As a writer, it’s always good to read words of other writers–to get ideas on delivery, to develop a sense of rhythm, and to see different perspectives. I’ve mostly been reading literary fiction, so I decided to take a break by checking out the YA (Young Adult) literary scene. My library has pamphlets that recommend books by providing a short synopsis of each book, and when I read the synopsis for Someone Like Summer by M.E. Kerr, I decided to give it a shot because of the interesting storyline: a rich White girl from the Hamptons falls in love with an undocumented Latino day laborer.
This was my first foray into YA literature, and I must say that I was impressed. M.E. Kerr weaves a good story. She truly captures the first love of the rich teenager Annabel dealing with social, racial, and economic class differences. Her portrayal of Annabel’s father and the older generation’s struggle with both inherited racism and economic convergence was spot on. I thought her portrayal of Esteban, the Hispanic dude, maybe could have gone deeper, but I appreciated how she described his love for family and friends. I LOVED how Kerr also included little backhanded slaps as well, giving the finger to George W. Bush for the war in Iraq and taking on institutional racism of certain organizations.
Here’s one last thing I thought was cool–I couldn’t tell anything about the author from reading this book. She seemed to have a great understanding about society, but at the same time, she seemed so in touch with young folk today–talking about Google, cell phones, etc. I figured she was in her mid-forties. I was impressed that an author in her mid-forties was able to so deftly summon her inner teenager.
I was wrong. M.E. Kerr is not in her forties–she was born in 1927, which means that she is 83! Let me put this in perspective–M.E. Kerr was born BEFORE the Great Depression and lived through it. When she was my age (34), the Beatles released their very first smash hit “Love Me Do.” She was two months shy of her 41st birthday when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. And STILL…she can summon her inner teenager even in her 80′s.
That’s skill, something we can all aspire to. Check out this book.
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I agree with everything you said. About #1…I think...
If anyone is interested in discussing a book, the book that I’m currently reading is another YA novel, this time Asian American: 1001 Cranes by Naomi Hirahara. Let me know if you’re interested in discussing. I’m guessing I’ll be done with it within 1.5 weeks or less.
Sorry to stray away from the main subject, but still on topic of AA writers.. just found this article on Frank Chin and Maxine Hong’s interpretation of Chinese legend ‘Mu Lan.’
http://www.andrewgillihan.com/warrior.htm
Only started researching who Frank Chin is tonight but this article ( 7yrs old but still quite interesting), IMO an objective comparison between a Chinese Male who thinks folk-story retelling should be ‘truthfulful’,whilst a Chinese Female who rewrote the folk story ‘to escape’ from the sexist society that China is/was. Could reveal core difference between Asian women and Asian men assimilation into western culture. An analogy: after x amount of years a woman suddenly rebels against a man who continually beats her up, tells everyone in the street and the man tries to cover it up by making out she’s a liar but too late, he’s been incriminated . Has anyone thought that maybe the whole asian male stereotype could be karmic?
Has anyone thought that maybe the whole asian male stereotype could be karmic?
Not exactly sure what this means, could you elaborate a little, please?
I dunno if I believe in some sort of “group karma” for Asian males. Individually? Okay, I’d buy that. If you were an a-hole to someone, well, what goes around, comes around.
“Has anyone thought that maybe the whole asian male stereotype could be karmic?”
Ask yourself what the “group karma “of White Europeans would be based, on the past age of imperialism? So then, why would Asian males be suffering from a karmic stereotype, while the White male image is adored and promoted?
I looked up the thesaurus entry for “group karma” and found this: bigotry, discrimination, prejudice, intolerance, ignorance, typecasting, stupid. And at the bottom of the page, those tricky Google AdSense link generators asked me, “Are you also interested in: Holocaust, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and hatred?”
But, @ AngryBritishChinese: Your vlog is entertaining. Big Like! Subscribed. And uh-oh, you’re talking about Frank Chin vs. Maxine Hong Kingston on a former-F44s blog? You’ve effectively burst open a can of worms. If any of those now-old-geezers are reading this, then we’re all going to be in for a sociopolitical blog treat.
If one is coming from some sort of spiritual Buddhist view point, you would have to associate group karma with the concept of reincarnation….cause and effect, reaping what one sows. That there is some greater design and purpose in being and the concept of karma is to provide lessons for greater spiritual development for the conscious, eternal entity. The concept of karma is not meant as punishment but to learn and understand why some behaviors are bad by undergoing what one has done to others. Karma also works as well for all the good things one does in a lifetime.
Haha! I’m one of the old geezers from the 44s, TZ, but I’m all talked out!
Here’s what I wrote a while back about Frank Chin and the whole Asian American Studies debate:
http://www.thefighting44s.com/archives/2008/01/27/the-fight-for-asian-american-studies/
“Rather than trying to understand and interpret history, many of our “leaders” attack history as sexist, racist, classist, or hierarchical, without a thought as to what history might be able to teach us. Many of our “artists” make a living by distorting traditional myths for non-Asian audiences, and our systems reward the people who manage to distort the most history and make the most money in doing so. Asian American organizations have pushed progressive thinkers like Frank Chin, Shawn Wong, and David Mura to the fringes of our culture, while they have bestowed accolades on people like David Henry Hwang, Maxine Hong Kingston, and Amy Tan. Many of our “leaders” produce and perpetuate stereotypes rather than fight them. They silence our voices rather than encourage us. The result has been a “culture” geared towards non-Asian Asiaphiles rather than us Asian Americans. The effect on us has been disasterous. We now have an Asian American population skeptical of its leaders, a population which has trouble getting excited over being Asian American or being part of an Asian American movement, and a people stymied by confusion and mistrust.”
Man, I was so much fun back then! It’s funny because I don’t write as angry as before, but I still agree with just about everything I said! Okay, enough of Jaehwan’s nostalgia…
angrybritishchinese- I’m not clear on how your karma thing works. I mean, the white man invaded Asian countries, humiliated its people with unequal treaties, forced drugs on them, waged wars upon them, burned their children with napalm, used their women for sex, not to mention all the atrocities committed in other parts of the world. And yet, now the Asian women are flocking to white men like they’re saviors, just so they could punish Asian men for….feet binding? Somehow the scale of justice doesn’t seem to quite balance here.
Jaewhan- Oh hey, I remember that! Plus that’s the first time I ever heard of Frank Chin. That guy is pure gold.
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Sooo….question. Who will bear the consequences for all the crap that Asian males are enduring now? Gotta be careful about this karma thing…tends to be a double-edged sword.
I remember reading the Dalai Lama’s views on Tibetan violence against the Chinese and how he still argued against it. Part of his reasoning was that the Tibetans would get caught up in the karmic circle if they responded to the Chinese with violence of their own, that they would wind up in a situation similar to the Mid East conflicts among Palestinians and Jews. It’s a hard thing to consciously NOT defend one’s self if one is Tibetan and being oppressed by the Chinese security police.
If one is a believer in a Cosmic Engineer, and that things happen for a reason, who can really say why bad things happen to good people? Who can know the mind of the creator or fully grasp the universe let alone know who will bear the karmic consequences for the crappy treatment of Asian males?
What if the reincarnationists are correct and that karma allows for those who belittled and perpetuated crappy treatment of Asian males to come back in the next life time as…….Asian males to be mistreated ?!!!
In that case, Mojo, do you now openly admit to having mistreating Asian males in your past life?
Forget about the past life, does beating up on your kid brother in this life count? am I gonna go to karmic hell for that?
No.
As all of we older siblings know, that doesn’t count.
Reincarnation has all sorts of fun rules. I once heard that if you pierce your ears, then you will absolutely be reborn into a female, and if you never pierce your ears, you will be reborn into a male. That is as wacky as the Patriot Act.
TZ, that’s funny! i never heard that, did some hippie stoner make that up? Piercing ears has no bearing on one’s spiritual development…Somebody was hitting the bong pretty hard when they came up with that so called rule!
King, good answer!
Damn, that’d mean that a lot of the rockers/rappers would come back as women.
Well, the 80′s spandex and makeup bands are halfway there…
@Notty–lmao
Mojo has it right on Karma–From a Buddhist perspective, unless you have Bodhicitta Mind (enlightened, all compassionate and loving), who can say what is really good or bad? Maybe it’s a good thing that someone breaks their leg on the way to the bus stop, because the bus crashes at the next stop, killing all on board.
The concept of Karma and Buddhist theory can get pretty complicated. There is a reason why monks and nuns spend their entire lifetimes studying, debating, and practicing.
Hm…something appears to be amiss with my posting here…am I getting spammed out or is it something on my end? Sorry!
Sorry, RCR, my spam filter is weird. It’s supposed to be “learning” how to better identify spam, but it still screens out the good folk while allowing the viagra salesmen.
If you ever get put into the spam folder again, just let me know!
:-s Sorry for the double post, feel free to delete one or the other…
Done!
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