After dinner he decided that he was going to give it a try and make a list of all of the sayings that he could come up with.  As he came up with a new saying he would ask me if it was “right” and I told him that I just learned the concept myself and right now what I think is he should focus on having fun.  I was just so excited to see him having fun with something other than video games. 

After he was finished with his list he wanted to know if I could put it on my blog. I hadn’t thought about it but he was not going to let it go so I thought, why not. So, as promised here is the list he came up with:

• bacon, lettuce, and tomato
• snap, crackle, and pop
• shake, rattle, and roll
• big, bold, and beautiful (his description of me)
• hop, skip, and jump
• hip, hop, and hooray
• Peter, Paul, and Mary
• Tom, Dick, and Harry
• Larry, Moe, and Curly
• earth, wind, and fire
• me, you, and blue (from Blues Clues cartoon)
• reading, writing, and arithmetic

What a list, huh?  I’m sure by the end of the day today he will have more and I have no doubt they will have something to do with music, food or television. 

 peace, love, and happiness

As I continued to sit there in my cushioned seat munching on popcorn and red vine licorice I couldn’t help wondering what message the creators of this film were trying to get across to young people.  I kept having to tell myself that I needed to keep an open mind because after all this is the first ever “black” princess movie they have ever made and I am sure that they were being extra sensitive when it came to stereotyping. 

So, after the first scene when they featured the soon to be princesses mom being a paid seamstress to a wealthy white family and the princesses dad working three low wage jobs to provide for his family it was hard for my mind to wander to how much of a stereotype that was.  Come on, why is it that they couldn’t have portrayed the wealthy family as another family of color?  With all of the possible scenarios out there I am saddened by their choice of character roles here. 

Throughout the whole movie there were stereotype after stereotype from the portrayal of dumb, strange talking bayou people who didn’t have a good brain cell among any of them to bubbly air headed blond rich girls.  The most ridiculous of all for me was how they showed the characters that practiced black magic.  Did they really have to be black?  The black shadow man character was really difficult for me to watch without wanting to scream out in pain.  The so called “good witch” in this movie wasn’t a witch at all but a back woods, blind, crazy old lady who in my opinion did not change any minds about the possibility that magic could be something other than dark and evil. 

The only positives when I think about this movie are the animal characters.  If it weren’t for the animal characters in this movie I would have demanded my money back, even if it was only a dollar fifty.  They lightened up the movie for me and their music was fun but sadly not memorable.  My favorite part of Disney animated movies has always been the songs.  I have never been disappointed before and have always had the pleasure of walking away from a movie for that first time and being able to hum or sing a few bars of the songs and most importantly remember some songs for the rest of my life.  This was definitely not the case for me this time. 

Needless to say that this was not my favorite animated movie of all time.  I am happy that Disney did take the leap and feature a non-white princess but at the end of the day I am still disappointed at how they chose to portray all of the characters.  I hope they do better next time.  Please, do better next time because the last thing we need is another generation growing up thinking that people of color are evil slimy frogs in disguise.

By all accounts the roundabout seemed like a beautiful and safe way to take care of a heavily traveled and dangerous intersection but it is not being used for the purposes that is was designed for.  Many cars stop and wait for long periods of time instead of yielding and many drivers don’t stop or yield at all and speed through the roundabout.  

I will give the planners and engineers of the roundabout a little credit because the roundabout did save our community money in the long run by cutting future costs of the up-keep and maintenance of traffic lights and signals and it does look more appealing to the eye than what was in its place before.  

However, it did not effectively reduce my travel time or others in the community.  In fact, it did the exact opposite in that it now adds extra time to my daily commute and everyone else’s because it is not being used as originally intended by the engineers and planners when they were dreaming up the roundabout concept.  In addition, it has made it more difficult for all drivers, pedestrians and bikers to safely enter oncoming traffic and did not increase but decrease traveler safety. 

In a nutshell, roundabouts are pleasing to the eye but not so pleasing to drive around in heavy traffic on a daily basis or when you need to get somewhere in a timely manner.  My take on roundabouts is that if you are in a time crunch, have a problem with road rage or you just don’t feel like wearing body armor and a helmet when crossing a crosswalk, a roundabout is not for you.

Here is a photo of a roundabout as conceptualized by engineers and planners for a community in the United States.  Now close your eyes and imagine yourself trying to drive through this same roundabout during rush hour traffic!   

So, it has been four weeks and many burritos and tacos later and I’m now a true believer in this drive-thru diet concept because with all of the gimmicks aside it really comes down to making sensible eating choices.  Of course, this concept is not a new one and dieticians for decades have been telling us this same thing.  However, Taco Bell and other fast food chains like Subway have caught up with this theory and are now using it to their advantage and marketing it as a way to make money in an economy where consumers are watching more than their waistlines; their pocket books.  

All it took for me to kick-start my healthier eating style and save a little money doing it was to try something new and a little far-fetched.  This concept is a futuristic one, but one that I see as appealing to the masses and I can tell you from personal experience that it can work.  I remember an old saying that my grandma used to tell me “don’t knock it until you try it” and I totally believe that grandma had it right with that one.  Sometimes the most outrageous ideas are the ones that work.

I would have to say no because it took him 15 years and not two or even three years to announce to her family and to the courts that his wife expressed to him that she would rather die than live in a permanently vegetative state.   

While no one would choose to live a life confined to a bed and having to be fed through a feeding tube, I see his choice to end her life and deprive her of the nutrients she needed to continue living not as the actions of a heroic, loving and supportive husband, but one based on his own personal motives and desires.  

In my opinion he was not in the right frame of mind to make such an important decision for his wife because his mind was clouded with thoughts of the new woman in his live and the children that they had together. He conveniently remembered a conversation that he claims he had with Terri prior to her accident and used it as a legal way out of a relationship that was keeping him from marrying his live-in girlfriend and moving forward with the life he felt he deserved.  He was putting his own personal needs ahead of caring for his brain-damaged wife.  

Going back to this conversation that he remembered having with his wife, I have to question whether or not he was remembering the actual details of the conversation as told to him by his wife prior to the accident or did he invent certain details that were not part of their conversation because he is telling himself that is how the conversation took place and that he would be doing his wife an injustice if he did not act upon her wishes.  

In the end I believe that Terri’s husband deprived her of a peaceful death and in turn did not allow her to die with dignity but rather destined her to die a slow painful death as a result of starvation, which is a horribly inhumane way to die.  In my mind I relate the inhumane way she died from starvation as being similar to the horrible way that many Jews starved to death during the war.  Was it wise to allow a man with such clouded judgment to make such a life changing decision over another person’s life?  Have we not learned anything from the sufferings of many at the hands of Hitler?  Are we allowing history to be repeated by killing off people that are no longer deemed useful?  As hitory has shown us, Hitler killed massive amounts of people and I’m left to wonder if we could we be doing the exact same thing by killing one person at a time over a longer period of time?

A child can be born into the most loving and nurturing family environment but end up choosing to make bad choices and consequently becomes labeled by society as being a bad person.  Of course, there is always the flip side of that where a child has a terrible family life and then against all odds becomes by societies standards a good and moral human being.    

Take Kip Kinkel for example who by all accounts was born into a loving family, but opted to kill both his parents and then go on a shooting rampage at his school.  By contrast his sister, who was raised with the same beliefs and values as her brother, did not end up taking that same path in life.    

Taking into consideration this example it is evident to me that Kip’s bad behavior was not something he was born with but resulted from a decision he made to be bad.  When all’s said and done, what it comes down to is being bad is a personal choice and ultimately people are responsible for their destinies, good or bad.

While I see the intent for preventing potential traffic accidents or deaths, I find myself resisting the change, choosing to chat on my cell phone without a hands-free device and continuously doing it every time I am behind the wheel. Choosing to change is challenging for me right now.

However, I cannot afford to pay the price of a ticket should I get pulled over by a police officer so I really do need to retrain my brain and change.

All this change has me wondering how enforcing this new law is impacting our local police departments and courts who are already operating on tight budget restraints and under staffed as it is.

It also has me thinking about whose struggle to change their way of doing things might be greater, mine or the police officer who needs to decide who to pull over; a speeding driver, a suspected drunk driver or a mother who receives a call from a child in crisis and reaches for her phone and answers before putting on her hands-free device.

I am very excited - a new blogging site and the start of a new adventure!