Reading Material

I read an online article recently about a black middle school student who complained that she was tired of reading books about white boys and their dogs so she advocated for a more diverse list of books for students. As someone who was an English major twice, I fully understand this student's complaint. When I was a student, it wasn't necessarily books about white boys and their dogs, but white boys and men in general that seemed to dominate the reading list, particularly when I was in college and graduate school. Henry James, James Joyce, Graham Greene, Shakespeare, Hemingway, Melville...and the list goes on. I read a lot of books about white guys going on a journey while I was in school because the powers that be decided these tales constituted "great" literature. By the time I was near the end of my master's program, I'd had enough and longed for the day when I would be able to go back to reading what I wanted rather than what someone else wanted me to read. I couldn't wait to be done with Billy Budd and The Canterbury Tales and Beowulf. This doesn't mean that I hated everything I had to read. I actually enjoyed some of the literature, but the bulk of it was just not my cup of tea.

In an effort to push back against the promotion of books by and about straight white men, some people have pledged to read only books by non-white female writers for a year (or something like that). While I'm all for people expanding their reading horizons by moving away from the literary canon and the literary darlings (who tend to be white guys also), I don't like the idea of segregating your reading based on an author's race and/or gender. I believe in people reading what they want to read. The race or gender of the author does not make me read a book. I read a book because the plot or the subject matter is interesting to me.

Positively Radiant

My sister and I were talking about flying and airports and I expressed concern about the amount of radiation that you get when you go through the body scans at the security checkpoints. I know you're only in that box for three seconds, but how much radiation is passing through your body during that time? As my sister noted, at least when you get zapped at the dentist's office when you have x-rays taken you get a lead apron to put on. At the airport you don't get anything. I know you can opt out of going through the airport's toxic box, but then you have to get felt up by the TSA. I don't know which option is worse.

London Spy

I've been watching "London Spy" on the BBC America channel and I like it. I've only seen the first two episodes, but so far so good. I didn't realize that the series has already aired in England so Americans are playing catch-up. I've already read a few things on the Internet about what happens in the series, but the spoilers weren't enough to deter me from watching the rest of the series. The series' writer and creator, Tom Rob Smith, also wrote a book I ready a year or so ago called The Farm that was quite interesting. Smith did a great job of showing a gay relationship in The Farm and I'm enjoying his exploration of that same topic in "London Spy."

Snowzilla 2016

I've been watching a lot of the coverage of the snowstorm out east (Snowzilla 2016!) and I hope everyone on the East Coast is able to dig out and get back to life as normal. I really didn't think the storm would be that powerful. When I was in NY last week, the weather forecasters projected snowfall totals that ranged from 4 inches to 23 and they weren't sure which way the storm would go. It could have gone primarily south of the city or out to sea or delivered a direct blow. Clearly, this one was a direct hit. It was so weird to see Times Square and Columbus Circle all snow-covered when I'd just walked those same non-snowy streets a few days ago. Wow. All I can say is I dodged a bullet there by getting out of town Thursday. I'm glad to see that most media outlets are ignoring the Weather Channel's "Jonas" name for this winter storm. I'm so sick of them trying to create a brand around extreme weather events. Ugh. No wonder they keep losing money. Sam Champion never should have left GMA to go there.

Don't Drink the Water

As a former Michigander, it saddens me to hear about the water crisis in Flint. The whole situation is sad and terrible and it never would have happened to an affluent (i.e. white) community. But since Flint is largely black and poor, no one cares about the city's residents. The powers that be in the state probably figured it was no big deal to let Flint residents drink and use tainted water. What a shame. Environmental racism is, sadly, alive and well in Flint. Heads need to roll over this whole debacle and people need to be held accountable. The citizens of Flint should file a class-action lawsuit against the state for trying to poison them.

Just in Time

Clearly, I got out of New York just in the nick of time since a snow storm is blowing into town this weekend. My flight back to Chicago yesterday was packed. I assume a lot of folks chose to change their travel plans and leave early. I was always scheduled to leave Thursday, so no change of plans for me, but I'm glad I timed my trip to get out of town when I did. Woo hoo!

Yesterday's post about An American in Paris failed to mention, by name, the wonderful Robert Fairchild who played Jerry Mulligan. He was wonderful, marvelous...Everyone in the show was great, but seeing Fairchild perform was just icing on the cake. . I guess he normally doesn't do the Wednesday night show, but he was there this Wednesday so I lucked out. Woo hoo again!

An American in Paris

I went to see An American in Paris last night on Broadway and it was great. I love musicals like this. Wonderful singing and dancing, Gershwin music, beautiful costumes...what more could you ask for?  I'm heading back home today after a really nice trip to New York. I didn't make it back to Brooklyn during this visit, unfortunately, but maybe next time. You can only do so much!