I am a married woman. It such a strange feeling. I have been someones wife for a month.
Most things are just the same, but I’m surprised by some of the things that have changed. For example, whereas before the wedding I would get possesive and jelous when he was hanging out with close female friends, now I find it doesn’t bother me at all. I guess I now know he’s not going anywhere. I can also make the point he’s mine to every woman who comes in. I think before we married all the women he knew had known him from before me, so they had some kind of stake on him. I know that sounds insane, I was insecure and unsure of myself for a long time, but I think that time is over. I know where I want to go, what I want to do and who I want to do it all with. I have staked my claim, and I know he’s mine. Its a good feeling.
So married life is going well, we’re decorating at the moment so we’re a little busy.
The Good Terrorist was first published in 1985. It follows the main character Alice Mellings in her bid to become an communist activist. In the process we meet Jasper, the homosexual man she she loves and who leeches off of her. Bert the supposed leader of No 43 who seems weak and lack lustre. Pat girlfriend at the beginning of the book, who leaves to move on to more ’serious’ things and Jim who was there first but leaves after an action Alice takes causes him to loose his job. Faye and Roberta are the lesbian couple who move between number 42 and a woman’s commune where they have friends. Faye has occasional mental breakdowns which Roberta deals with in a loving and maternal fashion. Caroline joins the group from the house down the road where ‘comrade Andrew’ is first encountered. A mysterious and worrying character who seems to be a part of the darker, shadier dealings within the politics he professes.
Through mis-haps and miscommunication this eclectic group come together as a community, transforming the house into a home. Yet just as the houses beams are rotted, so too are the foundations of this group. They hold unformed ideas and vague ideals based on what they perceive to be Lenin’s works, the hold aspirations of joining the IRA and making radical social changes. Yet unlike other groups you cannot say they are all talk, sadly they act. On few ideals and misshapen views they build a bomb which they set off killing one of they’re own and 4 or 5 others. Over 20 injured. The credit is given (thanks to Alice) to the IRA, who deny all knowledge of it.
Lessing is able to portray this group of misfits and wanna-be radicals in a way which allows the reader to like the character and abhour their actions. Alice in particular is a difficult character to grasp, she appears genuine and kind to begin with and the character herself does not change, it is the misguided actions and the consequences that seem to hit other people before (if they ever do) hit Alice. Her naivety and her selective memory cause many issues and at points in the book you want to yell at her to understand.
Her own mother is probably the closest we come to Lessing’s voice and the only character to stand there and yell what the reader is thinking at Alice. Dorothy stands in the flat she has been reduced to from her large Hampsted home because she could no longer afford to look after Alice and Jasper in her own home, and Alice had stolen her curtains which meant she had to sell her house for a less, another consequence that Alice escapes relatively easily. Dorothy tell’s Alice how she is merely another house wife in a different guise, no revolutionary at all. How Dorothy had wanted so much more for her, how she had struggled to get her an education and this was all that had become of her. Dorothy encompasses all the post feminist regret, the loss of idealism in the face of reality. She is the most realist voice in The Good Terrorist in my opinion. She gives an honest assessment of both the political situation and Alice’s radicalism. Whereas Alice does not read news or books that she considers to be ‘fascist’ her mother reads prolifically. Alice’s scorn of her mothers piles of books ‘up to the arm of her chair’ only go to emphasis Alice’s ignorance.
In parts I enjoyed ‘The Good Terrorist’ but mostly it disturbed me that people who are, for the most part, fairly ordinary, simple people, could blow up and kill 5 people then go home, drink tea and watch the news. Then be disappointed when someone else seems to take credit.
You tube video of ‘Jesus Walks’
Connecting with Culture commentary on ‘Jesus Walks’
Hip hop, R & D and rap are not my usual choice of music. Having said that, I will listen to pretty much anything and I have artists like Eminem, City High, Destiny’s child and indeed Kanye West on my MP3 collection. The songs I like by them tend to tell stories, or be songs about something, not just your average, money, booty and bling song. Given BX’s vocation I also pick up on things like religion in song, how its used and in what way.
‘Jesus Walks’ seems to be West’s declaration of faith as something that should not be hidden away or kept private. He makes the point that Jesus walks with everyone, not only the ‘good’ Christian and he is making a positive statement about Faith and his wish to express it.
I really like the song. I like the beat and I like the the message. BX would say ‘its spreading the word’. He specifically says he’s not trying to convert anyone, he just wants to be able to declare his faith.
My only issue is the one mentioned briefly in the commentary; Christian symbols are everywhere being used to sell ’stuff’. My worry is the message lost in the merchandise. I have no problem with people declaring their faith, but it seems to be the wrong people profiting from it. From River Island to George Bush. The commentator says ‘Christ is in politics’, I haven’t seen any of the ideas of Christ’s teachings. Christ is not the only person to preach peace, indeed the Koran teaches peace, but the word of religion is often mistaken for the action of its follows and organisations. Of course how else can we judge a religion if not by its follows? The biggest problem, as always, being that the majority of follows are not starting wars or using their faith as a catalyst for violence. Its just that the ones who are get talked about, whilst the people who run Christian aid (its Christian Aid week for those who didn’t know) or Islamic aid get no publicity (or in the case of Islamic charities issues arising from accusations of links with terrorist organisations - Islamic charities and the ‘War on Terror’: dispelling the myths)
I think I’ve gone a little off topic, i think I could probably give a whole blog entry on the above link all by its self! However, back to West and relegion in the media. I think I would say it is generally positive if done in the right way. I like West’s attitude that he’s not trying to push Christianity on anyone else, he just wants to be able to believe.
So Christ as merchandise? No thank you. Getting a message of beliefe and peace out to young people? Yes please. I guess its all a matter of balance.
Holland have chosen a completely different tact on drugs and it really seems to work. All the things politicians tell us that Drugs lead to are countered by the Dutch way of tackling with the issue.
Just wanted to keep for reference in the future. I think this would definitely be an article to use during drug education.
I was recently doing an essay on William Labov and Basil Bernstien’s theories of language in the classroom. In my research for the essay I came across Labov’s view of questions in the classroom (Snubbs, 1983). He was discussing the issues that arise for children from different social groups, for example it was found that children from American Indian backgrouds found questions deeply insulting, whilst Hawaiian children would talk freely with an adult who appeared interested, but would clam up under direct questioning in a classroom situation.
If this is the case it raises two concerns. 1. Are teachers merely perpetuating the class struggle through accommodating and teaching only white Middle class children who expect to be asked questions in the school setting?
2. Is there a way of teaching without asking questions? Can teachers use this information to come up with pedagogic practices that incorporate all the social groups? Is this even possible?
~Megz
I was born in 1987. I missed the cold war, I missed the most deadly IRA bombings. I grew up in the closet to peace the 20th Century probably ever saw. I grew up in London, so I knew in my head that bombs happened, but they didn’t happen to me or my family. Now I look around me and the world seems to be coming apart at the seems, slowly. No big wars, nothing that affects day to day life. But its always there, the next news report, the next page I stumble on to.
Was it the nuclear bombs that made the wars become nasty skirmishes where the big guys pick on the little guys? To afraid to fight each other, they attack those who can’t fight back?
I can see why…
The idea that there are people in the world with the power to unleash any one of those devices scares me. I suppose this is what people grew up with in the cold war. The idea that they could be blown away. I suppose the thing I love about humanity is the way we cope with those ideas. During the cold war people got on with their lives. After the 7/7 bombing people went back to work. And even knowing the destruction and horror that these bombs create, we still have the urge to know just how much, just what we could loose if one was dropped.
So have a go:
Blow up your bosses house and see if you get caught in the blast. Then let the realisation dawn. There is someone, somewhere, on this world, with the power to do this.
2008 begins.
Week one passed in a haze of late nights, and sleeping late. I think we needed it to recover from Christmas.
Christmas was expensive, but worth it! 10 people crammed into the front room Christmas day, meeting for only the second time (they met officially on Christmas Eve). My folks, Xanthus’ folks, my sister, Darksky and his girlfriend, and a friend from Manchester. The presents covered half the room, we almost didn’t manage to open them all before we had to go to dinner at the George Burrows. I got some fantastic presents, a lovely big book on Chaucer from Xanthus, a new bag and some DVD’s (I made Xanthus watch Orlando with me, I’m not sure I’ve been forgiven yet).
Dinner was fantastic, a proper meal for a decent price on Christmas day. It is a lovely old building built on a cliff with an amazing view of the welsh hills and a gorgeous waterfall. Well worth a look if your ever in the area: http://www.thegeorgeborrowhotel.co.uk/
After all the Christmas excitement we decided to have a quiet New year at our local pub. It turned out to be a really good night. We chatted with a few of the locals, played darts with two kids and managed to loose a dart down the *back* of the dart board (I was trying to teach them how to throw a dart, something I’m only just learning how to do myself, I’m not very good at it). We went home and ordered pizza at about 8:30, then went back to the pub after we’d eaten for New Year. We saw the New Year in together, laughing and hopeful for a new year!
Now its back to the slog, Xanthus is back at work, I’ve got exams coming up in under a week. Our years begun…
http://www.acme.com/jef/religion_sex/
Very interesting to see how sexual issues are addresses by different faiths.