Windfalls ~ questions for "Into the Flux" section

It's interesting that what we notice in reading concerns whateve is going on in our lives at that time. I noticed this section about Cerise brushing her daughter's hair. See if you can figure out why this part stood out for me:

"On weekdays Melody had to brush her own hair. But Saturdays Cerise could fix it for her. On Saturdays she could take her time, glorying in the golden heft and gloss of her daughter's hair, brushing until it shone and crackled, and then, when it lay across Melody's shoulders and down her back like a tamed waterfall, trying out the styles she'd imagined all week as she dusted and mopped" (p. 62).

You would never guess. My 8-year-old granddaughter has lost her hair, which used to be long and blonde like Melody's, cascading over her shoulders. Now she wears a ballcap or a hairband around her baldness (as in this recent photo of her), which is caused by Alopecia areata totalis. Otherwise, she looks like a newborn yet to grow hair.

All in all, this was a depressing section to read, maybe because things in the world today seem as bad as in the book. We have rising gas prices and food priced beyond the ability of some people to pay for it; the book has a pregnant Anna whose husband has lost his job, and Cerise who is back in school with a rebellious daughter who has been fired from McDonald's.

QUESTIONS:
What depressing things have you picked up in the book? What positive things?

What do you think will come of this fight between Cerise and Melody about the battery?

"Don't worry, Travie," Melody called after them as she opened the refrigerator. "Meedee'll get you a new battery. I promise" (p. 126).

Windfalls' "Because" Discussion Questions

Does anybuddy remember the 1970s?

I was born in 1980. So, nope. I'm a young'un.

When were you in school?

I was in college and grad school from 1999 to 2005. In some sense, I'm still in school as I am working (very) part-time towards my MBA.

Can you relate to either young woman's situation?

I am relating to Anna a lot right now. I've never been pregnant or had an abortion. But I totally get where she is coming from not being able to imagine being a mother or wanting a child. I still feel that way. I don't dislike children. I love my young cousins and was so excited when my little sister got pregnant. I'm very scared that I feel this way actually. I would have thought by now that I'd want children. And I worry that I never will, that is feel like I want children. This has been on my mind a lot lately given that my sister is trying to get pregnant and we are very close. She'd like us to be pregnant and have our children together.

Do you know someone who has lost a baby?

The above mentioned sister, Mary, has lost two babies in the past two years. The first was a tubular pregnancy and she bled out and had to have emergency surgery. The second one just stopped growing and she didn't miscarry and had to have a DNC. The doctor says the two incidents aren't related and she should have no trouble getting pregnant again and carrying a baby to term. She is currently trying to get pregnant again.

Do you know someone who raised a child alone?

My cousin, Matt, has a child out of wedlock who must now be around four. But she lives with her mother in Michigan.

One of my close girl friends in grad school divorced her husband our third year of school. He was very abusive, both physically and emotionally. She had kept going back to him after separating several time while we were in school because she hadn't the money to support herself and her son and she had no one to care for her son while she was in class or studying. Her son was about 10 at the time. After the divorce, I remember her bring her son to B&N and the library when she studied. He was a wonderful kid and very well-behaved. I loved to spoil him with little things. My friend, she was a great mother. She and her son had a good relationship and he was lucky to have her for a mother.

I may be opening a can of worms here, but what's your opinion about abortion?

To be brief, I am pro-choice though I do not know if I would personally have an abortion. I was brought up very pro-life.

Questions from "Because"

Does anybuddy remember the 1970s? When were you in school?

I graduated from high school in 1982, so I guess I'm about the same age as Anna and Cerise. I don't remember a lot about the 1970s, at least not until near the end. I do remember the controversy about the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) - which failed to be ratified by the extended deadline of June 1982. The women's movement, Roe v. Wade, and ERA are all important parts of U.S. history, and as a feminist, I have read widely about this period of time, even if I don't have a lot of personal memories of it.

Can you relate to either young woman's situation? Do you know someone who has lost a baby? Do you know someone who raised a child alone?

I have never personally experienced either Anna's or Cerise's circumstance. One of my sisters lost her first baby in 1999 - just weeks before my youngest child was born - in a situation similar to that of Anna's grandmother, and another sister lost her six-month-old adopted son to SIDS at the end of 2006, so I do have some sense of the story's feeling of loss. I can't think of anyone I know well who has raised a child alone without having been first married to the child's father, even if only briefly. My own mother raised seven daughters as a single parent, though, so I have a good frame of reference for some of Cerise's experience.

I may be opening a can of worms here, but what's your opinion about abortion?

On the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade (January 22, 2007), I wrote a post about my view that a woman's right to choice is non-negotiable. The post is titled "Both Pro-Life and Pro-Choice." I don't think I explain my viewpoint here any better than I did there, so please go check it out.

Updated answer about the camel bookmobile

Ellen asked Masha:

How many people does the camel bookmobile reach?

Masha replied on April 7th:

Great question. I don’t know the answer. I could guess, but I decided I would send Mr. Farah an email asking him instead. I just did that, and hopefully will hear something back in a week or so. I’ll let you know.

UPDATE: On April 11th Masha sent an email saying:

From Mr. Farah:
"The camel service reaches 4,200 people in the Garissa area and 2,000 people around Wajir at this time."

__________

Note from Bonnie: I'm sorry, everybuddy, that I corresponded with Masha about this information from Mr. Farah ... and then I totally forgot to share it with you until now! I think I've been trying to do too many things.

WF ~ answering the discussion questions

Ellen D. commented:

I thought it a shame that the grandmother's revelation did not somehow come before Anna's abortion, that would have been her only chance to rethink the decision. I wanted Anna to think about her decision more (though it was more realistic that she did not), so that Anna could see that even after a lifetime, she won't stop thinking about the baby that could have been. It seems Anna never really considered anything but abortion. Honestly, from her point of view, I think that is what I would have done in that point of my life--but I am so grateful that never was an issue. Someone that age college/career oriented would let a medical procedure and a few yucky days of healing stop her...they think they can forget...they forget biology...evolution...however, in hindsight...so even if I see that Anna did not think about this nearly enough...but at that point in her life, as smart and educated as she was, it was all about her. She could only see one future.

Interesting that her grandmother's revelation was not devastating to Anna--the knowledge that the aborted baby would not disappear from memory--but healing to Anna. I guess for the first time she realized she was not alone?

The uneducated Cerise wanted the baby to right all the wrongs of her childhood...and frankly, she wasn't capable (?) of envisioning a future like Anna's. She just wanted someone to love her. But so far, she seems like a pretty good mother.

I was 8 in 1973. I didn't know what the word abortion meant until I was probably 12 or 13. It didn't sound so awful then. I think that is like seeing it from the perspective of Anna. That a teen pregnancy would ruin your vision of your life. You think about yourself in those years, not anyone else, and certainly not being a mother (very out of fashion for a college woman in the 70s and 80s to think about a family). Now seeing it from the point of view of a mother--I would opt for life every single time. I would raise my daughter's baby. They are all a blessing.

My view on abortion: it is not a government issue, it is a personal one. Why the big stink? It is not something that affects my life. If you want an abortion, go right ahead, if you can find a doctor who will do it for you. But any doctor shouldn't have to perform abortions if he doesn't believe it is right or safe.

I do know a girl that is raising twins without a husband, but she is living with her parents and so it is like she has 3 parents. It is a loving situation and I think the babies will grow up fine. I have a cousin that had a miscarriage and am always surprised she remembers her lost baby's due date a day of sadness and is certain that the baby she lost was her girl (she has 4 boys).

And Tango Makes Three

Penguin tale tops list of `challenged' books By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer Tue May 6, 3:42 PM ETNEW YORK - A children's story about a family of penguins with two fathers once again tops the list of library books the public objects to the most. "And Tango Makes Three," released in 2005 and co-written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, was the most "challenged" book in public schools and libraries for the second straight year, according to the American Library Association."The complaints are that young children will believe that homosexuality is a lifestyle that is acceptable. The people complaining, of course, don't agree with that," Judith Krug, director of the ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom, told The Associated Press on Tuesday.The ALA defines a "challenge" as a "formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.

Any opinions about banning books for children?

Windfalls

After canning beets all day, Anna's grandmother told her she'd lost a daughter at birth -- her only daughter -- whom she'd named Lucy, from the Latin word for "light." She'd just told Anna about her "conceit" about canning, that she imagined herself "preserving light, you know, caught in those vegetables and fruits -- I was putting up light in those glass jars, saving sunlight down cellar until we needed it, in the dark of winter" (p. 56).


This is an amazing quote and a great reason for me to want to read this book! How many people would remember that sugar is really stored light energy and express it this way? This appeals to this retired biology teacher!