Reading Americanah (Review)

I started reading Americanah by Chimamande Ngozi Adichie and for some reason I cannot put it down. I mean I can't really tell if there's a set plot so far, but it's a really good book. Anyway, it got me thinking: I should start blogging in a funny way. I mean I know it's not the same as a blog about universal blackness as I have no way to relate to that as a white girl, but I thought I could share little bits of my day with social commentary, almost like a real blog.

But enough about me. This book has taught me a lot, and not just about race and African relations. As a writer it taught me how to form more believable characters with human qualities, even if those qualities are undesirable. These are what make the character real. Ifemelu and Obinze display their own insecurities and pretentiousness, often regarding themselves in a very self-righteous way. Ifemelu is often found rationalizing her self-sabotaging life decisions. Obinze is obsessive and impulsive. The two are both living in a constant state of discontent.

The author herself uses blog entries and other vehicles as social commentary, which makes this book more than just an interesting read with interesting characters, as it presents common feelings and ideas that are expressed in our normal day to day lives. This is something that greatly influenced me as a writer of both fiction and journalism, which was shown in this book.

I saw a lot of myself in this book. The characters were very convincing that I needed to make a change from just being content to truly living. I am often like Ifemelu, dismissive of my own shortcomings and ego, often indulging my impulses. Seeing it from someone else's point of view makes it all the more real that I should make a change in the way I approach things in life, such as my pressuring everyone to believe what I believe without putting in the work to persuade.

This book is in a way a coming of age. The characters are coming into an age where they should be matre. My only grievences were that the book had little to show for a plot, often jumping around. While the time changes were very visible, the point as to what the plot truly was didn't come until the end. However, this is amazing because the author carried me through the experience so far even without a clear conflict or point.

Also, I wanted the author to know that she ain't slick. "Ngozi Okonkwo." mixing her name and the name of the character of the book Things Fall Apart which she even refers to in the book. 10th grade reading list taught me well.

Showing People What is Right in Front of Them

   There's this issue that has come to my attention about when it comes to people who are willfully ignorant. I know the phrase "ignorance is bliss" tells it best when it refers to ignorance being better to live with. I believe these people who believe ignorance is bliss are just using a common defense mechanism, denial, to rid them of anxieties in their lives. This is really understandable, but also really unreasonable in times of important facts.

   For example, an issue took place in which a scheduled show for a fashion designer in aSsouthern town in North Florida took place. The day before everything ran smoothly. The next day's fashion show, however, was another story. The anonymous fashion designer ran into trouble when one of the models didn't have a badge. You would think you just need the badge, right? It's on him. Well, that same fashion show I was supposed to be working. I had no credentials and went up to the desk requesting a badge for the person I was working under. Unfortunately, they were all out of badges for this specific person, but they gave me a random one. They didn't look at my ID, didn't ask my name, didn't do anything. So why is it that when the one model out of the bunch didn't have a badge the whole show had to be stopped? This one model who resulted in the entire show being cancelled. In fact, it was really messy. They wouldn't even let the designer back stage and in fact were threatening to call the cops. This might seem like a coincidence without knowing the full details. The event in question was basically a women's (predominantly white women's) expo in which a specific type of person was expected to be present. The designer was also a specific type of person too. A black gay man, who is an absolute teddy bear, shown to be treated in such an awful and unexpected way. Perhaps someone could suggest that there is a reason he was treated differently?

   In fact, when my mother suggested this rudeness was due to race and sexuality to my grandmother, she had a fit. My grandmother is one of those people who believes that if they don't see something it didn't/doesn't happen, and that even IF they saw it, it doesn't mean it was for the very clear and plausible  reasons that are suggested. She is also a FOX news watcher, but I degress. This is the type of situation where people refuse to see any other reasoning. To elaborate, I saw another fashion show group go on into the dressing room afterward badge free. No issues or complaints from management then. But if you said this to someone like my grandmother, it would be very shocking to even think that social standing was the reason behind the absurd thing that took place.

   I think it's a real problem when people refuse to hear facts in order to boost their own egos or show people they aren't a bad person, that everyone else is misguided or sensitive. When you show facts about things like murders made by police on people who commit petty crimes, they still defend the murderer because they believe that racism is no longer a reality despite countless comparisons and amounts of data. These people also believe that "political correctness," otherwise known to some as human decency, is a bad thing that's going to transport us into the stone ages. I wish people wouldn't just constantly be on the defense all the time about protecting outdated beliefs or shielding themselves from something they see as harmful to their own comfort. People who refuse to believe that their child is telling the truth about being molested is another example of this.

   In the future I hope we as a people move past the intense denial that we naturally cling to when we don't want to be wrong about something. Being wrong doesn't mean you can't learn, nor does it mean that things have to end that way. There is always room for improvement for everyone. So why not try to put aside personal beliefs to understand the world?

Enough Space to Last a Lifetime: The Martian Review

So today I went to see "The Martian" with my parents, and for the most part it was an entertaining movie, ignoring the fact that it was about space. Actually, when my sister saw the preview she was like "ugh do we really need a prequel to 'Interstellar,'" to which i was like...it's not...but then I realized it's literally Matt Damon, but not a villian, playing in ANOTHER stuck on a planet movie. Riveting.

The movie itself was so...predictable it was literally "Interstellar" wtf. Half of the cast of interstellar was in it tool. You aren't slick. The whole ship not lining up with other attachment thing was the same exact thing too...truly predictable. But it was more funny than anything which I was thankful for but I kept expecting Mathew Mcchonahay (i'm not even going to try to spell that right) to show up.

To be honest, my general dislike for space comes from watching movies like "Alien" and "Promethius" in addition to that one movie I don't know the name of where they're going to space and the crew has to leave Mars and the guy gets stranded from the ship *gasp* and his girlfriend with black hair just watches as she ascends into the moving ship, knowing he won't make it, and in his final moments he commits space suicide by taking off his helmet and imploding, which is shown for childhood me to see. Just like every other space movie ever.

Anyway what was up with the soundtrack change whenever Donald Glover appeared? The script writers were like "Ah yes, this sounds "hip" and "urban" we should put it ONLY when the young black guy shows up." Honestly.


Anyway, since I've been taking anatomy aka Biology 1 2.0, I've been thinking a lot about cells and cell theory. If everything is made up of cells, who's to say this universe isn't just one big cell? I mean Earth would be the best idea of a nucleus with a lot of life on it, the other planets would be organelles, etc. Everything is a cell that's expanding. Also lysosomes. I just like that word.

Anyway this was going nowhere from the beginning. Don't write off the whole movie. Just know that it's basically Interstellar with less mindboggling science and shorter. I think. More plausible rather.