Eschewed Obfuscation

As of January 1st, 2009.
- denotes incomplete readings.
* denotes flocked review.


1. Amberlight by Sylvia Kelso
2. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (reread)
3. Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools You Should Know about Even If You're Not a Straight-A Student by Loren Pope (reread)
4. The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality by André Comte-Sponville
5. The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
6. The Duchess, Her Maid, the Groom & Their Lover by Victoria Janssen
- Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology by Nick Gevers (ed.)
7. Fat Envelope Frenzy: One Year, Five Promising Students, and the Pursuit of the Ivy League Prize by Joie Jager-Hyman
8. Fruits Basket vol. 21 by Natsuki Takaya
9. The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
- Looking beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That's Right for You by Loren Pope
10. The Price of Admission: How America's Ruling Class Buys Its Way into Elite Colleges and Who Gets Left Outside the Gates by Daniel Golden
- Worlds Apart?: Dualism and Transgression in Contemporary Female Dystopias by Dunja M. Mohr
11. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
12. Climbing the Stairs by Padma Venkatraman
13. Chalice by Robin McKinley
14. Westmark by Lloyd Alexander
15. Forever Princess by Meg Cabot
16. *Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater
- Perspectives on American Politics by William Lasser
- Rugg's Recommendations on the Colleges (2008) by Frederick E. Rugg
17. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
18. Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss (eds.)
19. *Keeper of Light and Dust by Natasha Mostert
20. The Kestrel by Lloyd Alexander
21. *Midwinter by Matthew Sturges
22. Slow Hands by Leslie Kelly
23. Questions and Admissions: Reflections on 100,000 Admissions Decisions at Stanford by Jean H. Fetter
24. My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
25. Natural Law by Joey W. Hill
- Creative Colleges: A Guide for Student Actors, Artists, Dancers, Musicians and Writers by Elaina Loveland
26. Rock Hard Apps: How to Write a Killer College Application by Katherine Cohen
27. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy by Nicholas Lemann
28. *Wildfire by Sarah Micklem (ARC)
29. *The Betrayal by Pati Nagle
30. His Lady Mistress by Elizabeth Rolls
31. How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster
32. What Colleges Don't Tell You (and Other Parents Don't Want You to Know): 272 Secrets for Getting Your Kid into the Top Schools by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross
- The Shape of the River: Long-term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions by William G. Bowen & Derek Bok
33. Diamond Star by Catherine Asaro
34. Acing the College Application: How to Maximize Your Chances for Admission to the College of Your Choice by Michele A. Hernandez

Diamond Star
by Catherine Asaro
495 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/SF/Romance

I didn't realize how starved I was for good fluff; I sped through this newest Asaro in a single night despite its flaws. I'm not a rock fan, so the premise didn't excite me, but I do adore the Skolian Empire world. Diamond Star involves an all-too-predictable addiction arc. I have little sympathy for Del being broke when he can splurge whenever he wants. Del himself treads a thin line between amusing and annoying. I love Asaro for both politics and relationships, but in this particular book, I wanted more space opera and less obstinate romantic misunderstandings. As buymeaclue would say (I hope I get this right): less boyfriend, more roller derby.

Still want more books like The Moon's Shadow, about Aristos politics. Especially Jai/Tarquine. Or even about Kelric, who is more interesting when he's not perceived from the POV of a rebellious teenage rock star. Dehya is really interesting too; I'm not so fond of Roca, but her story seems to have come to an end with Eldrinson's (natural) death.

The Shape of the River: Long-term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions
by William G. Bowen & Derek Bok
472 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Education

I meant to finish reading this, I really did; but again, library time constraints beckon. For future reference, I got to page 112, a little under 1/4 of the way through. I will try to write up what I wrote with relative objectivity, but I shan't hold back from interjecting (biased) commentary. From skimming the rest of the book, Bowen and Bok seem to have done a great job documenting the success of minority students admitted to highly selective institutions, years after they graduate (or don't graduate).

For those who don't know, Bowen & Bok are two former Ivy League presidents (of Princeton and Harvard, respectively) better-known within higher education for their later, controversial work on SAT scores and admissions expanded to all races; in comparison, this earlier publication consciously simplifies the world to black and white. In the later study, B&B found that when using white as the baseline, blacks and Hispanic [not necessarily Latin@, since federal race classifications include Spain origin as Hispanic] students received a significant boost while Asian students were actually negative, i.e. in order to be considered equivalent to a similar white applicant, s/he had to score higher on the SAT.

All data in this study was based on a detailed database combining information from 28 colleges and universities, who are listed on p. xxviii-xxix. B&B do a reasonably good job of straddling the fence, providing evidence for and against both sides of the affirmative action debate. I'll be discussing mostly the information that I want to remember, i.e. anti-, but first I'll summarize the opposing details and encourage you to read the book for yourself. In essence, the black students who would not have been admitted under a hypothetical race-neutral process go on to exceptional achievements despite their weaker academic skills.

So let's start with the definition of race-neutral: it is NOT admitting by the numbers. B&B grouped black applicants by SAT ranges and posited that they would have the same probability of admission as white applicants in the same ranges. This causes the overall chance of admission for black students to drop from 42% to 13%, versus an overall chance of 25% for white students. The real-life Berkeley example bore out this hypothesis remarkably, although B&B make no mention of the large increase in Asian students as a result of race-neutral at the UCs (31-3). Similar drops in enrollment would occur at the most selective law and business schools (45), where "black applicants [to business schools] were 2.7 times as likely to gain admission as whites with comparable records. Hispanic applicants were 2.8 times as likely to be admitted" (45-6). For med school, the median pre-med science GPA for accepted students was 3.1 for blacks vs. 3.6 for whites; correspondingly, "the median test scores of blacks accepted to medical schools was lower than the median for whites who were rejected" (46). This establishes that regardless of what happens later--and much does happen later--admitted black students (and presumably Hispanic students) are less qualified in comparison to white students (and presumably Asian students). Speaking of which--I find myself constantly wondering how Asians fit into this world, as Hispanic students are much more similar to black students in profile than Asians are to whites. "The real racial divide in America was and remains black and white" (xxvii, Shelby Steele qtd. by Scott Shepard 11)--I absolutely, positively disagree. Such a statement--from someone implied to be one of the "scholars from the black, Hispanic, and Asian American communities" (xxvii)--erases the existence of Hispanic, APA, and Native American peoples from "America" and the importance of a multicolored discussion of race.

Prior to affirmative action in the late 1960s, "the selective colleges would rather be selective than integrated" (qtd. in 5)--nothing wrong with that wish, in my mind, as the selective colleges should not be lowering standards for the sake of diversity. "Harvard [Law School] began admitting black students with test scores far below those of their white classmates....and black enrollment began to rise" (5). That cause and effect seriously concerns me with its lack of acknowledgment of racial discrimination--to discriminate on the basis of race, which is exactly what happened. A graph on p.27--before recentering, but nevertheless interesting: at a combined SAT score (out of 1600) below 1000, about 10% of whites and 20% of blacks gained admission (I am estimating based on a graph, so bear with me). The gap is largest in the "1200-1249 range, [where] the probability of being admitted was 19 percent for white candidates, as compared with 60 percent for black candidates" (26). Finally, at the 1500+ mark--close to perfect scores--about 70% of whites and 100% of blacks gained admission. Even in the '90s, admission at the most selective schools was never guaranteed by "high stats"--except for those few and exceptional black candidates, it seemed. "To sum up, black candidates are consistently admitted at higher rates than legacies, who in turn are admitted at consistently higher rates than non-legacies, but the 'advantage' enjoyed by legacies is concentrated at the upper end of the SAT range" (28-9).

Socioeconomic AA would not "substantially cushion the effect of ending racial preferences" (Thomas Kane, qtd. in 47), because while URMs are disproportionately poor, "they still make up a minority of all college-age Americans with low incomes" (47). B&B also briefly references the prohibitive cost of implementing such a program to the same degree as current racial AA. To which I say: well, yes, and remind me why a poor black person is more deserving of admission than a poor Asian person, other factors held constant? Socioeconomic AA is not meant to substitute for racial AA; it is meant to help those who will always need more help. In capitalist America, there is no doubt whatsoever that the poor student is always disadvantaged over the identical well-to-do student. Even Questbridge, which I wholeheartedly support, helps only the very tippy-top of the poor students (it is more useful in guaranteeing affordability than in affecting admissions, since most Questbridge finalists would have been admitted on stats and extraodinary personal qualities anyway). [/soapbox]

B&B does unequivocally disabuse the notion of academic "mismatch." Average college GPAs may differ by over half a point (72), but black students still go on to do well in life after college (no doubt aided by affirmative action at law/med/grad schools, says my cynical mind). Interestingly, the SAT remains useful in significantly predicting both academic performance in college and postgrad achievements, although the prediction is stronger for whites than for blacks. Graduating from a top college does affect one's postgrad prospects within higher education. James Thomas, former dean of admissions at Yale Law School: "Someone who has played--and succeeded--on a tough field lets us take a little more risk and admit someone who strikes our faculty as having that something that's going to make a difference in the world. Does this mean that we don't take someone from an off-the-beaten-track school? No, but that person has to have every single thing in line--there's no margin for error" (personal correspondence, qtd. in 101). Note: Blacks who are "specially" admitted go on to disproportionately achieve exceptional accomplishments. I have not discussed that data here because it is irrelevant to the basis of my position on affirmative action, although I have read every word of it.

A very good book, highly recommended as long as you aren't afraid of social science stat-talk (and even if you are). Alas, it didn't change my personal opinion. (I'm still waiting for someone to come up with a brilliant argument that will push me across the fence.) The ends never justify the means, and however beneficial AA is/would be, its very existence remains discriminatory and hypocritical to statements of nondiscrimination.

What Colleges Don't Tell You (and Other Parents Don't Want You to Know): 272 Secrets for Getting Your Kid into the Top Schools
by Elizabeth Wissner-Gross
307 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Education

A different perspective from the usual ex-adcom tell-alls. There's some good advice in here about fit and parenting, but also some crazy and borderline-ethical approaches to "packaging." The "272 secrets" format is really gimmicky. Useful advice is buried among the dross, though, if one reads with a strong dash of salt. Best read in conjunction with other books of the genre, especially Hernandez's adcom perspective (which is quite derogatory toward "packaging").

How to Read Literature Like a Professor
by Thomas C. Foster
314 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Literary

Light-hearted and interesting. Topic: exactly what the title implies. Not as insightful as I'd hoped--the analysis bounces between obvious and really obscure--but definitely "lively and entertaining." Do the case-study analysis at the end; I didn't due to time constraints, but I wish I had.

Also includes a useful list of Christ-figure signifiers, for those of us who didn't grow up in the Western tradition. I will quote a paraphrased version here:

1. crucified, wounds in the hands, feet, side, and head
2. in agony
3. self-sacrificing
4. good with children
5. loaves, fishes, water, wine
6. 33 years old
7. employed as carpenter
8. humble modes of transportation, feet or donkeys preferred
9. walked on water
10. portrayed with arms outstretched
11. spent time alone in wilderness
12. confrontation w/ the devil, possibly tempted
13. last seen in the company of thieves
14. aphorisms/parables
15. buried, but arose on the 3rd day
16. disciples, 12 at first, though not all equally devoted
17. very forgiving
18. redeem an unworthy world

A thought that has fluttered through my head several times, having just been captured: what kind of "space" is the Internet? If someone makes a public blog post or a public comment, is that content automatically public? Obviously you can't plagiarize, the words are still inherently copyrighted, etc. But what about linking, referencing, alluding to? On one extreme, the right of free press is vital; what if any author had the legal right to request that a negative review of his/her book be taken down? And on the other extreme, if one is compiling a blog carnival or a linkspam or whatever, is there an expectation of permission first? How does this interact with privilege?

I've always operated on the assumption that any public post is just that--public, free to briefly quote and free to link to. In fact, I find policies specifically requesting that linkers ask permission first to be kind of presumptous--like the author of a published book asking that all reviewers run their reviews by him/her first (thereby filtering out unwanted or negative reviews). Even if this never becomes ingrained in law, the very expectation in etiquette remains problematic in the context and spirit of freedom.

Thoughts? Disagreements? I don't pretend to know much of anything about this matter, except what is "logical" to me (and what I find logical is inherently shaped by my experiences, majority/minority/etc.).

Comments are screened. Civility rules, as always, but feel free to disrespect me civilly.

Happy birthday to afuna and sethdickinson and yaoi_in_exile! I can't believe I have three friends who share the same birthday.

A bunch via yhlee:

* Clever typographical logos. I especially like the piano and the coffee and the playground and and.

* Kitchen chores, geek-style.

* nestra on what happens too often.


* IBARW 4 will be from July 27 to August 2! While I am away, so I shall have to promote it heartily in-person.

* thedeadparrot's Remyth story for the Asian Women's Carnival #2, titled "Chopsticks."

* Greta Christina talks about subtle homophobia in the professional dance world, specifically "So You Think You Can Dance."

* A New Jersey med student is expelled for calling himself a "white African-American." (No, he's not from South Africa; apparently he is the third generation of a Portuguese family in Mozambique, where he was born and raised.)

ETA:* 2nd Asian Women of Color Carnival!


In happier news...

* Higher education's best new staircase, aka some very good architecture porn. Apparently Caltech has the most entertaining new staircase at the Cahill Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics--heads-up yhlee, do report back if you visit!

* Another one for you, yhlee: a musical synthesizer toy, innovative and dead-simple for those of us without compositional skills.

* Transcription of a speech on new methods for humanities research. I've only skimmed, but looks really interesting.

The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy
by Nicholas Lemann
406 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/History/College

Well: the first 50 pages are extraordinarily boring, I can say that much. I'm tremendously interested in this particular nonfiction niche, but I am not interested in the life stories of the men who invented and shepherded the SAT into its current form. I'd rather hear about, y'know, the test itself and its societal impact or effects. Perhaps this book does cover such ground, but I've already run away from the first 50 pages of dry-as-California-forests biography.

One Hundred Years of Solitude
by Gabriel García Márquez
448 pages (trade paperback)
Genre: Fiction/Literary/Historical/Fantasy

Nobel laureate Márquez founded magic realism with the publication of this novel, considered his masterpiece. It is at once Latin American social commentary, a fictional biography of the region and its culture, an epic chronicle of a South American village's rise and fall, and the family history of the Buendias. Plot: there really isn't one, aside from the conglomeration of the previously mentioned topics. This is such a wacky novel! My head hurts from trying to distinguish all of the Aurelianos (and José Arcadios, and Amarantas/Úrsulas/Remedioses). And can there be much more incest? Unfortunately, for me the book has one fatal flaw: I didn't once care about any of the characters. They were born and they died, but I only kept reading because I wanted to finish reading.

Nonetheless, if you are interested in magic realism, lit theory, or Latin America, I highly recommend One Hundred Years of Solitude. Character development is not a strong point, but in many ways, that is the point.

Natural Law: Nature of Desire
by Joey W. Hill
313 pages (trade paperback)
Genre: Fiction/Romance

A dynamic and compelling love story, BDSM-style. Not quite as hard-core as Hill's vampire series, at least physically--this is about Violet breaking down Mac's emotional barriers, fascinating to observe for even the "vanilla" readers. A nebulous contemporary setting works well; Mac's profession--homicide detective--leads to realistic drama and conflict. I just have one question: how did T&K know that Mac was a cop? I'm suspicious of Violet "fingering" him right away, and even moreso of T&K having the same sense as lay(wo)men.

Just beautiful. In between the budding romance is a tense murder mystery, and the two plot threads twine together nicely by the end. For once, I don't mind a domestic happily-ever-after (no babies, thankfully) because, oh, Violet and Mac so deserve each other after all of their mutual suffering. I like Tyler's advice to Violet: it's easy to fall in love in three days, the trick is to stay in love.

I've entered about half of my book library into Libra, which is mostly satisfactory--but worrisome as the original site/developer appears to be long gone. Are there any other good programs? Media support is nice but unnecessary as I own very few CDs/DVDs; it's the books that I want to organize.

LibraryThing is out, as the website loads very slooooowly for me. I want a snappy desktop client!

My Sister's Keeper
by Jodi Picoult
423 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/Literary

Yes, beteio, I finally read it. 'Twas not better nor worse than I expected; the premise was intriguing and my attention consistently captured, but I have no urge to ever reread this. Anna, the book's protagonist--though not the sole narrator--was conceived thirteen years ago to provide a genetic match for her sister Kate, who suffers from repeated relapses of a rare leukemia. When Anna is called upon to donate a kidney to her sister, she walks into the office of a lawyer and sues for medical emancipation. At times, I was more interested in the side romance between the lawyer and his ex-lover from high school than in the main plot, which moves very slowly as Anna frustratingly changes her mind / chickens out innumerable times. But the ending, a bittersweet twist, is worth waiting for, especially since the actual reading moves quickly.

No further commentary, alas, because I misplaced my notes from when I read this in April.

* I trimmed my current flist reading filter in an attempt to do actual work this summer, versus Internet reading. I also reorganized tags from "racism" to "race" and combined "sexism" and "feminism" under "gender."

* It is raining ridiculously hard right now. There goes my swimsuit-shopping plans tonight. (ETA: WTF, now there's a perfect blue sky.)

* Catch up on reviews first, and then I will start posting selections from the RaceFail archives with commentary. May or may not be under flock, depending on how inflammatory the content and how argumentative I feel.


* Free e-book: The Element of Fire by Martha Wells. Secondhanded high rec'd.

* Three Catherine Asaro short stories/novellas: Walk in Silence is an SF tale about Lieutenant Colonel Jess Fernández and exemplifies a very carefully and obviously diverse cast telling a moral of interracial conflict. For all its ideological faults as Message Fiction (TM), it's a good read. The Spacetime Pool, a Nebula nominee, is a typical cross-world SF romance; Asaro has done better, but it suffices for what it is. The best of the three, in my opinion--Aurora in Four Voices, a prequel novella to her novel Primary Inversion that tells Soz and Jato's love story; the musical motif is gorgeously done, especially Jato's fugue bird.

* Via oyceter, Kali Tal's lengthy critical review of Cybertypes by Lisa Nakamura. Although Nakamura's success happens to be in the area of highest personal interest, I can empathize, having experienced the same frustration as Tal in reading acclaimed African-American studies scholar Cornel West's Democracy Matters.


* For yhlee: musician's dice!

* Top 10 reasons to become a librarian. Many of the cited benefits are inaccurate, as I know from talking to actual librarians; but #1 and #3 are why I'm attracted to the field.

* Via yhlee: the ultimate IB test.

Questions and Admissions: Reflections on 100,000 Admissions Decisions at Stanford
by Jean H. Fetter
276 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Education/College

Fetter was, to my knowledge, one of the first admissions "insiders" to write publicly about college admissions practices that many would have preferred to keep private. Although this book was published in 1995 and competition has increased tenfold since then, it still provides useful insight through an unmatched depth in both analysis and case studies.

For instance, in the 1960s, minority students were judged "outside the competition" along with athletes and faculty children--meeting "basic entrance requirements" but not necessarily "more qualified than all rejected applicants" (93); while increased representation in the applicant pool obviously renders this approach impractical, I wonder to what extent it is still true today (i.e. "special consideration" groups only competing within the group for admission). Fetter once reversed an admissions decision (from denial to acceptance) when it was discovered that the applicant qualified as a faculty dependent; similarly, Stephen Carter was offered law school admission after an initial denial because he "was originally assumed to be white" (103). Daniel Golden's Price of Admission, a much more recent publication, confirms many of these preferences.

Such a comprehensive admissions survey would not be complete without a discussion of affirmative action, and Fetter does so admirably (albeit with some dodging). She cites Ira Glasser's three reasons for AA:

1. legal remedy redressing past/present discrimination
2. temporary compensation of opportunity
3. visible representation of minorities

Of the three justifications for "positive" discrimination, it is worth noting that the Supreme Court has declared #3--the striving for diversity--as the only legal rationale for affirmative action in a college admissions context.

In approx. the 1985-1995 time period, Fetter admits to determining applicant ethnicity from other information (e.g. standardized test records) for special consideration, even if the applicant declined to self-identify on the application: "If a minority student chooses not to self-identify as a member of a minority group to which we give special consideration, should he or she receive that consideration? My opinion is that if we are reasonably sure of the ethnicity, the answer is yes" (103). On pages 106-7, Fetter poses a scenario of 3 unexceptional student hypotheticals from the admissions pool, each middle-class but of three different ethnicities (black, Asian, white). Unfortunately, she never gives a concrete answer as to what decisions she would have made; in subsequent discussion, she does argue that middle-class blacks are still disadvantaged by racism. [Opinionated Note: Asian students are hardly exempt from societal racism, yet because their representation is deemed sufficient, they receive no "special consideration."]


Discussion at length on pages 111-36 using the statement-comment format:

( Cut for length )


Fetter's book is 15 years dated, an eternity in college admissions. But for those seeking an in-depth introduction and/or solid grounding in the theory behind college admissions, I highly recommend this.

* Eunoia, a constrained-writing experiment by Christian Bök.

* Via yhlee, the constrained-writing group Oulipo: Ouvroir de littérature potentielle.

* Also via yhlee, 25 subliminal-messaging logos.

* Via mrissa: swan_tower aka Marie Brennan is offering a free novella, Deeds of Men, online.

* Just a call-out to the Secular Coalition for America.

* Helping those with Mormon interests. A parody, although I don't think it makes fun of Mormonism in particular rather than religion in general.

* Lee's Art Shop's 30-second pen primer.

* Via rilina, the top 10 hot Asian actors.

Happy birthday, wolfpurrs!

* H.E.R.B.--Had Enough Religious Bullshit--amuses me.

* As does this humorous dialogue between an atheist and an agnostic.

* I heard on the radio that Justice Souter is retiring? Here's an article on one possible Obama pick to replace him. Look, he's Asian! Wouldn't that be nice, to have the country's first Asian ever (I think) on the Supreme Court.

* Pledge to cut the "r-word" (retard) from your life.

* Article on a white girl adopted by a black family.


* NewFoundSpecFic is seeking submissions, deadline July 5th, 2009. It is automatically nifty for the pun, O my beloved Newfoundland. Sadly, living abroad I don't qualify (must be a resident of Canada, not necessarily a citizen).

* O Canada!

* In praise of learning alphabets, not characters. YES.

* A friendly note on Dreamwidth advocacy.

* kate_nepveu makes a detailed post about Dreamwidth that I pretty much second all the way through.


* Ooh, shape notes! Heads-up yhlee?

* A Cool Tools review of Finale Allegro.

* From VSL, a modern instrumental composer releases one ditty (doodle? sketch? yhlee had a good word for this but I can't remember) a day for a week. All seven are available to download for free.

* Via yhlee, neato ultra-small artworks.

* Paper typography!

Dreamwidth is now officially in open beta. I have 5 4 3 2 invite codes to give out, so if anyone is still seeking one, comment here and ask nicely.

A Guide to Dreamwidth for LiveJournal Users

Ethos and Ideas

At this point, I am seriously considering a permanent move to Dreamwidth after it exits open beta (assuming that I can also import back here if disaster occurs?). Yay early adoption. I'm kind of nervous, actually, because usually I am not an early adopter--but DW is too promising to pass up. If/when I jump ship, I will cross-post to LJ with comments turned off. If you really hate logging into other sites, you can PM or email me if you're friended (and if you're not, sorry, I don't much care if you decide to withhold comments).

What makes DW different (for me)
* Separate flock and reading lists. Less fiddling with filters!
* Ad-free even when I'm not in Firefox with AdBlock Plus.
* A commitment to sustainable growth and development, as well as remaining ad-free to avoid undue financial pressure from advertisers.
* afuna ;)
* Not entirely sure about this one, but ability to read LJ-locked posts on my DW page? Yes/no? This would be really nifty; otherwise I will set up an LJ filter of friends I still want to read. I actually prefer the RSS style of blog-reading to the LJ one-page style, because of easy prioritization without forgetting about the lower-priority stuff; RSS means giving up flocked posts, though, and the personal aspect is why I'm still here.

[WARNING: Here there be spoilers.]

The Kestrel
by Lloyd Alexander
244 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Fiction/YA/Fantasy

The second in Alexander's Westmark trilogy; still distinctly YA and "adventurous." I often find this type of book tiresome unless there is Martin-style realism, which would be entirely inappropriate here for both the target audience and Alexander's style. Still--teenaged monarches running off in disguise? Really?

On the other hand, I was glad for the lack of political marriage alliances, since the plot otherwise satisfies several other cliches (case in point: Cabbarus, who should have been killed in Westmark to begin with--yes, I know his forgiveness is crucial to Theo's moral development, but plot should not serve the author so blatantly). More politics in this book than the previous, which is yum. I enjoyed seeing civil war from a sociological perspective, and Theo's transformation into the Kestrel was chilling. I loved Connie and I hope he gets a starring role in The Beggar Queen.

Random questions/annoyances: When did Theo propose? I loathe off-screen turning points, which an engagement between the protagonist and his love interest definitely qualifies. What happened to Monkey--was he a traitor? Is he dead? If his ambiguous end is a next-book lead-in... Like I said, I haven't much patience for this type of book.

Westmark was nonetheless a compelling read and a slim volume. Many of my friends (*cough* mrissa, yhlee) are in love with it, so I would recommend giving Alexander a try despite my own tepid feelings. I promise you won't lose too many hours of your life. I'm still not a fan of Alexander or this series, but unlike after Westmark, I am persuaded to at least read further.

A late but extremely happy birthday wished to diatryma! May your plants and writing grow equally as well.

If affirmative action is a band-aid over a bleeding wound, then the collateral casualties (whites and often Asians) must be the nerve cells of the healthy skin around the wound. Is it important to staunch the bleeding before healing can begin? YES.

But I refuse to believe that the bleeding requires a band-aid to be continually ripped off and replaced, when a piece of gauze and an Ace bandage would suffice.

* I have 3 Dreamwidth invite codes to give out, anyone want? Comment with your email address (comments are screened) and I will update here with the number remaining. ETA: Gone already! That was fast.

* Vermont legalizes gay marriage through a legislative override of a governor veto. seth_dickinson is proud, I'm sure.

* Voluntary Human Extinction Movement!

* Via yhlee and VSL, a neat musical game called BallDroppings.

* On AmazonFail/TrollWin: mac_stone alerts me first to markprobst's post, Amazon Follies. fireriven then points me to rosefox's linkage summary; Dear Author also chimes in. Finally, tehdely points out the traits of trolling, Bantown, and similarity to Strikethrough; over at brutal_honesty, weev claims responsibility for propagating the lulz.

* Via netmouse from racism_101, an illuminating pictorial comparison of AvatarFail. Racebending has also started a petition.

* Belatedly, the first Asian Women's Carnival is just awesome. I've collected a lot of good stuff from that and previous RaceFail fallout; there's enough for one loooong Link Anthology, even discounting the ones I want to discuss in full-length posts. Haven't decided yet whether the discussion will be flocked.

* In non-activism news, an interesting article about linguistics and speech development, courtesy of StumbleUpon.

* Also via StumbleUpon, trees in stitches!

* ZOMG CUTE Tweenbots--little cardboard robots in NYC--via yhlee and others.

* nihilistic_kid talks about how to write a term paper.

* ZOMG CUTE GAMES. Orisinal is amazing. Especially check out Winter Bells and Panda Run. SO CUTE.

* Via VSL: click bored. No seriously.

* Also VSL, a bicycle built for two thousand. Music autoplay warning.

* fireriven shares her beautiful Postcards from a Traveling Oracle: To Nine Sisters, from Kyoto.

* Over at ivoryink, my list of memorable quotes has been updated.

* Via yhlee, free soundtrack/writing music: Planescape Torment, complete.

* buymeaclue writes a overjoyed, optimistic open letter from Massachusetts to Iowa and Vermont et. al. Also diatryma: Iowa has legalized same-sex marriage! We'll see if it survives legislative challenges, but I have hope.

* Via yeloson, a ridiculous example of anti-immigrant bias and racism in public school bureaucracy.

* The UNESCO atlas of endangered languages.

* Via meganbmoore, mindmelting cuteness. Not interactive, alas; but it's real!

Interfictions: An Anthology of Interstitial Writing
by Delia Sherman and Theodora Goss (eds.)
291 pages (trade paperback)
Genre: Fiction/Literary/Fantasy/SF

After only managing to skim a few stories back in 2007 when I borrowed it from a friend, I finally bought this "alternative" and obscurely-acclaimed anthology and read it for my monthly Book Club. I only found 3 favorite and 4 hated tales out of 19 total, but--surprisingly--my overall impression is quite positive. Interfictions has earned a place on my long-term bookshelf.

If you aren't familiar with the concept of interstitiality, I would recommend reading Heinz Insu Fenkl's laborious introduction; otherwise, it is probably best left to the academically inclined. In contrast, definitely read Sherman and Goss's conversational "Afterword: The Spaces between" (although you still should read the stories themselves first, for necessary context).

So let me begin with the favorites, first. Jon Singer's "Willow Pattern" is probably the shortest story in the collection, and to me also one of the most interstitial. As Goss says, there isn't another story out there that combines science fiction and china patterns. After my first read-through, my only thoughts were, "Oh, that was pretty." Two years later, I began to "get" the SF aspects; I still don't entirely grasp the point simmering deep beneath the surface, but this flash piece epitomizes what I love best about genre--the extra layer of depth waiting to be plumbed, a depth unique to alienation and surreality.

For pure story pleasure, the title goes to Csilla Kleinheincz's lyrical and poignant tale about a man and a lake: "A Drop of Raspberry." Translated from the Hungarian by Noémi Szelényi, it is interstitial in its superrealistic treatment of surreal/fantastical events (yet tonally different from magic realism). Kleinheincz also happens to hail from the same country as Goss, and she is Hungarian-Vietnamese--too cool!

Finally, "Queen of the Butterfly Kingdom" by Holly Phillips (also coincidentally a Canadian author) is a cross between mainstream and fantasy that seduced me into caring despite a seeming lack of originality. The protagonist is a writer, even, which typically repulses me. But I suffered along with her as she waited for news of her beloved, and the last scene made me stop for a moment to smile.

Then we have the have-nots, those stories that flatly did not work for me. However, of the four I would only label one terrible per se; the rest are a matter of conflicting tastes. For instance, I found Karen Jordan Allen's "Alternate Anxieties" a pretentious deconstruction of Story using the trite writer's-notes conceit; but another reader might think it a brilliant piece of experimental fiction (the experimental classification does tend to draw such extreme opinions). Similarly, I was confused by the mythological underpinnings of Joy Marchard's "Pallas at Noon"--another "writer" story--and I thought that Chloe's (Allen's) poem, once revealed to the reader, was frankly incomprehensible.

In my review of Loghorrea, I have previously blasted Leslie What for her unthinking vilification of a chronic illness; her story here, "Post Hoc," thankfully commits no such sins, but I thought the story unoriginal, uninterstitial (save for the "liminal" post office conceit), and largely unengaging (the main character, anyway--I did like Joe the postman). It's not a bad story, though, just not a very good one. I would rank it above Rachel Pollack's "Burning Beard," an explicitly hip yet faithful retelling of the Biblical life of Joseph. Personally, I'm not a fan of Biblical allusions (even when written by a literary master like Milton); Pollack is considerably less skilled than Milton, and her retelling comes off as trite and silly rather than uniquely interstitial.

Some stories just did nothing for me. I don't understand Anna Tambour's story "The Shoes in SHOES' Window" at all--only that the world appears to be Communist-esque?--and unlike Singer's tale, it gave me no superficial pleasure. After praise heard through the grapevine about K. Tempest Bradford's "Black Feather," I was disappointed to read an unremarkable fairy-tale variant that didn't seem particularly interstitial. Veronica Schanoes's "Rats," a fictionalized biography -slash- Cinderella story about two depressed drug addicts destined for love, was too consciously grungy for me. Similarly, "Timothy" by Colin Greenland could be read as an eroticization of bestality if one were so inclined. And I was unconvinced by the m/m relationship in "A Map of the Everywhere" by Matthew Cheney, which is interstitial by virtue of sheer weirdness but failed as a tale first and foremost.

Some others, I enjoyed but did not love: I liked the collective narrator of "What We Know of the Lost Families of --- House" by Christopher Barzak, a horror tale that doesn't aim to scare. Mikal Trimm's "Climbing Redemption Mountain" wasn't as good as Kleinheincz's version of superrealistic surrealism, but it did emotionally satisfy. I likewise enjoyed reading Vandana Singh's "Hunger," especially the POC focus and all the foodie details, but found her sole fantastical element extraneous--the story is much better read as straight realism, which would not be interstitial. Two other translations also fail to live up to Kleinheincz: Léa Sihol's "Emblemata" from the French by Sarah Smith was interesting for its Buddhist philosophy but just missed the cut for favorites; Adrián Ferrero's "When It Rains, You'd Better Get out of Ulga" from the Spanish by Edo Mor had no plot and not enough theme or insight to make up for said lack. The anthology's closing piece, "A Dirge for Prester John," was typical of Catherynne M. Valente's style in its outlandish, monstrous imagery.

I applaud Sherman and Goss for their conscious shaping of geographic and cultural diversity, as well as their willingness to publish utterly unknown authors. I understand interstitiality a little more now, at least; I just wish that experimental fiction would constitute a smaller part of the (ironic) genre.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
320 pages (hardcover)
Genre: Nonfiction/Economics

This is the 2nd revised and expanded edition--I found the blog and newspaper clippings interesting but awkwardly disconnected in a way that the original book chapters were not. As it was an assigned text, I had some interesting discussions around Levitt's controversial theories (the abortion-crime correlation was surprisingly cool on the outrage scale). I also appreciated the data on race, regarding both education gaps and "ethnic" baby names. Levitt says that after adjusting for socioeconomic status, the black-white education gap disappears--which would make sense, given the dismal education statistics of low-income African-Americans/Latin@s--but I was intrigued by the fact that the disparity disappeared entirely (at least to statistical insignificance) rather than just decreasing.

Like the subtitle implies and the authors admit outright, this book has no overriding theme. Levitt definitely has a spark of brilliance, though, and his ideas are well worth reading.

Perspectives on American Politics
by William Lasser
402 pages (trade paperback)
Genre: Nonfiction/History/Politics

I found this (text)book randomly on my desk one day, presumably left over from Modern American History. Since politics is more interesting to me than history, I started reading it on a whim. I skimmed through several essays; here I'm going to discuss the three that I found most intriguing.

First, Peter H. Schuck's "Affirmative Action--Don't Mend It or End It--Bend It" presents a sensible and moderate suggestion for reforming affirmative action: ban it in the public sector but allow it in the private sector as long as the preferences are publicized and transparent. His main issue with affirmative action as it stands is also mine--that the principle requires deviating from that of nondiscrimination (defined as not "treating people differently because of their race, ethnicity, or other protected characteristics" (122-3)). Schuck cites Hubert Humphrey, Ted Kennedy, and MLK as civil rights leaders who rejected preferences as the best path to racial equality. There are also some interesting statistics on blacks' social gains, of which I'm not sure how much to believe since it involves complicated economic controlling factors and separating variables; however, his point sounsd true. "My point, emphatically, is not that blacks have achieved social equality--far from it--but that the situation facing them today is altogether different than ti was when affirmative action was adopted" (123). And he goes on to assert that this correlation is not causal.

Former Ivy League presidents William Bowen and Derek Bok conducted a study on admissions outcomes, race, and SAT score (however flawed that measure of merit may be) at highly selective colleges. The conclusion I found most notable: "with a score of 1500 or above, more than a third of whites were rejected while every single black gained admission" (124). The narrowing of the race gap in higher education, moreover, does not prove affirmative action's effectiveness because one can never know what would have happened if the blacks who displaced higher-scoring applicants at elite schools had gone to less prestigious universities; would they have done as well? Affirmative action does not end at the undergraduate level; in law school admissions, a highly numbers-based process, Schuck claims that in the early 1990s "only a few dozen of the 420 blacks admitted to the 18 most selective law schools would have been admitted absent affirmative action" (124). Furthermore, those black students statistically have a lower first-time and overall pass rate for the bar exam than white students. Preferences also overwhelmingly benefit immigrants (of black or Latino descent), the upper middle class, and multiracial students who self-identify as white.

Thus the solution: hold public institutional to the standard of nondiscrimination, while regulating private institutions' use of preferences on conditions of transparency and protected classes (that is, a private policy favoring whites would be illegal because "Caucasian" is not a protected class). Schuck argues that a public law affirming racial preferences is pernicious and societally damaging in a way that voluntary private provisions are not. Affirmative action fails to treat the underlying problem, but that does not mean that it should exist until the root cause is treated; the time for reform is now.

In "Breaking the Two-party Monopoly," Douglas J. Amy details the problems inherent in a dominant two-party political system. Plurality rules often result, even in multi-party systems, in minority parties being underrepresented with regard to seats vs. votes. Amy argues that the solution is proportional representation, "an antitrust law for the party system" (249), which would allow but not require a fair multiparty political framework. He supports this by examining U.S. cities that have adopted PR; for instance, Cincinnati still has essentially two parties but New York City's 1947 council consisted of 12 Democrats, 5 Republicans, 2 Liberals, 2 Communists, and 2 American Laborites. Sounds like an interesting and effective method that would force politicians to actually utilize cross-party coalitions. Amy admits that PR would be unfeasible in presidential elections due to plurality, but this does not necessarily preclude the existence of a multiparty parliamentary legislature.

Finally, Mark C. Miller argues in "Judicial Activism in Canada and the United States" that activist roles are common only to U.S. judges; Canadian judges more often pride themselves on judicial independence and nonpartisanship. I found the piece illuminating as well as illustrative of my shameful depth of knowledge regarding Canadian history or government.

A late happy birthday to niladmirari--sorry! I hope Kiril is doing well.

* Happy St. Patty's Day, everyone! Have some (quite a lot, actually) free Celtic music in celebration.

* Over at Dear Author, Jane reviews the absolutely hilarious(ly bad) erotic romance Knight Moves by Jamaica Layne.

* Also via telophase, the Houston Zoo unveils a squeeeeeee (aka red panda).

* And again via telophase, a so-adorable cat cafe.

* Articles on Tibetan marriage practices and polyandry. I would love to see some fantasy based on this practice.

* Via telophase, the Nothing But Nets campaign sends mosquito nets to Africa to prevent malaria. Which reminds me: rachelmanija, is there an official nonprofit front for that manga-for-Native-American-reservations charity you promoted a while back? In a little over a month I'll be in a position to choose a service project to support, as my personal "Division Project." As the time draws closer, I'll probably make a separate post seeking suggestions. Malaria nets were heavily promoted just this past year, so I'd like to choose something more obscure.

* The very neat Book Cover Archive.

* From Lifehacker, a simple but beautifully illustrated site for world city weather forecasts.

* Readability may be one of the best bookmarklets ever. Choose your preferred layout, drag the link to your toolbar, and instantly reformat pages for easier reading.

* The classic reading test!


* sierrawyndsong writes on pseudononymity from a journalist's perspective--as a matter of public record. Warning for tone. For a different, also semi-expert perspective, Jane from Dear Author discusses the constitutional right to speak anonymously. I can't argue with either about the legal aspect, but I still believe in the ethical aspect--and revealing someone's identity without their permission is simply, purely unethical.

* Naamen writes a moving and painful response to RaceFail '09, Cut #999.

* spiralsheep posits a theory on the harassment received by mac_stone and medievalist.

* Finally, I will make a separate post for this soon because it inadvertently became very very important to me: via coffeeandink, at John Scalzi's Whatever, Mary Anne Mohanraj presents a racism 101 primer. Such things are not new; however, as far as I have seen, this part is:

I generally use the definition of racism that argues that in the world we currently live in, everyone’s racist, and when I want to talk about prejudice + institutionalized power, I try to say so explicitly.

Yes, oh yes. For so many reasons.