jimmsfairytales0com

Male

Dun Luiche, Donegal

Ireland

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About Me/Us:

I, Jimmy Hollis i Dickson, am a writer of children's stories and poet who has not found any publisher interested in accepting my work. I have therefore bunged SOME of my work up on my own web-site, and anybody can read it, download it, and/or print it out completely for free.
A writer would rather be read (and appreciated) than paid. Or maybe that's just me...

Writing for children can be "an easy option" which doesn't require much thought. At least that's what seems to be going on in many of the children's books that I have read. But then, there is also some excellent literature for children. In fact, "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" and "Through The Looking Glass" tie with Marge Piercy's "Woman On The Edge Of Time" as my top 3 books of all time.
We ALL know that "Children are the future". They deserve books worthy of them. They deserve books that cause them to think; that cause them to question; that cause them to break down old barriers, prejudices, and dogma; that don't present them with easy answers or formulae; that cause them to DREAM.
In that sense, literature for children can be among the most important in the World.

I'm an avid blogger - especially on themes to do with Peace, (In)Justice, and Children's and Women's Rights - for example on "Comment Is Free..." ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/users/jimmsfairytales0com/comments ) - only it ISN'T (free, that is), because some of my (and others') comments have been arbitrarily deleted by moderators.

Just learned how to make videos on the computer, so expect more from me on this front.

Relationship Status:

It's Complicated

Movies

I only see films when they're cheap enough to see on my miserable budget (mostly as DVDs from the library or friends), which means I lag behind the current screen scene. However, I LOVE good films, and a list of all my favourites would be way too long to include here. So let me share with you just a short list of gems that deal with human relationships and interaction (the first 2 have been tied for 1st place as my favourite films of any kind for some years now):

Secrets And Lies - by Mike Leigh

Scorchers - by David Beaird
Bedazzled - original version by Stanley Donen, with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, and Eleanor Bron. I have NO wish to see the Elizabeth Hurley remake!

Pleasantville - by Gary Ross

Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her - by Rodrigo Garcia

Cosas Que Nunca Te Dije (Things I Never Told You) - by Isabel Coixet

And then, ANY film by
Ken Loach
Alejandro Amenábar This is from his 1st feature film (made when he was 24!), Tesis, with my favourite living film actor, Ana Torrent:

Margarethe von Trotta
Julio Médem This one's with my SECOND favourite living film actor, Emma Suárez:

Television

The Prisoner (original version from the 60s with Patrick McGoohan): BEST television ever made!

Almost everything that Peter Cook has been in - best television comedy

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Music

Lots and lots and LOTS! But especially
Bach
Beethoven
EVERY SONG I've ever heard by Indigo Girls. My 2 favourite songs of all time are "Kid Fears" and "Love's Recovery", but others of their songs are more pertinent to the theme of this web-site, such as "This Train Revised" off their album "Swamp Ophelia". In fact, I've been searching the Internet for suitable images to accompany this song as my 2nd video. It's already done now, see my videos. But here's another one for you (because they ARE the best...)

Joni Mitchell
Victor Jara

Zélia Duncan
Silvio Rodriguez

most - not all - of John lennon (with and without The Beatles)

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Books

Many, many, MANY! But especially anything by:
Lewis Carroll
Marge Piercy
Flann O'Brien

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Heroes

Rachel Corrie Here giving a talk in the 5th grade:

[We have got to understand that the poor are all around us and we are ignoring them.
We have got to understand that these deaths are preventable.
We have got to understand that people in third world countries think and care and smile and cry just like us.
We have got to understand that they are us. We are them.]
And at 23: [The international media and our government are not going to tell us that we are effective, important, justified in our work, courageous, intelligent, valuable. We have to do that for each other, and one way we can do that is by continuing our work, visibly.
I also think it's important for people […] in relative privilege to realize that people without privilege will be doing this work no matter what, because they are working for their lives. We can work with them, and they know that we work with them, or we can leave them to do this work themselves and curse us for our complicity in killing them.]

Emma Goldman
[If I can't dance, I want no part of your Revolution.]
[Before we can forgive one another, we have to understand one another.]
[The most violent element in society is ignorance.]

Severn Cullis-Suzuki

[At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:
not to fight with others,
to work things out,
to respect others,
to clean up our mess,
not to hurt other creatures
to share - not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?
Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for -- we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying "everyting's going to be alright" , "we're doing the best we can" and "it's not the end of the world".
But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says "You are what you do, not what you say."
Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening]

Mohandas (known as Mahatma ['Great-Soul']) Gandhi
[Man becomes great exactly in the degree in which he works for the welfare of his fellow-men.]
[We must become the change we want to see.]

Nelson Mandela
[Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.]
[For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.]
[If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.]
[There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.]

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Website:

http://jimmsfairytales.com

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