Wednesday Reading Meme
Aug. 7th, 2024 11:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
osprey_archerWhat I’ve Just Finished Reading
We Get It: Voices of Grieving College Students and Young Adults, a collection of personal essays about the experience of grief as a college student edited by Heather L. Servaty-Seib and David C. Fajgenbaum. This is for work, obviously. I was struck by how many students wrote, unprompted, about how absolutely agonizing it was to go away to school while a parent was dying - how bad they felt for abandoning their family in this hour of need, even though the parent usually adamantly insisted on their going.
And of course the parents are acting out of love, because this is what they’ve been told is the right thing to tell their children, not to let even a family tragedy interfere with their education. But my main takeaway is this is basically a diseased cultural message: that, in fact, our closest personal relationships are more important than education or career, and we would be a better society if we encouraged people to prioritize their family tragedy, as so many of these students reported that they yearned to do. Transfer to a school closer to home! Hell, take a semester off! College will still be there, and your dying loved one won’t.
I also finished Jill Benton’s Naomi Mitchison: A Biography, on whichgenarti and skygiants have called dibs, although if any other Mitchison fans want a crack on it, they might be amenable to negotiations. The author lived in Mitchison’s flat for a few months while completing her dissertation on The Corn King and the Spring Queen, and Mitchison returned the favor with a month-long visit to the author in southern California a few years later. The book really is much more a biography than a memoir, but I found the author’s personal memories of Mitchison often the most interesting parts.
What I’m Reading Now
Still Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which is a hoot. “I mean I always seem to think that when a girl really enjoys being with a gentleman, it puts her to quite a disadvantage and no real good can come of it,” sighs Lorelei, tragically aware that handsome young men rarely have the money to buy you a diamond tiara, and even if they did, it’s harder to maneuver them into actually laying out the cash if you actually give a damn about them. She’s always scolding her friend Dorothy for getting involved with men who have nothing going for them but good looks, charm, and scintillating conversation!
What I Plan to Read Next
I don’t quite know. Susan Fletcher’s Journey of the Pale Bear, perhaps?
We Get It: Voices of Grieving College Students and Young Adults, a collection of personal essays about the experience of grief as a college student edited by Heather L. Servaty-Seib and David C. Fajgenbaum. This is for work, obviously. I was struck by how many students wrote, unprompted, about how absolutely agonizing it was to go away to school while a parent was dying - how bad they felt for abandoning their family in this hour of need, even though the parent usually adamantly insisted on their going.
And of course the parents are acting out of love, because this is what they’ve been told is the right thing to tell their children, not to let even a family tragedy interfere with their education. But my main takeaway is this is basically a diseased cultural message: that, in fact, our closest personal relationships are more important than education or career, and we would be a better society if we encouraged people to prioritize their family tragedy, as so many of these students reported that they yearned to do. Transfer to a school closer to home! Hell, take a semester off! College will still be there, and your dying loved one won’t.
I also finished Jill Benton’s Naomi Mitchison: A Biography, on which
genarti and skygiants have called dibs, although if any other Mitchison fans want a crack on it, they might be amenable to negotiations. The author lived in Mitchison’s flat for a few months while completing her dissertation on The Corn King and the Spring Queen, and Mitchison returned the favor with a month-long visit to the author in southern California a few years later. The book really is much more a biography than a memoir, but I found the author’s personal memories of Mitchison often the most interesting parts. What I’m Reading Now
Still Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, which is a hoot. “I mean I always seem to think that when a girl really enjoys being with a gentleman, it puts her to quite a disadvantage and no real good can come of it,” sighs Lorelei, tragically aware that handsome young men rarely have the money to buy you a diamond tiara, and even if they did, it’s harder to maneuver them into actually laying out the cash if you actually give a damn about them. She’s always scolding her friend Dorothy for getting involved with men who have nothing going for them but good looks, charm, and scintillating conversation!
What I Plan to Read Next
I don’t quite know. Susan Fletcher’s Journey of the Pale Bear, perhaps?
no subject
Date: 2024-08-07 11:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-09 12:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-08-15 12:48 am (UTC)No actually maybe if you hold hands with Eurydice for a moment the whole experience won't hurt as much.
no subject
Date: 2024-08-15 08:02 pm (UTC)