HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My sincere wishes for this new year:
I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2012, may it bring only good things to those who deserve them and may we see the light at the end of this tunnel called crisis.

Short Stories to read and listen

Are you looking for something to read this Christmas? The Guardian is running a series of short stories. They call it Literary Christmas Crackers and they are here for you to enjoy. They´re parcelling up two short stories every day – one to read, and one to listen to, featuring authors such as Colm Toibin, Margaret Drabble, Julian Barnes and Jennifer Egan. You can also find stories by Tèa Obreht and David Nicholls, two of the big names in 2011. So, give it a try, I sure will.

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs

One of my favourite christmas stories is the wonderfully drawn The Snowman by Raymond Briggs and that is saying a lot as I usually dislike anything that has to do with Christmas. Curiously enough, the author himself apparently shares this opinion, according to this article in The Telegraph: 'It can be a grim time of year, Christmas," He says.
You can watch an interview here 
The Snowman was once voted  the top story for Christmas by British children and since its first broadcast in 1982 it has been a favourite at Christmas in the UK.
The book is wordless, as is the film except for the song "Walking in the Air". The story is told through picture, action and music.
Thanks to the magic of youtube we can all enjoy the film online. The following is the whole film in two parts, 





The lyrics to the song Walking in the Air:

We're walking in the air
We're floating in the moonlit sky
The people far below are sleeping as we fly

I'm holding very tight
I'm riding in the midnight blue
I'm finding I can fly so high above with you

Far across the world
The villages go by like dreams
The rivers and the hills, the forests and the streams

Children gaze open mouthed
Taken by surprise
Nobody down below believes their eyes

We're surfing in the air
We're swimming in the frozen sky
We're drifting over icy mountains floating by

Suddenly swooping low
On an ocean deep
Rousing up a mighty monster from his sleep

And walking in the air
We're dancing in the midnight sky
And everyone who sees us greets us as we fly

We're walking in the air
We're walking in the air

You can watch Raymond Briggs' other Christmas story, Father Christmas, here thanks to Nicog79
It is a great story too but it's more difficult for English language learners as it has a lot of dialogue. Give it a try though, you never know.

WORLD AIDS DAY

Today is World AIDS Day, a day dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. 

"Thirty years ago, in New York and San Francisco, a small number of young men became inexplicably and very seriously ill. Some had a particular cancer while others had a form of pneumonia that had never before troubled that age group. Their immune systems were shot, their bodies unable to fight back, and they died. They were the first documented cases of Aids, a new disease that would terrify entire populations as it scythed down rich and poor, celebrity and nonentity. Rock Hudson. Freddie Mercury. Arthur Ashe. And thousands whose names were known only to those who loved them.

Today, on World Aids Day, the disease is still incurable – but not untreatable. The great news this year is that scientists have now tentatively offered us a way to end Aids. Studies in recent months have shown that the drugs that keep people alive also stop them infecting others.

The Global Fund's decision to cancel grants will reverse the huge gains made in combating Aids, TB and malaria. 

Now is not the time to cut funding for HIV and Aids.

There are more than 6 million people in poor countries on the drugs now – but just as many are still in need, and many more will soon join the waiting lists. Without treatment and continuing effort, three decades of progress could be reversed."(excerpt from the Guardian)

For more information like this about Aids and AIDS WORLD DAY go to the Guardian, my source of information

 

In 1987, a quilt created by The Names Project Foundation covered the National Mall in Washington, D.C., memorializing those we lost to AIDS. We can help create a quilt online. Add your panel to the (2015)QUILT here. The beginning of the end of AIDS starts with you.