A Side Note

As a random side note, I was sitting in a hotel room a few nights ago, arguing over the remote with my mom and flipping channels, when, what should come on? (drumroll please) Ghost World!! I busted out laughing, though we didn't watch it. Okay, good story i know

Contemplating College Lit

I don't know about anyone else, but I loved this class (no, I'm not just saying it for brownie points or other such silly things).

My favorite book was Persepolis; my least favorite was Catcher in the Rye and Caucasia hovers somewhere in the middle.

My favorite part of the class though was the discussions we would have in class. I really enjoyed hearing other people's opinions, whether or not I agreed with them. Actually, quite often a discussion would make me change my mind, or at least shape the way I thought about the topic.

My least favorite was, sadly, the blogging. For me at least, it became one more chore. I wish I could say differently because I had been looking forward to it. Maybe I'll still continue with my own blog though. If it's something I do on my own, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Final Caucasia Thoughts

I definitely had a love/hate relationship with this book. I liked the basic story, and I liked how the book dealt with issues that unfortunately tend to be shoved under the rug nowadays. I just had some problems with the way it was written. It was very slow; the narration had a tendency to either ramble about things I didn't care about or abandon topics that I actually wanted to know more about. Granted, the plot did begin to pick up after awhile and I really started getting into it (though that could have been because I was on a long car ride at that point and had nothing better to do).

So would I recommend this book? Maybe. It would depend upon the person and what they like to read. But I would warn them that they're in for a looooooonnnnnnnnggggg haul.

Initial Caucasia Impression

So far, I like Caucasia. I know a lot of people are frustrated because it's moving so slowly but I'm not too bothered by that. The way the people interact with eachother is really interesting. It's like Mr. Kunkle said, we're all used to seeing the Civil Rights Movement wrapped up in a neat little package, but in reality, it was much more complicated. Caucasia really examines that, along with the shifting images of race.

One thing I noticed was how a lot of the white people close to Birdie seemed to want to be black. Birdie herself wished she was more like Cole who was closer to black. This makes me think of Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (it took place in the 1930s in the south), which we read in 5th grade. When a new girl came to town who was still black, but was lighter than the main character and the rest of her friends and family, everybody loved her and wished they looked more like her. So there was a sort of about-face that took place somewhere in there.

After Killing us softly

I think Kilbourne was definitely right. The problem is everywhere. I once overheard my uncle, who is a marketing consultant, on the phone with a client: "yes, yes, I find that so interesting, the different effect a woman narrating would have versus a man." Granted, that doesn't sound that bad, but such ideas could lead to so much worse.

The problem though, is not just in the advertising industry. It's in magazines, tv shows, books...sometimes I think the creators don't even realize what they're doing. For example, I read Glamour magazine; though Glamour claims it is trying to incorporate models of different body sizes and send a message that "individuality is sexy," the very next page after such statements will include advice on how to lose weight, find the perfect clothes, or how to achieve celebrity hairstyles. Don't get me wrong, apart from those issues, Glamour is probably one of the best magazines for boosting self-esteem I've ever seen (though that isn't saying much). There are others that are much worse.

Light Years

So I sat down to read Light Years (my choice novel), telling myself that I was only going to read a little bit, but before I knew it I'd finished half the book. In other words: spoiler alert!!!

One of the things that stuck out at me most was the fact that all israeli kids join the military. It's as expected as going to high school. I just thought that was interesting. I also thought it was interesting that women were constcripted for military service alongside the men, though they are much less likely to serve in active combat or officer duty. I looked it up and according to Wikipedia (which is always reliable) "As of 2002, 33% of lower-rank officers are women, 21% of Captains and Majors, and 3% of the most senior ranks" Apparently, in more recent years, women are serving more and more equal combat duty. Here's the link to the article, by the way: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Defense_Forces#Regular_service


I was also highly entertained by Maya's description of American college students, with their floral skirts and high ponytails. Maya wondered how her roomate knew how to dress like everyone else. She thought that maybe it was a college thing, or an American thing.

I think it's a high school thing.

effects of the war

While reading Persepolis, I keep coming back to the children and how they behave. They've experienced war, revolution, violence, and opression and it seems to have affected them profoundly. While playing, they pretend to be revolutionaries ("I'll be Che Guevara." "I'll be Trotsky.") or they chase after Ramin with nails. Perhaps what strikes me most is how aware of the political situation all the kids are. Marjane calls her mother a representative of the revolution (or something like that). I can't decide if that awarness is just a reflection of how politically involved Marjane's parents are, or if all kids, by necessity, had to know what was going on.

I can't help comparing this to my own experience growing up--I played everything from army men to house, but there was nothing political involved. I barely knew who the president was until I was eight or so.

The Bar

So, for my scene to analyze, I chose the scene in which Holden hangs out in the "cheesy" hotel bar.

There really didn't seem to be any real plot movement or point to the scene, except to show some character development. We saw more of Holden's lying sarcastic nature, like when he told one of the women that he just saw a celebrity leave, knowing how pathetically obsessed they were with seeing one. He kept making comments on the women's lack of intelligence, though they really did seem frightfully stupid.

We also saw how he's a kind of creepy awkward player, or rather, he wants to be a lady's man but can't quite manage it because he's too young and socially challenged. He kissed the top of the blonde's head (even though he'd met her only five minutes ago and seemed to despise her from the start) and couldn't understand why she seemed offended.

Perhaps the women in the bar were meant to contrast to some of the other women/girls that Holden knows: their stupidity vs Holden's sister, who is very smart, or their lack of personality vs. Jane, who definitely has a personality.

My only real question after this scene is this: why is this kid so messed up? Because he is. And I really want to know why. I know it was hinted at in the beginning of the book, but I want to know for sure.

Why Hide?

I find it difficult to understand why Salinger felt the need to become a hermit. His star was rising so far, and then he just...hid. Maybe he really didn't like the attention (I don't think I would, though I wouldn't become a hermit). Maybe he was getting stalkers. Maybe he was just paranoid--he supposedly still suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome from WWII. I'm really curious now...

Though I have to hand it to him; he was really committed to being a hermit. One of the sources on Mr. Kunkle's blog said that he got angry at her for dropping a loaf of bread near him and so calling attention to him. Hard core.

Another song

So while we were discussing our teenager songs, another one occured to me that I think would be perfect: I'm Still Here. Y'know, in Treasure Planet?

"I'm Still Here"

I am a question to the world,
Not an answer to be heard.
All a moment that's held in your arms.
And what do you think you'd ever say?
I won't listen anyway…
You don't know me,
And I’ll never be what you want me to be.

And what do you think you'd understand?
I'm a boy, no, I'm a man..
You can take me and throw me away.
And how can you learn what's never shown?
Yeah, you stand here on your own.
They don't know me 'cause I'm not here.

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can the world want me to change,
They’re the ones that stay the same.
The don’t know me,
'Cause I’m not here.

And you see the things they never see
All you wanted, I could be
Now you know me, and I'm not afraid
And I wanna tell you who I am
Can you help me be a man?
They can't break me
As long as I know who I am

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can the world want me to change,
They’re the ones that stay the same.
They can’t see me,
But I’m still here.

They can’t tell me who to be,
‘Cause I’m not what they see.
And the world is still sleepin’,
While I keep on dreamin’ for me.
And their words are just whispers
And lies that I’ll never believe.

And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on and feel I belong.
And how can they say I never change
They’re the ones that stay the same.
I’m the one now,
‘Cause I’m still here.

I’m the one,
‘Cause I’m still here.
I’m still here.
I’m still here.
I’m still here.

Some of those lines are just perfect. "I'm a boy, no, I'm a man." "They can't tell me who to be, cuz I'm not what they see." "And how can they say I'll never change? They're the ones that stay the same." "And I wanna tell you who I am" etc, etc...

I think the song shows the feeling that I would think most teenagers feel, that desire to be taken seriously and be respected. Maybe we're not yet adults, but we're not children anymore. Also, there is the idea of being judged, even though the judgers don't even know you, which I think we all experience on a daily basis, both from other students (but who cares then?) and adults.

An Intro

I'm Sam, a senior in High School. Next year, I will be going to college to study Natural Resources Management (and perhaps eventually ecological restoration and creative writing as well). I love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, reading, writing, music, friends, facebook, and other such trappings of teenager-dom.

Because we're supposed to discuss this and I would anyway: I have so many favorite books that I've lost track of them all. However, for the purposes of this exercise, I'll choose the Claidi Journals by Tanith Lee.

Claidi is a young woman who lives in the controlling House, which believes that it is the last little bit of civilization surrounded by the poisoned Waste. Claidi is a servant, one step above slave. Then when a traveler from the Waste crashlands in a balloon in the Garden and is imprisoned, Claidi takes a desperate chance and frees him. The two escape into the Waste, which turns out to be not a waste at all. Of course, that traveler seems to have his own agenda...

I like these books mainly because of Claidi's character. She has a dry wit that can be aimed at everyone from the Royalty she serves to herself. She is totally relatable. She isn't perfect--she has never been educated and is a little slow on the uptake sometimes, but she's just trying to make a place for herself in the world and separate the truth from the layers of conspiracy that surround her. I think we all can relate on some level to Claidi's struggle.