New Moon

Today I saw "New Moon." It was campy, over melodramatic, and trite. In short, it was everything I expected. I loved it!

Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

"The Lovely Bones" by Alice Sebold is an enjoyable novel about an unenjoyable topic. The main character of the novel, Suzie Salmon, begins by telling us the reader she was murdered by her neighbor and is telling us her story from her personalized heaven. In her personal heaven this young teen girl she can skip school, play with dogs, and read fashion magazines all day but she chooses to spend a great amount of time watching her family, friends, and murder as they continue their lives after her death.

This was a really compelling story and a page turner. The characters are heartwarming and likable, yet not without flaws. Their actions are compelling. The only criticism I would have is the book seems not to have an ending. Well I should say it has an arbitrary ending. According to Suzie's spirt guide in heaven she can only reach the pure utopia in heaven when she accepts her death. I think it would have been nice to see Suzie accept her death at the end of the novel. As it stands the novel ends arbitrarily. Many of Suzie's friends and family achieve milestones and then the end.

However, that being said this is a light compelling read that I would recommend highly.

Mexican Enough by Stephanie Elizondo Griest

Just finished an excellent book "Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines" by Stephanie Elizondo Griest. Ms. Griest writes her book as an auto-biographical assertion of a year she spend traveling through Mexico. She decided to take this trip to discover her Mexican roots as a biracial woman in modern America. While this is the stated thesis of this book I find it isn't the most interesting or prevalent theme.

For me, a person with no Mexican blood, the book is fascinating for the stories it tells. Ms. Griest is clearly a progressive liberal and tells important Mexican stories from that prospective. She writes about the conditions facing Mexicans; poverty, joblessness, violence, workers' struggles, children's struggles, freedom of speech and press rights, the and the gay rights struggle just to name a few through the eyes of a progressive educated American.

I'm not sure that Ms Griest accomplishes her personal goal of taking possession of her Mexican roots but she does write a very interesting book about the modern struggles of the Mexican people. I would strongly recommend this book to any progressive striving to make sense of the immigration problems in this country.

Who killed Jenny Schecter

If you would have asked me yesterday what I thought about the "L Word," I would have told you, having seen every episode but the last two, that I thought it was one of the best shows on TV. The show is tells the story of a group of women, most of which are lesbians who live in Los Angeles. These women are smart, strong, vibrant, and diverse. Each character has her strengths that make us love her and her flaws that make us hate her. The writers tell us the characters' stories through honest plots. The actors portray these characters with integrity.

However, that being said, I think the creative staff of the show must be strongly reprimanded for the series finally. I think they wanted to be controversial, like "The Sopranos," when they chose to end the series with a murder mystery? However because the creative staff of the "L Word" made a systematic decision to show viewers that lesbians, just like those of us in the straight world, are people first and foremost; they had a responsibility to end the show with that message and not a water cooler controversy. The "L Word" showed us lesbians are people too. They hurt and are hurt by the people they love, just like us. They have many different hats, friend, co-worker, boss, subordinate, partner, partner, star... just to name a few, just like us.

I hated the ending of "The Sopranos" too. However, the creative staff of that show did not take the responsibility to defend gangsters, who have been unfairly stereotyped, like the creative staff of the "L Word" did with lesbians, therefore it is only their creative choices, not their responsibility that we can challenge.

As a child I was constantly and consistently told that people who had darker skin then me were less than me. They had less acute feelings, weaker work ethics, lower morals. I don't believe any of this today and one of the reasons I rejected this thinking was seeing the Cosby show. Every racist person I knew loved the Cosby show. I could never understand how black people could be all the bad things I heard about but I on the TV a was a strong black family, with a father and mother who loved their children and were professional people. They were the people I aspired to be when I grew up. I'm not saying the Cosby show taught me to love, but it is one of many ideas that I have been exposed to in my life that made me think and make my own decisions about the bullshit, racist statements I grew up hearing.

I would still recommend this series to others; but with this one major disappointment. Up until today when I watched the series finally I hoped that the L-Word may be for lesbians what the Cosby show was for me to black people. I fear that people who watch the show will remember "Who Killed Jenny Schecter" rather than the message of the show... Love.

Kenny wasn't like the other kids

RIP Ken Ober. I remember telling my parents that I needed my MTV to watch your show or I would be a social pariah. They didn't believe me. But they were wrong!

Anne Elliot

The first time I read Persuasion I thought Anne Elliot was a pretty week character. I didn't think Anne compared with Elizabeth Bennett or either of the Miss Dashwoods. However, upon reexamination I really have found a new respect for Anne. I mean here is a woman who becomes an adult by herself. She doesn't have family or friends to help her achieve a higher actualization. It may take here some time but she does it. You gotta respect that.

World Series broadcasts

As a Mets fan, a Yankees/Phillies World Series is not allot of fun. It is very unlikely both teams are going to lose the fall classic so I feel like I am just watching the games for the love of baseball. That being said I have to wonder who Joe Buck and Tim McCarver think are watching the game with me? These two guys broadcast a game for people who have never seen baseball before. Granted it is the World Series and I'm sure there are some people watching that don't watch as much base ball as I do. However, I am sure there are many more of us who watch some baseball and don't need the game explained to us.

One big question

Once again the recommended reading table of the Strand does me proud! I just finished Walter Mosley's "Fortunate Son" and cannot stop thinking about the underlying messages of the story. "Fortunate Son" is the story of two boys who were raised as brothers while young children, were separated, and then reunited. Eric is described as a handsome, nordic male who is very intelligent and athletic and seems to be able to accomplish anything he wishes. Thomas is a sickly uncoordinated black male who suffers many personal misfortunes but has an internal optimism that allows him to see the beauty of the world. On its most basic level the story is a bit predictable but on a deeper level it brings up and argues through the novel form many interesting social questions about race, privilege, success, and culture in modern America.

Without deeper thought I would be disappointed by Mr. Mosley stereotyping of many of the black characters, the absentee black father, the black grandmother who doesn't work and lives off the system, the young black woman who is very promiscuous and drug addicted. However, if we look deeper at these characters we see very wounded souls who have done the best with what they are given. They want to do and be better. We see, not only their limitations and failures that are most obvious through the telling of this story, but also their brave wishes and hopes and their attempts to be better through the ever optimistic eyes of Thomas. These characters are dragged down to their basest meanest selves by the environment they are forced to live with and the failures they are forced to endure. Thomas and his mother despite living among the same poverty and failure choose to look for the silver lining and are therefore happier people.

However, this story is compared and contrasted with the story of the economically privileged white characters. Once again, Mr. Mosley initially presents these characters as stereotypical, however, a deeper reading shows this privilege and supposed contentment is only skin deep. The white successful privileged characters do not know how to love and therefore cannot be truly happy despite their wealth and success. Only Thomas, the boy that the world tried to digest but couldn't so vomited out as a vagrant can help these privileged characters find real happiness. It is his optimism that the author argues, not money or success or skin color that allows people to be happy.

So the question that keeps blowing my mind is not the race question, and not the economic question, not the social question, but rather how, in a shitty world, does one stay optimistic. This seems to be the trueism of the story, and I think life. Those people who, despite their disappointments or success, failures or victories, injuries or joys, remain optimistic will be happier living this life. They can bring joy to themselves and the people they love. Once I find the answer to that question maybe I could be more like Thomas, the fortunate son.