Weblog of Quotes and Rants

This was a very interesting, personal look into the world of slavery in the early and mid 1800s. It also touched on women's issues as well, so I could relate and be extra outraged.  I definitely enjoy this book, and the audio version is great. It alternates between two readers, one for the daughter of slave owners, and one for the slave she (unwillingly) owned.

A couple of quotes I liked:

“If you must err, do so on the side of audacity.”
― Sue Monk Kidd

“I saw then what I hadn't seen before, that I was very good at despising slavery in the abstract, in the removed and anonymous masses, but in the concrete, intimate flesh of the girl beside me, I'd lost the ability to be repulsed by it. I'd grown comfortable with the particulars of evil. There's a frightful muteness that dwells at the center of all unspeakable things, and I had found my way into it.”
― Sue Monk Kidd

Overall, I enjoyed this book.  I liked the semi-epistolary format, wherein it alternates between the diary of a Japanese schoolgirl, and the life of the American woman reading the diary.  There was a lot of interesting cultural information (to me, as an American) and very interesting settings.

At times I found the tone/language of the diary segments a little bit annoying or silly, but of course, that's precisely how they should be, in the voice of the young girl.  I especailly liked the parts with the grandmother, probably because the reader (this was in audiobook format) did a great job with her voice.

And now for a couple quotes that I liked:

“Sometimes when she told stories about the past her eyes would get teary from all the memories she had, but they weren't tears. She wasn't crying. They were just the memories, leaking out.” 

― Ruth Ozeki

“Information is a lot like water; it's hard to hold on to, and hard to keep from leaking away.” 

― Ruth Ozeki

I recently read an interesting article/letter/blog post about the state of education.  It was especially interesting as a daughter of two teachers, and one who is friends with several. From what I have heard from my friends, this article rings, unfortunately, very very true. But from what I can tell growing up with teachers, it hasn't always been this way.  My mom was known as a "hard" teacher...but she got results.  Kids who deserved it, they would fail.  She didn't fail them; they failed themselves by not doing the work, not putting in the effort, and not caring.  

People too often lose sight of the ultimate goals of a project for more the immediate rewards that the system originally set up to reach those goals.  However, those rewards have gotten corrupted along the way such that they no longer work efficiently to achieve those ultimate goals.  This loss shows up in education where unearned grades becomes markers of success even as the children are performing well below grade level, as they are no longer being prepared for life. It shows up in science where the impetus to publish is so strong that junk is being published simply to boost a resume. Scientists put up papers with questionable results, or questionable relevancy, all the time, without critically asking themselves if it will actually contribute meaningfully to the scientific body of knowledge. They are not trying to be disingenuous, they are just playing along with the system so they can continue to do their work (i.e., continue to be funded), so that eventually they do produce something of worth.

Here is one of the quotes in the article linked above, that I really liked: 

"Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, and understanding is not wisdom."

-- Clifford Stoll  

People tend to stop at the "information" or "knowledge" steps.  I would even settle for at least getting to "understanding".

I finished listening to "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt a while ago.  For once, either my luck/skill at choosing books, or my agreeableness, has failed me.  I wasn't thrilled with this book.  It definitely had its moments, but it also lost me a lot of times.  I had trouble identifying with the protagonist.  And the whole thing was much longer than I think it really needed to be.  That said, I'm sure there are many people that will enjoy the story.  I'm simply not one of them.  

The author does have a way with words:

But sometimes, unexpectedly, grief pounded over me in waves that left me gasping; and when the waves washed back, I found myself looking out over a brackish wreck which was illumined in a light so lucid, so heartsick and empty, that I could hardly remember that the world had ever been anything but dead.

From Monday Dec 2nd show, in response to rich people not caring:

Guess who has two thumbs, a lot of cash, and doesn't care that these aren't thumbs [gives middle fingers]

-- Colbert Report

hehehehe