term paper is due; hoping for a snow day

I feel like Annie Proulx and her The Shipping News has been a high school reading assignment. Maybe that sounds harsh but it wasn't so bad – Billy Budd and any Nathaniel Hawthorne would far exceed the punishment of The News. I quite liked it but I’ll be buggered if I can figure out what I’m to take away. (A moment of truth is required here. I saw the movie years ago and can only remember and associate two things: Kevin Spacey doesn’t fit my idea of Quoyle, and Cate Blanchett was hot as Petal – in a hot Cate way, not a hot Petal way.) The problem I have with any tome of fancy words is that I’ve got to be able to somehow relate it to a part of my life or personality; I can feel some parts of The News but it’s more like a bit of fog and mist (neat comparison, huh?). Here are my thoughts put to words: family, shame, loss, redemption, change (not the same as redemption), destruction, settling, home, life, love. That’s it – my entire review. I need to think about this much more.

I’m onto Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz. Christine saw it on the table a few days ago and told me it appears as if I AM serious about this lit-ter-a-ture thing. I actually bought this volume in Qatar a number of years ago and followed that up by buying the first volume of his legendary Cairo Trilogy at Dharma Books in Reno. They are the kind of books you have sitting on the seat of your car (or splayed across the coffee table) to impress girls. The first pitch into both books leads me to believe I’m in for a bit of GGMarquez with an Egyptian twist. We’ll see.

(Another aside: I just turned around my GGM autobiography entitled “Living to Tell the Tale” on the bookshelf. X keeps turning some of my books around because the titles are horrendous. The other two she turns around? “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families”, a story of Rwanda, and; “Bury Me Standing”, a story of Gypsies. I’m on board with the Rwanda title, it’s not anything lovely, the other two confuse me.)

Vilsack is out of the 2008 run. If only I had the millions to help him run. I think we missed a great chance and I am really disturbed by how much money affects our political decisions. Maybe another entry on why money shouldn’t be the deciding factor. I'll remove him from my links section; how final is that? The Slate Gabfest refered to Hilary's campaign as the British Army with every other candidate on the Democratic ledger playing the roll of a colony or insurgency - they will need tactics that don't take her on in a straight fight if they are to suceed. I'm lost on my support for now: Edwards has earned some points for the "I was wrong on the war" approach, the Clinton machine scares me, and Obama has spun his wheels over the last few weeks. Stay tuned.

Lots of snow in Arlington today. The above picture is from about 10am this morning. I took the boys out sledding and they managed to get wet to the bone. It's nothing a long, hot bath didn't fix.

T

memo to john

Date: 6 Feb 2007

To: J. Steinbeck

Subject: East of Eden

I’ve finished my first reading of your novel and must say I’m quite impressed. There are a number of contributing factors to my enjoyment so I’ll try to cover them as quickly as possible.

1. The setting of your book reminds me of the dusty and hardened times reflected in country music – a scrabble to achieve anything in this world against endless odds and decisions not made. Often times it never seems like it’s a bad decision that does one in, it’s no decision at all. Kind of like knowing when to “hold ‘em, when to fold ‘em; know when to walk away, know when to run”; I don’t think Mr. Rogers every clarifies a firm decision in that song but I’ll have to go back and listen to it again. Reading about generations of families cursed by things not said, and beliefs unchallenged, makes one ponder just how often it happens to so many folks.

2. That Catherine/Kate was a cold beeyatch and I wonder just how one gets their head into someone like her. There has be to some experience or character that brings something that cold and calculating to the surface. I’m not great in the psychology area (see my college transcripts), but I never got to the point of feeling anything but hate for her – isn’t there suppose to be a point where my emotions waver from hatred and I feel some sympathy? Just asking.

3. Lee is a great counterbalance to that evil you pushed at me. I wondered through the last half of the book if Lee was the hub of the tale - the bit holding all the broken and bent spokes together until we make it home. I’d be hard pressed to come up with a character I’d respect more than he. Well done.

4. How come it’s always brothers that are at odds? I get the whole Adam/Eve/Cain/Able thing but maybe a change from boys to girls as we cruise through generations would be good. I’ll work on some minor changes to the latter chapters.

5. That’s some powerful misbehavior you’ve got going on for a novel set in the early 20th century. I don’t mind it, I think it gets to the root of a lot of bad in the world today, I was just surprised.

6. What a way to pull me in at the end – You May. It’s all about those choices, the fact that I May, and if I do, cycles can be broken.

I think I’ll give the book a rating of 4 (of 5) stars. Maybe you lose a bit of that last star for going on for 600+ pages and for killing off Sam Hamilton before I was ready to see him go. Trust me, four stars is mighty for a reader of non-fiction. I considered reading another one of your books but time is of the essence. Anyway, I have Springsteen’s The Ghost of Tom Joad and I think it will have to suffice.

I’m onto some Annie Proulx this month. In case you didn't know, she writes very choppy sentences and paragraphs.

Thanks,

T

P.S. Kenny never did give me a decision in that blasted song...just repeating the same old stuff with different words.