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I will have to say that these two shorts were completely different from each other. I know it's supposed to be about war and conflict, but in That only a Mother there really wasn't much war. Now in We see things differently it is based during a war time situation.

I really couldn't get into We see things differently, it seemed to drag on and on and honestly was quite boring. I did find it funny that the author was trying to bring back the pilgrim days, with the stagecoach circle of buses that the pop singer had his buses form. Along with all the battle gear to go with it. It seems the author was trying to give his own reality to Operation Desert Shield/Storm, alot of the references remind alot of that time.

Now the short, That only a Mother, really hit home with me. I am a mother, and I am a mother to a special needs child. It is so true that us mothers don't see the faults with our children as others do. To us, they are precious and blessings. I don't see a special needs child, I see a young man who is gifted in so many other ways. He has a very high IQ, he is blessed with the ability of recall, he has a heart of gold and most of all he is my child. Society always sees faults in everyone, they tend to stare and point, they ask the questions, they can't seem to wrap it around their heads that it's a child, and it's a gift, no matter what shape, size or special need. I loved how this mother, loved her baby girl, no matter what her body looked like. I think the author hit it on the head, with this story and how society looks at those that are different.

Blog 2

Passengers by Robert Silverberg, was quite interesting. The terms he uses for the alien species, makes you think of a person riding a horse or a fly catching a ride on a car. The ability of the aliens to take your memory and only leave you with what they choose, sounds like the human condition of alzheimers. A brain disease that takes all you memories and leaves you with pieces and not all the time the same pieces. How the main character, Charles, attempts to make a relationship work with a woman that he supposedly remembers while he was "ridden" and how she fights it. Makes you think they are teen-agers in lust with one another. The world they live in is driven by computers, so much like the world we live in now. So many of our jobs are computer driven, our cars have computers in them, our phones have become pocket sized computers. There are homes that can talk to you, and turn things on and off. The ability for these aliens to take your body and noone will watch you being taken over or when the "ride" is done, is so like the human condition. We ignore people who act strange on the streets, giving them a wide gearth so as not to get what they have, as people lay in the streets coming down from their highs, we ignore them but talk about them as we walk past. Our society is so based on the self-preservation thing. Even the aliens have tendencies that we as a society today think are unacceptable. If aliens have no problem with it why should we?



Out of All Them Bright Stars by Nancy Kress was way to short. So much more could have been added in for detail. This short really reminds me of how our society can't accept something that is not "normal", if you are a different color, a different race, a different religion, everyone has something negative to say about it. Enough negative things that are said can be influential on others, and the pressure  to "fit" in starts to hit. John is different, and Charlie has so much negativity to say, he can't stand him, doesn't want him around his place of buisness, afraid he will run off the customers. The old saying, "don't judge a book by its cover" comes to mind for this short. Our society is so quick to judge every book it sees, and so much hatred exists today because of it.

Not much of a blogger on books, I hope to improve with each blog :)


Updates:
After discussing both of these shorts, there really isn't much to add. There were some really interesting points of view brought up, for Passengers, I really didn't think about it in the mental illness perspective, which is pretty interesting.

blog set 1

Hi, my name is Tanya, I took this class because of my interest in horror and fantasy, well, more horror then fantasy....My favorite author is Dean Koontz, at one time, as a young kid I was obsessed with Stephen King, but alot of his works are identical and it became boring and very predictable. I found Dragon Eyes by Dean Koontz and was hooked. My love for horror has wore off on my youngest son, who shares my passion and who will sit and pick apart a horror movie with me. Our favorite horror movies are Halloween, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street and Saw.

I am hoping to get some good reading from this class, better then the old Shakespeare English class stuff, and to learn a bit about where alot of these genres originate from.

Hope this semester is fun-filled with new material and new friends! Adios!