Memorial Day Weekend

I’ve been meaning to write about our weekend at Jessica and Seth’s but just have not been in much of a blogging mood this week.  We left Richmond on Saturday morning and headed out to Huddleston (which is outside of Bedford, which is outside of Lynchburg).  Jes and Seth live in a house on a hill, surrounded by farmland.  Every Memorial Day for the past three years, they have hosted a cookout and invited all their local friends and neighbors (Tim and I are usually the only out-of-town guests).

Upon arrival, we drank some beer, ate some snacks, caught up on news and gossip, and sat around the house.  Erica, Jessica’s sister, and her fiance, Bradley, came over in the evening, and we all ate Seth’s world-famous baked spaghetti (now with fake chicken!) for dinner, out on the side porch.  Brinker, the dog, provided the evening’s entertainment, by regurgitating the fawn that he had eaten (well, we suspect it was a fawn).  Jessica had to investigate the remains, which created more hilarity (and grossness) for everyone else.  After more drinking and talking, we headed to bed.

Sunday was a busy day, getting ready for the party.  Jes and Seth decided to serve pulled barbecue this year instead of actually cooking out.  They started cooking it on Saturday night in slow-cookers, and the meat turned out quite tasty and tender.  Everyone else contributed food – potato salad, three bean salad, brownies, cookies, cake, devilled eggs, etc.  The food was all very yummy.

Almost everyone drank some beer at the cookout.  We also played badminton, volleyball, and horseshoes.  At some point, we even got Charlotte to play her guitar and sing, while Joe accompanied her on drums.  Around 7:00, most people left.  We did some minor clean-up, but mostly sat around, drank a little more, talked, and played a game that even Seth liked.  Later, we went to bed.

On Sunday, Jes, Seth, Tim, and I had a long, relaxing breakfast and sat talking at the kitchen table for several hours.  This was my favorite part of the visit, because we had all gotten back to our comfort zone of being with each other.  (When you don’t see close friends for a period of time, you expect to see them and immediately have tons to say.  But, it usually takes a day or so to feel the same ease that you have had in the past.  At least for me it does.)  Tim and I headed back to Richmond around 2:00.

Best parts of the weekend: I bought a new red hat that successfully kept the sun off my face.  Volleyball (where, contrary to Tim’s lies, the girls did win one game and the boys another – it was a tie).  Seeing old friends.

Worst part: The heat (Jes and Seth don’t have air conditioning at their house).

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

I finished reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl a couple of weeks ago.  This novel tells the story of Blue van Meer, an intelligent, precocious teenager who is a senior at a prep school located in a small North Carolina town.  And yes, this book has the type of plot you think it will when you hear that the protagonist is named Blue, she is intelligent, and she attends an elite private school.

As much as there is some predictability in the plot, there are also some nuances.  Blue has criss-crossed the country with her father for most of her life (after her mother dies when she is very young), changing schools almost every semester.   Blue and her father, Gareth, settle in North Carolina for her senior year, and her father decides to send her to private school.  The relationship between Blue and her father is the most complex, fleshed out, and interesting one in the novel (actually, their relationship is the only one that has any depth – there is never much detail given about the relationships that develop between Blue and her new popular friends (and I am conjecturing that this was done purposefully)).  Both van Meers share a passion for literature (Gareth is a well-respected professor in Third World politics and revolutions).  Blue is accustomed to being an outsider at all her schools, and is surprised when the beautiful film teacher at her new school, Hannah, takes an interest in her.  Hannah is a troubled, middle-aged woman, who has befriended the popular clique of students at the school.  This clique of five are entranced by Hannah and begrudgingly begin socializing with Blue, per Hannah’s persistent encouragement.

There is substantial foreshadowing and tension throughout the novel, causing the reader to question why Hannah is close friends with high school students; why Hannah singles out Blue for inclusion with the popular kids; why, exactly, does Gareth keep moving from town to town; what is the connection between Hannah and Gareth; how does Gareth suddenly have the money to enroll Blue in a private school, etc.  Most of these suppositions get answered at the end (but I will not ruin the resolution for you, in case you are interested in reading this novel).

The best part of the novel is the writing.  Pessl does an excellent job of portraying Blue (the book is written from Blue’s perspective).  Blue cites numerous books throughout her description of the events, which provide a witty and intellectual feel to the tone of the narrative.  I liked this, although I suspect it may be distracting for some readers.  The language was complex, but flowed well, and created tension and suspense successfully:

I opened the shabby cover, flipped through a few pages.  Maybe it was the stark light in the room, slashing and deboning everything, including Jade (her emaciated shadow fell to the floor, crawled toward the door), but I felt genuine chills skidding down my neck when I saw the name written in faded pencil in the upper corner of the title page . . .

Special Topics in Calamity Physics is a bestseller (at least it says so on the cover) and it should be, as it is a page-turner.  I did not cull any deeper meaning from the novel, but it was enjoyable.  I would categorize the book as one that would be more interesting to females (not to generalize, but I would not recommend it to any of my male friends) (actually, I probably would not recommend it to anyone unless they are looking for a well-written, yet “fluff” novel).  Overall, I give the novel 3.5 out of 5 stars. 

Terrorism or civil disobedience?

I read this article yesterday about the sentencing of Stanislaw Meyerhoff, a member of the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), for acts of environmental terrorism.  Over the past 6 years, members of ELF have committed a series of arsons, in order to protest human abuses of the environment.

Radical environmental groups including the Earth Liberation Front and an associate network, the Animal Liberation Front, have been called by the FBI “the No. 1 domestic terrorism threat” in America. Their members include four of the bureau’s 11 most wanted homegrown terrorists.

The groups and their supporters say that in more than 1,100 acts of arson and vandalism the members have never killed a single person, and the “terrorist” label is intended only as a scare tactic and means of augmenting the government’s rolls of captured terrorists.

The article raises an interesting point of who we define as a terrorist.  Usually, when I hear the word “terrorist,” I think of a non-American who is willing to inflict harm (usually death) on others and is willing to sacrifice his/her own life to do so.  I realize that this is a very  prejudicial view of what comprises a terrorist, and my perspective is probably shaped by the constant repetition of the phrase “War on Terror” to refer to America’s global fight against al-Qaeda.

Yet, somehow, I view Mr. Myerhoff and his cohorts as a bit heroic (wrongly guided in their use of violence, but still heroic in their commitment to fight for change by sacrificing their potential for a “normal” existence and for breaking the law (and risking retribution from society)).  But, of course, my idea of what defines a “good cause” is quite different from someone else’s (especially someone who may be poverty-stricken, of color, abused, etc.).

Should Mr. Myerhoff have been classified as a terrorist?  Where do we draw the line between terrorism and civil disobedience?  On an issue that is close to your heart, how much setback or inaction could you take before you would resort to violence?  Are there causes that are worth risking everything for?  Can the government keep widening the scope/definition of terrorism until it includes almost anything our leaders are against (note this quote from the above-mentioned article: “The government said that combination of intimidation and coercion is what makes it terrorism, and the fact that no one has died is not the real issue.”)?

The Birth Control Pill

I read this article about the introduction of a new birth control pill, Lybrel, that prevents pregnancy and also eliminates periods for good.  Traditional birth control pills usually have a “placebo week” every month where women continue to take a pill that has no hormones or drugs, and where the woman bleeds.  I recall that when I first considered taking the pill, I spoke with Jessica, who handily pulled out her copy of Our Bodies, Ourselves and read how doctors purposefully put in the “placebo week” because women felt uncomfortable never menstruating.  This perception seems to be still accurate, given the response of several women to the introduction of Lybrel:

The very idea of this drug makes some women nervous.

“Maybe it would be better to let nature run its course,” one woman says.

“I feel that’s slightly unnatural, and it would be a little unnerving,” says another.

My perception is that we are already manipulating our bodies to thwart the purpose of getting pregnant, so why not just eliminate the period all together?  The “period” we have once every four weeks when we are on the traditional birth control pill is not a true “period.”  From Wikipedia: “The 28-day pill package also simulates the average  menstrual cycle, though the hormonal events during a pill cycle are completely different from those of a normal ovulatory menstrual cycle, and the bleeding is triggered by different hormonal cues.”

I personally would love to try Lybrel.  Interestingly, from the same Wikipedia article above, I learned that Japan only approved the use of the birth control pill in 1999.  I was prepared to castigate Japanese male-dominated culture and politics until I read the following reasoning behind its delayed approval:

Two main objections raised by the [Japanese Medical] association were safety concerns over long-term use of the Pill, and concerns that Pill use would lead to diminished use of condoms and thereby potentially increase sexually transmitted infection (STI) rates.  As of 2004, condoms accounted for 80% of birth control use in Japan, and this may explain Japan’s comparably low rates of AIDS.

Interesting, if there is in fact a direct correlation between Japan’s low AIDS rate and use of birth control pill rates.  But is it women’s sole responsibilities to be the defenders against STDs?  Well, for that matter, is it women’s sole responsilibities to prevent pregnancies?

There is a reason kids today seem so stupid

It was with much chagrin and a small chortle that I read this article about a woman who forced her children to pretend to be mentally retarded in order to get Social Security benefits:

Rosie M. Costello, 46, was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for taking more than $280,000 in state and federal benefits over a 20-year-period on behalf of son, Pete, and daughter, Marie . . . Costello was accused of forcing the pair to feign mental retardation for doctors and Social Security administrators from the time her son was 8 and her daughter was 4.

I don’t think Rosie’s punishment is harsh enough.  I don’t really care that she screwed the government (there is a small sense of pleasure in that), but I do care that she screwed up her kids.  The 20-year old son, Pete, following in Mom’s footsteps, is also facing prison and fines for his fakery (after he reached the age of 18 and became an adult).  But, sadder than that, is that none of the Costello children attended school.  Ever. (There is another son, Paul, who was not forced by mommie dearest to pretend to be mentally retarded (I wonder why he escaped the wrath of Mom?  Did she perhaps think that claiming 3 children as mentally retarded would be too much?))  Paul does not even know how to read and write.

How do you teach someone to “be” mentally retarded?  Aren’t their certain physical characteristics that could not be feigned?  How could the government not realize that they were lying?  I can just hear Rosie now, chastising her children: “Now kids, you are certainly not acting stupid enough.”

I’m sure all 3 (Peter and Paul are now in prison; no one can find Marie) will live very productive lives.  Next time you think the younger generation seems idiotic, perhaps remember that they could be faking it.

Weekend Recap

Tim and I had a fairly busy weekend.  We began on Friday night by meeting Lauren for dinner at Casa Grande on the Northside (it is the one located in a strip mall across from Virginia Center Commons).  It was a stereotypical Mexican restaurant (meaning we got free salsa and chips as soon as we sat down at our table; the food came fast, was covered with lots of processed cheese, and included a side of refried beans and rice; and there were lots of babies and small children running around).  On an aside, I’ll take this time to again express my deep regret that El Rio Grande on Cary Street near VCU has closed (yes, I know, it closed over a year ago, but I still miss it).  I loved that restaurant.  Their burrito with mole sauce was stupendous. 

After dinner, we met up with John to see 28 Weeks Later.  I really liked the movie 28 Days Later, but this sequel was a disappointment.  It was a lot less intellectual than its predecessor and a lot more of a stereotypical horror film.  The acting was not great, the writing was ho-hum, the plot was contrived, and the directing was nauseating at times.  I recall that 28 Days Later effectively used jerky camera motions to create a sense of panic and confusion; in 28 Weeks Later, the director must have filmed while perched on a vibrating bed in an old hotel room – the camera would move so much and the lighting would be so dark that you could not discern anything on the screen (and this would go on for 15 minutes or so).  John hated the film (I heard him yawn several times); Lauren, Tim, and I thought it was mediocre but not horrendous.  I’ll give 28 Weeks Later a rating of 2 stars out of 5.

On Saturday, Tim and I headed out for our last football game of the spring season.  We have not won a game all year (although we did tie with one team), putting us in next-to-last place.  Because this was the playoffs, we were paired against one of the best teams.  After the first drive and with the knowledge that we had no substitutes (we were actually playing a man short), we knew there was no way we were going to win, so we just started acting like idiots.  We used a fluorescent pink Nerf ball during a few plays; I was laughing so hard at one point while playing quarterback that I couldn’t get out the word “hike” without sputtering.  We wound up losing by 70 points (that’s not a typo, it does read 70), but we had the most fun of any game we ever played.

After our epic loss, the team headed to the league bar, Mulligan’s.  It was a beautiful afternoon, so we sat outside on the back porch.  I drank a few beers, had a not-so-very-good chicken salad sandwich (I have never been a fan of Mulligan’s food), and laughed at Ken (a member of our football team), as he tried to pick up our waitress (who was probably 20 years his junior), and as he told us about all his crazy Match.com experiences.

After several beers, Tim and I headed out to pick up my car (it needed a new thermostat) and then home, where we promptly showered and napped before heading out to the Lebanese Food Festival in Glen Allen.  We had been to the Lebanese Festival before, but not for several years.  Because it was so nice out, the place was packed, but we managed to get a parking space and our food somewhat quickly.  We both had some falafel and baba ganoush.  The food was pretty good, but there is not much else to do at the Festival after you eat, so we left soon after finishing.

Because Tim and I are so old and lame, and because we were already out in the West End, we decided to run some errands after the Festival.  We headed to World Market and bought some new drinking glasses.  We went to Home Depot and bought a trimmer, and some flowers for our porch and window boxes.  Then we headed to Border’s so I could use a gift card I received for my birthday.  I purchased two books, we drank some coffee, and then headed home to bed.

Tim had to work in the afternoon on Sunday, so I headed out to begin buying some gifts for his birthday.  I got a few things (one I am especially pleased about finding, because it would have cost a fortune to ship if I had ordered it on-line).  After we both got home, we did a little yard work, and then met Charlie and Susan for drinks at Acapella’s.  This is our neighborhood restaurant/bar that we go to quite often.  They have a new pub menu, great beer on tap, and the best bartender, Crystal.  I highly recommend it.  We stayed there several hours, catching up with Charlie and Susan.  Susan wants me to join her indoor soccer league; I would definitely do it except they play on Friday nights.  I’m not sure I want to sacrifice my Friday nights for soccer way over on the Southside.

We walked home after dinner, watched a little TV, and then headed to bed.  All in all, a pretty nice weekend.

Demographic Racial Gap

I read this interesting article in the New York Times about the growth of the non-Caucasian population in America.  The number of non-white Americans is over 100 million for the first time (about 1 in 3 Americans are considered racial minorities), minorities are dispersing more steadily throughout the nation, and researchers are concerned that a generational racial gap is developing.

That development may portend a nation split between an older, whiter electorate and a younger overall population that is more Hispanic, black and Asian and that presses sometimes competing agendas and priorities . . .

As recently as 1980, he [Mark Mather, deputy director of domestic programs for the Population Reference Bureau, a nonpartisan research group] said, the share of minorities in each generation varied by only five percentage points or less.

According to the latest figures, 80 percent of Americans over age 60 are non-Hispanic whites, compared with only 60 percent among those in their 20s and 30s, and 58 percent among people younger than 20.

I think this will have interesting outcomes.  It will be beneficial to the country to have more minorities with political power, which is bound to happen just by sheer numbers.  The entire political landscape will change.  Will too much diversity seriously impede the political process that is currently mired down by Caucasian traditions and viewpoints?  Will the government reach a standstill while it adjusts to these changes?

An interesting fact brought up in the article is this one: “Dr. Mather said the three most homogeneous states — Maine, Vermont and West Virginia — spent the highest proportion of their gross state product on public education.”  I assume this is because there still exist racially homogenous neighborhoods throughout the country and Caucasians are statistically wealthier than their minority counterparts, thus these Caucasian neighborhoods have a larger tax base from which education funding is amassed.  Does this imply that Caucasians are getting a better education than their minority fellow-citizens (assuming a better education equates with more funding for education)?  Yes, I think.  Something will definitely need to be done about that, but what?

Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?

I recently received the most awesome gift ever: a Donnie Darko, 12-inch, “Frank the Bunny” action figure.  For those of you who have not seen the movie Donnie Darko, please go see it now.  Oddly, I don’t think this is the most well-made movie ever, but it is one of my favorite movies – the first time I saw it, I thought it was kind of kooky, and I laughed a lot.  After the second viewing, I felt so sad that I almost cried (and not that overly-sentimental sadness, but that dark, existential-angsty sadness, that hollow and lost feeling).  The movie haunts me a bit.  I recall sitting through the end credits, listening to the song “Mad World” by Gary Jules, and feeling so pensive and despondent.  I even bought the Gary Jules CD with that song since it, like the movie, captivated me (the rest of the CD – not so good).

Frank the Bunny is the “imaginary” character that Donnie sees and hears and who helps convince him (and perhaps us) that time travel is real.  He is this creepy, tall guy dressed in a bunny suit that must have been designed by Wes Craven or some other disturbing person (see photo for details).  The action figure is large as well, and, after spending 2 hours trying to remove all of its packaging, we could see that it is fairly well-crafted.  If you push the button on its back, it says classic Frank the Bunny phrases such as, “Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?” and, “Wake up Donnie.”  In the movie, Frank’s voice is very hallucinegnic and dreamy sounding.  Unfortunately, the action figure’s canned voice is tinny and difficult to decipher (the only drawback to the toy).

I plan on bringing my Frank the Bunny action figure to work and taunting/scaring all of my co-workers (“we thought she was normal, but now . . . oh no”).  Thanks for the gift, Tim!

National Dog Bite Awareness Week

In case you missed it, last week was Dog Bite Awareness Week.  I know, you are as upset as I am that you forgot it.  The US Postal Service began Dog Bite Awareness Week because

The Humane Society of the United States reports that small children, the elderly, and Postal Service letter carriers – in that order – are the most frequent victims of dog bites. Recent statistics show the annual number of dog attacks exceeds the reported instances of measles, whooping cough, and mumps, combined. In addition, dog bite victims account for up to five percent of emergency room visits.

Obviously, the solution for the mail carriers is to walk their route with either a small child or an elderly person (or, to be especially safe, one of each). 

I also liked this psychoanalysis of dog behavior from USPS delivery supervisor, Eugene Muhr, who states that contrary to popular belief, postal carriers need to be more wary of smaller dogs rather than larger ones: “They think they’re King Kong or whatever, but they are, the little dog is a more aggressive dog than the bigger dog.  Normally the bigger dog will give you a chance to get away or whatever, but a little dog won’t. He won’t give you a chance at all, he’ll just come right up to you.”  Ah, yes, the Napoleon complex for dogs!

In case you are wondering, this week (May 20 through May 27) is

Schizophrenia Awareness Week
EAB (Emerald Ash Borer) Awareness Week (save Ohio’s trees!)
Hurricane Awareness Week (in Texas only)
Tinnitus Awareness Week
National Access Awareness Week (in Canada)

Pick one and celebrate or educate fully!

Good Omens

I finished reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett several weeks ago, but waited to post about it until after our Book Club met to discuss it (yes, this was a book club selection, and very different in genre and tone than the other titles we have read in the past year or so since I joined the club).  Good Omens is esentially a parody of the horror film The Omen.

The protagonists in the novel are Crowley, one of the representatives of hell on Earth, and Aziraphale, one of the representatives of heaven on earth.  Both angels have lived for thousands of years and have come to a working and respectful relationship with one another.  Unfortunately, their stalemate of balancing evil and good on Earth is coming to an end, as the anti-Christ is born and Armageddon is coming (as soon as the anti-Christ, Adam, realizes he is the son of Satan and begins stirring things up enough to cause the Apocalypse).  Of course, there is a mix-up at the hospital, and Adam (who was supposed to be placed with the family of the American Ambassador to England to be raised and nurtured), is accidently placed in a normal English family (unbeknownest to any of the actors in the drama).

There are a lot of funny asides throughout the novel (and by a lot, I mean most of the novel is composed of these) - bits of irrelevant and extraneous plot and character development that give the book a humorous tone.  Actually, the book is very “British” in its humor; it was reminiscient of Monty Python to me.

There are a few broader, more serious themes: nature versus nurture (Adam grows up to be a relatively normal boy, because he is reared by a normal British family, even though he is the son of Satan and has vast powers); the need for a balance of good and evil on Earth; and how sometimes good is evil (the hosts of heaven are really looking forward to Armageddon and waging war with hell, even though Earth’s civilizations will perish).  But mostly, this book is a cute spoof of the movie with some very humorous details.

I liked the book – it was easy to read and quite funny in places.  However, I also felt it was too long and became laborious.  Readers spend the entire book waiting for the Apocalypse, reading through mired pages of incedental anecdotes and characters that, while funny, become tiresome.  At Book Club, I think there were about 3 or 4 people who really loved it, but there were many more who found it tiresome (as I did).  The book did not create a lot of discussion as it was not geared for analysis.  Overall, I give the book 2 out of 5 stars.  If you like Monty Python a lot and/or are looking for a quick and funny read, this is a good selection.