mangroves!

Terri! I have an idea for my room! And though you probably won't see this until you get back, I wanted to post some sites so I could look back at them on here, and then you could look too.
I want to kind of design a mangrove forest on one of my walls. I'm not sure what I would use, maybe fabric? Paper? But I want something more for my room this year.
Probably fabric.
anyway, here's some ideas:
http://www.natureartists.com/art/resized/251_Slide_Lying_in_Ambush_Wall.JPG
http://www.ateneo.edu/ateneo/www/SiteFiles/Image/ED%202008/low-res_mangrove.jpg
and google mangrove for more pictures.

DEPENDS

So I spent a lot of time on the beach this past week, and I did a lot of reading, and finished The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence. The narrator is a 91 year old lady who is really grumpy and crabby, and constantly finds fault with everything around her. The story jumps back and forth from the past to the present, so you basically get an entire account of her life. Or at least what she wants you to know about her life. That's what I'm coming to find out about first person narrative--it's biased! I'm sure Terri, since she is the only one who reads this academic journal, is like, duh it's told from one person's specific viewpoint, it's going to be biased! I guess I never really looked at it that way, and I've been writing in first person for awhile, and tried to keep it as fair as possible...but people don't work that way. In first person, you are going to get one viewpoint. Unless the writer is highly skilled and can pull off showing the truth through other characters, which this writer did.
Anyway, more about the novel. Basically her life sucked. She married a man she didn't love, lived in poverty, raised two sons, one she loved, the other she didn't really care for, the son dies a stupid pointless death (isn't all death pointless though?), and she ends the book...dying? With some disease? YOU DON'T KNOW! As I said before, the narrator is very bitter. This summer, I spent 11 days with my grandma (who is 88? 89?) and found that she was more bitter than usual. Usually she complains, but every now and then she'll lighten up and smile. This past vacation she complained the majority of the time, and rarely made an effort to talk to Kristin or I. This book kind of gave me a viewpoint into her life. In all honesty, I don't understand her. I can't begin to imagine what her life must be like, because I can walk without pain. I can reach for things, and move around, and see more clearly. And I'm pretty sure that she doesn't understand my lifestyle as well. It was interesting to read from this narrator's perspective. Pretty much this book has taught me that I will NEVER put my parents in a nursing home against their wishes. It seems cruel that they cared for me all these years (and I haven't been the most considerate or fun person to be around), and then when they need me to shove them in a place they don't want to be. When it got rough we me, they didn't give me up for adoption or put me in foster care. Seva, right?
Also, in the book, the narrator really loves this one son, John. Well John has a little girlfriend, Arelene. At one point, the narrator and Arelene are talking, and the narrator is telling Arelene that John isn't good for her, because he is a drunk, and no one can really change people, so she will be really disappointed if she goes her whole life trying to change people. Arelene gets really pissy and rants about how the narrator will never understand John like she does.
I got really mad when I read that, and thought how stupid Arelene was, but then it hit me...
Yeah that was Karma. Not going to lie, I have said that a lot. Not ever to Glen's mom's face, but to Glen. And I was thinking about how in the book, the narrator spent a lot of her time with her son, so it's fairly obvious that she is going to know him in ways Arelene never could. Likewise, Arelene will know John in different ways too, but neither one will ever know John better. Just different. So I have changed my mind about Glen's mom.
Overall the book was good though. The writing was flowery and annoying at times, and I had a hard time getting into it at first. The author liked to throw in random awkward lines that I can't really remember, but other than that. It was good. I think it was good to read for understanding at least. I think we all possess a certain amount of disillusion about getting old.

Galveston and Ishmael, just to be weird

In Galveston today, and it smells like the ocean! We are less than a quarter mile (prepare to turn in a quarter of a mile! Guido! hahaha oh the GPS) from the frapping ocean, and if you go to the third story, and strain to see above the other beach houses, you can see it. I guess it's really not the ocean, more the gulf of Mexico, but still. It's gorgeous!
We went down and spent a few hours on it today. Part of the sand, mainly the sections closest to the water is a dark murky brown, where the sand closer to land is more white and fluffy. Glen's Uncle, Steve, said it was because of tar from different oil spills. He then proceeded to dig up clumps of black sand.
But then again, the earth was created for man, so why shouldn't we do as we please?
I'll get back to that later.
I went walking on the beach and on my way back, I noticed a Tiger Eye shell. If you haven't seen one, google it, because they are really cool, and I was thinking about how my mom would probably like it, so I reached for it, and there was a hermit crab inside! I sat down in the sand and watched it for awhile. I haven't particularly liked nature or crabs or shells before (before this previous spring semester) but this one crab captivated me.
We can co-exist with nature.
Which brings me to Ishmael. Terri's right, it's stunning. Seriously. It made me look at the world completely differently than I have before, and like her I don't want to say much. Other than it caused me a lot of despair. Mostly last night. I was watching the opening ceremony, and I couldn't find beauty in the technology or dances they did. I wanted to, and normally I should have, but I was caught up in that we need to change, we need to stop fighting nature, we need to learn to coexist, we need to stop conquering, and watching the ceremony just felt like a road block that opened my eyes to the BILLIONS of people who don't want to.
Who probably aren't aware anything really needs to change. Who don't know an alternative. I don't think I have the answers, or the best alternative, and it was depressing to know what needs to be done, and feel like I had no way of doing anything.
I talked with Glen a lot about it, and he told me that I was trying to conquer the problem myself. I can't do that. I realized that I have to give this problem to God, and trust that humanity is in his hands, and he will know what to do with it. I also have to have faith in humanity being good, and if we are good, we will do what is good. Basically what I've come up with that we can do to change is:
1. Raise awareness
2. Live the lifestyle
3. Lead by example.
And those solutions work for me. Sorry if this post was overly personal.

Tonto and The Lone Ranger Fist Fight in Heaven

Reading this reminded me of the times when Laura only spoke of Native Americans.

Mostly I really liked it. The stories were all really interesting and seemed real, well just made reservation life sem more real than anything I had ever read or seen before. It was really funny sometimes and then really sad. I liked how he would randomly put a super depressing statement in the middle of the stories... hilarious!!

A lot of the time I couldn't help but be reminded of Smoke Signals and how OBNOXIOUS freakin Thomas's voice was when he would say, "Hey Victor..." Oh my freaking gosh he was so annoying.

I really liked it though Laura... yes... I liked the Native American crap. I'm reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee now so be excited.

Roaming around Texas

Tracey and I went roaming to visit some colleges. We didn't have much luck but she has a better idea of what she's looking for now so that is good! 

It was really fun...

I locked my keys in the car in San Marcus and made the mistake of calling my mom who freaked out and refused to listen tome when I told her we were on a main road right by the college and we were fine. This guy from a wrecking service came and opened the door with this little blow up thingy and cracked it a little bit and then stuck a long crow bar inside and unlocked it. It was really cool. 

Also I drove the wrong way on a road again and thankfully God didn't want us to die yet so there were no cars... but there was a State Trooper right beside us who pulled me over and gave me a warning and emphasized how we could be dead. I was really mad at myself. 

We stayed with my brother in College Station, whom didn't have air conditioning and who also laid down on the fold out couch we were sleeping on to demonstrate that is was comfortable and while doing so covered the sheets in his smelly sweat. Really really gross. 

We had to wake up at 5 the next morning to get to San Antonio... which actually was pretty fun. 

We went to Corpus Christi and after visiting the school tried to find a beach for an hour... we found one and discovered we had no towels... we decided to be good hobos and used our shirts instead of paying $12 at a tourist shop. Also we had to buy a beach parking pass for $12 that allows us to go all year. The water was kind of gross but we didn't care because it was really fun getting hit by waves. I really really like the beach and it made me want to see the ocean very badly! 

We drove back to Tom's all salty for 5 hours... we didn't really think about that either... the lack of showers. We ate Subway sandwiches which were really yummy... and Laura, I think I know what you mean by the Subway smell. 

Tom gave us a tour of A&M and I just don't see why so many people insist on going there. It was fun though and I made fun of the campus and Tom got angry but that was ok. He just made us walk farther. 

Tracey admiring the library at Texas State... also taking a break because all the steps made her tired. 

Look what I found on the beach Laura!! 

We spazed many times throughout the trip. 

Tom made us stop and take a picture together... I thought it was funny. 

Ishmael, Daniel Quinn

HOLY FREAKING CRAP. 

I think everyone should read this book. 

This book talks about our culture and the root of the problems we have and ways to go about changing them. 

I don't want to say too much about it because that would ruin it but it is easy to read and not too long so you should definitely find it and read it! I plan on ordering several copies and passing them around amongst friends. 

I know people say this about a lot of things but I've never said it before or even come close to thinking it but I think that this book might have changed my life some. It really has given me a new outlook and a new hope for the earth and all who call it home. 

READ IT!

Sorry to be pushy... I can't help it, it's so good! 

White Teeth

I liked the book in the beginning, her writing style was pretty cool, very poetic, philosophic, witty, etc but it seemed to slack off near the middle. Maybe I got used to it. The story was kind of funny but she wouldn't every really finish one and that sort of got on my nerves. Or maybe she just did a really good job with all of the characters and made me want to know more, who knows. It was a little long and I didn't really want to read it all the time like I had with other books. Overall it was pretty good, I mostly liked it, sort of didn't, but I'm glad I read it!