Havin' a Bad Hair Day

This is a favorite poem of mine by Barbara Kingsolver (in her poetry collection Another America). She is one of my favorite authors (The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees). I like to read it when I'm having one of those "bad hair" days to remind me my frustrations are just so trivial. I'm sure I'm violating all kinds of copyright laws by posting this here. The poem is entitled Reveille--which means "a signal to arise." Warning: contains anatomical terminology that may make you blush!

Reveille
by Barbara Kingsolver

I am the woman whose flesh
does not move when she walks,
the nipple-less,
the bloodless, sweatless woman
who cries copious tears from the pressure
of all other prohibited secretions.
I am painted in the colors of no flower
that ever really bloomed,
I do not smell like any living thing.
I am the woman at war with body hair: who
curls her oriental hair,
straightens her African hair,
garnishes her eyelids with hair
and removes it from her eyebrows,
pursues it and relentlessly destroys it,
engaged in war with her mammalian origins.
Literally you have seen me a million times:
the radically altered female who doesn't stand out
in the crowd
of radically altered females,
I remain because
the potential of my body is a universe.
If I should abandon the battle
and turn my pious fury on something
less persistent, more conqureable than my sex,
if I should go away to war
and leave my fields behind, unmowed,
unmanicured, and let the weeds spring up,
if I were to become
the animal that I am, then
what?

Does anyone else ever feel like this?. . . as if the things we do to ourselves in the name of "Beauty" really just distracts us of from real potential and strength? Or that we are sabotaging our own gender by trying to keep up with--or one up--each other in the beauty arena? Sometimes I think it's more about competition with our own sex than for being "pretty" for the male species. Just think of what we could accomplish if we didn't feel obligated to spend our time on such trivial pursuits!!! I know, I'm waxing idealistic, but I just don't like waxing at all! I want off this treadmill!

I've been tagged...

Sahuaro High School class of 1988 (just had my 20-year reunion, but didn't go).

DID YOU DATE SOMEONE FROM HIGH SCHOOL? Yes, Mike was in my Seminary class. He was a senior, I was a sophomore. It was love at first sight...see how cute he was :)


WHAT KIND OF CAR DID YOU DRIVE? 1984 Toyota Corolla hatchback which pulled dangerously to one side.

WHAT WAS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MOMENT IN HIGH SCHOOL? I have no idea. I've repressed the whole thing.

WERE YOU A PARTY ANIMAL? Heck no! I was a good Mormon girl. I never was offered anything either, even though some guys at my 16th birthday were snorting cocaine in my bathroom unbeknownst to me.

WERE YOU CONSIDERED A FLIRT? I don't think so. Ask Mike.

WERE YOU IN BAND, ORCHESTRA, OR CHOIR? None of the above. I'm a quitter. I played the flute in elementary and jr. high though.

WERE YOU A NERD? By whose standards?

WERE YOU ON ANY VARSITY TEAMS? Nope.

DID YOU EVER GET SUSPENDED OR EXPELLED? No, no, no. I was a good girl.

CAN YOU SING THE FIGHT SONG? Nope. Don't even know if we had one.

WHO WERE YOUR FAVORITE TEACHERS? Ms. Walters--Sr. English, hands down. Perhaps my Art History teachers as a close second. Everyone else pretty much stunk.

WHERE DID YOU SIT DURING LUNCH? With my friends Kristi, Shari, and Nicole. When I started driving I went home for lunch. This is Kristi, my best friend.

SCHOOL MASCOT? SHS Cougars

DID YOU GO TO THE HOMECOMING? WITH WHO? Never.

IF YOU COULD GO BACK AND DO IT ALL AGAIN, WOULD YOU? NEVER!

WHERE DID YOU GO ON SR. SKIP DAY? Don't have any recollection. I probably asked my mom if I could stay home that day. I really wasn't part of the whole school scene--I was a loner. However, I hated my Algebra class which was first period, so Kristi and I would go to the Seminary building (which was locked until 4th period) and hang out by the back door until our next class. Once we got caught by her dad, who was a counselor in the stake presidency. That was pretty embarrassing, and I never ditched again!

WERE YOU IN ANY CLUBS? Nope. Loner.

HAVE YOU GAINED SOME WEIGHT SINCE THEM? Uh...yeah! What kind of dumb question is that?

WHO WAS YOUR PROM DATE? Went with Mike to his senior prom. Almost didn't go to mine until my friend Scott Levin found out and asked me--I was his charity case.

WHAT CLIQUES WERE YOU IN? The "Mormon" one, I guess. But we all did our own thing. I hung out with Kristi and her sister my Freshman and Sophomore years, and then Mike during the 2nd half of Sophomore year. When Kristi moved and Mike left on his mission, I was buddies with Mike's little brother.

That was painful. Why do we fill these dumb things out? I don't even know how I tag anyone else. How about Rachel and Kysha?

I Just Had the Best Day

SEven though it's rainy and yucky outside, I am just smiling inside! Do you want to know why? Aren't you just dying to know how it is that I could be so blissful? Well, it's silly really. Most people couldn't care less about books, and you, dear reader, most likely don't have a warped sense of reality because your best friends are probably PEOPLE, not books. But some of MY best, beloved friends ARE books, and even scarier is that certain stories have almost become personified to me, with distinct personalities that I love to revisit, remember, and hang out with. Weird, I know.

So back to why I am floating on cloud nine: I was fortunate enough to attend a Shannon Hale book signing with my daughters for the new graphic novel Rapunzel's Revenge!!! (If you don't know, graphic novels are a relatively new genre. Basically, they are comic books with a bit more mature slant.) RR It is a retelling of the fairy tale in a old West setting. It's geared toward younger audiences, but it's still a pretty fun read--for a "comic" book. Shannon (yes, I'm on a first-name basis with her now) is an extraordinary author of children's fiction, including one of my favorite stories, Goose Girl and it's sequels Enna Burning and River Secrets, Newbery-honor winner Princess Academy, and her more recent adult novel Austenland. Many of Shannon's books belong in my "friend" category, so getting to meet her and hear her talk about her writing just made my day, or maybe my whole month!

Shannon, her co-author and husband Dean, and illustrator Nathan Hale (no relation) were at All Tucked In bookshop in Bountiful this morning. It's a quaint little boutique on Main Street full of wonderful children's books, handmade jewelry, clothing, handbags, etc. It's etsy.com incarnate.

They spoke about how the idea for the book transpired and came to fruition. The dialogue took about 8 months to write and revise, and the artwork took 16 months. Poor Nathan had never done anything like this project, and he thought it would take 4 months! One interesting thing that we learned is that Nathan did all the art at the size it is in the book, which was very hard to add detail when the frames are so small. However, they are now working on a sequel, "Calamity Jack," and Nathan is doing the artwork at 200% and then the publisher will shrink it down.

Shannon also said her publisher would like her to write a sequel to Princess Academy, but she says she won't be writing one because the story just isn't in her.

She explained that she always hated the original Rapunzel story and she always wanted to "get in there and FIX it!" She told the background of the Grimms' Rapunzel, in which the prince comes to save her and he has to keep leaving her in the tower to fetch more silk for her to weave into rope for a ladder. Evidently, whilst "stringing" Rapunzel along (no pun intended), the prince has his way with her and they have a "love child." At this point, Shannon says: I can't really say this in mixed company (the love-child part) , but I have to wonder about the motives of this prince. I mean, are there NO ropes in this kingdom?!!!

So the Hales' version makes Rapunzel into the hero (she gets herself out of the tower--yah baby!), and she hooks up with Jack (of the Jack and Beanstalk). Rapunzel figures out how to use her lavish locks as weapons, and she and Jack do some awesome tail-kickin', free Rapunzel's real mother from slavery, and save the territory from Gothel's terrible reign. Pretty great girl-power story if you ask me. What I love about Shannon's writing is that her heroines are neither male-dependent, nor male-hating. Often when you have a female protagonist, the writer makes them so anti-male that the story is unrealistic and perpetuates a negative feminist agenda. I'm not into that.

Here's a little blurb of the three of them reading a part of the book. Sorry the sound is so terrible. Shannon is wearing a wig that Nathan's wife knit for her. Each one of the individual strands in the braids is a knitted chain, not just strands of yarn--it must have taken forever to make!

I was delighted to learn that Shannon Hale was everything I imagined her to be: spunky, articulate, humorous, unassuming, passionate, friendly, likeable, and genuine. Fame has not "ruined" her, and I hope that never changes. She told of an experience she and Dean had when they were flown out to New York to do an appearance on the Today show with Al Roper. They were wined and dined, Shannon got to go shopping for a new dress for the show, and had their hair (well Shannon's hair anyway) and makeup done--all the show biz stuff. So after the show they had to go to the airport to catch their flight. Well, it started to pour, and they tried to catch a cab for 45 minutes. All the cabbies were getting ready for a shift change and nobody wanted to drive to the airport because it would take too long for them to get back for the switch. So there Shannon and Dean were, standing on Broadway with their luggage, soaked to the skin, feeling very deflated and un-famous. They finally had to take the subway to the airport. That experience reminded her that as soon as you start thinking you're something pretty special as a writer, an experience will come along to remind you not to get puffed up. I think it's great that she and her husband get out and meet their fan base at local bookshops. To me it's indicative of their being grounded in where their success lies--their readers.

If you're a Shannon Hale groupie, check out her blog. I have a link over there on the right-hand side somewhere. She said she has some Rapunzel paper dolls that Nathan drew that can be printed and colored http://spacestationnathan.com/rapunzelpaperdolls.pdf. And, hey kids, he'll post the really good ones on his blog if you send him a scan of them! Check out Nathan's other books as well--The Devil You Know and Yellowbelly and Plum. He's trying to support a family of four as an artist, which is not exactly a lucrative profession, but one that he loves.

Here are some photos of the day:

She TOUCHED my book! WOW! I am never washing that book!

Danika talking to Dean (on her right) and Nathan (left)

And one of the best parts. . . I bought a new copy of Book of a Thousand Days (that Trixie destroyed) and had Shannon sign it. All has been restored! Sigh. . . it's like Christmas!