Thursday, November 1, 2018

SUNDAY SERMON

by Jennifer Anderson

I have spent a lot of time complaining about things recently.
Indeed it seems our media wants to complain all the time about life in America.  What thought came to me this morning
is this:  People from bible times would love to live like we do!

People from bible times would be amazed by using electricity.  They would enjoy the electricity and heat we have.

People from bible times would be amazed by the medicine we have that they didn't have.  Another medical thing they 
would be amazed by that is simple to us is eye glasses.
There are people today wearing glasses helping them see
but if they had lived in bible times they wouldn't have had the glasses and may not be able to do many things because  they couldn't see.

The list of what we have and they didn't have for convenience goes on and on.  The disciples of Jesus
would probably be happy sleeping on the carpet people have at their houses now instead of stone floors or the ground outside they used to sleep on.

Just something to think about even though it seems everybody in America is complaining about life now. 

Friday, September 7, 2018

OH THE AGGRO BLOGSPOT!!

Recently the Blogspot website made several changes, one of them being the elimination of the NEXT BLOG button that was at the top of every screen.  This means the participants on Blogspot.com can no longer page through blogs at random easily.  No longer being able to do this cuts down on the community feeling of belonging to a social network such as blogspot.com.

Not having the NEXT BLOG button also means it changes the flow of hits we bloggers get to our blogs every day.  Oh the aggro Blogspot!! Even if the NEXT BLOG button wasn't popular or used much it was still necessary to retain  sense of community for participants.  Ugh!!

What do you think about the recent changes to the blogspot website?

Thursday, September 6, 2018

SWING TIME by Zadie Smith

SWING TIME  is one of Zadie Smith's more recent novels.  It was published in 2016 and it starts out with most of the action taking place in the 1990's as two multi racial girls are growing up in England.  The story describes a neat moment in time as these two girls come of age.  Lots of 90's pop culture is delightfully thrown into this mix as well.  Parts of the story also take place in the United States and in Africa.  

The two girls meet in dance class and become friends.  Dance is also woven into the story with mention being made of some famous dancers the girls watched on videos.  Then the subject of Dance comes back up as one girl journeys to Africa in adulthood.  The title Swing Time is probably in reference to the dancers the girls watched on videos from the era of the 30's, 40's or 50's. I looked up one of the dancer's on You Tube, Jeni LeGon, that I actually had never heard of before. 

Zadie Smith is the bestselling author of WHITE TEETH and ON BEAUTY.  She is multi racial herself and writes extensively on this subject.   She also writes about multiculturalism.     

Monday, April 9, 2018

ON BEAUTY the novel by Zadie Smith

ON BEAUTY  is a Zadie Smith novel that speaks to multiculturalism in the world today as Zadie Smith knows it.  Smith is from England so her views on American culture might be a tad stereotypical.  For example, the heroine in the novel is named Kiki and she is an American black woman who is large and big breasted but still manages to dress well, look nice, and have tons of personality and great style. The name Kiki is usually a nickname, and not a given name, but in the media women called Kiki are usually portrayed as being a little off beat, quirky, and fun.  Indeed Kiki's white husband adores her and his problem where he starts to stray actually has nothing to do with Kiki or her increase in size. 

On the Goodreads website I posted I enjoyed reading ON BEAUTY very much.  In ON BEAUTY Zadie Smith touches on subjects such as mixed marriages, stereotypes of all kinds, sexuality, and the sins of the fathers in the families. 

The white father who is an atheist college professor  that  is liberal commits the same sins as the
black father in the story who is a Christian college professor that  is conservative. Imagine that! Although the Christian father comes off in the story as the villain while the liberal father just seems to be in a world of his own and a tad lazy.

ON BEAUTY is set in recent times in a New England state in the academia world.  The story sometimes reverts to  UK/England where some of the characters are from.   Other subjects touched on in the story are Rap Music, Spoken Word, Poetry, Art, coming of age, Youth, Middle age...well it goes on and on about these and many other subjects.  There are some interesting  connotations about Rap where she writes about "keepers of the crossroad" and souls being sold to the devil. I am not quite sure what Zadie Smith meant by all of it but it appears they might be words that could be googled and investigated further for the sake of knowledge.  

OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD:

I could see this book being turned into a television series that lasts for years...The college angst, infidelities, new experiences for people.

In the story Kiki has three multiracial young adult children. As I read the story I kept picturing the younger two, in my head, as looking like the young actors who play Maddie and Charlie on THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS.  I guess those types of things happen sometime.

I bought this book because I had seen Zadie Smith's books on the Goodreads website and I decided she was an author whose books I wanted to explore.  I will probably pass this book on to a fellow reader I think might enjoy the book. 

Since Barack Obama became president multi racial people are featured in pop culture more.  Now that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are planning nuptials I've noticed a sharp increase of multi racial couples featured on television shows and commercials. 

Ultimately though I feel the novel ON BEAUTY reminds me of how people have a physical life but people also have the private world of their own thoughts in their mind.

ON BEAUTY was published by The Penguin Press

Saturday, January 13, 2018

New Year Resolutions

Oh it's that pesky time of year again! Time to make new resolutions for the new year at a time of year it is hard to start them because of bad weather or things like cold and flu season.

My Top Three Resolutions:

1.  Utilize the two minute rule.  If something around the house or in business will take only two minutes to do then go ahead and take care of it.

2.  Get out of the house more. We are talking get out of the house 50 percent more. Which is still not even a lot...!

3.  Get started back with regular bible reading, watching inspirational messages on TV and listening to praise music some each day.

Of course I have bookoo other resolutions or other things I need to do. Among them are: blog on a more regular basis, drink more water, take vitamins, catch up on book reviews, diet, moisturize, get better sleep....well you know the list could go on and on!

What are some of your resolutions and how is it going?