A Reflection on Impactful Books

So the internet is all aflutter with responses to this article about "dark" literature for teens. I heard about this from Maybe Genius, and while her response is short she shares a few links to a couple pieces that pick at the original text in more detail. I don't plan on delving into the issues with the original piece; this is more a story about me. So if it interests you, I suggest reading the original and a few responses if you haven't already.

If you just want the gist of it, basically this woman, Megan Cox Gurdon, wrote a piece for the WSJ complaining that books for teens these days deal too much with rape, abuse, self-mutilation and whatever other thing she deems inappropriate. She argues that it "normalizes" these things. She attacks some specific books as well as the publishing industry and the ALA. I couldn't even read the whole thing the first time I tried because I was too disgusted with what she had to say. But I finally read it all the way through, and she ends with, "No family is obliged to acquiesce when publishers use the vehicle of fundamental free-expression principles to try to bulldoze coarseness or misery into their children's lives." So it seems she wants to shelter teens from reading about sad and terrible events and situations, even though we can't shelter teens, or anyone, from experiencing sad and terrible events and situations.

Many have responded to explain that this literature actually helps teens get through these issues. And that is so true. Really, I can't fathom how she feels justified in complaining about this. The fact is (and I'm sure someone out there in the blogosphere or twitterverse has expressed this already) if she doesn't approve, that's between her and her kid (who I'm sure is very normal and well adjusted and happy ALL THE TIME, like most teenagers). Why does she want to limit what others can access because of her opinion? The woman just sounds very anti-knowledge to me.

Anyway, the point of this whole summary (because I haven't added anything to this discussion) is to provide background for a personal anecdote. I started thinking about books that cover "dark" topics and also about the fact that my mom never restricted what I read. And then I recalled there was one book that my mom didn't like me reading but let me finish anyway. The book is Alicia: My Story and it is an autobiography written by a Holocaust survivor.

Now, I'm guessing that Mrs. Gurdon wouldn't oppose the reading of this book by a thirteen year old girl. It doesn't cover any of the topics that seem to rile her, and there's the historical element, so surely she wouldn't be bothered. But my mother was bothered, because I would stay up late reading it (I stayed up late reading a lot back then) and would end up bawling constantly. My mom hated seeing me this upset by something. During certain parts of the books, I would just break down shaking and sobbing. I'd cry out loud. I'd curse the world for making anyone suffer as the Jewish people had. I'd already read The Diary of Anne Frank but had only cried at the end. This story had me weeping the whole way through, as Alicia Appleman-Jurman loses family member after family member, lives in a ghetto, escapes from a train crammed with people heading to certain death, goes into hiding, nearly ends up in a mass grave, and lives through many more horrors. Those are just the bits I can still remember, nearly 15 years after reading the book, once.

This book forced "coarseness" and "misery" into my life, more than any other book I read as a teen, although I did read some featuring rape and abuse. It had a profound and lasting effect on me, making the things I learned in history classes real and terrible. I felt disappointed in humanity a bit (it wouldn't be the last time). But it was so important that I read this. Not because it helped me through something, like many young adult books can, but because it taught me something about the human condition, which is what books do at their best. And those books attacked by Gurdon, don't they provide the same service?

Kem: Ice Cream in Vietnam

At Công Trường

So I haven't posted about it much, but the fact is I am an ice cream monster. Matt likes to joke about my "ice cream stomach," which is how I find room for ice cream even though I am otherwise full (the best part of being a grown up is that I don't have to finish my dinner to get dessert!). Naturally, before going to Vietnam I did a little research on ice cream and sweets. Most of what I read suggested that the Vietnamese don't really do dessert the way we do here, or that they usually have fruit for dessert. That may be true, but it was not hard to find sweets there. I learned to spot kem, the Vietnamese word for ice cream, very quickly.

In Hanoi, we went to Kem Tràng Tiền, which we read described as a "motorbike drive-in." I can honestly think of no better way to describe it.

Teenagers dig this joint, based on what we saw. Many of them seemed to be on dates. It was really quite cute. They apparently do sell cones, but they were out. We tried their popsicles instead, and honestly, I found the flavor to be just okay and the texture to be grainy and completely disappointing. At least the atmosphere was good.

Kem NZ was a place I read about quite a bit before our trip. As near as I can tell, it's a New Zealand chain, so I wasn't planning on trying it because it wasn't actually Vietnamese. However, our hotel in Hue had a Kem NZ at the hotel, so we had some. I tried the sticky rice flavor, which was interesting. I don't remember what Matt had, but I remember his dad had the durian flavor so I tried a bite and learned that WOW, durian is not for me (his dad loved it though; durian is nothing if not polarizing). Overall though, the ice cream was pretty good, with an atmosphere more like what I would expect to see in the States (bright colors, trendy design).

Note the sign is even in English

On our second night in Hue we had some really good sorbet at the restaurant where we had dinner. Unfortunately I don't remember the name of the place but the "lemon" sorbet was wonderfully refreshing with an intense flavor. Notably, everywhere we went in Vietnam limes were referred to as lemons. I don't remember if we ever saw what I would call a lemon there. So it was really lime sorbet. I need to try to make lime sorbet sometime, because I do love it.

In Ho Chi Minh City, it was hot so Matt and I shared a scoop from a street vendor selling cones from the back of his bicycle. As with many of our street food experiences, we just held up a finger (as we were just getting one) and took whatever they guy gave us. It appeared to be chocolate, which I tried to stay away from, because I'm sorry but Vietnam just doesn't seem to have quality chocolate. When I tasted it, I was glad we only ordered one cone because it was chocolate with durian swirl. Fortunately, Matt likes durian.

Moments before discovering the flavor.

The best ice cream we had though, and my favorite eating experience in all of Vietnam, was at Công Trường. In researching places to eat, I discovered the Gastronomer, who has a food blog that was incredibly useful for our trip. Based on her reviews of San Diego restaurants, I felt pretty confident she was a reliable source so we took her advice on a few dishes and places. One such place was Công Trường. I found nothing about it anywhere else, but after reading her review I made Matt hunt it down with me. It was not near our hotel but we walked to find it. We ordered the kem dua, which was recommended by the Gastronomer. It's coconut ice cream, served in a coconut, with the juice on the side, and with bits of fruit and nuts on top. It is amazing.

The consistency of the ice cream itself was wonderfully smooth; the addition of the nuts and dried fruit and the fresh coconut from the bowl adds a textural element that complements the ice cream perfectly. The flavor was intense and sweet. The whole experience was made better by the hot weather, which made the ice cream doubly refreshing. I recommend checking out the Gastronomer's post for a better description, as she puts the experience into words very well.

Flushed from walking in the heat but happy.

Put Your Money Where Your Pink Is

Awareness is important, but so is action. A friend is participating in the Komen San Antonio Race for the Cure this year, and her goal is to raise $2,500 for breast cancer research as well as for nonprofits that provide screenings, treatment and education. If you'd like to help her reach that goal, check out her blog or her team page.

Banned Books Week

Confession: I have actually never read Ulysses. Yes, I am a poser.

So, I recently (like, five minutes ago) discovered that this week is Banned Books Week! This is even more exciting than National Punctuation Day, which I missed celebrating on Friday. It is pretty astounding that people still try to get books banned. Books are an incredible source of knowledge, and I particularly love the way fiction can reveal so much about what it means to be human, in all its beautiful, terrible complexity. And the real shame is that the books that reveal the most are the ones that are the most honest, which also seems to land them on the banned and challenged book lists.

I try to understand that people who want to ban books are, in a twisted way, doing it because they care about children and young adults, but the whole idea is just disgusting and misguided, and sometimes even discriminatory. In general, the idea of restricting knowledge really gets my panties in a bunch, if you'll forgive the antiquated phrase. And when this happens, then I become somewhat irrational and unable to form coherent sentences. So I won't go on about it too much. Instead, I will focus on the positive, the freedom to read!

The American Library Association has compiled this list of the most challenged titles of 2009. While I am familiar with nearly all of the titles on the list, I haven't actually read a single one (no, not even Catcher in the Rye or The Color Purple, and not even Twilight). So this week, I am going to acknowledge Banned Books Week by going to the library and checking out one of the books on the list.

If the issue interests you, I recommend you do the same, or do one of the following:

• Check out BBW website for a list of events that may be happening in your area.
• If the books on the 2009 list don't tickle your fancy, here is another ALA list of banned/challenged books that also appear on somebody somewhere's list of the top 100 books of the 20th century. Of these, I can personally recommend The Great Gatsby, 1984, Of Mice and Men, Brave New World, Slaughterhouse Five, and Go Tell it on the Mountain, although I really need to get around to reading the others on that list as well.
• Pop over to maybe genius and read what she has to say about attempts to get the novel Speak banned.
• Read (or re-read) Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, which not only appears on the ALA's list of the top ten challenged books of 2008 (the first book is also on the 2007 list) but also features themes about knowledge and how it's accessibility is directly related to freedom. Also, the series happens to be a personal favorite of mine.
• Get a more global perspective through this list of books banned by governments according to wikipedia.
• Explore this totally sweet map featured on the BBW website:

View Book Bans and Challenges, 2007-2010 in a larger map

But most of all, celebrate your freedom to read!

Thank you . . .

Rachel

This is what friendship looks like, people.

Welcome to the second installment of my thank you series, in which I thank the people around me for increasing my life's awesomeness. This entry is dedicated to my dear friend Rachel. We started as coworkers at our university's on campus convenience store, where I "trained" her by pointing at the cash register and standing next to her while she used it on actual customers (there really was no better way at that job, it's not like we had a "practice" cash register we could use). After meeting, we bonded over our love for books, Buffy, and Batman, but our friendship has lasted because of her character. She's compassionate, intelligent, and she doesn't let gender roles define her as a person. Besides being an all around fun and reliable friend, I'd also like to thank Rachel for the following:

• Inspiring me to start a blog. Rachel's blog, Delete the Adjectives, is great. Her posts are thoughtful and honest. She also writes about herself as well as bringing attention to issues that matter to her, such as gay rights and animal welfare. For Blogathon 2009 she raised money for Best Friends Animal Society, which is a non-profit with a huge no-kill sanctuary for animals. It's a pretty special organization and given that Rachel loves dogs and would probably adopt every homeless dog she saw if she could, it was natural that she'd champion their cause.
• Not making me wear a heinous, $300 bridesmaid dress. 'Nuff said.
• Lengthy, winding conversations, in which we can chat about pretty much any topic. In fact, our guys deserve some thanks on this too, because we ladies tend monopolize the discussion when we all hang out.
• Playing video games with me even though I am terrible and can never win a racing game or play Guitar Hero without getting booed off stage.
• Introducing me to the kitty-cat dance, which produces a guaranteed smile even on the lousiest of days:

Three Things

Alli from Reasons to Smile tagged me in her My 3 Things post. The idea is to share three things about yourself under each of several categories, then "tag" three more people, in keeping with the theme of threes. It's a fun idea, but sadly, many of my readers are not bloggers, and some that do only blog on certain themes. So, I'm only going to tag ONE person, Rachel at Delete the Adjectives. And here are my three--er, twenty-seven things:

3 names I go by:

1. Michael
2. Misty (this is an old family nickname).
3. Gladys Pantsaroff.

3 places I have been:

1. Rocky Mountain National Park, CO
2. Seattle, WA
3. Baja California, Mexico

3 favorite drinks:

1. Arnold Palmer
2. Leinenkugel's Sunset Wheat
3. Milk

3 jobs I have had:

1. Cashier at SDSU's campus convenience store.
2. Cashier/bookseller at Borders Books.
3. Claims representative at an insurance company.

3 TV shows I watch:

1. The Office
2. House (only in reruns)
3. The Daily Show (if I stay up late enough)

3 places I would like to visit:

1. France, to see Winged Victory at the Louvre.
2. Scotland, because it has produced Travis, Irvine Welsh, and Shirley Manson.
3. Italy, for food and art.

3 places I have lived:

1. Riverside, CA
2. San Diego, CA
3. La Mesa, CA (practically San Diego)

3 favorite dishes:

1. Ice cream.
2. Soup, pretty much any kind.
3. Flan.

3 things I am looking forward to:

1. My trip to Pennsylvania in August.
2. Summer hours at the zoo (starting this Saturday!).
3. Taking more hikes.

Traveling

I'm in Washington state! Specifically, I'm staying with a dear friend in Tumwater, which is near Olympia, the capital. We wrote a post together on her blog, Vinegar upon Nitre. It features some awesome music videos. Check it out!

Library Fashion

You know how sometimes when your attention is called to something you start noticing references to that something everywhere? Like someone tells you about a band and then you notice it featured on NPR or something? Well, I recently started following The Indie Handmade Show and stumbled upon an older entry featuring a polyvore look called "I love my books."  This was interesting for two reasons.

First, Matt recently told me about polyvore, which is an art/fashion site where you use images to create different looks. I toyed around with it for a bit when he mentioned it to me a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn't immediately captivated by it.

Secondly, back in February a friend posted a facebook link to Archival Allure, a fashion blog of sorts that features style for "information professionals." My own wardrobe contains nearly no vintage items (I have a few scarves and gloves that were my grandmother's), but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the occasional cardigan or cameo. In my opinion, the creators of Archival Allure are incredibly classy and hip, so I've found it a fun site to peruse.

So you see, when I saw the the polyvore book look, it was one of those weird things and it inspired me. So here's my own library look, probably a little cliché with the pencil skirt and Victorian top, but at least it's not all grey (which was the complaint of the friend that linked me to Archival Allure).

library look by Miss Michael featuring Manoush tops