R.I.P. J.D. Salinger

I don't have too much to say on this topic, but it is quite sad that the literary world has lost Salinger this year. This is a really great article if you're interested.

I'll just say this, I have never disliked a Salinger novel and I really wish he kept writing into his old age. I sort of selfishly hope some journals or letters pop up now that he has passed. If you haven't read any Salinger, now would be the time to read The Catcher in the Rye and if that is your only experience with Salinger, I would also recommend Franny and Zooey or Seymore, an Introduction. Both are excellent. Ooh or 9 Stories. Basically anything with the Glass family is awesome.

Oh, censorship!

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Ugh

I was fully prepared to write a blog post today about the newest Margaret Atwood novel The Year of the Flood, but then I read it was a sequel to another novel of hers that I haven't read yet. SO, I'm going to go read that one and get back to you. Whoops!

In other news, this semester kind of blows. I'm taking 2 online classes, one of which I was forced into taking because they canceled the in class version, and they have more work than any in person class I've ever been in. It's insane. On top of that, I just took a quiz in my linguistics course today and got a 10/14, which is a C-. What really irritates me is that the professor said that no one would get a word completely wrong, he would take into account if you missed one letter and give you some points, but not all, but that is not what he did. If you missed one letter, the whole word was wrong, hence my C-. In addition, I'll just say that we've only even practiced transcription for 2 class periods. The first one, he told us how, the second class he told us that he forgot a bunch of exceptions and most of our homework was wrong. How are you supposed to learn like that?

This should be an interesting semester

A classmate of mine told me to take a look at the "rate your professor" comments for this teacher I have for linguistics. Here are some highlights:

has no concept of the modern student. very authoritarian. not sharp anymore, has difficulty hearing and remembering things, but is still certain he knows more than you. [this has already proved true after only 2 classes]

following directions on tests will not give you full points. marks off arbitrarily, severely. [excellent, can't wait]

He will sit there and point you out in the middle of class and pick at some useless fact about you excessively just to prove the point that he is a tenure professor and can't be fired. He made it a point to tell the class that he makes people cry. Rude.

Unfair, inconsistent and unclear in his informal and formal assessment of students. Favored the "smart" students and subtly humiliated others through callous remarks.

I'm sure I'll have some great stories. Ugh.

Book Review: Summertime by J.M. Coetzee

Summertime is set after Coetzee's own death. Now that he is gone, someone has decided to write his biography by talking to former lovers, family members, and friends. The novel is also has excerpts from Coetzee's own journals that serve as bookends to the interviews.

I have trouble, however, separating the interviewer and interviewees from Coetzee himself. I feel as though he does not give them their own voice. They use his language, referring constantly to matters of the heart, a recurring theme in Coetzee's fiction. Regardless, I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, though I feel that Coetzee is very hard on himself. Each of the interviewees discusses their personal opinion of John Coetzee at one time in his life, and they say some pretty honest things about him. Nearly all of the interviewees agree that John Coetzee is a man who never understood love and matters of the heart. I feel that this is a harsh comment because all of his novels that I have read (11 at this point) have touched my heart in one way or another. He may feel he has not mastered matters of the heart in his own love life, but he is certainly a good faker. Also, I found it odd that the novel makes no mention of his own family. He was married (and divorced) and had two children (one of which I believe was killed in his 20s). This omission may be due to the fact that this is still a novel and not an autobiography, however, on the cover of the UK edition of this novel it suggests it is autobiographical, noting it as Summertime: Scenes from a Provincial Life III (scenes one and two being Boyhood and Youth).

I'm not sure that I have said everything I want to about this novel, I still need it to sink in a bit, regardless 4/5

The Lovely Bones: The Book vs. The Movie

Before I begin, if you plan to read the book or see the movie and you haven't yet, this post is going to be filled with spoilers and kind of ranty, so you may want to come back.

First of all, I loved the book. I thought it was extremely well written and completely captivating. I listened to the audio book at work over the last few days and have to admit, it was very difficult to hold back tears at my desk. The family's reaction to the death of their daughter and sister was absolutely heartbreaking. I was really looking forward to seeing how Lindsey's character acted in school after Susie was determined dead. I really found her to be an interesting character in the book, especially in the way she reacts to the news and how she acts out when people try and console her. Probably my favorite/most heartbreaking part of the novel was when the dad explains to Buckley through Monopoly that Susie is not coming back. Also, with how much time Sebold spends explaining how Susie was raped/murdered, I was expecting to have an awkward time at the theater with my mother when watching that scene, more on that in a second.

I must admit, I couldn't believe (serious spoiler) that they never find Susie's bones. I thought for sure when she comes back through Ruth's body she would say "Oh by the way, my bones are totally in the sink hole! Tell someone!" I understand that she was finally beginning to move on, but her family still hadn't at this point. Otherwise, I just really loved the book and I went to see the movie despite hearing bad things about it. Book: 4/5

Ok, I know movie makers cannot put everything from a book into the movie (see Harry Potter), but I had some real problems with things that were left out. First, they never show how Lindsey and Buckley deal with the reality of their sister's death, which I thought was some of the strongest writing to their character in the novel. Second, not only do they not show how Susie dies, they do not even explain it, allude to it, nothing. In fact, she tries to exit the bunker that Mr. Harvey created and it looks at first that she gets away. She runs down the street past Ruth and when she turns back and looks at Ruth, you realize that she is sort of translucent. Having read the book, I know what's going on, but I feel like the audience must be lost wondering, "Did she get away? What the heck is going on?" I don't necessarily think they should have shown a totally brutal rape scene or anything, but seriously, I can't wait to talk to a coworker of mine who hasn't read the book, and did not like the movie. Moving on, no one ages in the movie. It seems like only a year has gone by during the action of the film. Abigail does not cheat on Jack, she leaves before he even goes into the cornfield to kill Mr. Harvey and ends up in the hospital. Buckley never grows up, but Lindsey is shown pregnant at the end and it seems like she hasn't really aged any.

The strangest part of the book is obviously when Susie comes back through Ruth's body. It was an interesting place to take the book and I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I am glad that she and Ray got to be together. Anyway, this part makes NO sense in the movie. They do not show Ruth in heaven giving lectures, so it makes no sense that they momentarily change places. It just seems like Ray hallucinates Susie when he's with Ruth.

Holly. So so many problems with Holly. First of all, she has an accent. The first thing Susie says in the book is that Holly has no accent because she had one on earth and does not want on in her heaven. C'mon! Also, Holly was not Fran, they are two different characters in the book and I understand budgets, etc, but they shouldn't have been the same character in the movie. I also really missed Mrs. Singh. I thought she was a great character in the book and was really looking forward to seeing her in the movie but she is shown once, and quickly. She does not even seem like a particularly engaging woman AND she's shown with her husband! He should be at work damnit.

And finally, Mr. Harvey. I thought he was very creepy and played extremely well in the movie, however, there was no back story to Mr. Harvey in the film. Why does he murder? The audience never knows. Furthermore, when he finally ditches the body, it is right after Lindsey finds his sketchbook, but in the novel, he is much more careful. He is the one who speaks to the police after Lindsey breaks into his house, not the Salmon family. He makes excuses and narrowly escapes. Also, Jack Salmon accuses a whole bunch of people of being suspicious in the movie while in the book Mr. Harvey is the only person he knows could have done it. The most disappointing part for me though was that they never explained why it is so wonderful that he was killed by an icicle. Susie says while Lindsey is away at smart camp that she always picked the icicle as her favorite murder weapon and that is not included in the movie at all! We see it hit Mr. Harvey but the audience does not even know the satisfaction they are missing.

Ok, I'm starting to seriously feel like a nerd so I'm going to end this post here. Movie: 3/5

Dear filmmakers,

Please stop trying to make Anne Hathaway look frumpy, no one is buying it.

I just watched The Devil Wears Prada this afternoon, it was really cute, but basically just made me wish I was thinner and richer than I am. Oh well. 3.5/5

The "Cuddler" Sounds a lot like a Rapist to me...

But what do I know?  I've read about this a couple of times essentially the police made an off color remark, and somehow it has been taken to extremes.  However, the "Cuddler" seems to downplay what is actually happening, which is everything from fondling to rape.  It doesn't seem to strike fear in the heart of the public like "Hillside Strangler" or something of that nature.  

I found the Salon article particularly interesting because Williams points out that people are making light of a very disturbing situation.  Apparently, this was quite the Halloween costume in DC.  I can say I didn't see it, but I was pretty excited about Day Man and Green Man.  Regardless, this has been going on for two years according to the article...I think if it were ever funny that time has come and gone.  

DC Restaurant Week

DC Restaurant Week: the best thing ever.  I won't pretend to be a food critic, after all those of you who know me know I love just about all food, but mushrooms.  This afternoon some lovely ladies from work and I went to Firefly in Dupont on New Hampshire.  It was the closest thing I've had to a religious experience in a while.  

Wait, Why are all Men Stupid?

I'm going to lose my feminist card: men are not stupid...despite some of them pretending.  But apparently, that is why there is not a birth control pill for men.  Men just are responsible enough to be trusted with taking a pill everyday; it is just to hard.  And don't forget men will lie about taking it if the option of sex is there.  

I'm horrified by this analysis because I don't think men any stupider or devious than women.  But Ravi Somaiya from Gawker disagrees.  What this comes down to is what it always comes down to, "boys will be boys" or as Salon points out "boys will be sociopaths".  Males can't be trusted to make decisions on their own, left to their own devises the world will split in two.  Somaiya's article is ridiculous and a just one more excuse in a long line of excuses for poor behavior.

Yes, I think I'll continue to carry condoms DC.

This is just crazy with AIDS out of control in DC.  DC is enforcing a "practice" that if you are caught carrying more than two condoms in your purse you could be arrested for prostitution.  Aside from the gender based profiling here; the articles all seem to be pointing to female sex workers, let's address that most sexually active women carry more than three condoms when they are "going out."  However, most women won't be busted for prostitution because this is all part of DC's "Prostitution Free Zones."

But for a minute maybe DC should think of the sex worker, who now has a reason not to practice safe sex.  Congratulations DC, you have successfully made a dangerous job even more dangerous. I'm going to start carrying three condoms around all the time now.  Work, class, bars, wherever.  Maybe I'll flaunt them, tape them to my purse or something.   

Movie Review: Adventureland

Ok, I liked it...as much as one can like a movie about an awkward kid trying to lose his virginity, which is every movie made by Jesse Eisenberg or Michael Cera.  Hell, Kristen Stewart's lip biting didn't even bother me; her awkwardness on screen illuminated her character for me.  And the sound track: loved it.  I've been listening to a mix tape from Mr. Cari for two weeks and because of this film I've spliced in the Velvet Underground.  

But the real reason I like this film was Ryan Reynolds.  I know Deadpool, but really.  This character was so completely pathetic even the kid who is unable to lose his virginity, the usual sign of measurable patheticness in this sort of film pitted Reynolds.  Reynolds plays a character who is just a liar; he has a crappy job, a crappier marriage, and lies to seem cool.  And who is he trying to be cool for: teenagers and kids in their early twenties.  There is a moment between our hero and Reynolds when it is almost painful to watch; the hero has the opportunity to out Reynolds, but doesn't because he realizes that this is all Reynolds will even have, and our hero is free to chase after Stewart.  

Naturally, a happy ending ensues.  

Prostitute? Rehab or Jail

Dallas Texas is offering prostitutes picked up at truck stops the option of rehab or jail.  These sex workers are rounded up offered immediate medical treatment, interviewed about illicit activities of pimps such as trafficking of underage girls, and then off to mobile court.  Here if the sex worker is sincere about turning his/her life around then he/she can enter into rehab. 

So far the program has rounded up 375 women, and only half have picked the rehab option.  21 women have left sex work.

I have a few issues with this.  The first being this option "jail or rehab" appears only to be offered to women.  Second it makes the assumption that sex workers are victims.  This is not always the case, and while I would like to make sex work safer and provide sex workers with anti-drug programs making the option "jail or rehab" is not the way to go about it.  But assuming like the article suggests all sex workers are victims why is the alternative to rehab jail?  By refusing rehab does one lose his/her victim status?

This feels very much like pushing the perception that sex workers need to be saved.

15 things to be thankful for if you're from Cuyahoga County

15 things to be thankful for if you're from Cuyahoga County -- Charles Michener

By Plain Dealer guest columnist

December 30, 2009, 3:00AM

By Charles Michener

1. Cuyahoga County voters overwhelmingly endorsed change over business as usual: an overhaul of county government aimed at enabling the county to spend its annual kitty of $1.5 billion more efficiently, accountably and -- in terms of economic development -- smartly.

2. Mayor Frank Jackson hosted a three-day summit of concerned citizens to lay the groundwork for a re-invented Cleveland by 2019 -- a city and region built around sustainable innovations in alternative energy, an attractive lakefront, a connective transportation network, locally produced food, safe neighborhoods and good schools. He shrewdly tapped David Cooperrider, Case Western Reserve University's renowned guru of "appreciative inquiry," to spur the troops to action.

3. The opening of the Gordon Square Arts District on the West Side signaled Cleveland's most exciting community transformation in years. It also demonstrated a model for the renovation of other beleaguered neighborhoods with its merger of government, cultural and business interests and the leadership of three civic lions who showed that they could still roar -- RPM International's Thomas Sullivan, Jones Day's Richard Pogue and Forest City Enterprises' Albert Ratner.

4. The efforts of Team NEO and other local economic energizers vaulted Ohio from the seventh to the fourth spot in Site Selection magazine's national rankings of the top states for doing business. Recognizing the assiduous work of BioEnterprise and similar go-getters, Business Facilities magazine ranked the state as the nation's fourth best for biotechnology.

5. The Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth Medical Center announced plans to collaborate on a new regional network for the treatment of trauma casualties -- a sign that the area's long-balkanized health care giants are beginning to appreciate the benefits of partnership over pride.

6. The city's top charter and innovative schools -- among them, E Prep, Citizens' Academy, Ginn Academy, St. Martin de Porres, Intergenerational School, Urban Community School, Horizon Science Academy -- attracted national attention for their fresh approaches to preparing Cleveland's underserved children for advanced education and professional success.

7. At a time when the recession has devastated the finances of many premier institutions of higher learning, Case Western Reserve University reported that friends and alumni had contributed $108 million to its coffers -- 5.2 percent more than 2008 and the second highest level of donations in the university's history.

8. The Cleveland Museum of Art opened its smashing new wing devoted to modern and contemporary art with a Summer Solstice wingding that had thousands of youngsters and oldsters dancing hip to hip under the stars, demonstrating that when high art gets off its pedestal, it can pack them in.

9. The Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Public Square, the nation's only Civil War museum housed inside a statue, prepared to open its great bronze doors to the public after a magnificent restoration that should attract thousands more visitors to the heart of downtown.

10. The Cleveland Orchestra, flush with international success, rediscovered its founding mission of spreading musical literacy in its hometown by giving East Side/West Side concerts at John Hay and James Ford Rhodes high schools under the baton of music director Franz Welser-M st. More than 1,000 inner-city students who had never set foot in Severance Hall not only listened raptly to Beethoven and Tchaikovsky, but later wrote eloquently about the impact of hearing great music on their young lives.

11. The Cleveland Play House decided to vacate its no-man's-land home on Carnegie Avenue and relocate downtown to Playhouse-

Square, giving that rejuvenated destination (an exuberantly revived Opera Cleveland, the beautifully updated Hanna Theater) a boost in continuity and creative oomph.

12. While the Indians stumbled and the Browns fumbled, the Cavaliers, despite a heartbreaking defeat in the playoffs, maintained their standing as not only the domain of the incomparable LeBron, but also as perhaps the classiest, most family-friendly, most likeable franchise in major-league sports.

13. More than 10,000 visitors came to University Circle's annual Parade the Circle, the spectacular Cleveland-style Carnaval, organized by the art museum's Robin Van Lear. As more than 80 outlandishly costumed groups sashayed and stilt-walked along Wade Oval, one police officer was overheard to say: "I've been patrolling this event since it began 20 years ago, and there has never been a single disorderly moment."

14. With the opening of new restaurants by top chefs Zach Bruell, Michael Symon and Jonathan Sawyer, Cleveland enhanced its reputation as a terrific town for dining out. Meanwhile, the region's countless tucked-away treasures of ethnic and family specialties -- think Aldo's in Brooklyn, La Campagna in Westlake, Sokolowski's in Tremont, No. 1 Pho in Cleveland, Mekong River in Cleveland Heights -- continued to thrive, testifying to the fact that even as Clevelanders flock to the new, they still hold on to their own.

15. Despite climate-change anxiety over hit-or-miss rainfall, Clevelanders enjoyed a seemingly endless summer to remember: one brilliant sunny day after another, cool sleepable nights and scarcely a mosquito in sight.

 

Charles Michener is a former senior editor at the New Yorker and classical music columnist for the New York Observer. He is working on a book about Cleveland, titled "The Hidden City."

I felt it is necessary to share this because St. Martins and and the classy Cavs are mentioned.  I'm still pretty concerned for my home town.  Schools like St. Martins are great, but what are we doing about Cleveland Public?  Because those schools are in pretty bad shape.  This list does give me hope that the Cleve is coming around.  As you know it is a great vacation spot.