The Good Arts

First it was the movie "Crash." Now it is the book "Blessings" by Anna Quindlen that I read yesterday while home sick from work.

These are two examples of a movie and book I may not have seen/read a year ago. "Crash" because it is so intense and "Blessings" because I've had a hard time diving into general "adult" fiction for some reason. I like intense movies, it's just that so often when I want to watch a movie, I want to relax, especially if I'm hanging out with friends. And I like good contemporary fiction, but, again, I've wanted to relax, so I've tended to choose more lightweight novels that I can really escape into. "Blessings" is not really that deep or that intense, and is very easy to read, but it is a book fraught with emotion and I felt that I'd been on an emotional roller coaster by the time I'd finished it. (I highly recommend it, by the way).

I think sitting with the other features writers (the arts editors and reporters) now at work has been good for me. It has encouraged me to see movies I wouldn't normally see, like Crash. And I'm currently working on a sweeping article about book clubs, and as I interview women all across Chicagoland, I'm realizing how many good books there are out there and how many I want to read. Plus, my own book club has reminded me of the fun of reading a wide variety of authors and genres.

I'm still reading snippets of L'Engle's "Circle of Quiet." In last night's reading, L'Engle said that stories are a vehicle for truth.

I watched another good movie a couple of days ago. Alison lent it to me. It's called "Educating Rita" (1983) and both stars received Academy Award acting nominations. The movie was about the effect culture and education can have on someone, and whether it will really make her a stronger person. I remember one line: Working class Rita, who has defied her family and husband to start taking literature courses at a university, tells her English prof. Dr. Bryant about how she realized she no longer fit into her old world. She was sitting at the neighborhood pub with her parents, sister, husband, and friends and they were all singing along to some cheesy pub song and she realized she didn't belong. And she tells Dr. Bryant, "I want to sing a better song." Later in the movie, though, he tells her, "Rita, this isn't a better song. It's a different song."