9.1.10 Edition - Review of a Magazine Article

I learned a few semesters ago that to only read the assigned readings was detrimental to my love of reading. I was trying to squeeze in 'fun' reading in between semesters. A friend of mine, recognizing my limited time during the course of a semester, suggested that I stick to magazines for their pithy articles. She decided to 'recycle' her mags by handing them off to me. For my part, I 'recycle' to my sisters, who drop the mags off in strategic locations, like the doctor's office. So now I read magazines like Ode, Bitch, The Sun, etc.

Anyway, here's the first installment for this semester: an article from Ode that explores the concept of neurodiversity. You can access the article here.

Why am I interested in neurodiversity? Through my work, I witness the calamity that befalls parents and children with mental illnesses. I also witness the ways in which our culture medicalizes seemingly every mood in the human condition. So many people in our county are in pain. So many more are on incredibly dangerous and addictive pills. I must admit that I am disillusioned by psychology and psychiatry. Perhaps it's highly cynical of me, but I can't help but look at the healthcare industry as purely business oriented. But before I get off on that tangent, let me talk about this neorodiversity article.

What I like best about the article is the author's attempt to suggest a new framework in which to view the varieties of brains out there. This framework is positive and attempting to achieve cultural neutrality. I've long thought of ADHD and ODD as social diseases. There are so many foster care kids that have been diagnosed with these conditions (which makes sense given their environments) that I become numb to the underlying causes of these conditions. This article was a refreshing change from the status quo of my work life.

If you are interested in mental health issues, and the ways in which our society deals with these issues, this article would probably appeal to you.

9.9.10 Edition - Review of a Newspaper Article

I am going to stay out of the holy book burning argument and simply remark, “I don’t believe in organized religion.”

Here’s a synopsis of an article from the Sports section of today’s USA Today. Entitled, “India-Pakistan duo’s love match”, the article details the progress of a tennis team comprised of a Hindu and Muslim in the US Open. The duo beat the team from Argentina yesterday. They frequently wear t-shirts claiming, “Stop War, Love Tennis, Love India/Love Pakistan” during their matches.

This article is an example of sports bringing people together, across boundaries of religion and nationality. When we strip away our self-created labels (like Christian, Muslim, American, Indian, Tea Bagger or agnostic), what is left? What good comes from a label which seeks to define us in terms which necessarily subjugates or denigrates another? These tennis players have decided to be labeled athletes ahead of being labeled ‘traditional enemies’; they’ve opted for a message of peace, as opposed to a message of war.  

These athletes have received a short blurb on the Sports Section of the USA Today. The Gainesville preacher who hears ‘God’ in his head has round the clock coverage on every news network in the country.

10.7.10 Edition - A Memoir *removed at Mother's request :)

10.18.10 Edition Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals by Saul Alinsky

I found this book after exploring Jaime's page. I'm only about 30 pages in, but I am hopeful that this book will provide me with a clue as to how I should anchor my canon paper. The connection is not readily apparent, but if you think about it, what we read determines how we respond to the conflicts in our lives (when I say reading, I mean an expansive definition of the term, as in we read films, songs, each other's faces, etc). On page 16, Alinsky refers to "the interplay of seemingly conflicting forces or opposites [as] the actual harmony of nature". This speaks to the opposing schools of thought in literary studies. On the one hand, we read for pleasure, for the aesthetic experience. On the other hand (and that's the part I have trouble with), we read for knowledge or exposure to experiences outside of our frame of reference. I don't understand why aesthetics and sociopolitical readings are separate. I honestly don't think they are, but for some reason the politics behind the dominant literature remain obscured behind a mask of aesthetics. So I am reading Alinsky to remind myself that it's ok to be unsure, in fact, that's preferable to me.

This book is entertaining. I like his turn of phrase: "a stagecoach on a jet runway at Kennedy airport" (xxi); "the literature of a Have society is a veritable desert whenever we look for writings on social change" (7); and "irrationality clings to a man like his shadow" (13). It's interesting to read his ideas in hindsight to see if they hold up in the 21st century.

Alinsky, Saul. Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. New York: Random House, 1989.

10.24.10 Edition - The Generational Divide

This is a recent conversation between myself and my nephew, regarding the 'Web Sheriff'.

11.8.10 Edition Flight by Sherman Alexie

          Alexie's Flight took me by surprise. I didn't realize that the protagonist was going to be a foster care kid. My decision to read this book comes from my love for the author's writing style. Alexie uses humor to effectively convey both the comedy and tragedy of life. His prose evokes a strong desire to laugh and cry at the same time. Alexie frequently uses what I call the 'zinger'. The paragraphs are brief and sometimes followed by one little sentence that 'zings' the reader. Here's an example:

          "I breathe, try to relax, and pull the real and paint pistols out of my pocket. I say a little prayer and dance through the lobby. I aim my pistols at the faces of these strangers. They scream or fall to the floor or run or freeze or weep or curse or close their eyes.

          One man points at me.

          "You're not real," he says.

          What a strange thing to say to a boy with a gun. But then I wonder if he's right. Maybe I'm not real. And if I'm not real, none of these people are real. Maybe all of us are ghosts.

          Can a ghost kill another ghost?

          I push the real and paint pistols into the man's face. And I pull the triggers.

          I spin in circles and shoot and shoot and shoot. I keep pulling the triggers until the bank guard shoots me in the back of the head. I am still alive when I start to fall, but I die before I hit the ground" (Alexie 35).

          I think I'm talking about pacing. Alexie paces his work in such a way that at times, one is reading quite fast, and at other times, slowly. There's a conversational element in this work, but that's to be expected with most first person accounts. The book takes the perspective of a 15 year-old foster care kid standing on the precipice of life and death, trying to determine which way to go. For me, the book acts as the antidote for all the bullshit rhetoric I deal with on a daily basis at work. In other words, the story provides me with a refreshing take on the broken down system we call foster care. But that's really just an added bonus for me. I would read just about anything that Alexie wrote.

Alexie, Sherman. Flight. New York: Black Cat, 2007.

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