Major Amberton believes apartments will be a "novelty". Eugene Morgan was repeatedly heckled with the ridiculous chant of "git a hos" while out in his horseless carriage. Why are people so suspicious of change? How do lifestyle changes like moving from houses to apartments, from horse-drawn carriage to cars, from writing letters to sending email, from using formula to breastfeeding become the norm?
There is safety in normal - like reading a book, for example. You browse in a book shop or the library, pick up a reassuringly heavy paperback, scan the over, skim the blurb, put it back, repeat the process numerous times - maybe even read the first few pages. You choose one or two, return home to a comfortable chair or escape to bed and begin to read. You use a aged bookmark or dogear the page and put the book down to return to again in another free moment. Now, things are a changing. You can buy an ereader, read numerous reviews online and download a book in seconds. You turn the pages by clicking a button and it will remember the page you stopped at. I'm bristling as I write this. I'm reluctant to change, but I know, deep down, I inevitably will. My home may not have shelves lined with dusty books. I will just have a sleek machine on my bedside table.
Whether its how we spend our freetime, how we live or how we travel staying the same just isn't healthy. We need to move forward and evolve - it's just scary at times.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Monday, April 05, 2010
The Marvelous Ambertons
The title should be "The Marvelous Ambertons", The word marvelous is truly marvelous and tragically underused. It is far superior to great or excellent, it may even surpass my favorite over-the-top positive adjective brilliant. But, the title is magnificent - good, but not marvelous.
This author, Booth (really) Tarkington, seems to have a grudge against the fabulously wealthy, represented here by the Ambertons. Magnificence suggests a glittering life, a sparkling legacy and a dazzling prowess. In the first paragraph, however, we learn the Amberson's magnificence did indeed sparkle, but is a thing of the past. The novel is going to focus on their downfall from the pinnacle of magnificence. And I have a feeling the author will not be treating them kindly.
The first three chapters have whipped over the senior Amberson's building of a small empire in Midland, his daughter's marriage to a lowly husband, and the childhood of George, the grandson and our protagonist. He is already juicily unlikable. As a 10 year old, George tells a reverend to 'go to hell". I loved how his mother, Isabel, failed spectacularly to reprimand her son: ""He's just riff raff" said Georgie. "You musn't say so," his mother gently agreed."" I find myself daydreaming about my own upcoming motherly discipline moments, I hope I am not such a pushover.
So again there is a male protagonist and the setting is a different century. I am, however, hopeful. I mean what's better than see the filthy rich fall from grace.
This author, Booth (really) Tarkington, seems to have a grudge against the fabulously wealthy, represented here by the Ambertons. Magnificence suggests a glittering life, a sparkling legacy and a dazzling prowess. In the first paragraph, however, we learn the Amberson's magnificence did indeed sparkle, but is a thing of the past. The novel is going to focus on their downfall from the pinnacle of magnificence. And I have a feeling the author will not be treating them kindly.
The first three chapters have whipped over the senior Amberson's building of a small empire in Midland, his daughter's marriage to a lowly husband, and the childhood of George, the grandson and our protagonist. He is already juicily unlikable. As a 10 year old, George tells a reverend to 'go to hell". I loved how his mother, Isabel, failed spectacularly to reprimand her son: ""He's just riff raff" said Georgie. "You musn't say so," his mother gently agreed."" I find myself daydreaming about my own upcoming motherly discipline moments, I hope I am not such a pushover.
So again there is a male protagonist and the setting is a different century. I am, however, hopeful. I mean what's better than see the filthy rich fall from grace.
Friday, April 02, 2010
Reading and The Brain
Why do women and girls prefer fiction? Is there a difference in the brains of men and women that lead to reading material preferences? I have to think there must be. The most-emailed article in the New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/books/01lit.html?pagewanted=2&ref=homepage&src=me describes a new area of study in literature departments: fiction and the brain. Scholars are now mapping how our minds respond to literature and what this love, or hatred, of storytelling can tell us about evolution. I think that the differences between male and female reading habits must also be linked to our brains and evolution.
This has a major impact on my IR program next year. I cannot force students who don't like to read novels to read novels. My ultimate goal is to instill a love of reading because it exposes you to aspects of life and the world you didn't know about before. Reading, in any guise, expands your knowledge. The IR program needs to allow students to read magazines, newspapers, comics, poetry, blogs, and fiction. I hope this is one way to help the boys feel more comfortable with the program and even embrace it.
This has a major impact on my IR program next year. I cannot force students who don't like to read novels to read novels. My ultimate goal is to instill a love of reading because it exposes you to aspects of life and the world you didn't know about before. Reading, in any guise, expands your knowledge. The IR program needs to allow students to read magazines, newspapers, comics, poetry, blogs, and fiction. I hope this is one way to help the boys feel more comfortable with the program and even embrace it.
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