Tara Chevrestt's Blog, page 58

How Pat Benatar "Birthed" a Wild Angel: A Guest Post from Shari Copell

Please welcome Shari Copell as she talks about her upcoming book release featuring a tough rocker chick. Here's the story behind the story:
I’m going to blame it all on Pat Benatar, though I’ll admit I wasn’t thinking of her when I wrote Rock’n Tapestries.  I actually used the relationship I had with my husband the first time we dated as a basis for that book.

Rock’n Tapestries is a short novel written in first person.  It takes the form of a journal penned by Chelsea Whitaker about her love affair with Asher Pratt, a Pittsburgh, PA guitar player. She falls unconditionally in love with him during high school, but he makes her crazy with his secrets, his infidelities, and the way he tends to disappear when the going gets tough. When Asher unexpectedly pops into Chelsea’s life a third time, she reluctantly lets him back in, but only after she builds a sturdy wall around her heart. They end up with a friendship she values. Until he disappears again, that is.
Rock’n Tapestries was meant to be a one –time thing. It was just one of those stories that popped into my head, complete with an unconventional happy-ending.
It wasn’t even published yet when I began to think about the little girl who is mentioned in the epilogue of Rock’n Tapestries.  What kind of person would she be?  I knew without doubt she would be a rock guitarist, but what challenges would she face?
And that’s when I thought of Pat Benatar. From Wiki Commons
I grew up a child of the seventies and early eighties.  We had our share of female rockers— The Runaways, Vixen—but there was no one quite like Pat.  She was tiny with a short haircut my mother always called a pixie, but she roared like a lion when she sang.  She didn’t need to show voluminous cleavage or have long, wavy, feminine hair to get her point across.  You could just tell she was a badass.
Pat published a book in 2011 called “Between a Heart and a Rock Place” (which I highly recommend reading).  She detailed some of the problems she and her husband Neil Giraldo (also her guitarist) faced as a female rocker in a male-dominated world. Her managers tried to push a sexual image for her. They were unhappy when she refused to wear revealing clothing. I was blown away by the fact that they even objected to her becoming pregnant.  When one music executive told her “You don’t think they really come to hear the music, do you, Pat?”, she socked him in the face.



She just wanted them to hear the music.

When I sat down on September 2, 2013 to write Nicks Sorenson’s story in Wild Angel: A Rock’n Tapestries Novel, Pat Benatar’s experiences in the music industry weighed heavy on my mind.  It must’ve been frustrating in the extreme to have that level of talent, but your managers simply tried to sell you as tits-and-ass.  I knew Nicks, as a gifted singer and guitarist, would face those challenges too.

And so, Nicks Sorenson came to life in my head. Now an eighteen-year-old guitar prodigy, she still feels the effects of the bullying she endured for stuttering as a child. Her band Wild Angel plays every Friday night at Tapestries, the bar her parents own in Pittsburgh.

 Nicks loves making music, wants to do it for a living, but she hits a bit of a brick wall when she steps out into the public eye for the first time.  Specifically, a brick wall named Stone Jensen. She fights back the only way she knows how- with a strong sense of right and wrong and a spine of steel. She proves to the male musicians who question her that she’s just as good—and most likely better—than any of them by playing her Les Paul right in their faces.

Dealing with all that would be frustrating enough, but Nicks suddenly finds the high school principal breathing down her neck, giving her one detention after another for the stupidest reasons. Then she begins to have dreams of a man shrouded in mist.  He say he watches her, that he loves her, but she has no idea who he is.  Her mother has begun to act strangely as well. Nicks suspects she knows who the man is, but, for some reason, Chelsea dodges the issue.  A perfect storm converges on the Sorenson family as the secrets of the past are dragged into the present, with a little help from beyond the grave.  As a real storm bears down on Pittsburgh, it all comes to a shocking and explosive conclusion.

New Adult romantic suspense with paranormal elements, along with the usual warnings about sexual content and naughty language. There's also a bit of brutality and violence. I promised you all a happy ending after Rock'n Tapestries though, and I never break a promise. :-)

I tried very hard to make both books a stand-alone read, but Wild Angel will have more depth if you read Rock’n Tapestries first.

“Hello, Pittsburgh! You ready to rock?”

Nicks Sorenson, guitarist extraordinaire for the band Wild Angel, has a lot going on during her last year of high school. In fact, she sometimes wonders if someone has painted a bull’s eye on her forehead.

Stone Jensen, lead guitarist for the band Heavy Remedy, shows up everywhere she plays despite the bad blood between them. The high school principal is targeting her with endless detentions for some reason. And she’s starting to wonder if her mother is losing her mind.

Life soon spins into chaos for the Sorenson family. It began when Nicks learned the name of the dead musician who’d willed her his four guitars. Then came the dreams of a man shrouded in mist. She doesn’t recognize him, but he seems to know her.

As the strange occurrences escalate, Nicks goes on an unexpected—and painful—journey into the past.

She’s about to learn what you don’t know can hurt you.

*** Shari Copell is the pen name of S.L. Jesberger, author of the historical fantasy Àlainnshire series. Email her at sharicopell AT gmail.com or find her on Facebook.

Black Book: Shocking & Revealing Movie Following a A Jewish Spy in WWII

A shocking movie. The ending really surprised me. I didn't see that coming, the person responsible. 

The 411: A Jewish girl in hiding joins the Dutch Resistance and becomes a spy. She infiltrates the Nazi offices using the timeless method: sex.

When you watch WWII movies or read WWII books, they always take place in England, Germany, France, America, or Italy. I can't say I know much about what was happening in Denmark. Apparently it was occupied by the Germans and a resistance was in the background. In this movie, we see some of the more underhanded stuff, such as wealthy Jews being promise safe passage over the border, only to be set up for murder in order to steal their jewels and money.

Determined to get to the bottom of who is responsible for the murder of her family and wanting to aid the Resistance in any way possible, Rachel does what she must--sleeps with the head of the German SS and frankly doesn't seem too bothered by it. And here lies a quibble: I wasn't bothered by the sex, not at all. Though this is rare for me to say, the sexual scenes were actually quite tasteful and added to the story though they were more revealing than American films. What I was put off by was how quickly this chick falls in love with a Nazi. Idiot!

I think some Americans will be shocked by some of the content, but it was life then. It's what was happening. This is based on a true story and women did what they had to survive and get what they needed. I could have done without the full frontal view of that one Nazi pig though. EW.

I also didn't buy into that sexual encounter with the doctor. Seemed out of place.

But wow, was this movie exciting, as betrayal after betrayal happens and even though I already know the outcome of the war, watching this movie, I began to wonder if the Nazis were going to win. Who is revealing the Resistance's plans? Who is constantly betraying everyone? Why? And go figure, our heroine ends up blamed...

Also a surprising thing to me is the way people behaved when the war was won. It wasn't quite over for some people, for the women who slept with Nazis for whatever reason, for the people deemed traitors by the Resistance, whether they really were or not...

I have another major complaint though: This film is Dutch with English Subtitles, but at times they speak English--such as when the Canadians come. There's this huge scene with the Nazi Muntze....I have no clue what exactly went wrong for that man. It was all in English with NO SUBTITLES OR CAPTIONING. 

URGH.

But I recommend this. It was def interesting. And this actress, Carice van Houten, is really something.

I bought this DVD on Amazon.

The Red Lily Crown: A Novel of Medici Florence by Elizabeth Loupas

I'd love to see this turned into a TV mini-series. It'd knock whatever charts The White Queen is on right off the list. It's sex, lies, secrets, cruel royalty, affairs, spies, alchemy, and enough excitement to having you gasping in surprise in nearly every chapter. But yet, it's not a cheesy drama. It has real history in it. As I set this down for good, I am walking away with a lot more knowledge of the Medicis than ever before. I knew next to nothing about them before.

It's exciting, interesting, and intense, especially with all the cat fights. There's a lot of royal women duking it out and their fights/staring matches get really intense. I could actually imagine I was Chiara, caught the middle--to curtsy or not to curtsy?--and her conflicted emotions flew right off the page and into myself.

There's a very paranoid grand duke and a vile mistress, husbands killing wives, brothers turning on sisters. There's a lot of vileness, actually, but for every vile thing, there's something nice, such as Chiara and Ruanno's love, her Nanno, the kind lady in the nunnery, the grand duchess's dogs... In the end, besides all the history, I also took away from this that true love can conquer ALL.
Francesco
I feel the story was lacking in one thing, however. Chiara grew to care for each one of her mistresses, from Isabella to Diadora (I don't think I spelled that right), to the grand duchess...but why? There was very little of her relationship and communication with these ladies and why she cared so much about them was continuously lost on me. I feel like some scenes were missing, scenes in which we could have had a chance to watch these relationships between the women develop and strengthen.

The alchemy was strange, because I've never read about it before...it's like primitive and early laboratory work. The twists involving poison were absolutely fascinating, as were the real-life characters and their personalities: the grand duke Francesco, his mistress, his wife, his brothers. And yet, their drama never once detracted from the main heroine, a fictional lady alchemist who found herself embroiled in everything.

Very well done. Elizabeth Loupas has a winner.

Joint Review: Windshift by Joyce Faulkner

What We Read:
Shirley Maxwell is a troubled young woman facing a complicated personal life, a culture that restricts female options, and a world at war. Yet, together with friends -- Emmie, Delores, and Mags -- she joins Jackie Cochran's Women's Air Service Pilots program (WASP) and participates in the adventure, challenges, and tragedies of the 1940s with determination and courage. Shirley and her friends know what they are tackling will be hard, but they do it anyway and relish the effort. In the process, they change what is possible in the minds of young girls everywhere. Lively and moving, Windshift inspires and educates. Appropriate for history buffs interested in the World War II era, students of social change, those who love tales of derring do -- and those who just love airplanes.

What We Did:
Shomeret read the book, wrote down her thoughts, and Tara read the book a week later, emailing her two cents to Shomeret, and a discussion was born. Thus, our review.

Our Thoughts:Tara: I have a major complaint right off the bat. I can't stand Shirley, the heroine. She reminds me of Jack Nicholson's character in As Good As it Gets. WAY too uptight. She's constantly thinking of dirt, constantly criticizing others in her mind for their appearance or something, and even goes so far as to make the sheets a certain way. It's taking NEAT FREAK to a whole new level, making me think she has an obsessive compulsive disorder. I feel the author erred badly in one other thing regarding this heroine too. SHE DOESN'T LOVE TO FLY. For me, part of the enjoyment in reading about women pilots is always their love and passion for what they do. I can live through them. With this heroine, I'm not getting that.


What are your thoughts about the heroine? How do you feel about the other three pilots, Emmie and Delores and Mags? Mags makes me think of Pancho Barnes and I wonder if she was somewhat based on that woman, even though the real-life aviatrix was not in the WASP. I think she's my favorite character, with Emmie a close second. 
The WASP, from Wiki Commons
Favorite line from Mags: "They need a strong hand, an educated seat, and a lot of praise." 

Shomeret: I didn't like Shirley at all. I think the point of having her as the central character is that Joyce Faulkner thought readers would identify with her more precisely because she's more concerned with finding a man than with flying. At one point Shirley tells Mags about an incident in her past that is supposed to explain why she cares so much about getting married. As an explanation, it didn't make sense to me. I wouldn't have reacted the way Shirley did to that experience at all.

Tara: I haven't gotten the impression she's interested in men yet. I can't imagine her having sexual relations. Too germy and messy. She'd have to cover her in body in saran wrap.
 
Shomeret: I liked Emmie. Delores got more interesting to me later in the novel. There's another woman pilot who would have made a terrific central character.

I love Mags. This book should be about Mags. She's definitely the most interesting character in Windshift.

As a book about Shirley, it's a soap opera. Many people love soap operas and would therefore give it five stars.

Tara: Meh. Not into soaps. At 40%, I'm pleased that we've finally moved on past everyday life and horseback riding (it had a slow start) and are down to the flying stuff and issues the women faced, such as crappy planes, animosity from the men, their tasks.

Shomeret: What I didn't like about the flying content is that Shirley only does routine assignments. Of course, they aren't described because they aren't in the least bit interesting. Emmie and Mags have interesting assignments, but we are only told about them in summary. There's an incident involving Emmie and Mags that was very dramatic, but we aren't shown anything about it. I feel that Joyce Faulkner's dramatic priorities are very misplaced.

Tara: That is very true. She kept to the easy, safe stuff, too scared to do much else. As I said above, she had no passion for what she was doing. Regarding Emmie,  I especially like how she talked about the men's reaction to her and how she thought if she just smiled and was nice, they'd change their tune, but instead...as she says, "If they are so good at everything, why are they scared of what we might be able to do?"

Moving on...while I was initially really stoked that there is a hearing-impaired man in this story, I hate that he was given this horrid attitude toward women. His views on that girl getting pregnant, it being her fault, and a woman's "place" really ticked me off. I'm afraid there may be a romance here (I think that's a dude on the cover, lower right?) and it makes me sick. Though if it's between him and Shirley, I'd say they're meant for each other. I still don't like her. Too snotty.

Point in the book's favor: This scene between Grant and Shirley in which his views on women come to light DOES do a good job of showing us the confused sexual atmosphere of that time period. ...we were also in a new world where men and women no longer knew what to expect of one another.

Shomeret: There's other period atmosphere in this book. Women aren't allowed to fly when they're menstruating. Joyce Faulkner has a blog entry about that which I found on Goodreads called "Women and Their Periods" in which she points out that this rule was unenforceable because male officers and physicians would be too squeamish about menstruation to ask a woman pilot whether she's menstruating. Women were never supposed to mention such a thing because men couldn't stand the sight of a woman's blood.

Tara: I noticed that convo, but it didn't impact me because it's something I've known for a long time, that women were not allowed to fly whilst menstruating. It's been mentioned in every WASP book I've ever read, but that is terrific knowledge for anyone who hasn't read about them before.

Shomeret: I've read a couple of other WASP novels and didn't notice the menstruation prohibition before. This caused me to do some research. I found out that Opal Vivian Hicks Fagan was a WASP who proved in 1944 that women can fly while menstruating. I also read in an excerpt from Nancy Love and the WASP Ferry Pilots of World War II that Nancy Love appealed the rule grounding menstruating pilots, and that General C.R. Smith ruled in her favor on April 17, 1943.
Tara: I have read so many at this point... It's also been mentioned in a few nonfictions about women in aviation, but it's a fabulous thing to include in the book. BUT, the aircraft mechanic in me is a bit ticked off that I can find no data on this mysterious aircraft, the Wiley Fox. Anyone who does their research can find out what aircraft the WASP flew and I've never heard of the Wiley Fox before. I'd like to think some research was put into this... When I read plane books, I look the planes up and get their data. I want to know. I'm not finding anything called the Wiley Fox. I'm hoping I just missed something pertinent somewhere and this was not just a made-up aircraft, 'cause there are so many fabulous planes from this period that could have been used.

I did, however, find the A-24 the ladies flew for target pulling: (photo from Wiki)






Shomeret: It doesn't surprise me that the plane is fictional since Wiley is a fictional character in the novel.
Tara: It irritates me nevertheless. It would not have been hard to use a real plane and factory.
At 50%... omfg. They had to make this Grant guy not only anti-women rights, but racist too? "They do hate Jews. They feel about Jews like we feel about the Japanese and Negroes."  What does she see in this guy? But for that matter, what does he see in her? 
Shomeret: It was obvious to me that Grant was Mr. Wrong with his attitudes toward women, but I didn't read Grant as racist. I saw that conversation as being primarily about not wanting to believe that Germany had done such terrible things because he himself is a German American. He agrees with Shirley when she tells him that ethnic cleansing is the wrong thing to do. There's some Holocaust content later in the book. It's supposed to show Shirley's compassion, I'm sure.
Tara: I came across that and while I applaud her helping her friend, we have to keep in mind it wasn't really HER but her daddy's doing...
At 55%, the dog thing...I can't say I'm surprised. As a pet parent I've been perturbed throughout the novel with the girls' ignorant treatment of the dog. You do not feed a dog tootsie rolls, bologna, and Jelly Beans. I told myself they didn't know these things in the 1940s and ignored it, but this horrid occurrence I won't speak of...doesn't surprise me in the least. How dumb can you be? Seriously?
Shomeret: So we don't get any great flying scenes. There's supposed to be romance, but I don't see this as a romantic book. Shirley does grow a bit through her exposure to Mags, I think. There's also a crisis in Shirley's life that matures her. Because of that, I'd consider giving this book two and a half bikes, if that were possible. I still didn't really like the book.
Tara: I began to skim at 62%. Everything in it WASP related, such as the B-29, the sabotage, the cockpit that won't open and the fire...it's all been done in every single WASP story ever told. Nothing new here. I finally hit Shirley's big crisis--the most unique aspect of the story--and I feel like that was supposed to endear her to me, but I felt her reaction...making all these people take care of her and risk themselves...was just appalling and in the end, I have to say this story didn't work for me. The romance, the REAL one, came too late, the heroine persistently came across as selfish, weird, and snotty and nothing, not even her crisis made her better in my eyes.
Shomeret: I think that the point of Shirley going through the crisis is that she realized that she didn't want to be in a situation where she had no control of her life which is what she'd have with Grant. 

Tara: Excellent point indeed. Now that you point that out, I see the reason, but I still don't like her or her actions. For me it's important to like a heroine to like a book...so...
Shomeret's Rating:
Tara's Rating:
Shomeret received an ARC of this title on Netgalley and Tara bought it on Amazon.

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Amanda Katt

Book: Dead Links
Author: Nigel Mitchell
Heroine: Amanda Katt

Amanda Katt is an African American freelance journalist who pursues a deadly conspiracy on the Internet. She's strong because as an African American woman, she's overcome racism to become one of the best investigative journalists in the business. She also has survived attacks and threats in the course of her work, and remained on top. She's also strong in surviving the murder of her father, which causes her to pursue justice in all forms. Katt is sexy because she's beautiful, but also kind and warm with a tenderness beneath her tough exterior.


Blurb:
Investigative journalist Amanda Katt's engagement takes a strange turn when her fiancee becomes obsessed with Araknee, one of the most popular websites ever made. As she investigates, Katt discovers others have fallen under the spell of the website, and the owners of rival websites are dying under mysterious circumstances. When Amanda tries to uncover the secret of Araknee, she finds herself drawn into a conspiracy that could threaten the world.

Bridge of Scarlet Leaves by Kristina McMorris

I found this story well-written and surprisingly, unpredictable. I was surprised because it was nothing like the many Japanese-internment-during-WWII stories I've read thus far and I've read quite a few. I feared it would be a regurgitated tale that I'd already read, but first of all, the combination of a Japanese man with a Caucasian woman was unique, as was the story of the heroine learning her husband's culture, the sideline of her brother dealing with his hatred issues, and the shocking twist about her husband in the end... Perhaps individually, the stories may not be considered unique, but combined in this book, they are.

Never a dull moment.

I had some trouble with the heroine, Maddie, at times. I felt like she was a woman way too eager to throw everything away for a man, though part of me also realized times were strife and options were few when this book starts, right before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. People acted rashly during this time, aware they didn't have long to follow their hearts and fulfill their desires. BUT I must confess I didn't feel she loved her husband as much as she continued to claim. Her reluctance to wear her wedding band, her fears of having a "half-breed" child kinda made me feel conflicted about her.

Is it brave or stupid that she gives up Julliard to follow her husband into a camp? If I felt it was really true love, I'd think it brave.

Lane...Lane is the bravest of all the characters. Lane is her husband and he risks and does so much for his family's honor, for his reputation, to gain his country's trust, to save Maddie's brother--a man I didn't feel warranted saving. I enjoyed his bits and this surprised me as I don't normally care for male characters as much.

I had some trouble with the brother. He's rough and unlikable and joins the service for less-than-stellar reasons. But his story is important. It shows what carrying around hatred and bitterness for a long time can do to a person. Through his eyes we see the brutalities committed against American POWs. And it's nice to watch him change as a person. Everything happens for a reason, hm...

So much to learn about in this novel: the treatment of Japanese on the west coast, internment camp life, POW life, how it was for a Japanese man in the American army, some Japanese customs and ways...

Despite the fact I didn't like the brother or even the heroine at times, I was very engrossed in this story and walk away from it more enlightened than I was before.

But dang it, I have to say...I'm terribly disappointed there wasn't more about Jo. Jo becomes a lady baseball player and I get we have a movie about it (A League of Their Own)...but I've been searching high and low for a good novel about the ladies or even just a woman who did this during the war. The book gave a LOT of what Maddie, Lane, and TJ were going through, but Jo was only mentioned as TJ's possible girlfriend. I feel there was potential there.

Sapphire Skies by Belinda Alexandra

Lately, I've been picking up a lot of books featuring women pilots and have found myself disappointed at the lack of aviation/flying. Though SS is about a woman pilot, inspired by Lydia Litvyak, the aviation scenes are few, but the story is not lacking in any way. There's never a dull moment and there is so much going on...and I have set this book down more knowledgeable about Russian history, about Stalin, about the arctic prisons, than ever before. And while there is more of this other stuff than actual aviation, the aviation is well done and exciting and I have no complaints.

Basically, it just worked.

We have not one, but two incredible heroines--actually three. We have the modern-day Lily who is recovering from a tragic loss and has this thing for saving stray cats. But what is really remarkable about her is her compassion for others. Despite the grief afflicting her, she has room in her heart and enough love in her soul to help an old lady, a perfect stranger. The historical story is about Natalia, how she grows up in Stalin's Russia and becomes a fighter pilot during the Great Patriotic War. (We call it WWII). Through her eyes we see what everyday life was like during this time--the fear, the arrests, the paranoia, the backstabbing, the subway tunnels, the brainwashing, the scarcity of supplies. This was probably my favorite thing and I learned so much from this story.


Lydia LitvyakThere's a lot of political corruption, a lot of lies, and we get to visit those arctic prisons I mentioned above, something that I've only heard about vaguely yet now know so much more about.

The third remarkable woman is Sveltana, Natalia's aircraft mechanic. She's loyal and wishes to atone for a sin. She goes above and beyond...

There's also a romance, but while it's passionate and paced wonderfully--not too fast, not too slow--it does not overshadow the importance of the issues within the story. We don't have a heroine here whose sole goal in life is just to find a man and fall in love. There is SO MUCH MORE. I can't stress that enough. (I want to thank my blogging partner Shomeret for coming up with that line in italics. It's something she said to me this last week regarding a different book altogether and the line stuck in my head.)


Yak-1Now, the writing itself...it flows seamlessly from past to present to past, from POV to POV without issues. I had no difficulty telling who was who or even what time period I was in. The writing itself also transported me to another time and place. I couldn't even sleep while reading this book. I'd turn off my kindle and say, "Okay. Bed time," and twenty minutes later, I'd say, "Screw it. I'm gonna read some more."

My only complaint...I don't really see what the cats had to do with anything. A lot of the story was devoted to cats and I couldn't see how that tied in. I really don't see how the modern-day heroine tied in with the fighter pilot either, but I liked her story regardless.

He simply asked if I didn't think the brooch was too precious to take into combat. I answered him, "I'm precious and I'm going into combat!"

I bought this book on Amazon Kindle. Photos are from Wiki Commons.

Through Deaf Eyes, A Straightforward Look At Deaf Culture

PBS had a sale, and I bought this DVD. Naturally it's something I would take a strong interest in. I really some of the points brought up and some of the stories told. The documentary is a lot of different deaf people talking, and some Deaf-produced films. Some of the deaf people use sign language, some are "oral" successes, some have cochlear implants.

The theme is the same though: they are happy being deaf or have learned to live with it. As one man says, "It's no different than being a man instead of a woman, being short instead of tall..."

Don't try to fix us.

I appreciated many aspects of this film. I especially like how it talked about cochlear implants and how though a great device for some, it does have its disadvantages. It kills all the auditory nerves in your ear, making the receiver unable to hear unless they are wearing the implant. *This film was released in 2007, and perhaps this has since changed, but I know was warned by my audiologist about the possible loss of what I had left should I pursue this option myself.*

Different things I learned from this film:

Thomas Hopkins Galludet was responsible for the first school for the deaf in the U.S. The reason: he wanted to teach deaf people the word of god. He brought over a French teacher with his French sign language, who then adjusted the language to some of the signs already being used in the United States and thus, ASL was born.


AGBAlexander Graham Bell was a very controversial figure in deaf culture. Not deaf himself, but married to a deaf woman, he had very strong opinions. I can see his point on some issues, though I feel trying to eliminate flaws in the human race through proper breeding is a bit much. Without our "flaws" we'd all be the same and that's boring. We wouldn't be who we are, some of us, without our "flaws".

He felt that the deaf should be forced to lip read and speak, not grow dependent on signs and thus cut themselves off from the hearing world.

But...but as a lady points out in this documentary, we then end up spending so much time just learning to talk and lip-read that we don't focus as much as basic education or I should say, advanced education. And lip-reading is EXHAUSTING.

I have to agree with BOTH AGB and the lady. Had I learned solely Sign Language, I would not have had some of the jobs I've had, I'd not have been able to communicate with family members at all. I'd be shut off from just about everyone I know, so for me lip-reading was the path, but it is indeed exhausting and I do feel...not entirely immersed in either world. But I feel this documentary did explore the variety of choices and in the end, it's not up to AGB or the lady. It's up to the deaf person what path they wish to pursue.


We also meet some people who interact in both worlds.

This briefly touches on the silent film and how it was a disappointing transition for deaf people when sound was introduced as it was a long time before captioning came to be.

The football huddle you see today...was created by deaf players.


An old TTY, 70s model?Surprising and interesting to me is also the fact that folks used to believe that aviation could possibly cure deafness...and Charles Lindbergh himself charged 50 bucks a "deaf flight" but there of course, was no recorded cures.

“They would charter a plane, bring the deaf boy in the cockpit. The plane would take off and do loops, hoping the boy would get his hearing back again.”
It took 90 years from the inventing of the telephone for TTY to be introduced, allowing us to communicate that way. And this is all thanks to a man named Robert Weitbrecht, a reclusive deaf man who loved dogs. With two other people, he set up a teletypewriter and a modem and made the clicking of a key transmit a sound that upon reaching its destination would transfer back to a letter.

This is very cool to me. It took a while for this invention to catch on and become what you see in the picture above because teletypewriters were hard to come by and weighed 200 pounds.

And it comes as no surprise to me, the revelation that the Civil Service passed a law in 1906 saying they would no longer deaf or HoH people... Though turned over two years later, I know from personal experience the seed that was planted did indeed grow into a tree. Hum.

Very interesting documentary, though I could have done without some of the "films" and especially the weird performance about the bucket....I have no idea what was going on there. But I'm simply not that artistic. I don't "get" the ballet either.

Through Deaf Eyes, An Straightforward Look At Deaf Culture

PBS had a sale, and I bought this DVD. Naturally it's something I would take a strong interest in. I really some of the points brought up and some of the stories told. The documentary is a lot of different deaf people talking, and some Deaf-produced films. Some of the deaf people use sign language, some are "oral" successes, some have cochlear implants.

The theme is the same though: they are happy being deaf or have learned to live with it. As one man says, "It's no different than being a man instead of a woman, being short instead of tall..."

Don't try to fix us.

I appreciated many aspects of this film. I especially like how it talked about cochlear implants and how though a great device for some, it does have its disadvantages. It kills all the auditory nerves in your ear, making the receiver unable to hear unless they are wearing the implant. *This film was released in 2007, and perhaps this has since changed, but I know was warned by my audiologist about the possible loss of what I had left should I pursue this option myself.*

Different things I learned from this film:

Thomas Hopkins Galludet was responsible for the first school for the deaf in the U.S. The reason: he wanted to teach deaf people the word of god. He brought over a French teacher with his French sign language, who then adjusted the language to some of the signs already being used in the United States and thus, ASL was born.


AGBAlexander Graham Bell was a very controversial figure in deaf culture. Not deaf himself, but married to a deaf woman, he had very strong opinions. I can see his point on some issues, though I feel trying to eliminate flaws in the human race through proper breeding is a bit much. Without our "flaws" we'd all be the same and that's boring. We wouldn't be who we are, some of us, without our "flaws".

He felt that the deaf should be forced to lip read and speak, not grow dependent on signs and thus cut themselves off from the hearing world.

But...but as a lady points out in this documentary, we then end up spending so much time just learning to talk and lip-read that we don't focus as much as basic education or I should say, advanced education. And lip-reading is EXHAUSTING.

I have to agree with BOTH AGB and the lady. Had I learned solely Sign Language, I would not have had some of the jobs I've had, I'd not have been able to communicate with family members at all. I'd be shut off from just about everyone I know, so for me lip-reading was the path, but it is indeed exhausting and I do feel...not entirely immersed in either world. But I feel this documentary did explore the variety of choices and in the end, it's not up to AGB or the lady. It's up to the deaf person what path they wish to pursue.


We also meet some people who interact in both worlds.

This briefly touches on the silent film and how it was a disappointing transition for deaf people when sound was introduced as it was a long time before captioning came to be.

The football huddle you see today...was created by deaf players.


An old TTY, 70s model?Surprising and interesting to me is also the fact that folks used to believe that aviation could possibly cure deafness...and Charles Lindbergh himself charged 50 bucks a "deaf flight" but there of course, was no recorded cures.

“They would charter a plane, bring the deaf boy in the cockpit. The plane would take off and do loops, hoping the boy would get his hearing back again.”
It took 90 years from the inventing of the telephone for TTY to be introduced, allowing us to communicate that way. And this is all thanks to a man named Robert Weitbrecht, a reclusive deaf man who loved dogs. With two other people, he set up a teletypewriter and a modem and made the clicking of a key transmit a sound that upon reaching its destination would transfer back to a letter.

This is very cool to me. It took a while for this invention to catch on and become what you see in the picture above because teletypewriters were hard to come by and weighed 200 pounds.

And it comes as no surprise to me, the revelation that the Civil Service passed a law in 1906 saying they would no longer deaf or HoH people... Though turned over two years later, I know from personal experience the seed that was planted did indeed grow into a tree. Hum.

Very interesting documentary, though I could have done without some of the "films" and especially the weird performance about the bucket....I have no idea what was going on there. But I'm simply not that artistic. I don't "get" the ballet either.

My Reading Radar 4/27/2014

Over the last few weeks, I spotted TWO titles on one of my favorite blogs, Reading the Past. They are both on my wishlist.

The Tiger Queens by Stephanie Thornton. In the late twelfth century, across the sweeping Mongolian grasslands, brilliant, charismatic Temujin ascends to power, declaring himself the Great, or Genghis, Khan. But it is the women who stand beside him who ensure his triumph....

After her mother foretells an ominous future for her, gifted Borte becomes an outsider within her clan. When she seeks comfort in the arms of aristocratic traveler Jamuka, she discovers he is the blood brother of Temujin, the man who agreed to marry her and then abandoned her long before they could wed.

Temujin will return and make Borte his queen, yet it will take many women to safeguard his fragile new kingdom. Their daughter, the fierce Alaqai, will ride and shoot an arrow as well as any man. Fatima, an elegant Persian captive, will transform her desire for revenge into an unbreakable loyalty. And Sorkhokhtani, a demure widow, will position her sons to inherit the empire when it begins to fracture from within.

In a world lit by fire and ruled by the sword, the tiger queens of Genghis Khan come to depend on one another as they fight and love, scheme and sacrifice, all for the good of their family...and the greatness of the People of the Felt Walls.

***
Flight of the Sparrow by Amy Belding Brown. Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1676. Even before Mary Rowlandson is captured by Indians on a winter day of violence and terror, she sometimes found herself in conflict with her rigid Puritan community. Now, her home destroyed, her children lost to her, she has been sold into the service of a powerful woman tribal leader, made a pawn in the on-going bloody struggle between English settlers and native people. Battling cold, hunger, and exhaustion, Mary witnesses harrowing brutality but also unexpected kindness. To her confused surprise, she is drawn to her captors’ open and straightforward way of life, a feeling further complicated by her attraction to a generous, protective English-speaking native known as James Printer. All her life, Mary has been taught to fear God, submit to her husband, and abhor Indians. Now, having lived on the other side of the forest, she begins to question the edicts that have guided her, torn between the life she knew and the wisdom the natives have shown her.

Based on the compelling true narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Flight of the Sparrow is an evocative tale that transports the reader to a little-known time in early America and explores the real meaning of freedom, faith, and acceptance.
***
Spotted on Netgalley and on my wishlist...it doesn't appear to be available in the States. *cries* The President's Lunch by Jenny Bond.
Robbed of her home and job by the Great Depression, the future looks bleak for Iris McIntosh - until a chance encounter with America's indefatigable First Lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Propelled into the White House's brilliant inner circle, Iris finds herself at the centre of momentous change ... and her heart torn between two men. But her loyalty lies with a third: the complicated and charismatic President Roosevelt, who will ultimately force her to question everything she believes in.

A compelling story of politics and power, love and loss, set in one of the most exciting and cataclysmic periods of history.

***
Daughter of the Gods, another one by Stephanie Thornton, is on my wishlist after I spotted it on a friend's blog. I really need to read this author. It looks like her stuff is right up my alley.


Egypt, 1400s BC. The pharaoh’s pampered second daughter, lively, intelligent Hatshepsut, delights in racing her chariot through the marketplace and testing her archery skills in the Nile’s marshlands. But the death of her elder sister, Neferubity, in a gruesome accident arising from Hatshepsut’s games forces her to confront her guilt...and sets her on a profoundly changed course.

Hatshepsut enters a loveless marriage with her half brother, Thut, to secure his claim to the Horus Throne and produce a male heir. But it is another of Thut’s wives, the commoner Aset, who bears him a son, while Hatshepsut develops a searing attraction for his brilliant adviser Senenmut. And when Thut suddenly dies, Hatshepsut becomes de facto ruler, as regent to her two-year-old nephew.

Once, Hatshepsut anticipated being free to live and love as she chose. Now she must put Egypt first. Ever daring, she will lead a vast army and build great temples, but always she will be torn between the demands of leadership and the desires of her heart. And even as she makes her boldest move of all, her enemies will plot her downfall....

***
Spotted on Goodreads while browsing. I've really liked a MM and really disliked a MM but that's not going to deter me from trying this: The Last Queen of India by Michelle Moran. It could go either way. I loved her Nefertiti, wasn't crazy about Cleopatra. Anyway, read the blurb and you'll see why this hit my wishlist.

When the British Empire sets its sights on India in the 1850s, it expects a quick and easy conquest. After all, India is not even a country, but a collection of kingdoms on the subcontinent. But when the British arrive in the Kingdom of Jhansi, expecting its queen to forfeit her crown, they are met with a surprise. Instead of surrendering, Queen Lakshmi raises two armies—one male, one female—and rides into battle like Joan of Arc. Although her soldiers are little match against superior British weaponry and training, Lakshmi fights against an empire determined to take away the land she loves.

Told from the perspective of Sita, one of the guards in Lakshmi's all-female army and the queen’s most trusted warrior, The Last Queen of India traces the astonishing tale of a fearless ruler making her way in a world dominated by men. In the tradition of her bestselling novel Nefertiti, which Diana Gabaldon, author of the Outlander series, called “a heroic story with a very human heart,” Michelle Moran once again brings a time and place rarely explored in historical fiction to rich, vibrant life.