Writing – Page 13 – elaine nelson, aka epersonae

9/26/2013

American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America

author: Colin Woodard
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2011
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/26
date added: 2013/09/26
shelves: history, non-fiction, politics, sociology
review:
I really enjoyed most of this book. It gives a different perspective on large sweeps of American history, but in a way that’s immediately intuitive for someone who’s read quite a bit of history. I especially appreciated the colonial and antebellum sections, and the early chapters on El Norte included a lot that was entirely new to me. It definitely gives me a new and useful framework for thinking about American culture and politics. (Goes well with The Big Sort, which is to some extent about individual choices reinforcing those national identities.) It was so engrossing that I really truly couldn’t put it down.

On the other hand, it didn’t feel quite as thorough or deep after the start of the twentieth century, and that was where my interest drifted. Some things I would have liked to have seen covered in more depth:

* African-American migration out of the South and Asian-American influences on the Left Coast. The coverage of non-European non-Native people wasn’t really that great, honestly. He’s strongest talking about European-derived cultures, and I think there’s a lot to explore in the black and Asian experience in particular.

* The culture of Los Angeles specifically (I’m coming to the opinion that LA is a fractal of the nation as a whole) — also, I don’t know much about Chicago, but my opinions about LA lead me to the conclusion that the other gigantic American city might be special too.

* The role of 20th century mass media (and the internet?!) in reducing and/or reinforcing the separation of the nations — this is where the research in The Big Sort could have come in handy.

* The First Nations chapter at the end might have benefited from a bit of discussion of the Native populations of the Far West & Left Coast.

A tiny thing that’s been bugging me: he described Obama as a member of the “Northern nations”, and a footnote details that although he spent his early years entirely outside of the nations in the book (Hawaii, Indonesia), he spent his adult life mostly in the Northern nations. But his mother and grandparents were from Kansas; might one look at him differently if the Midlander or Far West background (I don’t remember what part of Kansas) were taken into account? (Also: fractal America, like LA? Where he also lived as a teen IIRC.)

9/26/2013

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

author: Rachel Maddow
name: Elaine
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/19
date added: 2013/09/26
shelves: ebook, history, non-fiction, politics
review:
Thoughtful and angry examination of what’s happened with America’s military since WWII, with lots of references back to the Constitution & the Founding Fathers. Includes a genuinely terrifying chapter about our decaying nuclear weaponry.

9/26/2013

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

author: Rachel Maddow
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/19
date added: 2013/09/26
shelves: ebook, history, non-fiction, politics
review:
Thoughtful and angry examination of what’s happened with America’s military since WWII, with lots of references back to the Constitution & the Founding Fathers. Includes a genuinely terrifying chapter about our decaying nuclear weaponry.

9/26/2013

Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power

author: Rachel Maddow
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.04
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2013/09/19
date added: 2013/09/26
shelves: ebook, history, non-fiction, politics
review:
Thoughtful and angry examination of what’s happened with America’s military since WWII, with lots of references back to the Constitution & the Founding Fathers. Includes a genuinely terrifying chapter about our decaying nuclear weaponry.

9/3/2013

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

author: Mark Bittman
name: Elaine
average rating: 0.0
book published: 2003
rating: 5
read at: 2013/08/15
date added: 2013/09/03
shelves: cookbook, non-fiction, own
review:
Got from the library, made a couple of things, and it was so good that I went out and bought a copy. Have now finally made crispy breaded veggies that don’t suck. (The secret, as far as I can tell, is refrigerating after breading.) Fantastic quiche. Great pitas. Pretty sure a copy should come with every CSA subscription. (Setting “date finished” to make sure it shows up where I want in my reading history.)

9/3/2013

How to Cook Everything Vegetarian: Simple Meatless Recipes for Great Food

author: Mark Bittman
name: Elaine
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2007
rating: 5
read at: 2013/08/15
date added: 2013/09/03
shelves: cookbook, non-fiction, own
review:
Got from the library, made a couple of things, and it was so good that I went out and bought a copy. Have now finally made crispy breaded veggies that don’t suck. (The secret, as far as I can tell, is refrigerating after breading.) Fantastic quiche. Great pitas. Pretty sure a copy should come with every CSA subscription. (Setting “date finished” to make sure it shows up where I want in my reading history.)

8/14/20138/14/2013

class exercises

antonymic translation

The moon set. A colorless sea had drained away from the cliffs, far from the soft drifts of seaweed, highlighting a deep sliver of darkness. A bright white scrim covered the water. The sand which had been hard-edged became soft in mists, hiding its features.

Soft expanses of light glowed from the glass and concrete, and the dry edges of metal shapes in the junkyard appeared like a single creature that could not be distinguished into its parts. The silent black and rust-colored machinery came to life gradually, then formed a regular heartbeat, like marching armies in a grim parade.

The moon’s weak rays retreated away from the warehouse, pulled away from the rusting objects deep in the windowless expanses.

(From The Waves, I think.)

Rewriting a chunk of my own work in the style of Gertrude Stein

The two ravens sat on the long branch. Together they sat. It was a long branch and they sat side by side talking. They were not actual ravens, but sentient creatures, and all sentient creatures like to talk because talking is how we share our sentience. One raven was younger than the other and her name was Arkawa. Arkawa was young and a raven and sitting on a long branch talking. She was talking to another raven-like thing, a sentient creature also, who was like a raven and not like a raven and definitely not at all like a writing desk. His name was Skawkra. He was older than Arkawa and that meant he had lived longer and had more experience looking for things. His eyes were always out watching for things even while he was talking to Arkawa, that was why he spotted the eagle first.

8/11/20138/14/2013

writing class

So in the last post, I mentioned being in a writing class….

As an employee, I can take up to 8 credits a quarter for $30. I’ve been meaning to take something; even got most of the way towards registering for a GIS (geographical information systems) class in the spring, but it was full and even the waitlist was full. As a “special student”, I’m basically at the end of the line for registration, so that was a no-go.

But then the middle of last month I got this email about a writing class that had spots in it for the 2nd summer session, and figured: why not?

I sat in on a class, decided it sounded interesting, got all the paperwork bits done, and started at the end of July. The first night (it’s two nights a week) I realized that the last time I was in a college class was 17 years ago. For reals. Bleh. And it’s both easier than it was then — which is partially about my interest, partially about summer classes — and harder, mostly because I’m not used to doing homework anymore.

I’m in a critique group, about which all I feel appropriate in saying is that I missed having a writers’ group but also it’s really frustrating to be in wildly divergent places with writing & critiquing. I’m learning some InDesign to do layout on a book, which is pretty cool. This weekend we have a two-day retreat thing: one day of hiking in the Hoh rainforest (the topic of my first freewrite today), and one day of workshop-type activities. So far that’s been a freewrite based on yesterday’s hike, an exercise turning a scene in a graphic novel into a narrative, and turning a tiny bit of our own writing into a page of a graphic novel. (Note: I am a terrible drawer.)

The whole thing is only 5 weeks, which is a bit whirlwind/overwhelming. But as always, for me it’s good to have deadlines. We have three writing assignments in those five weeks: the first, which I turned in last week, is my first attempt at actually writing the bindweed essay I’ve had in my head for at least five years. For the second, I’m hoping to do something related to my most recent NaNoWriMo attempt, although it’s been so long that I’m not sure I can just pick up where I left off; I may need to write a sketch or a story in that world, but not in the main plot. The third will be a refinement of one of the first two, intended for reading aloud in front of the class. I have no idea which one I’ll use; we’ll see when we get there!

In any case, I’m glad I’m taking it; both for myself as a writer and also as an employee of the college. It’s good to be in the student side of things once in a while.

8/8/20138/8/2013

bike poem

"In my late 20s I learned..."

    something I could have
                should have
                      might have wanted to learn
                      when I was a small child

except that Dad died.

The bike came the year
I stopped believing in Santa
which was because of the bike
which could not have possibly
fit down the chimney.

The bike: I couldn't quite
      get the hang of it
despite his efforts

and then he died.
He died and Mom couldn't
      help me learn either.

So the bike went in the garage
until it was too small.

Besides, no one bikes in LA in the 80s anyway.

All through my middle 20s
C. wanted me to learn
        how to ride a bicycle.

When we met he had the
         John Deere tractor green bike
that he rode on those steep
         Tacoma hills.

Except when 
         I came through the park
         to his apartment
         and we walked to work together.

That was how everyone knew
         we were a thing, us walking
together, him with the hand-painted green bike.

He tried to take me bike shopping.
I was terrified of being 
that far off the ground
         and of moving at a speed
          faster than walking.

Looking out the window
of my first office, first real 
grown-up profession,
and he's on the phone
explaining how, no -- really--
I have to see this bike
               it's totally different
       from all the other times --
       five -- six -- seven years of
               "you should get a bike."

But really -- it is different.

The bike is different,
        the shape of it isn't so scary
                and maybe by then
        I'm different too.

Because I get on and after
a wobbly how-do-I-start-this moment
I'm moving and pedaling
         and somehow the whole thing 
       stays up and is a sort of 
           miracle not unlike flying.

6/24/2013

Custom Knits Accessories: Unleash Your Inner Designer with Improvisational Techniques for Hats, Scarves, Gloves, Socks and More

author: Wendy Bernard
name: Elaine
average rating: 3.78
book published: 2012
rating: 4
read at: 2013/04/15
date added: 2013/06/24
shelves: wishlist, crafty, knitting, non-fiction
review:
Particularly liked the techniques for designing your own items: how much yarn is needed for a pair of gloves, etc.

Made two items: semi-improvisational fingerless mittens & a “bonnet”, both of which I like.