Book Club: Snow White and Rose Red

My friend Pam started a Book Club. Our first book was "Snow White and Rose Red" by Patricia Wrede. It's a retelling of the Grimm fairly tale of Snow White set in Elizabethan England. I enjoyed the book and its use of dialogue and the fun tale. Two of our book club members are writers so it's fun having their viewpoints in our discussion!

Our next book is "Entwined" by Heather Dixon.

Produtive Saturday

This morning I made banana bread, fixed my toilet, cleaned my house and took out the garbage. If I had quarters I would've done a couple loads of laundry too. I plan to get some homework done this afternoon and finish the book for Book Club tonight, all so I can play on Monday!

Valentine Concert

For the second time my sister was my Valentine date. Way back in 2008, she came out to visit me in New York to see Matchbox Twenty play at the Garden on Valentine's Day. It was awesome.

This year it was Lady Antebellum. They're pretty much "the biggest band in the world" right now (Adele is the biggest solo act, if you watched the Grammys). Em and I caught them the summer before last when they opened for Timmy. They've become HUGE since then, winning about a billion Grammys for "I Need You Now".

They sang their hits, and nearly every song from their latest album. I was a little disappointed that they only played for an hour and half, when they have 3 albums. I was expecting to go until at least 11:00. Oh well. Still a great show.

Book Signing

Saturday afternoon my friends, Pam and Cat, and I went to a book signing at The King's English for Shannon Hale and her new book, Midnight in Austenland. Books are awesome, authors are awesome, my glasses are awesome, and my friends are awesome.

My Thoughts

I don't really follow politics a lot. I vote because I think it is an important right. If who I voted for didn't win, I'm not sent into a tailspin or spend the next two/four years plotting how to get them out and complaining about every move they make. I made my vote, and if I'm not actively finding a better solution to what I think they've done terribly wrong, then I should just stop my complaining.

I think that all politicians, whether Democrat, Republican or Libertarian, make good and bad decisions in their term. I think that Democrats complain about Republicans no matter what. I think Republicans complain about Democrats no matter what. I think many are worried about getting re-elected. I think blacks voted for Barack Obama and Mormons will vote for Mitt Romney.

I don't like this, but I know it's true. I know we don't live in a world full of peace and rainbows and rose-colored glasses. But I do think we could find ways to work around it. I mean, we are all adults, aren't we? I have a Politics in Planning class Monday nights. Our textbook is a case study of the landmark statewide zoning plan adopted in Oregon in the 1970s. It was a perfect storm of political players who focused on solving the problem rather than worrying about party lines. People sat down and worked out the issues based on the issues and not who belonged to what party. And because of this they were able to pass a statewide measure that was accepted by nearly all.

In my 9th grade History class we studied Washington's Farewell Address. I remember very clearly reading this in our textbook, talking about it in class, and having it as a question on an exam. Washington speaks of the pitfalls of political parties and how they can undermine true works of the government.

That's how I wish things operated now. Maybe that's silly. But I know that I can at least work on me and how I act and respond. Aristotle said, 'It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." We could probably all work on being a little more educated when it comes to politics.