Character

It's been a hectic week, after visiting Cincinnati, dinner our with Marissa and Jay on Monday, World Cup soccer with neighbors, dinner with E last night. I am looking forward to a quieter evening tonight, a stop at HT, and maybe an episode of OITNB. I did an elliptical this morning, much needed after over indulging lately.

It's summer. It's been stormy and hot, the days are long. And it'll be July in one week, which is ridiculous. Half-way through 2015 already. And July will be a busy one, as will August. And September...so it goes.

I am searching for direction and spark, and I'm trying to live more in the moment. It's now 8.5 months until 40, and there are days I could almost anticipate it, and other days I'm dreading it. I cannot wrap my brain around being in my 40s. I still recall not being able to envision life after 22. Or life in college. Life outside of St. V. It's like a rubber band that stretches further out, or maybe something that keeps unwrapping to cover up more of what your life is like at this point or that.

I'm reading David Brooks The Road to Character, which has been outstanding. The more I read, the more I demand "great books." Fracture was great.  Ideas, motivation, drive, integrity, dignity, and utter failure.

Being transgendered has been the story of the summer. How does that state of being reconcile with character? Can it? Brooks struggles with the definition of "true self." Maybe that concept is overrated. You can spend a lifetime and never quite define that. Or you can reach that state in youth.

I am not sure if this is the best word, but it's authenticity. And dining last night, hearing that ridiculous story on the porcelain dolls, all I can think is "Own it." Do not be ashamed or embarrassed, the way I would have been. Own who you are, because you don't get a second chance in this life. One is what you have.

More Things I Think...

1. I am excited for the new Blue Apron order. Lamb meatballs, seared chicken, cod. Yum.
2. It's Holy Thursday.  I remember always going to the evening service at St. V's so many years ago with mom, seeing the altar servers and the darkness, the incense, the procession. Such a profound moment during this week. It has been at least what, twenty years? Wow.
3. Sunshine and 70s today. Yes. Spring is slowly blooming.
4. I finished A Peace to End All Peace last night. I will begin Dead Wake by Erik Larson next. I am still itching to find something else on the Ottoman empire or Turkey or maybe Israel...not sure what.
5. The Americans last night...wow. Paige learning who her parents really are was a shock, to say the least. What marvelous acting. It's refreshing not to be spoiled, and I think that also contributes to the quality of the show. Like Mad Men, you have no idea what will come next. We're entering 1983 right now in the show--based on when Tootsie premiered, though Christmas hasn't been mentioned--and with three episodes remaining this season, anything can happen. Amazing that I am old enough to remember that time, too. I was the exact age of Joey, first grade.
6. Four weeks to the big office move. I am excited for the new gym and the fact that there may be actual temperature control and outdoor space. The rest, we shall see. Like the windows...
7. Yoga last night. It was so crowded. I have such a love-hate relationship with yoga. I want to like it and become more flexible, and if I'm in Warrior 2 or even 3 I feel stronger. But most of the time, I'm too self-conscious, thinking of too many other things, and so distracted by the others who can do headstands. That is not what yoga is all about.
8. Though I am excited we bought the elliptical. Worthwhile purchase.
9. Ten years ago Pope John Paul II passed away.
10. This story, about the mom who murdered her children and stowed them in the freezer, sickens me. A death penalty is too good for her.

Book Review: The Smartest Kids in the World

For book club, I just finished "The Smartest Kids in the World" by Amanda Ripley. She surveys the education systems in Finland, South Korea, and Poland through the eyes of three exchange students, offering her observations on what makes these countries' education systems more successful than our own. Rigor is a concept they all emphasize, as opposed to the moon bounce of shifting standards found in the United States. This is a time when our federalist approach fails us, at times, as seen in the debate about Common Core. I don't know much about this, though I know that the debate extends to places like Indiana which has "rebranded" it, so to speak.

I've long known about the success of Finland, which has outperformed American children for decades. I think their culture of excellence is particularly when it comes to training teachers. We used to joke all of the time in college that "ElEd" was the easy major, particularly popular amongst Holy Cross exchange students who could not hack it in more difficult majors. I don't mean to suggest that so many of my teacher friends are not bright. Quite the contrary: many of them are very talented and great at what they do. But the profession is disserved that so many go into teaching without the proper training and vetting. I can't believe that someone can teach math in junior or senior high without a Math major, for example. Or specialties can be taught by someone without the proper training.

Ripley addresses canards like diversity that the left uses to demonstrate that poor, minority kids can't succeed. Schools with mixes of immigrant population do just fine in Finland, where kids are expected to learn. No excuses. You don't pass the tests, you don't succeed. End of story. I was also impressed that she didn't seem to bring her personal agenda, like squelching NCLB or testing or charters. The BASIS school, which has one in DC, is an example of a successful charter that probably doesn't have a lily white, middle class student body. But its PISA scores are off the charts. She contrasts that with the $30K private DC school that sucks in math and has a struggling football program. I do think she has a point about sports, but that is so ingrained in our culture now.

I wonder if any of the students she profiled will go into teaching? I'd be curious.

The Flowers in the Attic Movie

My inner 14 year old is ridiculously excited for the Flowers in the Attic movie. I MUST remember to record this tomorrow night. I mean, this book was all the rage back when I was in junior high. Yes, totally inappropriate and icky. But still...Lifetime has even announced a sequel!

I suspect that big ratings amongst the 30-49 year old female demographic will result. 

Superzips

I've been reading the Charles Murray book on Coming Apart, and I heard about the recent story in the Post about the superzip phenom he describes. It's an interesting thesis. And yes, I fall squarely in the category of middle class raised/upper middle ascending. We aren't in a superzip in 20002, but I'm sure with the streetcar, the Whole Foods coming, the spate of new theaters and condos, we'll be there soon enough. H Street has jumped the shark. It's gentrified now, and that demographic will follow.

And yeah, there's an uneasiness about all of this. Kids who are second or third generation with this privilege will never know a childhood like one in Detroit, or south Texas (the Post story on junk food in McAllen, example). I still feel like we're squarely middle class, despite the size of our mortgage. We aren't extravagant people, we don't splurge on $300 boots or $200 meals every weekend. But any weekend? Yeah, just because you can afford it, it doesn't mean anything.

Values don't come from the size of your paycheck, but the paycheck may determine how entitled you feel. And once you get away from never taking anything for granted, that is when values diverge. And the next generation gets away from you.

Sweet Valley High Syndrome

I came across this piece through a link from a link. It's about how the idealized, model-ific Wakefield twins ruined her conception of high school-hood. I'm the same age as the author, though of course, no older sister for me. I also had a weakness for the serialized book series, i.e. the Little House books. So yeah, more to relate to.

My high school, obviously, was nothing like Sweet Valley High. And I was not a beautiful size six, blond hair, blue eyed goddess who might have been a model. I didn't have boys chasing after me, and I didn't have a niche of friends in high school. Though with my impending 20th reunion coming up, and after having seen Julie this summer, high school and what could have been, should have been is a conception that stays with me. And everything it might have been that was not, and thankfully, was not.

Readings Lately

After a few weeks full of plane travel, I was able to finish a couple of great books, very different ones. I finished off Sisterland, which was a ridiculous beach read with the "twist" ending about the earthquake happening (or not...). I've read a couple of other Curtis Sittenfeld books, so I knew her tone and that she was a good storyteller. I think I'm doing good with my New Year's resolution on reading more fiction.

I absolutely devoured Why Nations Fail. The authors may dumb down their theory on inclusive/extractive states, but the logic of institutions mattering more than democracy or culture or geography is a compelling thesis. It reminded me that I needed to go back to my book on the Fate of Africa, particularly after the authors detail failures in Egypt, Sierra Leone, South Africa, the Congo, and other states in Africa. And I want to learn more about the successes in Botswana. I would certainly recommend this very readable account, and I want to see out some of the more academic writings of the authors, as well.

Reading List

After much longer than it should have taken me to read, I finally finished Anne Applebaum's book on the Iron Curtain. 

I read the last 100+ pages enroute to and from Minnesota last week. The book was tragic and sad, and the hopelessness and helplessness experienced in Eastern Europe was so dire. And it made me angry that the West just abandoned the lands beyond the Iron Curtain, and American just surrendered them away. One of my most memorable undergraduate papers was one on the Czech Spring, and those protesters who lost their lives should still be mourned. Just like in Hungary in 1956.  Those voices of protest never really died, but they were confined to whispers behind closed doors. What patriots were men like Vaclav Havel and Lech Walesa. Where are those leaders today, I wonder? It made me appreciate John Paul II all the more, as Applebaum had detailed the myriad number of ways that the Catholic Church was stifled by the Soviets. What a hero he was! (And how utterly ridiculous he was not honored with a Nobel Peace Prize, and Barack Obama was! Ludicrous!)

Next on my agenda, besides continuing with my Hemingway tales, is Amity Shlaes' new book on Calvin Coolidge. George Will previews the book, including one anecdote that failed to make it in the new volumn:

When President and Mrs. Coolidge were being given simultaneous but separate tours of a chicken farm, Grace asked her guide whether the rooster copulated more than once a day. “Dozens of times,” she was told. “Tell that to the president,” she said. When told, Coolidge asked, “Same hen every time?” When the guide said, “A different one each time,” the president said: “Tell that to Mrs. Coolidge.”

Hemingway in Paris (repost)

After reading The Paris Wife, I knew I had to read more Hemingway. That's part of my NY's resolution (if I must have one): read more, serious literature and substantive law, both. So I've already completed The Sun Also Rises and I'm currently reading A Moveable Feast. How can you not fall a little bit in love with the 1920s, the "lost generation," the one with secondary characters like Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ezra Pound, and other "characters" from ninety years ago? And of course I have a crush on Hadley, who is every bit as fascinating as her more famous first husband.

I might need to rent Midnight in Paris to fully visualize one set of images from those years, but I can see the Seine, the bookstores and coffee shops, the bars and the old walk-up apartments with 19th century plumbing. I can visualize the fashion, the coziness of a fire, the trips to Spain and the beach and fishing. It was an idealized time, of course, for a generation that saw the horrors of 20th century war. But it's hard not to fall a little bit in love with the era, and the literary stars of the century in one city, in one decade, so very long ago.

I'm enjoying Hemingway and I hope, I really hope, I can read like this. I waste too much time on silly websites, and this is far more enjoyable.

Happy 2013

The last two weeks away have been good, and needed, yet they've gone by much too quickly. The time in the Bahamas, the time with family and the nephew, the time at home and lazying around on the couch. The time reading The Sun Also Rises and the Paris Wife and re-discovering Ernest Hemingway. The time watching a four year old discover "wine," playing with his police car, playing Apples to Apples and anticipating a new little brother or sister.  The time in church, the time laying on a beach and reading and eating and singing with Pianoman Leo Jones and singing along to the Elton John and the Billy Joel and the Journey and the other songs you just sing (badly) at a piano bar. Time moves much too quickly, doesn't it? We also had a great NYE, with good friends and a delicious filet of beef and copious amounts of wine.

I guess I will have more to say, but today we heard that this kid that S grew up, whom he graduated high school with, killed himself after posting a suicide note on Facebook...and that his son will grow up without a parent now. And that's tragic, no matter what.

The Iron Curtain

I went to Heritage at lunch today to listen to Anne Applebaum speak about her new book, "Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe." This New Yorker piece captures much of the book's tone. I've finished the first half, where she details how Eastern Europe--focusing on Poland, East Germany, and Hungary--were subsumed by totalitarianism exerted by Stalin. From youth subjugation, to the suppression of religious, to the takeover of radio, police control, and the entire eradication of everything civil society stood for, the entirety of these countries was overwhelmed.  She paints a vivid portrait of that region after it was literally destroyed in World War II. She also articulates the fear, desperation, and utter exhaustion of a people who were tired of losing their homes, businesses, and families in the agonies of war. And though she does not focus on it, one can only wonder why and how the United States let this happen. It was some sort of grand deal, some grand exchange, to just let the Soviet do want they want.  And so many what could have been.

I kept thinking of North Korea during her remarks, and the parallels to that regime, which also clamped down on human rights and has relied on fear and brainwashing to maintain their strangle hold of control. We sat back and let Eastern Europe lose nearly two generations, and have again for the North Koreans. Could we have prevented either? I don't know. Should we have?

The New Yorker piece makes clear that totalitarian control is not absolute. Even Applebaum marveled and how young Polish citizens, only one generation removed from Soviet control, travel freely across Europe as de facto Westerners. And questions of Soviet control have been replaced with questions on EU absolutism.

But for multiple generations of North Koreans, they suffer, largely in silence. What to be done?

North Korean Holocaust

I've read a few books this year on North Korea, including Melanie Kirkpatrick's Escape from North Korea and Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader. Both dramatically bear testimony to the dire human rights situation in North Korea. Starvation, torture, forced sexual slavery, false imprisonment, etc.

Adrian Hong recently spoke at an event, and his remarks offered more urgency to addressing the desperation there.

Hong discusses the immense dangers that North Korean refugees face after crossing the border into China, where they can face imprisonment, sex trafficking and often a return home to much worse. “To go through that much risk, whatever you’re escaping from back home has to be pretty bad,” he says. “Extraordinarily bad. Far worse than whatever you’re facing to get out of that place. So North Korea is that thing. It is that bad.”

I'm going to keep on the look out for programs in DC about this, and I wish I had seen Kirkpatrick at a book event.  Yes, the media is laughing at China's party paper buying the Onion's portrayal of Kim Jong Un as "Sexiest Man Alive."  But there's nothing humorous about the situation over there. It truly may be a Holocaust with so many people dying, and so few caring.  That's the parallel to the most infamous 20th century Holocaust.

California and Home

Work trips always blend together somewhat, and I'm glad to be back. It was a hectic 48 hours in humid northern California. I ate enough, drank some Peet's, survived two events, and endured 10+ hours on planes. I saw People Like Us, which starred a fantastic Elizabeth Banks. The acting was good, though the plot a bit confused at times. I never figured out what the point was in Chris Pines' corporate bartering problems, and the subtext of the secret sibling relationship seemed weird. All I could think was: Wow, there is now way this single mom is not going to start to have romantic feelings for this mysterious stranger who all of a sudden is being so very nice to both her and her bratty pre-teen son.  It just defied common sense, right? The EW review is right on about how hard it tries to be heartfelt, but just too much was going on.

I also read a lot of the new Melanie Kirkpatrick book on Escape from North Korea. While Nothing to Envy featured tales more from the refugees' perspectives, Kirkpatrick's sensitive description of those rescuers provides another view on this horrible situation.  It's shameful that the U.S. took North Korea off of the terrorist list. The nuclear weapons and the torture of their own people warrants higher scrutiny. I have about 1/4 left to read.

On to the week ahead...Lions tonight, the World Series starts, and one last presidential debate.

Reading Lately

With several hours flying and hanging out in an airport ahead of me, I'm going to have some time reading. I've picked up Melanie Kirkpatrick's Escape from North Korea and Robert Kaplan's The Revenge of Geography.  I have also started re-reading (well, finishing) The Tempting of America. I think I read that in 2001? I found an old airline stub from Phoenix. Maybe that was when I was in Colorado? How strange and long ago that was.

I haven't read much since I finished Gone Girl. I did finish In the Garden of Beasts in my recent New York and Milwaukee travels, after starting it in Africa. Both thrilling, captivating reads.

Other Things Going On...

The Uganda series will wrap up tomorrow after our debrief dinner.  What else is going on...

We had a quiet anniversary dinner with lousy service. Mo's Fish Shack worked far better.

Veepstakes speculation is the chatter. I am not surprised it hasn't been announced yet, but the convention is heading here rapidly. I'm going with Pawlenty, Portman, then Ryan.

We are watching a lot of Olympics. Every year I get sucked in.

Just started reading Gone Girl. Love it already.

Three dinners in a row out this week. Busy busy.

NFL preseason football starts tonight. 

Uganda Reading

I finished The Teeth May Smile but the Heart Does Not Forget by Andrew Rice over the weekend.  The disappearance of Eliphaz Lak during the idi Amin reign of terror is the subject of the book, which details his son's Duncan's search for justice.  The tale doesn't have a happy ending in some respects--no conviction--but somehow closure and a form of justice and accountability is found.  The themes of forgiveness and accountability resound in the book. I feel like I know the country a bit better and I understand how people want to just move on.  A significant part of Uganda's population was born after 1979, anyway, and anyone younger than I am would have very few if any memories of that era.

I am getting excited as we approach two weeks. And a part of me just wants to get to the "after" part of the trip. But an adventure does await...

Weekend Wrap-Up

1. Dinner was fun with T&M on Saturday, but my purse still reeks of Indian food. Sigh.
2. I did not watch the Oscars. I don't even know anything about most of those movies, except for the Help.
3. Pearl Dive Oyster Palace did serve a good brunch, but man, were portions small and overpriced. It took about six bites to finish my itty bitty omelet. Next time, I go big for brunch.
4.  My favorite thing to cook is my shrimp scampi. Garlicky buttery goodness. So bad but so so good.
5. I will miss my Saturday a.m. shopping routine for the next few weeks. I will miss having Saturdays off for a few weeks, CA and LA be damned.
6. I started Mad Men Season three. Is it possible for a show to stay this good?
7. I also finished Nothing to Envy.  I already ordered Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader. Highly recommend.
8. One more day until Fanfarlo's album comes out.
9. It feels spring like today. Almost 60 degrees and sunny. I am SO ready to say goodbye to winter!
10. It's birthday week...that is all.

Quiet

I've been intrigued by this book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. I flipped through it at the airport the other day. As a classic introvert, I certainly felt that I could relate to a good part of the book's premise. And I think introverts can easily be confused as shy, or dismissed as boring or stuck-up, when there are really just different philosophies/personalities at play here. Extroverts are favored because of their outgoing nature, their story telling ability, their natural gregariousness.  And I like to think I am just that way in certain circumstances, in smaller groups. In larger groups, I get talked over and feel like I need to shut down.  But I'm not shy--I can easily speak in a big group, or talk on a conference call.

I've been enthralled with Nothing to Envy, by the way. Such a fascinating account of North Korean refugees who lived to tell how they fled their homes to head to South Korea. I never really how truly, horribly desperate the famines of the 1990s were and how many victims they claimed. I am sure I will finish the book by this weekend.

Best Children's Books

I saw this list and immediately wondered how many of these "Greatest Books for Kids" I had read once upon a time. Of course, Charlotte's Web; Anne Frank; Shel Silverstein; Judy Blume; The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; and The Secret Garden were on there, but I think there were some notable omissions in favor of some modern stuff. Um, now Little House on the Prairie?  And I guess the Shoe books are too old, sadly.  And Beverly Cleary? No Ramona? Hmm, definitely not happy about some of these choices.

The Little Things

1. Finding my lost earring; thank you St. Anthony! I loved that pair ever since I bought them in Ann Arbor for my birthday. SO happy it was found!
2. Two full days off. Cannot be happier than that.
3. Finally getting the kitchen fix started on Tuesday.
4. Shopping time this weekend. More wine, maybe a new top or two.
5. Our side table should be ready any day now.
6. Brunch with the girls.
7. Date night with husband.
8. Reading time. I finished Injustice and Grand Pursuit in the past week. More on that later. I am starting Rick Brookhiser's James Madison.  I've already started Paris 1919.
9. A chance to work out. Sunday will be rushed, but I really want to get in a good run that day before Superbowl gluttony.
10. And  yes, it's Superbowl weekend. But that also means six long months without football...sadness.