On The Road (by Jack Kerouac)

After hearing a few references to On the Road on Freaks and Geeks, and finally after seeing a movie trailer inspired by the book, I broke down and got the book out of my school's library.  I knew the book would involve traveling the U.S. and I had a feeling it was mostly fluff-- i.e. little significant plot-- so I figured it was just the book to read in order to inspire my travels for Spring Break.  I'm not sure if it inspired me to travel as much as to simply STAY AWAY FROM DRUGS because they tend to make the users babbling, incoherent fools. Nonetheless, I read it, even though it took me nearly two months.  Seriously, it's only 307 pages and I just couldn't get through it in a decent amount of time because it lacked what compels me to read: conflict and desire for knowledge. Yes, there was some beautiful language at times, but there wasn't enough of it for me to consider it poetry.  Instead, as I read I felt as if I was passively watching someone drive Nevada over and over again. While speeding, telling childhood stories, and periodically finding girls to "make it with" may be entertaining for 45 minutes, it doesn't do the trick for hours on end, at least not for me.

It's funny to me that while so many people think that the book is so deep and soulful, it's actually the exact opposite: it shows reckless twenty somethings living off of other people's money and charity and trying to claim it as a search for spirituality. It's about as much about a search for spirituality as Magic Mike (and this may actually be insulting to Magic Mike because at least Magic Mike is funny).  While the book is also lauded as the key to beat generation's soul, whoever deemed it as such obviously didn't read the last two pages-- which actually slaps the beat generation in the face for all it stands for (more on this later-- skip to the end). In fairness to Kerouac, the book does give the reader an interesting cross section of what's going on in America in the late 50s: immigration, diversity, Jazz, racial tensions, sexual tensions, and traditional families versus parent-less families. I don't hate the book, it's just that it definitely doesn't live up to the hype and those movies or people talking it up haven't read the whole thing and must have had a very selective memory.  The book could have done the job in 75-100 pages and would have left me actually thinking he was brilliant, instead of a hormone driven junkie.    

The story itself consists of Sal Paradise (Kerouac- and we never do find out why he's going by this name and/ or how much of it a fictional..?) and his buddy Dean Moriarty.  Sal has returned home after World War II and is living of his G.I. Bill.  At some point he's used it for college, but he never really tells us when and there in not mention of going to classes during the story.  Sal lives in New York and parties with a variety of acquaintances and he's always curious what everyone else is up to.  Sal just seems to hang around and seek out someone to follow around.  Dean Moriarty is the guy he follows.  Somehow or another Sal decides to head out to San Francisco so he walks and hitchhikes out, while stopping in Denver to party with some friends.  He meets various people along the way, but he mainly spends a lot of time trying to figure out how to catch a ride and how to catch some sleep, particularly because when he rides with others he feels that he must entertain them to keep them awake and earn the trust of the drivers.

Dean hooks up with a variety of friends and acquaintances in Denver, with a constant stream of names that mean little to the reader because the characters don't really get developed-- again, except for Dean, a little bit of Marylou, and then Camille. By the time Sal gets to San Fran with Dean, Dean is on-again off-again with Marylou and it's obvious that Dean is having sex with almost anyone that he can fit in his schedule. Everyone drinks and scours the city for good jazz and next big party. Sal is annoyed with how little time Dean has for him and they barely get a chance to hang out. Sal heads back to New York, again hitchhiking and walking along the way.  You'd think the story would just end there, but instead, Sal goes cross country again, and with Dean driving. Dean shows up in a drug induce euphoria, sweating and talking like a madman.  Sal and Dean drive up and down the East coast with a car full of furniture and people in order to help out Sal's aunt by moving furniture. Dean drives like a madman and talks incessantly and does benzedrine and/or "tea" (marijuana) whenever he can get his hands on it. Sal's aunt loans the boys money throughout their travels. Dean then persuades Sal to head back West with him-  with the loose guise of working and trying to find Dean's alcoholic bum of a father.  Dean takes Marylou along with him even though he's over her (but they're married).  Sal and Marylou become fond of one another and Dean seems cool with this, but Marylou and Dean still have sex periodically just because they can. At one point, Dean even tries to get Sal and Marylou to have a threesome (because Dean feels that he should experience everything possible in life), but Sal backs out during the process because he just can't get into it (because it's not natural for him).  However, Sal and Marylou decide that they'll get together in San Fran once Dean is back with his mistress Camille.

The three make it back to San Fran. with absolutely no money.  Dean drops off the two and tells them to try to find a place to stay while he drives off (probably to see Camille).  Marylou gets a room on credit and she and Sal try to find some money to eat.  Without luck and without Dean's return, the two split because Marylou finds a sugar daddy and Sal gets enough money to head back East again. Sal heads East again, hooking up with drivers wanting company (through driver's bureaus or something like that) and he makes it back home to New York. Not much after Sal returns home, continues to party until the wee-hours, and starts to become bored, Dean returns and settles down with a woman named Inez. Meantime, Dean is now married to Camille and she has his baby, but she's back in San Fran.  Dean decides to leave Camille, but he attempts at supporting her some long-distance.  Camille and Inez correspond and become friends.  Dean gets divorced to Camille, marries Inez and then decides to divorce Inez for Camille.  The moral of the story: Dean, Sal and another buddy all head out to Mexico to try to get a faster divorce for Dean.

The guys no more than make it into the Southwest and the third buddy gets a strange bug sting that they need to go to the hospital for (twice).  One of the times, the buddy is laying the hospital for the day as Sal and Dean decide to tour a Mexican city.  They load back up and Dean continues to drive through Mexico like a madman, slowing only to euphorically describe how amazing the scenery is and the people look.  This goes on for some time until they meet a man who hooks them up with prostitutes at a local brothel.  The three go crazy by blasting Mambo, buying drinks for everyone at the brothel and they have the whole town's attention for the better part of a day until they decide to push south at sunset.  The men make it to Mexico City, Sal ends up sick in a hospital with a fever and Dean gets his divorce a few days later.  While Sal is still hallucinating with a fever, Dean apologizes and heads back to the States leaving Sal and the buddy behind. Sal and the buddy eventually get money sent to them and then they fly home.

While you'd think the book would end there; it doesn't.  Instead, Kerouac includes a few more pages (and here it comes) that undermine the whole beat generation.  (At least in my opinion.)  Sal makes it home, gets re-established and has now gotten some money for his book (duh, this book).  So, one of his friends from school, Remi, who Sal even says is "fat and sad" (p. 306) shows up and wants to go see Duke Ellington at the Metropolitan Opera with Sal and Sal's girlfriend. They get a Cadillac, put on suits and head out.  Who shows up?  Dean.  And, he wants to ride with them across town so that he can be just a little closer to getting to the bus station without having to walk in the "durned cold in this here New Yawk" so that he can start another cross-country trip. What happens?  Remi tells Dean "no" and they wave goodbye to Dean, as they sit in the warm car and Dean stands in the New York cold and alone. Lastly, Sal says he thinks about Dean from time to time. The end.  That's what friends are for.

Now, I'm just curious about how the movie will interpret the story, particularly based on the trailer I've seen.  From what I can tell, it looks like the director definitely had a selective memory since it's becoming obvious that reading Kerouac is really about the illusion of the beat generation and not the actuality of it.

Speaking to my soul (and stomach!): This Organic Life by Joan Dye Gussow

During the weekend of MLK Jr. Day I spent my time at the Ohio Ecological Food and Farm Association's Conference absorbing as much information as I possibly could about organic market gardening. I'm hoping to take my urban gardening to the next level and recently a friend of mine offered up part of her backyard for the cause.  Knowing all of this, I've been snagging as many books as I can to help my venture.  While I was searching through the stacks of new books at the conference's book room, I happened upon a shelf of inexpensive used books and the cover and title of This Organic Life by Joan Dye Gussow caught my attention.  I was ready to read something to learn from that wasn't simply a "how-to-book" or another manual on gardening/mini-farming (although there are some good ones out there-- some of which I already own).

While it took me nearly two weeks to finish the book, even though it's only 260 pages, it's a dense read.  I think this may partially be because of the stream of consciousness type feel to her style, which isn't all bad.  It makes it a bit difficult at times in that there are recipes interwoven into her story as she refers to the various veggies she's growing.  I'd like to save many of these for later, but I'm not feeling motivated enough to copy each one out of the book to add to my collection.  I can't help but wish that she'd simply placed these in the back of the book in such a way that it was more convenient to actually use.

The book starts off with Joan telling about how she ended up in her current gardening space, after moving with her husband from a large Victorian house to a river front lot with a folly of a house.  I found it interesting that she jumped back and forth between telling about the houses and it wasn't exactly chronological, but somehow the pieces fit. At this point it also became apparent that she also seemed to be using her writing to help her process her husband's death.  I really liked this aspect because it really brought the human element to the story and I feel she did a nice job telling about him and his connection rather than simply lamenting his loss.  By roughly halfway into the book she began to allude to his sickness and then the fact that he'd already passed as she talked about the connections her husband had with the community garden they created together and with the people who used the community garden.      

I also appreciated Gussow's discussion of the house situation and what it meant to her and her husband and their gardening.  I could relate to her emotional connection with the houses and the gardens, especially as she and her husband prepared the "new" house and its gardening area.  Again, she showed her humanity by telling of the frustrations with starting to renovate the house and then finding out it needed to simply be scrapped, particularly after they put in so much time and effort in preparation to restore it to its grandeur.  I also had many chuckles as she told of the misguided feistyness of her new neighbor and her anger in return.  I liked that she told of her anger and how her husband managed to smooth over the the situations as they arose, and with a seemingly good-natured and zen-like ability.  In this, I again felt like I could relate to her because I could envision friends and family similar to those she described-- again, all of them very human with their various skills and weaknesses.

I finally finished the book after I began reading in the early mornings as well as during the evening, and I'm glad I did.  It gave me lots of ideas for planting and cooking-- in particular with kale, sweet potato and onion.  She also made me aware of how many fruits and veggies I eat that are out of season and are shipped considerable distances just to satisfy my desire for fresh strawberries, blueberries and bananas.  She also made me aware as to how tough mini-farming can be (as demonstrated by ravenous rats and catastrophic flooding in her yard), allowing for forgiveness for the consumer who resorts to buying the veggies and fruit that are simply available at the nearby store.   

The Subversive Copy Editor (by Carol Fisher Saller)

 Because I'm a total N-E-R-D, I sometimes like to read about grammar and the best practices for writing and editing.  When I was younger I used to actually debate my step-dad about issues of grammar because much of it simply didn't make sense.  By the time I made it to high school and college, I decided to tackle the issue head-on by learning a foreign language (German) and learning the second language helped me understand that I'd been right all of those years:  English grammar is simply crazy, especially compared to other languages. I still find myself stumped by grammar at times, but rather than viewing it as a nemesis, I've taken the perspective that it's simply like a tricky and sometimes fickle friend and it just takes more studying to understand this friend's perspective. This shift had to happen in order to become comfortable with not simply always knowing the answer, and I think that because of this potential for mystery, I'm still reading and researching about grammar on my own time. This affinity may explain why I teach English despite hating grammar throughout elementary and high school.

Partially because of my interest in grammar and my role teaching English, I've gained the reputation for really knowing and enjoying grammar.  And, when I don't know it, my students know I'll look it up or make them look it up, but they also know that I'm willing to let them experiment with style. I try to remind them that grammar is an ever-changing creature, especially with factors like technology and pop-culture influencing word usage and structure. 

I think I enjoyed The Subversive Copy Editor for this reason; it didn't take itself too seriously.  Carol Fisher Saller poked fun at both herself and at the editor stereotype, by feeding in to it and also by subverting it by assuring aspiring editors that it's sometimes ok not to fixate on an issue.  Sometimes that argument just isn't worth it and it's all about knowing when to drop it.  This book isn't a handbook for grammar, but it is a book of recommendations for dealing with the text and most importantly, for dealing with the people connected with the text (other editors, the writers and any supervisors).  It's not a grammar book as much as a "people-book" for those with grammar-based jobs.

A few things I learned?  "Stet" means "as it stands." (I believe in Latin... if I'm remembering correctly?)  This is basically the term that editors use to tell others that the correction needs to revert back to the original text.  More than anything, I just enjoyed the new word and seeing it repeatedly in context in order to solidify it into my vocabulary "schema."  What else did I learn?  I was reminded of the importance of logging tasks accomplished in order to bill clients accordingly.  It seems so basic, but at the end of the day it's an easy thing to forget to do.  Particularly when there's a new to-do list waiting to be accomplished, it's easy to put the basic paperwork on "the back burner" because you'll remember how many hours you've logged... right?... RIGHT?

Overall, the book was a solid little read that worked well in 20 page chunks and at about 120 pages, it was a palette cleansing read.  It was exactly what I needed to clear my mind of other recent reading failures in order to look at my stack of books with a fresh and open perspective. 
 

Cringing and Shrieking: Bonk by Mary Roach (mature topics)

 While home over Winter Break my mother and I got into a scientific discussion about sex because she'd been reading the book Bonk by Mary Roach.    My husband stuck around for a few minutes of the conversation before he deemed the content to mature for him, as he ducked out to catch up on some sports highlights.  In the meantime my mother was stunning me about her ridiculous knowledge about pig sex and she suggested that I might get a kick out of Mary Roach's latest research which brings together sex and science. 

Mary Roach is most notable for her book Stiff which is about the lives of cadavers.  It's a bit gruesome and definitely not for the faint of heart, which I'd also say about Bonk.  At times I found myself shrieking with laughter because the odd things that had been revealed during the various research stages and with the descriptions of sex toys, surgeries and talk of animal reproduction. At other times, I found myself crossing my legs out of sympathy for those poor souls who inadvertently helped out with the research the hard way (no pun intended). 

I found myself reading the book in short doses at home because there were times when I could only handle so much reading about orgasms and erectile dysfunction before someone in public would ask me what I was reading or before it began to feel like work, and sometimes you just don't feel like having that conversation with strangers and you don't want to make thinking about sex into work.  In some ways, I felt it necessary to put the book down because I was afraid it would spoil some of the mystery and almost some of the allure-- but it didn't. Instead, it walked the fine line of being informative without being straight up smut.  Believe me, it was a long way from 50 Shades of Grey, because I didn't want to punch anyone in the face once I was finished (I can't say the same about the characters in 50 Shades) and it was actually quite pleasant to read about couples who would actually give a damn about the other person's feelings and sexual experiences-- rather than being self absorbed and self serving.  

The parts I enjoyed the most about the book were the discussions describing what measures the various researchers would go to to find subjects and get approval for their studies.  It was also centering to have the actual facts on some of the norms regarding sex organ and behaviors and not just some skewed perspective based coming from the porn industry, although the porn industry did seem to be helpful for some of the researchers as they gathered volunteers for the various studies.  

Overall, I'd say the target audience is definitely the mature audience-- particularly those at at least the college level because there were numerous references to research and studies that those who have gone through the research process could definitely appreciate.  Along these lines, I wouldn't want to try to get permissions for teens to be reading it, but at the same time, I definitely think there are worse things for teens to read about since it was so grounded in science and it wasn't glorifying it but was instead approaching it objectively, just like a farmer would about pig insemination.

50 Shades of Grey: Reader Beware. (mature content & spoiler)

Several of the teenage girls within my classes were reading or had read 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James just before Winter Break.  I was a bit ambivalent about whether or not to read it until I discussed it with a few of my colleagues- both those who had and those who hadn't read it.  2 out of my 3 English Department colleagues had read the book and the principal and I discussed the appropriateness of the book (especially regarding teens). Usually, my philosophy with books and teen reading them is if they're reading, who cares what it's about-- particularly because there are many heavy topics that "good kids" seek out to help process tough stuff like suicide, relationships, abuse, drug use, sexuality, etc.  I put the book on my Christmas list, specifically stating to try to find the book used and NOT to buy the rest of the books in the series, mainly because I wasn't sure that I wanted to support the madness by putting money toward the cause.... then I got the book for Christmas from a family member who also donated trees on my behalf (to help balance out the negative influence of the book).

I finished the 500+ page book in four days-- which says something in itself.  It's an incredibly fast read, probably because there is so much sex (which isn't particularly intellectually challenging to read), but we've all heard that it's about sex. I promise to spare you the unnecessary details, as it really is not appropriate for mixed audience, nor is the writing good enough to even rationalize it as quality reading.  If you choose to read this book, read it for trashy, un-pure reasons.  I've made the sacrifice for you, so if you don't want to hear about it except for the analysis, stop reading now and skip to the last few paragraphs.

The premise is that a young woman named Anastasia Steele is about to graduate college when she helps her roommate conduct a long-sought-after interview with a wealthy Alumnus.  Anastasia interviews Christian Grey and he becomes drawn to her and shows up at her job and in her neighborhood, finally requesting her to see him again.  Ana is excited about the potential relationship, but also has her head so far into books that she is seemingly naive about the whole situation.  (This aspect was very hard for me to buy-- particularly because the reader is lead to believe that she's still a virgin and has never had a boyfriend of significance, despite being attractive and dumb--ahhem, I mean... bookish. No girl gets to be 22 and a virgin without having figured out some techniques to keep "gentlemen" at bay.) Ana clearly loves literature since she's an English student and she can't help but relate everything to British Literature.    

In the meantime, Christian pushes the relationship and Ana goes along with it, seemingly with some reservations.  After a variety of encounters, Christian proposes S& M sex with her with a legal document, vowing that she can share no details of their relationship, when she lets it slip that she's never even had sex.  He tells her to think about it and then they have "vanilla sex"-- i.e. sex without the sadism or masochism.  Christian continues to pressure her about if she's going to sign the contract and then he simultaneously backs off, trying to give her the perception that she actually has the choice to say "no."  Christian and Ana continue to see each other on a regular basis and have sex, and Christian "threatens" to punish her with sex every time she does something he disapproves of such as bite her lip, roll her eyes, or make some snarky comment.

Christian also provides her with a computer to research S& M sex, and then he gives her a phone so that he can keep tabs on her.  By her graduation, only a few weeks after knowing one another, he foists an Audi into her possession. All along, he continues to ask her about the contract.

Her parents seem thrilled with Christian, as are his parents about Ana. Meanwhile, Ana's roommate distrusts Christian and the roommate simultaneously dates Christian's brother.  As Ana waits to hear back about jobs she's applied for, she heads to see her mom (out of state) to think clearly about her relationship and its full potential.  Ana visits with her mother a few days and is then surprised by Christian's appearance at the hotel in which she and her mother are dining. Christian wines and dines Ana, the mother is impressed, and then Ana consents to the contract.

Finally, Ana returns home, has a "light" version of the type of sex that Christian wants and then she demands to know how bad it could really hurt (with the S& M).  He spanks her to the point where she cries.  She leaves and then by the final pages ends the relationship. Book One ends here.

(Start here) Once I finished the book, I was curious of other people's reviews.  From what I can tell, the critics are essentially saying the same thing: it's a trashy book, poorly written, but it's addictive at times (the reviews on Amazon are split between 1's and 5's- see the link below "reading and researching"). The controversy surrounding the book stems from the fact that one faction of readers are seeing Ana as a feminist doing as she pleases (by exploring), while the other faction is challenging the book with the claim that it does nothing to further women's struggles and if anything it feeds into dating violence against women and just supports it legally with a document of her consent (so it's ok to be abused as long as you consent?). Regarding the S & M sex, if I felt like Ana went into the S& M sex willingly, I would not have been so disgusted, but instead I felt that she was pushed into it by Christian-- particularly when the reader begins to consider the powerplays he keeps pulling on her by check on her via email, phone and physically showing up where she is, as well as by separating her from her friends (both male and female).

If the book was simply about S& M sex between two individuals seeking it out on their own accord, I wouldn't be as disturbed by the story, but instead, I do feel disturbed by the story because I have teenage girls telling me what a fabulous love story it is.  Instead, all I can see are the signs (obvious to me, but not so obvious to my students) of dating abuse and psychological control and I hope that they are learning how to get out of such harmful relationships rather than by getting in them; these girls feel that they may change their partners.  Such a message is dangerous to young and inexperienced readers (and potentially to older readers too).  Even with clear eyes for watching and avoiding being persuaded by such a message, I cannot recommend the book to an aware reader because of the negative relationship and sheer amount of cliche.  After reading and researching the book, I also found the the book developed out a fan fiction based on the Twilight series.  At that point I had an "Aha" moment.  It became obvious that this was the ersatz Twilight that included more sex. I'm the fool for reading the fan fiction and I guess E.L. James can laugh all the way to the bank.

Deep Economy-- deep ties to the environment

My mom left me with Deep Economy by Bill McKibben sometime in November, and I'm just now getting around to posting about it.  Frankly, I thought I'd already posted about it, but when I realized I hadn't, I nearly kicked myself.  Since I read Deep Economy, I keep seeing and hearing about Bill McKibben-- particularly in my enviro-oriented magazines and Facebook feeds. McKibben is well-known for his work to bring awareness to pollution-- particularly with his group 350.org.  McKibben speaks throughout the country about climate change due to human influence and he's also a prolific writer.  I must admit, I have yet to read any more of his books, but I have found myself stopping to read any articles about him or written by him because of his work on Deep Economy. 

Deep Economy is essentially the idea that the environment is directly tied to our economy-- thus making deeper than it might at first appear.  If you're picking up the book for the first time, which I would definitely recommend, I would also recommend to skip the first chapter and read it once you're almost done with the book.  I definitely feel the first chapter is his weakest writing and it was less than captivating, whereas with the second chapter, I felt the book began to take off and really connect with me. 

Another major theme within the book is the push for reliance on communities rather than government intervention or even major metropolises.  With this McKibben pushes for self-reliant communities within the larger community.  He particularly pushes for this with energy needs and in order to meet our increasing demand on the grid. 

McKibben also discusses the lack of sustainability of the U.S.'s current farming and food system.  Simply enough, as the mega-farms grow, consumers lose as do other farmers trying to compete with such mega farms (with the exception of niche organic markets).  He also discusses the environmental damage being done by the new methods of farming on an industrial level-- rather than maintaining and truly being in tune with smaller plots.

What I particularly like about the book is that McKibben takes a balanced approach to the topic and rather than simply pointing the finger at groups, he suggest methods to change and reason to change.  It's very promising to hear about areas like Cuba that are seeing big benefits from mini-farms.  While the book could easily be a downer with the number of facts, instead the facts are the catalyst needed to push for innovation.  McKibben shares what he's learned from traveling and talking with peoples of numerous cultures and countries and it's actually inspiring to see what progress is being made by not just self-proclaimed environmentalists, but by pragmatists everywhere.  Sustainability sells because it keeps the big picture in mind. 

My copy (which I usurped from my mother- but with her approval) now includes notes written in the margins and post-it notes marking particular areas of interest.  I also knew that this book would have some great information for some of my students who had been working on research papers-- which included such topics as organic foods and energy sources. Since reading Deep Economy, I'm on the lookout for more great non-fiction read like this one, so if you know of any-- send them my way.

The Warrior's Heart

 After a brief discussion with the school librarian, I was directed to the new books in the library and I ran across The Warrior's Heart by Eric Greitens.  I recently read "I Am A Seal Team Six Warrior" and I was curious about how consistent the experiences are among Navy Seals.  Greitens makes quite the point to avoid falling into the "just-another-soldier" book category.  Instead, he approaches the story from the humanitarian aspect and he focuses first and foremost on the reasons he ended up pursuing the Navy Seals.

Greitens starts each new segment of his book with "what-if?" scenarios that then lead into the period of life that inspired each "what-if?" scenario. The book functions as part autobiography and part self-help/inspirational guide.  Because of this if feels a little awkward and preachy at times, but the preachiness is dismissible because of his experiences and sheer talent.  If I'm were to take advice, I'd take advice from a Oxford Scholar and a Navy Seal.  There are worse examples out there.

Greitens's story includes his part-time jobs in his neighborhood, his involvement in academics and athletics and then he quickly gets into talking about his humanitarian work and research in Croatia, Rwanda and Bolivia during his college years at Duke.  He tells of the mental scars on the children and the adults who try to help them.  They are war-torn and vulnerable.  He also sees how little the UN really does and is able to do-- by witnessing the aftermath of massacres. While at Duke, Greitens also takes up boxing and ends up receiving an assistantship in London as an Oxford Scholar.

As Greitens term at Oxford comes to an end, he debates his potential paths-- all which seem to include lots of paperwork and deskwork. Instead, he somehow gets approached about joining the military and becoming a Navy Seal-- assuming he'd pass the necessary tasks to become a Seal. He does and he tells of his strategies to master the long underwater swim and the "grinder" during Hell Week.

Overall, I appreciated his low-key, low-testosterone, level-headed approach for joining the military & pursuing his dream with the hopes of inspiring others.