Nostalgia in Blue

For anyone who questions my fiercely passionate loyalty to Texas, allow the below pictures to speak for me. North Carolina friends, these are for you.

Yes, Texas may have record high summers every summer. Yes, cedar fever can be worse than the flu. No, there is not a substantial amount of snow annually. But where else can you drive a few minutes outside the city and see natural beauty like this? Texas bluebonnets - odes, sonnets and free verses should be written about each one of you each year you return and bless the eyes, hearts, and Easter Sunday pictures of Texans large and small. I miss you!!

What is even more wonderful about Texas bluebonnets is that they are not the end of the Texas wildflowers. The blue landscape rises like the sun with the coral orange of Indian Paintbrush, the two-toned Indian Blanket, and the cheery yellow Black-Eyed Susan. And then, every here and there, are pale pink evening primroses and merlot winecups. Here in NC, all we get is yellow pollen and green grass, the latter of which is a rare occurrence in Texas, but not the same kind of colorful. Texas may have hues of brown happening most the summer, but it makes up for it with the grand rainbow of colors in the spring and early summer.

GANC: Giants in the Earth

Out of all the books I have read in this challenge, Giants in the Earth is perhaps the most honest story of a group of Americans. It follows a Norwegian family's struggle to make a life for themselves in the Dakota Territories in the late 1800s. There are no great over-arching plots or exciting interludes with bandits, illness, or Native Americans. It is a simple, harsh look at a family who has immigrated from their home in Norway to what they hope to be a new and improved life in America. This is not a book of American idealism or conquerors, but one of realistic struggles that many immigrants and westward expansion sojourners faced. Is the land before them the best, or does better lie over the next hill? Are the wagons in the distance friend or foe? Can I rely on my neighbors when help is needed? How does one balance audaciously breaking ground and buying provisions with the risk that a dry season or locusts could strike and lose it all? There is a simplistic beauty in the harshness of the setting and the plain honesty of these Norwegian-Americans.

What is even more the author, Ole Edvart Rolvaag, is himself a Norwegian immigrant who settled with his uncle in South Dakota in the late 1800s, so it is possible some of the stories in Giants in the Earth are autobiographical. Originally written in Norwegian, this novel was painstakingly translated with Rolvaag's close assistance in order to convey the meanings and intention of each word. In this way, this book is unique - written by a European-born author in a European style, but with a distinctly American setting.

The decision on whether this is a great American novel is difficult because I had not heard of the book until my Dad spoke fondly of reading it, and I feel like a great American novel should be somewhat well-known. But maybe that is faulty thinking. This is a wonderful novel. It is not a book that I became enveloped in, but I was drawn in by the lack of wild adventures. Its beauty lay in its tight focus on the beauty of writing down the struggles of a common man. I do not believe Rolvaag meant this as a way of social commentary, but that does not mean it cannot be. It is refreshing to know that a complex journey with a family in a key moment in America's history can be so misleadingly simply written.

Great American Novel Challenge Booklist:

July 2009: Absalom, Absalom! - William Faulkner, publ. 1936

August 2009: Lonesome Dove - Larry McMurtry, publ. 1985

September 2009: Moby Dick - Herman Melville, publ. 1851

October 2009: For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway, publ. 1940

November 2009: Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston, publ. 1937

December 2009: The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath, publ. 1963

January 2010: Rabbit, Run - John Updike, publ. 1960

February 2010: East of Eden - John Steinbeck, publ. 1952

March 2010: the Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton, publ. 1920

Blind Spot & Skiing Down Everest

As in most things, if you try enough of something, you are bound to encounter a dud or two. This concept remains true for documentaries. I know, shocking. By and large, all the docs I have watched have been worth my time, interesting, and educational. And then there were these two. All the hopes and dreams of a good documentary, just did not make it on the execution.

Blind Spot - Hitler's Secretary is not a waste of time and it certainly is educational. However, it is not so much a documentary to me as it is an hour-and-a-half long interview. Because it is that - 1.5 hours of an interview. No World War II footage, no pictures of Hitler in case you forgot what he looked like. No photos or video of where Hitler and his staff were in his last days. Just Traudl Junge (the secretary) talking about how she came to be Hitler's secretary and life in the last days of Hitler. I finished the doc wanting more - another secretary's perspective, reports from others who were with Hitler during that time, something other than Junge alone speaking for this moment of change in history.

And then there was the doc whose title yielded itself to visions of bravery, danger, pushing one's body to the limit. The Man Who Skied Down Everest held such high hopes. Hope that became confused as the film progressed. Why? Because, while I am sure this was meant to be a serious look into a Japanese man's effort to ski down Everest, it came out as a fish eye lens-loving, stained glass streaking color, "does this documentary come with complimentary narcotics" kind of movie. It is weird. Really really weird. I think all the people who lauded this movie on Amazon (see above link) must have all had the same grape KoolAid, if you know what I mean. Kooky. Oh, and it does not stop there. You would think with a title like The Man Who Skied Down Everest he would, I don't know, go to the top of Mt. Everest and ski down. Wrong! He climbs close to the top of Everest and skis down. I felt lied to and taken advantage of. But wait, there's more! Behind door number 3 - it won an Oscar for Best Documentary in 1976! Which made me think of two things:

1) If this documentary won, imagine how bad the other nominated docs must be.

2) Maybe this doc did come with complimentary narcotics to those who select Oscar winners

Need more proof? Here you go, watch at the risk of your mental well-being...