Esoteric Bowl

Being a big fan of animation as I am, I was looking forward to seeing Chicken Little. However, I must admit that I was a little disappointed to hear that the cartoon somewhat strays from the original storyline. For example, I hear the story takes an ugly turn at the end when an angry Chicken Little denies over-hyping that the sky is falling, then he desperately accuses all the other farm animals of having the same intel that he had.
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Recently I’ve been occupying my mind with Howard Zinn’s Voices of a People’s History, which is a marvelous illuminating read. Comprised of more than 200 source documents, Voices is a vast anthology of American history.

Rather than republishing presidential speeches, Supreme Court decisions, and an all too familiar watered-down historic perspective, Voices focuses on pieces penned mostly by unknown figures who often stand on the lesser known side of history. Arranged chronologically, the volume begins in 1492 with the arrival of Columbus and concludes with Bush II and the “War on Terror”. In between, articles address such issues as slavery, the American Revolution, the women’s movement, the Civil War, protesting of the first World War, McCarthyism, union organization, racial segregation, corporate power, and the Vietnam War to name just a few.

The many articles are often emotionally gripping, thoughtfully written and heartfelt, and oftentimes expressed with a voice of defiance against much larger forces of the day. Thought-provoking, the parallels between the struggles of the past and those of the present are at times eerily similar. From a historical point of view, Voices continually reminds that some of the most dramatic changes in the American way of life have been brought about by revolutionary ideas from regular people who felt they had no other choice but to speak out and to fight. An informative and inspirational read.
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Have a great Aloha Friday!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 18th, 2005 at 7:58 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.