I've been thinking a lot about feminism of late, and so today I chose a poem that relates to the subject.

From On the Equality of the Sexes Part I by Judith Sargent Murray

Yet cannot I their sentiments imbibe
Who this distinction to the sex ascribe,
As if a woman's form must needs enroll
A weak, a servile, an inferior soul;
And that the guise of man must still proclaim
Greatness of mind, and him, to be the same.
Yet as the hours revolve fair proofs arise
Which the bright wreath of growing fame supplies,
And in past times some men have sunk so low,
That female records nothing less can show.
But imbecility is still confined,
And by the lordly sex to us consigned.
They rob us of the power t'improve,
And then declare we only trifles love.
Yet haste the era when the world shall know
That such distinctions only dwell below.
The soul unfettered to no sex confined,
Was for the abodes of cloudless day designed.

Read more here.

Today we're going down under with the Summer Blog Blast Tour group!  It's the first installment of our One Shot World Tour, where we talk about books and authors from just one country (or two, when they're close in proximity like Australia and New Zealand) for just one day.  I'm not contributing my own content this time out, but I would like to bring to your attention the day's related posts.  (List modified from Colleen of Chasing Ray.)

Margo Lanagan Interviewed at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Melina Marchetta introduced at Writing and Ruminating
Big A, little A writes about Anna Feinberg and her "Tashi" series
Jenn at Not Your Mother's Bookclub interviews Simmone Howell
Chicken Spaghetti reviews Kathy Hoopmann's award winning All Cats Have Asperger Syndrome
Gwenda at Shaken and Stirred is all about How Sassy Changed My Life, The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky and a wee bit more with Margo Lanagan
John Marsden's Tomorrow series discussed at Jen Robinson's Book Page
Jaclyn Moriarty and Penni Russon's Undine at Finding Wonderland
Little Willow discusses Finding Grace by Alyssa Brugman
At A Chair, a Fireplace & a Tea Cozy it is all about Catherine Jinks and her four "Pagan" books
Does My Head Look Big in This? and John Flanagan's The Icebound Land at Interactive Reader
Queenie Chan interviewed by the YA YA YAs
Hot Men of Children's Literature: Australian Edition, as well as John Marsden and "The Rabbits" (Part Two) (Part Three) at A Fuse #8 Production
Nick Earls at Chasing Ray
Peter Temple at Light Reading

I’m currently stage managing a production of the musical Rags, which is about Jewish immigrants coming to America in the early 1900s.  At the beginning of the play, as they approach Ellis Island, the immigrants see “a giant lady wearing a funny hat and holding something that look[s] like a broom."  In honor of the production’s closing weekend I give you one of the most famous poems in America, though people don’t realize it:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, With conquering limbs astride from land to land; Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. “Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Emma Lazarus, 1883

You can actually see the poem written in Emma Lazarus’s own handwriting at the Library of Congress website here.

In May, Colleen of Chasing Ray started a monthly litblog event: on the first Monday of the month, bloggers write about a book that they think is great and relatively unknown.  I haven’t participated yet, because recently I’ve been focusing on getting myself up to speed on some rather well-known books.  I’m still in that process, and so I don’t have any WCOBs for you today, but I want to point you to Colleen’s post, where she’ll be compiling a list of all of today’s WCOB posts:

Zombie Ass Kicking Edition

Enjoy!

LaVaughn is only 14, but she knows more than anything else in her life that she’s going to go to college.  Her mother has said so, and when her mother speaks a thing, it becomes true.  College isn’t going to pay for itself, though, so LaVaughn gets a job babysitting Jeremy and Jilly, the two children of Jolly.  Jolly is seventeen and works in a factory.  As LaVaughn forms a relationship with the family and begins to see the way Jolly’s life has spiraled out of her control, she begins to question herself.  Is it wrong for LaVaughn to take money from Jolly to avoid ending up in the same situation?  If LaVaughn babysits for free, is she sacrificing her future?  Is she allowing Jolly to keep spinning her wheels without making any forward progress in life?  Should LaVaughn feel responsible for Jolly’s situation?

Virginia Euwer Wolff achieves a great deal in Make Lemonade.  She paints a picture of two families in poverty going in drastically different directions; LaVaughn is poor but has a plan for life and a mother who supports her.  Jolly has no one but her children, and lives from one day to the next.  Wolff creates in Jolly a character who is sympathetic and frustrating at the same time.  She shows the tension between LaVaughn’s responsibility to herself and her desire to help others. 

Amidst all this, Wolff uses language that is both artful and accessible.  Written in verse, Make Lemonade feels like poetry but is not at all stilted.  Each line flows into the next, but it’s clear that each line break is carefully chosen.  Make Lemonade would be an excellent introduction to the verse novel for those who may be wary of the genre.

I would recommend Make Lemonade to readers who enjoy verse novels, as well as anyone looking for a story that is uplifting without being saccharine.
 
Book: Make Lemonade (Affiliate Link)
Author: Virginia Euwer Wolff
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Original Publication Date: 1993
Pages: 208
Age Range: Young Adult
Source of Book: Library

Emily Beeson has declared July 16 Tell An Author You Care Day.

I'm getting in on this at the end, with a rather short entry, but I want to participate.

The author I want to thank today is Dia Calhoun.  Ms. Calhoun is the author of The Phoenix Dance, a fantasy novel which captures the essence of Bipolar Disorder by using a fantastical metaphor: The Kingdom of Darkness and the Kingdom of Brilliance.

I don't have bipolar disorder; I do have clinical depression.  I have experienced the Kingdom of Darkness and Ms. Calhoun writes about it in a way that I think makes it much more accessible than any explanation I've been able to give.  I have several friends with bipolar disorder; one of my friends with bipolar disorder killed herself this past March.  The Phoenix Dance helped me to understand what she had gone through, what my friends who are still living with this disease deal with every day, and why it is so important that all of us take our medicine, even if it does make us far too emotionally even and affects our bodies in unpleasant ways.

Tomorrow evening I will write up a full review of The Phoenix Dance, complete with my favorite quotes.

For now I will just say:

Thank you, Dia Calhoun, for writing such a moving book that uses fantasy for its greatest purpose: to expose and make familiar ordinary situations by putting them in extraordinary circumstances.

You're The Poisonwood Bible!
by Barbara Kingsolver
Deeply rooted in a religious background, you have since become both isolated and schizophrenic. You were naively sure that your actions would help people, but of course they were resistant to your message and ultimately disaster ensued. Since you can see so many sides of the same issue, you are both wise beyond your years and tied to worthless perspectives. If you were a type of waffle, it would be Belgian.
Take the Book Quiz at the Blue Pyramid.

I'm leaving tomorrow for a week-long vacation in Florida.  The state of Florida is my favorite place in the world.  The moment you drive across the Georgia-Florida border, life improves, because now you're in Florida.  Florida is a magical place; just ask Piers Anthony.  (For the record, my current home, North Carolina, is also pretty magical; and in a letter Piers once told me that if Xanth hadn't been in Florida it would've been in North Carolina.)  Florida is my heart's true home, and in honor of my trip there and my love of that great state, I am posting the state song today.

Commentary from me is in bold.

Way down upon the Swanee River,
Far, far away,
There's where my heart is turning ever,
There's where the old folks stay.
All up and down the whole creation,
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for the old plantation,
And for the old folks at home. 

The Suwanee River is in Northern Florida.  For some reason the words "Swanee River" are associated with Yoohoo and snack cakes in my mind.  I think this is because in Tallahassee there's a street named after the river, and on that street there is a convenience store, where my parents purchased Yoohoo and snack cakes for me.

Chorus
All the world is sad and dreary,
Ev'rywhere I roam;
Oh! loved ones, how my heart grows weary,
Far from the old folks at home! 

Since a year or so before my sister was born, my maternal grandparents have lived in Florida, and my paternal grandparents have been there since my dad was about three.

Second Verse
All roun' the little farm I wandered,
When I was young;
Then many happy days I squandered,
Many the songs I sung.
When I was playing with my brother,
Happy was I;
Oh! take me to my kind old mother,
There let me live and die. 

When my dad was in library school he and my mom made friends with a couple, and the woman in this couple had a family farm.  It was a cane farm, and every year they'd have a big family reunion on Thanksgiving.  The couple invited us there a few times, and I would run around with all the kids of this family and with my little sister.  It was a lovely place.  I liked watching them make cane syrup.  I also liked drinking cane syrup.  I've recently discovered that I prefer things sweetened with dried cane juice.  Yay, Florida!  Cane is also a major crop of the West Indies, and a source of great wealth for the people pirates plundered.

Third Verse
One little hut among the bushes,
One that I love,
Still sadly to my mem'ry rushes,
No matter where I roam.
When will I see the bees a humming,
All roun' the comb?
When will I hear the banjo strumming,
Down in my good old home?

I never lived in a hut in Florida.  House, townhouse, duplex.  No hut.  I also don't really care for bees, and I'm indifferent towards the banjo.

This is the story of what really happened.  This is the truth.

When Emma moved to Orsonville back in the third grade, Anna introduced herself.  They soon became fast friends, and Emma hasn’t really spent time with anyone else.  Now the girls are in ninth grade, and the glamorous and edgy Mariah has introduced them to her circle of friends, broadening their social horizons greatly.  One night the girls tell their parents that they’re going to the movies when really they’re going to Mariah’s boyfriend’s house for a party.  They get caught in this lie by their parents and make up another, bigger one, to cover it up: they were on their way to the movies but took some time to just hang out by the river.  When they were at the river, a strange man attacked them.  They managed to escape, but never made it to the movies.

When the girls tell the lie, they think it will get them off the hook and that will be that.  Instead, their parents get the police involved, their school holds assemblies to discuss the event, a man is arrested, and the women of the community stage a “Take Back the Night” rally.  

In Harmless, Dana Reinhardt tells the story using each of the girls’ voices.  We get a different perspective from each of them and learn their motivations and see what their lives are like from the inside.  This unique form of narration allows each girl to be a whole character, rather than limiting us to one girl’s perspective on the other two.  We also see how each character changes: Anna, the good and unpopular girl, decides to open up and finally start being a little wild; Emma, the “normal” one, withdraws into herself; Mariah, who has always been rebellious, starts to take life more seriously.  

Harmless is very different from Reinhardt’s first book, A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life.  The tone is darker, though the subject matter is of equal seriousness.  Harmless is, above all else, intense.  It examines what can happen when we lose control of our lies.  It also shows us that people may not be just the way you perceive them.  Mariah’s inner thoughts reveal her to be not at all the girl Anna thought she was.  Emma’s family has secrets she doesn’t share, even with her best friends.  Anna has a desire to be different than she is, but doesn’t express this until Mariah presents her with the opportunity.

Harmless is an excellent book.  I would recommend it to readers who like books that make them think.  It contains language and content that make the YOUNG ADULT label necessary and emphatic: parents may want to read it before giving it to their children.

Book: Harmless (Affiliate Link)
Author: Dana Reinhardt 
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books
Original Publication Date: 2006
Pages: 240
Age Range: Young Adult
Source of Book: Borders
Other Blog Reviews: Big A little a, propernoun.net, interactivereader, Becky’s Book Reviews, Sara’s Holds Shelf, Kids Lit, I’m A Reading Fool
Extras: My Interview with Dana Reinhardt, Interview at Interactive Reader, Interview at Bildungsroman

In honor of my cat-related article up at Associated Content, I’m posting a cat poem today.

Had Tiberius Been a Cat
Cruel, but composed and bland,
Dumb, inscrutable and grand,
So Tiberius might have sat,
Had Tiberius been a cat.

Matthew Arnold 1822-1888 

Tiberius was the second emperor of Rome.  You can read more about him here.  I’m not sure if this is the Tiberius the poet intended, but it sounds a lot like him.