Dewey's Read-A-Thon

Right now I'm gearing up for Dewey's Read-Athon.

http://24hourreadathon.com/

To read for 24 hours normally isn't that big of a deal, but unfortunately, I woke up a little while ago feeling absolutely horrible. I was experiencing chills and a terrible pain in my head. I'm hoping I can make it through the read-athon. Some over-the-counter meds is helping for the moment, so we'll see how it goes. I'm been looking forward to the read-athon for the past two weeks, and I'd hate to bow out before it even starts.

Anyway, I've got a bunch of books on my BookCourier.

http://www.bookcourier.com

and I got some books from my favorite site:

http://www.bookshare.org

Some of my books include a few texts that I'm supposed to be reading for my English classes, so I'll probably get to those. Might as well kill two birds with one stone! And if that gets a little much, I've got several romances to sort through. Not sure what I have, as the books I put on were obtained weeks ago in preparation.

I'm going to try and blog while I'm reading since my eyes and hands will be free. I'm also going to be reading as I walk my little dog, eating and maybe a few house chores. I'm unsure how often I'll check in, but I'll do my best. Maybe once an hour or every so many pages. Some of my Bookshare.org books don't have visible page numbers, so I'm going to have to work out another way of telling how many pages I do.

Well, going to go prepare. I'll be checking in about thirty minutes from now to blog what book I chose.

Fairy Tales

In my college class we're studying fairy tales. I have to say, the one thing about this subject that always comes up is the naiveté that seems to ooze from all sorts of fairy tales. The subject of Disney is also brought up.

Now, I grew up on fairy tales. I enjoy them and thrive on them. However, it seems to me that whenever fairy tales are focused on or discussed, the one thing that always comes up is the damsel in distress, and the princess being saved by a handsome prince. Disney immortalized this theme, and I get the feeling that people think this is a bad thing.

I say it now and I say it then...

What's wrong with Disney? Is it so bad in the twenty-first century to still enjoy Disney? Are more parents shying away from Disney because it sends the "wrong" message to kids?

All my professors appear to elude to this. While I don't think all of them are sold on the idea, I think a lot of them believe that Disney had the market on teaching our kids about fairy tales, but sugar-coated it so much that it's giving us all a toothache.

I respect my professors and the other intellectuals around the world that believe in this viewpoint. However, I have to say I disagree. Disney and others like it are forms of entertainment. It's not like solid literature that we're exposed to when we reach the post-high school period of our lives.

Maybe I've got my head in the clouds, or maybe I'm still naive myself from all those hours of watching Disney. But I still feel there's nothing wrong with Disney. Other authors are welcome to adapt the stories and make them their own. However, the beauty of the beast is that we’re allowed choice. No one says we have to be stuck in a rut and only restrict ourselves to Disney, the Grimm’s or even Angela Carter.