a world blinded

more likely than not, tookie williams will be killed by lethal injection tonight at 12:01. this man shares responsibility at least in part for the degradation of the younger generations. by founding the crips, he helped to bring even more self-destructive and violent behavior into the lives of millions of individuals. indirectly he's part of the reason why i suffer daily, watching my kids make terrible decisions in hope of being accepted by their homies. in his later life, he has renounced the gang life and worked to help others avoid. however, he will never be able to undo the damage he's caused.

despite all of this, i do not believe he should be killed by the state of california. his personal redemption aside, the destruction of his life will not atone for the lives of the four individuals he is convicted of killing. it will not make our society better. it will not undo all the evil he did in his younger life. it will only serve to fuel the fires of vengeance and hatred. when will we learn that forgiveness is always better than retribution? that rehabilitation is incomparably better than punishment? that we do not teach citizens that murder is wrong by doing the same to them? and in the words of mahatma gandhi, that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind?

lucy the valiant

some of my favorite childhood memories are of times spent at the home of our good friends from south africa. every day after school we would go to their home and spend hours playing imaginary games, reading books and creating masterpieces. i absolutely adored having a proper tea with karin the mother each afternoon. we would sit down with cookies and hot tea (on warmer days lemonade). afterwards she would let me play with her delicate porcelain dolls. it was a little girl's heaven...

my sister kat, nick, thomas and i would relive our favorite books over and over again. at the top of this list was the chronicles of narnia: the lion, the witch and the wardrobe. in their backyard we would travel to that magical land and battle against the evil witch and her army. i, being the youngest girl, was given the role of lucy. i did not want to be lucy. i wanted to be susan. lucy was played by a more than pleasantly plump little girl in the bbc version of the book. and she had this piercing whine of a voice. susan had arrows and a horn that could call help no matter where she was. lucy had a lame dagger and some potion that made people better. what a wimp.

today tess and i went to see the new version of the film. within the first 10 minutes i wanted to cry. i was flooded with visions of my childhood and my naive romance with the book. it's an amazingly beautiful tale that i can't wait to share with my own children. through our watching i realized that my younger aversion to being deemed lucy was completely misguided. lucy is the loveliest character in the story with the largest heart and the most bravery. if i could turn out like that small child, i'd be a lucky woman.

the new film is done extremely well and i highly recommend you all go see it (after you've read the book). take a tiny person with you, it'll make it all the better.

get down hit the floor

today in class i asked one of my kids if suge knight was on his tshirt. he could hardly stop laughing long enough to tell me that it was slim thug.

well, there goes my street credit.