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Banned Book Club: And Tango Makes Three

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Title: And Tango Makes Three

Published: 2005

Author: Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell (illustrated by Henry Cole)

Challenge status: Last year (2012) it was the #5 most challenged book tracked by ALA/OIF. #1 most challenged book in 2010, 2008, 2007 & 2006 (#2 in 2009).

Why: Homosexuality, religious viewpoint, and unsuited to age group.

First line: “In the middle of New York City there is a great big park called Central Park.”

Synopsis: I literally don’t know how to write this review. The book for young children, ages 4+ (pre-school to grade 3). It is based on a true story about two penguins who acted as “surrogates” to an unhatched egg (one penguin couple had two eggs, but could only care for one through the hatching process). The key point is that the two penguins acting as surrogates were both male – a and a couple – so the baby penguin (Tango) gets hatched by two daddies. It’s adorable, and it’s about love (the only direct commentary is when the zookeeper thinks to himself that Roy and Silo “must be in love”, but otherwise the book is simply about a loving family unit)

It’s easy to imagine the arguments that a same-sex (albeit penguin) couple successfully hatching and raising a baby has generated – on both sides. So let’s skip it. Main takeaway: Adorable and awesome penguins are adorable and awesome. It’s people that are crazy.

 

The Goal Game: Finding Glue to Make Resolutions Stick

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The best goals have long roads ahead of them, which is why getting there should be part of the fun

It’s no surprise that fitness centers see a nice healthy bump in new client registrations, or that the local bookstore will have a table set up with diet and fitness books featuring the newest programs. Yes, January 1st is the most optimistic day of the year, but February is approaching fast, and already those books are being marked down and treadmills are starting to open up at peak time in the gym. According to Richard Wiseman, a researcher based at University of Hertfordshire in the UK, recent studies showed that only about 12% of people in the study were able to stick to their resolutions — but there are ways to improve the odds.

Wiseman’s even posted a simple quiz to help us figure out the likelihood of achieving our goals.  I tried it out for two of my goals, one fitness-related, and one related to maintaining this blog. For both I scored somewhere in the “medium” range, meaning I have some good goal-setting/achieving habits, but I probably need to help myself out by incorporating some more tricks of the resolution trade, like:

  • Work a plan: Breaking resolutions into smaller goals or tasks that can be scheduled and completed. For instance, right now I’m drafting a post for each of the three major categories on this blog. After that, I’m going to get up to 10 posts.
  • Let the cat out of the bag: Share goals with supportive family and friends. Sometimes it’s easy to let ourselves down, but we’re conditioned to try harder to keep promises to others.
  • Visualize: You’re making this commitment to change for a reason. What’s the end goal? How will it feel to achieve it? Write this down, or find a key image that you can come back to for inspiration.
  • Write it down: Journaling is a great for a couple of reasons. One is that if you hit a plateau, being able to look back over your logs (whether it’s mileage, mets, reps, or calories) can help you diagnose and adjust your plan. Second, is that if you track how you’re feeling, you learn a lot about what works for you and what blocks you from progress. Work stress? Offhand comments from a well-meaning but clueless gym buddy?
  • Cheer yourself on: Reward yourself for progress, and don’t beat yourself up when you make mistakes. Just get back in the game!

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