Across the Wire

Wow!  What a powerful book.  I’m really glad that Professor Urrea wasn’t too modest to put this on the reading list for the semester.  I’ve been interested in border issues ever since I started studying Spanish in high school, but this book exposes a side to things that are completely out of my scope, living in what can only be described as opulent luxury in comparison to the residents of the Tijuana garbage dump.  I liked the comments about Pastor Von slyly showing someone that thinks they’re not rich how wealthy they actually are in comparison to the people that he tries to help.  Where I grew up you weren’t wealthy if your parents didn’t drive a $40,000 car and you didn’t go on expensive vacations multiple times throughout the year.  As I didn’t fit into that particular group, I can remember feeling bad about my family’s financial situation.  The stories in Across the Wire, rightfully, put me in my place and make me ashamed for ever having such feelings, even if they were a product of my environment.

I have always understood that poverty exists and that I was lucky to live in America, but the chilling descriptions of poverty in this book make me want to rekindle a relationship with God or whatever force has blessed me and allowed me to live the type of life that I lead.  Simple necessities like food, shelter, medical care, hygiene and the means to go to school seem much larger after reading about the lives of people in the garbage dump. 

I was also very impressed with the way the stories were told.  While Professor Urrea is obviously there and recounting real stories and events he does an incredible job of making the people of Tijuana the subject as opposed to his experience in  Tijuana.  It was an effective choice to leave the story about his father until the end of the book, because I think the focus might have changed for the reader if the book led off with that sad tale.

I’m short on blog entries, so I’m going back in time a little bit to make comments about some of the earlier works that I didn’t post about.

One of my favorite books that we read this year was Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley.  I really enjoyed the writing and his intended mission to reconnect with America and find out “What are Americans like today?”.  The entire idea of setting out on a long road trip with his dog was incredibly appealing and something that I hope to do someday (when money and time aren’t such insurmountable obstacles).  I could really identify with the students at his son’s school and the many people he met along the way that wished they could do the same thing, but were too caught up in the demands of life to engage in such an extravagance.  His trip really is a luxury that few Americans could afford to embark on.  I can only think that it would have been even more appealing in an age without the Internet and inexpensive communication that allows people to stay in touch with friends and family and be exposed to vast amounts of information.

When I learned in class that he had grossly misrepresented the details of his trip I was furious and confused as to why no one had discovered these lies sooner.  I felt like his credibility, especially from the perspective of non-fiction literature, was irreparably damaged.  This knowledge destroys a lot of the charm that the book possesses.

Upon further thought I have changed my tune a little bit.  It still bothers me that he was not alone, spent nights in luxury hotels and had the company of his wife and other friends throughout the course of the trip.  However, as I said it was one of my favorite books of the semester.  He was sick and probably unable to pursue the journey the way he describes it and was smart enough to realize that it would have been far less effective to tell the story the way it really happened.  I’m beginning to think that the actual details of his travels are less important than the salient points he made about the trashing of the environment and the decline of localism.  He was still able to convey a powerful experience and I wonder whether I would care about the misrepresentation at all if this course wasn’t based on non-fiction literature.

Greetings Chicago

April 2012

Greetings Chicago,

       For three years I've resided within your borders and loved you from the very start.  I came to you in search of excitement and diversity and you delivered in excess.  I fled the Western Suburbs, escaping boredom and uniformity, and arrived in Wicker Park, that hipster haven on the Western edge of town, where music and arts abound, but yuppies are taking over. You gave me a new experience with a car break-in and diverse neighbors who will become lifelong friends.

       When I was young, I made my dad hang a poster on my wall.  The poster had an F-16 fighter jet with afterburners lit and didn't have a caption, but could have read:

       According to all aerodynamic laws, the F-16 is king.  It slices through the air with ferocious power and protects America with deadly force.  It acknowledges laws of aerodynamics but pushes the envelope to never-before-seen performance.

       Chicago is an example of how great America can be, and how it is worth protecting.

Thanks Annie

Thank you Annie for making me feel like being a writer will lead me no where. You are right. There are a lot of manuscripts in the world, so why would anybody bother to read mine. Thank you for highlighting my biggest insecurity as a writer. Do I have what it takes to write a good novel? What can I possibly say that will interesting for anyone to read? Should I even become a writer? Should I bother with the eventual disappointment of a rejection letter? Do I have what it taked to keep on going even after my manuscript is declined by a lot of publishers? I don't know. I hope so. If anything, I will do it just to spite this cranky ass lady.
I just hope that someone will feel what I feel when I write something that I have had inside of my head for a very long time. I have always said that if i write one book, and that book is amazing, I will be happy. Though it would be extremely nice to write something that will make me richer than the queen of england. But money is not my biggest concern. If i write the next "One Hundred Years of Solitude" while being dirt poor, then I would call that a successful life.
Screw you Annie. I'll show you.

Watching Grizzly Man was.....interesting to say the least. Timothy was definitely a character. Although we still have to finish the film, I liked that the director included personal confessions from Timothy himself that gave more context to his character. At some point, I felt like he needed more credit and respect that he found a way to get out of his alcoholism...in a very unorthodox way. He felt that he was making a difference and protecting the Bears. He went to schools and raised awareness with no charge. Yes, he was f****** crazy but who are we to judge him? He knew what he was getting himself into. Unlike almost everyone on the planet, he chose that lifestyle. We can say all we want about how crazy it was and how stupid he was and blah blah blah. But like he had hauntingly said, "I will die for the Bears."
I mean it's sad to know that he died but I'm sure he even knew that was going to be his end. The crazies always are remembered more in history anyways, right? He wanted to be a Bear! He didn't want to be human anymore but it is SO human to care THAT much for an animal.....who can literally rip your damn face off. But in the end, a beast will always be a beast. This isn't a Disney movie for Christ sake. But damn, you can't deny the pure happiness he felt. And that, in the most basic sense, is all it takes for some people.

Grrr...Bears, or do I mean Woof?

So all I need to do is start frequenting more truck stops and public restrooms?!  I had no idea!  Thanks for the heads-up, TT!!  Really, I hate to speak ill of the dead; but he was a nut, and this sort of stuff drives me crazy...  I'll try not to judge him too harshly.  I mean, he did spend all that time with bears in Alaska, but I imagine he likely could have found the same at a truck stop or on any Thursday night at Big Chicks for that matter.

Seriously though, his tale is rather touching in a rather strange way; but like McCandless, you can't help but want to shake a little sense into him.  Granted, in the film version of Into the Wild, we had Sean Penn's turning McCandless into a romantic figure; and even Krakauer treats him quite kindly.  Who's to know what the real McCandless was like.  Everyone seems to mention his "high moral code;" and from my experience, those types aren't always the most pleasant to be around.  Treadwell isn't provided with the opportunity for similar treatment.  He might have shot 15 takes of Wild-Timmy-jungle-scenes wearing not one but three different bandanas (just in case), but it's still the real Timmy that we see and about whom we must form our opinions.

That being said, I have to admit that I'm quite partial to Dan's diplomatic assessment of our leading man (despite its making me feel like a jerk for taking the piss out of Timmy):  

He seemed like a recovering drug addict who had found a way to live his life without substances by replacing it with the thrill of befriending wild animals in a way that no one had ever done before.  It was a simpler world that he could escape to instead of escaping into substance abuse.  He seemed like he didn't feel like he fit into society and had found a way to find purpose to his life.

So you see, I'm really not that heartless; and I am anxious to watch the second half of Grizzly Man to see how/if my perception changes.  Nevertheless, I can't help but thinking how much better off TT might have been if he had just been interested in saving the leather daddies instead.

I'm  really excited to watch Grizzly Man in class.  I've seen the
movie before, but I think that after reading Into the Wild it may
offer a new perspective on the life of Timothy Treadwell.  My first
impression of him was that he was made to look crazy by filmmaker
Werner Herzog.  The reason I felt this way was that the director chose
a small selection of footage from many hundreds of hours that
Treadwell had recorded over the 14 summers he spent in the Alaskan
grizzly territory.  He portrayed Treadwell as a crazy man that thought
he could overcome the overwhelming power of nature, and failed.

At the time of my first viewing I saw a man that was slightly deluded
about his purpose for spending so much time with the bears; he claimed
to be a protector of the bears, creating awareness and defending them
from poachers.  However, he didn't seem crazy to me.  He seemed like a
recovering drug addict who had found a way to live his life without
substances by replacing it with the thrill of befriending wild animals
in a way that no one had ever done before.  It was a simpler world
that he could escape to instead of escaping into substance abuse.  He
seemed like he didn't feel like he fit into society and had found a
way to find purpose to his life.

I found it utterly impressive that he successfully braved more than 13
summers living in the Grizzly Sanctuary/Maze in such close proximity
to ferocious bears.  It seems like he just pushed his luck a little
bit too far, by staying later in the season than he ever had and
trying to push the envelope.  Some of the footage that he caught was
absolutely mesmerizing, especially the scenes with Timmy the Fox.  I'm
excited to see if my opinion changes after a second viewing.  I'll do
an update after we finish watching.