Frances Willard Weekend in Evanston, Illinois

Some of you might just possibly be aware that I have a passing interest in 19th century feminist and reform leader Frances Willard. And by "passing" I mean I volunteer with her house museum and archives and do some of their social media and spent eight hours this weekend at events for her. Because it was her BIRTHDAY! 175 years old and still no one outside her own century really has any idea who she is, BECAUSE -- because she is linked to the temperance movement, and people think the temperance movement is a buzzkill.

I mean, as they probably should, since the point was to stop people from drinking. But what people now do not care to think about is the fact that this wasn't just a group of hundreds of thousands of women who suddenly decided alcohol was evil and people should stop having fun. Men were drinking three times as much as they do now. They were usually the sole providers for their families. Domestic abuse, poverty, starvation, all these could be linked back in many cases to an alcoholic husband.

So the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) got these hundreds of thousands of women together, organized them, and made them try to fix the reasons men were drinking. So they worked on labor reform, they advocated for an eight hour workday, they wanted America's prisons fixed, they wanted the age of consent raised from seven years old to 16, they wanted public drinking fountains so people would be able to get clean water easily, they wanted clothing for women that wouldn't pinch and suffocate them so they could actually get things done in life, and they wanted the vote.

Wanting the vote was still seen as radical and unwomanly, and Frances Willard was a genius and framed it as something she called Home Protection. You don't want to vote? Hm. But do you want to protect your home? Do you want to have a voice in issues that affect your family? Then you need to vote. By voting you can save your family. It would be unwomanly of you not to want to vote.

Saturday was a five hour session on Frances Willard, which consisted of two lectures and then three discussions. I met basically all the women who have had anything to do with FW for the past three decades, INCLUDING Carolyn De Swarte Gifford, who transcribed all her journals, thereby enabling them to be available online. She is amazing. We talked for probably too long in the back room of Frances's house, eventually joined by the woman who co-edited the book of Frances's speeches, Let Something Good Be Said. No biggie. It's all ok. I freaked out only slightly.

My friend Cate and I also selfied with Frances. It's totally fine.

The discussions were about domestic & substance abuse, and closing the gender pay gap. I never go to events like this, and it was strangely empowering sitting there and talking about what we can do to fix these problems. We talked about Twitter's #WhyILeft and #WhyIStayed and why it's so important to get something like domestic abuse talked about and not seen as a silent issue. The director of the Evanston YWCA said since the Ray Rice tape came out, calls to their emergency hotline have tripled.

Sunday was a 9:15 AM lecture in Evanston (sooo far away, but we had coffee) and then the unveiling at her home of a new SIGN (very exciting) and more talk with Frances scholars and eventually cake (see beginning of post). 

#1800sHeForShe

I've talked before about how amazing it is walking around Frances's home in Evanston. They made it a museum RIGHT after she died, so things that are in photographs in 1898? They're still right there. It's not "Oh, this is a museum reproduction." No. It's the same thing that's in the photo. She wrote a book called A Wheel Within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle, because she had to learn how to ride a bike in her 50s as a way to exercise. She had a bicycle named Gladys, she refers to it all the time in the book, and Gladys is RIGHT THERE in the museum.

This is the thing that terrified her for ages

If anything can be accomplished regarding Frances Willard, I want it known that she was not some sanctimonious, cranky woman who wanted to take away people's happiness. She was a brilliant woman who headed an international organization, she helped everyone she came across, ALL she did was try to make life better for people. That was at the bottom of her work. How can we all come together and live in a way that will give everyone their best chance. She described herself as a Christian socialist, and we should give her nothing but respect.

The Mississippi is Huge and Maybe Books Should Make One Travel

I went to Iowa this past weekend, and while my girlfriend drove (...the entire way), I fell asleep, because that is our division of labor. BUT! She is very nice and woke me up when we crossed the Mississippi, because MISSISSIPPI. I very much like lakes and rivers. Ohh so very much. And I never see the Mississippi even though it forms the western boundary of Illinois because I go west Approximately Never.

BUT IT IS SO BIG. The Mississippi is massive and awesome and MARK TWAIN I still do not like you very much, but I understand your weirdo fascination with it. If someone had then said "Hey, I have this raft made out of slightly unstable logs; would you like to go down this giant river on it?" I would say "YES YES I WOULD" because with the current state of water traffic it looks extremely possible to float down this wide wide river unmolested by barges and other large watercraft.

YOU ARE SO MAJESTIC

I wonder if there are other literary places where when you see them, you get it. I want to see George Eliot's countryside, even though it will be extremely extremely different from when she lived there. But it's still the reason so many of her novels are pastoral (despite her brother laughing at reporters and saying she never did jack shit around the farm). The moors around the Bronte parsonage are probably pretty badass, and maybe they'd make me dislike Wuthering Heights less.

(I'd be better at naming American lit places if I read American lit)

Oh! Georgia. Let's all go to Georgia and look at the red hills and be all like "I get you, Scarlett O'Hara. Ok, well, not really, because you did some messed-up stuff, but I get that this is pretty." I've spent so much time in Illinois that it's really easy to not realize how different the scenery can be in other places, especially since the main place I vacation is New York, and it's just flat flat NYC and concrete everywhere, so like a bigger Chicago with more bagels.

But Iowa has hilly cornfields! And different plants! I'm fairly sure now that we all have to travel a lot and gain some kind of knowledge of other people's homes. People loving where they live is one of my favorite things in art ('art' here containing all the arts). When people paint/sing/write about the places they love, it usually is the best and results in humanity being able to appreciate those places in a better way for centuries. So. Well done, artists. I will visit your places.

Their Eyes Were Watching God: Some people could look at a mud-puddle and see an ocean with ships

Their are certain books that appear to exist solely to speak the truth about humanity. To Kill a Mockingbird is one of these. Their Eyes Were Watching God is another.

The narrator is Janie, a woman in her 40s, who comes back home and tells her story to a friend while they sit on the porch. The best description of her life, I believe, is the following. It's one of many examples of Zora Neale Hurston taking words and shaping them into something real and beautiful. It exemplifies why we need poets and authors, despite them being increasingly devalued in our society. Who else is going to carefully articulate how we feel and give us the unified thought of "THAT'S it; I thought it was just me." Writers help bind us and let us understand each other in ways we sometimes cannot through simple conversation.

When God had made The Man, he made him out of stuff that sung all the time and glittered all over. Then after that some angels got jealous and chopped him into millions of pieces, but still he glittered and hummed. So they beat him down to nothing but sparks but each little spark had a shine and a song. So the covered each one over with mud. And the lonesomeness in the sparks made them hunt for one another, but the mud is deaf and dumb. Like all the other tumbling mud-balls, Janie had tried to show her shine.

Even scenes that could be melodramatic to the point of teenager-ish instead ring true. When the man Janie falls in love with disappears for a time, "[s]he plunged into the abyss and descended to the ninth darkness where light has never been." You COULD say that's melodramatic. Or you could just be honest and say "Yes, that's exactly how it feels when someone you really like doesn't call you back after you thought you had a wonderful time together." Saying the person you're in love with is "a glance from God" is...amazing. Yes. A glance. That's exactly it. Zora Neale Hurston, I hereby put you in charge of All the Words.

I believe this is one of those books where it's especially true that you should re-read it throughout your life. One's understanding and view of Janie will shift. I know many people had to read this in high school, but that seems almost a shame, because then you can stick it on the "I've already read that" shelf and feel done with it. I highly encourage you to read it again if you haven't since you were a teenager. Because it will be an entirely different experience.

Their Eyes Were Watching God. Zora Neale Hurston. One of the greatest American writers. Pick this up.

Books for RIP except I don't quite remember what RIP is

I am informally MAYBE participating in RIP. I don't even remember who hosts it. Or if it's hosted anymore. BASICALLY, these're the September/October, kind-of-scary-I-guess books I'm hoping to get through. Because themes are the best and I love them.

NUMBER 1. Is Horrorstör by Grady Hendrix, which I have already begun and it looks like an IKEA catalogue and is an enjoyable experience. I'm 100 pages in and waiting for it to get scary, though. So in that respect it feels like Night Film, and HOPEFULLY THINGS WILL CHANGE.

NUMBER 2. Eat Your Heart Out by Dayna Ingram. Someone posted the back of this book on Tumblr and I said I would read it, because lesbians fighting zombies. It's a novella, and I will finish it by Halloween.

NUMBER 3. No One Else Can Have You by Kathleen Hale. I LOVE KATHLEEN HALE SO HARD. She's super-weird, which I appreciate, and she wrote that defense of YA that was hilarious and wonderful. This is about the murder of a girl in a small town in Wisconsin, but it's...kind of light-hearted? And unsurprisingly, YA.

NUMBER 4. Poisoned by Steve Shukis. "A gripping tale of murder, sorcery, and criminal justice in turn-of-the-century Chicago," and it is NON-fiction, which is the best. Turn of the century Chicago/1880s-1890s Chicago is the best Chicago. Everything happened then. Except the Fire. That happened in 1871. I guess that was kind of important. BUT ANYWAY, basically a whole family dies due to poisoning and it's all "Who did this! Was it this charismatic family doctor? But WHY" and I am muchly enjoying it.

I can't read for-real scary books because then I will be terrified for forever. I can't even watch scary X-Files episodes by myself (i.e. most of them) and X-Files is my JAM. It's a complicated situation. By which I mean I watch for character development, kissing, and the occasional Flukeman because I'm not scared of him.

Book Survey That People I Esteem Have Done

1. What is your favourite fictional food or drink?
C.S. Lewis made Turkish delight sound so badass and then you get some for real and it's gross and you're like "Is this because there was a war on and no access to actually good candy?" And I guess it's not fictional food anyway, it's just IN fiction. Ummmmmmmmm. Omg I'm gonna be terrible and cliched and say butterbeer.

Awesome picture taken from here

2. How long did it take you to finish your last book?
I finished Their Eyes Were Watching God on the Metra to Kenosha, WI and I think it took at leeeeast three weeks? Because it was on Oyster and I don't binge-read on there. But. Amazing. Amazing book. Obvs. Will review soon.

3. How many times do you stare at your books or bookshelves each day?
Most are in one of the apartment's front rooms, which has no working lights in it right now because #lifepriorities, so...maybe a few times a week? I'm usually reading other stuff. It's only when I'm running somewhere and need a book and somehow don't have one floating around in one of my bags that I scan my overloaded shelves of books I'll probably never finish I AM DEPRESSING MYSELF.

4. How many Goodreads friends and books do you have?
Don't care about Goodreads friends. I think I'm the only person who comments on people's statuses on goodreads, so FORGET ALL Y'ALL. But books...I'm slightly worried because my already-read pile is at...*checks* 390 and my TBR is at 363. I REALLY DON'T WANT TBR TO SURPASS THE ALREADY-READ PILE.

5. Do you ever quote books in public?
I'm the kind of douchey where sometimes when I see a dead bird I -- IN MY HEAD -- go "I was the shadow of the waxwing slain/By the false azure in the windowpane." And sometimes I quote my favorite Pickwick Papers exchange, which is "Sir, you're a fellow!" "Sir, you're another!" And soooometimes I quote Jane Eyre's "Laws and principles are not for times when there is no temptation," because the SECOND I am tempted by something, laws and principles don't count for squat. But I try to remind myself anyway.

6. Do you ever re-read books?
As with almost everyone who has a book blog, no, not really. THERE IS SO MUCH TO READ. I used to re-read Gone-Away Lake every so often, and there are sections of Jane Eyre I used to have memorized, because 16 years old.

7. Do you judge a book by its cover?
YES I was in a Facebook group back in the day called "I judge books by their covers." Also their typesetting. I read The Monsters of Templeton solely because it has a badass cover.

aw, yeah

8. Instagram, Twitter or Tumblr?
I talk to the most people on Twitter, but TUMBLR I LOVE YOU SO.

Tumblr gives unto the people things like this

9. Which genres take you the longest to read?
Gonna echo Laura here and say classics. I've been working on Barnaby Rudge for yeeeears. But it is not good. So it is just gonna take forever. But I WILL FINISH IT, because Dickens completism. 

10. Who are your favourite BookTubers (or Book Bloggers)?
Who wrote this? BookTube comes first? I don't watch NOTHIN' on BookTube, because I am a grownass lady. My favorite book bloggers are in my sidebar. I love them. May they book blog now and forevermore, amen.

11. How often do you pre-order books?
Ok, so I have hundreds of unread books at my apartment. And because I rarely get actual-excited about new books coming out, I either wait for them at the library, or get an ARC. Pretty sure I'll pre-order Amy Poehler's new book though, because ARCs of that are probably going to be immmmpossible to get unless you're Emily.

12. Are you a shopaholic?
[THIS QUESTION IS REDACTED FOR BEING STUPID]

13. How many times have you re-read your favourite book?
BEING KINDA REPETITIVE, SURVEY. Don't know, don't care.

14. Do you own a lot of books?
I own too many books and get mad whenever someone says "Oh, you can NEVER own too many books." Really? Really. Because I feel like when you keep buying books with no probable intention of ever reading them, that's when you own too many books. Also your bookshelves are full and just look messy instead of cool and omg just give some away, just do it.

15. Do you take pictures of your books before you read them?
Before I read them? Uh. Is that a thing? I mean, sometimes when I get them in the mail. If they're pretty. This question has made me so paranoid WHY WOULD I TAKE PICTURES BEFORE I READ THEM.

16. Do you read every day?
Oh of course not, because I'm someone who loves being BORED. Yes, I read every day.

Also this

17. How do you choose a new book?
I choose a new book to read by scanning Oyster or going to my shelves and standing there indecisively until I vaguely remember the reason I got a certain book in the first place, then I pick it up, read 15 pages and don't touch it again for months.

18. Do you always have a book with you?
Yes. Today it is The Cuckoo's Calling by Secretly J.K. Rowling and Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris that I took while catsitting for my friend.

19. What are your biggest distractions from reading?
Is anyone's answer to this "Life" instead of Netflix? Because my answer's Netflix. 

20. What is your favourite place to buy books?
HOKAY, so, if you're in Chicago, we've got a number of places. First off, obviously, Open Books. It's the best. Otherly, there's Powell's in Hyde Park, which has an awesome selection and is pretty big and fun to walk around in. And then I just went to Ravenswood Used Books in (surprise) Ravenswood, which is small but SO LABYRINTHINE. So they can fit a lot in there. It's cool going there with someone else, then parting ways and trying to find each other again. 

OK THEN SURVEY, you weren't the best ever, but you totally weren't the worst. Good times, my friend.

Criminal Minds, Currently Reading, and It's Getting Cold

You know, I've been watching Criminal Minds on Netflix, and I don't know how the later seasons are, but season 1 seems...weird. Weird in that no one aside from the profilers seems to know these incredibly violent crimes are happening.

"IT'S JUST US, YOU GUYS."

There was one case where all these upper middle class women were being murdered DURING THE DAY in their nice suburban homes, and it was something ridiculous like six in a five mile radius and women were STILL LEAVING THEIR PORCH DOORS OPEN. I'm sorry. A guy tried to break into my apartment ONCE, did not even succeed or murder anyone, and I still wouldn't let my roommate put the air conditioner in the window all summer. (love you, roomie)

In another one, whole families were being murdered and the news was seemingly just NOT AROUND FOR IT. Yeah, I guess that's kind of boring. People probably shouldn't be told. I'm seriously worried about the world in which Criminal Minds takes place. You guys have to stay on the alert or I'm pretty sure that eventually everyone except the CM profilers is going to be murdered. Nine seasons? How is anyone left. It's gonna end up being an And Then There Were None situation.

THIS WEEK I have been reading The Paying Guests (reviewed yesterday), Their Eyes Were Watching God on Oyster (SO GOOD), The Cuckoo's Calling (ALSO SO GOOD, but in a different way), and endless tweets about Swan Queen drama. Did you all know that some people vastly prefer the chemistryless and patently forced pairing of Robin Hood and Regina to the relationship that's been carefully cultivated and developed throughout three seasons of television? BUT NO, GOOD CHOICE, OUTLAW QUEEN SHIPPERS.

CANNOT HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY OTP

Wisconsin this weekend, because why would you go south when it gets cold? That's apparently ridiculous. On the plus side, all those winter clothes I just proactively packed away I can now get out again. MIDWEST PRIDE.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters: Do Lesbians and Good Writing Outweigh Anxiety? (maybe)

Sarah Waters is The Lesbian Author to Read. Other than Michelle Tea. And maybe Alice Walker. When you consider the number of people in this world and then the number of authors and then the number of GOOD authors, think how much smaller that last number is going to be for particular subgroups. Sarah Waters gets extra points because she usually sets her novels in the 19th century and also wrote an entire book about different types of lesbian relationships in Victorian England (see: Tipping the Velvet, which you should read yesterday).

And then they made movies of them!

Her newest book, The Paying Guests -- which I stalked my way into getting at Book Expo America -- is set in London in the 1920s. An upper middle class woman and her mother have to take in lodgers to get out of debt, and when a married couple moves in, romantic shenanigans ensue. AS WELL THEY SHOULD. Then a crisis of course arises (someone gets straight-up murdered sort of) and the rest of the book concerns said crisis.

I was SO INTO THIS at its beginning, and then it made me anxious. Oh, so anxious. 

There's a reason I don't watch horror or suspense movies. when I see a person open a refrigerator door, I immediately start panicking and going "THE OTHER PERSON'S GOING TO BE THERE WHEN YOU CLOSE IT AGAIN WHY DID YOU OPEN THAT DOOR CONSTANT VIGILANCE." This book was more the sort of unease you get, though, when the girl in the horror movie's walking through the house and it's completely quiet except for some creaking floorboards and you're SO ON EDGE because at any moment someone's going to jump out and chase her.

Despite my general interest in life ending around 1913, I do like when authors try to cover post-WWI England. So much had changed! People had all these feelings! Disillusionment! So I was strangely proud of Sarah Waters for tackling this along with her romantic storyline. 

Did I like it as much as The Night Watch? Noooo. But they're different sorts of books. Even though both are set after world wars. But no, Night Watch followed multiple storylines and The Paying Guests sticks with Upper Middle Class Woman (Frances) and her inner journey, which is interesting in and of itself, but I think my order of preference for Waters books as of now would go:

Tipping the Velvet
The Night Watch
Fingersmith
The Paying Guests
Affinity

And then I didn't read The Little Stranger because no lesbians and people who read it said it was meh anyway.

Basically, with The Paying Guests, you get anxiety but you also get good writing and an interesting view of London in the 1920s and you come away feeling like you've learned something. Also you should probably read it because then we can talk about how you felt about Frances/Person She Gets Involved With, because I have CONFLICTING EMOTIONS in that regard.

yes, exactly.

ALL THE SARAH WATERS THOUGH.

First 50 Pages: Look, these're all good

Due to my subscription to Oyster, I have all new ways of starting books and not finishing them. EXCITING. But here's the deal on some books I have begun:

The Cuckoo's Calling, Robert Galbraith (hahaha we know who you are, Robert). I have avoided this book for so long! I don't know why I'm always so suspicious of J.K. Rowling's books that are not Harry Potter, because I have never (read: the one other time) started and then hated them. But I kept expecting not to like this. And then -- AND THEN -- I am liking it so much. Sooo much. I am slowly realizing I'm totally a fan of the mystery/thriller genre and I just always dismissed it as Not Literary Enough. Boo, Alice, boo. This has the unkempt private detective Cormoran Strike as a main character and WHO DOESN'T WANT TO READ ABOUT THAT GUY nobody that's who.

Adam, Ariel Schrag. I got a review copy of this and then they also put it on Oyster. Tumblr is PISSED about it, which probably means I need to just suck it up and read the whole thing so I can see whether Tumblr is doing that thing it occasionally does where it gets all social justice vigilante when it doesn't need to. So far I like it fine. It's about a teenage boy who realizes a girl thinks he's either a gay lady or a trans boy and he does not correct her because he is a teenage boy and WHATEVER IT TAKES amirite.

Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston. I'm basically furious that my high school didn't have us read this, but there's kissing in it and everything, so that's probably why. This is one of those books that's objectively good, like To Kill a Mockingbird. You can't reeeeally look at it critically, because who are you! Who are you to be criticizing Their Eyes Were Watching God! Yeah, so. This is pretty ok.

Discours sur l’origine et les fondements de l’inégalité parmi les hommes, Rousseau. Ahahahahahahaha yeah I'm THAT guy. Fuckin' readin' Rousseau in French. And you know what? It is SURPRISINGLY NOT THAT EASY. But I will get through it and my knowledge of the passé simple will be strengthened, meaning everybody wins. So far: Rousseau has sucked up to Geneva a whole lot in a pages-long dedication, and the preface is like "Man, we gotta figure ourselves out for. reals." Also check out how super-handsome Rousseau was:

I'm also VERY SLOWLY getting through The Lives of the Great Composers, meaning I've read about Monteverdi and Bach and am now on Handel, which is only early 18th century and I have to get up to the 1980s. So. Few more people to go.

Neverhome by Laird Hunt: Lady Soldiers and All the Stoicism You Could Want

Little, Brown sent me Neverhome on a whim, probably because it's about a lady dressing up as a Union soldier and going off to fight. Yeah, that sounds like it's in my wheelhouse. I honestly didn't have high expectations for it, because I've never been THAT into the women-disguising-themselves-as-men thing, but when I started it I basically couldn't put it down.

Think The Sisters Brothers and True Grit, but set during the Civil War. Those types of narrators are my favorite. Calm, unruffled, just there to tell you their deal and be done with it.

So like the opposite of this

"Gallant Ash," as she becomes known, fights in battle after battle and makes the Civil War much more real than it's usually portrayed, as here it's seen from the point of view of a soldier instead of one of the now near-mythic generals and their overarching plans for the war. It's not "[Massive number of people] died at Bull Run," it's someone who's in the middle and it's chaotic and people are dying and you no longer know where you are but you know you can't run because that's desertion.

The prose is simple but with the sort of detail that makes it seem real.

I gave my name as Ash Thompson down out of Darke County. “Where in Darke County?” they asked me, and I told them, even though I could see straight off they weren’t listening, that where was in the northwest corner of that fine county on my Daddy’s farm. After they had cracked on my teeth and whistled at my thick fingers and had me scrape my thumb calluses across the wood tabletop, they gave me my blues. A week later, when they saw I didn’t mind work and hadn’t run off, they handed me my firearm. It was a Model 1861 muzzle-loading Springfield rifle with flip-up sights and percussion lock, and they said you could use it to kill a man a quarter mile away.

 I'd definitely have some questions for Mr Hunt about the ending (WON'T TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS IT'S A SURPRISE), but I was genuinely delighted by the overall prose style and setting. Brief encounters Ash has throughout the book give a more complete view of the war and the way it impacted a variety of people than one would think possible in so few pages. And again, it's done simply, which I love. Give me five minutes of two people talking on the side of a road; I don't need them to go on a cross-country adventure of 700 pages so the lesson from their relationship can be taught (*cough* kind of looking at you, Donna Tartt, no matter how overall magnificent your novel might be). 

+10 points for being set in the 19th century and +5 for a lady protagonist.

The Ghost Bride by Yangsze Choo: Plains of the Dead, paper servants and other fun things

So the HarperCollins imprint William Morrow gave me some options for books to review and I said THE GHOST BRIDE, because an 1890s Malaysian woman having to marry a ghost because of Chinese custom sounded damn interesting. And it was. Except for the main character.

Ok, so it's the 1890s in Malaysia ("Malacca" at the time) and Li Lan's family has fallen from their wealthy merchant status to barely hanging on to respectability because her father smokes opium all the time due to sadness about his wife's death like 15 years ago. Li Lan's 18, which means damn, she needs to get married. Her nurse/nanny/similar role is pushing for this, but then she gets an offer from this wealthy family to marry their dead son. WHAT. Yeah, apparently even then it was a weirdass thing to ask, so they're like "Thanks, but no." THEN Li Lan meets the dead son in a dream where he's all like "So I guess we'll be getting married hehehehehe" and she's like

But he won't leave her alone. The rest of the book is Li Lan dealing with the Chinese/Malaysian spirit world and that part is BADASS. Yes, please tell me more of your culture's ideas about the afterlife, because my school failed me in this regard. Her interactions with ghosts and paper servants are super-cool and if I didn't dislike her a fair amount, I'd give this 4/5 instead of 3. It's worth it just to see stuff like paper hell money getting burned and then in the spirit world she HAS MONEY because that's how you get it. By burning it for people to use. So cool.

Li Lan starts out fine but becomes annoying as shit once she meets this guy Tian Bai and falls in love after talking to him ONCE for like five minutes. Boo. Boo. Boo. I am done with this trope unless you're Princess Aurora and the guy you meet is clearly handsome and awesome and sings in a fine piercing tenor.

Not that I'm talking about anyone in particular

The romance part of the plot is annoyingly predictable, but you can skim those parts (there's a lot about dudes' flat muscular stomachs if you're into that sort of thing) and then be like "AW SWEET THE PLAINS OF THE DEAD."

Speaking of the Plains of the Dead, can we talk about how irritating it is when Li Lan is all like "Oh, I thought they'd be like caverns and stuff, not a bunch of grass and fields." So what you're saying is you don't actually know what plains are. Ok.

But they're still cool and there're mediums and spirit papers and minor government officials of hell. Also the cover's shiny.

OTHER PLUS for this book is it made me want to learn more about Chinese myth and folklore. And about how Chinese culture impacted Malaysia. So what I'm saying is I recommend it, but only if you skim whenever the main character talks about dudes she's in love with, because she is an 18-year-old idiot. Just read about ox-headed demons and how ghosts eat.

I did stuff on Labor Day and also there is Emma Goldman

I was going to do a summary of Labor Day weekend because BOY THAT SOUNDS EXCITING DOESN'T IT, but then I remembered Labor Day and thought I should say something about Emma Goldman.

But also here's a summary of Labor Day weekend:

Friday - drank with roommate and watched Darren Aronofsky's Noah.

SO DRAMATIC

I have no idea it's because I got progressively more intoxicated, but I started out making fun of the movie and then got really invested. Also there is attempted baby-murder, so. Be warned. Also they made up a bunch of shit. But again -- I became PROGRESSIVELY MORE OK WITH IT. Like "Hey what if some fallen angels helped man survive outside the Garden and then they were made out of rock and stuff." Yeah all right. Also there's nothing about Noah saying his ENTIRE family has to die, but if you watch the destruction of all humanity and it's just you, your wife and kids and a bunch of animals on a boat, maybe you start thinking that God just wants mankind to end, but He'd like to keep hippos and stuff.

Saturday - Worked on music. Read a bunch. Cleaned. FUN TIMES ON SATURDAY.

Sunday - Brunched with friend. Saw a new library branch. Went to a new bookstore (Ravenswood Used Books).

Ooh, magical

Then: Entertained a lady friend. Pro tip: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is not a good background Netflix movie for romantic happenings. Amélie is. When faced with this choice, go with Amélie.  Then went to Edgewater and watched the first episode of series 8 of Doctor Who with Friend and Her Delightful Boyfriend. I saw about half of this episode because I kept falling asleep. Passed out around 2:30.

Monday - Woke up at 5:45 to see sunrise. 

Whaaat

You see the day with a certain proprietary air when you've watched it come into being. "Oh hello there," you say later on after you've arisen from your nap because no one should be up at 5:45, "I remember watching you begin." There is no way on earth I'm making this a regular habit, but it was excellent. Also, the sky was way cooler BEFORE the sun came over the horizon than after.

Right. Now. Emma Goldman. Emma Goldman came over to America from Russia, spending most of her time in Chicago (what what) and New York City. Inspired by the Haymarket Square martyrs, she lectured on anarchist ideals around the country and fought hard for workers.

only pausing to have this badass
picture taken

You might disagree with anarchism as a political ideal (as you should, for it is silly), but her motives were excellent. It's intensely easy to criticize someone's methods or philosophy, but she was working every single day to try to make people's lives better. She believed in equality between the sexes and the rights of workers. She is awesome. And it's because of her influence and because she pushed back that we have the labor reforms we have today. 

EVERYONE LOVE EMMA GOLDMAN.