End of September? Reading List, Part One

Where on earth has this year gone?  We're already well into fall, and I feel like I haven't been able to catch up with where I want to be from a blogging perspective.

I had a health scare this month when I tested high for the first round of gestational diabetes testing, but that proved to be a fluke since the 3 hour glucose tolerance test was not even borderline.  It freaked me out a lot.  When I get freaked out these days, I obsess in my head, but don't write about it much.  I think I need to work on this.

I've been reading a lot.  I would like to write some reviews of a few of the books I've been devouring lately, but I don't think I'll ever get around to writing seperate reviews of each, so here's some (we'll call it Part One) of my top summer reads (in no particular order, except perhaps vaguely in the order I read/can recall them):

1.  Apologize, Apologize by Elizabeth Kelly--I got this at one of the Border's closing sales to read on Martha's Vineyard since the story takes place there.  It was surprisingly tragic (the description makes it sound like a coming-of-age comedy).  A fascinating character study of truly bizarre people.  And the main character even has a brief stint as a suicide hotline counselor...

2.  Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua--A book that was all over the media because it claimed that Asian parenting was somehow superior to Western parenting.  I feel like this may have been what even Chua herself believed she was trying to write, but I think her editors did her a disservice in promoting the book this way.  The tale that unfolds in the narrative is one that is much more humble and honest than the way it came off in the news articles.  First of all, she is trying to recreate in her (incredibly priveledged) upper-middle class American daughters the character building lessons she learned as the daughter of working-class Chinese immigrants by being absolutely nuts about music education.  I don't think it accomplished what she thinks it did.

It ends, as all parenting narratives really should, in uncertainty and doubt.  Ultimately, the reason Chua's parenting works is because she cares so very much about her girls and they know that, not because of any particular techniques she claims. 

3.  Little Bee by Chris Cleave--This is the second book from the highly acclaimed British author.  It's unusual and powerful because it is written in two voices--that of an African refugee nicknamed Little Bee and a British woman whose life becomes inextricably entwined with Little Bee's under the worst of circumstances.  It is exquisite.  It's the most humanizing and heartwrenching tale of what globalization means that I have ever read.

I don't know what else I can say about this book except this:  Read it.

...to be continued.

Project 30: Vacation Health Goals

Tomorrow I leave for Martha's Vineyard (again) for a much anticipated vacation that was planned before I found out I was pregnant or decided to quit my job as a teacher.  Although vacations tend to not advance monetary goals, Min Gi and I have taken some steps to limit the wild spending spree that can accompany travel by planning ahead for cooking in the house we're renting and scoping out cheap/free activities to do on the island.  My sister, her boyfriend, and some of the friends that are accompanying us are also trying to economize, so we'll at least have good company.

That said, I'm not going to let financial concerns stop me from having a good time.  This may well be our last long trip as a twosome for a bit, and I plan to enjoy it thoroughly.  I can let money worries overwhelm me at times, but the reality is that we've come up with a new way to once again cut our housing expenses in half to survive on my reduced income (more about that when we come back from the trip), and because I opted for the summer-pay option when I was teaching, I'm essentially bringing in double pay right now.  So even though I'm worried about the future and baby expenses, we're not in all that terrible of a position.  I need to chill about it.

Every week, I'm going to set some health goals in an attempt to improve my general health and make my labor/birth easier.  I'll try to reflect on how they went when I set new ones.  Since I'll be on vacation this week, my goals will be simple:

1)  Drink at least 8 glasses of water each day.  (Pregnancy makes me thirsty; it's hot out and I'm getting some dehydration easily).  I will bring a refillable bottle to take around with me to assist in this process.
2)  Do 2 sets of "pregnancy" exercises each day: squats, Kegels, cat stretch, and wall stretch.  (I should be getting plenty of activity this week, but I need to start doing these recommended things for the next few months to improve strength and flexibility where I need it).

I'm going to start recording water consumption and activity this week in a journal (hopefully food journaling will be a goal for next week).  I'll let you know how I did with these two goals next Friday.

Pride!

It's arrived at my parents' house, officially.

I now have a Master of Arts in Writing from Northeastern University.

I spent three summers attending graduate seminars on writing and pedagogical theory on Martha's Vineyard with an extraordinary collection of professors from universities all over the country and other brilliant teacher-students who have become life-long friends (yeah, I'm talking to those of you guys who read this blog!). I spent many hours working on papers, reading and researching about writing and writing theory--especially that connected with teaching.

In my first three years of teaching at Roosevelt, I grew a lot as a person and a teacher. I've grown even more in Korea. But I know that I wouldn't have grown as much without the opportunity to engage in the reflection and writing that I did through this graduate program. It's been quite a trip, and even served as some of the initial inspiration for the starting of this blog.

From the first course I took with Professor Susan Wall where I discovered my "teaching self":

Writing is such a complex and often contradictory activity. There are rules, but most great writers break those rules; there are genres, but rarely does writing of genius confine itself to a prescribed form without ingenuity. I discovered I could teach conventions and forms, but as much as I encouraged students, they were often afraid to take the risks that they needed to take to become great writers. I realized that part of my task as a writing teacher would have to be to create an environment in which students were encouraged and rewarded for successful risks.

This was a terrifying discovery as a new teacher, because the natural extension was that I would have to start taking risks as a teacher.

--excerpt from "First Draft: A New(ish) Writing Teacher Examines Her Beliefs," final paper for Current Approaches to Teaching Writing

To my final research thesis (a teacher-research study about balancing the demands of a high-pressure test--the AP Language and Composition--with the goals of providing students with writing workshop style instruction), under the direction of Professor Elizabeth Chiseri-Strater, finished up here in South Korea this May:

As I said in the introduction of this paper, I have relocated to South Korea, where I continue to teach students in a test-based, highly competitive educational environment. However, I am fundamentally changed by my experiences as a teacher-researcher. I take risks in teaching more confidently than I did before beginning this project; even in a foreign land where I don’t always understand the language and the culture. I try to do what the best thing for my students is, rather than the best thing for the administrators, parents, political groups, or test-makers, but I also recognize a need for balance. I can’t be everything for these students, even for their writing and language development, or they will be too dependent on me, and I will make myself sick again.

What’s more, I see the need for cultural/anthropological research methods in all aspects of my life. Certainly the practice of carefully assessing all aspects of a situation, being open and honest about multiple interpretations of a single event, and learning from your mistakes have served me well in understanding Korea. Towards the end of the research year, I began a blog that I often use as a way to systematize my cultural/life observations and personal research. It was inspired in large part by the journaling I began with my research project. It has kept me honest with myself.

Finally, in the writing of this paper, I am reminded even further of the gratitude I feel for the amazing people I have had the opportunity to teach and to learn from. My students are teachers, just as much as my professors have been (and having had some really spectacular professors, that’s saying quite a lot). This job is special, but not because we’re miracle workers or martyrs. Teaching affords us a unique and direct view of the human spirit in progress and the human mind at work; one cannot but wonder at humanity’s capabilities. I hope I will always be able to appreciate that.

--excerpt from "Better than Good Enough: One AP Language and Composition teacher uses Writing Workshop techniques to develop her curriculum within the confines of a standardized testing environment," final graduate thesis

And the classes on subjects as varied as Children's Literature and Memoir Writing in between, I will always cherish these moments for reflection on the act of writing and teaching writing. Life often gets in the way of leisure time for intellectual development; I know that unless I choose to return for a Ph.D. or MFA in Creative Writing, it is unlikely I will get this kind of intellectual luxury again in such intense doses.

(But of course I spent all day researching Ph.D. programs in Australia and England... I'm so "special").

Anyhow... I'm both relieved and sad to dry the ink on this chapter in my life. I will miss it, but now I can choose my intellectual pursuits without regard to term papers and course requirements. Today, however, for the first time in awhile, I feel proud of myself and my accomplishment.

And that's a fine feeling.

Re-visiting old thoughts...

I stumbled upon my own words from over a year and a half ago today. I find it amazing how much this revelation still echoes for me today.

I was thinking about relationships and how in previous ones I never would have felt comfortable going on a week and half long vacation without my significant other because... well... I have no freaking clue why. I wish I had studied abroad in college, but I was always afraid to leave my boyfriend for that long. It's sad and pathetic. Even the major travel I did on my own in the U.S. (for my grad school program to Martha's Vineyard) was a program I signed up for when I was between boyfriends (though I was dating Mike for two of the three summers I went... funny coincidence that the last summer was the best one... haha!).

I think women, in particular, make a lot of their decisions based on the input of those around them, especially those they are romantically involved with. We are taught to compromise. We compromise before we are even asked to sometimes. We hope that the guy will look into our souls and see the great dreams we are giving up to be with them and realize how amazing we are for doing so and make it worth having done so.

Unfortunately, it never is.

This is the first relationship I've been in where I have felt both comfortable making my own decisions about things and supported in the decisions I've made. Sure, Min Gi would like to come with me (and I'd really love for him to be able to go), but it's ok that he can't. I still want to go. And I will.

My grandpa Joe whispered to my mom on her wedding day, "Don't give up too much, too soon." She said she never really understood it until much later, but she was lucky that she had managed to follow it anyway. My parents did Peace Corps together; they got their Ph.D.s at the same time; they waited to have kids until 12 years after their wedding. I had hoped to find that kind of partner early on... One that I could grow up with. But it didn't happen that way. In some ways, I'm glad it didn't. Now I know I can do all these things for myself. And will.

It's funny how it sometimes takes not getting what you originally wanted to find out what you actually need.

Menemsha (Martha's Vineyard)

One final, not-to-be-missed place on the island is the sunset at Menemsha. Menemsha is a small fisherman's village with some of the best fresh seafood on the island. We visitors know it better for the small beach on the harbor, which offers one of the most spectacular sunset views on the island, possibly in the world (although I think Church Point down at SMCM would give it a run for its money, but I may be partial). Even though sunset photos never turn out as spectacular as the even itself, here is one of my favorites (because this young lady was just too completely adorable for words):


One of the coolest things about the Menemsha sunset is that everybody claps for a natural event. So many people come out just to watch something awesome--such simple pleasures abound for those who would seek them. I don't even miss the television one little bit. I think I'm not even going to bother hooking it back up.

I have also uploaded other photos from Martha's Vineyard that did not appear in other posts, including many of program participants and my own master's thesis presentation. Check out the album:

Other Photos from Martha's Vineyard '07

Enjoy!

Gay Head/Aquinnah/Moshup Beach...

Have you heard about the nudist beach on Martha's Vineyard?

No, seriously... there is a public beach where nudity is allowed in Massachusetts, the original home of the Puritan exiles from England, in a town called (oh yes, for real) Gay Head.

Once I stopped laughing about the ridiculousness, I noticed that the town was originally known as Aquinnah and is home to the Native Americans who inhabited this island before European settlement. (They have a lot of political battles with "locals" who are ironically very exclusive about who they consider "native" to the island...). This is the lighthouse:


The clay cliffs of Gay Head are known for their unique geological properties. The tribally owned cliffs are quite tall and the colors are intensely beautiful:


The public beach under the cliffs (called Moshup Beach) offers some of the most beautiful views of water and dramatic scenery because of the rockiness of the shoreline. Nancy, Andrea, and I took a walk down the shore through naked people territory to find the best views of the cliffs and the rocks:


One of the other cool features of the beach are the balanced rock formations left by people who are really good at that sort of zen art thing:


Sometimes these rock "sculptures" look like little guys with backpacks (this is my favorite picture from yesterday!)...


At the end of the beach, some of the natural clay from the cliffs had been pulled out toward the beach where (although it is illegal to touch the clay), people made interesting sculptures from it for us to find on our walk:


Now you must keep in mind that the whole time I was walking around trying to take these pictures, we were surrounded by naked people walking into and out of the frames. It was challenging because while I appreciate their openness with their bodies, I don't really want pictures of them to publish here (we're not trying to run THAT kind of blog...) and it's considered gauche to snap the shots. As Andrea said of the frolicking free spirits: "It's harder when they're mobile."

I got a lot of beautiful pictures (besides the favorites above), without taking one picture of a nudie! WOOHOO!

Check out the rest in the album:

Gay Head/Aquinnah--Martha's Vineyard

Fuller Street Beach (Edgartown)

Every year, the MVSI summer program hosts a traditional New England Clambake on Fuller Street beach. Fuller Street is a quiet Beach near Edgartown overlooking the water between the main island and Chappaquiddick. I get to eat really fresh lobster with really awesome and brilliant people in a gorgeous setting??? HECK YEAH!

The sky was incredible!

This is the Edgartown Lighthouse from a bit of a distance.

You can see "Chappy" in the background here.

Serenity...

As the sun set, the sky's colors were exceptional... this doesn't do it any sort of justice.

To see more, including the awesome participants and some of the remnants of our destroyed lobsters, check out the album at my Picasa site:

Fuller Street--Martha's Vineyard

P.S. Please let me know which style of photo-sharing on my blog works best for you guys. I'm re-learning html and playing around with photo sharing options at the moment.

Shark Tournament... (Oak Bluffs)

Warning: This post will contain pictures of dead, bloody fish. And yes, that is a picture of a chum bucket. Yum, yum, chum, chum...

As the "on location" film site for Jaws, people sometimes associate Martha's Vineyard with sharks almost as much as they do with the Kennedys. On one weekend in July, this association is made even more apparent. Each year for the last 21, Oak Bluffs, MA on Martha's Vineyard hosts a Monster Shark Tournament that ESPN has covered since 2004. It is a very controversial event, as the airplane advertisement over Tashmoo we saw on Friday afternoon demonstrates:


(The sign reads: END THE CRUEL SHARK TOURNAMENT NOW www.HumaneSociety.org)

The tournament now attracts both sports fishermen and PETA/Humane Society protesters from around the globe. I'm not a fan of senseless killing, but I have always been intrigued by scenes of blood and gore. We went over to Oak Bluffs on Saturday for a concert of Ben Taylor's (son of James Taylor and Carly Simon) at the Tabernacle, but got there an hour or so early, so I got to take some awesome pictures of this event. They capture just a bit of the insanity happening at the harbor:







Now, I do eat fish (even though I still will call myself a vegetarian), and while I oppose factory farming because it is cruel treatment of the animals, I don't usually oppose the hunting of wild game because that seems a little more fair. However, I will say that hanging around OB that day made me a little sick to my stomach as some of the slaughter seemed a bit senseless. Sharks are nifty creatures and they deserve better than to have their heads mounted on the back of hundred thousand dollar boats to attract chicks (yes, that was part of the whole "fun and games" machismo). I will admit that as much as I found the events unfolding repulsive, it was fascinating to watch from a cultural studies perspective...

The concert was a far more pleasant way to spend the evening, especially when Carly Simon hopped up on stage, although the lighting made for less quality pictures:


Walter Cronkite was in the audience, but my pictures of him came out even worse! After the show, Ben signed my CD and posed for a picture where he looks stoned:

He's actually quite cute in person--and ridiculously tall! His music is very folk-rock, influenced by his parents' talents, but definitely unique in some cool ways. It was fun to see him play on the island where he grew up.

West Chop Lighthouse

A bit north of Vineyard Haven is the smaller village of West Chop. I went for a long walk out that way a few days ago and took some pictures.

Although West Chop has some beautiful beaches and grand houses with pretty gardens, it has a distinctively anti-tourist KEEP OUT sentiment that is evident in the many posted signs near pretty meadows, beaches, and the lighthouse. Sometimes we can forget (or at least ignore) the feelings of resentment against tourists by the locals here, but the evidence is there in abundance. As a visitor with the workshop program, I am somewhere between tourist (especially a repeat visitor) and summer resident (like the European college students who come here to work in ice cream shops and live in the hostel or the campground). Most people here, even the famous ones who live here year round or vacation here, are welcoming. But sometimes the cynical part of me wonders if it is more out of economic necessity than genuine camaraderie!

Anyhow, here are my favorite West Chop pictures, including the family of wild turkeys:



I hope you all are enjoying the pictures. My next set will be Oak Bluffs, the annual shark fishing tournament and the concert with Ben Taylor (son of Carly Simon who was there and James Taylor who was not). I've been terribly busy with graduate work and all the cool stuff I'm doing, so updates are not really regular. I am trying!

Edgartown and South Beach

Today was a "reading day" which meant that while I had to do a ton of work on my papers and read a bunch of books for class, I had no scheduled activities. I woke up and started my paper that is due tomorrow for the children's lit class and around 10, Ellen popped in and said she was headed down to South Beach to read and asked if I wanted to come. Now, South Beach, which is also known as Katama, is about 10 miles south of Vineyard Haven, just outside of Edgartown, but it is by far my favorite beach on the island. It is not the most scenic or the most serene, but it is on the ocean side of the island and has the best waves for swimming. I jumped at the chance!

When we got there the weather was a bit gray and stormy but still very pleasant, but the best part was that the waves were brutally insane. Since I was a little kid and first vacationed at Virgina Beach during Hurricane Andrew, I have always craved bigger and badder waves to play in. It is only a "good day" at the beach from a swimming perspective if you have been knocked to the ground at least once. I am often disappointed by the small size of waves that terrify my companions. I tell you all this so that you understand when I say that today, the waves were perfect, though it is a little hard to see how huge these things were in the pictures (turn on comments--obviously the ones of me getting flipped were taken by Ellen!):



After all the insanity of the beach, we were starving, so we headed to a yummy sandwich shop in Edgartown and wandered about on the main street there. Edgartown has the best little quirky shops and most scenic gardens on the island, although everything there is very pricey.

The tea shop has a life-size butler mannequin out front, who is, quite frankly, a bit creepy:

This church had a beautiful little yard and a neat gift shop:


Where else but Martha's Vineyard would you find a scrimshaw gallery, huh?

These guys were outside a gallery that we couldn't go inside because they were power-washing the exterior. Given my love for harlequin jesters, I was disappointed to miss it, but glad I got this pic:

Whew! I was tired, but got home and cranked out my paper for class and read some articles before heading out (again) for dinner in Oak Bluffs. However, I stupidly forgot my camera. I will bring it another day and return to the Gingerbread Cottages, which are really quite an unbelievable sight. Good night!

Vineyard Haven (Tisbury)

There are six main towns on the island. Vineyard Haven (a.k.a. Tisbury), Oak Bluffs, and Edgartown are "down island" and have most of the touristy shops, restaurants, bars, and activities. Aquinnah, Chilmark, and West Tisbury are located "up island," along with the tiny little popular sunset gazing spot, Menemsha. Classes for the writing institute are held at the Nathan Mayhew Seminars building, pictured to the left, in the town of Vineyard Haven.

Tisbury is a dry town, meaning its restaurants do not serve alcohol, which often surprises tourists because some of the restaurants have the words "tavern" or "lounge" in them! However, this makes the town a bit less of a party spot than Oak Bluffs, which is nice for our own peace of mind while working on my writing. I did go down there to Lola's last night for some dancing and boozing (apparently it's a pretty happening spot--they had a neat little live band and a good dance floor and everything), but it's more relaxing (as you can see from my new blog self-portrait) to be away from the madness. Our house (Downing House) has a hammock where I spent a lovely afternoon reading books for my children's lit class, until one of the ropes snapped (I didn't do anything to it... I guess it was just worn out), so now I can't use the hammock until our landlord repairs it. Darn!

The town itself has a few nice restaurants (including the famous Black Dog Tavern, a fresh seafood place called The Net Result, and the overpriced but well-beloved Mad Martha's handmade ice cream), a book store called "A Bunch of Grapes," some beautiful art galleries and quirky clothing/gift shops, and a fine library, conveniently located across the street from the seminar building. Downing House is about a 15 minute walk from the center of town.

As for beaches, Vineyard Haven does not offer the best of the island. The ferry terminal has some public beaches nearby, but they are filled with boats and ferry exhaust and usually overcrowded. However, for the adventurous sort, there is a kind of "secret" beach about 2 miles outside of town on a dusty, unmarked, unpaved road. Tashmoo Lake meets up with Vineyard Sound at a very narrow, very deep channel. There are many private homes around the lake that are probably quite pricey, even by Vineyard standards. I walked there yesterday (the hills just about killed my calves), but went back today via car to take some pictures and to read some more. I've included the album of Tashmoo Beach below.

Getting onto "The Vineyard"

Awesome--Internet at Downing House is functional!

Martha's Vineyard Island is accessible by ferry (steamships that carry passengers and vehicles) and by plane. Each of the three years I've come here, I have sojourned by driving up 95 alone to get on the ferry. The ferry where you can take your car with you onto the island is in Woods Hole, MA which is in lovely Cape Cod. It is a very long drive all to myself. I usually stop at a Denny's in Connecticut to rest, eat, and read. This year's trip was the best because I did it mostly during the daytime (previous years had been overnight trips). I do enjoy road trips, but not really driving by myself for so long.

My ferry reservation was for 3:45 p.m., but I was over an hour early, so they squeezed me in at 2:45 p.m. I saw Renee (who is staying in Downing House with me this year) on the ferry--she was in my class on memoir last year. We chatted, but she wanted to stay inside, so I went and took pictures of the trip. Check it out (recommend that you turn on comments):



I have been busy ever since, but mostly with school things. I will be visiting Tashmoo beach tomorrow after class, which is a beautiful area.

Oh yeah, and I spoke with my professor that I'm working with for my thesis and she said that I might be able to incorporate my blogging into my project, since it was in some ways an outgrowth of the progress I made as a teacher and a writer this year. Maybe I'll do a Ph.D. on blogging as a new form of literacy for an Internet savvy generation... Fancy!

I made it... just barely...

Update from the beautiful barrier island of Martha's Vineyard near Cape Cod. It was made famous and infamous by Ted Kennedy's drinking and driving (Chappaquiddick). I am here to rest, read, and write. Oh yeah, and finish my degree through the Martha's Vineyard Summer Institute with Northeastern University.

My trip up here was pretty hellish. I had not slept the night before the night I was packing from a rather silly incident I wrote about before with my little sister that involved kidnapping and hilarity. This made me excessively tired. I had stupidly left all my packing for the last minute, so it should not have surprised me when I again got almost no sleep and then had to drive for the nine hours it takes to get up here.

I took pictures of the ferry ride, but they are on the laptop computer at Downing House. When I get a chance, I will post more information for you and document my trip more accurately. For now, I'm just exhausted and finished running around the island doing various errands and dropped by Hough house to check the internet (which I can't seem to access from my house here).

I will say that for my class on young adult literature, I had to read a book recommended to me by my students, so on the (very long) drive up to the island, I listened to the memoir Gifted Hands by Ben Carson, MD. Although a little overtly spiritual for my tastes (yes, God sure saved that little girl who you operated on for 10 hours after years of some of the best medical training in the world... right...God... /sarcasm--although, to be fair to Mr. Carson, he does his best to rationalize his beliefs for us), the book was detailed and inspirational. I can see why my students enjoyed it so much. I might actually consider reading some of his other works (for some reason, I do find detailed descriptions of brain surgery fascinating... no joke!). He's not the best writer in the world, but his writing is more than competent and his voice is compelling. Give it a shot!