I am reading this book right now & I find it fascinating how Peter Singer shows that some activities that are commonly accepted as “environmentally friendly” or “socially conscious” are in fact not neccessarily the best choices. I think it is interesting how he is not neccessarily priviledging the environment over people – this book is about how to make ethical choices about the food we consume – that means thinking about how our choices impact the environment, other people, the animals we eat, the communities we live in and those we will never see.

The most interesting part to me so far has been Singer’s analysis of the local eating phenomenon and his assessment that it is not always more ethical to eat locally-produced food. By eating food that is grown in other, less fortunate parts of the world, we spread the wealth and improve the quality of life for people who are significantly worse off than the American small farmer (according to Singer). There are probably holes in this argument that I am not seeing, but I think it is commendable that Singer is taking a world-wide view on ethical consumption.

My progress on this book has slowed considerably since classes started. I hope I can get through it soon.

Although I love reading this magazine for its escapism and its obsession with organization, I read a really funny and apt critique of it in Affluenza. The author commented on the irony of the fact that you have to buy a whole magazine to tell you how to “simplify” your life & that the magazine is essentially a glorifed catalog of items to purchase, which, at least in his mind, hardly fits the definition of simplification. He does have a point, in a certain sense. The one thing that I really do like is when they take a certain kind of product and review it across different price ranges and different specialties (like conditioner or brooms or something). It is a little bit like consumer reports for the things that consumer reports would never review & while I understand that preference is subjective, I have actually purchased some recommended products and been very happy with them. And since these are things I would buy anyway, it seems nice to have someone else to do the shopping and experimenting in advance. Then I have some reasonable expectation of liking what I buy. But I get the point about the magazine being somewhat silly.

“Return to Haifa” is the largest story in this collection and one of his most famous. It is an incredible story, both stylistically and thematically. It tells the story of a Palestinian man and his young wife who were forced as refugees from Haifa in the 1948 War. During the panic, they were separated from each other and from their 5-month old baby, Khaldun. The couple is able to reunite before escaping but they are not able to find their son.

In 1967, after the Six-Day War, the couple is able to return to Haifa for the first time to see the house they left behind. I will not say much more about the plot – not because what happens next is really supposed to be a shock, but because it has more emotional weight when you don’t see it coming.

This story hit me like a ton of bricks & really helped me re-engage with the Arab-Israeli conflict in a new way. I have been studying it and reading about it in an academic way for almost 8 years now and after a while it all becomes very abstract. Although this was fiction, many of the descriptions of events are historically accurate & the decisions made by the characters are decisions that many non-fictional Palestinians and Israelis have had to make over the course of this conflict. Reading this book concretized those experiences and sacrifices in a way that non-fiction has never been able to do for me.

Though this is a translated work, the translators apparently paid a great deal of attention to replicating Kanafani’s style in English & the literary style is very effective at communicating a range of emotions. During the passages describing the forced evacuation of Haifa, I felt pressed in on and panicked – I could barely breathe.

This story is incredibly complex and there is of course much more to say about it, but I’ll stop here. “Return to Haifa” was assigned for a class, but I hope to find time to finish the other stories in the book and read more of Kanafani’s work. I hope one day that my Arabic will be good enough to read “Return to Haifa” in the original.

They have really cheaped out on this series as it has gone on. Initially there were some nice color plates at the front of the book and the story was well done and whatnot. Now the color plates are gone and they are even getting some of the character names completely wrong! I will finish this one and probably the last one, but I am disappointed in how the quality has lagged.

This show was funnier before Danny Devito joined. Sad…. I enjoyed the second season much less than the first, so I will stop watching it.

I used to love this show, but I have tired of it because its gotten formulaic and preachy. So, I have given it up.

I read all the Little House books as a child, identified with Laura over Mary, etc, etc.

Now I am re-reading them for fun and I am struck by the lifestyle described in them in a way that I wasn’t when I was a child. It seems that almost all of life was devoted to the production and storage of food. And the descriptions make it sound as though nothing was wasted during the process of production. This stood out to me because I have also been reading a lot about factory farming and thinking about how detached most modern Western people are from the sources of their food.

The passages relating to holidays and gift-giving also struck me – the children were overjoyed with two simple gifts each – a pair of mittens and a peppermint stick. Imagine that happening now. :)

The one thing that hadn’t changed from childhood was my physical response to the books – now, as then, reading the descriptions of food made me incredibly hungry. It is amazing how so much of the book is devoted to describing food. I can’t wait for Farmer Boy – I remember that one made me REALLY hungry as a child.

Much like Jane’s life, this book was difficult but ultimately rewarding.

I confess, I expected this movie to be pretty bad and the only reason I watched it was because of Colin Firth. I was pleasantly surprised. The neatest thing about this movie though was the visual style – it actually looked like a Vermeer painting (and not just the shots that actually were based on his painting). I really enjoyed that aspect of the whole thing.

I’ve been putting off reading this book for so long – Lord only knows why. I’ve waited so long that multiple aspects of the ending have been revealed to me, so tonight I have decided to start it and get it done.