Book Look: Parable of the Sower, by Octavia E. Butler

There are two major storylines here: (1) the gradual collapse of American civilization in the face of a climate crisis, and (2) the establishment of a new religion. This first book in Butler's Earthseed series focuses on the climate crisis, the second (I'm inferring) will get into more detail about Earthseed, the religion being propagated (sowed) by the novel's protagonist, Lauren Olamani.

For a book written in 1993, Butler's projection of the impacts of a climate crisis in the U.S. are chillingly in-line with current forecasts: water shortages, food shortages, high prices, eroding shorelines, and especially the disproportionately appalling impacts on marginalized populations: the poor, minorities, immigrants, etc. Butler's U.S. isn't yet a lawless dystopia - there's still a president, police forces, colleges, and big box stores, etc. - but it's well on the way to becoming one, especially for those unable to afford walled communities, food, water, and armed guards. While the novel makes clear that some states are faring better than others, Butler's southern California is well on its way to dystopian anarchy, overrun by bloodthirsty gangs, rampant drug use (including abuse of a particularly horrific substance that causes users to become pyromaniacs), wanton crime (rape, pillage, murder, cannibalism), and legalized indentured servitude/slavery.

Into this reality is born Lauren Olamani, the precocious, mixed-race daughter of college-educated preacher. As the novel begins, the creeping dystopia that has already ravaged the lower classes is beginning to claim middle class communities like the one Lauren is living in, eventually forcing her to take to the road in search of a (relatively) safe place to settle and propagate her "new religion," which she calls Earthseed - a sort of Darwinian-survival-of-the-best-adapted meets Dale-Carnagie-cult-of-affirmation mashup. Along the way she and her rag-tag community of friends/followers face the expected perils: murderous thieves, wild dogs, thirst, fire, etc.

All of which makes for an entertaining read as long as you focus on the characters (engaging) and plot (brisk), because Olamani's Earthseed credo - while good enough for plot purposes - is laced with logical fallacies and inconsistencies; no great philosophical truths will be revealed. Her depiction of the gradual degradation of civilized norms must have seemed pretty extreme and unlikely back in 1993 when this was first published. However, it's hard to read this now without seeing parallels between events in the novel and current headlines - the carnage caused by illegal drug use (opioids laced with fentanyl), the rise in overt acts of racial hatred, the social impacts of unbridled capitalism, the political manipulations of corrupt politicians, the looming climate crisis - and wondering just how extreme Butler's vision may be.

But then, if the whole idea of the science fiction genre is to analyze current scientific/cultural trends and then extrapolate possible outcomes of these trends into the future, then maybe thinking about how we are going to shape for ourselves a different future than the horrific one depicted here is precisely what we should be doing.

50+ Things that Teachers in the 1980s Never Had to Say

 

I'm almost old enough to have taught in the 1980s, but not so old that I don't still remember what the educational experience was like for my classmates and I during that excruciating decade of chalkboards and bookbags, overhead projectors and filmstrips, textbooks and typewriters, gym uniforms, analog clocks, snacks containing peanuts, selling candy bars door to door, writing in cursive, sneaking cigarettes in the bathrooms, books by a variety of exclusively European authors, and unchecked bullying.  There was good. There was bad. And there was a lot of ugly. 

40 years later and here we are, still teaching students basically the same content - English, math, history, science. But the way in which teachers interact with students has certainly undergone enormous technical, cultural, and ethical changes.  Some of the items in this list are factual, some snarky, and yes, some are probably not PC, but they all reference legitimate transformations that have occurred since my math teacher back in 1981 memorably rebuked: "You need to be able to do calculations in your head because it's not like you're going to be carrying a calculator in your pocket everywhere you go!" 

Spoiler alert: there's still plenty of good, bad, and ugly to go around. :-(

THINGS THAT TEACHERS IN THE 1980s NEVER HAD TO SAY: 

1.       Put your phones/airpods away!

2.       Did you use AI/ChatGPT/Google Translate to help you with this?

3.       Anyone caught accessing the computer code to identify the correct answers on today’s online quiz will automatically receive an F.

4.       Don't make me block that webpage.

5.       You seem upset - do you need some time to de-escalate?

6.       You didn’t do the assignment! I'm afraid I have no choice but to record it in the gradebook as a 50.

7.       We've gathered here in this conference room to talk about how we work as a team to support ___ to make better choices.

8.       What’s your preferred pronoun?

9.       What’s your parents’ last name?

10.   There will be a school-wide active shooter drill after lunch.

11.   No, you may not film TikTok videos in school.

12.   Guys, you need to remember to recharge your computer at home, not at school.

13.   Pull those pants up over your hips! 

14.   No, the Earth is not flat and the moon landing was not a conspiracy. Just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true.

15.   Yes, you are still considered tardy even if your parents dropped you off late because there was a line at Starbucks.

16.   If it snows tomorrow, we’ll be doing a virtual school day, so be sure to log in at the usual time.

17.   Why aren't you wearing a mask? 

18.   Who’s wearing that awful perfume? Oh, wait, that's probably Axe body spray. 

19.   Yes, racism is still happening, and yes, it’s a bad thing.

20.   Remember not to bring anything metal so you don’t set off the metal detectors.

21.   Of course you can retake that quiz/test to bring up your grade.

22.   Of course we’ll accept work late without any sort of penalty.

23.   All textbooks will be online this year.

24.   Now remember that this assignment is differentiated, so there will be different expectations for each student.

25.   Do I need to email your parents?

26.   I’ll be posting the homework to our class website.

27.   Bottled water is fine, but no Starbucks drinks in the classroom.

28.   Should we hold ___ back a grade, just because they failed all their classes? Don’t be silly.

29.   No, you may not use my Lysol wipes to clean the mud off your sneakers.

30.   No, I will not loan you a cord to recharge your phone.

31.   Completing homework won’t actually count towards your grade.

32.   Has that app been approved for use on the school network?

33.   We’ll be streaming today’s movie from my personal Netflix account.

34.   Are you wearing your pajamas right now?

35.   You may pull out your books or Kindles after the test.

36.   Whatever you do, don’t sell those fundraising items door to door! It’s too dangerous.

37.   Our choral/orchestra concert will be composed of works representing diverse cultures.

38.   Some of the books we’ll be reading will be by diverse authors.

39.   We’ll use the onboard bus cameras to review what actually happened.

40.   Remember not to bring anything that contains peanuts to the class party.  

41.   No, you may not listen to music on your cellphone while you work.

42.   Maybe you're gay, or maybe it's just a phase you're going through ... but you probably want to keep this to yourself unless you want to get bullied.  

43.   Marijuana’s okay, but watch out for opioids because the fentanyl may kill you.

44.   No rapping or beatboxing in class!

45.   What if I don’t want to use my cellphone to download authentication codes to access required school apps?

46.   No, we are not going to give you admin privileges for your school computer so that you can download games

47.   No fidget spinners or glitter slime in the classroom!

48.   No, your hamster does not count as an emotional support animal. 

49.   I'm afraid that book isn't available to be checked out; it's been banned by the school board. 

50.   Fortunately our field is artificial turf, so we’ll still be able to have PE after last night’s rains.

51.   Be sure to separate your trash into the appropriate recycling bins!

52.   Don’t worry - the cafeteria always offers at least one vegetarian option.

53.   What do you mean, you don’t know how to sign your name in cursive?

54.   What do you mean, you don’t know how to tell time on an analog clock?

55.   I am not now, nor will I ever be, your “bruh.”

Book Look: The Lincoln Highway, by Amor Towles

                  

]This is a hard book to review. The title and plot description would have readers believing that this is a light-hearted "road trip" story, and indeed many of the tropes of road trip novels are present: a gang of chums crossing the U.S. on a quest, encounters with eccentric characters, misadventures, etc. Towles has a particular gift for creating beguiling characters: a weary veteran endlessly riding the rails in a futile attempt to flee the consequences of his pride, a luminous constellation of washed-up burlesque performers, an Emerson-quoting farmer destroyed by the very "self-reliance" he covets. This is a literary feast of evocative descriptions and poignant interludes.

However, it doesn't take a degree in literature to see that Towles' tale is operating on multiple levels. Early in the novel Towles introduces "Professor Abacus Abernathe’s Compendium of Heroes, Adventurers, and Other Intrepid Travelers," complete with an empty chapter standing at ready for the Professor's young readers to record the tale of their own "hero's journey." Hard to imagine a more overt invitation to reflect upon the ways in which fate and hubris shape the lives of ordinary folk too! Certainly they shape the lives of the protagonists of this tale, each of whom is burdened by vagaries of fate (an unjust accusation, an accidental death, an ill-timed encounter with a police officer) as well as "fatal flaws" embedded in their natures: Emmett's quick temper, Billy's naivete, Duchess's cheerful immorality, Woolly's guilelessness. One by one, our protagonists are tested, some - a la Ulysses - achieving redemption, others tragically destroyed - a la Achilles or Caesar - by their fatal flaws.

I get that some are upset by perceived inconsistencies in the final chapters of the book, but one could argue that these resolutions merely hammer home the point that even those heroes who achieve redemption rarely emerge unchanged by their ordeal. In the words of Professor Abernathe: 'How easily we forget - we in the business of storytelling- that life was the point all along.”

By all means enjoy this book's many delights - the lucid storytelling, the beguiling characters, the evocative descriptions. But as you go along, you may wish to take Towles up on his invitation to reflect upon the fact that while none of us are immune from the manipulations of fate, the measure of our character is in how we respond to the adventures and perils that are set in our way.

Book Look: Trust, by Hernan Diaz

Boiling the plot down to the simplest terms, this is the story of a fabulously successful New York financier, Andrew Bevel, at the turn of the century: his ancestors, his childhood and extraordinary marriage, his rising prestige and wealth, his role in exploiting (manipulating?) the roiling financial markets of the 1920s, his eccentricities, his legacy. Along the way, Diaz explores the relationship between capitalism, civic responsibility, and self-interest (echoes of Gordon Gekko's "greed is good"); the complicated forms of co-dependence that bind parents and children, husbands and wives; and - most of all - the many ways that wealth and power can be used to distort truth.

But this summary scarcely does justice to the deceptively twisty tale that is reworked - by the time the book is over - three times over. The first section, "Bonds," recounts the tale from the perspective of a novelist who has transformed the outlines of Bevel's life into a critically acclaimed novelization. The second section, "My Life," is composed of excerpts from Bevel's never-completed autobiography. The third section "A Memoir, Remembered," is recounted by Bevel's ghostwriter - it's in this section that you begin to appreciate the web that Diaz has been subtly weaving. Then in the fourth/last section, "Futures" - composed of excerpts from the diary of the Bevel's extraordinary wife - Diaz pulls the rug out entirely, challenging readers to reassess all the simple/easy/convenient assumptions they've spent the prior 300 pages forming.

Diaz is a gloriously gifted storyteller. His characters are deeply complex and original, his prose eloquent and smart, his insights into human nature grippingly authentic. This is one of the most original works I've read in a long time. "Trust" me - you won't regret the time you spend on this engrossing, inventive, highly human tale of pride, perspective, and power.