31 July 2009

Night owl

I'm a night person. Not, mind you, a night person who is PRODUCTIVE at night. Just a person who likes late nights versus early mornings. I can always find a book to read, email to answer, eBay items to peruse, The Gap shopping to do, an unhealthy snack to have, CNN headlines to browse, Facebook posts to respond to......

I should be asleep, getting ready for the next day to come. Instead, I will blearily crawl out of bed tomorrow, silently (ok, loudly) cursing my inability to have the self-control to get to bed at a decent hour, and attempt to start my day. Please PLEASE PLEASE let it be a day when nobody wants to converse with me within 60 minutes of my awakening. I hate to start the day with wailing and gnashing of teeth.

29 July 2009

"The Reader"

Soooooooooo. Watched "The Reader" with Kate Winslet yesterday.......I am alarmed that I can't pin down my emotions about the whole experience. They ran the gamut --- sympathy for the sick child (and I do mean CHILD), horror at the immediate explosion into a sexual relationship with said child, disgust with Hannah, sadness for Hannah, empathy for Hannah, repulsed by Hannah, sympathy for Michael, admiration for Michael. Do you sense a pattern. I really was so torn. I mean it. I was tremendously sad for Hannah and her ignorance --- and the illiteracy that played such a huge part in her choices in life and death. But I was also completely appalled that a fellow member of the human race could participate in the vile acts she recounted.

Yes, it is a movie. But it could be fact. Certainly there were many, MANY German citizens who worked in the camps and participated in all manners of atrocity. And there were those who just 'did their job' and may not have been as clued in to the master plan they were part of. Most of them went on with their lives and raised families........

Anyway. The Holocaust is haunting on so very many levels. And this movie introduced a new component to my feelings about it all.

It was excellent and I highly recommend it. But be prepared for your emotions to be challenged and to feel unsure, for a time, how you really feel about it all. Complicated to be sure.