomes ever more bitter, and his teacher – his mentor since childhood – finds himself banished from the kingdom for disagreeing with him. A dragon slayer by nature, he eventually comes across Draco (voiced so wonderfully by Sean Connery), and the two form an uneasy partnership, determined to end the prince’s tyranny once and for all.

Rendition of a Nazgûl as they appear in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films.

There are many others – Reign of Fire, Mulan, Harry Potter, The Hobbit (and The Lord of the Rings, if you count the Nazgûl),Beowulf, and even Shrek all have dragons or dragon-like characters; some benevolent, some evil, and some simply depicted as wild creatures, bent on destruction. However, the most recent addition to the wonderful canon of dragon tales is a movie Little Satis and I watched only recently: How to Train Your Dragon. I will admit, I was worried about this movie; I have no great affection for DreamWorks, as I generally find their animation substandard compared to Pixar’s, and their stories far less compelling than Disney’s. I am glad to say this time, however, I was happily mistaken.

How to Train Your Dragon is a surprisingly heartfelt and touching tale of a young viking who, though desperate to participate in the great dragon hunts of his village, is perpetually shunned for his mild demeanor and physical weakness. Desperate to gain their approval, he in secret designs a complex dragon-killing machine – and manages to bring down a Night Fury, one of the most feared dragons in the land. When he goes to find the creature, however, he discovers not a terrifying, vicious beast, but a frightened and badly wounded animal, just as hurt and alone as he is.

Toothless, from How to Train Your Dragon

In its fall, the dragon’s tail suffers an irreparable injury, leaving it unable to fly. Overcome with guilt, the boy begins the process of constructing a prosthetic tail wing – and in doing so, learns there is far more to the race of dragons than anyone had previously thought. Through the dragon’s healing, their bond strengthens, and the two will eventually lead the fight in an epic battle whose outcome will determine the fate of the vikings – and the dragons themselves.

For those of you who have been following The Redemption of Erâth, you’ll have certainly noticed that dragons have an important role to play in this world as well. Sadly, I have yet to come across a live dragon, so this is the closest I can get to seeing, touching, and breathing in the scent of one of these beautiful beasts.

What I wouldn’t give to ride on the back of one of these great winged furies.

Thought of the Week: Gay Atheists Sure Are Dangerous

I don’t usually weigh in on stuff  like this; I find society in general to be pretty dangerous and upsetting in itself, and more or less steer clear of issues of an even remotely political nature. However, something came to my attention this week that, frankly, shocked me. This happened earlier in the year, so I apologize if this is already familiar to anyone, but given the lack of obvious coverage, I felt the issue needed to be raised.

Back in February, Krystal Myers, a student at Lenoir High School in North Carolina, had the audacity to write an article for the school paper called No Rights: The Life of an Atheist. The potential for disruption this article had is frightening; students across the school might suddenly have begun wondering what atheism is, questioning their beliefs, or worse – thinking. However, disaster was averted: the school’s principal, Steve Saint-Armand (what a good, Christian name – it’s got the word ‘saint’ in it) happened to see the proposed article, and prevent it from being published. A collective southern conservative brow was wiped.

But wait – there’s more! Despite the relief at having thwarted the wayward atheist in their midst, it happened again – only this time the nature of the crime was far more horrifying: being gay.

That’s right; in May, the high school’s yearbook was edited, published and released containing the offensively-titled article It’s Okay to Be Gay. Student Zac Mitchell, the subject of the article, is – unsurprisingly – gay. Now, there wasn’t a whole lot that could be done about that, but it sure was important to make sure no one found out; after all, he only came out four years before, so chances are no one at the school had really had time to notice.

The true heinousness here, though, is the fact that, unlike Ms. Myers’ article, this one managed to be published. Because despite a school paper and yearbook being written, edited and published by the students themselves, at least one teacher had to have supervised and approved these articles. And who exactly is this monstrous fiend? English teacher James Yoakley. Here he is:

You can almost see the horns. This terrible man, it appears, not only approved, but in fact encouraged, the students to write and publish these articles. Rather than doing the right thing and convincing them to forever hide their sins, he openly pushed them to discuss their heresy and sexual deviancy. It should come as little wonder, then, that there was a sudden and great clamor to have him burned at the stake. Panicked school boards issued summons to prevent Mr. Yoakley from teaching; petrified parents sent acid-tongued letters to the teachers about the devil spawn they had allowed to twist their children’s young and impressionable minds. Chances are, an angel died somewhere. Maybe it was a gay angel. Finally, though, sanity was regained through a man named Van Shaver, an authority from a neighboring school district, who put into words what all were feeling:

If an individual wants to be a homosexual, that’s their own decision and they will have to live with the consequences of that decision. What I am intolerant of is an adult, a teacher no less, inflicting their personal beliefs and sexual orientation decisions on impressionable students.

It all makes sense: James Yoakley is a homosexual atheist whose sole purpose in life was to lead pure children away from the paths of righteousness. It was too late for Mr. Mitchell and Ms. Myers, but they could at least banish him from the school district so he might not ever taint the young again. Parents were enamored. A Facebook page was created in support: they’ve had a whopping 88 likes since May.

Now of course, there will always be those few that, in their own misguided way, believe that what Mr. Yoakley did was not entirely reprehensible; that – unthinkable though it might be – he might even have been doing something incredibly touching, supportive and inspirational for these two students. Those unfathomable people started their own Facebook page: to date, a measly 1,789 likes.

The good news is that these aberrant supporters have little far-reaching influence, and this won’t ever become a major issue. For example, the New York Times seems to have absolutely no record of this incident. Nor does the L.A. Times, or CNN; even the unimpeachable source of trustworthy news, Fox, has little to say on the matter. They do, however, have several thousand articles relating to the Aurora shooting – an event that, according to some who study these things (sorry – lost the reference), ought not to have been publicized outside of local news for fear of inciting further killings.

Ironically, there is a little more publication about the earlier atheist scandal – it got all the way to Knoxville, Tennessee – but that’s okay, because of course atheism isn’t quite so bad: at least they acknowledge that they chose to follow the path to eternal damnation. But gays…their stubborn refusal to admit that they chose to be how they are obviously places them as one of the most dangerous threats posed to our society today. Imagine if all the world was filled with people who said it’s not a choice: all the murderers would be set free (I had no choice); all the politicians would lie to us (you gave me no choice); every doctor would be free to pull the plug on vegetative-comatose patients (there certainly was no choice there). No – it’s best we keep this sort of danger under wraps.

So if you’d like to make sure this sort of thing doesn’t continue to happen, please don’t discuss this with your friends and family. Please don’t head over to the Facebook page of Mr. Yoakley’s defenders and click like. Please don’t post, retweet or reblog. Certainly don’t send an email to Steve Saint-Armand or Van Shaver and tell them what bigoted, ignorant pigs they are. After all – we wouldn’t want more gay atheists thinking it’s okay to be themselves.