I got nothin'

Yep. That sums it up.

American Library Association's list of the 100 most challenged books of the 90s

How many have you read? Mine are in Bold.

Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling
Forever by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Alice (Series) by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Heather Has Two Mommies by Leslea Newman
My Brother Sam is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Giver by Lois Lowry
It’s Perfectly Normal by Robie Harris
Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Sex by Madonna
Earth’s Children (Series) by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
Go Ask Alice by Anonymous
Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers
In the Night Kitchen by Maurice Sendak
The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard
The Witches by Roald Dahl
The New Joy of Gay Sex by Charles Silverstein
Anastasia Krupnik (Series) by Lois Lowry
The Goats by Brock Cole
Kaffir Boy by Mark Mathabane
Blubber by Judy Blume
Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan
Halloween ABC by Eve Merriam
We All Fall Down by Robert Cormier
Final Exit by Derek Humphry
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters by Lynda Madaras
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman by Paul Zindel
Bumps in the Night by Harry Allard
Deenie by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
Annie on my Mind by Nancy Garden
The Boy Who Lost His Face by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat by Alvin Schwartz
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Asking About Sex and Growing Up by Joanna Cole
Cujo by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
The Anarchist Cookbook by William Powell
Boys and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
Ordinary People by Judith Guest American
Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons by Lynda Madaras
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
Crazy Lady by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher
Fade by Robert Cormier
Guess What? by Mem Fox
The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline Cooney
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Native Son by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells by Daniel Cohen
Jack by A.M. Homes
Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From? by Peter Mayle
Carrie by Stephen King
Tiger Eyes by Judy Blume
On My Honor by Marion Dane Bauer
Arizona Kid by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid An Egg by Babette Cole
The Dead Zone by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Always Running by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo? by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene
Little Black Sambo by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Running Loose by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education by Jenny Davis
The Drowning of Stephen Jones by Bette Greene
Girls and Sex by Wardell Pomeroy
How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell
View from the Cherry Tree by Willo Davis Roberts
The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
The Terrorist by Caroline Cooney
Jump Ship to Freedom by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Life, the Universe and the art of self pity part II

I learned that again that as bad as I have had it, my life could be worse. If I continue to do nothing, it gets even more worse.

That's the cardinal message, many times if you do nothing while the house is on fire, it will get worse.

I read an article about how some of the survivors of Katrina seemed to be okay and how others have just crumbled. Those that were okay, were about having a plan and going places. They lost things but they believed they could rebuild. Most importantly, they felt as if they were in control of their lives, their destiny.

State of Calm

Today I went through the day feeling zero.

UNATFF 2005-United Nations Association Traveling Film Festival-September 24 and 25

UNATFF 2005
United Nations Association Traveling Film Festival

Faces of Hope and Courage:
Connecting with Humanity
A documentary film festival as well as Q&A with film directors at the Kennedy School of Government's Wiener Auditorium (Taubman Building)and Boston University's Morse Auditorium

For schedules, film descriptions and advance ticket
information, go to:
http://www.bostonfilms.org


See below for Special Invitation for UNA-GB members to Opening Reception

"These films tell very human stories . . . small,personal stories that are metaphors for larger problems. They are unique, inspiring films made by passionate people. The stories are compelling. The UNA Film Festival provides an amazing opportunity
to see films you simply cannot see anywhere else."
-- 2004 Festival Attendee

The films:
A Great Wonder: Lost Children of Sudan
Afghanistan Unveiled
Against the Tide of History:
Landmines in Casamance
Dying to Leave: Slaves of the Free Market
From Chechnya to Chernobyl
Haram: Yemen, The Hidden Half Speaks
I Promise Africa
In Rwanda We Say...The Family that Does not Speak, Dies
In the Company of Fear
Juvies
Living with Slim: Kids Talk About HIV/AIDS
Paradise Lost
StandFast: Trip to Sudan
Stolen Childhoods
Talk Mogadishu: Media Under Fire
The UN: Working for US All
Woman by Woman

All films screened at both locations, on alternate days.

UNAFF:
Founded at Stanford, the UNAFF screens documentaries by international filmmakers. The films deal with topics such as human rights,environmental survival, women's issues, children, refugee protection, homelessness, racism, disease control, universal education, war and peace. UNAFF offers a unique opportunity to view films
that are rarely screened for public audiences to become familiar with global problems, and to provide a better understanding of the means to address these problems.


Ticket Prices, September 24 and 25
Day: $25 1/2 Day: $15
Student Day: $15 Student 1/2 Day: $10

Presented by:
United Nations Association of Greater Boston
The Kennedy School New England Alumni Association

In Cooperation with:
BU Student Pugwash
The Stanford Club of New England

For further information, please visit www.bostonfilms.org, or contact
United Nations Association of Greater Boston
Tel: 617-482-4587
Email: info@unagb.org, or visit our web site at www.unagb.org.


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Special Invitation for UNA-GB members to Opening Reception

Opening Reception and Screening of The Peacekeepers, Friday, February 23

You are invited to support UNATFF Boston as a Friend of the Festival, $100

Friends of the Festival are invited to the Opening Reception on Friday, September 23 at 6pm and to the special screening of the Canadian Film Board's "The Peacekeepers" with director Paul Cowan in attendance at 7pm.
Held at the Kennedy School, Taubman Building.
Sponsored by the Canadian Consulate General Boston.
Seating Limited. Advance reservation required.
Members of Presenting Organizations will be given priority.
Sign up online or call UNA-GB at 617-482-4587.

The Peacekeepers
Director: Paul Cowan
83 min.

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada with unprecedented access to the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping, The Peacekeepers provides an intimate and dramatic portrait of the struggle to save "a failed state." The film follows the determined and often desperate manoeuvres to avert another Rwandan disaster, this time in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC).
Focusing on the UN mission, the film cuts back and forth between the United Nations headquarters in New York and events on the ground in the DRC.
We are with the peacekeepers in the 'Crisis Room' as they balance the risk of loss of life on the ground with the enormous sums of money required from uncertain donor countries. We are with UN troops as the northeast Congo erupts and the future of the DRC, if not all of central Africa, hangs in the balance.

Just awake

Things that I have learned today:

Sam Drucker from Petticoat Junction is still alive.

Lon Chaney, Jr. died in 1973.

Lon Chaney, Jr. had two sons and was in High Noon.

Hedgehogs can be afflicted with a disease similar to multiple sclerosis.

Hedgehogs can also die from cancer.

Three of my favorite characters in X bite it in the end.

I need to get more sleep.

Sorata, Robin, Arashi, and Bridget are my favorite names of the moment.

What role would you play on a 60s variety show/Getting Along Famously?