Between Impossibilities

The Golden Compass was a bit meh. Oh well. I'm actually looking forward to Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. I think that the first entry that I made in this journal mentions the first AVP movie. :)

Tomorrow I'm meeting the brother in Old Colorado City for Christmas shopping. Then I plan to bake Christmas cookies and go to to the library. I need to take back various books, including When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, by Peter Godwin. I just finished it today while I was working out and I would definitely recommend it. It's a memoir of Godwin's relationship with his father and his life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. Admittedly, I'm a little tired of memoirs about fathers and sons; however, there is more to the book than just that, and more to Godwin's father than just their tense relationship.

( review. )

.... and I'm done.

This has been a LONG ASS day, and also cold. And snowy. Which is fine because Slim is bringing firewood tomorrow and we will use it after we eat Indian food and go see The Golden Compass to celebrate the doneness.

I gave my last final from 1-3:30, during and after which I did the grading and submitting thing. Then, I came home, bathed both dogs and partially cleaned the house. I needed clean dogs, specifically, because my mom knitted me a blanket for Christmas and it is made of furry green and pink awesomeness. There will be no smelly dogs on the blanket.

Also, I just finished both The Kite Runner and Land of a Thousand Suns by Khaled Hosseini. I liked The Kite Runner, but I LOVED Land of a Thousand Suns. Both books are set in Afghanistan and follow roughly the same time line, from the overthrow of the monarchy in the mid-seventies to the rise and fall of the Taliban. The Kite Runner is more autobiographical and uses the male perspective. It also deals with the life of Afghani immigrants in America. There is a deeper focus in The Kite Runner on ethnic conflict than in Land of a Thousand Suns.

Both books have friendship and belonging as central themes, and the country of Afghanistan is put the starring role. Land of a Thousand Suns looks at women's lives from the 60s until the American invasion, and Hosseini pulls absolutely no punches. Because his prose is so stark, and his language so plain, the pain that the women feel in the novel is never obscured.

( quote. )

As an aside, I don't know if the Land of a Thousand Suns is partly informed by Hosseini's work with refugees in Darfur, but I don't know how it couldn't be. When he talks about Sudan, he talks about the plight of women there.

I teach the history of Afghanistan only briefly and only in one class. Students never remember exactly how the ethnic conflict between Pashtuns, Tajiks, and Hazaras came about. They rarely remember the country's Buddhist, Bactrian or Persian past; they inevitably get lost in the Soviet invasion, the Mujahideen and the origins of the Taliban. However, they do remember the numbers. Life expectancy in Afghanistan is in the 40s. The country has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world, and that includes sub-Saharan African nations. The same goes for women who die in childbirth. The literacy rate for women in Afghanistan is currently at 21%.

Despite all of this, and despite the fact that Hosseini left the country in 1980 -- shortly after the Soviet invasion -- his love for the country and the people in it is evident. And because he has never lost hope for Afghanistan, his characters don't either. I think that both books are beautiful, painful, accessible, and important.

I just finished reading Susan Bordo's The Male Body: A New Look at Men in Public and in Private and I'm trying to process. (I'm re-reading her Unbearable Weight: Feminism, Western Culture, and the Body now.)

( ramblings about the male body, the female gaze, male sexuality in the media, myths about the nature of women's sexual choices, size DOES matter, visual appeal in fandom, and spoilers for Eastern Promises. )

Watched Eddie Izzard "The Definite Article" yesterday with Andrew. Hysterical. Funnier every time. Also, I finally broke down and bought "Dress to Kill," along with a bunch of Phil Rickman mysteries/horror stories like December, which is the best horror novel ever written. Or close to it.

And I would recommend Wilderness Survival for Girls to anyone who likes edgy, twisty, scary, sexy, indy films about girls.

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Otherwise, my life's been fairly predictable. I'm trying to detox a little since I usually don't drink very much and not only have I been drinking lately, I've been drinking. There were jaeger bombs involved at one point, and I still have half a bottle of tequila (Aztec Gold, man, because what good is tequila unless it's CHEAP tequila) and half a bottle of Grgich Hill, 2000 (which is not, in comparison, cheap.)

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Thinking about getting my hair cut. It's down past the middle of my back now, and heavy. I think maybe just a little off of the ends and some long layers?

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The Rockies have recently become the only team to sweep BOTH New York teams in a single season since ... forever. And they're still only at .500.

I'm trying to read WE, by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Trying. I have never gotten along with Russian literature very well; although, I do assign my students Solzhenitsyn every semester, just out of cruelty, I guess. "A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" isn't THAT difficult to get through and analyze, and yet I'm always left telling them that "It's about identity. Life is a prison whether you're in one or not. Dammit." And they blink at me. Maybe I should just assign them WE and make them deal with characters with nothing but numbers for names and all of the math.

"Crystal chromatic degrees converging and diverging in infinite sequences and the summarizing chords of Taylor and Maclaurin with a gait like Pythagorean pant legs, so whole-toned and quadrilateral-heavy; the melancholy melodies of diminishing oscillations; pauses producing bright bright rhythms according to Frauenhofer lines, the spectral analysis of planets . . ."

Speaking of work, my new boss and I are having lunch on Monday. Which is just super.

And speaking of weird, here (unfinished SPN):

( Green )

KEATS?

Seriously. I don't know about me sometimes.

Heh. The Rockies are on a seven game win streak. Who knew?

Also, I've been reading a lot in the last week and it's been a mixed bag.

( Glass Books of the Dream Eaters )

( The Sky People )

( Glasshouse )

( Firebird )

( PUPPY! )

So I've been doing a lot of reading. I find it's best when trying to avoid the more unsavory aspects of RL. That and turning your phone off.

I got through The Monsters: Mary Shelley and the Curse of Frankenstein, by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. Essentially the life stories of Percy and Mary Shelley, Lord Byron, and of course, the evolution of the both the stories that would become Frankenstein and, indirectly, Dracula. I'm a sucker for all things Byron. We should all know that by now.

- "At Percy's death Mary was just twenty-four years old. Her identity had always been defined by those around her. First, she had been the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin; then she had become the companion and wife of Shelley. Now she would become known as the widow of Shelley. Like her creature, she had no name of her own."

Also, I've been skimming Agrippina: Sex, Power and Politics in the Early Empire, by Anthony A. Barrett. I LOVE drama in the ancient world.

- "Claudius had vacated his throne, along with his earthly existence, before the end of 54. The last recorded victim of Agrippina before this happened was the mother of Messalina, Agrippina's sister-in-law Lepida, who re-enters the narrative for the first time since her daughter's suicide."

And lastly, What I Did Wrong, John Weir. Just kind of funny, kind of sad, post-modern, post-gay (what does that mean, really?) stream of consciousness.

- ( She doesn't have a voice like money or an animal's nickname . . . )

But what's more exciting than literature? PICTURES DAMMIT.

( Melo and Lebron in Vegas. )

I have maybe two weeks of school left? We're up to the Renaissance, so I'll be doing ye olde Borgia PowerPoint, I guess. And we should finish the Reformation by the end of this week, because that's how we roll in the summertime, or whatever. Luther gets a whole two hour lecture all to himself.

Now see? I'm lying. He's gotta share that one with Calvin AND the counter reformation which means Jesuits. And if I know my classes, and I think I do, we're going to have a nice discussion of predestination with quotes taken directly from the King James. I'm looking forward to it.

What?

That student who quotes from the Bible? He also wrote a paper once arguing that women should not be allowed in combat. Based on their basic biological inferiority to men.

My first question is, how can you make vampires boring? I mean, I've read pretentious, annoying and angst-ridden, but boring? The Historian manages it, though. And it's about Dracula. He's the grandaddy vamp of them all. He should at the VERY LEAST be pleasantly campy. But no. All you've got are 600+ pages of pointless, plotless, massively boring, chronologically and perspectively challenged crap.

Also, I had a bone to pick with a gay history I was reading the other day but it has apparently slipped my mind. It was a good rant too. With misogynism and and classism and all that good stuff.

( Anyway, since I don't remember that, wanna hear about what I did last night? )

EDIT: How about a random Supernatural rec? gravi_girl123's An Honest Mistake This a beautiful little fic. Ties in nicely with the show and with the rampant brother lust.

It's foggy out. Y'know? The kind of day where you want to build a fire and wrap yourself up in the afghan and sip on tea while reading . . . Rebecca, maybe. (Sorry, grammar_glamour.) Anyway. I had to take a break because if I read one more breathless exposition on "OMG Gilgamesh was so GAY," I may have to start burning things. I'm glad that they picked up on that, and I'm thrilled that they seem titillated by it, but the giggly whispering like it's some sort of secret is trying. Oh well. Commune Boy (I've never mentioned him before have I?), anyway, he makes up for them all with his extraordinary exploration of symbolism, male love and sex with a woman as a tool for the final corruption of Enkidu's wild innocence. I got all tingly just reading it.

Tonight is my last real lecture with that class, and yeah, I'm gonna miss them.( Parting is such sweet . . . whatever. )

Moving on. I'm teaching at least three classes if not four this summer. Which pretty much blows. But hey, lookit all that money, right? RIGHT? Meh.

In light of all of this I feel a touch emo. So, I bring you some lyrics from Brand New that, while are not overly profound, are still soveryemo. I plan on writing an entire song post soon. Like a soundtrack to my life thing . . . but it will have to wait until finals are done.

( Sic Transit Gloria - Glory Fades )

There is no earthly reason for me to use that subject line.

Anyway, have any of you ever read Celestial Harmonies by Peter Esterhazy? It's so post-modern that it (by definition) is practically meaningless; yet, it seems so profound.

Oh well. I had this whole post planned out about my week and what an utter bitch it was, but I thought this little meme thing was a better use of my time and yours. It's funny. Trust me.

( You Know You're From Colorado When . . . )

( 5 Questions from Vita )

I already did this meme, but if you want 5 questions from me, I'll do it again. Just comment here and then post your answers in your journal; I'll see 'em there. :)

I ALMOST FORGOT THE QUESTION OF THE DAY!

What is your favorite Stephen King book? Why?

Hunter S. Thompson is dead. I don't know what to say about that, so I'll make a really random post instead.

sodiumlight and I have irreconcilable differences in the music arena. However, I still believe that everyone should hear Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" at least once (loudly) and make an attempt to feel the vibe. I mean, c'mon, LISTEN:

Won't you help to sing
these songs of freedom
'cause all I ever had
redemption songs
redemption songs

Okay. Speaking of music, Revenge Of The Emo Kid is finally done and i will mail it out tomorrow to those of you who wanted it and who gave me your address.

If you are interested, here is the ( playlist )

Also, I'm compulsively reading every Scottish crime novel that I can get my hands on. Especially by Ian Rankin. I don't know why.

Two classes. It’s better than nothing, right? I’ll be teaching two sections of Western Civ on Tuesdays Thursdays and Saturdays. I don’t think I’m going to get paid enough to live, though. So what do I do? Ask Brian to let me waitress for him on the days I don’t teach? That is mildly horrifying. Go back to subbing? Maybe. As a very last resort. Marry a rich man? That’s what my mother always tells me, and I think she’s serious, sometimes.

My brother - a highschool drop-out who’s never set foot on a college campus - makes $17,000 + a year. He has full benefits, vacation and sick leave. And he’s only going to get paid more the longer he stays, the prettier he looks, and the more productive he is.

I’m not bitter.

Life’s not so bad, though. Really. In the spirit of that, I bring you a happy memory, inspired by the book I’m immersed in (which I shouldn’t be.) I’m reading Greil Marcus’ The Old Weird America: The World of Bob Dylan’s Basement Tapes, when I should be reading Livy, Gilgamesh, Euripides, and Augustine.

( nostalgia )