Author John Krakauer first reported about the death of Christopher Johnson McCandleless in an article he wrote for the outdoorsman magazine Outside in 1993. In 1996, he published the book Into the Wild with a more complete picture of McCandleless's travels from 1990 through his death in 1992. Chris McCandleless was a college graduate who took to the road after his graduation from Emory University in search of a lifestyle in which he could live off the land, in the fashion of Thoreau or Tolstoy. To cut ties with his affluent upbringing, he even went so far as to change his name that he gave to others to "Alexander Supertramp."
From the very beginning, you know McCandleless died on his adventure. There are lots of interviews with folks he met along the way---from a guy who gave him a job in his granary to a "rubber tramp" couple (slang for homeless people who own a car) to an elderly man who wanted to adopt him as his grandson. Amazingly, he did manage to live off the land in Alaska several months before he succumbed to starvation that experts theorize was brought on by ingesting seeds infested with a poisonous mold. In the book, McCandleless comes across as a nice guy with grandiose ideals that unfortunately do not include a lot of planning and preparation behind them. The author, as an avid outdoorsman and mountain climber himself, is clearly sympathetic to McCandleless and relates to his quest.
In the end, I just felt bad for all the people he unceremoniously left behind. While his parents were clearly imperfect and didn't share Chris's same life philosophy, I couldn't help feeling that he was so unkind and ungrateful for how hard his parents had worked to provide for him over the years. It was claimed over and over again in the book about how much he loved his sister Carine, but he didn't even stoop to contact her during his time on the road. Maybe I would have felt different reading this book if I hadn't been a parent. Everyone likes a bit of adventure, right? I just felt, even with the author's bend in McCandleless's favor in telling his story, that he came off as self absorbed, arrogant, and uncaring towards his family in the book. It was especially hard to see how everyone he met adored him, while he treated those he grew up with with contempt. I would be absolutely heartbroken permanently if my child grew up to behave that way towards me.
And yet, McCandleless is viewed as a sort of modern day hero by some because he followed his dream of living off the land. Because he died on his trip, he's now immortalized and people make pilgrimages to the bus he died in. Sean Penn directed a movie based on this book. Somehow that just seems wrong to me. Should we exalt people who follow their dreams regardless of the outcome? I don't think so.
God bless Tom Thumb for having the amazing skill of being able to pluck a gem from the shelves of our library every single week! This week we bring you The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen. Chris Van Dusen is the illustrator of the Mercy Watson books (which are delightful reads about an adventurous pig for the grade 1-3 set) and he wrote this book in rhyme about the circus ship that meets a rock in the sea and subsequently sinks. The real fun begins when the animals come ashore to a village in Maine and save the day. But will the villagers save them when the unkind circus owner returns to reclaim them?
My favorite pages are here:
All fifteen of the circus animals are hidden from the owner somewhere in the picture. Tom Thumb and I had a ball as he easily identified the easy ones like the gorilla on the far left side of the page and I helped him find the more difficult ones like the alligator.
I love books like that this that have delicious illustrations and an interesting story. Can you believe the author loosely based the story on a real event? There actually was a ship called The Royal Tar that sunk off the coast of Maine in 1836. Van Dusen includes a page at the back of the book describing the event's influence on this fictional tale. I can't wait to see what Tom Thumb uncovers next! :-)
Speaking of circuses, I visited Erin Morgenstern's blog today. She's the author of one of my fave books, The Night Circus, and I wanted to check and see what she was up to. I appreciated the refreshing blog post she posted the other day. Being a novelist has always sounded very glamorous to me and I have romanticized it in my mind to the point of ridiculousness. I have visions of the author sitting pensively at her laptop, looking out her window over some sumptuous mountain/ocean/forest view. She takes a sip of her coffee and continues on writing her literary feast of brilliance. Okay---maybe not that romanticized. It must be the day I'm having, but it nice to hear that someone else was struggling to get it all done---even if I'm just a stay at home mom and she's a novelist with her first book optioned for a movie.
I've also had an undue obsession with pot roast lately. I've been eating 99% vegetarian for the last year, but over the last couple of days all I can think of is tender, cut with your fork beef pot roast and mashed potatoes completely covered in salty brown gravy. And a side a salty canned green beans wouldn't be too bad either. Somebody slap me...
I know I've been missing in action for about three weeks, but I was blinded by beautiful weather! It was in the record breaking 80s here and Tom Thumb and I were off frolicking in the sun in our backyard for hours everyday. We even filled the sandboxes! Who has time to think about what to write on their blog when the summer is calling your name early? Not me.
Now for my triumphant return. It's deep. It's profound. It's....my nails. That's right. In tribute to the opening of The Hunger Games movie over the weekend, I painted all my nails grey for District 12 (Coal) with flames as a nod to my girl on fire Katniss Everdeen. The Cobbler and I went out Saturday night to see The Hunger Games and the movie didn't disappoint, however, the audience did. Maybe I'm going old lady at 35, but I was stunned by the rowdy behavior and the use of cell phones during the movie. First of all, the ushers actually had to escort some people out during the scene when Katniss is singing to Rue. Are you serious? The most emotional scene in the movie is happening and people are laughing and talking so loudly somebody down below us shouted, "Will you guys JUST SHUT UP!" Then, there were at least a dozen people in the seats in front of us with their cell phone screens lit up who were texting throughout the movie. Not to mention (spoiler alert!), about 3/4 of the theater applauded when Thresh killed Clove at the cornucopia. Yes, she was a villain, but to applaud when a kid gets killed? Really?
I felt very disturbed. In The Hunger Games, the people of the Capitol have such a need to be entertained that watching children killing each other is fun for them. It seemed twisted to me that both teenagers and adults (there were some chaperones down there texting away too) can't shut off their phones for two hours and just watch a movie. Have we reached a point where we must be entertained at all times? How far away are we from our society becoming like the Capitol? It spoke to me as a parent and makes me more determined than ever to try to preserve my children's childhood and keep technology to a minimum for now.
As far as the movie itself goes, you must go see it if you read the book. I'm still debating if I would have liked the movie better going into it blind. When you know everything that's going to happen, it changes how you watch it. I thought Jennifer Lawrence portrayed Katniss wonderfully, I loved Lenny Kravitz and Elizabeth Banks as Cinna and Effie, and I was not as offended by Woody Harrelson as Haymitch as I thought I would be. Even though he didn't look how I thought Haymitch should, I thought he was spot on character wise. The special effects were amazing, the muttations were even better than in the book, and I loved the extra bits with Seneca Crane running the game from his control room. I adored the costuming so much I wanted to applaud. Granted the Avox story and the lamb stew were absent, but I didn't think anything major was lacking in the story. I think they did what they could with 2 hours and 22 minutes. I'm looking forward to Catching Fire, but maybe I'll find a different theater or wait for the DVD.
In reading news, I wrapped up reading A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This was my second time reading it. I read it in high school, but I was surprised about how much adult themed material there was that I did not pick up on as a 15 year old reader. I found Sissy's antics to be much more amusing, and I finally figured out what she had in that mysterious box! Ha ha! I guess I should be glad that I was such an innocent and naive high school student.
In kid news, math has finally come together for Red. Around three weeks ago (coincidentally, about the last time I blogged), things clicked and she suddenly could add and subtract single digit numbers with ease. What a relief! We're nearly finished with Singapore 1A and will probably be moving on to 1B in the next couple of weeks. And after much deliberation, it looks like another session of Mommy Camp will be coming soon! I was planning on enrolling both kids in a two week science day camp that Red attended two years ago, but she told me that she'd rather do Mommy Camp instead! Yay---my kids want to spend time with me! It's time to start planning our activities so I'll post a loose schedule in the next couple of weeks. If you're interested in seeing what we did last summer, you can click on the Mommy Camp link on the right side of the screen under Labels.
Have a great week and may the odds be ever in your favor!
Cami Walker is a woman who lived a fast paced life. She was a young, high powered advertising executive who worked long hours and pushed herself to the limit professionally. She got married to her husband Mark and went on her honeymoon. Everything was perfect...until it wasn't. Upon the return from her honeymoon, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Her health declined to the point she could barely get out of bed. Walker, a former addict, got hooked on prescription pills again. Her marriage was at its breaking point. When she was at rock bottom, she got an unconventional prescription from her neighbor Mbali---stop focusing on yourself and give. Give everyday for 29 days.
29 Gifts is a memoir of Walker's effort to give everyday for 29 days after years of focusing on the decline of her health. The book is written diary style and tells about each day and what she gave. She gives a plant, treats a friend to a massage, gives extra money in the offering plate at church, gives a homeless person a meal and some money, does some pro bono advertising work for clients, and more.
The concept of giving to release you from focusing on yourself is not unique. Lots of books advise giving. Pay It Forward immediately comes to mind. What makes this book different is the narrator and the concept of giving everyday for 29 days and to start over at the beginning if you miss a day. Cami Walker struggles. She struggles more than the average person. She's looking for a way to stop writing about only her health and addiction issues and write about more positive subjects. She's so focused on Mbali's 29 day prescription that she founds a website for others to share their 29 Gifts stories (you can check it out here if you like). My first thought was did she do this to make some money off this concept? I know --- so cynical. But so what if she did? Giving and encouraging others to do so can only do good in our broken world. In the end, I found Cami's personal 29 day journey to be inspiring. Reading about her struggles with MS made me more grateful for my good health and the opportunities that affords me. I can walk around the block without a cane. I'm not in constant pain. I'm strong enough to wash my family's dishes. What can I give today?
In my struggle to figure out what I want to do next with my life, I've been doing research online. One suggestion I came across while listening to a life coaching lecture done by Talane Miedaner was the concept of the "clean sweep." The Clean Sweep Program is a self assessment that you can take to see where you are at in your life in four areas: Physical Environment, Well Being, Money, and Relationships. The goal is to achieve a score of 100 out of 100 during a 6 -24 month period.
The site says that the a person taking the assessment for the first time will score between 30 and 70. I tried the assessment and scored a 46. No surprise to me that I couldn't check yes to "I have nothing around the house or in storage that I do not need" or "I rarely use caffeine." The list was a good jumping off point, but do I really need to say yes to "I use well-made sunglasses?" I think that would probably the lowest priority thing on the list.
I thought you all might enjoy checking it out and see what score you get. The idea is to play it as a game and keep at it until you can get all of your boxes filled in.
Here's the link to the clean sweep.
So did you try it out? What score did you get on your first try? Do you think you could play the clean sweep game? What is the one thing from the list that could make a positive change in your life?
