a few things from this week:
1. hanukkah began on wednesday night. we have a little girl in our class who is jewish and celebrates hanukkah. she knows that i have some knowledge of judaism, and all week long she kept telling me how sad she was for me that i won't be getting any hanukkah presents, despite the fact that i told her my family doesn't celebrate hanukkah. also, while telling our class about hanukkah, i had a strong desire to sing hanukkah songs with the class. it made me miss my kids at the j :)
2. can anyone else not believe that it is december??
3. thursday night, my family went to the aso to see handel's messiah. it was wonderful and fun being with the family. on the way out however, i lost my footing on the stairs because my shoe fell off and i slid down the stairs. it is a wonder i didn't topple completely over, but apparently i slid very gracefully, with my legs tucked under me quite ladylike and all (or so i was told....)!!
4. this week at lunch, i ate with the kids one day and noticed that one of the little girls was praying before she ate her food. it was precious and amazing....and made me remember how often i don't make it a point to thank God for the food He has provided.
5. did anyone else see the campaign some celebrities started to raise money for hiv/aids? the idea was that they would die a digital death (signing off of twitter, fb, etc) until they raised $1 million for the cause. Fans and others who wanted to participate would donate money to "buy back" their digital lives. they've also invited others to join in, "sacrificing" your own personal digital life along with the celebs. it started on december 1 and here's what it says on their website:
"the world's most followed celebrity tweeters are sacrificing their digital lives to help save millions of real lives affected by hiv/aids in africa and india. that means no more twitter or facebook updates from any of them. no more knowing where they are, what they had for dinner, or what interesting things are happening in their lives. from here on out, they're dead. kaput. finished. but they don't have to die in vain. and they don't have to stay dead for long. just watch their last tweet and testaments, and buy their lives back. every single dollar helps keep a child alive fight this terrible disease. and when $1,000,000 is reached, everyone will be back online and tweeting in no time."
however, as of now, fans have only raised around $300,000 (just under, the last time i saw the numbers). it has only been a few days, so that amount in a few days is wonderful. but while i think it admirable that the celebrities are trying to raise money for it and awareness of the hiv/aids crisis, i think it's a little arrogant to say that your twitter updates are so important that people wont be able to live without them so they'll donate money to get you back online. it may not have been their intent, but that's what this campaign says to me. it is an honorable cause, and one to which i think we've not paid enough attention. but i do have some questions and thoughts:
*even though it is only in its beginning stages, i find it amusing that fans have not "bought back" the digital lives of these celebrities. i guess we don't need to know "where they are, what they had for dinner, or what interesting things are going on in their lives" after all. in fact, i think we're probably better off not knowing. maybe it will show us that all this internet communication and constantly knowing what is going on in everyone's lives (or letting others know what's going on in ours) isn't really all that important. maybe it will make us remember that we had lives before all this communication and that without it, our lives will continue to go on (who would've thought!!). maybe we'll rediscover things we did before all the stuff on the internet started taking up all our time.
*are they really going to stay "digitally dead" until they raise that money? what if it goes on for a few weeks? or longer? what if they never raise that money? will they stop the campaign or keep it up? how long will they be sacrificing their digital lives?
*are we really that dependent on the updates of the lives of people we don't know that we would feel desperate enough to spend money to buy them back online? what does this say about us?
*if people are sending in money for this cause, based on this campaign, are they sending the money in because they believe in the purpose of the campaign or simply because they want to be able to keep tabs on their favorite celebrities? and does it really matter if the money is going to a good cause?
i guess regardless of any of this, keep a child alive is a good thing, and at least more people will have heard about it....thoughts?
6. i bought a christmas travel mug today for really cheap!
i guess that's all....
have a wonderful day!
1. hanukkah began on wednesday night. we have a little girl in our class who is jewish and celebrates hanukkah. she knows that i have some knowledge of judaism, and all week long she kept telling me how sad she was for me that i won't be getting any hanukkah presents, despite the fact that i told her my family doesn't celebrate hanukkah. also, while telling our class about hanukkah, i had a strong desire to sing hanukkah songs with the class. it made me miss my kids at the j :)
2. can anyone else not believe that it is december??
3. thursday night, my family went to the aso to see handel's messiah. it was wonderful and fun being with the family. on the way out however, i lost my footing on the stairs because my shoe fell off and i slid down the stairs. it is a wonder i didn't topple completely over, but apparently i slid very gracefully, with my legs tucked under me quite ladylike and all (or so i was told....)!!
4. this week at lunch, i ate with the kids one day and noticed that one of the little girls was praying before she ate her food. it was precious and amazing....and made me remember how often i don't make it a point to thank God for the food He has provided.
5. did anyone else see the campaign some celebrities started to raise money for hiv/aids? the idea was that they would die a digital death (signing off of twitter, fb, etc) until they raised $1 million for the cause. Fans and others who wanted to participate would donate money to "buy back" their digital lives. they've also invited others to join in, "sacrificing" your own personal digital life along with the celebs. it started on december 1 and here's what it says on their website:
"the world's most followed celebrity tweeters are sacrificing their digital lives to help save millions of real lives affected by hiv/aids in africa and india. that means no more twitter or facebook updates from any of them. no more knowing where they are, what they had for dinner, or what interesting things are happening in their lives. from here on out, they're dead. kaput. finished. but they don't have to die in vain. and they don't have to stay dead for long. just watch their last tweet and testaments, and buy their lives back. every single dollar helps keep a child alive fight this terrible disease. and when $1,000,000 is reached, everyone will be back online and tweeting in no time."
however, as of now, fans have only raised around $300,000 (just under, the last time i saw the numbers). it has only been a few days, so that amount in a few days is wonderful. but while i think it admirable that the celebrities are trying to raise money for it and awareness of the hiv/aids crisis, i think it's a little arrogant to say that your twitter updates are so important that people wont be able to live without them so they'll donate money to get you back online. it may not have been their intent, but that's what this campaign says to me. it is an honorable cause, and one to which i think we've not paid enough attention. but i do have some questions and thoughts:
*even though it is only in its beginning stages, i find it amusing that fans have not "bought back" the digital lives of these celebrities. i guess we don't need to know "where they are, what they had for dinner, or what interesting things are going on in their lives" after all. in fact, i think we're probably better off not knowing. maybe it will show us that all this internet communication and constantly knowing what is going on in everyone's lives (or letting others know what's going on in ours) isn't really all that important. maybe it will make us remember that we had lives before all this communication and that without it, our lives will continue to go on (who would've thought!!). maybe we'll rediscover things we did before all the stuff on the internet started taking up all our time.
*are they really going to stay "digitally dead" until they raise that money? what if it goes on for a few weeks? or longer? what if they never raise that money? will they stop the campaign or keep it up? how long will they be sacrificing their digital lives?
*are we really that dependent on the updates of the lives of people we don't know that we would feel desperate enough to spend money to buy them back online? what does this say about us?
*if people are sending in money for this cause, based on this campaign, are they sending the money in because they believe in the purpose of the campaign or simply because they want to be able to keep tabs on their favorite celebrities? and does it really matter if the money is going to a good cause?
i guess regardless of any of this, keep a child alive is a good thing, and at least more people will have heard about it....thoughts?
6. i bought a christmas travel mug today for really cheap!
i guess that's all....
have a wonderful day!
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