A New Era: Barack Obama on the path to the White House

Everyone, no matter who they voted for - or if they even voted at all - should feel at least partially at peace after the results of last night's election. An African-American is on his way to the White House for the the first time ever. Something that had been deemed impossible by many in the past.

This was my first election as a reporter and I am pleased that is has been such a historical one. I spent the day running around, interviewing local politicians and getting voters' opinions on the presidential election. Though my part is microscopic compared to others around the country, it still felt nice to be somewhat a part of it.

Obama's victory was a head-on tackle to racism. I hope Obama as president starts to blur the racial lines are society is divided by.

Penguin Love

Last night my father held up the book he just read to my six-year-old brother and said: "This is an interesting book."

The book, called And Tango Makes Three, is about two male penguins who raise a baby penguin together. An egg was placed in the nest the two had made by the zoo keeper after he noticed the penguins were trying to hatch a rock. The last page of the book states the book is based on two real-life penguins in the Central Park Zoo.

In May of '07, a librarian from Southwick, MA told the School Library Journal she felt her job was threatened after reading the book to a group of elementary age children. In November of 2006, parents in Chicago wanted the book banned from the shelves.

It's understandable parents would feel uneasy about a subject such as this being showcased their children at such a young age. It is a sensitive and difficult subject to talk about. But we're getting to a point, a child being raised by a same sex couple is becoming more frequent.

Same sex couples can provide the same loving environment for a child that heterosexual parents do, and this book displays that.

These instances of people wanting the book banned show that some people are not fully adapt to the idea of same sex couples. What a book like this can do is make others more open to the idea and most of all, make members of families with same sex parents feel accepted by society.

Book Munchies

I've been a bookworm since graduation. While in school I would want to bury my nose in a good book occasionally, but my studies destroyed my motivation to read leisurely. Now that I have no more academic required readings I decided to participate in "book mooching" via bookmooch.com. My sister - queen of the bookworms - introduced me to the website last summer. Despite her constant pleas for me to join, I did not have the time or patience to give it a chance.

It's a nice concept. You post books you want to give away and in return you receive points to "mooch" other books. The only fee is the postage to mail books to moochers. Yet I'm debating whether to continue with it since my first mooching attempt was successful, but not so pleasant. I got a request for my book Up High in Trees by Kiara Brinkman from a woman in Illinois. I kindly sent it to her and was quite miffed when my feedback comment from her was "Thanks, though the book was really bent because it wasn't packaged well."

The remark put me right back in the classroom and made me feel like a teacher was scolding me on a barely passing grade. Though I am suspicious of this moocher (the book was thick so it couldn't have been that bent and points are refundable, if the giver agrees to do so... just think about that) it angers me. This is a recreational activity that's supposed to be fun, not something to be graded on.

Catholics for Obama

I usually don't like to immerse myself into political and/or religious controversy, but this video needs to be seen. Is shatters the notion that all catholics are raging liberal hating conservatives. If only all catholics could see it this way.

Hustle and Bustle

Yesterday, stuck in the usual clog of traffic getting onto 95/128n off the Mass Pike I passed by irritated drivers, slumped over their steering wheels in agony. There was the usual battle to of who can merge first where drivers ignore the attempts of those beside them to get into the lane. I am guilty of being a passive-aggressive participant in this game from time to time.

I started wondering to the tune of angry horn honking: Is all this negative energy worth it? If we are granted our wish of surpassing the cars next to us we're only .08776 seconds ahead then we would have been. What's the point of getting stressed out over something that is, for the most part, out of our reins?

Annoyance is inevitable. But why bother fan the flames when we can use the time to, oh I don't know, relax?

Oh, but who relaxes anymore? Everything nowadays is push, push, shove, shove, bitch, bitch, moan, moan.

Barbie Categories: Princess or Hooker

For nostalgia's sake and ha-has my boyfriend and I ventured to a Toys R Us the other night. Expecting to be overcome with the nauseating cheesiness of stuffed animals and silly figurines, a trip down Barbie doll aisle shattered my presumption.

I came face to face with what appears to be a new brand of Barbie. Her new look - heavy applied black eyeliner, gigantic hoop earrings and cherry red puckered lips.


This Barbie looks like she belongs outside a sleazy bar, chain smoking, batting her eyes lashes to goo-goo eyed greasy men - not stacked on toy store shelves serving as a beauty icon to young girls. If it's not bad enough to see woman walking the streets in this makeup montage, I fear 12 year olds will soon sport the getup.

It's a drastic change from my Barbie doll collecting days, about 13 years ago. The dolls then had an angelic touch. Long, flowing locks, shiny pink gloss and sparkling eyes. The dresses so wide and fluffy they look like over sized flowers.

Sadly, even a Barbie is not exempt from the battle many women in the media face of trying not to fall into the two demeaning categories of the hooch or the angel.

School's out... forever?

As summer fades into fall and my siblings are frantically finishing up summer reading and shopping for dorm accessories before another nine months of academia I'm trying to comprehend that, for the first time since preschool, I will not be returning to the land of learning.

Yes, I am happy about this. I've successfully earned a degree. It still is strange ending something that has been so constant. It's like removing training wheels off a bike. For the majority of my life, I've had teachers and textbooks to guide me.

But as I learned (the hard way) as a child, keep those training wheels on too long and there will be that kid who notices and gets the whole neighborhood chanting "SCAREDY CAT, SCAREDY CAT!"

And I am no "scaredy" cat.