So, this summer has been eventful in regards to school, job, and funtimes.
I've just finished up an Environmental Rhetoric, Ethics, and Policy class, in which my teacher challenged all of us to "go out and change your world." I spent 5 weeks researching the reuse of grey water and rainwater in Alabama, and recently submitted a letter of comment to some leaders of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System to prompt them to update their public education on the matter.
I'm really enjoying my job at the IJAV. The tasks are awesome experience for me, and boy am I being challenged with grammar rules and style guides! I really do love it. If I have to work, I wouldn't rather do anything else for that many hours of the day. Microsoft Word track changes and comments are my sustenance. I love being able to mark things off a list. And surprisingly I'm learning a lot from the content of the articles! Who'd have thought I could wrap my head around principles of aeroacoustics?!
Funtimes? I have dinner every Wednesday night with people from my program. We really have a wonderful support system for each other. We're keeping in touch with our lovely lady over in India as well (she's traveling abroad for a work/study program). Matt and I are bonding over the XBOX (though I'm not playing games yet, just watching LOST on Netflix.) I've already seen several of the movies I planned to see this summer, and I enjoyed most of them. (Bridesmaids had a weird depressing section in the middle that made me want to cry.)
BUT, the reason I'm writing this post in the first place...SUMMER READING!!
So far, I've read:
Lamb by Christopher Moore
Lamb is the gospel of Bif, Jesus's childhood/young adulthood friend. He tells the story of what Jesus was up to between birth and age 30. The story is entertaining and well written. Bif comments on most of the hardships expected of a teenage messiah--curiosity about sex, violence, resentment of parents, need to strike out on your own. It seemed well-researched as well. I think anyone who would take offense to the story probably wouldn't pick it up to read in the first place--blasphemy and all. But those of us who do choose to read it get an imaginary and insightful glance at the humanness of Jesus. (Because we all know it was there.)
The Postmistress by Sarah Blake
A historical novel about WW2. It was amazingly entertaining and dramatic. The characters were very well developed, and I especially loved Frankie Bard, a female radio reporter in Europe. The plot was slow-moving, but I kept reading anyway, and was rewarded with an emotional, empowering, and priority-rearranging dénouement .
Bossypants by Tina Fey
Tina Fey is hilarious. I'm not sure whether she intended the book to be an "everywoman" type book, but I certainly related to the problems she had as a young woman trying to find her way in the world. The hilarious word phrasing is just more of what makes me feel like she "gets" me (or "gets" the personalities of we semi-professional, people-pleasing, scaredy-cat, yet assertive and dream-following girls.) One of my favorite parts is when she discusses a feminine hygiene product spoof ("Retro Maxi Pads" to remark on the "retro products phase"--proposed as a sketch for Saturday Night Live) that the male writers on the show couldn't understand and therefore wouldn't approve. Because the men didn't understand the awkwardness/humor of such a spoof, Tina realizes that boys never even knew when she was wearing the awkward belt and maxi pad as a teen.
Next in line, now that I don't have reading for class anymore:
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok
A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin
And I'd like to catch up on the Eragon series as well. (The last book will be released in November!)
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