what we have here is a failure to communicate

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | March 19, 2013

Lava Tubes and Cinder Cones

Geological niftiness abounds in Central Oregon. The landscape around Bend is peppered with buttes, volcanic craters, cinder cones, and lava tubes. Nearby Newberry Volcano was active as recently as 1,300 years ago, and it’s prolific activity then and before that is evident in huge calderas and a mile long obsidian flow.

Such geological features thrill me and I can’t wait to explore every nook and cranny of the wilderness round my new home. Being on foot and bike has made my adventuresome pace significantly slower than usual, but this week I have access to an acquaintance’s car and have been making use of it!

My friend’s dog checks the perimeter

With a friend I found my way to a cave last Friday and was totally blown away by the bizarreness of these underground tunnels formed by molten lava (as the surface of the lava flows cooled the hot stuff on the inside kept flowing until eventually the tubes drained out and long, narrow tunnels were left behind.) There are over 300 such caves in Deschutes Nat’l Forest, and more riddle private lands. The one I visited was near Big Sky Dog Park and was hard to find. Even the entrance surprised me – it was more or less a huge hole in the ground, and if we hadn’t been searching high and low for it, we’d have surely missed it.

It was dark and quiet and cool inside this cave (45 degrees or so year round). The floor was sandy and the roof varied in height from high above to so low we had to crawl. Graffiti and bottles and other evidence of human mischief was a common and unsurprising sight. The walls curved and we had to pick which passage to explore at a fork. I started to feel like I had wandered into Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth and suspected a prehistoric critter around every corner. Sadly (fortunately?) we didn’t even see a bat, and although it felt like we ventured deeper and deeper underground, in reality we probably went less than a 1/8 mile and probably not many feet. Still, it felt EPIC. I’m eager to check out another cave soon!

Yesterday I took advantage of the early evening sunshine and drove out south of town into Deschutes Nat’l Forest, to catch the sunset from Bessie Butte. (A butte is a pretty specific land formation, but out here it gets applied liberally to isolated hills – or in this case, an extinct cinder cone.)

The Cascades from Bessie Butte

I love the orange light of pre-sunset and was delighted by how it set the green hillside of manzanita bushes glowing. This area burned in the 18 Fire of 2003, but has been replanted with little trees and is looking far from devastated at this point – although some rather dramatic reminders of the fire still exist.

What remains of Lodgepole Pines

The 3/4 mile trail wound up Bessie Butte offering great views of the Cascades, the city of Bend, and the surrounding area in all directions. Sunset behind Mt Bachelor was lovely and the purple twilight (it really was purple!) followed me back down to the car, where I lingered for awhile watching the stars come out, looking at the moon through my binoculars, and searching for the comet PANSTARRS (I’ve been looking for it since the 11th with no luck still…and running out of time. *sigh*)

And now it’s high time I scooted out of the house and set off on another adventure! Where have you been hiking lately?

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Posted in Adventure, Book related, Hiking/Walking, Non-sense, Photography | Tags: Bend, Bessie Butte, cave, lava tube, Newberry Volcano, volcanic activity

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | March 17, 2013

Believing is Seeing: Seven Stories

by Diana Wynne Jones

Over at We Be Reading, Kristin is hosting some DWJ love, celebrating the author’s work throughout the month of March with readalongs, group Twitter viewings of Howl’s Moving Castle, guest posts, and giveaways. I welcomed the reminder to seek out some new-to-me DWJ, for although she is one of my favorite authors, I still have a lot of her back catalog to work through. When she died in 2011 I was glad that I had so many of her worlds left to explore, since her ability to create new ones had come to an end – at least, as far as we know! I don’t doubt that if she can, she will find a way to tell her stories from beyond the grave – and at the very least we who love her will go on sharing her stories.

Actually when I heard about DWJ March my first thought was to reread Howl’s Moving Castle, a book that has been on my Top 5 list since I finished reading the first chapter many years ago. I have owned a copy of it at various times, but it is a book that I give away the moment I discover someone hasn’t ever read it. My last copy went on its merry way late last December. Therefore I had to trip over to my local library, and even though they had the 1986 hardback which features my favorite cover art, I managed to talk myself into reading something new-to-me (as I said, I needed the reminder!)

Believing is Seeing features 7 stories written by DWJ between 1982 and 1996. Her introduction to the collection is fun, giving some background for how the stories came about, which is always of interest to me. I was tickled to find out that more than one of them started out as dreams. I used to write stories based on my dreams all the time. (I should probably start doing that again…!)

All of the stories are wonderfully inventive, with a light tone, but hitting some more thoughtful notes as well. In “The Sage of Theare” the gods try to outmaneuver Fate, and young Thasper dogs the steps of the mysterious Sage of Dissolution, who questions If rules make a framework for the mind to climb about in, why should the mind not climb right out?

“The Master” is a really strange, especially dream-like story of a young female vet’s encounter with a strange Fool in a house watched by wolves. “Enna Hittims” spells out the consequences of letting your imagination get the best of you (watch out for Magic Markers!) “The Girl Who Loved the Sun” is a rather haunting tale of a girl who can’t accept that she is lovely and lovable as she is, and insists on turning into a tree in order to win the Sun’s affection.

It’s hard to really pick a favorite from among the 7, but the last 3 seemed especially gripping. In “Dragon Reserve, Home Eight” 14 year old Siglin has awakened into some powerful skills which are considered dangerous to posses – those who are discovered to be ‘heg’ are often killed by the Dragonate. On her way to be officially tried, Slavers attack and Siglin’s skills prove to be rather useful. The story is good, but what really struck me was DWJ’s ability to bring an entire world, military system, and a whole slew of characters into sharp and vibrant focus in just a few quick jots of her pen.

And then in “What the Cat Told Me” DWJ succeeds in instantly perfecting the voice of a cat, who while lazing about on a convenient lap and being stroked to her exacting commands, tells the tale of her years of enspelled servitude to wicked Old Man, and how she and Boy escaped their imprisonment.

Finally, in the utterly delightful “nad and Dan adn Quaffy” I was treated to a glimpse into what felt like a bit of DWJ’s life as a writer, complete with her most frequent typo problems. Sci-fi writer F. C. Stone experiences a bewildering afternoon when a voice coming out of her word processor appears to be that of a character from one of her books, and she is suddenly caught up in a story not quite of her own making.

Short stories aren’t always exactly how I like my tea, but this collection left me grinning (and a bit thoughtful) and also yearning to dip my own pen in some ink and get scribbling. I think that’s a reaction that would please DWJ. And I hope she really is still writing, somewhere beyond the grave, firing up the imaginations of whole other worlds.

We miss you here on Earth, DWJ, but we sure hope you’re having a blast wherever it is you’ve wound up!

Movie Mayhem: Crow’s Feet Commons, Bend, OR, edition

Crow’s Feet Commons is a coffee shop, bike shop, ski/snowboarding shop, pub, music venue, and occasional movie theater in downtown Bend. The best kind of outrageous, and somehow pulling it off in a down-to-earth way. The folks that run it obviously care a lot about the things they’re representing, from their very specific lines of merchandise to their fun tap list. And they also care a lot about Bill Murray movies. All winter they have been hosting a ‘Mondays with Murray’ event, drawing from the actor’s huge body of work and running a tempting drink special alongside. I caught the last 4 movies before they concluded the event until next fall – in favor of filling that extra hour of (hopefully) sunshine that daylight savings just provided us, with more biking and skiing and what-have-you.

I got to see some old favorites and two films that I’ve been meaning to watch for years.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Writ. & Dir. Wes Anderson. Based on the book by Roald Dahl. Star George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, and of course Bill Murray. USA, 2009) It took me awhile to warm up to Wes Anderson movies for some reason that remains a mystery to me. When I first saw this one soon after it came out, my reaction was an overwhelming “Meh”. Then I saw it again last spring and couldn’t figure out what I had disliked about it. It has become a favorite and I’ve seen it…erm, something like 4 more times since then? Anderson movies definitely have a unique tone and pacing, and while this one is stop-motion animation and slightly skewed towards a younger audience, it is just as weird and slightly dark as most of his other stuff – with the added Dahl wit and quirky charm. Mr Fox’s adventure on the road towards balancing his family responsibilities with being true to his wild nature always makes me laugh, and usually makes me ponder my own efforts at balancing elements in my life… Like most Anderson films this one just gets better with each viewing. And the scene with the wolf toward the end? Makes me choke up every time. (Bill Murray gives voice to Mr Fox’s sensible lawyer and has a few funny lines delivered with a flatness that only he can achieve…!) – Bechdel Test Pass or Fail? = FAIL* (Okay, so we’re dealing with animals here…but still, Mrs. Fox, one of several named female characters but the only one to get much screen time, never speaks to anyone other than ‘men’ about any thing at all for more than a moment.)

Ed Wood (Dir. Tim Burton. Writ. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. Based on the book ‘Nightmare of Ecstasy’ by Rudolph Grey. Stars Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Sarah Jessica Parker, Patricia Arquette, and of course Bill Murray. USA, 1994.) Based on the life of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Burton’s biopic is the wistful tale of a Hollywood director, screenwriter, and actor who just wanted to make terrific films. Unfortunately, he made terrible films…(some have called him the worst director of all time!) Burton depicts him as an earnest, energetic young man who cared deeply for his projects and for his friends. The story revolves around his more-or-less adoption of the aging actor Bela Lugosi, whose famous role as Count Dracula haunts him just as viciously as the tax man. Ed makes flop after flop, Bela teeters on the edge of ruin and sanity, Ed’s girlfriend Doloras ditches him and his worrisome cross-dressing ways, and he is forced to compromise his vision repeatedly, yet through it all Ed more-or-less retains his optimism and refuses to give up on his dreams. The movie is funny, but the underlying sadness of the tale makes for a complex tone. Johnny Depp is perfectly (and unsurprising) cast as Ed, bringing his usual weird passion to the role. Filmed in black and white, and with a script that has an old fashioned feel to it (more like stuff written around when Wood was actually working) this is a rather bemusing story overall. (Bill Murray is kind of adorable as Bunny Breckinridge, the stylist who yearns for a sex change…) – Bechdel Test Pass or Fail? = FAIL (A variety of named female characters, but they never speak to each other about anything for more than a moment.)

Coffee and Cigarettes (Writ. & Dir. Jim Jarmusch. Stars…everybody. Including Bill Murray…! USA, 2003.) A series of 11 vignettes that feature people talking while enjoying coffee and cigarettes. Shot in black and white, and usually fairly amusing, each little story builds a bit on the last ones and common themes and topics crop up repeatedly. At it’s most basic, an overall theme is the enjoyment of the little things in life – a good cup of coffee and a cigarette. It’s far more complex than that (especially as one common sentence is variations on, “Coffee and cigarettes? That’s all you’re having? That’s hardly a healthy lunch!”) Often the two (or more) people in the scene are not exactly comfortable with each other – they’ve just met, don’t know each other well, are somewhat estranged, are not getting along, or are in the midst of an argument. The relationships run from new to old friends, twins, cousins, siblings, working acquaintances. There are inside jokes from one story to another, and to sources outside the movie. I think it probably benefits from more than one viewing. The scene where Iggy Pop and Tom Waits smoke cigarettes to celebrate quitting smoking, while drinking coffee in a diner and making very awkward conversation was hilarious. In the segment titled Cousins? Alfred Molina has a meeting with Steve Coogan to tell him the great news – they appear to be related according to Molina’s genealogy research! Coogan is unimpressed. I kept cringing in sympathy for Molina, but the end of the piece brings a satisfying result. Bill Murray plays a waiter in his segment, serving tea to the hip-hop artists GZA and RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. They talk him into doing something bizarre to cure his smokers cough. Overall this is what I’ve come to expect from Jarmusch – weirdness that makes me shake my head in both puzzlement and wonder. I don’t mind that! – Bechdel Test Pass or Fail = PASS…? I think, but just barely (The segment titled ‘Cousins’ – without the question mark – is a conversation between Cate Blanchett as herself and her non-famous cousin Shelly, also played by Blanchett. Meeting in a hotel lobby between interviews for Cate, they talk about boyfriends and husbands and babies (sorry Julie!), and the boyfriend’s music, so indirectly still the boyfriend, but also touch on Cate’s career and other aspects of Shelly’s life. If I remember correctly…it’s been a few weeks. This is a tentative PASS for sure…!)

The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou (Dir. Wes Anderson. Writ. Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. Stars Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, Cate Blanchett, and Willem Dafoe. USA, 2004.) Another Anderson movie that underwhelmed me when I first saw it, and which I now enjoyed. Steve Zissou searches for the possibly mythic jaguar shark that ate his best friend, accompanied by his marine documentary filmmaking team, his increasingly frustrated wife, an impertinent (and pregnant) reporter, and a pilot who may or may not be his son. Anderson-esk shenanigans ensue. The usual elements of the ridiculous are rampant, paired with a particularly nifty set design. Some of the imaginative sea creatures are quite lovely, and there is an almost painful element of whimsy to the whole feel of the film. Zissou is unhappy, trying desperately to remain relevant, and increasingly hurt and confused by the lack of faith among his friends and crew, actual mutiny, and a gradual loss of respect. He is blind to some of the more obvious causes of these things, wrapped up in himself, although as he explores his relationship with his possible son he starts to make some revealing discoveries about himself – and actually takes them into account. On the whole it is a sad movie, slightly disjointed, with the standard Anderson lightness that showcases the “I have to laugh because otherwise I’d cry” sentiment precisely. There are amusing and even hilarious parts round every corner. The scene at the end (in the submarine) is heart-wrenching though. Still, at the very end, the movie (being an Anderson affair) manages to end on a somewhat positive note. Not my favorite Anderson, (although his films tend to grown on me, apparently) but one I’ll probably watch again. – Bechdel Test Pass or Fail = FAIL (*sigh* Eleanor Zissou and Jane, the reporter, are both decently interesting female characters, and are sketched out fairly well. But the only time they have a conversation together they are talking about Steve and Ned – the pilot and possible son. So much for that.)

Looks like Bill Murray is working on two new movies (including another one by Wes Anderson – sheesh!) which will be something to look forward to when the Mondays With Murray starts up again in the autumn. I might keep the tradition going myself between times though. It’s kind of a fun habit to have gotten into! Any suggestions for me?

* For details of the Bechdel Test and why I care, investigate here.

Telling Tales of Women

The Bechdel test

Alison Bechdel established her Rule in 1985 in her comic Dykes to Watch Out For. I discovered it yesterday through the web videos of Anita Sarkeesian (Feminist Frequency). This video left my jaw hanging and my thoughts racing:

A large percent of the movies Anita features are ones that I like, have seen more than once, or are favorites. I had never approached them this way and felt bizarrely betrayed. Not that the lack of a healthy female presence in a movie automatically makes it a bad one (I’m not about to boycott The Princess Bride!)…but it is a curious and upsetting thing that SO MANY movies fail the test. Anita made an updated video, applying the test to the 2011 Academy Award nominees with pretty dismal, and thought-provoking results. There’s a lot of things to get worked up about when it comes to business as usual in Hollywood, of course, but the Bechdel test reveals a particularly striking issue, and one that I’m having trouble ignoring. I’m not going to be able to avoid applying the test to every movie I see from now on.

I watch a lot of movies and doing so has been one of my favorite things for as long as I can remember. I value films as an art form and a way of gaining perspective on important issues, as well as carrying on the storytelling tradition that is part of human nature. Another video from Anita about the place of women and their stories in movies makes some good points:

You will wear yourself out nitpicking over the subtle and not-so-subtle sexism in our culture, but I think it’s important to be aware of it. I have gotten a lot of enjoyment out of movies that probably should have upset me if I had stopped to think about it. I like to think that I do THINK about the movies I watch, books I read, and stories I internalize, but it’s becoming increasingly clear to me that I’ve let myself get desensitized to some things. And that’s exactly why it’s important to be reminded of yet one more way that we are being undermined subconsciously (we as people, regardless of sex). The daily pummel of media that is just slightly off. See it enough and you STOP seeing it if you’re not careful, or worse, just accept it as the way things should be.

If you are in the mood to be further annoyed or even infuriated, (as well as charmed by Anita’s quirky and thoughtful commentary) be sure to check out more of her videos. Her Women vs. Tropes series is especially interesting, and gave me a good reminder of more things to be wary of in both my movie viewing, and my reading.

With all this in mind, as I was writing my post on books earlier today I was struck by how many were by female authors and featured interesting, strong, fully fleshed out female leads. Of the 14 books I touched on, 10 were by female authors, and 9 had main characters who were girls. In two of the books where the main character was male, there was a supporting cast that featured pretty cool ladies. In it’s own category lies One Hundred Years of Solitude, which deserves an entire separate post or three on the many female characters and the role of women in it… And I just might have to write them! Only Mimus and Fire on the Mountain were almost or entirely lacking in female characters. I’m trying to recall if there were any particularly glaring tropes employed in this collection of books, and to their credit I can’t think of any at the moment.

Determining all that was very satisfying! I hope my reading habits this year continue on this vein. You are what you eat, after all, and I consume a lot of books and movies – I don’t want them to be subconsciously blinding me or dulling my senses toward things that are offensive or thought patterns that are dangerous. And if I do come across such things I want to be aware enough to shoot ’em with a silver bullet or put a stake through their heart before I get bitten and infected or wind up undead…!

Here are some women, real and otherwise, who are particularly awesome:

Elisa from The Girl of Fire and Thorns (artwork by Simini Blocker)

Maggie Stiefvater

Karou (and Brimestone) from Daughter of Smoke and Bone (artwork by Calivel)

Brenna Yovanoff

Katsa, Fire, and Bitterblue – from the novels by Kristin Cashore (art by whomever runs ‘a lady, a monster, a queen’)

Diana Wynn Jones (aww…*sniff*) and Robin McKinley

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Posted in Art, Book related, Books, Movies, Non-sense, Novels, Reading, State of the World | Tags: Alison Bechdel, Anita Sarkeesian, Feminist Frequency, the Bechdel test, woman's stories

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | March 10, 2013

Playing Catch-up: from McKinley to Garcia Marquez

I’ve been doing a bit of this…! (Image: Raquel Marin)

It’s been a very bookish couple of months. In fact, according to Goodreads I am 9 books ahead of schedule, regarding my goal of reading 50 books this year. I set this goal based on the fact that I came nowhere near that number during the busy days of 2012, but hoped to read more in 2013. So far so good I guess.

As often happens when I go through a reading lull and then hit a surge, the majority of the books I’ve read recently have been YA Fantasy. I am beginning to sense that this will always be my favorite genre, and fortunately for me the creativity among YA authors and the quality of their writing seems to be ever increasing – once you dig the good stuff out of a whole lot of rubbishy paranormal romances and their ilk. (Although I do like a good vampire or werewolf now and then…)

Given that I fall behind on recent publications all the time, I am grateful for friends and bloggers like Leila of bookshelves of doom, L of omphaloskepsis, Ana of things mean a lot, and my little sister (from whom I regularly demand good recommendations), for staying on task and sorting out the good from the mediocre and telling me which are which! This means that in a run of 15 YA Fantasy books read so far this year there were only 3 or so that I really wasn’t totally sold on. Pretty good odds!

I’ve reached my saturation point for the moment I think, though, and am starting to introduce some non-fiction, adult literary fiction, and translated fiction back into my diet. A good mix of that and my beloved YA Fantasy makes me a healthy, happy bookworm.

I’m not going to properly review any of the books I’ve read so far this year, beyond a quick run down of some of the list (baring a few rereads, the duds, and a book by Diana Wynn Jones that I’ll talk about separately) as a sort of bookmark for myself. There may be an excessive use of exclamation points coming up…

Hale, Shannon. Book of a Thousand Days. New York: Bloomsbury U.S.A Children’s Books, 2007. 306 pages. Decent retelling of a classic Grimm fairy tale (like many of her books), but not a new favorite. (Incidentally, I can’t wait to get my mitts on the sequel to Princess Academy!)
Cashore, Kristin. Bitterblue. New York: The Penguin Group, 2012. 547 pages. A companion to Graceling and Fire (two spectacular books!), Bitterblue didn’t quite measure up and had some plot devices that I found hard to believe, but I was still entertained and enjoyed revisiting Cashore’s world and some favorite characters from the earlier books.
McKinley, Robin. Pegasus. New York: The Penguin Group, 2010. 404 pages. McKinley is a favorite author (The Blue Sword is in my top 5 and Rose Daughter is in my top 10) and her latest book didn’t disappoint, AT ALL. I loved it. I mean, Pegasi! Horses that FLY!! And make friends with humans!!! Pretty good stuff. The cliff-hanger ending made me screech and pull my hair, and 2014 with the promised sequel is soooo far away… Boo.
Carson, Rae. The Girl of Fire and Thorns. New York: Greenwillow Books, 2011. 423 pages. An excellent first novel from Rae Carson. I’m a sucker for desert stories, and this had a bit of that and a whole lot of other awesome in it too (magical jewels! castle political intrigue! prophesies!) Quite an original premise too. I timed my reading of this one right – the sequel was recently published. Thank goodness. 🙂
Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2010. 323 pages. An interesting, thought-provoking, and extremely well written post-Apocalypse story. I should really say more about it, but I’ll let L fill you in. Her review is here.
Stiefvater, Maggie. The Raven Boys. New York: Scholastic Press, 2012. 408 pages. Stiefvater hasn’t written a bad book yet, and each of her books is better than the last – with the exception of this one. It didn’t surpass The Scorpio Races, which is hands down my favorite of her books, but it was certainly just as brilliant and original and delightful. The awesome includes: Clairvoyants! Buried kings! Enchanted glades! Fast cars! I can’t wait for the sequel. (And can I just add that Stiefvater is THE CUTEST? Check out her blog sometime. She’s another one of my go-tos for book recommendations, incidentally.)
Hartman, Rachel. Seraphina. New York: Random House, 2012. 464 pages. DRAGONS! Done in a new and interesting way, in an intriguing and well crafted world. This book is brilliant. It is Hartman’s first, and I very much hope she gets round to writing something else soon.
Thal, Lilli. Mimus. Translated from the German by John Brownjohn. New York: Annick Press, 2005. 394 pages. Set in a medieval world, this follows the adventures of a prince turned jester. It was lively and clever but failed to totally engage me. Still, I would read another book by Thal if I came across one.
Yovanoff, Brenna. The Replacement. New York: The Penguin Group, 2010. 343 pages. An unusual and excellent take on the fairy left in the cradle in place of a human child story – and fairies in general. I really liked this one and am pleased to have discovered a new author who has written quite a few other well reviewed books. The dark, creepy atmosphere of this story is great, and while the ending was a little bit off, the rest of the book more than made up for it.
Smith, Jennifer E. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2012. 236 pages. Cute, but not excessively so. The ‘love at first sight’ bit is nothing remarkable, although it’s tolerably well done. There is a decent exploration of a teen dealing with the breakup of her parents – no startling insights. Overall a fun, and not totally fluffy, book.
Taylor, Laini. Daughter of Smoke and Bone. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2011. 418 pages. At first I was thinking, “Angels…? Are you kidding me?” but then I got over it because these are some bad ass angels. And the so-called “demons” or really cool too. And the writing is excellent. And the book is SPLENDID. And thank goodness the sequel was just published! A win all round. I’m looking forward to reading everything else Taylor has written asap.
Fforde, Jasper. The Last Dragonslayer. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 287 pages. Fforde has written some extremely funny, copiously clever books for adults, my favorite of which is The Eyre Affair, the first of the Thursday Next literary mysteries. The Last Dragonslayer is aimed at a younger audience, and it is a fun book (featuring dragons, YES!) but nothing exceptional. It seemed a bit tame, actually. And who likes a tame dragon, really? Nevertheless, I did laugh out loud a few times and that never hurts anyone.

Last but not least, here’s a few books from outside the YA genre that I read and enjoyed earlier this year:

Marquez, Gabriel Garcia. One Hundred Years of Solitude. Translated from the Spanish by Gregory Rabassa. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1970. Originally published 1967. 448 pages. I’ve taken my time getting round to reading this extremely hyped up and loved by millions book. It’s been on my TBR list for about 11 years, ever since my then 13 year old cousin first told me about it. A fellow I met last November told me it was his favorite book besides The Lord of the Rings, and then insisted on giving me his copy. In February I finally checked it off my list. I thought it was entertaining, somewhat hilarious at times, deliciously weird throughout, and definitely NOT my favorite book besides LOTR…! I just can’t seem to be overly impressed by Garcia Marquez. I keep trying, but I’ve yet to read a book of his that I really liked. There is no doubt that he is an inventive writer who is a master of the craft, but this story just never got ahold of me. And yet I’ll probably try again with him, just because. Love in a Time of Cholera…? Maybe that’ll be the one…

Abbey, Edward. Fire on the Mountain. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1962. 181 pages. I wanted to read The Monkey Wrench Gang but found this one at the library instead. Set in New Mexico (yay!) it tells the tale of a tough old rancher and his grandson, who try to take on the US government and military, who want to fold the family ranch into their White Sands Missile Range…with the inevitable result. It’s a book about brave, stubborn people, which left me heavy-hearted but not totally depressed. Abbey writes with equal care about the weathered old man and the scrubby drying out landscape, and finds painful beauty in both. I’m still thinking about the story weeks later. It’s good to have discovered Abbey. I look forward to reading more of his work.

And there you have it. I should have proper reviews from now on (more or less…) Feel free to ask me for more details about any of these books if you want them. 🙂

What’s YOUR favorite book from the first few months of this year?

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Posted in Authors, Books, Brenna Yovanoff, Edward Abbey, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jasper Fforde, Jennifer E. Smith, Kristin Cashore, Laini Taylor, Lilli Thal, Maggie Stiefvater, Non-sense, Novels, Paolo Bacigalupi, Rachel Hartman, Rae Carson, Reading, Robin McKinley, Shannon Hale | Tags: Bitterblue, Book of a Thousand Days, Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Fire on the Mountain, Mimus, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Pegasus, Seraphina, Ship Breaker, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, The Last Dragonslayer, The Raven Boys, The Replacement, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | March 8, 2013

The Intimately Opressed

March 8th is recognized around the world as International Woman’s Day, and by coincidence, if you believe in that sort of thing, this morning I found myself reading the chapter on the beginning of woman’s resistance to a male dominated society in Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States.

This book is by turns shocking me, angering me, puzzling me, making me hopeful, very nearly making me laugh, and this chapter – The Intimately Oppressed – was no different, but felt quite a bit more personal. I had already been reminded that the language of the Declaration of Independence excluded slaves and free men of color, Native Americans, and women. According to Zinn and his historical sources, I now learned that a fellow named Edmund Burke had written in his Reflections on the Revolution in France that “a woman is but an animal, and an animal not of the highest order.” To which Mary Wollstonecraft responded in A Vindication of the Rights of Women:

I wish to persuade women to endeavor to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonymous with epithets of weakness, and that those beings who are only the objects of pity and that kind of love…will soon become objects of contempt…

I wish to show that the first object of laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinctions of sex.

As a society and as women we’ve come a long way since the time when this was written (1792), to which I say (since we are celebrating such things today) “Hurray!” I don’t pause often enough to be grateful that I am a woman today, with privileges and a place in the world that Wollstonecraft probably couldn’t have imagine in her wildest dreams. I am reminded that the struggles of women in America in the 1830s, 40s, and 50s (that’s as far as I’ve gotten!) is a struggle that has persisted to this day in other parts of the world. I am embarrassed that Zinn’s story gets a rise out of me while too often I sail through my comfy life oblivious to the continuing oppression of women in other countries and even still here in the US.

Time to change that. It’s time I endeavored to acquire a bit more strength in mind, as Wollstonecraft asked. (I’m more on the ball with the strength of body side of things…timber framing will do that to a girl!)

Having never considered myself a feminist, exactly, I appreciate Wollstonecraft’s comment about obtaining “a character as a human being, regardless of the distinctions of sex.” The root of oppression is not placing any value on the individual, whether they be male or female, black or white, native or European. I want to actively care more about the people around me than politics, ideologies, or movements. Those things should follow by default, since caring for the person will cause me to care about the issues that effect them.

For today, for this moment, I want to appreciate all the amazing women in my life (especially my Mom and my six beautiful sisters – who are very strong in mind and body!), and give thanks for those like Wollstonecraft who stuck out their necks for the rest of us. Happy International Woman’s Day!

(Incidentally, Wollstonecraft was Mary Shelley’s mother – I think it’s high time I got round to reading Frankenstein, don’t you?)

2 Comments

Posted in Authors, Books, Famous People, History, Howard Zinn, Non-Fiction, Non-sense, Reading, Scholarly Pursuits, State of the World | Tags: A People's History of the United States, International Woman's Day, Mary Wollstonecraft

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | March 7, 2013

Movie Mayhem: Tin Pan Theater, Bend, OR edition

Bend has four movie theaters, from what I’ve discovered thus far – one of the big chain theaters; a small theater that is connected to the Pacific Northwest brewery/venue chain McMenamins; and two independent theaters. I have yet to check out Volcanic Theatre Pub (but they’re showing Pulp Fiction this weekend so I’ll probably go!) I have visited Tin Pan Theater thrice now, and I love it. It’s like the little brother of Reel Pizza Cinerama in Bar Harbor, ME, where I used to work and where I left my heart hopelessly tangled.

Tin Pan Theater is tiny, with a lobby and screening area that fill just one room. Suitably, it is located in an alley. Beer and popcorn accompany independent and foreign films, and Wednesdays are for Spaghetti Westerns (with the all-you-can-eat spaghetti to go with them). I was told that the dream is to rent out space upstairs and show more movies, and overheard that other food options may someday be available. Like I said, I already love this place!

So far I’ve seen three movies there. Two were excellent, and the third contributed to a very enjoyable evening, so no complaints from me!

Chasing Ice (Dir. Jeff Orlowski. Writ. Mark Monroe. Stars James Balog. USA, 2012) James Balog, a National Geographic photographer, set out to document the dramatic changes that the world’s glaciers are experiencing. Over the course of several years the time-lapse cameras he and his team set up in Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and in Glacier Nat’l Park bore silent witness to melting unlike anything seen before in recorded history. The reasons WHY are obvious to many but often easy to ignore, and certainly hard to see on a day to day basis. Balog’s project provides evidence that is graphic, and imagery that will be difficult to forget. This documentary follows him as he gets the project underway, facing technical and physical obstacles. The human drama barely qualifies as a set of parenthesis to the story of the ice though. Balog’s still photography is extraordinary, the time-lapse footage brings you to the edge of your seat, and some of the live action video of the calving of icebergs is one of the more jaw-drop inducing things I’ve ever seen. Gut-wrenching beauty and devastation. This one won’t necessarily cheer you, but it will definitely hit you where it matters. Highly recommended.

Sound City (Dir. David Grohl. Writ. Mark Monroe. USA, 2013) I just realize this film and Chasing Ice were written by the same fellow. Makes sense that they’re both quite good! Sound City is about a recording studio of that name, which was located in Van Nuys, CA. It was where the members of Fleetwood Mac found each other, where Nirvana cut Nevermind, where Rick Springfield recorded Jessie’s Girl – and so many other amazing musicians gathered to make music. The movie is kind of a love letter from Dave Grohl to the Neve 8028 analog mixing console that the “sound” in Sound City Studios revolved around. When the studio finally had to close in 2011, he bought the machine and then set about gathering many of the musicians who had used and abused it over the years to celebrate the creativity and craziness it had captured. The movie is full of music, interviews with musicians, and passionate stories told by folks who worked in the studio from it’s early days to it’s twilight. The movie makes a quiet comment about the loss of analog with the rise of digital, but puts more of an emphasis on the power of music made by real people, whether they’re using technology to create or just an acoustic guitar. It’s a a high spirited film, with a wistful undertone. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Find a Place to Die (Dir. Giuliano Carnimeo. Writ. Lamberto Benvenuti. Stars Jeffrey Hunter and Pascale Petit. Italy, 1968) As I mentioned, Wednesdays are when the spaghetti western rules at Tin Pan Theater. I went to check the event out tonight for the first time. There’s been a good turn out for the other films I’ve seen there, but this screening was as sold out as it gets there – all 30 (if that, my guesstimation was conservative) seats were taken. The spaghetti and garlic bread overflowed, Boneyard Beer‘s RPM IPA represented (a new PNW fav), and the laughably terrible Find a Place to Die got a few good gawffs from folks other than myself. It was no Sergio Leone, and the soundtrack was a symphony away from a Morricone score. The plot – a desperate woman seeks the help of a court-martialed soldier, who manages to redeem himself by resisting his own greed and defending her against brigands out to score her body and her gold mine – was weak at best. Eye-roll and snigger inducing. The score had a few good moments, and there was one somewhat clever exchange, but ultimately I filled up on noodles and was left hungry for a decent western (like My Name is Nobody – which I’ll have to write about that later!) An enjoyable round of ridicule with my accompanying friends made it all worthwhile in the end though, and I won’t hesitate to brave the spaghetti western again another time. At least I know the food will be good!

Bending It

Goodness, my blogging muscles are stiff…! It’s been ages, but my little bit of internet space feels cozy and welcoming. Maybe a little shy of me, worried that I might get it’s hopes up only to drift away again for months… I want to promise my blog that it won’t be like that this time, but we’ll see. I do think the time is right to get back in the groove though. After all, I live in a proper town. And I read a ton, and watch movies, and do crafts with paper, and take pictures, and go hiking. All the things I used to do all the time, before Aprovecho hijacked my life (in a good way!) – with one additional thing. I’m an apprentice timber framer!! Oh, and I drink tea now. Lots and lots of tea.

In my last post I mentioned that I was plotting my next move. I ended up staying at Apro through the autumn, minus a brief adventure up to the wilds of Washington for a permaculture design certification course. I completed my first natural building “job”, working with one of my favorite mud men to do an earthen/lime base plaster in what will be Apro’s new commercial kitchen. When I finally left Apro in late December, the Boathouse (the structure I spent much of the latter half of the year helping to construct) had a roof and was looking pretty nifty. I spent Christmas in southern Oregon, and started the new year in Sun Valley, Idaho.

Not THE Sun Valley, but a nearby canyon

Before I knew what had happened I was back in Oregon however. The opportunity to continuing pursuing my natural building passion, while getting paid and getting to explore a new town and area presented itself, and I couldn’t possibly say “No”. I moved to Bend, OR and started working for Oregon Timberworks in mid-January.

You can just about see my house from here…and what you can’t see are the very big mountains hidden in the storminess…

Ah, here’s one of them!

I was in just the right mood to live in a town again, and I’ve been basking in the various perks of being a townie. Car-less since the sale of my admittedly beloved Subaru Impreza last fall (which helped fund my continuing adventure…*sigh*), I have been enjoying walking and biking everywhere and am grateful for a very walkable and bikeable town. This is a place where there are streets with 3 bookshops and 4 thrift stores in a 2 mile stretch, where there are 9 breweries in full operation and more starting up all the time, where the library is open on SUNDAY!!, and where there is live music at 1/2 a dozen venues nearly every night of the week. (Yes, this is the largest town I’ve ever lived in…!) It is sunny almost all the time, relatively warm (for winter), and there are very large mountains within sight from downtown. I’m sure the novelty will wear off sooner or later, but at the moment I have no complaints.

Biking a section of the Deschutes River Trail

Sketchy happy hour

Sunny afternoon on my front porch

Paper crafts and reading

And the work I’m doing is fun! As well as really hard, both mentally and physically – moving round timbers that are not too far off from still being TREES, laying out complex joinery, cutting mortises and tenons with a plethora of hand and power tools, learning the quirks and moods of my boss, starting from scratch on building a whole new skill set… A challenge for sure, but such a satisfying one.

Sawhorses I built

I built two sets actually – practice makes perfect!

Raising the frame of a “treehouse” in Salem last month

Not your childhood treehouse, eh?

Things are looking promising in my immediate future, and I find myself approaching the idea of pausing here in Bend for a bit. The house where I am living with some cool folks is comfortable and brilliantly located, and I can’t resist nesting. In fact I am having a hard time resisting the idea of getting my sewing machine and cello shipped to me from Maine…!

As 2012 drew to a close I came to the realization that my time at Apro had changed me and shifted my perspective and introduced new passions into my life. But it hadn’t changed me THAT much. I’m still me, and finding a balance between the builder and the librarian is where I’m at now. I need my books just as much as I need the mud and wood. I think I’m close to finding that balance here in Bend, for the moment, and it is SO GOOD.

I feel like I’m one big set of crossed fingers. There’s a lot still up in the air and I don’t feel like I’ve really got my feet under me yet (not working for a whole year does that to your finances at the very least…), but I feel pretty confident that everything will continue to work out, and very hopeful that this year will be a brilliant sequel to last year’s epic tale.

Coming soon, I CAN promise – at least one post about the 17 books I’ve read so far this year! And maybe a movie review or two.

Cheers!

“Be like a bird/ who halting in her flight/ on a limb too slight/ feels it give way beneath her/ yet sings, sings,/ knowing she has wings/ Yet sings, sings!/ knowing she has wings…” a song I learned at Apro 🙂

5 Comments

Posted in Adventure, Arts and Crafts, Drawing, Hiking/Walking, Local/Community, Non-sense, Personal, Photography, Traveling, Work | Tags: Aprovecho, Bend, OR, Oregon Timberworks, timber framing

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | September 30, 2012

My Year Thus Far, in Brief

As Inigo Montoya said, “Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”

Since I last wrote, I…

…helped build a dry stacked stone retaining wall at Aprovecho, and went to Las Vegas for a wedding!

Learned how to use natural plasters. Every now and then it stopped raining in April…

Fell in love with reciprocal roofs

Went camping on the coast, and visited Cob Cottage Company.

Did much more work on the Playhouse, finished my independent project – a wooden stool! – and concluded the Natural Building Practicum at Aprovecho.

Went to Idaho to explore Sun Valley.

Went to Desert Rocks music festival in Green River, UT.

Camped above Hells Canyon, OR.

Came back to Apro to work trade for a few weeks and helped finish the Playhouse.

Went to the Oregon Country Fair!

Mini roadtrip up the coast.

Long summer days full of amazing Oregon sunshine spent working and playing with friends.

Took the Shelter Series at Aprovecho. Started building the Boathouse.

And a yurt!

Can’t get enough of natural building. 🙂

On weekends, helped build an earth bag root cellar. Went to an Avett Brothers concert and an Edward Sharpe concert with friends, turned 26…! and finished the Shelter Series.

Explored the Applegate Valley and went backpacking in the CA Redwoods.

Read a few good books, watched The Princess Bride at least once a month, baked, brewed, played the piano, enjoyed bonfires and full moons, and had a thoroughly good time.

And I’m at Apro still – getting better at balancing rocks between tree trunks, working on the Boathouse, making ginger beer and cinnamon buns, enjoying new friendships, and plotting my next move. I am enjoying the last delightful weeks of Oregon sunshine and as usual am getting a kick out of autumn. It’s high time I read a few spooky stories, and I definitely need to track down a whole barrel of seasonal beers!

I can’t say for certain what I’ll be doing next, although I hope it continues to be something to do with natural building or permaculture or homesteading – or books or music or travel. I hope to read a bit more this fall and winter, write a bit more, and process all that I’ve learned and experienced this year.

Waking this blog back up seems like a good place to start! Cheers, internets. 🙂

13 Comments

Posted in Adventure, Aprovecho, Non-sense, Photography, Traveling | Tags: Aprovecho, Inigo Montoya, natural building, Oregon, photography tour, stonework

Posted by: Sally Ingraham | March 25, 2012

Considering the Chamber Pot: Adventures at Aprovecho

My roommate and I have very seriously discussed getting a chamber pot for our room. It has taken us both awhile to form a few self-preservation habits regarding our before bed bathroom use – but even with refraining from drinking anything for an hour, or making sure we go twice…there is still the occasional need to tumble out of bed, don numerous layers, find a flashlight, put boots on at the door, and trek out into the mud and very likely the rain as well in the middle of the night. A chamber pot suddenly makes so much sense!

The trail to the toilet - which passes beneath my favorite madrone tree

The system of composting toilets and the use of humanure at Apro is actually, bizarrely, one of my favorite things about this place. It makes me feel good to think that my crap is being used to fertilize bamboo and other non-edible plants instead of being leached into the ground or getting into the water. I don’t mind being slightly inconvenienced. (I write this honestly, even while eyeing the pouring rain outside my window and wondering why on earth I thought it was a good idea to drink two cups of tea in such quick succession…)

(The top of the watershed, taken yesterday)

Week 2 at Apro has been interesting. It got off to a brilliant start with a group hike to the top of the watershed – the place where all the waters drain out of to fill the creeks and ponds lower down – and then an afternoon of cobbing. The “builders” and the “permies” all worked together on the cob wall. With 16+ folks we made a good amount of progress, and we builders especially enjoyed sharing our new-found expertise on working with cob with our fellow interns who are here learning about permaculture. It was warm enough that I ditched my boots and socks and mixed cob with my bare feet – the proper, delightful way.

We then spent a day working on the dry stacked stone retaining wall that will be part of the foundation for another section of cob wall. On the Equinox we flexed our hippie muscles and had a late night drum circle dance party, which to our dismay brought only a storms worth of super heavy, wet snow. On the first day of spring in 2012, the grandfather oak that has shaded half of the garden for decades split down the middle and came crashing to the ground. It seemed like the worst sort of omen.

By the end of that day though, everyone was through fearing a legit Apocalypse and was marveling over a series of miracles. In spite of the greenhouse roof collapsing from the weight of the snow, not a single seedling had been spilled. The tree that fell over in the camping area chose to fall while the campers were in class, and it missed crushing two tents by mere inches. As for the grandfather oak, it fell in such a way that most of the garden wasn’t even disturbed – and to be honest, the garden will appreciate the extra light.

We got a few extra lessons out of the snow storm too, such as how to clear a black locust tree out of a road. Look out for the dagger thorns! Black locust is a really rot resistant wood, so although it was a pretty tree and it’s a shame that it fell over, some of the branches will make really excellent fence posts!

It snowed again on Thursday so we spent the day in the workshop clearing and cleaning and setting up the space for when we will come back in a few weeks to learn some timber framing and build a loft in there. Thursday was also the day of the epic snowball fight, and the first game of Stump (which involves tossing hammers and pounding nails into a stump…) That evening there was a fantastic bluegrass band called Conjugal Visitors at the Axe & Fiddle in town and most of the Apro interns went to dance the night away.

I really dug the addition of a sax to the bluegrass sound

The sun came out on Friday and there was general rejoicing. I went with a couple folks to learn how to milk a cow in the morning, and then joined an expedition to the coast in the afternoon.

(Purple sunset)

Yesterday I turned in my proposal for my personal project (a few details are here if you’re interested) and then hiked back up to the watershed. I made homemade postcards in the afternoon and wrote letters, then spent the evening crocheting a new hot pad for the Apro kitchen while a group of us learned about different fermentation and food preservation processes.

And so another week has passed. I’ve now been here two weeks (only two weeks?! two weeks already?!) and every day I have woken up feeling totally thrilled to be here and excited about what the day would bring. Pretty rad.

Next week we will start working on a green roof for “The Playhouse”, a small cabin that was built last year during the Shelter Series (something I am seriously considering doing later this year) as well as some natural plasters. I will begin working on my personal project too, learning some basic woodworking skills and building a bookcase for the Apro library. I expect the week to be super fun!

This afternoon I have a huge batch of biscuits to make as part of tonight’s dinner, and I have dreams of reading an entire book (one of Roald Dahl’s short ones!).

At this precise moment though, I am thinking about that chamber pot again. The rain is REALLY coming down…a chamber pot would surely come in handy! Oh well, time to bundle up and make a dash for it.

Chamber pots of course MUST be floral

Enjoy the last week of March and happy spring!

5 Comments

Posted in Adventure, Aprovecho, Hiking/Walking, Music, Non-sense, Photography, Weather, Work | Tags: bluegrass, chamber pot, cob, snowpocalypse, spring

what we have here is a failure to communicate

Lava Tubes and Cinder Cones

Believing is Seeing: Seven Stories

Movie Mayhem: Crow’s Feet Commons, Bend, OR, edition

Telling Tales of Women

Playing Catch-up: from McKinley to Garcia Marquez

The Intimately Opressed

Movie Mayhem: Tin Pan Theater, Bend, OR edition

Bending It

My Year Thus Far, in Brief

Considering the Chamber Pot: Adventures at Aprovecho

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