Happy Summer!

I thought that this looked pretty summer-y :)

Last night, I packed up my things in an assortment of boxes and bags and laundry baskets.  My dorm room was the cleanest it's ever been in the history of ever.  Seriously, that place has been scrubbed from top to bottom.  My dad and I loaded up my things into the car (one trip!  Woo!  Or at least it would have been had I not needed to come back for check-out and later to retrieve food that I had forgotten) and drove the (comparatively) short distance home.

Today, I left my house around noon to return to campus for my anthropology final (the last one of the semester).  Two hours of writing later, I am finished.  I have successfully completed my second semester of college!  So now, I'm halfway through my sophomore year (because of the credits I brought with me from high school).

I don't know what to say.

This past year has been the most emotional school year by far.  High school was never like this.  Never has balance been more critical to achieve, even partially.  I have been challenged on several fronts this past year and I've managed to survive them all this time around.

A second year is in my future, but for now, I'm going to settle just a little bit.  I have one class this summer and I'm working as an on-campus gardener!  I'm definitely going to be busy and it's going to be wonderful.

Happy Summer to you and good luck with finals if there is anyone left that fits into this category!

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'Why We Broke Up' by Daniel Handler

"This is the box, Ed.

Inside is everything.

Two bottle caps,
a movie ticket from Greta in the Wild,
a note from you,
a box of matches,
your protractor,
Joan's book,
the stolen sugar,
a toy truck,
those ugly earrings,
a comb from the motel,
and the rest of it.

This is it, Ed.

The whole story of why we broke up."

If you're familiar with Lemony Snicket, this will be a wonderful and slightly different read for you (if you didn't know, Daniel Handler and Lemony Snicket are the same person)!

This is such a beautiful book and I'm so glad that I have a copy of my own!  I loved everything about it.  The weight of the entire book, the glossy pages, the beautiful yet seemingly simplistic illustrations, the format of the story...

I'm in love with the concept of a break-up letter (hmm...).  I've never had to write one, much less break up with anyone.  It's really sad to see something like a relationship fall apart, but sometimes it is inevitable.  I can't decide if Min and Ed's relationship was destined to fail or not.  There were glimpses of both angles to this argument.  Min and Ed came from totally opposite worlds and neither seemed willing to share in the other's worlds.  Min hated attending basketball games, watching sweaty men run up and down the court.  Ed hated sitting in dark theaters for hours watching obscure foreign films.

Actually, I can't blame Min... basketball games sound awful... this coming from a person who has a hard time caring about sports of any kind.

In any case, I thought each of the characters was well-written and interacted with the other characters in interesting ways.  Min was definitely a good choice for the narrator, however, I'm wondering what this story would be like from Ed's perspective.  What would it be like for him to leave and be left by this really great girl and then have all of the things that this girl ever associated with you returned?

This book was quite an experience and I'm really glad that I have a copy of my own.

If you're looking for a love-story, a heart-breaking story, and something a bit simple, this would be a good book for you!

I give 'Why We Broke Up':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'Queer: The Ultimate LGBT Guide for Teens' by Kathy Belge and Mark Bieschke

"Teen life is hard enough with all of the pressures kids face, but for teens who are LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender), it's even harder.  When do you decide to come out?  To whom?  Will your friends accept you?  And how on earth do you meet people to date?

Queer is a humorous, engaging, and honest guide that helps LGBT teens come out to friends and family, navigate their new LGBT social life, figure out if a crush is also queer, and rise up against bigotry and homophobia.

Queer also includes personal stories from the authors and sidebars on queer history.  It's a must-read for any teen who thinks they might be queer-- or knows someone who is."

In an attempt to read more non-fiction, I came across this book, not really sure what to expect.  But it's quite great!

This book goes through just about everything.  Figuring out whether or not you're queer, what 'queer' means as far as definitions go (because it's often used as an insult, and that's not the case in this book) as well as what it means for a person to be queer, tips on coming out to friends and family, handling bigotry, getting involved with the LGBT community, advice on sexuality and dating... it's a very good starter's guide, I think.  But for teens who are discovering their gender and sexual identities, a starter's guide is most immediately needed rather than the expert's opinion in-depth.

The language in this book was simple, but I don't feel like it was simple in a demeaning, "insult to my intelligence" kind of way.  It was to-the-point.

I like that this book lays out options for those who read this book.  Of course the author's have their own viewpoint, and when it matters, they give it.  For example, when talking about sexuality, they really push safe sex, but they don't say that sex is absolutely where you need to end up.  It made being LGBT feel open to a variety of different pathways.  What I mean is that, if someone who is attracted to women just wants to get to know her and do other couple-y things, she can do just that.  Gender roles aren't defined, the couple needs to figure that out for themselves.

This struck me as a really cool thing!

If you are struggling with your sexual or gender identity, this is a great book to check out!

I give 'Queer':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

College Adventures: Thinking About the Future Again--Study Abroad

In about a year and a half, I am planning on embarking on one of the biggest challenges and adventures I think I will ever experience.  I will study abroad in the Netherlands, hopefully living in Leiden (check the map).

This trip is so far away, but I get waves of longing to be over there, even though I've never visited the country.  I don't know the language (Dutch) or really any history, but there's nothing like complete cultural and linguistic immersion!  Right?

I've been thinking about it, and this trip could potentially be a 5-6 country trip.  The tentative plan is that my family will fly across the Atlantic with me around Christmas and we'll spend some time in France, visiting our family friends, the Dhermands, and if possible, the other girl we hosted, Clementine.  Maybe even the family who hosted me a little over a year ago, though this may be a little bit of a challenge.  I haven't really spoken French with anyone since that time (I've been trying to write letters in order to keep up my French language skills).  French club will be a must next year!  It has to be.  Besides the fact that I haven't spoken French in a while, my sister is proficient in Spanish, my mom knows a handful of words and phrases, and my dad... I think he took German in high school.  The family who hosted me knows bits and pieces of English, though my host sister was excellent at consoling my homesickness in English, which I greatly appreciated.

My mom was talking about visiting England and/or Ireland, but I haven't heard anything more about this plan.  So who knows!

My boyfriend, as a reward for graduating high school will be visiting Germany for a week (?) three years after his graduation.  He would have traveled there last summer, but once he found that I was planning on studying abroad, he wanted to be able to see me before he wouldn't see me for three or four months.  So while he's spending time in Germany, I'll come and visit him.

After spending time with my family and my boyfriend, I will truly be on my own until I make friends at my college in the Netherlands.  The college that I'm looking to apply to for a semester is for international students (it's really strange thinking of myself as an international student, because I've never really been one of those before).

If all goes well during the application process, I will be living in Leiden.  My understanding is that it's a University town, which could be fun!  It's much smaller than the city I'm used to living in.  Any way, while I'm here, I'll have a two week Dutch language learning intensive course and then school will start (I might keep up Dutch for the semester... it sounds really neat!  A cross between English and German.  It's actually sounds kind of cute).

Because we're a school of international students, it's rumored on the website that there's usually a three day excursion to Belgium, so I'll probably be headed there, which will be great!

I still have a spring break while I'm there, so during that time, I really want to make the journey to Poland so that I can visit Warsaw, Krakow, and see Auschwitz with my own eyes.

I've got a lot of saving to do and tons of extra planning, but I think it will be so worth it!  I am very excited!

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'Yes, Chef: A Memoir' by Marcus Samuelsson

"It begins with a simple ritual: every Saturday afternoon, a boy who loves to cook walks to his grandmother's house and helps her prepare a roast chicken for dinner.  The grandmother is Swedish, a retired domestic.  The boy is Ethiopian and adopted, and he will grow up to become the world-renowned chef Marcus Samuelsson.  This book is his love letter to food and family in all its manifestations.  

Marcus Samuelsson was only three years old when he, his mother, and his sister-- all battling tuberculosis-- walked seventy-five miles to a hospital in the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa.  Tragically, his mother succumbed to the disease shortly after she arrived, but Marcus and his sister recovered, and one year later they were welcomed into a loving middle-class white family in Göteborg, Sweden.  It was there at MArcus's new grandmother, Helga, sparked in him a lifelong passion for food and cooking with her pan-fried herring, her freshly baked bread, and her signature roast chicken.  From a very early age, there was little question what Marcus was going to be when he grew up.

Yes, Chef chronicles Marcus Samuelsson's remarkable journey from Helga's humble kitchen to some of the most demanding and cutthroat restaurants in Switzerland and France, from his grueling stints on cruise ships to his arrival in New York City, where his outsize talent and ambition finally come together at Aquavit, earning him a coveted New York Times three-star rating at the age of twenty-four.  But Samuelsson's career of 'chasing flavors,' as he calls it, had only just begun-- in the intervening years, there have been White House state dinners, career crises, reality show triumphs and, most important, the opening of the beloved Red Rooster in Harlem.  At Red Rooster, Samuelsson has fulfilled his dream of creating a truly diverse, multiracial dining room-- a place where presidents and prime ministers rub elbows with jazz musicians, aspiring artists, bus drivers, and nurses.  It is a place where an orphan from Ethiopia, raised in Sweden, living in America, can feel at home.

With disarming honesty and intimacy, Samuelsson also opens up about his failures-- the price of ambition, in human terms-- and recounts his emotional journey, as a grown man, to meet the father he never knew.  Yes, Chef is a tale of personal discovery, unshakable determination, and the passionate, playful pursuit of flavors-- one man's struggle to find a place for himself in the kitchen, and in the world."

This is the first book in a while that I have read excitedly.  Being in a reading slump is no fun, but this brought me back to the wonders of reading for fun (you might notice that a lot of the books I've been reviewing lately are books that have been assigned for school).

Right away, this book delves into Marcus' childhood.  I loved reading about his interactions with his grandmother, his mormor.  I loved seeing Swedish sprinkled throughout the pages, especially since it's a language that is so unfamiliar to me.  In my head, I'm butchering the words, but on paper, they look lovely.

I loved how fearless of a writer Samuelsson is.  He addresses topics like race, classism, sexism, and segregation without batting an eyelash.  He also addresses Africa as a continent, which is quite an undertaking, mainly because it is seen as a lost cause or a waste of time to think about.  He sheds light on things like poverty, the stark contrasts within the different countries themselves, but also what rich cultures each country (in this case, Ethiopia) has.  I also love that Samuelsson tries to bridge the past and the present between these two covers.

It sounds like such a hefty read, looking at the paragraph above, but Samuelsson is such an articulate person that it reads quite easily.  You might be uncomfortable at times because of the difficult conversations he tries to instigate, but don't let that stop you.

One thing that bothered me about this book was how alone Marcus seemed (this isn't to say that he was lonely-- I didn't quite pick up on that vibe).  About halfway through the book, I was really happy that I've decided to go into teaching as opposed to the culinary arts.  Cooking is a hobby of mine and I love it, but I could never do what Marcus did.  He doesn't get a lot of sleep, he spends long shifts at the restaurant, works his butt off trying to make as few mistakes as possible.  He's under so much pressure all the time.  I don't understand how he doesn't develop an ulcer.  He talks about the people he grew up with and who he worked alongside as he developed professionally, but just about everything that happened for Marcus was because of the things that he did.  He decided to learn and reflect as opposed to going out for a drink every once in a while with the others from the kitchen.  He decided to live away from his biological daughter in Austria.  He depended upon himself in the kitchen and worked others just as hard as he worked himself.

I can't help but admire Marcus Samuelsson, but I also can't help but feel empty for him because he didn't have these things as many others in the world do (in some way, shape, or form).

If you're looking for a great memoir to read or are looking for a reading revival, definitely give this book a shot!

I give 'Yes, Chef':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'Watchmen' by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons

"This Hugo Award-winning graphic novel chronicles the fall from grace of a group of super-heroes plagued by all-too-human failings.  Along the way, the concept of the super-hero is dissected as the heroes are stalked by an unknown assassin.

One of the most influential graphic novels of all time and a perennial bestseller, WATCHMEN has been studied on college campuses across the nation and is considered a gateway title, leading readers to other graphic novels such as 'V for Vendetta,' 'Batman: The Dark Knight Returns' and 'The Sandman' series."

Spring Break has been a good week for finishing books!

But I am angry with this book (graphic novel) and I'll tell you why:  Philosophical questions are hard.  Especially when they're about humanity and even more so when you're apart of humanity.

Don't get me wrong, this was a very well-written, visually interesting, and thought-provoking graphic novel.  It's well-worth the read, though if this is your first graphic novel, it might be hard to cope with.  But it's worth working up to!  When I say that I'm angry with it, that just shows how engaged I was with the end.  I know that I need to read it again because I missed so much.  I need to read it in a shorter span of time as well.

Here is the question that really bothered me and one that I hope we never have to make a decision on: Is it better to lose millions of lives to save billions or to take chances on humanity in the event that nuclear war could occur?  I had so much trouble with this question because no matter what you do, there are a lot of people at risk.  And that's a scary thought.  I was mad when one person decided to make this decision alone.  This one person had a plan and it ultimately worked, but I am (still) upset that he took humanity into his own hands.  What right does he have?  He should NOT have that much power!

I would have been vaporized by Dr. Manhattan.

The ending was difficult for me because I believe in humanity more than I probably should.  I know that there is evil present in this world (it's ubiquitous in the news across time), but I still can't help but feel that people are ultimately benevolent (you remember that I am in love with Henry David Thoreau).  So to make the decision to kill off millions of people when I believe that they are ultimately capable of working through this huge problem and fear just makes me livid.

Aside from the anger I feel towards the ending, the visuals were great.  I love how there were many subplots going on and more most if not all of those subplots, it was pretty easy to see how they connected to the main plot.  It was really cool-- my inner fan girl was convulsing with joy.

This is a great read if you're in the mood to grapple something difficult, if you'd like to read one of the most renowned graphic novels of all time, and if you're ready to engage your friends in philosophical discussion afterwards.

I give 'Watchmen':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'Man's Search for Meaning' by Viktor Frankl

"'Man's Search for Meaning' has riveted generations of readers with its descriptions of life in Nazi death camps and its lessons for spiritual survival.  Between 1942 and 1945 psychiatrist Viktor Frankl labored in four different camps, including Auschwitz, while his parents, brother, and pregnant wife perished.  Based on his own experience and the stories of many of his patients, Frankl argues that we cannot avoid suffering but we can choose how to cope with it, find meaning in it, and move forward with renewed purpose.  Frankl's theory-- known as logotherapy, from the Greek word 'logos' ('meaning')-- holds that our primary drive in life is not pleasure, as Freud maintained, but the discovery and pursuit of what we personally find meaningful.  In the decades since its first publication, 'Man's Search for Meaning' has become one of the most influential books in America; it continues to inspire us all to find significance in the very act of living."

On the back cover, this is labeled as a book about psychology, which is true, but I've been using it as a philosophy text book!  When I started this book, we were discussing suffering-- what it is, what it means, etc.  The Holocaust, as we all probably know, was full of suffering, which makes this, paired with Night by Elie Wiesel, a great combination for a dynamic discussion.

This was a unique book about the Holocaust because it felt so... positive, I guess, is the closest word I can find, though it's not quite right.  In 'Night,' the main focus is suffering and how awful it was to 'live' in the camps and how much of a struggle it was just to live.  But while reading Viktor Frankl, I was surprised by the number of good things he could bring out of this tragedy despite all of the horrible things that happened to him and to his family.  The camps were completely unsanitary, gray, deathly, and horrible, but when he and the other inmates could see a sunset, it was a very big deal, because it was a beautiful thing that the Kapos could not take away from them.  Frankl also had some control over his life path.  When he was given opportunities by the Kapos, he was free to take them or leave them.  They were difficult decisions to make though, because no matter what he chose, there was no guarantee that he was going to live to see his next opportunity and make his next choice.

I try not to get too excited about the books I read for class, just because they can be so dry and I'm probably not even supposed to like what I'm reading.  But I love that my professor chose this book for us because she really wants us to be engaged with what we're talking about.  This is such an engaging read.  What's nice is that if you're not terribly interested in psychology, this book can still work for you.  Like I said, this was one of my philosophy text books.  This is a very multi-purposed book.

If you're looking for a unique outlook on the events of the Holocaust, definitely give this book a try!

I give 'Man's Search for Meaning':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Reading Is...

I am currently in a video production class and this is one of the things that I've created this semester.  I'm quite proud of it!
Have a lovely day!
--Jude

A Review of 'Hourglass' by Myra McEntire

"One hour to rewrite the past...

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn't there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant.  Plagued by phantoms since her parents' death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal.  She's tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson's willing to try one last cure.  But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may also change her past.

Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says?  Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he's around?  And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?"

I've finally finished this one!  I've been working through it for months, but it's finally done!

I'm not sure how to feel about this book.  As per usual, we'll start with things I didn't like and work into the things that I thought worked quite well for this book.

What bothered me the most about this book was Emerson.  It's terrible, I mean, she's the main character!  What I didn't like about this character is that right away, she was a tough character, but then a few pages afterwards, it felt like she was a forced version of sensitive.  I say forced because the author was doing more telling than showing.  That is, Emerson was saying things that were horribly painful to read like, "That's not me, I'm not really like that."  That's not a direct quote, by the way.  I think I understand the effect that McEntire was going for, but it was really aggravating that I wasn't allowed to draw my own conclusions about Emerson.

Another thing I didn't like was the cliches.  Maybe they weren't really cliches, but they certainly felt like it.  This was mainly a problem towards the end of the book and it really started to grate on me because it just made the book drag out more.  Plus, it just made things cheesier and it was hard to take the story seriously.

Another thing that I didn't like was that it didn't feel like the author gave her audience enough clues to figure out what might happen in the story.  That really bothered me because you'd think one thing was going on and then, without warning, things would really turn out to be another way.

What I did like though was the overall plot.  I think the story has a lot of potential.  There's time travel, there's a bad guy (who could appear to be much more evil, in my opinion), it's complicated because there are so many layers to it.

Another thing that I liked was the amount of detail that was included.  This is a pretty average-sized young adult novel, but the details were rich.  I especially appreciated the ending where Emerson was experiencing "unexperienced" (that's complicated to explain without giving everything away) memories and to read about the taste of blood in her mouth as the bus wrapped itself around a tree... they're gruesome and horrifying details, but they were good and they really fit.

Overall, this was an okay read.  I wish that McEntire would give her readers a little more credit, but she has a generally interesting story to tell.  I might have to give the sequel a shot.  Overall, I give 'Hourglass':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Midterms Week

As I'm typing this, I'm laying in bed watching (listening) to a documentary called "A Kalahari Family" because I need to watch it for my anthropology class.  It's very interesting, but I really wish that I was watching this because I want to and not because I have to.  I also wish that I wasn't so tired... I don't know what has been different about this week compared to the last midterm/finals weeks that I went through.  I don't remember being very tired the first time.  Maybe because I have months of college under my belt this time and it's finally beginning to weigh in on me.  Maybe because I've been going and going and going almost non-stop this year.

This school year I sort of hit the ground running.  The first week of college was busy and absolutely packed, filled with different activities to get to know the people who were in my orientation group and also to get to the know my campus and the surrounding neighborhood.  Once classes started, there were things to go to every day of the week and work to do afterwards.  Weekends were filled with work and socializing.  I was constantly looking for jobs, and when I finally found one, my busy-ness sky-rocketed.  I had little to no time for myself, so I decided a few months later that I needed to get out of that job and just slow down.  During the month of January, I volunteered in a fifth grade classroom and really got to know the kids there and I felt helpful.  It was wonderful.  Once February started, so did my classes and the work returned, though I think it's a little more manageable for me.  I only have class two full days a week plus one class in the morning on Fridays and that's it.  I'm still volunteering during the week and I no longer have to truly scramble to get my work done.  I'm able to get plenty of sleep.  I love the set up that I have.

I'm ready for spring break.  I need that week to slow down even more.  I might look busy during that week, but I'll be doing things that I want to do.  I'll be reading, I'll be making birthday presents for a few friends, I'll be visiting friends and family... I'll be sleeping in as much as I possibly can.  I'll be looking for summer jobs.

I'm studying for those tests right now, some classes more than others, but I really can't wait to stop and breathe out, even if that time only lasts a week.

A Review of 'Pictures of Hollis Woods' by Patricia Reilly Giff

"Hollis Woods
is the place where a baby was abandoned
is the baby's name
is an artist
is now a twelve-year-old girl
who's been in so many foster homes she can hardly remember them all.  Hollis Woods is a mountain of trouble.  She runs away even from the Regans, the one family who offers her a home.

When Hollis is sent to Josie, an elderly artist who is quirky and affectionate, she wants to stay.  But Josie is growing more forgetful every day.  If Social Services finds out, they'll take Hollis away and move Josie into a home.  Well, Hollis Woods won't let anyone separate them.  She's escaped the system before; this time, she's taking Josie with her.

Still, even as she plans her future with Josie, Hollis dreams of the past summer with the Regans, fixing each special moment of her days with them in pictures she'll never forget.

Patricia Reilly Giff captures the yearning for a place to belong in this warmhearted story, which stresses the importance of artistic vision, creativity, and above all, family."

This is another book that I read for my YA Lit class.  I'm sad that it is coming to a close very soon...

It's a very quick read.  I finished it in 2-3 days without losing sleep over trying to finish it (day three consisted of over a hundred of those pages read).  Patricia Reilly Giff has a very easy-to-read writing style and I think that that really helped the story move along.

What was really frustrating for me was the fact that certain things weren't explained or shown in the book, or at least it felt that way.  For example, the author keeps saying that Hollis is mean and that no one likes her, but she gives us no evidence to support this.  It's beyond me why no one likes Hollis.  Sure, she's snotty sometimes, but what twelve-year-old isn't?  It is beyond me why she has no friends.  It frustrates me when authors think that just because they say something is so in their story that it is so.  In a way, that's true, but then you have to convince your readers that what you're saying is truth.

I also hate it when Hollis keeps saying that the accident is her fault.  I don't think that this is her fault and I don't think this is Steven's fault.  Sure, Hollis probably shouldn't have been on top of the mountain and Steven shouldn't have been driving at age twelve or thirteen, but in the end, neither of the two had any intention of this accident happening.  No one pushed the car over the side of the mountain.  I'm struggling to place blame on either of these characters because I'm not convinced that either are completely responsible.

Maybe these are things that I wouldn't think about or wasn't supposed to think about in middle school... (this is a middle school-level read).

Luckily, there are some redeeming features that made this book less annoying.

For example, the Regan family.  They were so loving and forgiving of Hollis.  We know that from the beginning of the book all Hollis really desires is a family.  And the Regans are just perfect for her.

Overall, this book is definitely meant for a younger audience, so if you're in middle school or are simply looking for a book with a happy ending, this would be a good read for you.

I give 'Pictures of Hollis Woods':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

Living Life Like Henry David Thoreau

I'm taking a philosophy class this semester and it has been one of the greatest experiences I've ever had.  It's so interesting!  No matter how warm that classroom has gotten (and it's gotten pretty warm in there), I have never felt the urge to take a nap!

For the past 2-3 weeks we've been talking about Henry David Thoreau (we've since moved on to Tolstoy).  I'm writing a paper on him right now (I'm taking a break from that paper to continue writing about him here, I guess.  Interesting distraction method, Jude!) where I'm being asked to explain what his version of a philosopher looks like.  It looks a lot like Socrates' version of a philosopher, but it has been modernized (relatively).  But that's not what I wanted to tell you about.  I want to talk to you about the wee crush I have on him.

As we read a few chapters of his book Walden, we've been learning that he believes we aren't nearly present enough in our lives.  Sure, we're physically present, but how often are we truly aware that we are alive?  In class, we talked about moments when we truly knew that we were alive.  I could think of two moments right away.

I have this vague memory of when I was between the ages of six and eight when I stopped, looked around the room, and realized that everything was real and that I was alive-- a living, breathing, human being.  If I remember correctly, up until that point I thought it was just one long movie.

The second memory is in the more recent past.  It was when I was standing on top of the Eiffel Tower about a year ago and I was looking out over Paris, having just walked up as much of the Eiffel Tower that we could (which is two levels, and then if you want to get to the very top, you need to take an elevator).  Even though it was a little bit foggy, the sun was still a burst of light through the clouds and I could look down and see herds of Parisians and tourists, just mere ants below my feet.  That's when I had that moment of clarity: I am here.  I am in France, on top of the Eiffel Tower, hundreds of miles away from home.  I am on the cusp of starting the next chapter in my life and I can't think of a better way to ring it in.  I am truly alive!

It sounds so cliche, but I feel like this information was presented to me in such a way that it wasn't.  It was just about the coolest thing I've ever learned in a classroom setting.  I felt like I was falling in love again.

I want to live my life more like Thoreau.  That's the point I wanted to make with this post.

So now, I'm eager to read more Thoreau and keep delving into philosophy (I have to take either one theology class and two philosophy classes or two theology classes and one philosophy class as my core requirement for school, so I think I will take another philosophy class... but I'll save it for study abroad!).  I'm  considering doing a philosophy minor, just because it's so darn interesting.  And I have two "useful" majors, so ha!

Any way... Thanks for Reading!

--Jude

A Review of 'American Born Chinese' by Gene Luen Yang

"Three very different characters.

One simple goal:

To fit in.

Jin Wang starts at a new school where he's the only Chinese-American student.  When a boy from Taiwan joins his class, Jin doesn't want to be associated with an FOB (Fresh Off the Boat) like him.  Jin just wants to be an all-American boy, because he's in love with an all-American girl.  Danny is an all-American boy: great at basketball, popular with the girls.  But his obnoxious Chinese cousin Chin-Kee's annual visit is such a disaster that it ruins Danny's reputation at school, leaving him with no choice but to transfer somewhere he can start all over again.  The Monkey King has lived for thousands of years and mastered the arts of kung fu and the heavenly disciplines.  He's ready to join the ranks of the immortal gods in heaven.  But there's no place in heaven for a monkey.  Each of these characters cannot help himself alone, but how can they possibly help each other?  They're going to have to find a way-- if they want to fix the disasters their lives have become."

I haven't been terribly interested in graphic novels in the past, but lately, they've been super cool and I've wanted to read more of them.  I'm currently in the middle of Watchmen by Alan Moore, but that'll be a review for another time.  I just finished this book, which was another book for my YA Lit class.  May I just say, I love how much of a variety of reads we've been assigned!

I had heard of this book prior to this class, but I think I blew it off because it was a graphic novel.  I would not recommend that you do that.  It's really a great read!  It's uses a different kind of brain power than it does to read your average novel, since you have to take in both words and pictures simultaneously.

I really liked that there were three distinct story lines and I like that they were each told in a different way.  One plot line revolved around Chin-Kee, a very obnoxious cousin of the character named Danny.  Another revolved around the Monkey King, who masters all forms of Kung Fu and believes that he is better than the creator.  The last plot centers on Gin, who tries to find his place in both Chinese and American culture.  All of these plots come together by the end of the book and it makes for a really cool ending!

There is very little that I didn't like about this book.  I didn't like Chin-Kee, for example, but you're not supposed to like him.  Not really...

Overall, I thought the book was creative, well-written, and well-choreographed (if books can be choreographed).

I give 'American Born Chinese':

Thanks for Reading!

--Jude