For my summer book I chose to read Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris. All of Sedaris's books were recommended to me by a friend last school year so I decided this summer would be a great time to test them out. Also, many of his recollections are from trips he took in Europe and seeing as I traveled there this summer it was a perfect fit.
This may be a challenge to blog about due to the fact that the book I chose to read was a collection of autobiographical stories from multiple times in Sedaris's life. The short stories don't follow any sort of timeline to outline his life, they are simple anecdotes from his past that would seem boring if written by anyone else, but his writing style really turned normal daily events into an entertaining read.
I absolutely fell in love with Sedaris's writing style from page one. You wouldn't think that playing with your sisters in the snow would be something you needed to stick into your autobiography, but one of the things Sedaris has down to a science is pointing out the little absurd parts of life that make little puppies cock their head to the side as if to say, "huh?" There is humor with every page turn and the fact that he is a homosexual gives him a free pass to make his little cracks about that as well. If you are the type of person who hates being that person on the bus snickering to himself because of the book he is reading, then this is not the book for you.
My personal favorite is the short story "Six to Eight Black Men" where he discusses the different legends that children of different countries have concerning Christmas. The main focus is the Dutch Christmas. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that Sedaris finds quite a bit of humor in the fact that their St. Nicholas resides in Spain, travels with six to eight black men (no one really knows how many), and if the child was naughty he would be kicked (although now they just "pretend" to kick you).
I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is apprehensive about reading nonfiction. It honestly felt like I was reading fiction except that everything I was reading was entirely true.
Monday, September 5, 2011
A Vindication of the Rights of Women
I have to be completely honest. I feel as though this article went right over my head. Its not that women's rights are too difficult for me to understand or anything like that. I really struggled with Wollstonecraft's writing style and word choice. Its the same reason I have never finished a Jane Austen novel even though I love what I have heard about the story lines. For this reason, it will be extremely difficult for me to blog about this essay, so I thought I would share my opinion on womens rights.
While I admire the struggles that women went through to earn things such as the right to vote, I feel as though some people take advantage of the Women's Rights movement. Yes, I understand that even today women are not equal to men, but some of the efforts we make to make ourselves equal are a bit of a stretch. For example, a women will never ever play on a professional men's football team. I don't doubt that they might make a women's version of football but let's be completely honest. The game wouldn't be the same if there were women in the mix and suddenly there would be arguments about the ratio of men to women that make the teams.
Every human being, no matter what gender should be allowed the same basic rights as far as the law is concerned. Women should not get special treatment when getting a job, complaining about making a sports team, or applying to a college. Sure women are capable of doing anything a man can do but that doesnt always mean they should.
While I admire the struggles that women went through to earn things such as the right to vote, I feel as though some people take advantage of the Women's Rights movement. Yes, I understand that even today women are not equal to men, but some of the efforts we make to make ourselves equal are a bit of a stretch. For example, a women will never ever play on a professional men's football team. I don't doubt that they might make a women's version of football but let's be completely honest. The game wouldn't be the same if there were women in the mix and suddenly there would be arguments about the ratio of men to women that make the teams.
Every human being, no matter what gender should be allowed the same basic rights as far as the law is concerned. Women should not get special treatment when getting a job, complaining about making a sports team, or applying to a college. Sure women are capable of doing anything a man can do but that doesnt always mean they should.
Is Google Making Us Stupid?
I was hooked on this article after reading the second sentence, "My mind isn't going -- so far as I can tell -- but it's changing. I'm not thinking the way I used to think." After reading why Carr felt that way, I realized, I feel the exact same way. reading is not as easy as it used to be. I used to read entire books in one night and I practically lived at the library. Now, I only read when I have to and it seems as though I have the attention span of a three year old. I simply cannot focus on reading in-depth. I can't even read the lengthy emails my mother sends me! I think it makes complete sense that the short bursts of info we read to finish our English papers is altering the way we think. Our minds are becoming more fact-oriented and we are avoiding the upper levels of thinking and analyzing material. Its like when you take an AP class and your teacher tells you that they will no longer "spoon feed" the material to you. Well they no longer have to because the Internet does it for us, or the program on our calculator does the math problem for us. We aren't getting dumber per say, but I would agree that our thought patterns are changing.
(I also found it ironic that Carr ranted for 6.5 pages on how people no longer read long articles.)
(I also found it ironic that Carr ranted for 6.5 pages on how people no longer read long articles.)
Skunk Dreams
At the start of this article I honestly thought it would be thought provoking and interesting; however, I soon became very confused and began to wonder what in the world the skunk had to do with anything the writer was talking about. Her thoughts about dreams in general really got me thinking about dreaming, and even though I know that dreaming is really just the random firing of neural impulses, I still find it intriguing. Its like The Matrix. We don't really know what the reality of it is until we push its boundaries. To humans, our dreams will always seem like science fiction: unreal yet not unrealistic.
Once Erdrich began describing her dream about the elk walking along the fence, things started making more sense. Its almost eerie that she had that dream before she even moved into the area that was "protected hunting land." I completely agree with the comment she made towards the end of the article, "There is something in me that resists the notion of fair use of this land if the only alternative is to have it cut up, sold off in lots, condominiumized. Yet the dumb fervor of the place depresses me -- the wilderness locked up and managed but not for its sake; the animals imported and cultivated to give pleasure through their deaths." It really is a shame that the animals were being hunted, but then again, it is becoming more and more important for us to preserve wildlife areas and prevent the cutting down of trees. It was this point in the article where the whole skunk thing began to make more sense to me.
The skunks lived on this protected land in absolutely no danger of being hunted. While Erdrich was contemplating how she felt about this fenced in area, the skunks came and when as they pleased, eating the free food that was provided and living without fear of being hunted. Erdrich envied the skunk and I would have to agree. Life must be real easy if you can eat whatever you want and you have nothing to fear because no one can stand the smell of you.
Once Erdrich began describing her dream about the elk walking along the fence, things started making more sense. Its almost eerie that she had that dream before she even moved into the area that was "protected hunting land." I completely agree with the comment she made towards the end of the article, "There is something in me that resists the notion of fair use of this land if the only alternative is to have it cut up, sold off in lots, condominiumized. Yet the dumb fervor of the place depresses me -- the wilderness locked up and managed but not for its sake; the animals imported and cultivated to give pleasure through their deaths." It really is a shame that the animals were being hunted, but then again, it is becoming more and more important for us to preserve wildlife areas and prevent the cutting down of trees. It was this point in the article where the whole skunk thing began to make more sense to me.
The skunks lived on this protected land in absolutely no danger of being hunted. While Erdrich was contemplating how she felt about this fenced in area, the skunks came and when as they pleased, eating the free food that was provided and living without fear of being hunted. Erdrich envied the skunk and I would have to agree. Life must be real easy if you can eat whatever you want and you have nothing to fear because no one can stand the smell of you.
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