When I had finally gotten around to visit the public library to pick up a nonfiction book, I had other books in mind. Just Kids wasn't even on my radar, though I'm not upset to say this was the book I found and ultimately got stuck with. Being a person who usually reads fictional books instead of nonfiction, it was slightly intimidating to start reading this book, even though it was fairly short. I'm glad that this is the book I ended up with.
I didn't know who Patti Smith was when I first picked up the book, but my father filled in for me that she was a well-known poet, singer, and visual artist. I found it easy to relate to Patti when she struggled with procrastination when creating some pieces of art. As a fellow artist, I know it's easy to get a finished piece of work in your mind and have it go all wrong by the time you've finally finished it. Patti obviously had more determination than I because she would try again, making several different drawings of the same thing at one point. I can say that I sometimes start a drawing and never finish it. With Patti, she had done that with her poetry. She would have many unfinished poems sprawled out on her floor as she worked on another never to be finished poem. Artists need inspiration and I am proud to say this book has in fact fueled me to finished one or two of my drawings.
Patti Smith had a friend named Robert who had gotten into photography closer to the end of the book. I enjoy photography myself, but I can't say I enjoy capturing the same images as Robert. Although he was into some pretty heavy and artistic photographs, he also liked to take modest portraits of people. He would photograph Patti for her book covers. One of the fun things about this book is it includes some of the images mentioned in the book; there are several photographs, drawings, and even a tie rack. It's cool to be able to actually see what Patti was seeing, it makes it more personal.
I'd say the worst aspect to the book is Patti Smith did a large amount of name dropping. At many points in the book, she would just list off a bunch of names that I did not recognize, and sometimes they weren't relevant and never came up again in the book. I did recognize a few famous people such as Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and Janis Joplin. I was just a little surprised that Susan Sontag was mentioned. I believe she was present at a poetry reading that Patti and her friend were preforming at. Susan Sontag was one of the authors of the articles we read, if you recall, she wrote a piece about 9/11. Unfortunately, Sontag's piece hadn't left a good impression in my mind. Though I did search her up on Wikipedia and she was known for writing about photography and culture, so her being present at a poetry reading isn't very shocking. The connections one makes from reading is pretty neat.
The main reason that this book was difficult to get through was the vocabulary. It wasn't difficult for me to find all 40 vocabulary words, but it was a pain to have to stop what I'm doing to write down an unknown word and then look it up. Having little patience with my on-the-fritz-phone, I used a real dictionary to look up the words. At the time I realized that I had more than enough words, I just ditched the notecards and dictionary to enjoy the last of the book without the distraction. Although it sort of got in the way of my concentration, it is still good to widen my vocabulary, mostly because mine is fairly small. I don't mean to mentally belittle myself because of this, but I could definitely get better. The other reason it was difficult to get through was that I was reading other books at the same time.
I mentioned a confusing character earlier: Robert Mapplethorpe. When Patti first met Robert, they had been lovers. At one point, Robert cheated on Patti and he turned out to be homosexual. Patti was totally okay with this, she didn't even seem to care. Robert and Patti had continued to be close friends, looking out for each other throughout the rest of the book. At the very beginning of the book, there was a part that was also in the end of the book -- Patti mourning after Robert's death. From the very start readers had known that Robert would die, but wouldn't know his exact relationship with Patti. I honestly still don't understand what went down with those two. Patti ended up getting married and moved away from Robert. Near the end of the book, both of them had reached the point of fame that they had been striving for during the times they had been together, as lovers and as friends. Patti visited Robert often when he was bedridden. When Robert died, Patti knew, even though she wasn't there with him when it had happened. The saddest and sweetest part about Robert's passing was that Patti was at peace with it. She knew that she had been with Robert as a close friend for many important things that had happened in his life. She viewed his death as just another milestone that they had shared together.
This book Just Kids is an interesting tale of a young adventurous girl who grew up chasing her dreams and succeeded. If that's not an inspirational true story, I don't know what is. Overall, I would give it a solid 8.5 out of 10. Good job, Patti Smith.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Friday, August 15, 2014
If Men Could Menstruate
Unlike the Margaret Fuller article, this one was easier to get through. Just the title itself was intriguing. Good job, Gloria Steinem.
Like mentioned in this article, female menstruation is typically viewed as embarrassing or just a bad thing. I'm sure you have all heard the phrase, "Oh, it must be her time of the month," followed by a smirk whenever any girl is in a raging mood. Even though everybody has a right to get upset sometimes, even when they are or aren't on their periods, people still make jokes -- usually really bad jokes, too. It's an interesting thought to wonder what life would be like if it were the men instead of women who menstruated.
I would like to hope that the men would have to deal with the same things women have dealt with, good and bad, when it comes to menstruation. Of course, in a man-dominated world, this would not happen. We can never know what would happen, but Gloria seemed pretty spot on with her predictions. This ordeal would become a very manly thing, Gloria even said that, "men would brag about how long and how much" in regards to their periods. (Does that sound familiar?)
This article went into a lot of detail and I personally got a little upset reading it. Just thinking about how things could change so drastically with a simple switch of roles makes me angry about the unfairness that hasn't even happened. On page 2, there are a lot of different phrases placed in parentheses. They are both ridiculous and funny, but I honestly don't doubt that they could happen.
My favorite part of the article wasn't any of the silly predictions, it was near the end.
"If women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long?"
For this article, I applaud Gloria Steinem. I would also like to mention that this idea would make quite an interesting film.
Like mentioned in this article, female menstruation is typically viewed as embarrassing or just a bad thing. I'm sure you have all heard the phrase, "Oh, it must be her time of the month," followed by a smirk whenever any girl is in a raging mood. Even though everybody has a right to get upset sometimes, even when they are or aren't on their periods, people still make jokes -- usually really bad jokes, too. It's an interesting thought to wonder what life would be like if it were the men instead of women who menstruated.
I would like to hope that the men would have to deal with the same things women have dealt with, good and bad, when it comes to menstruation. Of course, in a man-dominated world, this would not happen. We can never know what would happen, but Gloria seemed pretty spot on with her predictions. This ordeal would become a very manly thing, Gloria even said that, "men would brag about how long and how much" in regards to their periods. (Does that sound familiar?)
This article went into a lot of detail and I personally got a little upset reading it. Just thinking about how things could change so drastically with a simple switch of roles makes me angry about the unfairness that hasn't even happened. On page 2, there are a lot of different phrases placed in parentheses. They are both ridiculous and funny, but I honestly don't doubt that they could happen.
My favorite part of the article wasn't any of the silly predictions, it was near the end.
"If women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long?"
For this article, I applaud Gloria Steinem. I would also like to mention that this idea would make quite an interesting film.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
The Great Lawsuit
Before I start discussing the content of this article by Margaret Fuller, I would like to mention the structure. This article was fairly short compared to the other articles we have read but I personally found it difficult to get through. I don't think it was because of the topic, although it has been talked about many times before. I noticed that there were some really long sentences thrown into the article and that was slightly obnoxious.
Before Margaret Fuller's piece started, there was a little note from Paige Towers. She said that the piece was not well appreciated at the time, but was acknowledged for challenging the social norms. This isn't unlike many forward-thinkers in history, so I am not surprised. I'm sure it is better appreciated nowadays.
At one point, Fuller said, "All men are privately influenced by women," and I believe this is one of the main reasons why we have finally reached that near-equal phase in history. This influence, from mothers, sisters, or friends, has ultimately made men realize how important women are. There are obviously men and women for a reason, not just men on this planet. Women aren't just for procreating. As the article stated, no human being can live without expansion. If one does, they would either have to get expansion in one way or perish. That may sound dramatic, but it is not far from the truth.
I found it interesting how Margaret mentioned that different occupations of a man could influence his thoughts on letting women become equal. For example, an artist or poet would think of women nobly while a legislator for expediency wouldn't give a woman a chance. Jobs are a huge part of anybody's life, there is no way it couldn't influence one's decision; sometimes the influence is good, others it is not.
Fuller said she would like to accomplish "ravishing harmony" when women become equal to men. I personally don't believe that we have quite reached that state of harmony. Unfortunately, there are still many things that make women unequal, like echoes from the past. Just like all inequalities that are said to be no more, there is still a shadow of the terrible things that have happened in our history.
Many sane people would like to see that harmony. I'm just guessing that harmony isn't a very natural thing for us humans, because there are some people out there who think women aren't as good as men, or who think women are better than men. No matter what, people are not going to be able to agree -- at least not in the near future.
At the end, Fuller mentions some stuff about souls. She says that if one person, no matter the gender or the race, has a soul, then they are the only one who is accountable for themselves. No man or woman can own another human being because that is unfair to the soul.
Before Margaret Fuller's piece started, there was a little note from Paige Towers. She said that the piece was not well appreciated at the time, but was acknowledged for challenging the social norms. This isn't unlike many forward-thinkers in history, so I am not surprised. I'm sure it is better appreciated nowadays.
At one point, Fuller said, "All men are privately influenced by women," and I believe this is one of the main reasons why we have finally reached that near-equal phase in history. This influence, from mothers, sisters, or friends, has ultimately made men realize how important women are. There are obviously men and women for a reason, not just men on this planet. Women aren't just for procreating. As the article stated, no human being can live without expansion. If one does, they would either have to get expansion in one way or perish. That may sound dramatic, but it is not far from the truth.
I found it interesting how Margaret mentioned that different occupations of a man could influence his thoughts on letting women become equal. For example, an artist or poet would think of women nobly while a legislator for expediency wouldn't give a woman a chance. Jobs are a huge part of anybody's life, there is no way it couldn't influence one's decision; sometimes the influence is good, others it is not.
Fuller said she would like to accomplish "ravishing harmony" when women become equal to men. I personally don't believe that we have quite reached that state of harmony. Unfortunately, there are still many things that make women unequal, like echoes from the past. Just like all inequalities that are said to be no more, there is still a shadow of the terrible things that have happened in our history.
Many sane people would like to see that harmony. I'm just guessing that harmony isn't a very natural thing for us humans, because there are some people out there who think women aren't as good as men, or who think women are better than men. No matter what, people are not going to be able to agree -- at least not in the near future.
At the end, Fuller mentions some stuff about souls. She says that if one person, no matter the gender or the race, has a soul, then they are the only one who is accountable for themselves. No man or woman can own another human being because that is unfair to the soul.
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