Abarat, or the best book I've read since CS LEWIS

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

im not going to argue, but I find nothing objectional in either work.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

no one said they were objectionable, just not appropriate to all age groups.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

well no really that wasn't the issue either... I still think it would come down to the individual child and how well they had been taught. My friend Scott and I were talking and for a class of 5th graders we'd only take them to the the chapel if they had been given a chance to paint their own "ceiling"

My original point was that you dont condemn art for your children offhand because you dont approve of the creators morals. To move the argument into another court Thomas Jefferson was a slave holder. Does that make the Declaration of Independence an offensive document because I dont like Jeffersons morals? Or Ben Franklins?(now there was a playa if I ever saw one)
You should use your judgement to determine if the creation is appropriate.

And thats why you keep trying to show your children Star Wars.

I still want to know how those works of art would be developmentally damaging by the by.

[EUOL]

I saw them both when I was a kid, and I wasn't hurt by it.  <twitch>  Uh, well, I *am* a fantasy novelist.  Wait a sec...


But, seriously.  Speaking of artists and insanity, does the fact that I'm emotionally well-adjusted mean that:

a) I'm not a true artist
b) I just haven't been doing it long enough to go mad.
c) I'm actually insane and just think that I'm well-adjusted.

[42]

I would say either b or c, but mostly b.

[Mad Dr Jeffe]

D... the majority of artists arnt tortured or messed up.

Its an overgeneralization or stereotype like all southerners or Utards being dumb, or overly religious or bad dressers.

To say that all the cubists or post modernists went crazy and killed themselves is an oversimplification of their lives... Like the Scene in Oceans 11 when George Cloony is othering Julia Roberts about the two painters...
"is he the one with the mistress or the one who commited suicide"
"They also painted occasionally"

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I don't know if I'd say majority, but I'd definitely submit that a larger portion of them are than the general public. After all, even as far back as Plato scholars have observed that much (if not all) art comes from a sort of madness.

However, I don't htink you're REQUIRED to be messed up to be an artist. So I think the answer is E, one of the lucky few.

Though EUOL, you're old and unmarried, so maybe there IS soemthing wrong with you  

[Mistress of Darkness]

Well, I've given this some thought and this is what I decided.

I do NOT want to be one of those moms that sensors everything their children reads, sees, does.

That being said, I'm going to have to learn to let my children use their own judgement.

At some point. So yes, I disagree with Clive Barker's particular choice of lifestyle, and will let my children know, but I certainly am not going to force my children to read only Jack Weyland. *gag*

[EUOL]

Though EUOL, you're old and unmarried, so maybe there IS something wrong with you

Ha.  Somehow I think that in most societies, I hardly count as being 'old' and unmarried.  I will grant, however, that within my own culture it is an abnormality.

Perhaps, however, my even temperament is in itself an abnormality.  It seems that, compared to most people, I am excessively even-tempered.  I'm by no means an automaton, but I have never experienced these bouts of depression you speak of on the other thread.  Neither do I get very 'high.'  I generally feel the same, and act the same, with little variance in mood.  I can't remember the last time I was depressed--or even simply 'sad.'  

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

It was when I killed your puppy!!!

[Mistress of Darkness]

I don't think it's all that strange EUOL. You just described my husband, my step-father, his brother and my grandpa (though in all fairness, Grandpa used to get very angry, when my dad was a kid--Grandpa has mellowed now).

Obviously I am not such a person

[stacer]

I think there have to be both kinds of people in this world, or it'd either be pretty boring or pretty neurotic. Now we just have a mix.   My first boyfriend was like that, EUOL, and he kept me sane all throughout high school. As emotional as I get, it's nice to have someone on an even keel nearby. I have quite a few friends like that, too. And, I'd like to think, my emotional rollercoasters keep life interesting.  

[Lieutenant Kije]

So, here's my question (not meant to offend--please don't take it that way), do you encourage your children to read a book by an author whose morals you seriously disagree with?

Oscar Wilde was the Dennis Rodman of his day, more or less.  Nonetheless, he wrote some of the most beautiful, compelling, and thoroughly moral fairy tales that I've ever read.  He wrote them for his own children.  Exceptional among the stories are "The Happy Prince" and "The Selfish Giant."  I highly recommend them.

[EUOL]

Rodman could only wish he were as twisted and sick as Wilde.

But yes, Wilde wrote some amazing stuff.

[Mistress of Darkness]

I started this last night. I'm on Chapter 5 and enjoying it so far.