Category: In the News

Being pro-life and pro-refugee

Being pro-life and pro-refugee (palomacruz.com)

I came across this quote in an op-ed about reconciling pro-life beliefs with the reality of ongoing Christian values:

[snip]

“I can no longer persuade myself that the birth of the child is the end of my pro-life agenda. I must be “pro” everything needed for that child not just to be born, but to flourish.

This means that I need to be pro education and pro job growth, and pro many other things I never considered as connected to my pro-life convictions.”

[snip]

I’ve always wondered how some people can be fine with endorsing legislation that ensures that children live in poverty, go hungry, and have very little access to education or hope while at the same time saying that they’re pro-life. Does the care for that life end with the first breathe?

It’s an interesting read.

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SOURCE: I’m Pro-Life, and Pro-Refugee

It’s just a bit of cold and ice

2014.01 snowDear Houston,

I understand that we’ve set up the city in such a way that 5 minutes of rain can bring parts of the city to a halt. There are even days when I find it charming. And I understand that we really are not equipped for freezing temperatures, let alone freezing temperatures that are joined by liquid (which promptly freezes) falling from the sky.

And I’ve come to just accept it as the cost of living in Houston that we absolutely cannot drive in any condition that isn’t perfect sunlight and dry roads. It’s like that particular skill is erased from all brains upon relocation to this city.

But, I beg of you, please at least wait until the inclement weather is here to overreact.

That is all. You can go back to freaking out.

 

One more thing to worry about… Piranhas

2013.12 piranhaEvery time I go in to an open body of water I am absolutely convinced there’s something lurking underneath. Sharks, killer bacteria, alligators, snakes, swamp thing… I know they’re all there, waiting for me to be dumb enough to enter the water.

Yes, I know that Swamp Thing is a made up thing, but you can’t convince me of that while I’m in the water.

Stories like this, about piranhas attacking people in water where there aren’t supposed to be any piranhas… well, that’s just not going to help.

“Bitten” is coming to SyFy

2013.12 Bitten bookSo, for those of you who are fans of Science Fiction, and all its subgrenres, Bitten is coming to the SyFy Network.

Bitten is the first book in Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld series. Written in first person, Bitten follows Elena Michaels as she’s called back home from the life she’s trying to create in the normal world to the life she has tried to leave behind. Elena is a werewolf, reportedly the only known female werewolf in the world, and she’s not one by choice. We learn that Elena was turned without consent and without knowledge by the only person she trusted, her boyfriend Clayton Danvers.

Please don’t let this Harlequin-sounding plotline turn you off. The writing is exceptional. I got the sense that I understood Elena, even if I didn’t always agree with her flawed reasoning. And the fact that the entire book happens in her voice, in her mind and from her perspective, is genius for this type of book.

I am a fan of the Urban Fantasy genre, which basically means books about supernatural/paranormal/science fiction that are set in the “real world” instead of a completely made up one. Think Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and yes, even to an extent, Harry Potter. Books that take the world we see everyday and add witches, vampires, werewolves, angels, faeries, creatures from outer space and things that go bump in the night. Armstrong’s series is one I recommend without reservation.

2013.12 Bitten showI’m always more than a little apprehensive when one of my favorite books is turned into a television show or a movie. I almost always hate it. In fact, it’s gotten to where I try not to read the book if I know a movie is on its way. I always enjoy the movie much more if I go in ignorant of what the original author wrote and not what the screenwriter or director created as an interpretation.

This caution is especially evident when there’s a strong female character. I love Elena especially because she’s trying so hard to delude herself about what she really wants and what her options are. Ultimately, she is Clayton’s mate, his equal, and, eventually, the pack alpha… but that’s more than a dozen books into the series, and a lot of spoilers.

I have read that the show isn’t a series so much as a 13-part serial covering the first book. Regardless, I am going to watch because I am curious.

The show premieres Monday, January 13, 2014 10/9c on the SyFy Channel.

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Notes & resources:

Has the zombie apocalypse begun?

2013.10 Zombie Walk 7855016806_346127d978_zThis weekend is the annual Houston Zombie Walk. As a “fan” of zombies in the media (books, movies, shows), I can understand that allure of dressing up as one or even attending an event to watch others dressed up as zombies. But, and I have to be honest here, there’s a part of me that remembers that this is the way many many horror flicks start: a “fake” event that turns real. Just in case the zombies “come to life,” I want to be far far away.

Before you laugh at me too much, let me remind you that there have been a few reports in the news about people “on drugs” literally eating other people. And I mean biting off chunks and ingesting them. {{shudder}} It’s been more than a few and they’ve been in different parts of the country.

I like to think that I’m a rational person. So, I convinced myself that it was just an unfortunate side effect to bad drugs (though how high you have to be before cannibalism seems like a good idea escapes me). Because, really, zombies are not real.

The I came across a news story talking about a new drug that eats your flesh from the inside out. Basically, it kills your flesh, organs, veins, etc. one at a time until you die. It’s being called “the zombie drug.”

Okay. Is it possible that the zombie apocalypse has already started and is being covered up?

A friend of mine scoffed at me when I posed this question to her. (And it’s amazing that it wasn’t the question itself that made her laugh, but the logic behind it.) “If this was the zombie apocalypse, then the end of the world would have arrived already. It’s supposed to be fast,” she tells me.

And my response? So, maybe, just maybe, it’s a slow zombie apocalypse. I don’t think we should discount the possibility just because entertainment got the speed wrong.

So, all in all, I think I’ll stay away from the Zombie Walk for the time being. You can take your chances; I’ll follow your updates on Twitter.

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/77884566@N00/7855016806/.