The highlight of my day came early on while reading the Oregonian’s Metro section. The headline: No racial intent or race-related outfits at Cleveland High’s ‘bro vs. hipster’ theme day.
It seems that it is Spirit Week at Cleveland High school. Spirit week apparently involves dressing up in themed clothing just as I did during my high school spirit week days, but Cleveland High has a “versus” theme. For example, ninjas vs. pirates or bros vs. hipster.
It seems that some faculty (read: old people) took offense to the term “bro” feeling that it implied African American men. They were worried that it might encourage racial stereotyping. The students (read: young people) helpfully explained that, “Today’s meaning of the word bro…is no longer a term for African American men who support each other but rather connotes a young man of any race who works out a lot, likes to party and may be a fraternity member or live the beach lifestyle showcased in the reality show ‘Jersey Shore.'”
This old person noted the distinction and turned to the next page to finish reading the article and found the following photo of four students, two each modeling the bro and hipster look:
My first reaction was to laugh and think, “um, they are dressed exactly alike. They are both wearing sorts and t-shirts.” My next reaction was, “ah. I’m officially old.” If I turned on my young person vision I saw that the two groups were profoundly different. The bros were outfitted in baggy shorts, and sleeveless shirts, sunglasses and sandals. The hipsters were wearing skinny jean shorts, t-shirts with flannels and nerdy glasses. Ah.
It reminds me of a spirit week theme day my senior year (spring of 1993) when we had a theme of “early 80s day.” I was telling my Pizza Hut manager (read: old person) about the themes and when I got to that one he said, “I went to high school in the early 80s and I wore jeans and a t-shirt. How is that different from now?” I (then: young person) just shut my mouth to avoid trying to explain what my friend later put so succinctly: yes, but what kind of jeans, how tight were they, what was on your t-shirt and what shoes were you wearing?
For all those people who live far away from Portland and visit only in the magical months of July, August and September, I bring you a visual of the flip side of Portland life: October-June. This nine month period consists of the dreaded “winter” which, while it doesn’t bring much snow, does bring unrelenting rain and cold. Sometimes, we get periods of rain so lengthy and intense that the grass ceases to grow and instead becomes large mud puddles, as seen in the above picture. If you decide to move here, be ready to enjoy this weather, too.
This is still probably under copyright, so read it by clicking (http://matthewkaberline.blogspot.com/2008/04/gary-soto-oranges.html)
Though this is not the Gary Soto poem I was looking for, it does have a lot of nice imagery easily accessible to the middle school population. This is why, of course, it is assigned by so many middle school teachers.
Back in January, I lamented the lack of poems coming into my life. At the time, I was “reading” three poems a night from a poetry anthology. As the quotes around the word reading indicate, I wasn’t actually doing that. I needed to find time for poetry every day, but where?
A few things happened at once, in the way that life goes. First off, I started eating breakfast at home again. I had been bringing my breakfast to work and eating at my desk. I realized I was eating 80% of my food at work, sitting in front of my computer and decided to cut back that practice. I had to cut out the morning meditation, but it is so pleasant to now eat two meals at a table that I think the trade off was worth it.
Next, the newspaper started to arrive very late. The paper is supposed to get here by six o’clock on weekdays and my paper guy was not meeting the cut most days. So I had nothing to read while eating my breakfast. A-ha! An opening for more poetry! I got two anthologies and a book by a single author. I rotate through them as I eat my breakfast, which is delightful. Although sometimes not if a poem is particularly graphic or disturbing. Though that is rare and mostly, it is wonderful.
Now I have more poems coming into my life, which means it is easier to find poems to memorize.
Good YA books this month, a book club book finished and an atrocious add-on to a classic book.
Read
Will Grayson, Will Grayson
John Green & David Levithan
I found David Levithan’s depressed/unable-to-capitalize-words Will Grayson off putting and annoying at first, but warmed to him as the book went on. I completely loved John Green’s Will Grayson from the first page. John Green’s Will Grayson has the advantage of having one of the best larger-than-life sidekicks named Tiny Cooper whose antics had me snorting with laughter. There are some great memorable and moving moments within this book: observations about a girl you want to be in a relationship with; Will Grayson’s coming out to his mother; the tryouts for the musical Tiny Dancer: The The Life and Times of Tiny Cooper. The performance of the musical was funny too. The ending got a little too tie-it-up for me, but the middle of the book gave me that “squee” feeling of happiness.
The Other Wes Moore
Wes Moore
I figured the trajectory of the two Wes Moore’s stories before I started to read this book. One was a Rhodes Scholar etc. etc. etc. so he clearly had the stable-er home life and the loving-er family and on and on. The other is serving life in prison for a robbery/murder and he clearly had the less stable home life, inattentive family etc, etc. I knew there would be a clear line drawn and errors pointing, one to the life of the “good” Wes Moore and one to the life of the “bad” Wes Moore.
Once I started the book I realized I was wrong. This cognitive dissonance is, of course, the book’s success. If the path to the good Wes Moore life was that obvious, it never would have been published. My take away from this book is not to decide that an “if only” would have saved the life-in-prison Wes Moore. My take away is to look at every child, even the ones that seem to be on the “bad Wes Moore” path and expect of them that they finish school, procreate responsibly, find work that suits them and live a happy life. To expect less is to give in to the throwaway society we have created for a large subset of our children.
Mocking Jay
Suzanne Collins
This is a rip-roaring finale to the Hunger Games series. There is more strife, more fighting, more indecision, more propaganda, and an ending that is devastating and hopeful. Are you telling me you still haven’t started reading this series? What are you waiting for?
Why I Wake Early
Mary Oliver
I like Mary Oliver’s poems, but something was brought into focus while I was reading this book. I am a city girl. I was raised in a city (albeit a small one) by parents who were themselves raised in cities (also small ones.) We did not hike on the weekends, we camped sparingly. I rarely, if ever, wandered through any “wild” area. None of this is bad, but it did shape me. To this day I enjoy walking about my neighborhood more than driving to some wilderness to “hike.” Urban environments grow and change just as natural ones do.
So after reading poem after poem about birds and fields and puddles and what have you, I realized that something inside of me was crying out, “Where are the buildings? Where are the cars? Where are the other people?” I’m happy that Mary Oliver gets so much from her wilderness and I’m happy that so many people enjoy her poems she writes. I am also happy to realize that for me, Mary Oliver’s poems are best enjoyed in small doses.
The Independence of Miss Mary Bennet
Colleen McCullough
The review I mentally wrote while halfway through this novel was much more scathing than the review I am writing now that I have finished the book. I enjoyed rejoining the Bennet family twenty years later, but I thought the characterizations of Mr. Darcy were too harsh and I found the main plot to be entirely preposterous. McCullough manages to tie things up rather neatly, even for Miss Caroline Bingly, but the fact that I sputtered through most of the story doesn’t really bode well for this book.
Dash and Lily’s Book of Dares
Cohen & Levithan
Though this book did not pack the heat that Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist did, I enjoyed it just as much in different ways. The concept of the dares (which were very clever, in of themselves) was a lot of fun and seeing how Dash and Lily, two very opposite people, react to each other via paper was enjoyable and at times hilarious. Set at Christmas in New York City, this would be a fun book to read in early December, just to set a good Christmas Mood. Or to set an anti-Christmas mood, if you are more like Dash.
Started, but did not finish.
Ship Breaker
Paolo Bacigalupi
This won the Printz award this year and people have raved about it, but I have read many too many tense YA novels in the last three months. My nerves couldn’t deal with Nailer’s conundrum.
We had a little bit (a smattering, really) of snow in November and then nothing. As we have watched story after story about everyone else in the country getting hammered by yet another “worst storm ever!” we Portlanders continued slogging through our endless winter rains with no flake in sight (though many predicted.) “It’s like everyone has been invited to the snow party but us!” wailed one commenter on a local blog. By February 1, I had given up on there being a Portland-based snow party this year. But then near the end of the month: snow!
The sun came out, the snow melted and the day went on. But I got my snow day, my walk in the newly fallen snow and a long morning nap buried under layers of covers. It was heavenly.
*The answer to the “stock up your pantry?” question is most likely “no.” When it snows in Portland it inconveniences people for a day usually, maybe two. Do you need to rush to the store and snap up enough food for three weeks? No, no and no.
