Book Review - The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen follows the Lambert family dynamic as Christmas time fast approaches. This novel is an ideal read if you dread connecting with your family during the holidays...or really any other time. Alfred and Enid are an older Midwestern couple with three adult children: Chip, Denise and Gary. The story is that of a culture clash; 3 individuals trying to escape from their parents and the suffocating Midwest culture they grew up in. Each character has their own way of not just self medicating, but self correcting - working to become less like their parents, as an almost last ditch effort to be happy with themselves.

Enid and Alfred begin this wild symphony of characters. Franzen's portrayal of an older Midwest couple is guaranteed to eerily remind you of a real life couple you know yourself. Enid is incessant in a way that only a Midwestern mother can be; her constant disapproval stemming from the stubborn belief that things should be a certain way and any deviation from this way is wrong. This obsession with being right all the time is the heart of this book, it broaches the idea that we spend so much time correcting ourselves and others, that we don't even bother to enjoy life any longer. Alfred, who formally used his job on the railroad to work himself into a state of constant distraction, is now quite retired and quite sick. Franzen employs these two parents as a rallying point that their children proceed to flee from.

Chip, a New York College professor, largely regards himself as a failure. He fled to New York as an intellectual where he continues to constantly indite the American Culture. As Chip's life seems to crash down around him, he loses track of his sharp critiques in favor of a eat or be eaten survival mode that ends up taking him from New York, to Lithuania and back to good ole' St. Jude in the Midwest. Gary, the most responsible of the three siblings, battles with depression and his creeping subconscious that seems to be forcing him to be more like his father. Despite all his efforts Gary is alarmingly similar to his father, but with every refusal, he dives further into a guilty depressive state. Gary sees things in the most literal sense, a trait reminiscent of his Midwestern parents, which puts him at odds with his own wife and children - something he must continue to fight at all costs. Denise is the youngest of the Lambert's and is by far the most bruised character. In a constant struggle with her sexuality and an almost crippling self consciousness we watch Denise crash through life too afraid to settle for fear of her life being a perpetual wrong move. Her battle is one faced all too many times by young people that her section of the novel alone makes it a must read by all.

The novel culminates at Christmas in St. Jude, where Enid has insisted that she host and that all her children be in attendance. Every character seems to have their own internal language and the settings are so incredibly interesting. As painful as it is to get to know every Lambert, you watch them interact with individuals that are dealing in the face of infinitely worse family lives than them and you begin to wonder if their constant escapism isn't their own worst enemy. I'll let you read it and determine if the character's make any lasting change by the end of the novel, but one thing is for sure; The Corrections forces us to take a hard look at why we believe ourselves to be such fantastic failures at every turn in our lives.

Sick Culture Part I

Both Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto respectively won an Oscar for their performances in Dallas Buyers club. I have yet to see Dallas Buyers club, but I really want to. Lately I've been reading and seeing a lot of flack for the movie, for Leto's performance and for Matthew McConaughey's acceptance speech. There was this article, this one, and then there was this one. All these articles point to something important; that a trans role should have went to a trans actor, that the movie should have involved trans people in some way, and that the movie's stars should have been more cognizant of what they were representing. And I don't disagree...necessarily....what I disagree with is our need to boycott or otherwise denounce this film because of the problems (no matter how justified) our education has allowed us to see.

I love video games, I always have loved video games, but video games often perpetuate stereotypes. I'm fully aware that video games feature violence towards women, propagates the damsel in distress trope and there isn't a video game (to my knowledge) that doesn't focus on a brilliant and capable female protagonist that isn't overly sexual. The point is that video games can be sexist, for more information, see this video. Now I'm aware some of you may not agree, but stay with me. I am fully aware of these things, but I do not stop playing video games and I certainly do not encourage others to stop playing video games. This is because I believe in thinking critically about mediums of information I thoroughly enjoy (yes video games are mediums of information).

In the case of Dallas buyers club, it is necessary to point out that trans people are underrepresented in film. In fact, whether it is in character or in person trans people, black people, Latino people, gay people, and women are all underrepresented in film. This year in 2013; Dallas Buyers Club, 12 Years a Slave, Blue Jasmine and even Gravity (Latino director) all represented these underrepresented groups, the focus was brought on them. This is one of the many positives of this movie, a fact we can look at and at least acknowledge is, at the very least, a nod in the right direction. It is still important to think critically about this movie though, about the lack of trans people in movies, and why they weren't at least brought on as consultants. But it is not necessary to hate this movie, like it isn't necessary to stop playing Grand Theft Auto because you can kill prostitutes, but it is important to think critically about whether or not that is an appropriate thing to put in a video game. Because with discussion comes education, with education comes change.

This is a fundamental way of thinking for me, it is how I decide to bring about societal change. I understand it may not be what others think of as effective, to others it may not even work. But I believe that if you cut, and poke holes, and deny, and denounce, and boycott, and cherry pick, and cut (again) any medium to the point where it is nothing, then you will be left with nothing. And society does not want nothing, the America we live in does not want nothing. We do not want to be left with no video games or movies that we enjoy, but we may be willing to listen about how they could be different. If you can do this, then over the course of time our mediums will start to change into a more progressive and inclusive standard. This is not new, this is how it works, we have the most progressive mediums that we have ever had in America, we have a long way to go, but when you try to force change in a way people do not listen to...then we don't move. No movement is bad movement.

Thanks for Listening,

Kyle

Flipping S***

When I don't know what I'm doing in the car, like if I don't know where I am going, I flip a shit. Combine this with traffic, poor drivers, a full working day, as well as my timid under practiced driving and a lot of shit is flipped in my 2010 Chevy Malibu. Yesterday I met some coworkers for drinks and couldn't find where the bar was right away, plus people suck at driving on Big Beaver because they all apparently need to get home and defuse a bomb or something. It was then that I realized, when I am stressed while driving, I turn into the worst person I could possibly be. I say racist things, sexist things, homophobic things and if I'm not saying them I'm thinking them as I scream other things. There is a general peace that is about me, and when I am stressed out it seems to rupture - and nothing I stand for is safe anymore. This is extremely worrisome to me because it makes me wonder about the genuine nature of these beliefs, but not in the sense that I don't genuinely believe them, rather where they come from, where they go, and why they aren't always with me.

I generally advocate forward thinking, I want nothing more that the acknowledgment of inequality and a collective move towards a solution to a bigger problem - a sickness - that plagues the American Culture I love (not sarcastically either, I love America). Why then, do I scream "OF. FUCKING. COURSE" when a polite looking Indian family almost, completely unbeknownst to them, kills me on the expressway? I can't simply just get mad at bad driving, I have to assign their bad driving to the most obvious quality about them. Like I'm trying to really hurt them. I'll point out here that people might give some shoddy explanation about the "truth" of stereotypes, that's fine they can think that, but my point goes deeper; if I never adhere to this implicit racism in my day to day, why do I seem to devolve into it in moments where I am incredibly stressed out? Also, there is no longer a censor, words you couldn't pay me to say are all of a sudden free flowing. I don't condone stereotyping or saying words arbitrarily because we don't think they are bad, I understand that words have meaning and can be a harmful act. This of course does not stop them from blurting out.

This is a hard thing to admit. I get so easily flustered when I'm lost or someone does something infuriatingly ignorant when I'm already stressed out. It boils down to my deep seeded fear of tardiness and my even more seeded fear of disappointing other people or letting them down in some way. I can't seem to overcome this feeling, as much as I try to force myself to think positively, to come back to myself in a sense,depending on the stress level; I can't. I'd really like to work on this, I'd like to exhibit self control whenever I feel this stress boil up in me. I'd like to level with myself, look at myself in the mirror and tell myself to settle down. The problem is; I never get a chance, it just happens. Fast. I wish I had the solution, but I don't and it is throwing me into a panic. I don't like who I become in the car, afterwards I have to break things down and convince myself that I didn't mean what I said or what I thought.

One time I saw a woman walking out of a yoga class, she was the picture of zen; her face held a relaxed smile, her walk was casual, and she seemed as though she had just finished sighing a gigantic sigh of relief....when a car speeding by almost clipped her. At this time, she proceeded to fill the air with expletives and her middle finger and a whole lot of "negative vibes". I bring this up because I think people in my generational category will try to forward me information about yogic culture, or eastern religions, or breathing techniques and meditation. It's not as though I'm completely unwilling to try these things, but the random and primal nature of these...attacks...makes it difficult to simply breathe through them, seeing as they are over almost as soon as they start. It seems like yoga is a great way to selfishly unwind after a long work week, but that its abilities are futile against any everyday instances that might insta-boil your blood. In that sense, these eastern culture remedies are more like detox diets and less like adrenaline shots.

No. The judgement comes from a deeper part of me, one that wants to hurt people. This is how I've managed to reconcile with it thus far; by convincing myself that I don't really belief the terrible things I think and say, but that my brain births them from a desire to harm my "aggressor". My question then, is what I need to do to relax this desire to do harm to others mentally, to go for blood. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. And as always,

Thanks for Listening