The Help by Kathryn Stockett

I remember the day in American History when I learned what American settlers did to the Native Americans, the sick I felt in my stomach. I remember the day that an 8th-grade Beth, Danica, and Linden recorded a documentary / play about Dachau for the History Day competition, how it really hit me what the Nazis did to the Jews, the homosexuals, the gypsies, the list goes on.

But understanding slavery, the Antebellum South, black struggles in the 20th century, civil rights 60s, even the racism still strong in my lifetime, it did not happen in a flash like those other times. We still sugar coat it. But white people have pretended for years that we were better than black people because of our skin color. That one obvious difference made our ancestors feel like black people were not as smart, carried diseases, were not real humans. White people today still use that pigmentation as an excuse for prejudice.

This saddens me to the point of tears. If you choose to hate someone because their skin color is different from yours, you might as well hate someone who’s eye color is different from yours. The difference is about as significant.

All that to say that The Help is an excellent book. I felt the pain of the house help and hated the arrogant, simple-minded, racist white women. It’s honest, heart-breaking, and inspiring.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

Let’s shift gears.

This was a nice, easy, quick read, and I enjoyed it. Keep that in mind while you read my criticism. :)

Dead Until Dark makes Twilight look good. As much as I complained about Meyer’s writing, Harris’s is worse.  Here’s my favorite quote.

“JB du Rone['s . . .] sleeveless shirt showed muscle definition that might have been chiseled with a—well, with a chisel” (283).

Really? Fire that editor. Teach Harris proofreading. That sentence is perfectly fine in a rough draft; Anne Lamott would agree. But you gotta edit that shit out!

It’s full of illogical shifts. Even after I re-read a confusing paragraph, I still couldn’t figure out the train of thought.

Dead Until Dark is a pretty standard Whodunnit. There’s a crime. First, the evidence points to that character. Then you think it’s that one. Finally, you’re sure it must be that guy. Turns out it was a marginal character you never suspected because it wasn’t foreshadowed at all. Hmm, okay.

There are some sexual encounters in the book, but man, disappointing. I thought the sexual tension in Twilight was better, and as I recall, there is never an actual sex scene in the Twilight Saga, just Bella wanting it and Edward controlling himself. Even on their honeymoon, the sex is never depicted but only referred to. And it still beats Sookie and Bill’s romps in the hay.

I didn’t hate the book, though; I really enjoyed the metaphysical ideas Harris toys with. Sookie, the main character, can read minds, but not every mind is like a newspaper. Sometimes, she just gets flashes or moods or images. I liked this so much because—here goes—I’m exploring some similar concepts in the book I’m working on. There, I said it. It’s still in the “Shitty First Draft” stage though, so don’t start asking for copies quite yet.

Twitter-ready Summary: When you need to escape into an easy drama, pick up Dead Until Dark, but don’t expect Dracula.

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I never feel guilty when I’m enjoying hummus with some yummy fladenbrot or whole wheat tortilla chips because hummus is a healthy dip. Its base is chickpeas (also know as garbanzo beans) and tahini, instead of cheese, sour cream, or mayo, like many other dips.

I found a recipe that promised to be “perfect,” and it was good, but too nutty and chickpea-y for me. I wanted zip! I kept looking and tried a promising hummus recipe that I found on Great Party Recipes. When I tried it, I knew I had found a classic hummus recipe that had that something extra. I did add a little sambel oelek, but this recipe definitely stands on its own.

Hummus

Used with permission from GreatPartyRecipes.com. Thanks, Liane!

2 c. canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), liquid reserved (or 1 c. dried chickpeas*, soaked and cooked, liquid reserved)
2/3 c. tahini paste*
5 tbs.olive oil, divided
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbs. sambel oelek (available at oriental markets)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

* I prefer to use dried chickpeas. They’re a slight bit cheaper than canned chickpeas, and not too much extra work. You can make your own tahini paste in a food processor or blender by grinding toasted sesame seeds. Toast the sesame seeds over medium heat until golden brown, about 3 minutes. If you buy tahini, make sure to get a good, Persian brand. It should smell nutty and taste rich.

In a food processor, puree the chickpeas, tahini, 3 tablespoons olive oil, lemon juice and garlic until smooth, adding a little of the reserved liquid if the mixture seems too thick; it will be slightly grainy. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a shallow bowl or plate. Combine the paprika and the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, drizzle the mixture over the top, and garnish with chopped parsley, if desired. Serve with pita bread triangles or breadsticks. Makes about 3 cups.

I always share my hummus with Sarah, because 2 cups prepared chickpeas plus the other ingredients makes more than 4 cups of hummus (it just barely fits in my 4-cup food processor!). I prefer eating hummus with fladenbrot (flatbread), or tortilla chips, but Sarah has some great other ideas that she shared with me.

I’ve found hummus is best served with bread of some sort; as long as it’s warm and sort of crunchy, it’ll do the trick for me. Try toasting a whole wheat bagel and ripping off pieces to dip. Or use a pizza cutter to slice a tortilla into strips, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with a bit of garlic salt, and toast the strips under your oven’s broiler for homemade tortilla chips. (I’ve only ever used traditional tortillas for this, but I’d like to try whole-wheat tortillas soon. I think this would work.) You could do the same with pita bread, too. In a pinch, store-bought pita chips, pretzels, or tortilla chips also work, as do raw vegetables.

Have you found another great hummus recipe or have a great add in for hummus? Share it in the comments!

[image source, thanks to Creative Commons!]

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King hit it right on the nose: We are all crazy. How we deal with it, though, is individual. I love horror movies—so King pegged me exactly—and I love running.

Watching horror movies fills me with terror, fear. And I love it. I live a very privileged life. My belly is always full, I sleep in a warm bed in a nice house next to a loving husband. I have never been abused or neglected. My close friends are hilarious. The only emotion that I don’t experience regularly is fear, so I get that from horror movies. I give myself over to them, allow myself to believe the most ridiculous plot lines, in order to feel scared. They make me bite my fingernails, wring my hands, huddle under the throw blanket. And I love every minute of it.

Running, on the other hand, is how I deal with all other sources of mental illness. Stress. Depression. Temptation. Anxiety. Insomnia. Running (or getting your heart rate up in whatever way possible) floods your body with happy chemicals. That is one major reason that it helps keep the insanity at bay. But it also puts you face-to-face with life. There’s no faking it in running. You are either pushing yourself or you are working out at a lower intensity. Or you’re walking. It’s you and the trail. There are no illusions about the task at hand; you can see the miles ahead of you, can feel the miles you’ve already put behind you. When there’s no where to hide and nothing to hide behind, you gain a new clarity on life. That, and exhausting yourself on a regular basis helps you pass out when your head hits the pillow.

We all have our own tried-and-true methods of safely indulging the insanity. Stephen King and Hal Higdon help me stay out of the straight jacket—who does it for you?

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I’m enjoying learning all of these new methods, and I will slowly begin integrating them into my teaching methods. But I am about to make a change that I will implement immediately, and it’s a bit unconventional.

Yesterday, I met with three other instructors and had a Wimba Playdate. We logged into Blackboard and entered the Wimba Classroom. What’s Wimba, you ask? Yeah, I had no idea until yesterday at 10:30 either. Wimba is an online tool that allows for synchronous discussion, presentations, instant messaging, link sharing, and whiteboard use. It’s a really fascinating tool and I wish I had learned about it sooner, but the semester isn’t even half over yet, so I’ll have plenty of time to use it.

And today, all OTC faculty and staff received an email sharing various mentions of OTC in the news. One that caught my eyes was a News-Leader article about a professor who has moved his office hours to the Border’s cafe. I love it. He’s getting more students because, he conjectures, they feel more comfortable in that environment, they feel less like they are bothering him.

I definitely see his point. I have always had students visit me during my office hours, then apologize for bothering me. I don’t get it.

Currently, my office hours are from 10:00 until 2:00 and 7:00 to 9:00 Monday through Friday. I offered so many hours because I have many students who work full time jobs and have families to take care of. They need alternative times to reach me. But, like always, no one is really taking advantage of my current office hours. So I’m going to change the way I do office hours.

Starting next week, I’m cutting way back. I’ll offer two daytime options throughout the week and two nighttime options. One of each time frame will be in Wimba and one will be at Barnes & Noble (gotta support the hubby, right?). Because I teach online, many of my students are not in this area, so I don’t know how successful the Barnes & Noble office hours will be, but I’m willing to give it a try and re-evaluate later. At the least, I’ll get to enjoy a skinny Chai latte and work around other people, outside my home office.

I’ll remind students that they may of course call my Google Voice number anytime, which I have set to DND during certain hours. We’ll see how it goes. I’m hopeful about these unconventional options, and I hope my students will use them, partly so I can play with Wimba and have a legitimate excuse hang out at a coffee shop and enjoy fancy drinks.

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Here’s the short story: Rob was playing drums in a band, Amsterband, and my best friend was dating the lead singer. She said, “I think you’d like the drummer. He’s cute, funny, and smart.” I went to a barbecue at Cedarbrook and we checked each other out, barely talking to each other. I called him a couple days later, we went on a date, and two years later, we tied the knot.

But the long story is so much more interesting!

Rob grew up in Marzahn, a somewhat infamous district in Berlin. I grew up in Overland Park, Kansas, and Neosho, Missouri.

During Gymnasium (somewhat like American high school, but more similar in accomplishment to high school plus an associate’s degree), one of Rob’s good friends, Christian, was an exchange student to West Plains, Missouri. Christian became friends with Brian Roberts.

Brian, a guitar player, loves Germany, and during college, did an internship in Nuremberg. While there, he visited Berlin to see Christian and hung out with Christian’s friends. That’s how he met Rob. They engaged in general merry-making, which often included jam sessions.

Brian finished his internship and returned to Southwest Missouri State University, but stayed in contact with Rob. When he wanted to start a band, he emailed Rob and asked him if he wanted to come over to the U.S. of A. to play in his band.

Rob was at a unique point in his life. He was 21 and had just finished the required two-year civil service. He said yes, shipped his drumset and packed everything that was important to him in two large duffel bags. The band, soon to be known as Amsterband, is filled out by Luke, a fellow Zizzer that Brian knew growing up.

Meanwhile, Beth breaks up with her long-time boyfriend. Then she meets Luke at the weight room. They go on a couple dates, but then Beth meets Brian. Luke moves on and Beth and Brian start dating. During dinner one night, Beth tells me all about the interesting characters that live at Cedarbrook (the name all the guys use to refer to their house). There are 5 guys living in a 3-bedroom, 1 1/2 bath house on North Cedarbrook. She tells me about the German guy and tells me we should go on a date.

Here’s where it gets interesting.

Beth and I go to that barbecue and Rob and I spend the evening observing each other from afar. I call him a few days later and we decide to go on a date.

He still holds it against me that I made him watch xXx on our first date.

We date for a few months, and then I dump him. He’s getting too serious too quickly and I don’t like it.

We get back together after three days. Then I dump him again a couple weeks before Christmas. We talked a couple times a week for a month or so. Finally, I realized that this guys really loves me. That, despite having been dumped by me twice, he still has a pure love for me, not that nasty obsession that so many people develop after a break up. That I was living in the past, hoping that I could get back together with an ex. That Rob is here now and he’s sweet and funny and unendingly interesting because he’s from another culture.

We get back together in January, and the rest, as they say,  is history. We were married on our two-year anniversary in the church in Westport, Kansas City, where three generations of my family have gotten married before me. That was 5 years, 7 months ago, and we have grown so much, done so much, in that time. I am really excited to see what happens in the next 5 1/2 years!

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I finished The Great Gatsby, started Catch-22, and started and finished The Help. I love books. They take me to places and times I cannot experience any other way.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby’s plot did not enthrall me; the plot development style comes from a different time. But it is solid. The characters are interesting and the scenes are vivid tales from the 1920s, a lively time in our nation’s history, a time before we were struck by a second world war, the arresting possibility of mutually assured destruction, the charged and overdue battle for civil rights on home soil, the death of beloved and influential leaders way before their time.  It was a celebratory time in our young nation’s history, that that we were without scars by that point. Fitzgerald captures the spirit of the decade, and again I must say that the author is a master craftsman in his art of working words just so. He describes the wealth, old and new, and title character reminds us of the old pains our country has suffered, what he–and we–will go through to try to make right what was broken. What he suffers and will suffer because time marches resolutely onward, despite the promises lovers make to each other behind closed doors.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

I am reading this one in audiobook format, and it’s excellent! The reader does an excellent job–he almost sounds like he is Joseph Heller himself the way he reads. Except for nasally Doc Daneeka. I can’t wait to see how the story unfolds.

Bonus Make You Seem Smart Lesson of the Day: Originally, as defined by Heller, a catch-22 is a circular predicament, not just a simple hitch in the plan, not just a no-win situation. Read more about it on Wikipedia.

I’ll recount The Help in another post. Because that’s what it deserves.

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I like this site because I am known for my bad color palettes. Back when I took English 627, I got teased for making web sites that look like clown pants. I made some pants once that looked like clown pants. I know there’s a picture of them somewhere around here and when I find it, I’ll share it with you. And by share it with you, I mean immediately throw it in the fireplace.

Anyway, Wear Palettes presents daily inspiration from an image of “street outfits” and a palette of colors from that image. Here’s one that pulls from a Star Wars image. Wear Palettes wins one brownie point. Unfortunately, they insult the brilliant minds behind Star Wars in the post title. I’m taking that brownie point back. Sorry, guys.

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To see my Book Challenge list for 2010, “24 in 20-10,” click here. You can read all of my Book Challenge Update posts here.

I finished Kafka on the Shore last night, and I have repeat what I said last time about Haruki Murakami being an artist with words. He polishes his craft in this book. The main characters–Kafka, Nakata, Oshima, Hoshino, and even Mimi the Siamese cat–are so well designed, without feeling forced, that I really believed they are real people living in this world. After reading two of Murakami’s books, Kafka on the Shore and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, he has made it to my list of favorite authors.

Kafka on the Shore is at once a familial/romantic love story; a Bildungsroman (or coming-of-age tale); and a complex, metaphysical drama. When I finished it, I thought to myself, “Self, you will have to read that again to understand it fully,” and indeed, Murakami agrees. He said of the book that “understanding the novel lies in reading it multiple times.” I will definitely re-read it.

One note about Kafka on the Shore: it does contain some explicit sex scenes, but I have to say, Murakami writes them tastefully. They are very well done, and I don’t think mature readers should avoid the book because of them.

Next I begin a book recommended by Rob and Murakami, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. As is tradition, I started it last night after finishing Kafka on the Shore. I am already not enjoying the writing style, but I’ll read it all. I’ve heard it has a great story.

I’m also going to start reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett for a Barnes & Noble Ladies’ Book Club. I’m going to try to read two books at one time because I have The Great Gatsby on audiobook and The Help in hardback. I’ve tried to read two paper books before and it doesn’t work so well, but I think the fact that I’m consuming the books in two different mediums should make it possible. I’ve done that before.

[image source]

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