No, These Fools Are Not to be Pitied...

Happy April Fools, Day, everyone. For most people, it’s a day of pranking, jokes, and changing the font on your website so everyone knows how whimsical you are. For those of us that pull pranks professionally, such as hiding little pictures of Paula Deen around someone’s office or slowing moving two parallel desks closer together, we tend to avoid days like this because it’s too commercialized.

Today for Bad Shakespeare 450, I do want to talk about fools, though. Specifically, Shakespeare’s fools. William Shakespeare LOVED his fools. Like most writers during his time period, he wrote for a specific acting troupe, one that had actors that liked to play “the romantic lead” or “the guy that goes all crazy and kills himself.” Presumably. 

But, Shakespeare DID have a clown on staff, by the name of William Kempe, who was Shakespeare’s resident “fool.” It is believed that William Shakespeare wrote many of his foolish parts specifically to ensure that Kempe was employed with him. Which would make sense, since Kempe was part of Shakespeare’s troupe, as far as we know.

The thing was, in many of Shakespeare’s plays, he enjoyed having the fool be the smartest guy in the room, and left the buffooning to the important people in the play. 

For instance, Twelfth Night featured a fool named Feste, who was often called upon to sing songs. Of course, Feste is the only character that figures out early on that this strangely feminine boy that has come to hang out with the Duke is, in fact, a woman in disguise. (And in Shakespeare’s day would have been a boy, playing a girl, pretending to be a boy, and would have been hilarious.) Most of the comedy lines were given over to Malvolio, a Puritan and Steward of the House that keeps screaming for revenge for slights against him. Fun little role reversal there.

Then there’s one of the most famous fools of all, King Lear’s Fool. While King Lear is essentially letting his kingdom come crashing down around him by diving it three ways amongst his daughters, it’s his fool who is constantly trying to get him to think straight. He provides the most commentary about what is going on, and he does so without fear, despite the fact that no one else will do so.

There’s my favorite pair of fools, The Gravediggers in Hamlet. They get some of the funniest lines in the play, all while digging a grave for Ophelia who at this point has killed herself. They provide the commentary as to what is going on, and they have a brief, quick, wordplay with a character who up until this point has been kind of dour and full of self reflection.

Why did Shakespeare choose to make the fool such an insightful character? Part of it was the same reason we like Jon Stewart or Jimmy Fallon... they can get away with saying things that we can’t. They can get away with saying a truth that we either don’t want to hear or would get us into trouble. Fools are often looked down upon because there is a myth that they aren’t smart, or because of the “stupid” things they say, when in reality they have to be the smartest people in the room, and at times the most insightful because how else are they going to figure out what is going on. Plus, when you have a jester or a comedian in a room, you tend to let your guard down a little.

Remember that next time you’re alone in a room with Jimmy Fallon. 

Welcome to Bad Shakespeare 450!

Welcome, ladies and/or gentlemen, to a very special time of year. The birds are chirping. It’s been almost a week since we’ve gotten snow. And we are getting ready to celebrate the birth of one of the world’s most famous writers, William Shakespeare. Given that his works have been translated into Klingon, i almost said the Universe’s most famous writer, but we all know that’s really the Monster of Unspeakable Terror from the Planet of Pain in the Horror Galaxy. Rather, he makes me say that, because, well, I’m terrified of him, as implied by the name.

So, why am I making a big hairy deal out of the fact that we are going to celebrate the birth of William Shakespeare this month? Because he’s 450 years old, baby! And that’s something worth celebrating, even if we’re not 100% entirely sure of his actual birth date. 

Bad Shakespeare is going to celebrate 450 years of the bard all month long with 30 all new posts celebrating him. 31 if you count this one, and you’re one of those sticklers for “numbers.” 

We’ll be talking about Shakespeare’s life, analysis of plays, his birthday, whether or not he was real (he was) and whether or not he managed to write all of those plays (that’s less clear.) We’ll also take a look at how his influences are felt even today, including with our Sons of Anarchy Friday we’re we’ll be exploring the incredibly violent, foul-mouthed, nudity prone FX show that was based after the incredibly violent, foul-mouthed, nudity prone play Hamlet. 

Some posts may be long, in-depth looks at the bard’s works. Some may be just short little facts, like the fact that he was married to Anne Hathway. But I plan on trying to look at some of the more unconventional interpretations  or lesser known plays that made up Shakespeare’s life and works, such as the supposed prequel he wrote to Don Quixote, or his later known works. 

So, I hope you can join me all month long as we celebrate the birth of the bard!

It's a Great Plan. I'm Excited to Be Part of It.

“I’d rather be happy than right any day.” 

-Douglas Adams

I’ve told many different versions of this story, depending on the listener. For you, gentle readers, and in some cases those that have heard a different version of this story, I’m going to give you this version. Which one is correct? The one that you prefer, I guess. What I’m writing here is as accurate as I’m choosing to be.

I don’t remember the date, but I remember that it was sunny out, one of those few days in late February that lulled the Washington, DC Area into believing that we were going to have an early spring before being sucker punched with a few more feet of snow. (The kids call it the  DC Area “ the DMV” for DC, Maryland, and Virginia, forgetting that the real DMV is a miserable place that no one wants to visit, which I guess is true of the DMV in late August.) I was using the daily half an hour afforded to me to race between my teaching internship and work when I was stopped at one of the many scenic stoplights that “The DMV”  has for people to wait at. As I looked over to my left, carefully calculating out how long it was been since I was last late to work and thus if I could stop for that sub at Wawa or if I could wait until dinner, when he entered my field of view.

This gentleman was not a man I had seen before. Given the number of people that are crammed into the DMV, it’s no surprise it’s someone I haven’t seen in the past; it’s actually more surprising to find someone you have seen before. The gray in the beard hinted at his age, but I wasn’t 100% certain. I couldn’t see his hair or eyes, as they were covered in a motorcycle helmet. Which made sense, since he was currently sitting atop of one, tattooed arms on both of the handles, one briefly moving up to his bearded face to remove the cigar that was clenched in between his teeth. He puffed out a cottony gray cloud of smoke. The motorcycle made a loud rumble to announce that that he had arrived. He placed the cigar back into his mouth, saw that I was looking at him. It must have been a look that demonstrated the awe I felt in that moment, because he let out a little nod, then took off into the daylight, ready to go wherever it was he felt like going at this moment. If you pardon the expression, this was a gentleman that clearly did not give one single fuck. 

I did not get a Wawa sub. 

Carefully checking the time to ensure that I was not going to be late (as if I had some control of the traffic which on a Wednesday afternoon went between “light” and “oh my God press the gas pedal why don’t you press the gas pedal why are we stopped?”) I mentally made a plan for the next day in my head. Continue to listen to a book on iTunes the class was “reading”... check. Make sure everyone was ready to work on the upcoming seminar... check. Think about an introduction to Julius Caesar... check. Get ready to write 7 page paper on school demographics... check. Get ready to write another paper on learning for my internship... check. Get motorcycle, cigar, and grow beard... 

My mind kept drifting back to this gentleman. I don’t know why, and it wasn’t until later that I even realized that had been thinking of him so much. And then I realized why it was. That man was happy. That man was enjoying himself in a way that I don’t think most of us know how. He could have had a terrible, crappy, miserable life, but at that moment, he was happy.

Then I started thinking about me. I was now doing what I had fought, studied and sacrificed for. I have spent a while chronicling my adventures on this website in my effort to become a high school teacher. I talked about my successes in class. I’ve talked about my desperation at not passing the Praxis 2. I talked about my excitement at finally, finally getting to be an intern. I even reminded everyone that I was somewhat realistic, knowing that I wouldn’t reach every kid. I started my internship...

... And I was miserable.

Now, let me pause in this self-journey to let everyone know that I had no problem with my mentor teacher, the administration, the classes, the students, the professor in charge of the class I had to take, or the school. In fact, I will still point out to this day that  I was extremely lucky in getting my Mentor Teacher - he clearly cared about teaching, the students, and making sure I had a great experience. I was lucky in the school. For privacy purposes I’ll leave out the names, but I clearly had a great school in a great area with some great students. The administration took an interest in my, ensuring that I got the opportunity to do what I wanted. The professor in the class I had to take ensured that everything was comfortable. 

Basically, I want to make sure it’s 100% something to do with me. Not anything to do with anybody. We good? Any other questions? No? I’ll continue.

...And I was miserable. I really had to think about why. The thing was, it was stressful. I mean, I was interning what amounted to a full day of “work”, then I’d go work as a Swim Coach which is time consuming, but not extremely taxing in terms of having a lot to do. The thing is, it’s still nothing I haven’t done before. I’ve worked full time while having classes or things to do in the evening. I’ve had full day presentations, sometimes in front of generals and audiences not as forgiving as high school students. Which, despite a lot of what you might hear, are pretty forgiving. I mean, to an extent, but that’s just human nature.

The thing is, you can only be so miserable for so long before realizing that this isn’t the path you’re meant to be on, no matter how hard you fought to convince yourself to be on it.

Now, after seeing Motorcycle Cigar Guy, I started to think long and hard about why I was miserable, and why I worked so hard to be on a path that ultimately made me miserable. Then I realized I had tried to get off the path a couple of times before. I even found an old email I had written after a class that went well, asking about transferring out of the Education Program onto something else.  The phrase I kept using was, “this just wasn’t for me.”

“It wasn’t for me” is probably the second most confusing phrase you can use in the English Language right behind “I didn’t enjoy Joss Whedon’s Firefly.” With that one, it’s just a simple matter of trying to understand why someone didn’t enjoy the best motley crew of space outlaws the world has ever seen. But with “it wasn’t for me” it raises all sorts of questions people that I don’t have the answer to. What does that phrase even mean? I used it and I’m still not entirely sure. I just knew that teaching Secondary Education “wasn’t for me.” 

For me, the phrase, “wasn’t for me” simply meant that while I believe Teaching to be a noble profession and I having nothing but respect for teachers... in fact some of my very good friends are high school teachers... I wasn’t enjoying teaching the way I thought I was. The thing was, after doing it, after standing in front of a classroom, I just knew that this was something that was no longer for me. It was something that I didn’t want to do, and I knew I hadn’t want to do for a very long time. It was something that I thought I wanted to do, and when I wanted out I listed to everyone’s encouragement. Well needed encouragement. Encouragement that I needed, encouragement that I at the time I wanted... but encouragement in the wrong direction.

Again, I want to thank everyone who gave me encouragement. I certainly needed it. Without it, I probably would have left this path sooner and probably would have been found wondering if this was my path, because it was something I was always curious about.

Which is why, after motorcycle guy and several long discussions that I should have had oh, let’s say a year and a half ago, I made the decision to leave my internship, leave the education program, and head off onto another path.

Whew. That’s a lot of buildup to what this post is even about. Almost a full post and a half. 

To outsiders, this looked like a spur of the moment, wow-you’re-overwhelmed, hey-what-are-you doing? decision. But it wasn’t. I have this problem, and I’m fully aware of it. No matter what I’m doing, I throw myself into it almost too fully. Bad job? No problem, let’s see what I can do to make things better. Bad relationship? Hey, nothing’s perfect, I need to make sure I commit myself to this. Bad TV Show? I need to find out what’s going to happen next week on an all new Revolution! It’s my deal and I’m aware of it. And when I got involved with the Education Program, despite the fact that after the first class was done, I started to identify myself as a teacher and nothing else, and that made it very difficult to find out what I wanted.

The truth is, I know what I want to do. I want to be a writer. I want to study literature, because I really enjoy it. I enjoy reading something that someone has written - anyone be it a centuries old novel about a guy that fights windmills, or a modern, futuristic, post-dystopian young adult novel novel about a girl that fights space windmills.  (I shall call it, Donna Quixote, make it a trilogy, and get Jennifer Lawrence to star. I’ll make a billion dollars.) And it’s taken me a long time to admit this, mostly because being a writer isn’t as noble a profession as teaching, and wanting to study dusty old works doesn’t really sound like a viable career choice when so many around you have found themselves at this point, have fancy homes, 2.5 kids, great jobs. It was hard enough going back and doing an internship then, but having to mention that you want to spend the time reading books, then writing great things about them.

The big question I’ve had to ask myself is why don’t I continue with the internship, get a job teaching then run off and do then teach while I get another degree to study? Because it’s not what I want to do, and I’m tired of waiting to do what I want to do. I want to walk into next semester and study English. I don’t want to delay anymore.

And this whole thing has been a positive experience. If I can study hard and figure out a Praxis test for something I only marginally want, how much harder am I going to work for something I really want? I had a good time with my fellow classmates, and I still learned something, even if it was just about myself. Plus, if It allowed me to start this blog, which will continue even if the focus is off teaching for a little bit.

So, what’s next? A lot of studying. Applying to graduate school again, this time for the English Program, where I’ll study all the great works, and past and present. A ton of reading. But that’s the plan. And it’s a great plan. And it’s the one that I want to do. I’m reinvigorated. 

It’s been a long journey. Not one that I intended to take. I strayed off my path for a little bit. But I saw a quote that I absolutely love, from an old TV Show called My Name is Earl. “That’s the great thing about having a path. Even if you stray off of it, it’s waiting for you when you get back.” I know that I strayed for a little bit. I had some good experiences. But it’s time to get back to what Michael B. Hock was meant to do. Study great works of literature while writing about them while being so awesome that it’s hard to stare directly at me without sunglasses.

Time to put on bike helmet, light up the cigar, and hop on that motorcycle, and get my life back on track. 

Casting Doubt

Kids, ask your parents. Or Google. Trust me, this picture is hilarious.

Recently, they announced the new cast for the third reboot of the Fantastic Four movie, hitting movie screens sometime between the sequel to the reboot for the new Superman movie franchise, and the original version of the Avengers that hasn’t yet been rebooted but features a rebooted Hulk. I shouldn’t say “they announced” so much as I probably should have said “they confirmed rumors that were leaked months ago” which is more accurate, probably by people who, if not authorized to leak such information, were probably rebooted themselves into new jobs.

Naturally, since it was announced, everyone on the internet was completely happy with the casting, there was no controversy, and everyone is eagerly awaiting the next big screen adventure of Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, and the Storm siblings, Johnny and Sue. The internet community came together to give the movie a big thumbs up and let them know that they were on the side of the actors, who all proved themselves. 

Naw. I’m kidding. This is the internet. 

I’ll skip most of the casting made up controversies that were extremely minor during this time, and mostly due to lack of research, and cut right to the big one, the casting of Michael B. Jordan as the Human Torch. Because he’s a different skin color than the guy in the comics. Of course, the guy in the comics can also shoot fire out of his hands, hangs out with a guy who can climb on walls, and died recently. (But got better, so it’s ok.) Also, he was once played by Captain America, fully confusing people that can’t tell the difference.

My one and only problem with Michael B. Jordan is that he didn’t think to take a stage name. Michael Keaton’s real name: Michael J. Douglas. He took the last name “Keaton” as a stage name because there already was a Michael Douglas in Hollywood. I wish that Michael B. Jordan had respected this, and changed his last name, too, as to not confuse him with underwear selling legend Michael (No B.) Jordan. End of problems with him.

Michael B. Jordan is actually a really good actor, having been in the Wire, Fruitvale Station, and Chronicle. I liked him in the parts of Chronicle I’ve seen, and I really don’t have a problem with casting him. He’s young, he’s charismatic, he’s pretty much what I might envision the Human Torch as being, had the Human Torch been first written today and not back in 1961, back when Michael B. Jordan wouldn’t have been allowed in certain restaurants, much less in space to be hit with Cosmic Rays. He’s young, he fits the part in most ways, but I would have been a little happier if they had gotten an actor that could also control fire by yelling “Flame on.” But hey... nobody’s perfect, right?

Naturally there are complaints because he doesn’t fit the traditional (re: white) model of the Human Torch. I can understand these complaints a little bit more because the Human Torch comes from a more visual based medium of comics, where he’s drawn and pretty much storyboarded out for the audience. Keep in mind I said I can understand it, doesn’t mean I agree that much. At the end of the day, the Fantastic Four are a fictional group of people that don’t really exist in the real world, so as long as an actor can pull off “FLAME ON!” with a straight face or “It’s Clobbering Time!” without breaking character, that’s really the pre-requisite for being able to play a character.

Thanks to the internet, there have been a lot of made up controversies over casting lately. We talked about Ben Affleck doing his best to not Ben Affleck-up the new Superman movie with is Batman impersonation. There was the brief dust up over people who couldn’t read, being mad about the skin color of Rue in the first Hunger Games movie, forgetting of course that despite the fact that she reminded Katniss of her blonde-haired, blue eyed sister, the character was in fact, black in the book. Back when Glee was first starting to Glee, people were mad that a REAL disabled actor wasn’t cast for the role of the one guy who’s in the wheel chair. And of course trans* people are mad that Jared Leto won his Oscar, and they didn’t cast a real trans* actor in the role.

I’m torn, because there are two points I’d like to make here. First being, all of those people were mad a few years ago back when they cast a certain actor in the role of a villain. Everyone was angry... how could they? How could they cast this actor in this iconic role, how badly will Heath Ledger screw up the next Batman movie in the role of the Joker. We all saw how that turned out.

The second being that people tend to forget that these are actors, playing parts. When you watch the next episode of Supernatural, I’d like to remind you that Mischa Collins, despite being an angel for his charity work, is not actually a fallen angel who has defied heaven. Sandra Bullock is definitely not an astronaut. (Thank God.) Jennifer Lawrence isn’t a shapeshifting, manically depressed dancer, who occasionally fights teenagers in a reality show. They’re actors. Michael B. Jordan’s one job is to look good long enough for the CGI Team to cover him in flames, then he can sip a nice cup of tea while yelling out his action lines. If he pulls that off, it will be a rousing success. Provided they don’t just put another rubber suit on a guy for the Thing. That looked bad.

I understand being protective of fictional characters, I really do. I understand having a certain look in your head for characters, and having that ruined. I understand it even more that this character is already drawn, and thus has a certain look that people already have in their heads. But the Human Torch isn’t real. Which actor would really be good for this role if you took look out of it? Basically, someone who’s a bit of a smartass, is able to look heroic, and is pretty charismatic. I think people tend to forget that Sue and Reed are the scientist, Ben is the working class guy meant to heave stuff around, and Johnny is the cocky pilot, who in the comics butts heads with Spider-man constantly and was so unimportant to the team he’s been replaced by a floating, talking robot, and, well... Spider-man. 

I’m just saying once again, let’s wait and see. I know this post hasn’t talked much about the fact that he’s supposed to be Sue Storm’s brother. I hope they don’t even acknowledge that he’s black and she’s white. It would blow everyone’s mind. The problem is, I really don’t see any of this as that big a deal. As I said, the comic was written in 1961. Of course the guy going into space would have been white. It’s 2014. It’s time to move on from this, and just see how the actor is going to do in the role. 

It's Monday, Time to Over-Analyze Another Young Adult Novel Movie.

On Friday, I posted my review of Divergent, a book that came out a mere three years ago and I finally got around to reading. Truth is, I finished it up about a month ago, but didn’t post anything about it because I knew the movie was coming out, and I figured “hey, why not post it the same day?” because as much as I enjoy writing Bad Shakespeare, I’m doing this with the end goal of eventually getting my stuff published, and to do that I need readers, and to do that I need to be somewhat topical. I probably won’t delay that much on Insurgent, the second Divergent novel, but I do plan on posting my review of whatever book Noah was based on the same day that movie comes out, if I can figure out which book it was based on. (Anyone have any ideas?)

The curtain is pulled back on good old Bad Shakespeare! Gaze! Gaze into the mind of my writing process.

That’s pretty typical, wait until something comes out or is popular, then do an opinion piece, blog, interpretive dance, or art show based on what just happened. and since Divergent is meant to make roughly eleven billion dollars through movies, merchandise, and at home Divergent testing kits to ensure you fall in line and aren’t yourself Divergent, it’s important to post as much as you can about it.

Of course, with great popularity comes great criticism. Some people see something that’s popular and simply do not understand why it is popular or why they should enjoy it, and after careful consideration figure they don’t like it and want to tell why. Others just see people having fun and want to rain on that parade as much as possible. 

The worst “analysis” I’ve seen has been the dumping on of Young Adult Novels. I’ve spoken in the past about how much I enjoy Young Adult Novels, mostly because lately they appeal the sci-fi geek in me that would have gotten beaten up for reading these types of novels when I was growing up. You live in an age of wonder, current science fiction fans, or even fans that can dress up as wizards freely.

I guess I don’t understand WHY we need to knock Young Adult Novels, particularly when they do what we need people to do, which is read. These aren’t just paint by number, easy to read books that I think some of these anti-YA people seem to think they are... they’re still complex novels with pretty good characters (except Simon from Mortal Instruments. No amount of Vampiring can make me like him.) I don’t understand the need to make fun of, insult, or talk down to them.

Of course, I talked about this before, I’ve been called out for reading YA novels in public, less so since I started reading them on my Kindle or these new fangled fancy e-reading machines that are all the rage these days. I don’t do it to hide my love of YA, rather, because it’s simply easier to carry around, and it takes up less space on ye olde book shelf. Seriously, I’m running out of space for books in my house, and unless I start covering them up and pretending they’re furniture, I’m in a lot of trouble. 

It’s just whenever one of the YA books turned movies comes out, we get yet another analysis on the “state of the YA novel.” And it usually goes like this:

• Why are adults reading these books/watching these movies?
• Why are these all following the same plots, why can’t they all be different?
• Why are they all handsome people?
• Will it franchise?

Forgetting, of course, that they’re a genre of novel, and anyone can read them and enjoy them... they’re good. They also forget that when something becomes popular,  a lot of people do it. How many Wizard of Oz adaptations are in the pipeline right now? Seven? Didn’t we just get like, two TV shows that follow the adventures of fairytale creatures? Or the whole 30 Rock/Studio 60 Debate? (For those who don’t remember, Studio 60 was the behind the scenes look at a sketch comedy show that was supposed to beat out that other funny one, and only lasted one season.) Simply put, EVERYWHERE you see things that are similar, which why studios are literally scraping the bottom of the barrel of anything that remotely resembles a comic book to make a movie. Coming up next: Squirrel Girl, the movie!

While I don’t know if they are making a movie, there really was a Squirrel Girl who had the ability to talk to and control Squirrels, and dated Wolverine. No. I’m not making this up.

As for the last two... please. Stop including these in YA novel think pieces as real questions. They replaced the actress who originally voiced the computer in Her with Scarlett Johansson the first chance they got. THE VOICE. And franchises? Which Shrek are we up to? How many Fast and Furious movies are we on right now? And that was based after which novel? Yeah. That’s my point.

My point is: you should read and enjoy Young Adult Novels, if that’s your thing. And you should see the movies, if that’s your thing. But when you start over-analyzing it, or telling people they shouldn’t... chill out. Relax.

Now go go work on my screenplay for an adaption of Squirrel Girl. 

Book Report: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Let’s take a moment to talk about choices and what’s “best for us” shall we? Throughout life, we are constantly making choices. Some of them are small. Should I wear a red shirt or a blue shirt today? That’s a choice that won’t affect you much unless you’re an extra on Star Trek. Some of them are big. Do I go to school to study medicine or clowning? That one can affect the course of your life, after all one is a respected career full of late nights, studying, and learning various ethical ways to conduct yourself, and the other is medicine. 

Choices seem to be at the heart of Divergent, a series of novels by Veronica Roth. Yes, I know I’m late to the Divergent game and we’re all the way up to book three, but keep in mind these are books, can be picked up at any time, and I did what a lot of people do: wait until they announce a movie then read it before that comes out so I can nitpick the differences. The movie comes out today, mind you, starring hot female protagonist and chiseled reminder that I need to hit the gym later today. 

For those of you who don’t know or like me wanted to wait until the movie comes out, Divergent is set in dystopian Chicago that is divided up into five factions: Abnegation, for selfless people who seem to have no sense of humor; Amity, for the peaceful people; Candor, those jerks who are always telling the truth; Dauntless, for the brave/stupid/thrill seekers (also the protectors); and Erudite, the smart people who design just about everything that everyone uses. 

Sixteen year olds are given a test to determine which one of the factions they should be put in to. Our hero, Beatrice (who goes by Tris, which is actually kind of cool) Prior finds out that she’s Divergent, meaning that she could fit into one of three factions. This is also a big no-no, for reasons that aren’t entirely clear at the start but become increasingly clear later on. But it’s bad, and we know this because the few people that know she’s Divergent work to help her hide her Divergent-ness, (Divergence?) and Tris is constantly telling us that it’s bad.

Eventually, she decides to join the jocks... er, Dauntless group and become brave. The book switches gears and focuses mostly on her training, her interaction with her friends, and her increasing attraction to “Four”, the chiseled male love interest that comes standard in these books, but actually has an interesting back story. (Because “bravery” is important with everyone at Dauntless, they note the number of fears using a serum. Four is nicknamed “Four” because he’s officially only afraid of four things, the lowest ever. His fears are an interesting part of the book, I have to say.)

Tris goes through her training hiding her Divergent-ness, but of course people begin to suspect something, and eventually she uncovers a conspiracy that goes to the heart of all of Chicago.

I may be glib when giving my recap of the book, but I really did enjoy this book. I have to admit, the style in which it’s written takes a little getting used to. Rather than exploring a lot of concepts of an interesting world... just how cut off is Chicago? Do they still have Deep Dish Pizza? Whatever happen to the Cubs? Why is there a Choosing Day? Veronica Roth just sort of jumps right into the story, right to Tris taking her tests and realizing that something was off. But this works to the advantage of the story ultimately, rather than spending a lot of time with exposition, it’s sprinkled into the plot delicately, like toppings on a deep dish pizza.

Look, Veronica Roth, if you set a book in dystopian Chicago, you have to tell us what happened to it’s best export.

Once you can get past the point that you’ll actually have to work for information rather than having it handed to you like a delicious slice of deep dish pizza, it becomes an interesting read, one that really builds on a world that seems established. You may not understand Choosing Day or why being Divergent is so bad at first, but eventually all the pieces fall into place. 

What I really enjoyed about the book is the message of choice. Not just the big Choosing Day where Tris chooses the faction we’re going to care about and a few others that don’t matter because our protagonist won’t go there. Tris is faced with a choice early on, and one of the things that is underplayed is the fact that it’s a choice that not many people have to make. “Hey, you have an aptitude for honesty... you’re going to Candor!” is pretty much the end all/be all of it. Tris is not only told that basically she has a defect, according to her culture, but she also has to make a decision based on it, or end up as an outcast, “Factionless.” Veronica Roth also did a smart job of displaying just what being factionless meant in the early chapters, so you can really feel the weight of what Tris is going through.

In addition, Tris ends up choosing Dauntless, which isn’t the easiest faction to work within. It requires bravery, a hard training schedule, and some serious competition. There’s a chance she could be cut from Dauntless, so even when making a choice here, she takes one that’s less safe, one that could cause her to face one of her fears. (and ends up facing it anyway... hello, hunky Four.) And when I say competition... this is a violent book. Not quite Hunger Games level of violence as they’re not actively hunting each other, but there are a few characters who seem like they wish they were in the Hunger Games. 

It’s dystopian, it’s teenagers... there are going to be comparisons to Hunger Games. It’s just what happens. I was going to make a Sorting Hat joke from Harry Potter earlier, but I couldn’t get it to work. 

But I liked the message of not always choosing what’s comfortable, and sticking with the choice. Once Tris is in Dauntless, she works to be the best she can, never taking the easy way out. And as she gets deeper into discovering the Dystopian Government mandated conspiracy to take down the system, she doesn’t back down despite the fact that she’s Divergent, an outlier, and could easily be removed from the system with little or no complaints from the society that just accepts that they should all pick a faction based on one test and leave it there. It’s an interesting concept.

I really enjoyed this book. I’m already well into the second, and I’m ready to hit up the third as soon as I can. See. There’s an advantage to getting into a book series late. Not like Mortal Instruments where I have to wait until May for the last book. It’s sooooooo long. 

I would recommend you pick it up and give it a read. Just make sure you don’t give up on the first few chapters, just get into the fact that you won’t be spoon fed everything right away, and you’ll have to figure some of it out. It’s like a nice deep dish pizza, you have to really get deep into it to get the good stuff.

Perfectly "Normal"

       Oh, North Carolina. Let’s talk, shall we? Especially about Bunscombe County Schools.

As some of you may or may not know, one of the bigger stories circulating has been about a 9 year old who was asked not to carry around his My Little Pony lunchbox because of the schools fears about bullying. Bullies who are so tough, mind you, that they managed to scare teachers and school administrators into telling a 9 year old that he can’t carry a My Little Pony lunchbox, or apparently the bullies will beat them all up, take their lunch moneys, or post hurtful things about them on twitter as kids do now.

Personally, I think it’s a lunch box. Also, My Little Pony fandom has grown to the point that there is a large amount of adult male My Little Pony fans that they call themselves “Bronies” and they have meetings and stuff. Google “Brony” and see what you get. If the kid wants to carry around a lunch box; let him. If people want to bully him about it, then maybe school administrators should do something about the bullies, and not the kid carrying around a lunchbox. Almost like it’s their job to protect kids or something.

There are two bigger issues at play here that genuinely concern me. First is the idea that there are things that are acceptable to “like” and things that are unacceptable to like, because one day you will get made fun of for it.

That sentence was confusing, but I rewrote it a few times and that was the best I can think of. 

Basically, by telling this 9 year old not to use a lunchbox with a cartoon character on it, the school is attempting to dictate what he should enjoy. Keep in mind, we’re not talking about bringing in a lunchbox with something that can be construed as  age inappropriate. It’s a lunchbox with a cartoon character on it. (Just the “wrong” cartoon character, according to the school.) He’s not bringing in a lunchbox with a bunch of naked ladies on it, or the Breaking Bad realistic lunch kit with working “My First Meth Lab”. It’s a lunch box. With a cartoon pony on it. 

I want everyone to think about something they like, a lot. In my case, it’s Doctor Who. I’m a huge fan of the Doctor. I have been for close to 30 years now; I’d say my fandom is pretty much set. I liked it back before it was cool. Now I want you to imagine there’s a group of people that want to make fun of you for liking that favorite thing you like. In my case, again, back before it was cool so I don’t have to imagine what it was like to be told that what I like “wasn’t cool.” In fact, I hid the fact that I was a fan of the Doctor for a long time because it wasn’t cool. It wasn’t fun. Not in the least. But you’re not allowed to openly talk about what you enjoy, why? Because someone will make fun of you for it.

But in this case, it goes a little bit deeper, because now we don’t just have the bullies bullying the kid, but now the SCHOOL is bullying the kid because they’re telling him, “hey.. hide what you like. We’re going to side with the people telling you to kill yourself on this.” 

The second concern goes right up with what I just talked about, and that is: The school is siding with the bullies on this one. The 9 year old who likes the cartoon pony (do you get the point that this kid is 9, and therefor is a kid, and maybe liking a pony isn’t so far off?) is the one in the wrong here. Those poor bullies... they can’t help themselves, can they? I mean, once this 9 year old stops carrying around a lunch box with a cartoon pony on it, THEN all the problems will be solved! No one will be bullied, ever again! They won’t find something else to pick on anyone for, right? No one will ever like something ever again that will open themselves up for bullying. 

Just as long as kids continue to like what is “normal.” Ah, normal. That loosely defined word that means what the larger group wants it to mean. And, quick spoiler, occasionally someone will decide you are not normal for whatever arbitrary reason. Maybe you have a bad haircut. Then the school can tell you to go get another one. Maybe you have an odd placed mole. The school should tell you to get it removed. Maybe your dad is a police officer and had to arrest one of those bullies for something. then the school can tell your dad to get another job. Maybe you did really well on a test and you’re being bullied for being “too smart.” Then the school can tell you to get lower grades because then you won’t get bullied. Maybe one day you brought in a Harry Potter book and the kids decided that reading is worth bullying you over. Then the school can tell you not to read. 

See? Perfectly Normal. 

The school failed this kid, and sadly this is part of a larger trend. You see, it’s easier to punish the kid carrying the lunchbox into school because it’s one kid, and with his spirit already broken, they didn’t think anyone would go to the media and they’d become a laughingstock around the country. Actually, I just re-researched this point. Bunscombe County Schools isn't a laughingstock around the country… you're a laughingstock around the world. Punishing those making fun of them would be hard, I guess. But you're not helping your students. You're telling everyone one of those bullies that they were right.

But it’s not just an issue of one kid carrying around a lunchbox. It’s part of a larger, disturbing trend where it’s easier to punish the person who is “different”. Not “normal” that ever so vague word we use to describe who people think we should be vs. what we actually want to do. But we punish the different because we don’t want to punish the normal. This happens all the time.

Lunchbox or not, this kid is being bullied. There’s ZERO reason to not punish the bullies. It doesn’t matter if he’s carrying around a lunchbox, or they just decided he was different because he has a funny name. It’s up to the school to create an environment where kids can learn. Some of that may mean pulling disruptive kids aside... and those are the kids telling this 9 year old to go kill himself... and punishing them. Not focusing on just the kid carrying around a lunchbox.

Make no mistake: Bunscombe County Schools failed its students. All of them.