Wollstonecraft

"What nonsense!"

Indeed.

Cuntry Boys & City Girls

I bet you thought I was going to do a video game.

"Cuntry Boys & City Girls"
by The Fratellis

I said I don't get out too much I said
She said you said I said two times instead
I said oh please please please no, your just not funny ya know
So stick around here for a week or three or four
I passed out one time by your door
It was twenty to four but I just can't be sure

Cinderella Cinderella she's my very kind of fella
Part right half wrong oh you know it won't be too long
And oh you know we country boys are only after sex and noise
Take me shake me I'm a real mess oh yes
I love the way you city girls dress even though your head's in a mess

Well it was some kind of house by some kind of road
With some kind of peculiar dress code
All the boys had no style not one girl did she smile
I said your making me itch she said don't
I said I'll try my best she said I know that you won't
Now it's time to go home while I was chewing her bone

Baby doll baby doll climbing on the bedroom wall
Got no real friends at all maybe she's a mother or two
But I think she's into you
Take me home take me home call my mother on the phone
Ella was her name when I left but now she is Rose
Got no fingers or toe's lost them everywhere that she goes , now

Lost them everywhere that she goes now
Lost them everywhere that she goes now
Lost them everywhere that she goes now
Lost them everywhere that she goes now

Cinderella Cinderella she's my very kind of fella
Part right half wrong oh you know it won't be too long
And oh you know we country boys are only after sex and noise
Take me shake me I'm a real mess oh yes
I love the way you city girls dress even though your head's in a mess

Baby doll baby doll climbing on the bedroom wall
Got no real friends at all maybe she's a mother or two
But I think she's into you
Take me home take me home call my mother on the phone
Ella was her name when I left but now she is Rose
Got no fingers or toe's lost them everywhere that she goes, now

There's actually a few fairy tales worked in here if you ask me. There's Rose for Briar Rose, also known as Sleeping Beauty, the wall reminds me of Rapunzel and then the blatant use of "Cinderella." For those only accustom to the Disney version (I.E. Children), the bit with fingers and toes wouldn't click but we know better. ;)


I'm personally pleased with the links to the various Angela Carter stories I see. The call to mother? Country Boys only wanting sex and noise? Generic, yes, but The Fratellis are an English band...

Jan, 22, 2009 - Carter and such

It's not Oprah Winfry...but it is still personal.

This is a hard line to walk I think...one I've most likely crossed more than once, I'm not sure I ever went back.
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"It's about 'What it means to be human, a parable, something that corresponds to the real...distorts it so that we can see it, enlarges it so that we have to look at it. Mr. Lyon is any young man coming of age and facing his manhood in or out of a relationship, what it means to be a man; a young woman facing what it means to be a young woman in a relationship with a man.'" ~ Paraphrased from Laura Mandell.

I was speaking with Howe the other day (did I write about the following already?). I wanted to know why his class was only a 100 level course despite the hefty reading, more than even my 200/300 level IMS/ENG/WMS course or my 200 level Short Story course.

His answer?

"There are people above me who consider Scifi to be 'fluff.''

And yet one of the core parts of most SciFi, which we discussed in said class and I've found true throughout my life, is the very same question, 'What's it mean to be human?"
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"I'm intensely afraid of the potential of violence in men...and I think they are too." ~ Paraphrased from Laura Mandell.

I agree. I have a friend who studies Jujitsu, which is a grappling form of martial arts, which means in a fight his goal is to literally break your limbs so that you can't fight anymore. He considers this incredibly interesting...and frightening. He once dislocated a partner's shoulder. It wasn't really his fault, he merely held the arm bar while the other person did the exact wrong thing and then *pop* goes the arm. To this day it bothers him...it was nearly 10 years ago.
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"The Bloody Chamber"

"Blue Beard" - Based on a real pirate?

The female potential for "corruption..." would such corruption happen without a male's violence to corrupt them? What is the female parallel? Is there one?

Does it work in reverse?

There is no anger like that which springs in a man from the frustrations of a woman...

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned," William Congreve, The Mourning Bride.

Why does that only count for women? I call shenanigans.

The Cinderella Complex

While reading page 16 of "The Cinderella Complex" the supposed split between women and men, their training, caught my eye. I had just been discussing this sort of thing with a resident of mine. We were closer to the concept of same-sex friendships and how the sexes might grow into them. I offered that men had fewer close friends because they were taught not to open up but at the same time they were hurt less by each other. Women are supposedly taught to rely on others, to open up and expect reciprocation. They also get hurt far more often.

The issue, then, becomes one of depth.

I've seen many a female friend recover well, and swiftly, from various daggers in the back.

My male friends however, take true slights deeply and let go slowly, if ever.

This is connected to the topic via "love" of course, the sharpest of double-edged blades.

Page 17 doesn't seem so bad to me.

And that isn't "so bad for a woman," but that it doesn't seem so bad for anyone.

Maybe that's because I appreciate the work it takes to keep a home. I recognize the loss in terms of "career" but also what's gained in the trade.

I'd love to be a stay-at-home dad. I'm the oldest of three and the primary parent in my life was my mother, I'm as much a parental figure to my siblings than either "parent" if not more so.




I've never believed someone could "save me."

Not because I was trained to "save myself" but because it's ridiculous. There are too many things in this world for any one person to simply change it all.

I do believe, though, that "another," can give you the energy, the motivation to save yourself.



I believe I'm a better person when with someone. It's easier to get up in the morning, I want to be a better person for her. I can't keep slipping or just "getting by." I have to improve, to strive.

Which is terrible.

Not only is that sad, speaking of my own failures more than anything, but it's hypocritical.

That would be because I self-report as being attracted to confident, strong women who have control of their lives, the ones that don't need me but want me.

It's a small distinction but an important one.



It's nice to be needed...it is better to be wanted.

A woman who has her life under-control, doesn't "need" me to be happy but wants me anyway, is far more attractive to me than a person who only keeps it together because of me.

Of course, such a relationship waxes and wanes in that department. I've been through them both multiple times.

Sorry if this is confusing, I'm still figuring things out.
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Turning now to "Weight."

"In the artistic retelling of fairy tales, does art help counteract 'ideology,' the wounds of wishes, the bits that structure the way we live."

I highlighted one line from the "Weight," it's not particularly unique, I've written it before, but just as Winterson places it within a context of "recognition" I too saw something familiar.

"There is no other way."

I don't think there is a counteraction to the construction of ideology, only the construction, perhaps reconstruction but no true counteraction because you do not live without ideology. It's always there. It should, however, always be questioned, changed, adapted, grown, reinforced.

In the same way I consider most things art, I look for meaning in anything and everything, so "it" is all art, life is art and it all contributes to who I am, even if it takes away, even if it wounds me.

You learn more from mistakes than successes "they" say.

After all, there is no other way.

Retelling, reshaping, a story, a fairy tale, is about seeing someone's ideology and recognizing some of it in your own and then going beyond that and integrating it within your own.

Nothing is perfect (except perhaps imperfection)...but you can make it personal.

And in that step, maybe you'll bring it closer to someone else's ideology, making it that much easier for them to do the same.

By "idealogy," I mean one's worldview. Do things happen to you or because of you? Do you think you have control of your life or does the world have control of you? If something "bad" happens to you, do you blame others or yourself? Do you believe the world should change before you should? How do you view yourself? Do you consider yourself a good person? Hard-working? Lazy? WHY? Is it accurate? Would others agree or disagree with you?

When you meet someone new, and get to know them, you get to see a little of how they see the world, themselves, and you. Maybe you respect their position, maybe you don't, but either way it throws your own perspective into a new light. In this way, I do not believe there is any true "reconstruction" of self, merely construction. Large parts might need to be renovated but if a true reconstruction happened, an absolute ripping out of "who you are and how you view the world," then I'd question if you believed or considered any part of yourself and the world around in a serious manner before.

I have had my worldview shattered, I've seen it happen to other people - helped them through it in fact - and the best way I've found to keep going is not to simply restart, but to shift through the pieces worth keeping.

The more we connect, the more lights we set up on the stage, the brighter the picture, the closer we get to each other. I don't know if, and honestly don't believe, anyone can truly know someone else as well as they can know themselves...but that shouldn't stop any one of us from trying.

“Cinderella” Searches and Notes

The Grimm version was tame when it came to vocabulary. My right hand, so dutifully clutching a highlighter, quickly relaxed while the story was told. I did appreciate the darker tale as well as the clearly “magical” nature of the aid provided our girl. That said the ending seemed out of place, rushed even, but I know that it isn’t so odd for stories of the age. Delightful.

The Anne Sexton bit though, that was rather entertaining. There is some definite humor there…and with it a few things to look up.

The first word that got to me was “Dior.” Google threw various links to clothing, jewelry, and fashion in general. Wikipedia confirmed this via one Christian Dior, an apparently famous French fashion designer who died around 50 years ago.

The next was “Bonwit Teller,” which, according to the first hit given by Google –Wikipedia – was a high-class department store in New York City opened over 100 years ago by Paul Bonwit. So far I’m really only caught by the “specific” words I wouldn’t come across in normal reading for today, I assume mentions of these brands would be more common while the bit was written.

The third word that made me pause was “Al Jolson.” After hitting up Google and, subsequently, Wikipedia, I’m a bit embarrassed. Apparently, I should know this man, “the world’s greatest entertainer.” An accomplished musician who starred in the first “talkies,” Jolson was a blues, jazz, comedy and acting star.

Last, “the Bobbsy Twins,” which are apparently fictional characters in popular children’s books. Appropriate given the creepy doll simile Sexton uses at the end. Really creepy.

A one, a two, a one-two...many.

How am I supposed to drop this class when you've already got me digitally investing?

I've closed too many blogs to merely drop this one beside the course...it's done.

I guess I'll stay...