Washington Black: A must read! If you have not heard of Esi Edugyan, you are in for a grand surprise. I’m a voracious reader, but I can’t remember the last time I stayed up until 2 a.m. to read, and then finished the novel at 7 a.m-over 400 pages of pure bliss! Washington Black is a young slave, brutally abused and scarred on a plantation in Barbados, in 1830. The narrative sweeps...
Read MoreA Cruelty Special to our Species Emily Yoon, my former student and author of A Cruelty Special to our Species paid me a visit Friday evening after doing a reading and workshop at SMUS, her former school. Her poetry addresses a topic rarely discussed- The occupation of Korea and abuse of women. Her poetry is lucid and strong, describing atrocities which are never openly touched upon. I’m so...
Read MoreI have just written a proposal to the Oxford Dictionary committee that the word e (pronounced E) be created as a gender neutral third person singular pronoun. English would have he/ she / e / to describe trans-gendered people who do not identify strongly with either male or female traits. I met a store clerk the other day who was wearing the same blue nail polish as I was. I had blue toes and...
Read MoreIn Orwell’s dystopian novel, the citizens must use Newspeak, a government imposed, restricted version of English which makes complex thought nearly impossible. With the change and reduction of words comes the elimination of intellect. This process enables the government to control the masses. Why have a word such as magnificent when one could use the insipid word double-good. I reflect on...
Read MoreLost and Found is an enchanting novel by the brilliant Australian/ universally cultured author Brooke Davis. In this novel, the protagonist, Milly Bird, is abandoned by her mother in a clothing department. She is found by an octogenerian, Karl the touch typist, who has run away from his nursing home, and the bereaved Agatha Pantha. The novel’s main appeal is its sincere understanding of...
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