Writings from Barbara - Bad poetry, bad songs and published writings which couldn't have been too bad. Please don't take these too seriously... Many of the writings on this page were written in High School or only a few years after that.  Pretty bad stuff, I'll agree - but hey, I'm a better writer now.  One must suck before one can suck less.

Published Articles

Confusing Comics Code (a 1992 Focus on the Family publication)

For millions of young people, it’s back-to-school time this month.

Once again, attending class, studying books and working through assignments is a reality for these students. Our coun­try places a premium on education because we believe that the hours spent studying can teach youth important lessons of life.

That introduction into the “world of ideas” doesn’t end behind the desk. Each time a child encounters popular media, he’s introduced to a set of values, ideals and behaviors that may be in conflict with your standards.

One area of potential concern is comic books. Just as parents I have raised objections to some content in various textbooks at school, complaints over content have been leveled against comic book distributors in recent times. That’s primarily why the Comics Magazine Association of America (CMAA) was formed: to set content guidelines so the public could expect decent and wholesome entertain­ment in magazines bearing their logo.

Furthermore, the public would also be given confidence that the material read by their children carrying the Comics Code Seal would “uphold basic American moral and cultural values.”

Given the disturbing nature of some comic books, it’s worth asking whether it’s wise to implicitly trust a committee of publishers whose ideas on morality we know nothing about. D.C. and Marvel Comics offer a few examples of comics with the seal that few parents would find morally or culturally correct.

In The Original Ghost Rider, satanic themes run throughout. The pentagram symbol is shown more than a dozen times, including once on the front cover. The story line portrays the character Johnny performing satanic rituals - even a human sacrifice.

Superman and Robin, a comic book the CMAA considers to be appropriate material for the young reader, features it’s heroes in hell in “Night of the Bat.”  The story ends with Satan saving Superman from becoming a vampire so he may later claim his soul in hell. Brutal, punishing action is the promise of The Punishers summer special edition. The Punisher is a glorified hero whom even the villains admire for his sadistic methods in halting crimes. In one instance, the Punisher flips the villain around, grabs him by the hair and slams his head face-first onto the ground, leaving a quick splattering of blood. In another scene, the reader sees six blades of a forklift brutally stab a man. Graphic depictions of violence, bloodshed arid gore, the very behavior the CMAA was created to minimize, are common place.

For now, the Comics Code is not a reliable guideline. To express concern about apparent violations of the Code, write: CMAA, 355 Lexington Ave., 17th Floor, New York, NY 10017.

Songs

Are You Listening?

Are you out there
Can you hear me?
Is this me in a roomful of walls?
with my echo
standing near me
Yelling back from there you all
Or where I should B
If you’re listening
Oh – I know – you can hear me
But tell me
Are you listening?
  
Falling out of love

Love was when we were all that counted
When time was there for us
When days weren’t long enough
 
Love was the beginning of our lives
It was what money couldn’t buy
It was forever for you and I
 
Chorus
When the love is gone
Do you stop to realize
That two people
Are living to lonely lives
 
The dreams that were
Don’t seem to fill the hearts with hope
Like the years before when you could
Never ask for more.
End of chorus
 
So now I’ll walk alone
with no place to call my home
I know it’s not much for me
Or anyone who’s fallen out of love.

1^st sight

You walked into the room slowly
Expecting no one to look your Way
But you knew they all would
Like they always do
Like I did that same day – I saw you
And all the room seemed
In harmony
Appraising your style and grace
Your beautiful face
They were entranced
Every eye that glanced your way.

I rose to your attention
and You were imprisoned in my stare
The heat of the moment we both shared
And you couldn’t escape
Chorus
My eyes lift your face only to Kiss you
I know when they left, as long,
As they stayed, they must’ve missed you
I feel live been blind all along
Until you opened my eyes
Now I realize
You weren’t love at 1^st sight
You’re the first sight I’ve loved.

Perfect strangers

Meeting on a lonely night
Going nowhere
In each other’s arms tonight
Keep their distance
Not sure of how much to give
Want to run away
Can’t bear to relive this
Night again 

Lonely in the night
Don’t want to end in the arms of a stranger
When alone don’t feel right
You feel your heart may have been
Endangered lonely in the night

Woke in the morning
Didn’t know quite what 2 say
Slipped on my eveningwear
As I went on my way

Taken it hard (I guess)
Didn’t find the pleasure
For the pain
I found there’s no reward
For what was sacrificed was more
Than was gained

I’ll feel pretty low now
Wonder why I did what I did
And somewhere down the road
I’ll get to feeling lonely again

Trouble Everywhere

There’s trouble all around they say
Problems you can’t figure out
You ask how the world could get this way
 
Everyday a new threat fills the air
While diplomats prepare peace talks
The foreign men are raiding Foreign land.
 
Forged our land in the devils hand
While soldiers march on
We’ve made machines that have already won.
Oh it won’t get much worse
Before we make it any better
Cause it can all end so quickly
Why wasn’t this thought of sooner.
 
It's time to look at what we’ve tone
Stand up for peace it’s a right we’ve won
Feeble minds who built
Their promised land
Forged our dreams
In the devils hand.
 
We know its not right
Gods given ways for change
but I think it’s been missed
To be liven like this
One man alone cannot
Carry a mass
To a better way of life
 
You know it’s not right
When your children are
Running scared in the broad daylight.
 
Beauty remains
 
Well Hello
How are you?
It’s been an awful long time
Have you missed me
Been thinking of me
Cause I’ve been thinking of you
 
I’ve got your picture
In my wallet
It’s getting worser for the wear
But the person
In the picture
Keeps getting better through the years.
 
Father time has been good to you
Since I’ve been away
You’re getting better
Like a fine wine
That improves with age
He said, “How can you say that”
Well, I guess love is blind
For all of the wrinkles
I see character lines.
 
Oh I’ve waited so long to hold you
I never thought we’d feel the same
I found the love never changes
And the beauty remains.

Essays

Le SORT en es JETE - 1991
Fatalism, the doctrine that all events are in the hands of fate.  Fate being the presumption in life that all of which is created is the result of inevitable advance arrangement.
Believers in this follow that the die is cast upon birth. This ideology, however, is not universally accepted.  In contemporary society, it is human nature to challenge that which we are not pleased with, as submission to a life guided by fate is anymore regarded as a cliché antiquity of times long past.  Yet as unexplainable turns of events continue to shape our lives, we find ourselves once again questioning the mysterious existence of fate.

Morality and Sex - 14 MAR 91

From the very beginning the Lord has made it possible for us to share our lives with another. That helpmate is flesh of our flesh, bone or our bone, a precious person in the sight of others and of God.

What is odd is that even though women were supposedly created from a rib the Lord had taken from man, the two sexes remain undeniable different. Men can not understand women, and men remain a mystery to women.

Something even stranger than this is that the opposite sexes blend together quite marvelously. They truly complement each other, and probably the reason this match works is that each is making up for the deficiencies that the other might have.

Many of the differences between the sexes are easily observed, however, some peculiarities exist below the surface of day to day encounters. Only in courtship and marriage do these differences between the sexes surface as to be able to classify one’s mate as an individual rather than just a member of the opposite sex.

The traits of man and woman alike come to be learned and soon couples develop the characteristics of their respective sex that their culture or relationship allows for. Men mal! become the aggressors or the hunters in certain cultures. In others they may simply be the

breadwinners of the family, leaving the wife to handle the finances, and the hunt for food; even if it is just taking a trip to the supermarket down the street.

Therefore, the sexes manifest the capacities to develop characteristics similar only to others of the same sex, or is this only a contrived stereotype that puts pressure on conformity within the sexes?

If sexual characteristics can be bred into the human spirit, than what of morality? Can it too be inborn? What makes one couple decide to wait until marriage to consummate their relationship through intercourse and another couple able to live together without ever sharing vows in a church?

At the retreat I attended this past weekend we discussed the many different view concerning birth control, family planning and their relation to God’s will in the Bible. I was left, as I am sure others were, with information that I did not know quite how to process. My own morality being the only judge in providing a comfortable answer to these questions that could have a positively or negative affect on my upcoming marriage.

I Corinthians 6 states: Your are not your own property; you have been bought and paid for. That is why you should use your body for the glory of God.

The discussions were mostly pertaining to the birth control method that would make the husband and wife most comfortable in their marriage.

practices withdrawal with Jamar and God slew him for the “abominable act of spilling his seed.”  In Acts the deaths of Ananias arid Saphira came about/ for going through the ns of a giving act while defrauding it of its meaning.

The couple that spoke on Natural Family Planning said that before they began the practice they were excluding God from that part of their life, and it felt that it was a very unhappy time.

Starting Natural Family Planning was like allowing God into their sex life as well as their daily. Now they claim each month is like a renewal, a honeymoon all over. They said their marriage relationship greatly improved. They also wanted to set a positive moral example for their children.

I might blame the moral conscious of the 70’s sexual revolution for the confusion lying between the two extremes of science and religious faith on the morality issue

I would quickly be served with some others quotable phrase from the Bible that I was unaware of, however, one would assure me of the wisdom of the word and the truth in Christ

No matter what my views of the teaching listened to last weekend, my decision regarding how thy future husband and I will practice family planning will be our own. Our religious beliefs say that we should make a conscience decision in accordance with the lawful order established by God.

If it is another searching for the proper moral answer, I would suggest taking heed to the teachings in church. It is their where a persons moral conscience grows and matures, for the church is the “pillar and bulwark of the truth “ (1 Timothy 3 15) “Seed untiringly to know the truth “ The challenge of the Gospel remains inherent in the Christian message passed down though each generation What is then accepted by those seeding the truth will also receive freedom if their faith accepts the gospels teaching entirely.

True religion is concerned with sex because sex is concerned with love and with life. Concern yourself with what is right and proper so that your conscience may be clear and speak truthfully to those you share love with.

If you make my work your home you will indeed by my disciples: you will learn the truth, and the truth will make you free.  John  8: 31-32.