Spinning

REALITY?: In The Track of the Dinosaur

On November 11th I placed an order with amazon.com for some books. Their email came within hours that the shipment had been given to the United States Postal Service. This was not good news.

Amazon's easy tracking system got me to the usps.com's site to track from there. And so I have, for six days.

Label/Receipt Number: 0200 1206 9327 5552 2041 Status: Electronic Shipping Info Received The U.S. Postal Service was electronically notified by the shipper on November 11, 2008 to expect your package for mailing. This does not indicate receipt by the USPS or the actual mailing date. Delivery status information will be provided if / when available. Information, if available, is updated every evening. Please check again later.

The shipment is at the Springfield, MA facility; I live about an hour away in CT and am sorely tempted to drive out there and pick it up.

The main problem with the postal service is, I think, more their lack of web and tracking savvy that wraps itself like bubblewrap against today's technology. With UPS or any of the other package delivery services there is a system of updating information that just about tracks an hour to hour progress. I'm actually expecting the package to come today, but that likely won't show up on the usps.com site for another few days.

Now I'm no spring chicken, but I know that if I want to survive in this world I need to use the web technology. I clearly see that unless the postal service recognizes this for themselves, they're not going to make it to the 44-cent stamp.

BTW, my own local PO is manned by some of the best, nicest, and most efficient folk in the service.

LITERATURE: Deciding on What's Up Next

With Munro half-finished, I'm ready to browse the bookshelf. While I was rather thinking of Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, my amazon order has been sitting in the hands of the US Postal Service since the 11th, in Springfield, Mass which is about an hour away.

In looking over my list, I come across several works of Joseph Conrad and maybe it's time for me to get into that. Continuing down the alphabetical list, I come to Faulkner, and wonder if I deserve to read him now--I hold him and a few others as a special treat. There's Forster and Gibson, both tempting. There are a few Hemingway, but somehow I'm not in that sort of reading mood. James and Joyce....mmm...nope. Then I come to Marquez, and as with Faulkner, I've managed to sneak more of his work onto my shelf. McCarthy? I do have a few yet, while hoping that he's busy writing more, but I have to be very very good to allow myself such a thing. Maybe it'll be a Christmas gift to myself.

Steinbeck, Twain, Tyler, Wells; these and more if I go back to the beginning. I suppose the most important element that determines my selections is this: mood and what calls to me that I find myself responding to in matched anticipation. We'll see...we'll see.

LITERATURE: Alice Munro's Accident - The Seeds of Hypertext

This story, in the anthology "The Moons of Jupiter," is a peek into a woman's affair with a married man.  It follows a short time span when Ted's only son Bobby is killed in a snow sled accident, while rounding out the character of the protagonist, Frances, with her interactions with others and her own reflection on the man and the part of him that she, as mistress, is not privy to.

The sneaking around is a good part of the allure of the affair for Frances, though most of the town knows about it. When the accidental death of Ted's son brings together a situation where Ted is confronted by his boss, the high school principal, he makes the decision to leave his family, marry Frances, and leave town. Frances agrees.

Munro then brings us back to the small town, thirty years later, at a wake for the death of her sister-in-law. In the usual chatting and reuniting of old acquaintances, Frances, now married to Ted and a mother, looks closely at the twists and turns of their lives.

If he (Fred Beecher) had not gone out in the snow that day to take a baby carriage across town, Frances would not live in Ottawa now, she would not have her two children, she would not have her life, nothe the same life. (...) Bobby would be about forty years old, perhaps he would be an engineer--his childish interests, recalled now more often by Ted, made that seem likely--he would have a good job, maybe even an interesting job, a wife and children. Greta would be going to see Ted in the hospital, looking after his emphysema. Frances might still be here, in Hanratty, teaching music; or she might be elsewhere. (p. 109)

Frances realizes the paths that open by opportunity, sees the chain of events that lead us into unanticipated areas, and makes another important observation.

What difference, thinks Frances. She doesn't know where that thought comes from or what it means for of course there is a difference, anybody can see that, a life's difference. She's had her love, her scandal, her man, her children. But inside she's ticking away, all by herself, the same Frances who was there before any of it.
Not altogether the same, surely.
The same.

So Frances seems to think that one may change paths by choice or circumstance, and yet remain essentially the same, unaffected by the differences that come with change. Interesting. I wonder if the difference lies in the type of person; if the traveler be openminded and flexible, change would be inevitable, and I would see it as a form of growth of character. If one remains of steadfast opinion in the face of the new, applying what is known to understand and categorize the unknown, then perhaps the event is changed rather than the observer.

But I also see the above as the base of hypertext; the choices made by the characters are now extended to the reader via hypertext links. With my bit of dabbling in hypertext I find that I pick up on its implications and opportunities in reading static literature, observing just as I would find the awesome diction, the twist of plot. Jessica, a Tunxis New Media  student, is doing the same in watching movies.

REALITY?: The Economy--the part I can't do anything about

It's on everyone's mind these days, whether you're wondering how to pay the mortgage this month or whether you're canceling that trip to France. Where there was barely enough macaroni and cheese, there's half of that now. Steve Ersinghaus asks an interesting question:

For example, how much is an average 20k auto actually worth? Doesn’t this depend on the cost of smelting equipment and labor? How much is labor worth? If pay is not proportional to the cost of necessary goods vs luxuries, then what is the worth of the luxury market with its limited cycles (you know, cell phones, TVs).

I can't help thinking that not much intelligence goes beyond the cost basis to determine price or value once a profit margin is established. After that, it's the law of supply and demand. I may be naive, but this was proven by housing prices, the flexible price of gasoline and heating fuel once folks curbed their usage, and all you have to do is watch the stock market for a week to see the principle in action. Prices of those "once hot" luxury toys come down once the need is satisfied and manufacturers are gathering around tables planning the next big hit.

If America can cut its dependency on foreign oil, by alternative energy, home drilling, and responsible use, we'll cut one of the biggest drains on our system. There's no reason why we can't cut our dependency on foreign labor and foreign goods. This statement from the New York Times article that Steve references ruffled my feathers a bit:

There was Hu Jintao, the president of China, heading a delegation of 100 people and wielding a fat checkbook — nearly $2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves — that Beijing could lend to distressed countries.

China? Where their people are doing our work and being paid peanuts for it? Where we buy our lead-painted toys and melamine-laced food instead of trusting our own USA workers and products? There's a simple solution to many problems here, including jobs for Americans and non-poisonous food and high quality, safe products; cut China's imports to us big time. I understand the need and benefits of fair trade, but if we look closely, we're getting the short end of the stick here.  Oh, and slap penalty fees on American companies who produce goods overseas.

Just caught on the TV that the Obamas raked in four million last year. A half hour ago, we get Beyonce and JC (?) bringing in $162million. There are folks out there, the corporate executives, the ballplayers, the movie stars and teenybopper celebrities, who have no clue what money worries are like. But we pay them more and more because they found out that we will. As long as we will, they'll take it; it's the law of supply and demand--whatever the market will bear. If you think someone's overpaid, well, refuse to patronize their stores or use their products, buy season tickets, go to movies or buy the DVDs.

I'm no economist either, (and I can't say this without thinking of Cheech and Chong's take on Olympian Nadia Comaneci) but it seems that value is not based on any logical formula. Beauty, as they say, is in the eye of the beholder and it's the consumer that sets the prices as often as not.

REALITY?: Helping the Economy

Oh poo. Likely there's no converting the freebie gas range since it's too old. (Another marketing trick--I'm sure there's a way!) So that means some kind of new replacement is necessary--or else I dress up warm and use the outdoor grill all winter. Big decision on whether to get the one I will eventually want (big $$) or just a $400 regular Whirlpool and have to replace it later on when we're able to renovate the kitchen.

That, and an additional purchase of four new tires for Jim's car should help put some money back into the system. I need tires badly too, but if I don't have a job or classes, then I don't need to go out in the snow and I'll save money on the purchase, on the gas, and instead take advantage of the money I did impulsively spend on books.

Looks like I'll be huddling in a corner of the couch all winter; warm, sopping up knowledge, and stationary.

LITERATURE: The Kindle

One of the good things about twitter is that you connect with someone who can direct you to something you've been looking for.

Wayne Schulz happened to mention that he loved his Amazon Kindle and upon further tweeting, he directed me to his site where there is an indepth review of this reader. Thanks, Wayne!

REVIEWS: Prince of The Universe

When Kasandra Strid was thirteen, she started writing a story in her native German about a fantasy world and a quest. Three years ago, she self-published Prince of The Universe: Book 1 of The Shadow of the Stars in English and in reading it, I found the story to be a delightful tale with colorful, dramatic characters in an imaginative and exciting place and time.

I had the good fortune to do a quick read-through of the first few chapters of a revised edition of this book, and see the growth of the author as well as a better mastering of the English language that made the first edition just a tad troublesome.

Kas is a good storyteller, weaving the drama around a young prince and a strange boy named Kalif who mysteriously is found in the ruins of a city. There is magic, there is drama, there is wonderful imagery in this story, marketed for age levels 9-12, and I hope to see this fantasy novel republished as just the start of a series coming from the mind of a woman who seems to well understand the imaginations of young readers.

LITERATURE: Truth is Stranger Than Fiction...

A while back Dan Green at The Reading Experience posted a response on Obooki's impressions of how valuable fiction is to the store of human knowledge.

Dennis Jerz points to a Telegraph article that questions instead the value of journalistic style reporting of academic textbooks over the more focused social response to historical events.

LITERATURE: Additions

I don't dare tell you how many more books I bought from amazon.com. I do this every time; go to the library sale and then, feeling bad about how many books I didn't get from my list, turn to Amazon for solace and satisfaction. I quietly and surreptitiously moved the selections from "To Buy" to "On the Shelf" and let's leave it at that.

My once-neat bookcases, alphabetically arranged by author, are now double-booked and I'm considering moving everything around again into a different organization such as read and unread, or maybe slip the ones I've read behind a front row of unread, or some such thing.

I really need to get a job reading books.

REALITY?: New Old

Well the stove problem got fixed cheap and easy: my sister-in-law had one 10 years younger I could have for free. This eliminates the need to make the decision on a real good unit before we're ready to redo the kitchen.

       

PEOPLE: RIP Miriam Makeba

Just caught the sad news of the death of Miriam Makeba, one of my favorites years ago. I have several of her albums and fondly remember seeing her perform in person at the Oakdale Theater in Wallingford, CT with Harry Belafonte many decades ago. To this day I find myself attempting the "click" song, unfortunately, still unsuccessfully.

REALITY?: Celebrations

A good meal, cheap and deliciously varied; unlimited supply of shrimp in a dozen different ways. Raw clams and oysters, scallops, beef and pork and chicken and birthday fluff of whipped cream over carrot cake and 'Happy Birthday' sung by three Chinese waitresses because surprise guests couldn't resist.

Just one more year, that's all it means, and presents aren't the kind that come with wrapping. The friends that stand by and support and who you know you too can help are special. Yet, the last few years' of cards that no longer come are friends and family you can't help but think about.

LITERATURE: The Moons of Jupiter - The Turkey Season

A young girl, the first person narrator, goes to work at a turkey slaughter house where she hopes to overcome doubts about her capabilities. Munro then uses the character to discover the facts and faults of the workers around her via her observations. There are women who are married and bitter, a young pregnant girl, a foreman whom the narrator and others look up to and wonder about.

There are small intimacies in conversation that reveal the hopelessness of some workers against the hopeful dreams of the others as they interact within an environment that delineates a family-type work space while they share little of their more personal lives outside the turkey barn. Munro brings in some conflict via the foreman's young friend who is brash, sensual, and obnoxious and lazy. When he is finally fired, the women seem to form a new bond with each other under the spirit of the holiday season.

Munro is a master of character and there is enough in the action of the story to satisfy plot. Not great, but a good read.

LITERATURE: Next Up

Before I select my next read, I've come to admit that no, I don't really do a good job of reading several books at a time.  That said, I'm going to continue with Alice Munro's The Moons of Jupiter and I do have a read-through on a friend's fantasy fiction, Prince of The Universe that I need to focus upon.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Finale

Nice little twist at the end, something that satisfies a writer's soul. Martel brings up the notion of story, and what is fiction and what is truth as Pi retells his story briefly to a group who interviews him when he is washed up on shore and saved.

By changing the elements of his original tale to eliminate the magical realism of the animals, and an island that eats life, he is more readily believed. However, the tale is not quite so entrancing. The struggle of man against man is dramatic; the struggle of a single man against the natural enemies of beast and sea and sun is more exciting. 

Perhaps this is where Pi's religious faith comes in; the notion of choosing his god by the elements of power, strength, love, or whatever, knowing that the colorful beauty of Hinduism holds its appeal for him. We choose to believe in what can be seen many different ways, by our own needs.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Excitement! Drama!

And, spoilers; though I'm sure no one reads my reviews without realizing that I care not a whit for such things, particularly since I'm discussing rather than reviewing, and more in a non-usual manner.

But this: A man-eating island!

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Title

Too cute:

I explored the island. I tried to walk around it but gave up. I estimate that it was about six or seven miles in diameter, which means a circumference of about twenty miles. (p. 340)

Okay, pi.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Moral Questions

It is quite likely one of the least controversial of ethical questions: cannibalism. I say least controversial because most people agree that it certainly shouldn't be an accepted practice, and only if forced by threatened survival--and then, only if the eatee is already dead--would some resort to it. Pi has been faced with even this, and he, not surprisingly, succumbs.

I will confess that I caught one of his arms with the gaff and used his flesh as bait. I will further confess that, driven by the extremity of my need and the madness to which it pushed me, I ate some of his flesh. I mean, little pieces, little strips that I meant for the gaff's hook that, when dried by the sun, looked like ordinary animal flesh. They slipped into my mouth nearly unnoticed. You must understand, my suffering was unremitting and he was already dead. I stopped as soon as I caught a fish.
I pray for his soul every day. (p. 322)

How strong is the will to survive that we can overcome all beliefs--including religious--to adapt ourselves to the situation at hand? I just took a couple of tests online about ethics and moral questions focusing on making choices of sacrificing one person for the many (recalling, of course, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas). There was no scoring, no commenting on my answers, yet I was anxious to see how I would have done. My own gut feelings were based on not being willing to trade one life for several, particularly in an ambitious and purposeful manner, though I lessened my standards on those that were not clearly of my own decision but rather as a possibility. My basis for choice was that while I am being told that to not risk the life of one, I am surely allowing the others to die, I don't accept that. But then, I never aced the "assume that" questions on tests either.

One thing I find interesting is that although Pi mentions his gods or his religions, even claims at one point to pray several times a day, and even though he states that his family is never out of his mind, I find that the story conflicts with this. There is likely a purpose to Martel's playing up of the religious aspect in the beginning of the book, but I'm not quite catching it here unless it is to prove that man's own nature sets his own ethical beliefs and values, without the need for a religious influence.

REALITY?: Happy Birthday!

Joni Mitchell--one of the many who started the changes in America.

(Thank God she's older than me!)

EDUCATION: Plagiarism

This is our future? -- "Companies Trading Cash For Admissions Essay"

And UConn's Usher says he's not concerned?

HYPERTEXT: Hypertext '09

Steve Ersinghaus reminds us of the late June Hypertext '09 conference to be held in Torino, Italy. Steve will be part of the program committee and headed a workshop at the Hypertext '08 event in Pittsburgh, PA this past summer. Mark Bernstein of Eastgate Systems is once again chairing the Hypertext and Community Track.

Deadlines are fast approaching for submission of papers so check out the site for information if you are planning on submitting a proposal or attending this exciting event.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Reflection

This is nice:

At moments of wonder, it is easy to avoid small thinking, to entertain thoughts that span the universe, that capture both thunder and tinkle, thick and thin, the near and the far. (p. 295)

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Subtlety in Progression

Interesting pattern of both passage of time and changes in character:

Subsequently I went for smaller sharks, pups really, and I killed them myself. I found that stabbing them through the eyes with the knife was a faster, less tiresome way of killing them than hacking at the tops of their heads with the hatchet. (p. 279)

In describing his method of killing for food, Pi displays a distinct change from the boy who loved animals, who was in fact a vegetarian to the practical human he has become. What this does bring back to mind is a very early episode in the book where his father, needing to teach his sons that the zoo animals were basically still instinctually wild and therefore dangerous, he feeds a goat to a lion and makes the boys watch.

This would also indicate to me that Martel plans his story out a lot more carefully than it would seem to read.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Element of Time

Interesting to note here that Martel plays with the notion of time in many ways. He has brought in characters that have changed the time frame from present to past, meaning the narrator retelling Pi's story and then Pi's story as it continues. But there's a more subtle yet interesting way that time is being used.

By telling us that Pi's ordeal at sea lasted 227 days (p. 239) and reinforcing that as seven months, Martel can then mention instances out of the timeline, such as when he catches a turtle, or watches the sharks, without needing to bring in any time frame references other than what would be required to imply the presence of the tiger, and Pi's hold on the lifeboat. Though there is a natural continuation of story as the food supply runs out, or earlier, when the hyena, zebra, and orangutan were still alive, aside from that, there is only the ocean, a boat, a raft, a boy, and a tiger.

Clever, and it also serves another purpose, that of reinforcing that one day would be much the same as another at sea when one is drifting without direction. Now what's that tell us about life and time?

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Character Changes

Chapter 78 has some fine writing and some nice insight into how our character of Pi has matured in face of the situation of survival.  While the previous chapter got into some fairly gross specifics of what he has come to find palatable for both himself and Richard Parker, it also gave us a good idea of his strategy in taming the tiger so that the two could successfully share this struggle. There is no doubt that Pi's experience as the son of a zookeeper comes in handy here; his knowledge of a wild animal's needs--and for that matter, one which was born into the much different aspects of living in a zoo environment--serve him well. You or I, on the other hand, would've long ago been eaten. But what was interesting is that rather than the animal adjusting to communicate, Pi's superior intellect allows him to accept that communication is more readily achieved on the animal's level.

But here's where there's some deeper digging into the experience:

Life on a lifeboat isn't much of a life. Is is like an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn't be more simple, nor the stakes higher. Physically it is extraordinarily arduous, and morally it is killing. You must make adjustments if you want to survive. Much becomes expendable. You get your happiness where you can. You reach a point where you're at the bottom of hell, yet you have your arms crossed and a smile on your face, and you feel you're the luckiest person on earth. Why? Because at your feet you have a tiny dead fish. (p. 274)

Pi has told us that he was out at sea for I think, 272 days. He is sixteen years old. Yet he has adapted to being driven not by wants, but by needs, and is grateful and appreciative for what he surely would have scorned in his safer, earlier life. One would think that if 7 months adrift wouldn't leave one hopeless, nothing could. Yet we see this same human hope in times of war, in concentration camps, in prisons, in other times of what looks certain to be either unending strife, or death.

It is, I suppose, the human spirit. One wonders, however, to what length Richard Parker's instincts would have taken him; the same urge to survive, of course, but he has learned that he is better off not eating the last meal on board, Pi himself, as Pi has proven to be of value in providing him his needs.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Style and Pacing

While there is nothing in particular that I can call awesome in Martel's writing style, the voice and diction of the story is such that the reader does feel comfortable inside the storyworld. There were some very well put sentences, and the structure of the story builds on the adventure even as the situation remains within the conflict of boy versus sea and tiger.

One thing that surpises me is the emphasis that was put on Pi's dedication to religious knowledge, and yet how that has not come into play except for a quick prayer to one of his gods for either blessings or thanks. Pi seems to be quite a level-headed character who is very observant and has all the more realistic instincts for survival rather than relying upon his faith in higher powers. It makes me curious as to why Martel had chosen to dedicate so much space to Pi's quest for religion when he is relying upon his more empiracal knowledge of animals and natural occurrences in his ordeal.

But even as the story appears to drag a bit from the 100-plus-pages of this time adrift on the sea, the writing is well enough executed to hold interest, and the pacing is picked up by minor changes in the situation once we have gotten used to the tiger aboard the boat. Even the reader, it would seem, is more focused on the interaction of the three (boy, tiger and sea) than seeking a resolution via sighting land.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Details and Lists

Even as I wonder how a boat, a boy, and a tiger on the high seas can go on for a couple hundred pages, I see Martel filling up paragraphs with lists and details. While it is interesting enough, and does bring a certain sense of Pi's character to the story by his observations, I wonder why I find myself skipping through a bit. Lists are naturally scanned by the mind, looking for recognizable objects or words.

There may be a more likely reason, that of my own failure to link the details to a metaphorical image. Not all authors choose to bring out or clarify their symbolism, but it seems as though Martel does give us some clues:

I will tell you a secret: a part of me was glad about Richard Parker. A part of me did not want Richard Parker to die at all, because if he died I would be left alone with despair, a foe even more formidable than a tiger. If I still had the will to live, it was thanks to Richard Parker. He kept me from thinking too much about my family and my tragice circumstances. He pushed me to go on living. I hated him for it, yet at the same time I was grateful. (p. 207)

It is true that adversity and adversaries can give us a reason to to keep fighting, just as love and contentment will do.  So the tiger, Richard Parker, does serve as a force in Pi's survival, even as he threatens it. There is something else the tiger possibly represents, that being the inner fears, distrust, doubts, etc. we all face within ourselves that Pi is facing in this adventure. Up until this journey, he had a pretty stable, loving, and protected place in the world. Between India and Canada, the two grounded worlds, Pi floats on the sea of transition.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Zap the Magical Realism Aspect

For it looks like this is Pi's reality, and it's gone on a long while now and looks (okay, I skimmed ahead) like it's going to go on for most of the rest of the book: a boat, a boy, a tiger, hyena and dead zebra.

Is the fact of the reality (though I've claimed to take whatever is thrown at me as 'real' as the rest of the story) what has made me less anxious? I find myself losing interest, even as the adventure and danger remain. Is this the author's fault; has he dragged the episode on too long? Or is it mine, unwilling to be captivated by action adventure and wanting to dig back into the characters and meaning.

Then again, I may be missing the 'meaning' of the lifeboat and its inhabitants. Shall I assign them all a metaphor?

EDUCATION: Seeking

Been spending this extra hour this morning checking out schools both local and online for what I think may be a new direction: computer science.

I'm not sure I'm up to the entry level, but I think that this is something that is both interesting and practical for me to seriously consider. The creative part of me knows what it wants me to follow, but with the variables and knowns of the job market and the years ahead, I think that this is a more reasonable path to take.

Now the quest is to find the most local (if possible) and quickest program available and in what areas of technology my own little bit of knowledge and skill will slide me into.

REALITY?: Falling Back

For the first time in all my years, I intentionally waited until morning to set the clocks back. I thought it'd be more fun to see that "extra" hour reveal itself and enjoy it rather than just sleep through it.

REALITY?: Life & Living

Likely one of the hardest jobs there is, to be a good parent. To watch over yet teach to stand alone. To always make the right decision when it comes to safety yet allow for fun and experience.

In Westfield, MA, two very similar tragedies:

An eight year-old boy shoots himself accidentally at a gun club show while his father stands beside him.

A seven year-old boy and his mother are killed by a driver while out trick-or-treating.

What thought, what time went into those decisions on the part of the parents? Is an eight year-old boy strong enough and smart enough to handle an Uzi, even with a certified instructor and his dad standing by? Probably, but something went terribly wrong.  How about the mother and her son, walking the dark streets on Halloween night, both dressed in dark clothing; the driver of the car was a licensed driver, twenty years old.

Both these parents did the best they could, the shooting instructor, and the experienced driver had never encountered a problem before, and yet a moment's reflection might have saved lives.

Then there are the overwrought and the mentally ill, and the evil, who have a second chance to reflect and still do the wrong thing: Mom threw daughter into traffic.

REALITY?: Starting Over Again

Coming to realize that it's time again to pick up the machete and strike out on new paths. Looking back to see where I have been, the short trails leading off to deadending cul-de-sacs that kept me going around and around until I caught sight of where I'd entered to exit as gracefully as failure can allow.

What am I good at? What will people recognize enough to hire my services? Evidently not my mind. I'm good with 'things.' Like picture framing and crafts and fixing computers and toasters and such. For the little earning time I have ahead, I think I need to buckle down and get the skills I need and settle there. In a small place where no one knows my age and thus dismisses me as slowing down or stuck inside a better time, reluctant to try the new.

Further forays into education will take me to two places; one is for my soul and one is for survival.

REALITY?: Happy November!

Not a biggie, just the start of holidays ahead and thinking of the people we've left behind and lost somewhere to time.

And a presidential election that makes me sad.

REALITY?: Getting Kicked When You're Down

These are without a doubt the best mousetraps, but I couldn't imagine this poor mouse's experience sometime during the night in the shop. Evidently he got caught in the little one, which flew up and landed on the bigger trap I have set for voles.

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - More on Magical Realism

With every bang the animals jumped and looked alarmed, but they were not to be distracted from their main business of roaring in each other's faces. I was certain the shouting match would turn physical. Instead it broke off abruptly after a few minutes. Orange Juice, with huffs and lip-smacking noises, turned away, and the hyena lowered its head and retreated behind the zebra's butchered body. The sharks, finding nothing, stopped knocking on the boat and eventually left. Silence fell at last. (p. 159)

Well, there's plenty of adventure here, enough to please the most discerning action-seeking reader. But it's also a question of reality--even exaggerated reality--as to this episode in Pi's young life.

As I ended my last post, does it really matter? Fiction is, by definition, blatantly not real, though of course, all words, sentences, story ideas, etc. are based on some experience--even via reading--of the author. Therefore, is something fiction within fiction to be doubted?

Verisimilitude demands a certain continuity of story, meaning that something like Marquez's Remedios the Beauty (100 Years of Solitude) rising up into the sky while folding sheets with the other women shouldn't be. Shouldn't be what? If Remedios isn't real (she isn't; she's a character created by GGM), then what does it mean if she suddenly behaves unrealistically?

I came upon this question early in my literary studies with Octavio Paz's My Life With The Wave. Despite the incredulous students who snickered about a wave being real, and those who insisted it was a metaphor, I took it just as the author handed it to me: the guy had an ocean wave for a girlfriend. It got realer (!) still when she become clingy and demanding and he tried to dump her. But I never doubted that she was indeed a water being, even so far as to wonder how they had sex (c'mon, it's an interesting speculation).

How do we take our magical realism? How necessary is it that we follow some sort of pattern or form when we break that pattern? Can we not, after all, inhabit a fictional world with characters who have three eyes and yet shop at Wal-Mart?

LITERATURE: Life of Pi - Magical Realism?

I love it when fantasy is so close to the truth that it is hard to tell the difference. Pi and his family have left India for Canada when their ship sinks and Pi finds himself on a lifeboat alone with a 450-lb. Bengal Tiger named Richard Parker. And a lame zebra, a hyena, and an orangutan named Orange Juice.

But the sinking of the ship is rather oddly mystical; there is no screaming, no running around, no people except for a couple of Chinese crewman who have tossed Pi overboard onto the lifeboat.  Pi, watching the ship disappear beneath the sea, sees no other lifeboats around, yet he is certain that all the others--including his family--are safe and will be amused by his tale of riding an oar he's stuck under the tarp of the boat (he jumped out once he saw the tiger) for several days.  He does not complain of hunger or thirst, but tells the reader (or the author, Martel) about the behavior of the animals both onboard and within their natural habitats.  He believes that the tiger has abandoned ship, and his main worry is the hyena.

It could be real, but is it? Pi is about sixteen when this adventure takes place; a man when he relates the story. What is exaggeration and what is fact?

But then, this is fiction; does it matter?

REALITY?: Sharing

Just have to share this, a phone call just now from a customer not happy with her choice of frame on a particular piece and wondering if we can change it.  Of course, I say. Her reason for disappointment?

The piece is hung in the bathroom, and when you sit on the toilet ("and we know that's what people do when they sit there, they look around") all you can see is the black side of the frame, the face of which is gold. She'd like something that's gold on the sides as well.

No problem.

EDUCATION: Warning!

To all those using the web to not only research, but to go beyond and plagiarize for your academic papers: Turn It In has been hitting my site as much as you have!

Ponder the ideas you've read here, but be smart enough not to copy them word for word--at least not without proper citation and I've only had two students contact me for that in all these years.

As a writer, and as a student who attained high grades by working hard, I'm hoping that if you're a plagiarizer you get caught now; before you grow up to be a vice presidential contender.

LITERATURE: Reading and Influence

I've always pushed my belief that reading of all sorts (as long as it's a diverse list) grants a certain reinforcement of knowledge and likely shapes one's language abilities as well as one's values and perspectives.

After just having read Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, I'm surprised to come upon the title phrase twice within the last couple of days. Once, in Yann Martel's Life of Pi:

Considering that animals dispense with clothes, footwear, linen, furniture, kitchenware, toiletries; that nationality means nothing to them; that they care not a jot for passports, money, employment prospects, schools, cost of housing, healthcare facilities--considering, in short, their lightness of being, it's amazing how hard it is to move them. Moving a zoo is like moving a city. (p. 112)

And somewhere in my surfing today as a reference to Sarah Palin (I honestly can't find the link or remember which article made the statement).

What would the words "unbearable lightness of being" mean to me had I not read Kundera? It surely has clarified the statements by having read the book. Would I have just "read over" the words? Would I have assigned a meaning not quite as acute?