A Blessing in Disguise.

I have been reading a wonderful book called, The History of Love.  It is a fantastic, thought provoking, and utterly mystifying novel.  Told in a dual perspective style, this book shows many levels of the coming of age experience.  One perspective is a teenage girl named Alma, and one is an old man named Leo Gursky.  Leo had written a book for his young love when he was a young man.  Alma is named after both the character in the book he wrote (called the "History of Love") and his lost love.  In order to find themselves and grow up, both characters must learn about their lives and how these people's lives are interconnected.  In the History of Love, these two protagonists must face struggles in order to come of age.

The teenage character, Alma, has many struggles to overcome.  Alma is not your everyday teenage girl.  She is a child who has had to be strong and deal with horrible things at a young age.  The obstacles she must face are things that anyone would crumble under the pressure from.  For example, Alma's father died when she was nine and she has had to help care for her brother and herself, and help her mother overcome her grief.  Alma has a particularly difficult job in controlling and helping to raise her brother, Bird.  Bird believes he is the messiah, and that a flood is going to come, and that he is the one to help speak God's word to everyone.  When a parent is so stricken with grief in the way Alma's mother is, they may become absent from their children and forget that their children's world's have been wrecked too.  This is what has happened to Alma's mother.  Alma and Bird have been left to fend for themselves and deal with the death of their father by themselves.  At one point, Bird and Alma are playing a game of denial in which they say everything real is "NOT!" and Bird says, "I! HAVE NOT! BEEN! UNHAPPY! MY WHOLE! LIFE!", to which Alma responds with, "But you're only seven,".  This is what can happen to children if their parents fail to the effects of trauma on their children.  At one point Alma says, "ONE THING I AM NEVER GOING TO DO WHEN I GROW UP.  Is fall in love, drop out of college, learn to subsist on water and air, have a species named after me, and ruin my life.”.  When Alma says this she is saying that she wants to be nothing like her mother, and never will give up on life.  Alma also must try and find out who she is, even with all these burdens on top of her.  These burdens actually do end up leading to her finding out who she is, who she wants to be, and who her past is. 

Leo Gursky carried his burden all the way from Europe.  Leo is so in love with the woman he can never get back, that he is in a state of illusion.  He was infatuated with this woman, to a point that he devoted his life and his writing to her.  For example, at one point he says, “Then she kissed him. Her kiss was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.”.  Leo loves Alma so much.  To him, she is his entire life.  He believes that no matter wether she loves him or not he must love her for always, “And if the man who once upon a time had been a boy who promised he'd never fall in love with another girl as long as he lived kept his promise, it wasn't because he was stubborn or even loyal. He couldn't help it.”.  There is nothing that Leo knows about himself other than that, he is in love with Alma, and he is a writer.  He has no life but her. He even followed her to America to rekindle their love.  However, this leads Leo to finally finding his life in America.  In the end Leo's obstacle of love leads him to finding himself, even if it is in death.  He learns that he does not need Alma anymore.  This quote from the end says this perfectly, "Or he died thinking about Alma.  Or when he chose not to.” 

To sum up, to finally find yourself, come of, age, grow up,you must first overcome burdens, obstacles, and struggles.  These struggles do make you stronger, more powerful, and more unique.  When someone goes of a journey to find themselves they learn more about themselves and their loved ones than they thought they would.  “Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but - I hope - into a better shape.” 
― Charles Dickens, Great Expectations
P.S. It is really a great book.
       Please read it.
       Please!
       PLEASE!

The HIstory of Love?

To be honest, when Ms Robbins recommended a book called The History of Love to me, my initial reaction (in my mind) was, "Oh no, Ms Robbins thinks I'm THAT kind of girl...."  I'm so beyond glad I didn't give up on this book based solely on it's title.  This book is odd, yet still enthralling and very well written.  It is written in the split perspective style, mainly from the views of a young teen girl named Alma, and an elderly man named Leo Gursky.  Leo Gursky is a very old man, waiting for death, living in New York City.  He is an immigrant from the Nazi Era, who came here to both escape the Nazis and reconnect with his great love, Alma.  Now, this love is a different Alma, the same Alma as in the book within the book, The History of Love, this is the Alma that the teenage Alma is named after.  Alma is a teenage girl who is struggling with the coming of age experience, despite the strange conditions she faces at home.  Her mother is deep in her grief from Alma's father dying when she was nine years old, her brother thinks he is the next messiah, and her mother is translating the book, The History of Love, for a client whom Alma is trying to set up with her mother.  As you can see, there is quite a bit going on in this book.  In The History of Love, the reader can witness two separate coming of age experiences with two very different people.

Leo Gursky, despite his advanced age is actually coming of age.  I think that when people reflect on themselves and their lives they are developing and growing.  For example, at one point he says, "Then he did the hardest thing he'd ever had to do in his life, he picked up his hat and walked away."  He says this when recollecting a time when he had finally tracked down his Alma and she basically tells him the have a child together and that she never wants to see or hear from him again.  This quote expresses an important lesson to learn as you grow up, sometimes you must get up and walk away from something you love more than yourself.  Can you imagine having someone or something you love so much that you travel across the sea to track down, only to get to their doorstep, be told you have a child, and be rejected by the person you love more than your life in your home country?  Leo Gursky must have had to grow up quite a bit in a matter of moments when faced with rejection and the news that he had created a life.  Also, at one point he recounts a memory of spending the seemingly endless time he had as a teenager with Alma.  He remembers them learning words in English together, looking them up in the dictionary and repeating the words.  At one point Leo asks Alma how to say a word and she tells him she doesn't know, Leo connects this memory with her sending him a letter saying, "When will you learn there isn't a word for everything?"  This is an interesting question.  Leo looks too hard for words, rules, guidelines, even directions for life.  Alma is saying that he has to stop in order too finally grow up.  Leo, even this late in his life still can grow as a result of remembering these experiences, he can still change.

Alma is at a perfect moment in her life to be growing and changing and coming of age.  She is an adolescent, in a slightly dysfunctional family.  She grows in a normal fashion for an adolescent, she goes through many stages.  For example, she goes through a stage of embarrassment at her family, a common thing for adolescents to do.  At one point she is talking to her brother and she says, "Just try to be normal.  You have to at least try."  This is a very common thing for teenagers to do, they suddenly become very aware of who their family is, what they do, and whether it effects the public view of them.  Another thing she says is, "I decided to learn to survive in the wild like my father.  It would be good to know in case anything happened to mom, leaving bird and I to fend for ourselves."  This is an example of a teenager trying to support other people in order to feel strong and supported.  She is preparing to support a whole other life and survive in the footsteps of her father.  Doing this lets her be more like her father and feel strong.  Alma is going through the motions like any other teenager, except she has a more exceptional situation, with a brother, no father, and a vulnerable mother.

The History of Love is a fantastic book.  I cannot suggest it more.  The characters are intertwined beautifully, with fascinating lives of their own.  I definitely recommend it, don't judge it at first glance like me!

Creepy Peter

I just finished the book Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie.  A mischievous boy who can fly, and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang, The Lost Boys. They all interact with mermaids, natives, fairies, pirates, and from time to time, meeting ordinary children from the outside world.  The story is about how Peter meets a young girl named Wendy, and her two brothers, John, and Michael.  Peter brings the children to Neverland one night when their parents are out, and their aunt is babysitting.  On the surface it seems like an ordinary children’s book, but when you look deeper it is so much more.  It is the story of a kidnapping and Stockholm Syndrome, two very adult issues.
        The story of Peter Pan is dominated by a kidnapping.  While it may appear that the children go to Neverland willingly, you can also interpret it as Peter kidnapping Wendy, John, and Michael.  The point at which the kidnapping occurs is when Peter sneaks into their home and takes them to an unknown world, Neverland.  He comes in and tells them all about Neverland and about how amazing it is, in order to make them want to come, and leave their life in London behind.  Peter only tells of the good things, never the bad.  Wendy hesitates.  She doesn’t want to leave her whole life behind just to live in Neverland.  But, Peter entices her to come with tales of mermaids, which Wendy loves.  There is no need to change the boys’ opinions, for they are already packing to leave. Peter is very good at persuading and seducing people; he is very convincing.  Another example is that Peter has this troupe of “Lost Boys” and they are all orphans, but orphans or not, they were kidnapped, by Peter Pan.  The story goes to say that the boys fell out of their perambulators as babies, Peter took the boys and raised them as his family.  I think that all Peter wants is to have a family.  That is the reason that he took the boys, and enticed Wendy to come and be their mother.  Even if his motives are innocent, Peter is a kidnapper to satisfy his emotional needs.
    The story of Peter Pan is actually very dark.  The children even develop a syndrome known as Stockholm Syndrome.  Stockholm Syndrome is when a person who is kidnapped begins to feel compassion for their kidnappers.  For instance, when Wendy is about to leave Neverland, she turns back, right before she leaves and looks at Peter sadly.  Through the story, Wendy begins to love Peter, even though he kidnapped her.  Another aspect of Stockholm Syndrome is when you almost forget who you really are.  In the story, John and Michael forget their old life.  They start to think of Wendy as their real mother, and forget their actual mother and their actual home.  A large part of Peter Pan is about Stockholm Syndrome.
    Peter Pan is a very dark, and deep story.  There are many ways to look at it.  It can be about a child, who never wants to grow up, or about a young kidnapper.  It’s very creepy, and odd.  It is not only a children’s book, the underlying story is scary.  I think that the story of Peter Pan can be related to the story of Patty Hearst, both include girls who were kidnapped and developed love to their kidnappers, except, Patty’s story is REAL!

Romeo and Juliet is a story of young love, violence, destiny, and hate.  This captivating tale is told by many.  One in particular is the modern day movie.  Baz Luhrman directed this film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes.  In Baz Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrman uses both color and sound in very interesting ways by themselves and together.

The use of color in this movie is wonderful.  Baz Luhrman uses color to change the viewers feelings.  He uses it all the time in sets, costumes, and props.  He also uses it when editing the film.  These changes set an aura and tone for the scene.  For example when Juliet and Lady Capulet talk about Juliet's marriage to Paris, the scene is very happy because the colors in the rooms and costumes are brightly colored.  Also, in the scene when Romeo and his friends are escaping the party the scene seems harsh and scary because the color scheme is dark and clouded.  I think Baz Luhrman does a fantastic job of conveying important feelings by using color.

Baz Luhrman's use of sounds and music is very interesting.  He uses the soundtrack to help convey the emotion the scene should spark in the viewer.  He accentuates certain noises like guns falling, shooting, cigarettes being stomped out, and, water falling.  These noises are very important to the movie so he makes them excessively loud to show how important they are.  He also uses the music to help send the right emotion.  For example in the scene where Mercutio dies the music is pounding so it tells the viewer to feel scared.  I think his use of music and sound is really great and has a huge effect on the movie.

When these two come together magic happens.  He uses different colors and sounds to express feelings or tones.  When he puts the sound and color together the feeling you had with each one alone becomes much stronger.  For example in the scene when Romeo and Juliet kill themselves the music is soft and sad, the colors are dark in the scenery but light and white in the costumes and props.  This creates a very mixed feeling.  In this scene the colors and sounds create the melancholy feeling Baz Luhrman wants you to feel.  These aspects of the movie affect the viewer a lot.

Identical? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!

*SPOILER ALERT*
Right now I am in the middle of a Ellen Hopkins marathon!  I love Ellen Hopkins and have been waiting to read a few of her books because in 6th grade when I read Crank for the first time I was scared to death for weeks.  I'm not kidding.  After that terrifying experience I decided to wait at least a year to read her other books.  In the past weekI have made my way through Crank (for a second- much less scary-time) and am already 3/4 done with Identical.  I adore Identical!  It's about these two identical (duh!) twin sisters who are trapped in a crumbling family.  These two girls are perceived as being two identical people, but they are so FAR from it.

Raeanne is a very complicated character.  She has so many different Raeannes bottled up inside her.  She claims a few time that she is unlike her sister who is frigid and keeps everything bottled up inside her, but I think she is.  She has an exterior that is tough and seemingly relaxed.  She is a stoner and has a series of terrible boyfriends. She is also bulimic.  Her explanation was that it helps her feel in control, she says it really isn't about body image.  She is using drugs, alcohol, and boys to cope with the lack of attention from her father.  She is jealous of her sisters closeness with her father.  She knows how sick it is that she wants a sexual relationship with her father, but all she really wants is a little love.  I feel awful for Raeanne, but at the same time I want her to wake up and smell the flowers.  I wish she'd just realize that there are better things to want than a sick man's love, but then again, how can poor Raeanne help it?

Kaeleigh is the opposite of Raeanne.  Kaeleigh has had to deal with one of the worst things possible.  Her father sexually abuses her.  She has to deal with this in many ways.  She closes herself off to other people by being "frigid".  She is also excels in school and is involved in everything to get away.  She tries to stay far far away from home.  She is a binge eater.  She eats because she wants curves because she wants to be the opposite of "daddy's image"and he likes thin.  She eats to become her mother because that relationship fell apart.  She also cuts herself to feel better.  She doesn't wants any of the attention her dad gives her.  She also wants her mother's love while Raeanne has given up on her mother.  I have so much pity for her but as with her sister I can't help wanting to shake her awake just to try to fix her.

This book is an incredible novel, but it's really disturbing.  Once you get over the initial shock of the story and all their problems you start to see the characters.  This is when you see their internal problems and true differences.  I want to read it again and just read to learn more about Kaeleigh and Raeanne.

Summer, the Lower East Side, c. 1937

"The people loved their children and, no matter how poor they might be, they managed to dig up the money for my pictures. I would finish the photographs on the contrastiest paper I could get in order to give the kids nice, white, chalky faces. My customers, who were Italian, Polish, or Jewish, liked their pictures dead white."

Weegee by Weegee: An Autobioography, 1961

This is what Weegee said about this photograph This photo was probably taken for a family or as a part of a study.  He studied the Lower West Side of New York City quite a bit.  I love this photo and all of Weegee's stuff.  (if you like it here's the link to more of his stuff: http://museum.icp.org/museum/collections/special/weegee/)

This is a photograph of children playing in the street in the summer.  I love this photograph because of all the details subtly hidden in it.  The little boy running isn't wearing a bathing suit, just his underwear.  In fact im pretty sure they all are just wearing clothes, not swimwear.  All the kids in the picture are as Weegee says, "white, chalky faces."They all look beyond happy to be playing in the water.  The adults in the background are all working and look hot as blazes.  They stare at their children with adoring faces.  The water they are playing in is coming from the fire hydrant.  All the children look very young, except the two boys in the middle.  The buildings in the background look big, but at the same time a little run down.  The block looks incredibly hot and uncomfortable, but everyone in the photo looks so happy to be there.

This is an incredible photograph.  I really love it.  I think one of the reasons why I love it so much is because even though it only shows one social class, it explains the class system at the time (1937)  These people quite obviously are pretty poor, but they love their lives.  Another reason this photo is so interesting is because they are so happy.  These people must have very difficult lives, but they appreciate their lives so much.  I think that in the eyes of Weegee these people were just people who were too darn hot and needed a break from life.  I think he wanted to show a different side of the people who were automatically judged because they didn't have a lot of money.    I love the physical layout of the picture, but I also love the idea behind it.

The way these people are so happy is incredible to me.  I think it's really interesting how they appreciate the little things they have, all because they don't have a lot.

Poem

The three poetic devices I used in my poem were rhyme scheme, repetition, and metaphor.

It's hot as hell today
I swear the house is burning
It will burn and crisp away

Like a fire blazing
spreading far and wide
heat's really hell raising

It's hot as hell today
I'm running down the stairs
into the heat soiree

The hot air makes me feel annoyed
stuffed in and combusted
The house feels near destroyed

It's hot as hell today
I sweat like a pig
But I'll try to make my way

The water feels nice
on my steaming back
a cold patter of ice

It's hot as hell today

I swear the house is burning

It will burn and crisp away

AND THE AWARD GOES TO.........!

LEAH!  I want to recognize Leah for writing consistently interesting engaging and thought provoking blog posts.  Her writing is always sophisticated, complex, and yet somehow she manages to work magic and make everything crystal clear!  I really enjoy reading her posts and she has caused me to read at least two books!  Recently she wrote a great post about the book Give a Boy a Gun.  Just look at the title and tell me you don't want to read her post, I dare you.  All in all, if you need a fantastic mentor for blog posts Leah is your girl.

Here's the link: http://www.writinguponreading.blogspot.com/

P.S. Even if you already have a mentor READ LEAH'S POSTS!

Do I Belong?

I am currently reading the book Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt.  It is incredible!  I really love it!  In the book Angela's Ashes, the main character is Frank McCourt himself.  The book is all about his childhood and about his growing up partly in “The New World” (America) and partly in “The Homeland” (Ireland).  I think a big part of this book is fitting in.  A big theme is belonging.  Frank doesn’t belong in New York, or in Ireland.
    Frank doesn’t belong in New York, where he was born.  In New York, Frank is the Irish kid.  Frank is an outcast because of where his parents were born.  People don’t accept him because everyone in America is an immigrant.  For example, his neighbors are Jewish, and even though they are sweet people.  Frank can’t really play or fit in with their son because of their nationality differences.  Another example of his not belonging, is how when he is looking for his father in the bars, the men in the bars are all of one nationality or another.  When he asks for a Malachy (his father’s name) they all say no because the name is not of their nationality or group.  Frank isn’t really a part of New York.
    Frank doesn’t belong in Ireland either.  In Ireland, Frank is the ‘Yankee’ kid. 
Frank doesn’t know squat about what to do in Ireland.  For example in school he gets punished a lot because he doesn’t understand religious customs of Ireland.  Another example of how he doesn’t belong is that when his grandmother meets him she gets angry because he is an American.  Even his grandmother doesn’t accept him all because of his nationality.  Frank doesn’t really belong to Ireland either.
    In conclusion, I think Frank doesn’t really belong anywhere.  Frank is kind of in between worlds, he is not fully Irish or fully American in a sense.  Frank would need to commit fully to one world in order to finally belong completely.  This idea of belonging reminds me of Funny Girl, and how in that movie Fanny doesn’t quite belong to the theatre or to Mr Arnstein , or to Henry Street, or to The Follies.

Two people, Two stories

 I am reading the book The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery.  It's a book that was originally written in French.  It's beautifully written and has an incredibly interesting plot.  The main characters in the story are Paloma and Renee.  Paloma is a genius twelve year old.  She is growing up in a very rich family and really doesn't agree with their ideals most of the time.  Renee is the cranky old concierge that works in the building that Paloma lives in.  Even though they seem so different they actually are pretty similar in the end.

Paloma is an incredibly smart and interesting twelve year old.  Her family is very rich and prestigious.  She is planning on taking her life when she turns thirteen.  The reason she has decided to do this is because she really hates her family.  The thing is, she doesn't hate them, she almost feels sorry for them.  She believes the way they act is fake and hollow.  She understands why they act the way they do, but she doesn't comprehend why they believe in the things they do.  Her mother fills her emptiness by taking care of plants, her sister pretends to be worldly and intelligent, and her father throws dinner parties.  They are all so fake.  Paloma feels like the only real person she knows.  She has real interests and passions, for example she loves Japanese culture.  She hates the world she lives in.  Little does she know, someone real is right next door.

Renee is the  only other real person nearby.  On the outside Renee is a cranky old concierge.  When you dig a little deeper, you see a very interesting and intelligent person.  She is obsessed with incredibly advanced Russian novels and Japanese culture too, like Paloma.  She is sophisticated and smart, but because of these fake people's expectations, she is kept silent and seemingly dumb or stupid.  Because she works for these fake people, she hides her true personality so they are happy.  They are only when everyone decides to assimilate to their stereotypes.  She must hate getting turned off by these insignificant people.  I think it's so ridiculous that a real person be shut down like that.

I, like Paloma and Renee don't understand the fake culture that people practice everywhere.  The world they live in is filled to the brim with these kind of people. I would hate to have to deal with the artificiality everyday.

22 Humans

I  saw the link to Slavery Footprint on my ELA teacher's blog and decided to check it out.  (The link is: slaveryfootprint.org.)  It is a program that tries to spread the  word about modern day slavery.  So many people worked SO hard to kill slavery off, but it's still here.  I'm not talking about picking cotton for rich white southern plantation owners during the 1800's.  What I'm talking about is the idea that people NOW are being forced to work for consumer's needs.  When you buy something that is mass produced, chances are, unless it is a special company making the product, it has been touched by a slave.  Anything from shorts to shrimp to diamonds to cars can and probably employs some sort of slave labor.

The web site gives you two options, you can either pick the "What? I have slaves working for me?" button or the "Take the Survey!" button.  I first read the about page on the site, then took the survey.  There was a huge variety of questions about your lifestyle.  They asked about diet, clothing, sports equipment, electronics, where you live, housing, medicine, age, gender, children or not, and jewelery.  At first I didn't really understand why they were asking about these things, then I began to read the facts beside the questions and I was shocked.  For example, "Bonded labor is used for much of Southeast Asia's shrimping industry, which supplies more shrimp to the U.S. than any other country. Laborers work up to 20-hour days to peel 40 pounds of shrimp. Those who attempt to escape are under constant threat of violence or sexual assault.", this fact was listed next to the diet questions.  The mere thought that people wouldn't get paid to do their work is shocking to me, but the idea that if they tried to escape they could be abused if unbelievable.  It really makes me sick.

22.  That's 22 people forced into labor without their consent.  I have 22 slaves working for me.  At the end of the survey they give you your results with comparisons to the average, extraneous variables, and other extra tidbits of information.  I still can't believe I only have 3 people under the average "working for me".  I felt awful when I read my results.  In the future I will be much more cautious about how I conduct my life and my consumption of stuff that could be produced by slaves.

The most interesting part to me is the fact that if you told me this was something that happened in the past I would be angry and shocked, but my response in the end would be, "It was different back then."  The problem is that when we say that slavery happened because "It was different back then,", it's ridiculous because it still happens now. 

Does Class Matter?

I am reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.  I just started it an I already really enjoy it.  It is a book about a girl named Lee Fiora who moves from Indiana to a Massachusetts boarding school called Ault.  Ault is really fancy and has not just an air of wealthiness, but a consuming air of wealthiness.  The book deals with a lot of issues, but the most pressing one is separation of the classes.

Life is wildly different at Ault than in Indiana. In Indiana, Lee was the kid who was the top of her class.  In Indiana, Lee was praised constantly for being so smart.  Lee always knew the right thing to say in Indiana.  In Indiana, money never mattered.  Lee's life at Ault is the exact opposite.  Here Lee is really lonely and really has no friends to help her adjust.  She's nice and kind and smart, but no one feels the need to be her friend because everyone else has friends already.  At Ault all the kids come from incredibly rich and wealthy backgrounds.  In Indiana, Lee didn't have a lot of money but there it didn't matter.  Here at Ault, it's part of what makes her an outcast.  In fact, the plot doesn't entirely revolve around how much her being on scholarship affects her, but it's a huge component. At Ault kids really throw money around.  It truly doesn't matter for them.  Like the character Little says at one point, "They buy 70 dollar track warmups and it means absolutley nothing."  Most of the kids have lawyers and doctors as parents.  Lee has farmers for parents.  Now while Lee didn't go from rags to riches, her surroundings definitely did.

If I were in Lee'splace I don't know if I would be able to keep it together.  It must be really stressful to be an outcast the way Lee is.  It kind of humiluiating to be in her shoes.  She's so lonely, and it's all because of her economic class.  I mean, can you imagine being with a ton of kids who can do the one thing you can't and being an outcast because of it?  Lee is already lonely, because she's not being accepted into multiple different social circles, but on top of that she's on scholarship.  Lee is an outcast on both counts, socially and econnomically.  She came from a accepting place where her economic situation was common, now Lee is uncommon.  Lee had to transition radically.  One day, top of the world (In Indiana), the next, bottom of the heap (at Ault).  One day average income, next, "dirt poor".  Now, she's not poor but she's definitely not in the same class as most of the kids at Ault. 

I think enconomic class separation is a huge issue both in this book and in the world.  It can prevent people from becoming friends, and can even tear apart friendships.   It is a destructive and elitest mindset, and it doesn't just happen economically, it happens racially and socially too.  Just look at Maria and Tony in West Side Story, true love torn apart by class differences.

Julie is Julia, or Not?

I am finishing the book Julie and Julia by Julie Powell this week.  It's a really good book.  I loved the whole story.  It's all about Julie's journey to cook her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  That's cooking over 500 recipes in only 365 days!  Julie, in addition to trying to complete this daunting task, offers a unique and funny perspective throught the book.  Julie often compares herself to Julia Child.  They funny part is that while they kind of share a name, they are vastly different people.  They have some similarities, but they are incredibly different from each other.
Julie Powell is a almost 30 year old woman.  She is married to a man she met back in Texas in High School.  She is a secretary at a government agency who's policies she doesn't agree with in the slightest.  She really hates her job.  She moved from Texas all the way to New York City to become an actress.  She lives in a terrible apartment with a lot of really big functional problems.  Her plans and goals she set out to accomplish are not really panning out.  She's not exactly happy with her life at this point.  She needs something to improve her life at the beginning of the book.  When she decides to attempt to cook her way through MtAoFC many people really doubt her.  Julie is kind of disheveled.  Sher lives a mainly frugal live, and she's a little bit crazy.  Although on the other hand, Julie is a really determined and proud person in my opinion.  She's fun and interesting and clever, she just doesn't really have her life figured out, and in her case that's really not a good thing.

Julia Child however, is vastly different.  In the Wikipedia artickle about her it says "Julia Child (née McWilliams;^[1] August 15, 1912 – August 13, 2004) was an American chef, author, and television personality. She is recognized for introducing French cuisine to the American public with her debut cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking".  She was a very sucessful person.  Julia Child was dignified and wealthy, and while she was reported to be a fun person, she seems very serious.  When I read the parts about her in Julie and Julia, Julie demonstrates great respect for Julia, Julia however, "is reported to have been unimpressed by Powell's blog, believing Powell's determination to cook every recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year to be a stunt."  I don't really know what to think about this but, she is definately entited to her own opinion.  Julia Child to me means good and fun cooking, but French sophistication along with a dignified personality.

Julie and Julia are really different people.  Then again, how would you like to be compared to one of the greatest home chefs of all time?

The Man Who Walked

He was the man who walked across the Twin Towers.  He was regarded as brave and strong, yet insane,  after, when people knew who he was. He was a different person before and after the stunt.

Before he walked across the towers he was a different man.  He was a man with no job or real stable life.  The trouble was, he needed money for his plan to really work.  He truly was a mastermind.  He had it all planned out.  He knew they would need, fake IDs, wire, balancing pole, bribe money and all sorts of tools for the mechanical aspect of it.  To make money he just did petty things he didn't care for.  He did all sorts of odd jobs, and I don't mean like a handy man, he was talented and found all sorts of jobs he could use his talents in.  He was a magician at parties.  He hated it sometimes and sometimes enjoyed it, he made himself into different people at these jobs.  He performed in parks in bad neighborhoods for tips.  When he did this he was near junkies and drug dealers all the time.  He only cared about raising the money to pull this "trick" off.  He was completely obsessed with his plan to walk across the towers.  His whole life was all about pulling off his stunt.

After he pulled off the stunt he must have been a different man.  He was not injured.  He was not hurt mentally or physically.  He was happier as a person.  In one chapter there is a judge and he is the judge for Philipe Petit's case in court.  He describes him as a happy man.  He almost thinks of him as too happy and pleased with himself.  Throughout the whole book the people who see and hear him all describe him as a happy person who is incredibly pleased with himself.  It's interesting because he has committed a large crime and has made many people look ridiculous, but he's still so happy.  When you see his perspective you are amazed and astonished by the way he views everything.  Although his voice is not in the first person he shines through the authors voice with passion and emotion.  You are able to see his point of view and you can see why he was so happy when he finished this spectacle.   This was a monumental thing for this crazy man.

He is such an interesting man.  He really made all of  New York City reexamine their experiences and how much adventure they have in their lives.  He was a revolutionary.

Which Life?

In the book Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann, he shows all sorts of characters.  Two characters in particular that he demonstrates very well are Tillie and Claire.  These two women are vastly different.  Tillie is a prostitute and Claire is a rich woman.  These two woman are as different as two woman can be.

Tillie is a woman who has been a prostitute for almost her entire life.  She seems really sad.  She's also very lonely, even though she's with someone every night.  She's also totally unstable.  She uses drugs all the time, she talks about shooting up all the time.  It also makes me really sad to read about her demeaning herself.  She constantly calls herself "Tillie F*&%ed up Henderson".  She's really mean to herself.  She calls the pimps she's with "daddies" She has a new "daddy" all the time.  She also lives on the street.  She also has no friends just competitors.  It's also really upsetting because she was expected to become a hooker.  I mean, even her mother wanted her to become a hooker.  She wanted her to go on "the stroll" (that's what they all call being a prostitute).  Even though she has a ton of sad and depressing things that complicate her life, she also is very free.  She doesn't really have to be chained by the things most people are chained by.

Claire is extremely different.  She has the life many people would dream for.  She has a really nice life.  She lives in a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood.  There is a sense of stability in her life.  She has a huge income, a husband, and a whole life that is almost the same everyday.  That's not to say that her life is great or perfect, because it isn't, but her life is pretty good in general.  She knows her son, unlike Tillie.  Claire's son died in the war in Vietnam.  Even though he died, she still knew him, she still loved him and raised him.  She has a husband she can rely on, and is proud of herself for what she has accomplished.  The whole situation that she's in is light years better than Tillie's, except for the fact that she's confined to rules and a life she has to have because of her accomplishments.  I think she's got a good life but sometimes I feel sorry for you.

All in all, I think both woman's lives have pluses and minuses to them.  They both have good parts in their lives and bad parts, some people have more bad than good and some have more good than bad, but it usually evens out in the end.  Still, I can't imagine what it would be like to be either of them.

Death From Afar

In the book I'm reading, Let the Great World Spin, there is a character named Claire who's son died in Vietnam during the war there.  I wonder how it feels to have your own family member die?  I mean, she didn't even know about it until long after it happened.  That must feel so terrible. I just want to try to imagine what its like, to have all that shock from so far away.

Her son died in the war, but he wasn't even a soldier.  He was doing computer programming for people who died.  He was the person who kept track of the deaths.  He was literally the death counter.  Its very interesting to see this side of war.  How can a person die in the war even if they aren't fighting.  When i think of deaths associated with war, i think of battle and fighting.  I definitely don't think of computer programming in a cafe.  In the book she says, "It was a Sergent... He kept playing with his hat on his knee.  And then he just said, your son passed."  In this part she is talking about who came to her house to tell her about her son dying.  Can you even imagine having someone come into your house, sit down, tell you your son died, leave, and go to another house to do the same?

The other mothers who lost sons in the war had similar, but also very different experiences.  One woman only received a telegram telling her her son died.  Imagine, just a telegram, not even a real person to console you.  Another woman had three different sons die, and thus had three different people come to tell her her sons had died.  All of the other women had sons who were actually fighting on the front lines, instead of on a computer.  Nevertheless, all their sons died, all of them are in extreme pain, and all of them need someone to support them.  How people can hold themselves up through all of that is incredible.

To read about all of these women, all of this pain, and all of this suffering, is really upsetting, but its also very interesting.  Its a very new idea to me that there are different types of death in war.  I used to think there was just sickness, battle wounds, and assassination of leaders.  This is a fantastic book because its so eye opening to new ideas, thoughts, and issues.

New York Now, New York Then

I'm reading Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann.  It's a book about people who saw Philippe Petit walk across the Twin Towers in 1974.  Currently I am reading the part that is about a young Irish immigrant and his brother Corrigan.  He never tells of the main characters name, only of his brother's.  They live in the Bronx at this time, it's an entirely different world than where I live and when I'm living.

The New York City they depict in the book is vastly different than the New York City I live in now.  In their New York City, it's absolutely insane.  At that time and in that place, as evidenced in this book, is a terrible world.  In their world they have hookers roaming all over the place.  In the story the brother, Corrigan, lets all the hookers use his bathroom, he won't turn away a soul.  There are pimps everywhere, Corrigan says, "Guy calls himself Birdhouse.  Only got one good eye.  Go figure.  In he came, knocked on the door, said hello, called me brother this, brother that, real nice and polite, even hung his hat on the doorknob... He'd been sitting there all that time, just letting my bathroom flood"  He talks many times about getting beat up by the pimps.  People use drugs all over the place there, they talk about really serious drugs like heroin a lot.  Almost every character uses drugs.  Also, there is a huge lack of steady employment.  Even just the way they describe the atmosphere is dark and mean, at one point Corrigan's brother says, "Find somewhere with a bit of sunshine.  You and me together."  He honestly thinks New York City is dark and mean and cruel all over.  Can you imagine living like that?

The New York City I see now is so different.  (Keep in mind that I know that I live in a nice neighborhood with a lot of safety and protection, and I remember that when I read this book.)  The New York City I see is bright and sunny with plenty of air, green grass, and trees.  I see a New York City with no hookers roaming the streets, no pimps, no huge robberies.  I see a world with at the most a minor theft at a subway station.  I see a world that has kids and parents all over the place.  Everywhere I look there is a Nanny and stroller.  Kids play in playgrounds every day, people have steady jobs and the world is really nice for the most part.  I'm not saying my world is perfect, but it's nowhere near close to their world.  I only live in Brooklyn and it's very different.

Over a few decades and a tiny shift in location a the entire atmosphere is so radically different.  From 1974 to this present day, from the Bronx to Brooklyn, a world changes.  While my world is practically pristine, their world is so scary and dangerous.  The small changes between me now and them then, amount to huge lifestyle changes in the end.  Imagine trying to go from Park Slope to their life in a second.  How would that feel?