A children’s book about gay penguins has sent shockwaves through an elementary school in Illinois.
The book, written for 4-8 year olds, is called “And Tango Makes Three” and it tells the true story of two male Central Park penguins who fell in love and raised a baby penguin together. According to an AP article, some parents are in an uproar over the fact the book is on the regular shelves of the library and is able to be taken out by (gasp) children.
One parent, Lilly Del Pinto, had no idea the book contained any controversial content. She just thought it looked “charming” until she was reading it to her five-year-old daughter and came to the part where “the zookeeper said the two [male] penguins must be in love."
"That's when I ended the story," Del Pinto told the AP.
Del Pinto rushed to contact the school, feeling the content inappropriate for such young minds. Soon other parents jumped on the anti-gay-penguin bandwagon. While they didn’t want the book removed completely from the library, they did feel it should be moved from the regular shelves and restricted to a section for “mature” material, and possibly require parental permission to check it out.
Luckily, the administrators of Shiloh Elementary School were a bit more sane then some of the parents. After appointing a panel to investigate the book, they came to the conclusion that moving it would be tantamount to censorship.
"My feeling is that a library is to serve an entire population," district Superintendent Jennifer Filyaw said. "It means you represent different families in a society -- different religions, different beliefs."
One thing’s for sure: Books about gay penguins won’t turn a child gay. But there is a possibility that they might turn into penguins. All this talking about gay penguins has actually made us itchy to spend the rest of the day diving for chunks of herring and staring at lurid photos of other flightless waterfowl.
Books are mighty powerful things.
And Tango Makes Three (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, April 26 2005 ISBN 0-689-87845-1) is a children's book written by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole, based on the true story of Roy and Silo, two penguins from a New York zoo.
The story follows their real life, where they tried to procreate unsuccessfully so they then tried to hatch a rock that resembled an egg. When zookeepers realized that they were two boys and that they were trying to hatch a rock they remembered that a mating pair of penguins had an extra egg which they had abandoned. The zookeepers then made the switch of egg and rock, and the penguins raised the healthy young chick.
My mother called me in the middle of my karaoke session just now and told me that I have won today's 4D Consolation Prize. I was so excited and I simply don't believe it...
The winning number is 8784, the last four digits of my NRIC. I had decided to buy this number when I collected my new NRIC Card yesterday.
As this is my first winning from Singapore Pools, I simply had no idea how much I won. So the first thing I reached home was to surf Singapore Pools website and used their prize calculator. I have won $120.
Now for the next question... how to collect the winnings huh? Guess I will ask mother later.... :p
I was down at Orchard Road since afternoon and it was very crowded as usual! I felt like a chicken in one of those poultry farms and with "chickens" lightings hanging above me. The exhibits this year is quite hopeless, but it's Christmas, time for loving EVERYthing and EVERYone...
I met Adrick and Edwin after the wedding lunch at Marriott Hotel. We went KBox till 9pm and had a slow walk from cineleisure to bugis junction. Adrick left us at plaza sing and so, Edwin and I moved on. We had beancurd at the famous Rochor Original Beancurd store and then walked towards Bugis Junction to catch the MRT...
It was a tiring walk. But what I enjoyed most though, was the madness in which Adrick, Edwin and me took turns snapping photos despite the heavy traffic along the way... It's really fun taking silly photos and road hogging... haha...
Anyway, here are some of the nicer photos we took.
Accompanied mother to Chung Kiat & Audrey's wedding lunch at Marriott Hotel.
I don't know both Chung Kiat & Audrey personally. Audrey is my grandmother's sister's daughter's daughter. Haha... our relationship is so distance away.
Congratulations on your wedding and best wishes for your new life together!
Johnson is my younger brother. It's his big day today and I bought him an Adidas basketball short and several Polar curry puffs for his birthday.... Wish him all the best as always.
Born today on the 24th, November:
This child of November should try not to work so hard. While other stars come out at night to have a good twinkle, November 24 stays on in the office, hiding her light behind a computer. Bosses may adore her, but she should remember that this puritan work ethic narrows your life eventually until there's little you can either think about or talk about except the job. A bore for others. Loyal November 24 gets put upon. Others leave her to finish their projects while they slip down to the wine bar. Then they take the credit, flashing around the office boasting about their brilliance. Lighten up November 24. Take time off. Go get a new hairdo and have your teeth done before you have left the last time you saw a dentist so far behind that one day you wake up with an abscess, or worse, with all your teeth falling out of your head. Away from work, both sexes get into a routine too easily and miss so much excitement because they are too careful, actually too lazy and set in their ways to try new ideas. November's child has a lurking sense of time passing, yet always seems to be at the mercy of time rather than the other way round. House-proud women should try just leaving a little mess around. No visitor ever really enters and assesses the dust quotient and if they do, why should you care? Break your house-cleaning routine, put on a pair of glamorous shoes and some bright red lipstick and go out on the town. Where children are concerned, November 24 makes an excellent if too attentive parent. And sometimes when grown up children want to leave, the gap they then leave may break November 24's heart. This is sad for many star signs, but November 24 is particularly fond of travel and if they take the new, now childfree opportunity to up and off, they may find new happiness.
Body :
Routine gets November 24 down to such an extent that they may not feel like facing another Monday morning. Energy is undermined by a one sided demands and a feeling that somehow nobody else will do what has to be done. The answer lies not in others' greater efficiency or willingness, but a change in oneself. Try the Bach Flower remedy. Hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), designed by Dr Edward Bach for this condition. After Hornbeam, many report clear minds, an instant attraction to variety, pleasure in breaking routine, spontaneity and confidence that one will be able to master tasks even if they appear too burdensome.
Mind :
Weekends are a special time for hardworking 24. They want them to be spectacular and look forward to them. Wear lucky weekend colours, ie for Sunday, traditionally orange through to rust and for Saturday, mid- to dark-blue.
Sebestian called me few nights ago and told me he needed help for a logo design for his company, Wenzarts Singapore.
Wenzarts is a company which conducts fitness programs, such as BODYJAM, BODYCOMBAT, etc etc.
He didn't give me any other information or requirement. So I drafted these 9 designs during my lunch time today and emailed him. Will wait to see what he say and we shall move on from there.
So guys, what you think? Feel free to comment. Thanks.
Fortunately, I had a good 1-hour session with Chris before the strings gave way.
I've never break any strings till today. But come to think about it, I didn't change the strings for almost three months already, so it is about time for them to break.
I will restring the racket on Friday. Meanwhile, I guess I will have to use my old racket for tomorrow's session.
Just came back from the company's Dinner and Dance. It's very interesting and very GAYYyyy lor!!!
The Emcee, Justin (anyone know him?), came to me and messed my hair... check the video below... so funny... both his hands were coated of my hair wax... haha...
The Empress is associated with Venus, the feminine planet, so it represents,
beauty, charm, pleasure, luxury, and delight. You may be good at home
decorating, art or anything to do with making things beautiful.
The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.
The briefing started at 12.30pm, instead of 12pm. Every leaders were anxious to meet their station staffs. But the management staffs didn't prepare the staffs list in advanced. By the time, we got the full list, it was already 1.30pm...
In the mean while, we assisted the management to distribute the volunteer handbook, a RED "Standard Chartered Sevens" umbrella and a RED "Standard Chartered Sevens" rugby stressball to everyone.
15 students from Chung Cheng High School are assigned to me, they are only half my age, made me feel so old... 3 guys and the rest are girls.... I was lucky, I got all my staffs presence for the briefing, while some of other fellow leaders didn't even get to see any. Hopefully, the management will arrange another separate session for them.
Spent about 15 minutes to give a short introduction, brief them through the drink station operations, dress code, the reporting time on the event day, took their particulars, t-shirt sizes, eating preferences (if needed), dismissed them, reported back to the manager and sent myself back to the chalet...
Volunteer Benefits
Benefits
Volunter apparel: adidas T-shirt
A Certificate of Appreciation
Community Involvement (CIP hours)
Breakfast, lunch & drinks (we have plenty...) provided
Token of allowance
An invaluable experience gained from being part of an international major event!
Volunteer Allowance
Volunteer Leaders will be entitled to a token of $30 allowance per day
Race Entry Pack Collection Staff will be entitled to a token of $30 allowance
Pre-event/event day volunteers will be entitled to a token of $20 allowance per day
Volunteer Apparel
Volunteer Leaders/Marathon Expo Staff will be given at least two set of apparel
Volunteers are encouraged to wear adidas branded shorts (if any) or any no-brand dark coloured shorts (preferably black/dark blues)
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