Kamala Khan: American. Muslim. Jersey Girl. Superhero.

     This coming February, Marvel Comics will be releasing a series featuring what seems to be your average teenage Muslim Jersey girl juggling school, family, and friends ... However, Kamala Khan is not just your average girl ... She is a shape-shifting superhero!
     Kamala, whose family is from Pakistan, faces so many of the same issues that first generation kids face in this country (not to say I am speaking from experience or anything). According to The New York Times, Kamala - who goes by the name Ms. Marvel - has a super conservative brother, a paranoid mother, and an overbearing father. (For all I know, this character could be based on any number of people I knew growing up ... I could be Ms. Marvel!)
     On top of trying to keep her family life in order while being a 16-year-old girl, Kamala fights villains. Personally, she will need superhero powers just to pull that off because just being a teenager is hard enough!
  

Photo c/o www.huffingtonpost.com

     I am not an avid reader of comics by any means but I might give this one a try because I think the story described has a little more depth than others I've heard in the past AND, additionally we all know that Jersey girls know how to kick ass and take names better than the rest - so why wouldn't I!

I'm more than a bird. I'm more than a plane. I'm more than some pretty face beside a train and it's not easy to be me. I wish that I could cry, fall upon my knees, find a way to lie about a home I'll never see. [Superman (It's Not Easy), Five for Fighting]

Rhyme Time, Damn He's Fine

     Today is Dr. Seuss's birthday and I suggest everyone crawl up with their favorite Seuss adventure (because we all have one!) and just be a kid again!!! Or you can watch this ... and feel awful about growing up.
     I believe last year, I wrote how my fave Seussical book is "Oh, The Places You'll Go" ... and it still is. ENJOY!

     Also, Justin Bieber turned 18 yesterday ... So I am officially, legally allowed to say that he is super adorable ... and, yes, I'd marry him for his money. Justin, call me.
     Happy Belated Bieber Birthday Day!!!!

Hey, I just met you and this is crazy but here’s my number, so call me (maybe). It’s hard to look right at you, baby, but here’s my number, so call me (maybe). Hey, I just met you and this is crazy but here’s my number, so call me (maybe). And all the other boys try to chase me but here’s my number, so call me (maybe). (Call Me Maybe, Carly Rae Jepsen)

PS. Click the link for the official video! It's hilarious. I can't find it to post here.

Samuel L. Jackson Tells One Bad Ass Bed Time Story

     I am 8 years older than my younger brother and I watched my parents try to put him to bed multiple times throughout his infancy and his terrible two's and feisty fours and his son-of-bleep sixes ... and my brother never enjoyed bedtime. By the time he was a year and a half old, he had learned how to un-latch his crib and climb out of it! My parents always thought I was taking him out every day and letting him crawl about the house unattended. NOPE. That little devil was escaping himself. Frickin' Tommy Pickles up in there.

     At some point during my brother's younger years, I also was enlisted in the nightly bedtime rituals ... and let me tell you, putting a child to bed is one of the worst things ever. It seriously makes you want to never have kids ever. When I substitute for the little ones, I see it also ... Nap times is the worst times!
     It's always something.
     "Can I get a drink?" ... "I need a different blanket." ... "I'm not comfortable." ... "There's something under the bed!"
     It's enough to make you want to throw a child out a window and scream, "GO THE F**K TO SLEEP."
     Well, parents and educators alike can rest assured that they can now do it under the guise of realistic parenting ... and bedtime stories.
     I commend writer Adam Mansbach for writing an absolute true book because how many people would just love to curse off their kids and tell them to get the F in their beds, but yet, they know they are not actually mad at their kids? This book lets them do just that.
     And, Samuel L. Jackson? Love his reading of it. So manly. So wonderful. So full of pent-up passion and rage ... that he didn't actually let out at his kids when they wouldn't sleep.

     This book is available on Amazon for $8.22 ... I am seriously considering buying it, just to make sure I have it for when my hypothetical children are born.

I'm having trouble sleeping. You're jumping in my bed. Twisting in my head. Leave me. (Trouble Sleeping, The Perishers)

The Profundity of 7th Graders ... Who Knew?

     I was subbing for a 7th grade English class yesterday and each class was beginning a new book. One class was beginning Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and another was beginning Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter (neither of which I have read ... yepppp, great English major right here).
     Before reading the books, each class did some pre-reading activities - talking about the themes of the novels and whatnot ... And let me tell you, these seventh graders had some interesting answers for the questions asked.
     When we we started talking about Treasure Island, one of the main themes is growing up so one of the essential questions posed is "What marks the difference between childhood and adulthood?" ... Meaning is there a definitive moment when you can say 'Here, you're a child. Here, you're an adult.'

     I smiled a little when I read the question because all kinds of things went through my head being where I am in life, and then thinking back to what it was like in 7th grade (hell).
     So we began the discussion and I was surprised at the answers given ... It went something like this ...

     "Like behavior!?" 
     "Well, when you say behavior. What kinds of behavior do you mean?"
     "Like, you're mature and respectful and stuff. Like if you're rude and mean, you're a kid. And if you're acting like an adult and being proper, then you've become an adult."
     "Okay, so acting like an 'adult' ... That's one way to look at the difference."

     "Adults have really big responsibilities so once you have those, you're not a kid anymore."
     "So taking on adult responsibilities. So meaning when you start having to what? Pay bills? Take care of family? Things like that?"
     "Yeah, when you need to start taking care of those things yourself and you don't really rely on others to do them all for you all the time."


     All good answers ... But then the shining light of answers for the definitive moment when a child becomes an adult ...

     "I think it's individual. I don't think you can ever really know. Like [insert random hip-hop artist here] needed to be an adult when he was like 15 because he was on his own, living by himself. But [insert other random hip-hop artist], he's older, like 30, and he still acts like a kid all the time. So I think it's really an individual thing. I don't think you ever really need to be one or the other. I think you can always keep the kid side of you with you even when you're an adult and take it out when you want to."
     "I think you are absolutely right. I think that it is an individual thing. I don't think that there's ever a real age when you can say someone is an adult. The law says 18 but that doesn't necessarily apply to everyone, and it's true, everyone can act like a kid sometimes, as long as they know when it's appropriate."

     The other class was beginning the novel Friedrich ... and that conversation was not as light-hearted. We began talking about the Holocaust and asking what the class knew about it. Generally the answers fell into the realm of "Hitler started it, there were Nazis, there was a war, concentration camps were there, Poland was involved [I'm not sure why, but each class which was covering the novel mentioned Poland ... no other country], Hitler killed the Jews [only one kid mentioned that he thought that maybe Hitler might have killed Blacks too ... schools really need to focus on the fact that not only Jews were killed during the Holocaust], and some other general facts. 

     After that, we moved onto a pre-reading activity based on the themes of the novel and this is where it got back to the light-heartedness of the day ... We went back to focusing on main ideas and themes in literature and one theme throughout the novel happens to be friendship.

     So, three questions were asked of the class. The first being "What makes a good friend?" and here are some of the 7th grade answers for that wonderful question.

     "Someone who has yo' back!"

     "Someone who keeps your secrets!"

     "Someone who won't get you in trouble."

     "A person who hangs out with you 24/7 and doesn't annoy you." (props to this kid)

     "Someone you can trust."

     "A person who is loyal."

     After asking that question, we moved onto the opposite - "What makes someone a bad friend?" ... This is where the claws came out!

CAT FIGHT!

     "Someone who starts rumors about you!"

     "A person who STEALS YOUR BOYFRIEND!"

     "Someone who drinks [is a bad choice in a friend]."

     "Someone who steals your money."

     "Someone who lies to you."

     The last question was "How do you make someone your friend?" ... And this is where I realized I am a giant Communication nerd because all my Interpersonal Communication information began flowing through my head ... yet these kids made it so simple.

     "Give them your number."

     "Play a sport with them."

     "Hang out with them."

     "Talk to them."

     "Invite them over your house."

     So those are the wise words of 7th graders that I heard as I subbed yesterday ... Sometimes my job makes me smile, even if I do need to yell from time to time. Usually in middle school. They just don't shut the heck up ... even when they are being profound.

Have A Suessical, Bieberific Day!

It's Read Across America Day today ... which is celebrated on Dr. Suess's Birthday so not only am I crawling up with a good book today (Ok, I crawled up with "One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish" as I substituted at the elementary school) but I am also suggesting everyone else do the same! If not, just watch this ... This is BY FAR my favorite Dr. Suess book ever written.

Also, I didn't wish Justin Bieber a HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY yesterday!!!! So Happy Birthday to him too!

Enjoy!