Dear Bloggie,
I know I've mentioned her before, but there is this blogger that I follow named Evie J. She used to have some of her books up on inkpop a while ago, and even though she left the site after making the top five three times, I follow her blog so I still know about her. Well, right now she has another awesome giveaway going on. Not for a blog layout like last time, but instead for one of her favorite books, Between Shades of Gray. Not only is she giving away the book, but it also comes with two book marks, a bookplate, and a soundtrack download card! I REALLY HOPE I WIN THIS ONE. I've been wanting the book ever since I first saw her review. Getting it this way, well, that would just be too awesome. To enter the giveaway click here. May the odds be ever in your favor.
~ XOXO,
Ariana
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Osama Bin Laden: How Is This Solving Anything?
Dear Bloggie,
By now you've probably heard that the U.S. killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda. Now many people are happy and are celebrating, but from the moment I heard about it and heard that all these people were happy, all I could think was "What gave us the right?"
I'm not trying to justify his actions. Obviously he wasn't a very good person. He had issues and organized that worst attack on American soil to date, September 11. He killed thousands and thousands of people. But just because he seemed cruel in our eyes, doesn't mean we had any right to kill him. He had wives. Children. Siblings. He was a person and a human being. We have no right to take away his life. Capture him. Yeah. Give him a trial. Yeah. Give him so many life sentences that he will never ever see anything besides a prison for the rest of his life, yeah. But kill him. No.
I'm very much against the death penalty, no matter what the crime. It's weird that I can believe in abortion and euthanasia, but I can't believe in killing criminals. Maybe it's because with abortion I see it as the women's choice since she the one who has to carry the baby for nine months. With euthanasia the person wants to die too. Plus, they are facing a death soon enough anyway. At least this way it can be done with the least pain. But the death penalty, your just killing them. It's not out of need or out of a want not to let the person suffer, but it's out of revenge. And then how they let the family watch the person be put to death. It's just horrible. And what happens if you have the wrong person? You can't go back and revoke the penalty. It's too late.
Now in the case of Osama, there is most likely be no suddenly surfacing proof that he didn't kill all these people or that he was really innocent. Still, what gives us the right to kill him. Call me a hippie (which I sorta am, more and more each day I spend t art school, the hippie retreat of the world), but killing isn't going to solve anything. Killing and killing and killing. That's all our world does. Why can't we all be peaceful and just love. Look at the hippies of the sixties. Yeah maybe they're were stoned most of the time, but so what? Hello, I go to art school; I know plenty of people who either smoke pot or have at least tried it. I know many people who very openly want it to be made legal. I'm not really going into what my view on it is right now (it would way too long and already this post is becoming longer then I originally expected) but I think the hippies were on to something.
They just wanted peace and love. I wish their movement worked. I wish our world was at peace. I wish I didn't worry all the time that the plane I hear overhead may crash and kill me or others. I wish I never had to worry about riding a plane because the mere thought leaves me very paranoid. I wish I would never have to think of the possibility of World War III or that Al Qaeda may now want to get back at the U.S. for taking down its leader. I'm fifteen, I shouldn't be scared about these things.
More then that, I wish I could say that I'm just some crazy paranoid teenager whose thoughts are nothing like her friends and fellow pupils. But I'm not. I'm not the only one who thinks these thing and I'm not the only one that worries and who is sacred. Adults can criticize my generation and say we're lazy and care more about TV and video games, but it's not true. We're a generation that has been exposed to the media since birth, leaving us very knowledgeable about the world around us. In some ways, this has robbed of parts of our childhoods. I was four at the time of 9/11. From an early age I saw our world at war. TV, war, news. My generation knows all about it. Most of us have our own opinions and voices. We don't all always use them, but we all have them. It sucks sometimes knowing so much about war. Knowing that you want so much but will most likely only get half of it. If we were hippies, we would never have to worry about any of this ever again.
~XOXO,
Ariana
By now you've probably heard that the U.S. killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda. Now many people are happy and are celebrating, but from the moment I heard about it and heard that all these people were happy, all I could think was "What gave us the right?"
I'm not trying to justify his actions. Obviously he wasn't a very good person. He had issues and organized that worst attack on American soil to date, September 11. He killed thousands and thousands of people. But just because he seemed cruel in our eyes, doesn't mean we had any right to kill him. He had wives. Children. Siblings. He was a person and a human being. We have no right to take away his life. Capture him. Yeah. Give him a trial. Yeah. Give him so many life sentences that he will never ever see anything besides a prison for the rest of his life, yeah. But kill him. No.
I'm very much against the death penalty, no matter what the crime. It's weird that I can believe in abortion and euthanasia, but I can't believe in killing criminals. Maybe it's because with abortion I see it as the women's choice since she the one who has to carry the baby for nine months. With euthanasia the person wants to die too. Plus, they are facing a death soon enough anyway. At least this way it can be done with the least pain. But the death penalty, your just killing them. It's not out of need or out of a want not to let the person suffer, but it's out of revenge. And then how they let the family watch the person be put to death. It's just horrible. And what happens if you have the wrong person? You can't go back and revoke the penalty. It's too late.
Now in the case of Osama, there is most likely be no suddenly surfacing proof that he didn't kill all these people or that he was really innocent. Still, what gives us the right to kill him. Call me a hippie (which I sorta am, more and more each day I spend t art school, the hippie retreat of the world), but killing isn't going to solve anything. Killing and killing and killing. That's all our world does. Why can't we all be peaceful and just love. Look at the hippies of the sixties. Yeah maybe they're were stoned most of the time, but so what? Hello, I go to art school; I know plenty of people who either smoke pot or have at least tried it. I know many people who very openly want it to be made legal. I'm not really going into what my view on it is right now (it would way too long and already this post is becoming longer then I originally expected) but I think the hippies were on to something.
They just wanted peace and love. I wish their movement worked. I wish our world was at peace. I wish I didn't worry all the time that the plane I hear overhead may crash and kill me or others. I wish I never had to worry about riding a plane because the mere thought leaves me very paranoid. I wish I would never have to think of the possibility of World War III or that Al Qaeda may now want to get back at the U.S. for taking down its leader. I'm fifteen, I shouldn't be scared about these things.
More then that, I wish I could say that I'm just some crazy paranoid teenager whose thoughts are nothing like her friends and fellow pupils. But I'm not. I'm not the only one who thinks these thing and I'm not the only one that worries and who is sacred. Adults can criticize my generation and say we're lazy and care more about TV and video games, but it's not true. We're a generation that has been exposed to the media since birth, leaving us very knowledgeable about the world around us. In some ways, this has robbed of parts of our childhoods. I was four at the time of 9/11. From an early age I saw our world at war. TV, war, news. My generation knows all about it. Most of us have our own opinions and voices. We don't all always use them, but we all have them. It sucks sometimes knowing so much about war. Knowing that you want so much but will most likely only get half of it. If we were hippies, we would never have to worry about any of this ever again.
In hopes that we can all get along and live as hippies,
here's some inspiration. My favorite song from ANY
musical EVER. I have this supreme want to just sing this
with my friends and the people I care about. Laughing and
singing and hoping that one day we (the human race) can
let the sunshine and we can live happily in the sun like our
hippie predecessors dreamed of. When I die one day (In
a very, very, VERY long time) I want this song played at
here's some inspiration. My favorite song from ANY
musical EVER. I have this supreme want to just sing this
with my friends and the people I care about. Laughing and
singing and hoping that one day we (the human race) can
let the sunshine and we can live happily in the sun like our
hippie predecessors dreamed of. When I die one day (In
a very, very, VERY long time) I want this song played at
my funeral. Hippie until the end. :)
~XOXO,
Ariana
Monday, May 2, 2011
What Musicals Mean to Me
Dear Bloggie,I went to see Hair today. You know, the musical. It was so wonderful that I almost cried. Especially when I saw (insert character name that I can't really write or it would ruin the story) dead at the end. You see, I love musicals. I wish I could sing and dance so I could be in them, but I can't. So instead I just love seeing them. Most of the musicals I have seen are the movie versions, though for the first time last February I saw one live at the big theater in my town, the Bushnell. It's called Spring Awakening and it was just fantastic. I bought the CD shortly after (the CD is of the original Broadway cast, of which includes Lea Michell for those Glee fans reading) and it's one of my most listened to CDs.
While I love musicals, I'm not exactly the type that loves happy ones. My mom wants to see Wicked in the fall, and yeah, I've been wanting to for a couple of years now, but I'm not sure if I really want to anymore. Not because I don't think it's good -- I've heard quite the opposite -- but because it seems too happy. I know it sounds weird, but I guess the sadder musicals like Spring Awakening and Hair and Rent (which I've seen parts of the movie version so I know what happens) move me more. And that's why I love musicals, because they're an experience. Sitting in a room with hundreds of other people as actors stand on stage not so much acting, but becoming the characters they play. It's an emotional experience that moves me in a way that just listening to a CD or just watching a movie can't. When you combine music with a story and acting you create something so amazing.
There is a list of musicals I want to see one day:
Even though I prefer the sadder musicals, both Avenue Q and Chicago are happier ones. In the case of Avenue Q, I make the exception because it's funny. My friend Jake and I are always singing songs from it. In the case of Chicago, I watched the movie version with Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta Jones and loved it so much that I want to see it.
I'm trying to convince my mom to see West Side Story next month when it comes to the Bushnell. Hopefully there are still tickets left and we can go. We'll see.~ XOXO,
Ariana
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Book Blog
Dear Bloggie,
After asking for name suggestions yesterday, I finally choose one for my new book review blog. The Babbling Book Queen! Thank you so much to the wonderful Jennifer (a.k.a The DiVine Writer) for the suggestion, it was perfect.
~ XOXO,
Ariana
After asking for name suggestions yesterday, I finally choose one for my new book review blog. The Babbling Book Queen! Thank you so much to the wonderful Jennifer (a.k.a The DiVine Writer) for the suggestion, it was perfect.
~ XOXO,
Ariana
