Work, Health, and Other Things

Well, last week I got a call from the principal at the school where I worked last year saying that I will indeed be hired as a permanent employee in the .7 position this year. Woohoo!! On the down side Daniel and I started feeling sick at the end of last week and haven't been able to shake this virus. I've been watching a lot of movies and just finished a frightening book called "Case Histories" by Kate Atkinson. After reading Donna Tartt last year I was unable to find fiction that provided the thrill of mystery stories. What's great about these two writers, though, is that they manage to inject subtle humor and a touching sense of humanity into their writing. This makes incredibly scary and sometimes gruesome stories bearable and makes up for the lack of depth sometimes experienced in typical mystery novels. Also, unlike others in the mystery/thriller genre, they still focus on character development so that one feels as though you have been good friends with the people who come to life on the pages of each story. They are both outstanding writers.

Movies

Director Jane Campion's Bright Star is the story of John Keats' romantic involvement with a young clothing maker. If I were to make a movie, I would want it to look like this one. The cinematography is lush and breathtaking. The way she captures the light peeking through trees onto large colorful fields makes you want to lie down in an orchard.

American Gangster is Ridley Scott's true and violent tale of Frank Lucas. Russell Crowe plays one of the only cops in New York who refuses to partake in the widespread corruption that was so common in the NYPD during the 1970's. He hunts down major crime thugs and the police who have been selling seized drugs back to the mafia for a profit. A great movie, although I wouldn't watch it at bed-time.

Yesterday I watched Georia o'Keeffe which I know, is a dreaded Lifetime Network movie whose market audience is primarily estrogen crazed, middle-aged women. However, after reading about her in last year's September issue of Vogue I was curious to learn more about Ms. o'Keeffe and her relationship to American photographer Alfred Stieglitz. Stieglitz brought her to fame in the 1930's by showing her art in his gallery. However, being the lecherous man that he was, he interpreted her art primarily in Freudian terms. She did not take kindly to people adding such meanings to her art and started to paint more abstractions. Her art thus often blurs the line between realism and abstract art. When O'Keeffe suffered from mental problems after Stieglitz flaunted his affair with a younger woman, she moved out to New Mexico, where she remained for the rest of her life.