Month: July 2009

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Graphic Novels, Manga, and the New York Times

Sandman

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/17/graphic-books-best-seller-list-july-11/

If you’re looking for some graphic novel/manga recommendations, check out this link from the New York Times newspaper. I am starting the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman, and the Batman graphic novel looks interesting, too.

 

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Got Imagination?

http://www.amazon.com/How-Be-Explorer-World-Portable/dp/0399534601

 You know me. I like to be creative. Think. Make art. Write. Read. I really appreciate what Keri Smith put together in her book about exploration.

For example, on page 144-145, she writes:

Thought Experiments: Einstein used “thought experiments” (questions that can only be solved using imagination), on a regular basis. He actually formulated the special theory of relativity by asking the question, ‘what would it be like to travel on a beam of light?’ It is interesting to conduct these thought experiments in the midst of everyday life.

Some thought experiment starters:

  • what if all my neighbors had secret lives?
  • what if the newspaper held all the secrets of the universe in some kind of code?
  • what if all leaves had secret messages embedded on them?
  • what if little elves lived on the roof and only came out at night?
  • what if my house were a playgroun? a blank canvas? had secret powers?

 

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More than words…

When I was growing up, news reporting wasn’t like it is today. When I was really young, in elementary school, the Vietnam war was raging, the Civil Rights movement was in full swing, there were many protests, and a lot of violence on television. The news stations would even air footage of dying and wounded soldiers, and I remembered feeling very afraid. After I grew up, I felt that news changed, and not for the better. The news doesn’t show what it’s really like for soldiers fighting, the news often uses the “news anchors” to stir up fear and mistrust, and they are not telling the news in a straight-forward, no-nonsense way, or a trustworthy way. One of the most popular newsmen of his day was Walter Cronkite. He was calm, trustworthy, and reflected the awe and wonder of what it meant to live as an American. He was honest when he told the American public he didn’t believe in the war, and gave thoughtful reasons why, not reasons full of fear-mongering. When we landed on the moon in 1969, he reflected the nation’s sense of deep admiration and wonderment of the astronauts, and American genuis. His passing saddens me, not because he didn’t have a life well lived, but because many Americans don’t realize that the news can be something more than defensive, mud-slinging, name-calling hate games. Listen and look at the news of our world with critical eyes and ears, and don’t ever, ever, let down your guard when it comes to free speech. It is our ability, our right, to speak up over what needs to be changed that can create a world that sends people to the moon, stops wars, and creates a better world for all.

 Check out these links for more information:

http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/

http://www.notablebiographies.com/Co-Da/Cronkite-Walter.html

http://www.kidport.com/REFLIB/Science/MoonLanding/MoonLanding.htm