Colour makes the world go round~

I had this inkling to go re-read this poem I got in an e-mail once upon a time. Such perspective! It just reminds you of the need for love in this world =D Racism is obviously a well known concept that, unfortunately, the world has yet to conquer (Pandora really screwed the world over when she opened that box!) but with insight shown by youths like these, maybe one day=)

It was apparently nominated poem of 2005 for the best poem (I'm not sure by who though), written by an African kid...

When I born, I Black,
When I grow up, I Black,
When I go in Sun, I Black,
When I scared, I Black,
When I sick, I Black,
And when I die, I still black..
And you White fella,
When you born, you Pink,
When you grow up, you White,
When you go in Sun, you Red,
When you cold, you Blue,
When you scared, you Yellow,
When you sick, you Green,
And when you die, you Gray..

And you calling me Colored ??

- Aly El Sahly

Here's another good one written by 16 year old Amy Maddox...

Empathy

He prayed - it wasn't my religion.

He ate - it wasn't what I ate.

He spoke - it wasn't my language.

He dressed - it wasn't what I wore.

He took my hand - it wasn't the color of mine.

But when he laughed - it was how I laughed.
And when he cried - it was how I cried.

And a quote from Martin Luther King:

"When we look at modern man we have to face the fact that modern man suffers from a kind of poverty of the spirit, which stands in glaring contrast to his scientific and technological abundance, we’ve learned to fly the air like birds, we’ve learned to swim the seas like fish, and yet we havent learned to walk the earth as brothers and sisters."

---

On a less virtuous avenue, some other stuff I've been reading as part of the KakaSaku fandom are:

1. The Way of The Sword by Serenanna. Good writing! It's actually based on a fanfic by ronsmyhero (shizune_senpai) whom I mentioned in a previous entry and it doesn't disappoint! And surely the fact that this is a fanfic of a fanfic speaks volumes about ronsmyhero's works. I can't gush enough=) Chp 5 is now up!
2. Some light, hilarious fun: Too Young To Love by internet pencil. Coincidentally, Chp5 of that one is also up on ff. What amuses me is how the fandom now has this fixed standard of Genma as a loud, semi-obnoxious flirty jounin sidekick of our Kakashi. Hehe I don't know how that started but I know how it stuck, seeing as the character is so likeable! It's just funny going back and watching/reading Naruto with him all serious and knowing Kishi really hasn't developed his character much as of yet=p

Annnnd it was my turn to cook today for our dinner-cum-sungkai. *Sigh* i forgot to take a pic but it fulfilled it's ultimate purpose as our sungkai=D Assam fish and tamagoyaki plus steamed rice and some leftover soup etc from yesterday. I just wanted to commit the tamagoyaki (with lamb and crab filling & topped with nori smileys!) to the immortal borders of my hard drive huhu~ But ooh kurma (truth be told, I'm not so huge a fan though) and air bandung on the table..touches of home=)

Getting my fix...

So I've been reading a lot of fanfics lately. My vice is the Naruto fanfics, especially KakaSaku and Itasaku. I also enjoy lots of other older Saku-centric het fics. Hehe I dunno, I guess I've grown to like the girl, especially when the standard image I have of how her character's grown has been influenced by all the great fics I've read! I'm not into yaoi or yuri so much but that's just my preference=)

Generally though, what I think makes a great fanfic boils down to 3 things:
1. Great believable plot. Even more awesome if the plot is fresh/original in a sea of other stories starring a similar pair.
2. Great grammar and articulation. It's just harder to immerse myself in a fic when this is lacking.
3. Great style. What I mean by this is the author's individual style and approach to writing. Using an art-oriented analogy, say we have the great plot and infallible grammar...then this is like a semi-blank canvas where the author/artist can add his or her bits to (like one may have roses on one side while another may have stars printed all over the canvas), as well as his or her own individual approach (much like watercolour vs. oil paints). Fanfic-wise, this refers to things like how many lines before the next paragraph, writing in dialogue form, subtlety in writing, the ability to utilize sentences and words to make an impact, the ability to use words to hook their readers in, intricate style of writing, descriptive style of writing...a whole lot of stuff basically. And therein lies the fun in creating a fic=)

So a bunch of stuff I've been reading lately...

Naruto-oriented...
1. A drabble "Poor Mrs. Hatake" by ronsmyhero. (I love love love her stuff. Truly awesome.)
2. "Salvation" by oliviabenton.
3. I've stumbled across this really good author on ff by the name of Celtic Oak. I've been reading her stories which are seriously good reading. I've read a NejiSaku "Hidden Green Behind Silver", 2 GaaSakus "Sunagakure Belly Dance" and "Magnetism". I like how she portrays Saku as a strong woman - rawr! Check her page out=)

Nana land...
1. ›:‹ 7 plus 7 equals 3 ›:‹ by Suzumiya Haruhi over at ff.
2. There was this one other TakuHachi story which is basically someone's take on the night at the mansion where Takumi 'rapes' Hachi. Can't remember what it's called now though. I might have to look that up...