Kimolisa Was Here

This month, I'm reading Musical Youth by Joanne C. Hillhouse. It placed second in the 2014 Burt Award for Caribbean Literature.

Synopsis:
Music, Discovery, Love.

Can one summer make the difference of a lifetime?

Zahara is a loner. She's brilliant on the guitar but in everyday life she doesn't really fit in. Then she meets Shaka, himself a musical genius and the first boy who really gets her. They discover that they share a special bond, their passion for music, and Zahara finds herself a part, not just of Shaka's life, but also that of his boys, the Lion Crew.

When they all get roles in a summer musical, Zahara, Shaka, and the rest of the Lion Crew use the opportunity to work on a secret project. But the Crew gets much more than they bargained for when they uncover a dark secret linking Shaka and Zahara's families and they're forced to confront some uncomfortable truths about class, colour, and relationships on the Caribbean island of Antigua.

If I'm reviewing a book, you know I love the book. I take the stance that if you don't have nothing nice to say, don't say anything. I like this book so much that I actually made notes while reading it, LOL! Here is the description of the book:

Shanika Ann Jenkins is the pride of her African-American family; smart, beautiful, and born with blue eyes and blonde hair. Though her grandmother and father are happy because she represents years of passing down light skin and marrying well, Shanika's mother insists on her name reflecting her African-American heritage so that she will always be proud of who she is. When Shanika gets the opportunity to work for a PR firm in New York, she finds that everyone assumes she is white; she also notices that being white has it advantages, from getting respect at work to getting picked up by a cab when other African-Americans are passed by. When she starts dating a successful white colleague, she continues with the lie, despite the guilt she feels at disappointing her mother and her heritage. When she falls for a handsome African-American business man, she must finally face who she is and what she's done, even if it means losing everything and everyone she loves.

I came across this book during my last visit to the library and I read it off in four days, it would have been less if I wasn't reading another book at the same time. At first the book made me feel uncomfortable because I wasn't sure if I liked the main character but I grew to........ I wouldn't say like but I can understand where she is coming from. I was also interested in seeing what happened next, which was quite refreshing.

The main reason I liked the book was that it made me think about race relations. Coming from an island where majority of the population is black, I have a different way of looking at life than African Americans. It was interesting reading the perspective of a black person viewing the world as a white person and seeing the differences and similarities.

Now to consult my notes:

How women of different races view their bodies


Now when I first saw this video many, many years ago, I didn't see the extended intro and I thought it was just a joke. I didn't realize that a big, round bum was a bad thing. I thought all races appreciated butts in general, so you can imagine my surprise when I read a section where a white character was giving the impression that a big butt was not cute or desirable. Then it made me think of all the times you would hear or read comments when a woman would ask if something made her but look big.

I know that different races have different physical attributes, but I didn't know that one race would have looked down on another because they had their attributes. Then again I would not say it's a bad thing because it comes down to what people know. If one grew up in a predominately black community they would find certain physical attributes attractive and those that are foreign to them as not as attractive. I think the question should be is is politically correct to dislike another race's physical attributes? But really who wants to be PC?

Leisure activities differ based on race
It appears that there are some activities that are considered "white". The one mentioned in the book was spelunking, but I can imagine sky diving, bungee jumping, skiing, snowboarding, etc would be considered "white" as well. Personally, I think that whole concept is just retarded. Just because you can't imagine yourself doing these things, fine, but you are only cutting yourself out of so much thing that could broaden your horizons.

This video always makes me laugh out loud because it shows that it is harder for people to accept a person who is doing something that their race doesn't normally do. I like to hike, I've snowboarded, I've skydived, if I my upper body was stronger, I would rock climb. It's just sad that there are certain activities that are relegated to particular races. But here is proof of otherwise:

What do they say when you are not in the room
I don't know what I would say if I was surrounded by people of another race and they were talking negatively about my race. I know there are certain things you would think and that comes from one's ignorance on the matter but instead of coming to a person of a different race and dialoguing, people would just say things that are just stupid among themselves. I'm not even saying that this is relegated to black and white but covers all races. Plus we are not all born knowing everything so it's best to ask questions. Perhaps, it's because I grew up in Antigua, I don't have these beliefs or stereotypes of other races. Yes, I see a white person or an East Indian or an Asian person but I don't automatically think certain things. In fact, it was only when I went to the States that I learned of the stereotypes, how sad is that? So you can only imagine what it's like to grow up with that. *smh*

There are people who are open minded 
It was nice to see that there are people who are open minded in this book. They see people as people, but how many people are there out there? I mean in the States, where they are so racially aware, how many people really can see beyond race and see people and do it all the time. I won't kid you and say that we all don't judge people based on their first impression which includes one's race. The thing is as you get to know someone they cease to be that black person or that white person, they become that person. Perhaps that is what people should aim for to see beyond race and see the person.

Dating a person of another race because they are of a particular race
I was out with friends and one of them was Asian and she said something that never crossed my mind. A man dating an Asian woman because she is Asian. That still leaves me confused because that would mean that you are not really drawn to a person because you like the person, you are with them based on what you think about their race. Ain't that a damn shame. Then again, there are some people who are attracted to people of another race. I told you that I was confused.
Bowing out because of race
So here is the situation where you see someone who you find attractive, but they are of a different race. You are with a friend who is as attractive as you but they are the same race as the cutie, why is there an unwritten rule that you bow out and let the friend get the cutie? Perhaps, it's because you think the cutie would automatically be drawn to someone from their race, but it looks like another way for races to cut themselves from so many great opportunities. There is also that constant question of if the cutie would always like you or if they would drop you if someone of their race comes along. I guess it is a matter of having faith and believing that you are worthy.


There were a few questions at the back of the book, but I have only one question,

On Wednesday, one of my FaceBook posted the below as a note, so I thought it would be cool to post the list and highlight the books I've read and the ones I want to read. I wonder if the library will let me borrow books seeing I returned that book I had for about +3 years.

Below are the rules and I'm adding that the red ones are the ones I would like to read.

Have you read more than 6 of these books? The BBC believes most people will have read only 6 of the 100 books listed here. Instructions: Copy this into your NOTES. Bold those books you've read in their entirety, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish or read an excerpt. Tag other book nerds. Tag me as well so I can see your responses.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (read it more than once)

2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (a good read for when you're travelling)

3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (does watching the movie count?)

4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling

5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

6 The Bible

7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte

8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell

9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman

10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens

11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott

12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy

13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller

14 Complete Works of Shakespeare

15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier

16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien (I watched the animated movie)

17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulk

18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger

19 The Time Traveler’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger

20 Middlemarch - George Eliot

21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell

22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald

23 Bleak House by Charles Dickens

24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy

25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

26 Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh

27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll

30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame

31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy

32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens

33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis

34 Emma -Jane Austen

35 Persuasion - Jane Austen

36 The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis

37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres

39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden (I devoured this book)

40 Winnie the Pooh - A.A. Milne

41 Animal Farm - George Orwell

42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (it was a good read, a definite page turner)

43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving

45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins

46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (I read the whole book set and just after I finished it, a hurricane destroyed it)

47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy

48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood

49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding

50 Atonement - Ian McEwan

51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel

52 Dune - Frank Herbert

53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons

54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen

55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth

56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon

60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov

63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt

64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (a good read, and an interesting story)

65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas

66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac

67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding (it's a hoot, even though it made me cringe at times)

69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie

70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville

71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens

72 Dracula - Bram Stoker

73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson

75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Inferno - Dante

77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome

78 Germinal - Emile Zola

79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray

80 Possession - AS Byatt

81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (I might make this a Christmas tradition)

82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell

83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker

84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro

85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry

87 Charlotte’s Web - E.B. White

88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton

91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad

92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery

93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks

94 Watership Down - Richard Adams

95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute

97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas

98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl

100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Woohoo, I've read 7 books!!! Well, I better get started on those I want to read.

I just started reading Muriel Barbery's The Elegance of the Hedgehog and I was about to put it aside to read something a bit more fluffy in content. I was about to reach the next book when I decided to plow ahead. So I'm reading and there was a lot of food for thought, the one that had me thinking is when one of the narrators is referring to her husband and getting married.

Let me set the scene, Rene is a concierge of an apartment building where the tenants are rich and well to do. She is well read but she doesn't let her employers (the tenants) know this little fact. Rene doesn't consider herself a raving beauty, in fact she states it plainly that she is ugly. So it was a big surprise that a co-worker of her brother wanted her hand in marriage. She patiently explained why he would not want to marry her. To this he replied:

"Renee, I don't want my wife to be one of those giddy young things who run wild and have no more brain than a sparrow beneath their pretty face. I want a woman who's loyal, a good wife, a good mother and a good housekeeper. I want a calm and steady companion who'll stay by my side and support me. In exchange, you can expect me to be a serious worker, a calm man at home and a tender husband at the right moment. I'm not a bad sort, and I'll do my best."

He kept his promise and they had a good marriage.

What more can we ask for from a lifelong companion? This changed my whole perspective on love and marriage. Yes it would be great to have that fairytale romance, but wouldn't you prefer a partner who will be with you for the long run? I'm not talking about that explosive bang, hearts a flutter thing, more like that constant hum, like a heart beat. Constant, yet every now and then it will speed up, maybe jump a beat, but still constant. Maybe that is why the heart is a symbol of love, perhaps that is the best analogy, the constant of a heart beat.

I've already starting changing what I would want from a future life partner. I think I'm going to post that quote somewhere I can see everyday. In the end, I just want a good man who will be faithful, loving, will be a good husband and father, will be a good provider and support me in my endeavours as I will support him in his. Something my friend in NYC and I have discussed was that caring about someone to go the extra mile. That is important for me.

Well, Valentines is next week and that is my little contribution. If y'all notice to I'll be 30 in a couple days and my gift to me (well one of them) is to love myself unconditionally. I'm drifting, but about two or three days ago, I was waiting in the waiting area of a bank and I looking down on my hands. For the first time in my life I actually saw them. I saw the hands so many people admired, people always complimented my long fingers, growing nails, the large amount of lines that criss cross them and their softness. Then I thought of their potential, how I used them to create artwork and make garments. I started to cry (not sob, just quietly cry), there was so much to me that I never appreciated and here were all these people who appreciated them and I shrugged them off. I basically messed up two decades of my life so I'm embracing this decade and all the decades after.

Oh, and check out this post by The Sartorialist called A Graceful Man, A Gentleman (you'll have scroll down). It is so endearing.

Just finished watching Jane Eyre and to be honest I never read the book. I must say I enjoyed the movie. I came close to crying, and I got that "awwww" gushiness. What made me enjoy it all the more was the fact that I had no idea what the story was about so every twist and turn held me. What I didn't realize was the whole thing was about 4 hours it had shown in the UK in 1 hour parts over 4 weeks. One of the things I love about English films is the characters look like average people instead of glamazons or uber-perfect.

Below is the trailer, actually it is a fan's trailer, I couldn't find an actual trailer:


Also thanks to YouTube you can watch the film. I watched it somewhere else, but I think it should still be good.