A Christmas poem, in Spanglish

Well, so much for sticking to blogging every day. lol. I guess I shouldn't have expected so much from myself, especially since it's currently finals week. This here post is simply a short procrastination on important study time/ homework.

In other news, I have a cute poem I want to share. It's a version of 'Twas the Night before Christmas, but it's written in Spanglish - i.e. English and Spanish.


TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,
Not a creature was stirring – ¡Caramba! ¿Que pasa?
Los niños were all tucked away in their camas,
Some in long underwear, some in pajamas.
While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado
In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado
To bring all children, both buenos and malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.
Outside in the yard there arose such a grito
That I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think that it era?
Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados
Were eight little burros approaching volados.
I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre:
Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Cuco, ay Beto,
Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Macuco, y Nieto!
Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea
He struggled to squeeze down our old chimenea.
He filled all the stockings with lovely regalos
For none of the niños had been very malos.
Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.
And I heard him exclaim, and this is verdad,
Merry Christmas to all, and ¡Feliz Navidad!

 I found the poem on  ( http://rpodle6.wordpress.com/2007/12/24/a-christmas-poem-spanglish/ ), which was copied from The Cuernavaca Outlook, December 4, 1998.

Turning point?

Is this the dawn of a new age for literature? It's the holiday season, the time for giving and receiving gifts. On the front page of Amazon.com, the Kindle ebook reader has been discounted down to $139 and is advertised as the "#1 Bestselling, #1 Most-Wished-For, #1 Most Gifted Product on Amazon".

Prices are down, purchases are up. Even with the economy in a such a sad state, people want the newest, coolest electronic gadget for Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanza/Festivus (for the rest of us). And I've talked to a few pro-print books people who are caving to the temptation and convenience of carrying around dozens, hundreds, over a thousand books on one compact screen.

*sigh* Times are changing fast indeed.

How much of a geek are you?

You know your a super geeky English major when.... you have a favorite literary critic. XD

That's pretty bad, no? But seriously, I think Jack Zipes is brilliant. I read some of his books for a research paper I wrote about the story of Rapunzel last year. Zipes has some wonderful feminist theory about fairy tales, and I agree with his assessment that fairy tales have a huge social impact (which I'd love to research further).

Although he's now retired, Dr. Zipes used to be a Professor of German (not surprising) and Comparative Literature at the University of Minnesota.

I was reminded of Jack Zipes because 1.) I watched Disney's Tangled  and 2.) I found an article written by him in a book about Utopian and Dystopian literature I was reading as research for my Margaret Atwood seminar class. So cool!

His books are on my Christmas list, such as this one here, humorously titled Don't Bet on the Prince. And Fairy Tale as Myth/ Myth as Fairy Tale. Most importantly, someday I want to buy The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm which has been translated anew by Zipes. <3

I actually never read any of the Brothers Grimm versions. I had a book by Hans Christian Anderson as a kid, which was really cool too.

If you weren't certain I am a super geek English major, you can be now. 

I literally squeed when I saw this photo. That's Jack Zipes on the left & Neil Gaiman on the right.

So, now that I've proven my geekiness, this post is done </bow out>.

Semester Ends

The end of semester is upon us. Hooray! Although my journalism class has finished and I'm no longer required to keep daily updates on this blog, I will still write in it. I have my other blog that I use to communicate with friends, so I don't know how much of this content will be transferred over to there. *shrug* For the time being though, I'll stick around here. =)

Who knows. Maybe someone will actually read this blog besides me. lol

Let down thy hair

I saw the new Disney princess movie, Tangled, this past weekend. It was really cute. I loved it almost as much as The Princess and the Frog. Since Tangled is the story of Rapunzel, I was curious about the non-Disney fairy tale behind it. It seems that the Brothers Grimm wrote down a version. I say wrote down instead of created, because they recorded a bunch of fairy tales and then picked and chose their ideas of the best combinations of similar versions to publish.
(Eek! Bad tanget. Back to the doghouse with you.)

Ahem. Anyway, in the Disney version, Rapunzel's hair has magical healing powers, provoked by a song/incantation. In the Brothers Grimm version, the hair wasn't anything special besides that it was long. And in  fact, the ending was very different (I won't give away the Disney one because I hate spoilers).

Here's how Wikipedia explains it:

        Together they [Rapunzel & the prince] planned a means of escape, wherein he would come each night (thus avoiding the enchantress who visited her by day), and bring her silk, which Rapunzel would gradually weave into a ladder. Before the plan came to fruition, however, Rapunzel foolishly gave the prince away. In the first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, Rapunzel innocently says that her dress is getting tight around her belly; in subsequent editions, she asks the witch (in a moment of forgetfulness) why it was easier for her to draw him up than her. In anger, Dame Gothel cut short Rapunzel's braided hair and cast her out into the wilderness to fend for herself. When the prince called that night, the enchantress let the severed braids down to haul him up. To his horror, he found himself staring at the witch instead of Rapunzel, who was nowhere to be found. When she told him in anger that he would never see Rapunzel again, he leapt from the tower in despair and was blinded by the thorns below. In another version, the witch pushes him and he falls on the thorns, thus becoming blind.
         For months he wandered through the wastelands of the country. One day, while Rapunzel sang as she fetched water, the prince heard Rapunzel's voice again, and they were reunited. When they fell into each others' arms, her tears immediately restored his sight. In another variation, it is said that Rapunzel eventually gave birth to two boys (in some variations, a girl and a boy). The prince leads her to his kingdom, where they lived happily ever after. In another version of the story, the ending reveals that the witch untied Rapunzel's braid after the prince leapt from the tower, but it slipped from her hands and landed below the tower. This left the witch trapped in the tower.

The original story came from the story of Rudaba in an ancient Iranian book called Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi around 1000 AD. Some elements of the fairy tale might also have originally been based upon the legends about Saint Barbara, who was said to have been locked in a tower by her father.

I would like to read the actual Brothers Grimm version and the story or Rudaba sometime. =D

Dream writer

Some people find their muse while sitting on the john. I generally have a good time brainstorming while showering or right when I wake up. Sometimes, I even get story ideas from dreams. This is not uncommon. In fact, I'd say that most writers of fiction (perhaps even poetry or creative non-fiction) are hit with inspiration from dreams. The other day, I had a good story idea and mentioned it to one of my roommates--coincidentally, it was the roommate that isn't a writer. She thought the idea was cool, but teased me about it coming from a dream, saying that I was like Stephanie Meyer. Ugh.

I suppose many writers would take that as a major insult. I can't deny it didn't ruffle my feathers a little.

Of course, I quickly rectified her thinking in explaining how frequently dreams inspire writers. And then she explained her reaction because when she was interested in the Twilight series and watched interviews of Stephanie Meyer online, she said that all the interviewers mentioned how Meyer saw the entire series as a dream(s). Honestly, I think it was stupid that so many people were astounded by that. But there it is. Big deal.

Marginality II

Going off yesterday's post, in my Margaret Atwood class on Tuesday there was one student's used textbook that had a lot of writing in the margins. Lots and lots. It was the stupidest marginality I've ever seen. Hilarious. The previous owner of the book wrote multiple times that she thought the author (Atwood) was crazy (hehehe) and she (feminine handwriting) also did not get any of Atwood's humor (sad indeed). AND she did not understand that the chapter headings on each page was not part of the text itself... even multiple pages later she kept pointing out and questioning the title of the chapter on each page not fitting into the text below.
lol! supreme stupidity.

Which led me to an interesting story idea I'd like to experiment with sometime.
The concept of the invisible pen-pal has already been explored, but this would have a twist.
    I would write about a book (either completely made up or some classical fiction book) that has a lot of writing in the margins and lots of room to look for marginality in the text. This book would be found by someone who would write back to the comments written in the margins... mostly arguing with the marginal writing, me thinks.

Then, I could relate the goings on in the book and with the arguing margin-writers with the person's life. Better yet, wouldn't it be so interesting if the first writer did not like the book (or certain passages) so much that they crossed out/ marked out with marker/ covered to make room for their own writing of the book? That would be so neat!

I'll have to save that idea to work on another day. I think that would be an interesting novel to write. =D

Marginality

Lately, one of my English professors has been talking about marginality pertaining to what's in the margins of the book, i.e. what's insinuated or alludes to something else that is not expressly mentioned in the text... Or what we write in the margins of the book.

It might surprise some people that even though I'm an English major, I hate writing in books. Or at least I did... I still prefer not to if I can help it. Strange, I know.
"Hi. My name is Lindy. And I have a problem."
Audience: "Hi, Lindy."

I've always been one of the OCD book people where I want to keep the book in the best, most pristine condition possible. No dog ears. No underlining, God forbid highlighting, circling or words written in my book. Most especially, no bent covers and Never break the spin ("or I break you neck" I'd joke with friends who borrow my books).

Unfortunately I've learned that I pretty much have to write in book for school. For a few years I tried not to, but it's too inconvenient. How am I supposed to take a timed exam of 3 short essays and 2 long essays without points marked in the book to help me find quotes?! Let me tell you, it was very difficult.

There is another, non-book-punishing way to go about this, but.... that's a lot of sticky notes. A lot. And, if they fall out of my books in my backpack or wherever - screwed. So, there you have it. I'm getting better at it each semester, making myself underline quotes and key points to help me study. It's handy, but I think it will still be a long, long while before I'd ever mark up one of my personal, leisure reading books. One, they are awesome overall. Two, do not want my pages marked up. Three, there are so many cool parts that I'd run out of pens.


P.S. Dog-eared pages = the devil. Why would you do that? Why?!?! ok, I'm done.

Disney Dystopia?

So, I haven't read many dystopias before, but I'm researching them for my paper. They are different than I thought. I thought that they would be the opposite of utopias. In many ways, they are, but they can easily cross over. Look at it this way, one man's paradise can be another's prison. Utopia, the perfect/ideal world, cannot be perfect for everyone. I also thought it interesting how one author wrote about Disneyworld as a high point of technology, the utopian ideology, the American dream, and simultaneously be the ideal carcereal society of consumer capitalism. Pretty freaky, if you think about it.