In my Sunday Salon post I asked for feedback about regular posts recapping my favorite TV shows. Well none of you people that live in my computer responded but I did receive one influential piece of feedback from my first and most important reader, my husband. He told me he would be disappointed if I started posting about TV shows. Educating Petunia was begun as a place where I could share what I'm learning, primarily from my reading but occasionally from homeschooling and from life. I have mentioned before (here and here) why I don't actually have TV. I watch a few shows on abc.com but generally our household considers television to be the antithesis to intellectual stimulation. We realize that there are some valuable shows out there but generally speaking, the television is much more about escapism and numbing the mind, filling our heads with noise instead of thoughts, than it is about learning anything useful. So I respect that my husband shared his thoughts with me about this and I am grateful that he is there to remind me of my goals. I desire to be an intelligent and thoughtful woman. This doesn't just happen, it takes work. I need to be able to think for myself if I am to have any self respect. I want to diminish my desire for pop culture and trendy America as they only leave me unsatisfied and a bit lighter in the pocketbook. At the end of the day I want to be able to look back and say that I did something useful and learned something new each and every day. I don't want to have wasted my time. I don't plan to stop watching Dancing with the Stars or Lost anytime soon because I like to be entertained once in a while; just like I will continue to read Nicholas Sparks when I need a bit of mindless romance but I will keep this blog as a place where I can share my meaningful pursuits.
Yesterday I chose nonsense. Today I choose knowledge.
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"Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world. ~Voltaire
Right Now
Books
- 8.The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- 7.My Life in France
- 6.French Milk
- 5.Summer
- 4.Girl, Interrupted
- 3.Fireworks Over Toccoa
- 2.Because of Winn-Dixie
- 1.Alias Grace
Annals
Identity
The Beloved
- A Fondness for Reading
- A Reader's Respite
- Annie's Eats
- At Home with Books
- Bermudaonion's
- Beth Fish Reads
- Bibliolatry
- Book Chatter
- Books 'N Border Collies
- Bookstack
- Christina Baker Kline: A Writing Year
- DogEar Diary
- Dolce Bellezza
- eclectic eccentric
- ElSurfo
- Enchanted by Josephine
- Farm Lane Books
- Framed and Booked
- GalleySmith
- Girl Detective
- Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin'?
- In THIS Life
- Incurable Logophilia
- It's like I'm...mmmagic!
- jehara
- Jenny's Books
- Kittling: Books
- KyusiReader
- Lines From the Page
- Linus's Blanket
- Lit and Life
- Literary License
- Lous_Pages
- Maw Books
- Mental Multivitamin
- Ms. Bookish
- My Friend Amy
- My Year of Reading Seriously
- Nothing But Bonfires
- One Persons Journey
- Pages Turned
- PalmTree Pundit
- Piling on the Books
- Presenting Lenore
- Raging Bibliomania
- Read Warbler
- Reading Adventures
- Ready When You Are, CB
- Rebecca Reads
- Rundpinne
- Semicolon
- She Reads Books
- Silly Little Mischief
- Small World Reads
- The Boston Bibliophile
- The Classics Circuit
- The Literate Housewife
- The Octogon
- the way I see it
- This Dangerous Life
- Trish's Reading Nook
- Tuesday in Silhouette
- Virginie Says...
- Wayside Sacraments
- What Kate's Reading
8 comments:
I don't watch much TV either, but Dancing With the Stars is one of my guilty pleasures.
Way to be purposeful, Petunia! Lost would be hard for me to give up--but at least I'm not tempted to run out and buy the newest (dirt and sweat stained) cargo pants or cami after watching it. ;-)
By the way, did your library dilemma ever get resolved?
BermudaOnion-I would love to be able to move the way the experts do. It looks like so much fun.
Sue-It does make me wish my hair would look as good as Kates if it was that unwashed :) We have not done anything with the library yet but we decided that my son would just pay the fine himself. Chalk it up to a lesson learned.
I think I could do without TV, but the internet? Not that easy.
We have been turning the tube off lately. I have so much going on that the extra white noise actually bugs me.
I like what you said about how it always leads to your pocketbook being lighter, or something like that. It's true. If I see stuff on TV, then I tend to want it.
I watch too much TV and I do blog about it occasionally. I especially like conversations about LOST and the sci-fi shows I watch. I do see and understand your husband's perspective, though.
Shows like LOST, though can lead to some interesting philosophical discussions! I love TV and cringe when people say it's completely meaningless. I do see it as another pop art form.
Having said that, I totally respect your position. :)
Oh you anti-TV intellectuals. :)
Amy-I never said TV was completely meaningless. See I have an addiction to TV so I will watch it for hours, neglecting all else, and get no pleasure from it just because it is on. That is what I call mindless noise. But what you said about LOST is true; it has gotten people talking philosophy and thinking in interesting ways. I love DWTS because dance is a lovely art form. I even like Grey's Anatomy for no good reason. TV is not meaningless but it can suck the life right out of me, leaving me in a vegetative state for more hours than I'd care to admit. When we got rid of the TV I learned to use my brain and it felt good. This blog was about articulating what I was learning. But I love that I can visit other blogs (I'm especially fond of yours) and discuss freely about the shows that I love. I hope I didn't come across as holier than thou.
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