Journal vs. Diary

This is one of those blogs where I will admit I was wrong. And since it is a blog it is in writing. For those who know me this is astonishing. Take a screenshot if you wish because I doubt this will happen to often. But my friends it is true…

I was wrong.

What was I wrong about you ask? The difference between a diary and a journal. Since I am a girl who loves anything that involves polarity of the sexes I wrote this post topic down as an interesting debate about how men write journals and women write diaries. I was gonna go into how women tend to be more emotional in the logs they keep where men tend to use journals for other reasons like to trigger a memory, maybe to get creative juices flowing or for just no other reason than to write.

But the sexes have nothing to do with the difference between a diary and a journal. And in actuality I had the two flipped.

A diary is meant as a log of sorts. To catalog your day. To write down what happened minute by minute.

A journal on the other hand is used more to write down emotions and memories. If my theory had been right a woman would use a journal and a man would use a diary. But as I said I was wrong.

Whats more? Some of the most famous diaries are not even from women they are from men!

 

Some of the most famous diaries are from men like Leonardo Da Vinci and Charles Darwin. This actually really surprised me. And now of course I want to head to the store and buy their diaries. I would love to know what such intelligent men wrote in their personal diaries. It must be fascinating.

But now I debate what I used to keep as a teen. I wrote about my day but I always included emotions. Much of my memories were colored by emotions and my writing reflects that. So did I keep a diary or a journal? This might be the million dollar question that will never be answered.

I think I almost prefer that I was right, men write journals and women write diaries. Because that is something I can understand and pin down. Oh well, such is life.

So bloggers. What do you keep? A journal or a diary? Or neither because you blog (like me :))

How Protective is Too Protective of Kids with Allergies?

One thing I gotta say about my book club is it makes for great blog content! Another debate we had at our last meeting was the way in which children are treated in regards to allergies. Now honestly I have no idea how we got on this topic. I can say with certainty it has NOTHING to do with the book. But we are all great debaters and somehow the convo took us there and debate we did. Now for the most part I was a spectator to this debate because honestly I was not sure what side of the fence I fell on…until now.

The debate was basically, are kids in school being coddled when it comes to allergies? The women were discussing how children (now we are talking preschool and elementary school kids) are sent to separate tables when they have severe allergies (i.e peanut allergies) and many schools even ask kids to avoid bringing foods with these ingredients to try and accommodate the other kids.

Now for me this is a tough one to look at. As you have seen from my previous posts I feel kids are way to coddled in schools (see Everyone is NOT a Winner). However, these kids are super young and don’t yet really understand their allergy. Although I am not yet a parent I think I would rather my future child come home and feel left out because of their allergy then not come home at all because they died or got sent to a hospital due to an accident.

The problem is everything goes to extremes. Schools are so afraid of doing something wrong that when they limit something they just basically rule it out entirely. Should the whole class suffer because my kid as an allergy? The answer should be no. However, unfortunately some kids have allergies so bad that even the smell could set them off. On top of that a teacher can’t help if another kid offers your kid something with said allergy in it. There are so many factors that the line becomes blurry.

So I turn to you bloggers. Are kids being too coddled in school when it comes to allergies or are schools making the right move?

Babel: Disconnectedness and Kids with Guns

This past week I saw a movie that was new to me, “Babel” starring Brad Pitt. I didn’t know a thing about this movie going into it so really I had no pre-conceived notions. Overall, I enjoyed the movie but I found myself rather disconnected from it due to the subtitles. I had to keep myself entirely engaged or I would lose the plot and would not be able to connect with the story line. And then I realized something, this sense of disconnectedness was a major part of the story. I am not sure if the directors intended this but for me that made this movie that much more enjoyable.

For those who have not seen it, I will give you a quick summary. The movie starts off with a man, Hassan, selling a gun to a friend to hunt buck. The man buys the gun and allows his kids to take possession of it in order to hunt. The kids are very young and because of this small act, a tourist (an American) ends up being shot. The movie follows the paths of the three families that are involved in this story and how although they are so disconnected they are actually very connected.

This however leads me to a big question, should small children be able to use guns. I for one am a huge believer in the right to bear arms and I believe all families should be able to protect themselves. But, I think this movie shows that children cannot be trusted with guns. They do not quite understand the severity of their actions just yet and they do not understand the value of a human life. This movie showed me how disconnected these children felt from their actions even though their actions deeply affected more than just their own lives.

One of the children in Babel

Many people argue that with the right discipline and training a child can use a gun supervised for purposes such as hunting. I don’t believe this should be allowed. A child does not understand what it means to take a life, even an animal life. Until they can feel those types of connections and understand what their actions truly mean I do not think they should have that type of power.

I think the disconnectedness the viewer feels when watching this movie is similar to the disconnectedness the children felt when they shot the van than wounded the tourist. After watching this I can say with certainty that I do not believe children should have access to guns in any way. Children need to learn compassion and the value of a life before they have the ability to take a life.

Compassion

So bloggers, even if you have not seen the movie, do you feel children should have the ability to use a gun?

 

What do YOU think?

Leave Paula Deen Alone!

This topic has been rolling over and over in my head since the story broke. When I first heard about Paula Deen and the trouble she has gotten herself into, I was appalled. I first learned the story from various social media mediums and the information I got was limited. I would see statuses or tweets like “Paula Deen is racist,” “Paula Deen uses N- word and loses show,” stuff like that. As much as I enjoyed her food and thought she was an awesome T. V personality the statuses and tweets did not seem to leave any room for sympathy..until I heard the whole story.

Paula Deen

For those who have not heard the WHOLE story, I want to give you a cliff notes version. Paula Deen’s restaurant in Savannah, Georgia is being sues for racial discrimination and harassment. Paula is not personally responsibility for the suit but she owns the restaurant so she is part of the law suit and was deposed. In her deposition they asked her if she ever told racial jokes or used the N- Word. According to CNN this is a transcript of that part of the deposition:

Jackson lawyer: “Miss Deen, have you told racial jokes?”

Deen: “No, not racial.”

Jackson lawyer: “Have you ever used the ‘N word’ yourself?”

Deen: “Yes, of course.”

Deen testified that she probably used the racial slur when talking to her husband about “when a black man burst into the bank that I was working at and put a gun to my head.”

“I didn’t feel real favorable towards him,” she said, referring to the robber.

Jackson lawyer: “Have you used it since then?”

Deen: “I’m sure I have, but it’s been a very long time.”

Deen said she couldn’t remember other contexts in which she used the slur, but “maybe in repeating something that was said to me.”

“But that’s just not a word that we use as time has gone on,” she said. “Things have changed since the ’60s in the South. And my children and my brother object to that word being used in any cruel or mean behavior.”

 

The one thing that really sticks out at me is how this happened years ago, likely before my lifetime. As Paula Deen explained it was a different time then and frankly she lived in the deep south where things like this were more common. She was under oath and she told the truth. Why is she losing her entire empire for that? She could have easily lied on the stand and the world would have stood by her side. That is a twisted world we live in.

I am 100 % against racism but I do not think Paula Deen deserves all of the flack she is getting. I think our Country is trying so hard to look not racist that we are demonizing a woman who told the truth on the stand and admitted to at one time being a product of her time. I am sure if asked many women who grew up in the same time and environment as her would admit to the same. Maybe instead of ruining her life we should commend her for her honesty and her changing views. Paula admits to growing with the times, maybe the world can be a little more open-minded as well.

So bloggers I turn to you, how do you feel about the Paula Deen spectacle? Do you believe she should have lost her empire for this?