Christmas in Midland

I was at my friends house the first weekend of Christmas Break when my mom called me. Actually, I was asleep the first time she called me, and I called her back thinking she was going to tell me when I needed to come home - and I expected it to be soon. But what I didn't expect was for my mom's voice to sound weak, like she had been through a lot this weekend. This caught me a little bit off guard and when I asked her what was wrong, she told me that my uncle was brain dead. There was that dead silent split second that feels like it's really 2 minutes. I didn't know what to say. I can't really remember the rest of our conversation, but she told me that they were going to take him off the machine that afternoon just as soon as my step-cousin from San Francisco came and said goodbye to her father. She told me that I could stay at my friend's house, that she had gotten to Midland the day before (which was news to me), and that they hadn't told me because they wanted me to "just have fun with my friends" before we went to Midland for the funeral. That was on Sunday, and my dad, my brother & sister, and I left for Midland that Tuesday - the day of the funeral. Blake was my cousins' step-father, or my mom's sister's (my aunt's) second husband. But they had been married since I was a baby, and he's always just been considered my uncle. He was really friendly and easy-going, and we were all sad to see him go. His health had been poor for a long time, though, and it wasn't a tremendous shock. Once, when my mom was in the hospital with her sister, while Blake was still alive but brain-dead, my aunt turned to my mom and told her that she really missed him. My mom's reply was, "I know Becky. But you've been missing him for a while now."
Blake's funeral was the best funeral I've ever been to. It sounds wrong to talk about it like that, but I don't know how else to say it. You left feeling much better about his death, and it was more a celebration of his life than a mourning party. My cousins that told stories about Uncle Blake spoke fondly of him, and even though everyone was crying, we were able to laugh a little and smile at the fond memories we had of him.
I don't really look at Blake's death as a devastation. Definitely a loss, but not a devastation. We all got to spend Christmas together in Midland, and we had a lot of fun as a family. We spent all of Christmas Day in our pajamas playing charades and singing the 12 Days of Christmas, made stockings because those of us who don't actually live in my aunt's house had left ours in our respective homes (and two of my cousins and I stayed up until 2:30 doing so), and I think I slept in a different room almost every single night (only twice on an actual bed). There were about thirteen of us staying in that one house, which normally holds seven people (even though it can comfortably hold plenty more). I had a lot of fun meeting my mom's high school friends, and seeing my own friends from Midland. It was funny to see my mom and two of her best friends from when she was my age sit on the couch together and chat like a couple of teenagers. I love going to Midland because it feels almost more like being at home than Houston does. I'm so glad that I got to spend a Christmas with my whole family, even under these circumstances.

Book Review

Okay, a book about a guy who works for the circus sounds weird. My mom had read it and when I asked her if it was any good, she told me I should read it. I thought, "Yeah, okay. I'll get right on it." Then I saw pictures in a magazine with Robert Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon for a movie called Water For Elephants, which'll be based on the book, and I made a mental note to get around to reading it sometime or another. I finally did, when I was searching for a book to read for Read For the Fun of It during interim term. Even after I started the book, it took a little while to get into it - or, rather, get used to it. The first few pages revealed that I was reading from the perspective of a "ninety or ninety three-year-old" man in a nursing home, and that there was a circus in town, which was important to him for some reason. Being a teenage girl, it was a little strange to read from an old man's perspective, and I couldn't decide if I liked it or not, at first. The majority of the book, however, is written from the point-of-view of a much younger Jacob Jankowski. He's a student at Cornell University, studying to become a vet and take after his father. During one of his classes, he is called out of the room and given news about a car wreck involving his parents. It is then revealed, to Jacob's shock, that his parents left him without any money to his name. This brings to question whether or not he will be able to stay at Cornell, and what he's supposed to do once he graduates a few months later. He is told that he will be able to stay at Cornell and take his final exams, but he still doesn't have a plan for the rest of his life. That is, he'll be allowed to take his finals. But the author then shows Jacob trying to take his exams, but he gets stuck and looks around at the other students, realizing that he can't put a name to a single face. He is reminded of his first year, when he knew everyone in his classes, and was friends with plenty of them. He looks back at his test, which is still completely blank. Not knowing what else to do, he gets out of his seat and takes his test to the professor at the front of the room, who tries to tell him that he couldn't have finished so fast and he hadn't even started and if he left the room, he wouldn't be presented with an opportunity to retake it. But with absolutely no money, and virtually nothing to return to, he keeps walking. Eventually, he finds himself at a river, and washes his feet. When he hears a train, he goes to see it and jumps onboard before he even thinks twice about it. He soon learns that the train he jumped onto is the train for The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. After going through a few cities, and a few shows, the ringmaster, Uncle Al, learns about Jacob's education at Cornell, and appoints him as the show's veterinarian. The story is set during the Great Depression, and depicts the struggles that the circus and its workers are faced with. Jacob meets many new people along the way - a midget named Kinko (or Walter, as only his friends call him), a performer named Marlena (who he falls in love with), her husband August (who, as it's later discovered, is ill - I won't say how), an older man named Camel (who becomes paralyzed from drinking Jake), and tons of other eccentric people who are, in some way, involved in putting up the circus.

Big Top Vocab

Water For Elephants, by Sara Gruen, is centered around a man's journey traveling with The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. There are a lot of strange circus terms used throughout the book, beginning almost as soon as Jacob finds himself onboard the circus train, when he is referred to as a "First of May", which means that he's just started the circus. The term "First of May" is used because circuses began their seasons on the First of May, so the first of May was the first day of a new season.


Another term commonly used is roustabouts. Roustabouts are workers who perform unskilled, usually temporary work. Outside of circuses, the term is also used to refer to oil rig workers.
(more on roustabouts at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roustabout)


The menagerie tent (or just menagerie) is the tent in which all of the animals are kept. The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus use the title "World's Greatest Menagerie" in their advertisements.
(To learn more about menageries & the history behind the term, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menagerie#Travelling_menageries)

Paranoid Schizophrenia, while it isn't a circus term, is something that comes up in Water For Elephants, when it is revealed that one of the characters is, in fact, a paranoid schizophrenic. This particular type of schizophrenia doesn't affect one's ability to think and function correctly - "be normal" - in every day life as greatly as other types may, because there usually aren't as many problems with memory loss, concentration, etc. but it can, unfortunately, lead to suicidal behavior. Paranoid schizophrenics are usually delusional and hear things that aren't real ("hearing voices").
(http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/paranoid-schizophrenia/DS00862)

Another term used that isn't necessarily associated with circus life is a "Jake leg". Jamaica ginger extract (or "Jake") was something that people drank when alcohol was outlawed during Prohibition. Around 1930, many people who drank Jake lost the ability to use their hands and feet. Some were still able to walk, but couldn't control the smaller muscles in their feet that bring their toes back upward, so in order to walk they would have to lift their leg, foot hanging downwards, and place their foot on the ground - toes first, then heel. The toe-heel form of walking became known as the "Jake walk", and people who suffered from this type of paralysis were said to have "Jake foot", "Jake paralysis", or "Jake leg" (the term used first and foremost in the novel).(For more information on how and when this type of paralysis first occurred, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamaica_ginger)


Redlighting, which is pretty frequently talked about by the circus workers (especially roustabouts, and almost never performers), means to have roustabouts thrown off the moving circus train in the middle of the night to avoid having to pay them. Roustabouts who were being thrown off for a specific offense were often thrown off the train as it passed over a trestle, in order to be killed or seriously injured (in this case, it's a form of punishment, not simply a way to get rid of unnecessary workers). Either way, the circus workers are terrified of being redlighted, and word spreads quickly through the roustabouts when people are redlighted.

Sara Gruen, Author of Water for Elephants

Water for Elephants is a novel by Sara Gruen about a man named Jacob Jankowski who, after a series of events, finds himself on a circus train for The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth and becomes the circus veterinarian. In an interview with Dave Weich, director of marketing and developing at Powell's Books, Gruen confirmed that she had never been to a circus prior to researching for Water for Elephants, and that she had never even had an interest in circuses. 

In the video above, Gruen talks about her inspiration to write the novel. She has also said that the backbone of this story line parallels the story of Jacob in Genesis in the Bible. The book is told from the main character (Jacob)'s point of view, as he has memories of his circus days from his nursing home when he is "ninety or ninety-three". He works for the circus during the Great Depression. 

In this video, Gruen discusses the main theme of Water for Elephants. To summarize, she says the main themes are family and the meaning/importance of family, and love. 

The novel is being made into a movie starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon, and Christoph Waltz. Here's the official trailer of the movie:

In yet another video below, Gruen shares her reaction to the film adaption that is to portray her story:

In this interview, Sara Gruen has not actually seen even a rough cut of the film, but has read most of the script and seen many of the scenes being filmed. She does say, though, that from what she has been able to see, the film seems like it's going to be very true to the book, and have most everything from the novel in it.

Although I'm not quite all the way through the book, I've absolutely loved it so far, and I can't wait to see the movie, especially after hearing the author of the book speak highly of it!

Sites used:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1067583/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_for_Elephants

http://saragruen.com/2010/07/interview-with-sara-gruen/

youtube.com

Just a Few Movies I Saw Recently

1. How Do You Know? 
starring: Reese Witherspoon, Owen Wilson, Paul Rudd, and Jack Nicholson
I enjoyed most of this movie, but as my friends and I were leaving the theater, the first word we used to describe it was "long". The ending was really satisfying, but the beginning parts of the movie seemed to drag on for far too long. It almost seemed like we were watching the movie before it had been released to theaters and it still hadn't been cut. It wasn't until the ending scenes that it all seemed to come together and you realized why you had to learn everything that the seemingly endless opening scenes revealed. Another thing to add is that the back-and-forth dialogue was hard to follow in many parts of the movie.
not recommended for those with short attention spans (there were a bunch of scenes in this movie during which I "zoned out")

2. Tangled
starring: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, and Donna Murphy
I had fun going to see this movie with a few of my friends, but I wouldn't go and see it again. Maybe I would have liked it when I was younger, but it definitely didn't feel like a Disney Princess Movie - not even Enchanted. First off, no one I was with had expected it to be a 3D animated musical - even with Mandy Moore cast as the lead voice. The music seemed almost awkward...it didn't really feel like it fit in the movie. I had, however, expected it to be a comedy (think Shrek) but, though there were some parts that were laughable, I wouldn't necessarily call it a comedy. This movie is definitely aimed at much younger audiences, but is unlike the Disney Pixar movies, which appeal to almost all ages.
recommended for young audiences (especially young girls)

3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint
What can I say? I LOVED IT! I haven't gotten around to reading the  last few books, but I really enjoyed this movie. I haven't talked to anyone that saw it and didn't like it, so I'm guessing that it satisfied people who have read the book as well. It only makes sense, since the movie is split in to two parts, and therefore they have more time to put in all the details of the book. I probably wouldn't recommend it to extremely young viewers (my six-year-old brother is going through a Harry Potter phase, and my parents won't let him see it) because it is definitely one of the darker movies of this series. It didn't have that constant, light-hearted humor that the Order of the Phoenix had despite being dark and serious at times. 
recommended for Harry Potter fans, of course!
(I had plenty of friends who had never seen or read any Harry Potter and they seemed to enjoy the movie, though)


4. The Social Network
starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timerlake
I loved this movie! The word that first comes to mind to describe it is interesting, and I know what you're thinking - interesting, in my mind, usually translates to boring. But, I swear, it's great! (and that's coming from a 15-year-old girl who doesn't exactly have the longest attention span). There were tons of hilarious lines in this movie, and the quick, back-and-forth dialogue was entertaining and sounded incredibly natural. It was really cool to literally see how the idea of Facebook (called "The Facebook" at the time) came to be. I wouldn't recommend this movie for younger viewers, not because of the content (which may be a problem for some parents), but because they wouldn't be able to follow most of the plot at all. This is because most of the dialogue is between highly intelligent people and the plot has mostly to do with lawsuits.
recommended for more mature audiences (younger kids would most likely find it boring)