Old School with a New Toy

When I was a little girl I used to devour books.  Reading was my absolute favorite thing to do and it worked out well for me, considering that I hated the cold weather and never played in the snow. Obviously, I am talking about being in Milwaukee with my mom, not in Florida with my dad.  I hated the wet, cold snow.  I hated taking off my frozen, stuck-to-me pants after sledding, so I never went.  I hated that the water coating my eyeballs turned to ice, I hated that my neck muscles turned into rocks, and I hated that I was the only one ever bitching about it.  To this day, I think that I am one of the only people who doesn’t refer to snow as “pretty” and doesn’t feel any amount of intoxication when seeing flurries.  I used to beg my teacher to stay inside with her in the warmth, but she never allowed me to, so I was forced to curl myself into a ball at recess and read a book rather than play with all of the other kids.  I used to get books in my Easter basket; which I now realize is a little odd considering that most kids get chocolate bunnies.  I used to sit all day and read a book until I finished.  I loved turning the crisp pages, roughing up the tough binding, and using cute bookmarks.  I love the smell of moldy old library books….this I find slightly odd.  I love the tangible for many reasons and until recently, I have turned my nose up to the Kindle. 

I got a Kindle for my birthday and screamed when I opened it because for the past couple of months I have decided that they are really cool.  I originally thought that it would be like reading a computer screen, but the technology is so amazing, it seriously looks like paper.  Also, I learned that the classics are free.  This alone made me want one.  I didn’t tell anyone, so I was shocked when I opened it.  My brother-in-law thoughtfully bought me a gift and it was something that I had really wanted.  To tell you how much the screen looks like paper, I was looking for the non-existent paper to peel off…..it was the screen and I realized it once I plugged it in.

Yesterday I read “Aesop’s Fables” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” on my new Kindle.  I had to read “Aesop’s Fables” when I was in school, but I didn’t remember them very well.  I think that I am going to read one a day to my kids.  They are very wise.  “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  One of my professors told me about it a few years ago.  It is one of the first “feminist” stories because it’s about the time period that men threw women into the looney bin for being hormonal, hysterical, or Heaven forbid, having a personality or interests of any kind outside of motherhood. It was published in 1892.  The woman in the story is told she’s sick, but it seems that she’s only suffering from post-partum depression.  She’s locked into a room and begins to fixate on the wallpaper because she lacks stimulation of any kind.  She isn't allowed to write, but sneaks it.  You read the unraveling of her mind and it's sort of disturbing.  I respect women who had the courage to be thought different or weird in a time when men were complete idiots.  Gilman published this in 1892 when doctors knew nothing about women or how the human body really worked.  At this point in time, Sigmund Freud was still studying, which means that this was before HIS crazy-ass ideas.  This gives you an idea of how amazing it is that she spoke up because the medical field was so clueless-of course, they didn't know that they were.

Anyway, I love the new Kindle.  I started to read “War and Peace” and chickened out for the time being.  I need more time, patience, and focus to read it. I’m going to start something new today.  It will be a classic, because I have like 14 of them saved.  They are FREE! 

I will add this….I am still old school.  I still love books with pages, I will still buy books, and I will never go completely Kindle, but I am having fun with my new toy!    

Here’s the Word of the Day:

parergon \pa-RUR-gon\, noun:

1. Work undertaken in addition to one's principal work.
2. Something that is an accessory to a main work or subject; embellishment.