For the Barnes and Noble History Book Club last month we read Maalouf's Crusades Through Arab Eyes. The amazing thing is that the accounts are pretty much the same as the "Western Version" in that certain figures are characterized as great (Saladin jumps to mind) and others are vicious butchers. Which means that chroniclers were particularly objective at this certain point in history. The main difference is that the crusades aren't divided up into 1st, 2nd, 3rd; it's just a continuous stream of reinforcements.
For the first two thirds of the book, I kept thinking to myself when are the Arabs going to get it together? The Franj come down and slaughter cities and every leader is looking out for themselves or believes that the invading army will go elsewhere. This of course makes sense. The Franj came to take back the Holy Land; a singular focus, while the Arab leaders have to beware of the tribal lines, the invaders, and to a lesser extent later, the Mongols. At certain points the Arabs form truces with Franj to attack other Arab cities and occassionally even prefer to live under Franj rule instead of a rival Arab leader.
But the strongest section of this book is the Epilogue. The author points out that at the time of the Crusades, the Arab world was actually culturally, scientifically, and intellectually ahead of the rest of the world. The Franj army invaded and took not only land but also their ideas. The ideas went back to Europe, were improved upon, and led to the rise of Western power. The new technology inevitably flows back into the Arab world much to the detriment of the culture. Before the invasion, Westerners were seen as barbaric oafs who had nothing to offer; now, the Arab world wants nothing to do with anything Western so even if it demonstrably improves their lives they reject.
This line of thinking is prevelant today. When the man shot John Paul II, he said he was attempting to kill the leader of the crusades, when nations reject "democracy" in the Middle East they reject the Western way of governing, being told how to set up their state. During the crusades when a Franj leader died everyone knew who the successor was; when an Arab leader died a civil war broke out. Nation building has never been a goal. When the Arab world thinks about getting back to a time when they were superior to the Western world they don't look at adopting our advances and improving on them, they look backward at a time when the mindset was even more militantly anti-Western.
March 31, 2006
March 29, 2006
Why I Don't Read Much Fiction These Days
Well, I finally finished "Confederacy of Dunces". I have this sick disease that makes me finish every book that I start even if it is truly awful. The only time I have been able to break this curse was with Neal Stephenson's plodding epic "Quicksliver" that I got as a galley copy the summer I worked at Barnes and Noble. I guess there are several reasons why I shouldn't have even started that one, but I couldn't think of any reason not to pick up Toole's Pulitzer Prize winning book. In fact, when you type in "confederacy of dunces" at amazon.com the related books are "Infinite Jest", "Gravity's Rainbow", and "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius" Fine books, all. I don't see the connection.
The gimmick of the book is that the reader is drawn to this overeducated oaf who is forced into the job market and has disasterous results. Remember that scene in Catcher in the Rye when Holden introduces us to Stradlater and Ackley. Ackley is the bad-breath, pimple-faced loser. Stradlater is the jock that gets the girls and pushes homework off on others. By comparison, Holden doesn't look so bad. If it was just him though you'd see him for the pessimistic, whiney, loony that he is. (Full disclosure: Catcher in the Rye is one of my top 5 books)
Same deal here; Ignatius is surrounded by characters that are so flat and bumbling that he seems endearing. Does this book get you to think deeper about, appreciate the nuances of, or view life any different? Nope. Toole does a good job capturing and filling the book with the different dialects of New Orleans but the characters are boring and unlikeable, and regardless of how many people say this book is a comic masterpiece, I didn't laugh or even chuckle once. The situations that come around are silly, not funny and I'll be hard pressed to tell you anything about this book in a week.
Imagine "The Simpsons" from the point of view of the fat comic book store owner and you have Confederacy of Dunces in a nutshell. Maybe good for a half hour of your time but not for a 300+ page book.
The gimmick of the book is that the reader is drawn to this overeducated oaf who is forced into the job market and has disasterous results. Remember that scene in Catcher in the Rye when Holden introduces us to Stradlater and Ackley. Ackley is the bad-breath, pimple-faced loser. Stradlater is the jock that gets the girls and pushes homework off on others. By comparison, Holden doesn't look so bad. If it was just him though you'd see him for the pessimistic, whiney, loony that he is. (Full disclosure: Catcher in the Rye is one of my top 5 books)
Same deal here; Ignatius is surrounded by characters that are so flat and bumbling that he seems endearing. Does this book get you to think deeper about, appreciate the nuances of, or view life any different? Nope. Toole does a good job capturing and filling the book with the different dialects of New Orleans but the characters are boring and unlikeable, and regardless of how many people say this book is a comic masterpiece, I didn't laugh or even chuckle once. The situations that come around are silly, not funny and I'll be hard pressed to tell you anything about this book in a week.
Imagine "The Simpsons" from the point of view of the fat comic book store owner and you have Confederacy of Dunces in a nutshell. Maybe good for a half hour of your time but not for a 300+ page book.
March 27, 2006
Parents These Days
Tis the season for student conferences. With involved, engaged parents it's no wonder that the federal government wants to put the onus on student achievement on the teachers. For a while now I've thought about going back to grad school but I'm not sure what I would study. Educational policy sounds intriguing but I firmly believe that the next revolution in education will be at home.
Conference #1
Parent doesn't come.
Conference #2
Parent doesn't come but the special ed teacher gets a hold of them via phone. The parent says, "Uh-huh" the rest of the conference.
Conference #3
Parent doesn't come and when the special ed teacher calls to remind them of the scheduled meeting she says, "I never got a m______f_______ letter." The special ed teacher tries to hold a phone conference but our voices are too loud on speakerphone. When the special ed teacher picks up the line, she is reamed and told not to be a smart ass. The conference is rescheduled.
Conference #4
Parent and student fail to show up.
How can we improve student performance? Don't worry about increasing parent responsibility or student engagement. Fix teacher salaries to the test scores of their students. Now all teachers will want to teach the lower achieving students. Yeah! What else? Let's produce studies that reveal that the reason kids drop out is because they are bored. Right! Let's turn our teachers into performers. I remember being bored in Mr. Kill's biology class. Did I ever think of dropping out? No. Did I ever blame him when grades came around for my lack of interest in RNA and mitosis? No.
For once, let's blame the students, let's hold the parents responsible. No Child Left Behind? Good grief.
Conference #1
Parent doesn't come.
Conference #2
Parent doesn't come but the special ed teacher gets a hold of them via phone. The parent says, "Uh-huh" the rest of the conference.
Conference #3
Parent doesn't come and when the special ed teacher calls to remind them of the scheduled meeting she says, "I never got a m______f_______ letter." The special ed teacher tries to hold a phone conference but our voices are too loud on speakerphone. When the special ed teacher picks up the line, she is reamed and told not to be a smart ass. The conference is rescheduled.
Conference #4
Parent and student fail to show up.
How can we improve student performance? Don't worry about increasing parent responsibility or student engagement. Fix teacher salaries to the test scores of their students. Now all teachers will want to teach the lower achieving students. Yeah! What else? Let's produce studies that reveal that the reason kids drop out is because they are bored. Right! Let's turn our teachers into performers. I remember being bored in Mr. Kill's biology class. Did I ever think of dropping out? No. Did I ever blame him when grades came around for my lack of interest in RNA and mitosis? No.
For once, let's blame the students, let's hold the parents responsible. No Child Left Behind? Good grief.
March 21, 2006
Open Letter to McDonald's
McDonald’s Corporation
2111 McDonald's Dr
Oak Brook, IL 60523
Dear Sir or Madam
I have recently returned to your franchise after a long, self-imposed furlough. The delicious mint and vanilla taste of your Shamrock Shake took me back to the days when your sandwiches used to be boxed in thick Styrofoam and I would try to sneak fries from the bag without my mother noticing.
However, time passes, we age, and custoners become more discriminating, so I was a little perplexed by the menu when I visited your store a few days ago. The $1 Menu looks to be a tremendous value to the consumer and most likely a boon to your pocketbook, but I was a little stymied by one of your offerings.
How can a double cheeseburger be sold for $1 and a regular cheeseburger for 95 cents? I can only figure two options; neither of which makes sense so I was hoping for a little clarity on this issue.
Option #1: The double cheeseburger is a loss leader; however, the obvious problem here is that people are probably not ordering much more food because the double cheeseburger fills a respectable appetite, so you’re just left with a loss. This is not good business.
Options #2: You realize that the cheeseburger is an incredibly bad deal but since you built your reputation on this offering, it would seem untraditional to remove it. Not to mention, in this increasingly health-conscious world, the reaction when people realize the smallest sandwich you offer would be the double.
Thank you for your time regarding my query; any information you could offer would be of great interest.
Sincerely,
Boot
2111 McDonald's Dr
Oak Brook, IL 60523
Dear Sir or Madam
I have recently returned to your franchise after a long, self-imposed furlough. The delicious mint and vanilla taste of your Shamrock Shake took me back to the days when your sandwiches used to be boxed in thick Styrofoam and I would try to sneak fries from the bag without my mother noticing.
However, time passes, we age, and custoners become more discriminating, so I was a little perplexed by the menu when I visited your store a few days ago. The $1 Menu looks to be a tremendous value to the consumer and most likely a boon to your pocketbook, but I was a little stymied by one of your offerings.
How can a double cheeseburger be sold for $1 and a regular cheeseburger for 95 cents? I can only figure two options; neither of which makes sense so I was hoping for a little clarity on this issue.
Option #1: The double cheeseburger is a loss leader; however, the obvious problem here is that people are probably not ordering much more food because the double cheeseburger fills a respectable appetite, so you’re just left with a loss. This is not good business.
Options #2: You realize that the cheeseburger is an incredibly bad deal but since you built your reputation on this offering, it would seem untraditional to remove it. Not to mention, in this increasingly health-conscious world, the reaction when people realize the smallest sandwich you offer would be the double.
Thank you for your time regarding my query; any information you could offer would be of great interest.
Sincerely,
Boot
March 19, 2006
Start slow, then taper off
On Saturday, I came in sixth in my age group in the local 20K run (12.4 miles). One qualifier: there were only 6 runners in my age group. The first three miles were on hills and the first six miles were into the wind, and since we were in farm country, there was nothing around to stop the wind. Needless to say, that since I was sick a couple of weeks ago and could hardly stay awake for work much less to go running, I hit the wall fairly early. At 10K point, I had a time of 1:06 but shortly after my legs started to refuse to work and lightning began striking one of my toes whenever I would hit the pavement. So, I decided to walk / run with a fellow jogger, Deb. We finished the last 6 miles together, complained about the wind, enjoyed the scenery, and finished with the exact same time of 2:28:19. I guess I could be disappointed that I wasn't able to run the whole thing, but then I think about all the people that didn't move 12 miles away from their home yesterday much less compete in a race.
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