Oprah's book club 2.0 has debuted with Wild, a beautifully written memoir about a woman's solo hike down the Pacific Crest Trail. I enjoyed the book, and I'm really digging the 2.0, which includes webisodes and author Q and A's.
Oprah's name is all too often a dirty word in book circles. I have known people to refuse to buy a book with an Oprah cover, and Jonathan Franzen made headlines in 2001 for implying that his book was not for "that sort of people" after it was chosen (the offer was rescinded). This attitude, typical for any niche group who sees their culture become mainstream, makes me ashamed of MY sort of people. This article makes people like me, who enjoy literature and have read many of the classics, look downright intolerable. Since when were we supposed to "show people how to read"? I'm sorry, I didn't know we were all English teachers, with John Grisham and James Patterson fans as our unwilling students. Puh-leaze.
I like Oprah for the same reason I love Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, and, begrudgingly, Twilight. They bring books into the mainstream. Now we can talk about reading without worried about being pelted with spitballs. That was not the world I grew up in. As I lead another group of elementary schoolers to a selection of books and watched them eagerly pick through them, I thank my lucky stars that things have changed.
We book people like to tell ourselves that we are smarter than the masses because we read literature (and keep Mr. Grisham hidden in the bathroom). When Oprah pushes Tolstoy to #1 on the bestseller list, our self image is challenged. This causes us to deride one of the most powerful women in the book world for dumbing down literature. For shame. It is never a bad thing to read. Even if it's (gulp) Anne Coulter. Which, in Oprah's case, it's not. She leads people towards more insightful works, and brings under appreciated authors into the limelight. I would argue that Mr. Franzen is a bit over appreciated, but that's beside the point.
I believe that everyone can enjoy reading, and should. Reading stimulates the imagination, and we could all do with a little more of that. I think that no matter what people read, they learn something with every book. So welcome back, Oprah. Keep 'em coming!
Friday, July 27, 2012
Thursday, July 26, 2012
What do we have, here?
It has come to my attention that this blog can't decide what it is. It started out as a library blog. Then it was an expat blog. Then it was a mommy blog. Now it's a little of all three. It's a good thing I'm not trying to get it published.
This is for you, Xander, if you ever decide you want to read it. This is who your mother is, and what's going through her frenetic brain during the years immediately before and after your birth. Well, if there is a blogger in 20 years. We'll see.
This is for you, Xander, if you ever decide you want to read it. This is who your mother is, and what's going through her frenetic brain during the years immediately before and after your birth. Well, if there is a blogger in 20 years. We'll see.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Expat blog addiction
I have recently spent way too much time reading expat blogs. They are interesting, partly because many of these people have lived in Korea for awhile, speak some Korean, and have valuable insights on things that are going on around us, many of which, as a foreigner, I wouldn't know about. Longtime expats have had some time to digest Korean culture and explain it to us with an outsider's perspective. They don't tiptoe around our cultural differences like newcomers. This can lead to some very negative content.
Most of us go through a few phases when we come to Korea. The first is awe and excitement. Korea is so different! We learn something every time we leave the house. Visits to the obligatory tourist stops and foreigner friendly korean restaurants are gentle, manufactured experiences full of smiling people. Most of us left the U.S. because we were tired of our own countries, and Korea's rich culture, ample public transportation, and solicitous, lovely people are a welcome change.
Most of us are feted with the Korea that locals want to present to the outsiders during these first few weeks and months, a simplistic version of positive aspects of the culture. Koreans respect their elders. They are community and family oriented. They are health conscious. Once and awhile, the dirty underside peeks up when we are accosted by a drunken ajoshi or watch a few people hock noisy, disgusting lugies on the sidewalk. During these early days, we liberal minded tell ourselves that we are not equipped to judge a different culture, reminding ourselves that there are negative aspects to American culture as well.
Then, about six months to a year in, the shine wears off. We have been shoved headfirst into a culture with values that are almost polar opposites to ours, and we start to hate every bit of it. The rigid heirarchical structure of the workplace, the ethnocentricism, and the homogeneity rubs us raw. The whole country smells like kimchi. Gender politics are stuck in the fifties. We hate the way Korean girls giggle, that the lady at the checkout counter can't understand us even though we are speaking Korean, and that Koreans everywhere are still telling us what we should buy, how we should use the subway, how we should eat our food, despite the fact that we're no longer newcomers, damnit. This state of knee jerk disgust at everything can last awhile, and many people leave the country without ever getting past it.
After awhile, many of us find some normalization. For me, I learned to carve out a small space for myself here. I conduct my life like the American I am, albeit with a wide space for Korean culture. I learned to accept that everyone in my office will do as I ask if they can pretend the senior Korean man asked. I learned to smile and wave at people who stare, but to keep walking. We cook American food and do American things like barbecue and visit the beach, as well as Korean things like shop at the vegetable markets and go out for Korean barbecue. In a way, this has become home, though I'll always be a stranger.
Which brings me back to the expat blogs. Many of these people have lived in Korea for years, yet their blogs have the negative tones of newbies. Part of this could be because of recent ugly events*. Exasperation also makes for better writing. We all have to vent sometimes, doubly so because we're making nice in another country, a situation that never stops being delicate. I need to stop reading them so much, because they are bringing me back to my earlier self.
Korea annoys me, America annoys me. I don't miss the self-centeredness of my own culture (Asians do not take time off to "find themselves," for example). I do miss the individualism, so much so that I get overly excited when I see someone with colorful hair.
*That video actually aired and it was very offensive, but I came away from the whole event pleasantly surprised at how many Koreans stood up for us and mocked the video. Holding it against Korea as a whole would be like holding the opinions of Rush Limbaugh against all Americans.
Most of us go through a few phases when we come to Korea. The first is awe and excitement. Korea is so different! We learn something every time we leave the house. Visits to the obligatory tourist stops and foreigner friendly korean restaurants are gentle, manufactured experiences full of smiling people. Most of us left the U.S. because we were tired of our own countries, and Korea's rich culture, ample public transportation, and solicitous, lovely people are a welcome change.
Most of us are feted with the Korea that locals want to present to the outsiders during these first few weeks and months, a simplistic version of positive aspects of the culture. Koreans respect their elders. They are community and family oriented. They are health conscious. Once and awhile, the dirty underside peeks up when we are accosted by a drunken ajoshi or watch a few people hock noisy, disgusting lugies on the sidewalk. During these early days, we liberal minded tell ourselves that we are not equipped to judge a different culture, reminding ourselves that there are negative aspects to American culture as well.
Then, about six months to a year in, the shine wears off. We have been shoved headfirst into a culture with values that are almost polar opposites to ours, and we start to hate every bit of it. The rigid heirarchical structure of the workplace, the ethnocentricism, and the homogeneity rubs us raw. The whole country smells like kimchi. Gender politics are stuck in the fifties. We hate the way Korean girls giggle, that the lady at the checkout counter can't understand us even though we are speaking Korean, and that Koreans everywhere are still telling us what we should buy, how we should use the subway, how we should eat our food, despite the fact that we're no longer newcomers, damnit. This state of knee jerk disgust at everything can last awhile, and many people leave the country without ever getting past it.
After awhile, many of us find some normalization. For me, I learned to carve out a small space for myself here. I conduct my life like the American I am, albeit with a wide space for Korean culture. I learned to accept that everyone in my office will do as I ask if they can pretend the senior Korean man asked. I learned to smile and wave at people who stare, but to keep walking. We cook American food and do American things like barbecue and visit the beach, as well as Korean things like shop at the vegetable markets and go out for Korean barbecue. In a way, this has become home, though I'll always be a stranger.
Which brings me back to the expat blogs. Many of these people have lived in Korea for years, yet their blogs have the negative tones of newbies. Part of this could be because of recent ugly events*. Exasperation also makes for better writing. We all have to vent sometimes, doubly so because we're making nice in another country, a situation that never stops being delicate. I need to stop reading them so much, because they are bringing me back to my earlier self.
Korea annoys me, America annoys me. I don't miss the self-centeredness of my own culture (Asians do not take time off to "find themselves," for example). I do miss the individualism, so much so that I get overly excited when I see someone with colorful hair.
*That video actually aired and it was very offensive, but I came away from the whole event pleasantly surprised at how many Koreans stood up for us and mocked the video. Holding it against Korea as a whole would be like holding the opinions of Rush Limbaugh against all Americans.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Aaargh!
There are two kinds of people who work in public services at the library. There are the helpers, whose goal is to help people check out materials, find information, attend programs and take advantage of all the services the library has to offer. These people are the kind you want to run into at the circulation desk. They will go out of their ways to enable you, and are likely to cut you a break if you need to bend the rules a bit. The other kind are the guards. They want to guard library materials from human use, guard the rules from being broken, and guard themselves from having to do too much work.
Helpers ask themselves, "why shouldn't I do this?" when faced with a quandary. If they can't find a good reason to deny someone a service, they will provide it. Guards ask themselves, "why should I do this?" and will go through a laundry list of rules in their heads, often hitting on one that will allow them to say no.
Many of us have encountered these people at a service desk. Sometimes, bad managers make people this way. Basic management classes teach that managers must enable their subordinates to use their own judgement in customer service situations, rather than having a rigid protocol. Sometimes, that impossible person behind the desk is backed by a micromanager.
I have learned, however, that as often as not, the manager is in the back pulling her hair out because this person behind the desk cannot figure out that she wants people to use her library. I have worked with at least one guard at every library I have worked at. Now I manage one. Guard mentality is a part of someone's nature, and it's very hard to train it out of him. I will never understand why these people go into service positions, but I really wish they wouldn't. Aargh!
Helpers ask themselves, "why shouldn't I do this?" when faced with a quandary. If they can't find a good reason to deny someone a service, they will provide it. Guards ask themselves, "why should I do this?" and will go through a laundry list of rules in their heads, often hitting on one that will allow them to say no.
Many of us have encountered these people at a service desk. Sometimes, bad managers make people this way. Basic management classes teach that managers must enable their subordinates to use their own judgement in customer service situations, rather than having a rigid protocol. Sometimes, that impossible person behind the desk is backed by a micromanager.
I have learned, however, that as often as not, the manager is in the back pulling her hair out because this person behind the desk cannot figure out that she wants people to use her library. I have worked with at least one guard at every library I have worked at. Now I manage one. Guard mentality is a part of someone's nature, and it's very hard to train it out of him. I will never understand why these people go into service positions, but I really wish they wouldn't. Aargh!
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Mr. Popularity
Today, when I came to pick Xander up from daycare, he was sitting at an infant activity board, a look of determination on his face. I touched his shoulder and spoke to him, and he didn't look up from spinning a wheel. "What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy here?" He did find time to flash smiles at his caretakers and say goodbye. I can already tell that I'm not cool enough for my son.
He says, "mamamamama," which I know is not really his first word, but....when he wakes up at night, or when he wants someone to pick him up, he'll call: Mamamama! Mamama! I can't help but feel he connects that sound with his parents.
 |
| Tasty playmat |
Saturday, July 7, 2012
A Busy Month
 |
| Xander participating in summer reading |
First illness: or eradicated diseases
I've been dreading the first illness, and sure enough, Xander got sick during his first week in daycare. He developed a fever one afternoon that was gone by the following morning. Four days later, he broke out in a rash all over his body. We took him to the doctor, and she told us it was a virus. She said it was hard to narrow it down, but it wasn't one of the bad ones. We took Xander across the road to the CDC (child development center, for the acronym impaired) to see if he could still go to day care. There was a sign on the counter that said that if your child had been in the CDC on a date Xander had been there, he or she may have been exposed to rubella. So we went back to the doctor for tests. I was initially really nervous. We have a vaccination for rubella, and it's basically been eradicated from the US. So it must be bad, right? As it turns out, rubella is a very mild illness that is only troublesome for pregnant women. So Xander's first illness was possibly a rare, but mild exotic-sounding disease. Normally the silver lining to a baby getting sick is, well, at least he's developing his immune system. In this case, it was pretty pointless, since he will still be vaccinated for rubella when he's one.
Jeju Island: Redux
I have been really busy at work and decided a little beach trip would be nice. We went back to Jeju, but this time we stayed at a resort on a remote part of the island. It was a five star resort that was packed to the gills with kids, which was wonderful for us. Good thing, since it rained almost the entire time. Hello, monsoon season. Xander had a blast flirting with the waitresses in the restaurant, rolling around on the king sized bed, and swimming, so I'll consider it a good vacation, despite the lack of beach time.
Summer Reading 2012
I had several requests that I do more family programming this year, so I'm doing one a week. On top of this, I took on a summer camp book club that meets three times a week in the library, as well as ratcheting up storytime to include food samplings and new crafts. Sooo...I stay busy. I enjoy almost every minute of it, so I'm not really complaining, but August will be a relief. This year, we have an unprecedented number of adult participants. What can I say: reading is cool!
 |
| at the beach |
 |
| swimming! |
 |
| king sized bed! |
 |
| crab! |
 |
| this is a pearl divers' house |
 |
| on the hotel lawn |
 |
| having a little nap |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)