A Moveable Feast

In A Moveable Feast, by Ernest Hemingway, we have met some very quirky characters that Ernest has encountered in his adventures. Some friends, some family, but mainly writers who have sparked interest in Ernest, for their writing or their personality. One of these writers was Scott Fitzgerald, the writer of The Great Gatsby (Coincidence? Nope.) who meets Scott at a bar one night, and he definitely sparked Ernest because of his writing. Ernest's new companion quickly turned into a needy, whiny alcoholic man who bothered Ernest quite a bit.

On their (dangerous) drive to retrieve Scott's car in Lyon, Scott w

as drinking while driving, and quickly became extremely paranoid that he was sick. The following quote shows Scott's frantic pestering to Hemingway

"You can sit there and read that dirty French rag of a paper and it doesn't mean a thing to you that I am dying."

Considering the disease was all in his head, Scott was quite rude, demanding, and treated Hemingway quite poorly. While reading a book, one can sort of get a feel of what the author was like, but after reading this part of the novel, my perception of Scott Fitzgerald has changed completely.

From the places described in A Moveable Feast, I believe that I would like to visit the Riviera that the Fitzgerald's invited the Hemingway's too. The way the Riviera is described, and how

it seems to hav

e a calming affect on Scott and Zelda (Yeah I didn't know that existed either) really shows just how relaxing it must be.

"No one drank anything stronger than champagne and it was very gay and obviously a splendid place to write. There was going to be a everything that a man needed to write except to be alone."

As we are reading through the perspective of a writer, the idea conveyed that it is a great place to write seems to be a good sign of its calmness. It strips away the busy on-the-go life that both Scott and Ernest live, and replaces it with a serene paced lifestyle.

The Boy In the Moon

Over the last month, the grade eleven english classes have been reading The Boy in the Moon. The book follows the life of Ian and his family, and the struggles they have faced with their son Walker, who has a rare case of CFC (Cardio-Facio-Cutaneous) syndrome.

A constant idea that comes into Ian's head throughout the book, is that when he and Johanna are too old to take care of Walker, what will happen to him? They decided early on that they would not make Hayley, his devoted sister be his caretaker, so Ian searched for a home that Walker could stay in. He eventually found l'Arche. A community in which residents with disabilities can all live together in coherency, with trained staff to help them with their needs. Located in both France and Montreal, Ian visited both and was very satisfied with his findings. He found that the l'Arche homes he visited were a very peaceful place, with an air of happiness he questioned right away, wondering if they were "Had they been smoking kindness?" (Page 197)

Despite having a waiting list, he knew that ultimately he would like for Walker to live in a place like the ones he visited. Free of judgement and fear, letting those who are unable feel like they are not different. That they are the population, and the effects of society's presumptions are nullified. The following quote shows how Ian observed the staff, and how he felt it was a great environment: "No one at l'Arche talked about integration, the way the staff sometimes do at conventional homes for the disabled: this community existed for the disabled and made no pretense that residents eventually would be part of the "normal" community. People like me were outsiders here. There was a routine, a structure, a community of individuals, and their lives counted for what they were, no added value required." (Page 199)

After reading The Boy in the Moon, I really learned a lot about living with a person with a disability. With the given perspective of the parent of a one, you can really see all the procedures they go through, and the difficulty they face for every day tasks. Even more so, all the specialty doctors and scientists that Ian had to see really stacked up, and reflected on what a toll it took on his and Johanna's life. After reading the memoir, I've started to realize how really fortunate we are. A lot of time we are reminded by media outlets about how fortunate we are, in terms of wealth; but beyond this, how lucky we are to be functioning healthily and happily. This book has also made me realize how much work and effort parents have put into their children's lives. Although I have not needed as much as Walker has, I know that my parents are very good to me, and would go to lengths like Johanna and Ian if I ever needed it.

If given the opportunity to interview Ian Brown, these are three questions that I would ask him

1. While reading The Boy in the Moon, I came to see there was a lot of hard truths and cynicism used in your style of writing. Would you say that this book was a way of releasing tension and emotions about topics you couldn't previously address?

2. It is made cleat throughout the book that you never wanted Walker to fall into the responsibility of your daughter Hayley, but as a sister she seemed quite supportive. Have you ever talked to her in depth about Walker, and how discover her perspective on the whole situation?

3. Besides Olga, many people that have helped Walker have come and go; some stay for weeks, others for years. Do any of the helpers from the past ever try and contact you and get updates on Walker? I'm pretty much aiming this question at Trish, but have you heard from anyone at all?

Summer Reading Blog; Taylor Swift: Every Day Is a Fairytale

It was around the middle of July and I was at my cousins' house. My mom and aunt had gone to Walmart, and to my surprise, my mom came back with a book that kept me busy for the duration of the summer. A biography on my favourite person ever, Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift: Every Day Is a Fairytale, is a biography written by Liv Spencer, who has also done many other biographies on today's youngest stars. The book takes a very detailed look into the different stages of Taylor's life, from the moments of her childhood, to the end of her very successful Fearless tour about three months ago. The book also takes an in depth look at every song Taylor has put out from her two albums, Taylor Swift and Fearless. Known for her personal connection to each song, the book looks at who and what the songs are written about. At the end of the book, there is a timeline of Taylor's career, starting at 2004 to the end of 2009.

The author, Liv Spencer, used many different resources to get all the information for this book, having every detail extremely accurate, coinciding with numerous pictures to match the words. I believe that Liv Spencer does a great job at taking all of these different sources, and putting them together in her own style of writing. She keeps a great tone of narration throughout the book, but also makes it feel like she's talking to you one on one. Consistent and precise, the author's writing made this book have great flow and diction.

Three passages that appealed to me were:

"I would come out of these Disney movies and I'd be singing every single song from the movie on the car ride home, word for word. And my parents noticed that once I had run out of words I would just make up my own." Taylor admits, "I was that annoying kid who ran around singing for random strangers." (Page 4)

This passage appeals to me, because not only is it extremely funny, it shows that Taylor's skills as a writer and musician started at a young age.

The second quote is directly from Taylor, talking about her song "Breathe":

"It's a song about having to say goodbye to somebody, but it never blames anybody. Sometimes that's the most difficult part. When it's nobody's fault" (Page 68)

This appeals to me because although Taylor is known for a harsh break up song, this song explores a more somber side of Taylor. I believe that this quote is a very good definition of what the song "Breathe" means.

The final passage is another quote from Taylor, talking about the media and her image:

"It's fine to talk about love publicly. But I think when you talk about virginity and sex publicly, people just automatically picture you naked. And as much as I can prevent people from picturing me naked, I'm going to." (Page 118)

This quote shows that Taylor is a very smart celebrity, and knows how to keep her image clean. Working beside many of her more outrageous colleagues, it is clear that Taylor knows the direction she wants to move in.