Open Thread

~ Clarissa

I was very sad when nobody participated in last Thursday’s open thread.

“Shakesville has crowds of people participating in its inane ‘What have you had for breakfast?’ threads,” I thought. “But everybody just ignores mine.”

And then I realized that the open thread somehow never published. So here is the Open Thread. Feel free to link, say, ask and quote anything you want.

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Published by Clarissa

47 thoughts on “Open Thread”

  1. Well I’ll start with good news/a coincidence for myself: I am working on a paper on healthcare resources for HIV Positive people in British Columbia, and yesterday, I got a job offer as a research assistant for a project on improving culturally sensitive care for HIV Positive people! Perfect!

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  2. I wanted to ask you for a recommendation of a good book about the rise of Nazism. Not the Holocaust itself, but how people supported such a party and participated. I heard about the following book, but wouldn’t want to read a long book of unknown quality:

    “The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany” by William L. Shirer

    Another book on the topic that sounds very interesting, but can’t be found in any library, is:

    “Patterns of Childhood” by Christa Wolf

    Christa Wolf (1929–2011) was one of the most celebrated German writers of the twentieth century. Wolf was a central figure in East German literature and politics, and is the author of many books, including the novels The Quest for Christa T., Patterns of Childhood, and Cassandra.Returning to her native town in East Germany forty years later, accompanied by her inquisitive and sometimes demanding daughter, Wolf attempts to recapture her past and to clarify memories of growing up in Nazi Germany.

    On a different topic, if you haven’t read, want to recommend ‘Suite FranΓ§aise’ by IrΓ¨ne NΓ©mirovsky. A good article about her and the book:

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  3. To add something positive, here is a beautiful quote of W.H. Auden:

    β€œNothing can be loved too much,
    but all things can be loved
    in the wrong way.”

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  4. Last week I started reading The Crimean War, by Orlando Figes. Seems pretty good so far. One thing he mentions is that, even though the 1850s war does not loom large in French consciousness these days (having been eclipsed by the larger traumas of the Franco-Prussian War and two World Wars), there are still streets in many French towns called Malakoff (after the battle over the Malakoff/Malakhov redoubt during the Siege of Sevastopol).

    There’s also a Malakoff Road outside Ottowa, Ontario, apparently.

    Figes’ book has made me interested in Tolstoy’s Sevastopol Sketches, which I had never before really noticed. Would those more familiar with Russian lit than I recommend them?

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    1. I don’t like Tolstoy at all, so I’m not the best person to ask.

      The Russians are still completely attached to their victory over Napoleon and celebrated its anniversary with great pomp 2 years ago.

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  5. “β€˜What have you had for breakfast?”

    [Content note: Discussion of illness, toilets] Oy vey! Don’t ask! I hade two small slices of cheese and some vanilla flavored farina, not that I had the latter for very long! I seem to have picked up a case of stomach flu and so the first half of the day was running back and forth between the computer, couch and toilet. And we really don’t want to go into specifics about what was happening there. Things calmed down in the afternoon but the fire is stil going on (so to speak)

    Is using ‘oy vey!’ a case of cultural appropriation?

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  6. I started watching Mad Men after your rave reviews because when it first came out I was terrified it would be the typical ‘good old days’ glorification of misogyny and house wives. Wow, I couldn’t have been more wrong! This show (and its popularity) make me feel hopeful about feminism in the U.S.

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  8. What do you think are the similarities and differences in the patterns of cultural denial of male and female suffering?

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  9. 1. Crowds and crowds of people= maybe 27 comments or so on Shakesville. I suspect the “do not use nested replies or else” policy, among other things has greatly decreased the number of comments.

    2. I downloaded Flux for my computer in an attempt to keep my insomnia in check. Flux dims and yellows the light from your monitor as it gets dark outside. I’ve been using it for two weeks and I sleep better.

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  10. Ukraine is DeFiNiTeLY taking a lot of abuse And handling it maybe being too passive.
    Watching and Talking is Too Passive for the rest of the world while the Wolf is At Ukriane’s door.
    Once the vote is taken [ yeah Right! – those choices…. ] and Russia can lay claim to the new citizenry the Rhetoric will rise to a new level of Bullshit! with the Russians claiming to protect Their citizens rights….
    The actions of NATO [ even though Ukraine is not a member ] are no actions at all and even now I feel that Crimea is lost and really is at the beck and call of Russia being held hostage by looming intimidation….
    all while,,, Putin acts with impunity…..
    Shame on Carrey, Obama and that administration – and Great Britain as well…..both hiding behind a diplomatic engagement that was useless after the the first 10 minutes…..
    right!… their not Putin’s troops,,, what nonsense…..
    the Russian Speakers were being abused…. What Nonsense….
    This Vote – More nonsense…..
    Russia has INVADED and OCCUPIED a Sovereign country an Ipso Facto Declaration of War – and no one takes action…..
    Reagan and Churchill are moaning…..this it all very sorrowful……
    “”Speak softly and carry a big stick”” yeah Right – where is the big stick?
    The Ukraine has been hijacked…..their home invaded and taken,,, this is Rape…..
    and the US and GR are complicit by their inaction…..

    pistachio

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  11. I’m seriously considering starting a serial fiction project. I’m also working on a fortress in Minecraft. My first room is decorated with lava in glass, and I’ve been having some trouble lining things up correctly. There have been three emergency lava containment missions already.

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      1. It’s not–I’m just in Creative Mode. Survival Mode tends to give me more stress than that with which I started, because of the time-sensitive tasks. So I turn to Creative Mode, which lets me build whatever I want at whatever pace I want. πŸ™‚

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  12. Here’s my latest, although not my greatest, partly about how Westerners, especially Australians react typically to white people who happen to be from Africa.

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      1. It’s not that interesting perhaps to people generally, but it describes the psychological double-bind the hosts wrapped me in for almost two decades: you are not trying hard enough to please us and therefore you are failing AND you are trying too hard because you love to draw attention to yourself. And ultimately it made me misunderstand myself, too, because I’m really not all that socially inclined. πŸ™‚

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  14. On a whim, I found a translation of Don Quixote on Project Gutenberg and started reading it. I don’t know how good the translation is, but I can’t sleep so I figured reading it couldn’t hurt.

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    1. The Russians caught a group of Ukrainian nationalists in Moscow yesterday. The nationalists arrived to conduct acts of terrorism in Moscow. They were sentenced to 15 days in jail. The whole thing is becoming too ridiculous.

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  16. Well, my breakfast was nothing to write home about, but dinner was some truly delicious sushi. Also, I just returned from a concert that felt quite a bit like being in a not very sturdy metal box while powers far greater than you or the box played at prying or smashing it open. It was awesome both in the contemporary and archaic sense of the word.

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  17. Hi! This is my first time posting here. I’ve been following your blog for about a month and I think it’s awesome. Anyway, here are my questions:
    1. Who are your favorite Spanish translators? I..haven’t begun reading Spanish literature yet.
    2. what do you think about Dostoevsky and Nabokov?
    I’m sorry if you’ve covered these topics before-I’ll just search for them if you have.

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    1. Welcome to the blog, Victoria! I’m glad you like it.

      Edith Grossman and Gregory Rabassa are the leading Spanish-English translators. Margaret Sayers Peden translated Pedro Paramo, one of the best Latin American novels of all times, beautifully.

      Dostoyevsky and Nabokov are great writers. You are absolutely right in listing them together. Both are famous for being very adventurous linguistically and pushing the boundaries of language more than anybody else who ever wrote on Russian. Dostoyevsky created many words that have entered common usage.

      Ideologically, both writers are complicated. Dostoyevsky is notorious for his anti-Semitism and religious fanaticism; Nabokov is a misogynist. But the literary genius of these writers is unquestionable.

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