Tag: holiday

What July 4 Means To Me

John Guillen2 Comments

Probably not what it means to you. July 4 has a simple meaning in my book. It marks the day our founding fathers aimed to create a more perfect union by branching away from the crown. It symbolizes the day we, as Americans sought to be better. Our founders were highly imperfect people, just like we are. Their vision for this country greatly differs from mine, but I won’t sit here and simply criticize for the sake of doing so. Women belonged in the home. Slavery was the norm. Very few men could actually vote. All counter to what I believe, but over just a couple of short centuries we’ve pushed forward through long odds. Why? Because those founders gave us the framework to do so.

We’re still aiming to be a more perfect union, though it may not always seem so. Our leaders are more black and brown and female than ever before. Our society grows more inclusive with each passing day. Sure, there are lots of issues that should have been settled long ago. But things rarely happen as we think they should.

Happy birthday, America! I know you’ll be even better next year.

Why Isn’t Today Every Day?

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I believe in celebrating our mothers. I don’t believe in doing so one day out of the year. I think that’s absurd. Today is kind of like anniversaries and birthdays. If you want to give someone a gift or celebrate them in some way, then shouldn’t it be throughout the year?

This is no Time to Break Rules

John Guillen4 Comments

Tomorrow is that made up day we know as Mother’s Day. If you get someone flowers, let me just tell you you’re lazy. And about as original as a can of corn. But I don’t really care what you do or don’t do. So long as you don’t break the ONLY rule that always applies. Which rule is that?

NO BOOKS AS GIFTS.

The end.

On President’s Day

John Guillen5 Comments

I think few people recall that President’s Day was originally meant to celebrate the birthday of George Washington. Now everyone just says President’s Day like we’re supposed to remember and honor all of our presidents. Nah. What I’m especially not going to do is honor the current president in any way.

But let’s make this about books. I’m still trying to figure out which book written by a president I’m going to read for my 2017 Reading Challenge. The one that still really sticks out for me is Decision Points. Of course written written by George W. Bush. Most definitely not because I agree with anything he stood for it enacted, but because his presidency was the first I experienced and understood just a tiny bit of what was going on. Also because his presidency was not a good one by any measure, I think it’d be interesting to learn about the decisions he made and those he didn’t.

But I’m likely going to amend the requirement to include books written about presidents. A few that come to mind who I think would be the subject of great books are FDR, Truman, LBJ, Lincoln, Washington, Jackson, and Nixon.

I’ve asked this before but I’ll ask again, tell me a book you enjoyed that was written by or about a president. Also, no one says it has to be an American president!

Also, the media can’t even agree on the proper way of writing out the holiday. Presidents Day. President’s Day. Or Presidents’ Day. Damn fake news. 😂

Top Five Wednesday: Who’s Coming to my New Year’s Party?

John Guillen6 Comments

I haven’t done one of these in a LONG time. Mostly because the girl who took over started with crap topics. Bleh. The topic is pretty easy to comprehend. Leggo.

Katniss Everdeen

She’s the Girl on Fire. I mean, come on.

Harry Bosch

I don’t drink alcohol. So I’d sit down with a bottle of water out away from the rest of the party and talk to Harry about everything. He’s insightful and I doubt anyone could match his stories from decades with LAPD. I’d also tell him his daughter would make an excellent detective.

Mark Watney

I just finished The Martian and have LOTS of thoughts on it, but for now I’d just like to tell Mark here that’s he’s hilarious. Stay tuned for a full review in the next day or two!

A

She’s the protagonist from Every Day and it would actually be cool to invite her every year to the New Year’s party just to see her in different bodies.

Guy Montag

This might seem like an odd choice when you consider the fact that I HATE this book. But I’d invite him because every other person invited to this particular party would love books. And this bastard burns them. I’d pretty much just tell him off. And perhaps create a mob in the process.

Those are the five characters I’d invite to my New Year’s party! Who would you invite to yours!?

Some Holiday Advice

John Guillen14 Comments

The holiday season is officially in full swing. Which means people all over the country are now doing their best to buy things for people who don’t need them. This definitely includes books. I’m sure some would argue that gifting books is better than an iPad or new TV, but I would disagree.

So, my holiday advice to anyone who is thinking of gifting books to a loved one or relative would be this: DON’T. Why? Because I can tell you what will happen. They will say thank you and smile and then put it on their shelf never to read it. Unless you are absolutely certain they want that particular title, don’t do it. I’d say give a gift card to Half Price Books instead. Because your money will go toward more books than if you give a gift card to one of the other book retailers. No doubt about that.

Are you planning on gifting any books this holiday season? I’m not. 

What I’m Thankful for

John Guillen2 Comments

Tricked ya.

I’m not going to list or explain the things I’m thankful for. Because my list is likely very different and very similar to yours. There are things every one of us should be thankful for, whether we recognize it or not. But we should be thankful for most of the things we have every single day, not just when the calendar tells us to. Otherwise we’re taking things for granted.

My message today is to think of your own life experience and decide if you are thankful each day or if you wait for the rest of the country to tell you to be thankful. That’s it.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

This Memorial Day

John Guillen2 Comments

This Memorial Day and every one in the future will mean more to me than ever before. Now I’ve visited the monuments and memorials erected in honor of the men and women who have died defending the interests and freedoms of our country and our allies.

I’ve been very clear in my constant support of our military, and only now has that support intesified after my trip to Washington DC last week. You may not know a veteran or anyone who’s died serving in our military, but none of the men and women who died knew you. And they were willing to give their life, in part, to protect you and your way of life.

Every fallen soldier deserves the gratitude of every American.

I actually won’t say Happy Memorial Day. Because I’m not happy that so many of our young men and women have had to die to protect our country. But I will say today is Memorial Day, and we should all take time to remember what today is really about. It isn’t about being off from work, it isn’t about BBQ on the porch, or about taking a short trip for the long weekend. Today is about the fallen heroes of our military.

Also, I’ll have my DC video up tomorrow.

Books for Valentine’s Day

John Guillen31 Comments

Today is Valentine’s Day, right? All the love in the air. All the flowers slowly dying. All the chocolate being consumed. All the Teddy bears changing hands. But what about books? What kind of person doesn’t want books today?

So here are some suggestions for your Valentine’s Day reading fix. It’ll just be some authors.

Nora Roberts.

Debbie Macomber.

Nicholas Sparks.

Danielle Steele.

Aw crap. I’m just naming random romance authors. You should read today if you want to. Maybe one of these authors is actually on your list. But contrary to what you’ve likely seen hopping around the internet in recent weeks, there is no particular book or genre you should be reading today. Once you’ve settled in and your activities for this “special” day are complete, why not take a few minutes to relax with a book?

What are you reading today?