Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Mailbag Beach
Canadianvic in Halifax, Nova Scotia writes
Jen in Brisbane, Australia writes
centavo of Córdoba, Argentina wrote in again and said
Every single high school student in the US writes
I love you. and I love your blog, it's amazing. it's what I show people when I try to explain that a fame-like high school actually can be deep. How long are you leaving for and will you send me a postcard? P133 forever!!!I generally take the fact that I don't get any hate mail to be a positive sign, but this is kind of overly perky. Where's the critical analysis of my contextualisations of Latin American women's literature? Where's the commentary on my heart-pumping illustrations of emancipatory theatre-based pedagogy? Extra points for hometown references to the Parkallen 133, but I might reconsider writing the essay I was planning to mail you over the course of five months on the back of a collector's edition series of endangered seabirds.
Jen in Brisbane, Australia writes
Christopher! You are undoubtably the smartest person I know... and coincidentally, my mom, the other smartest person I know, said she would read any book you recommended without question. She also said she runs into you all the time at home. Deja jealous? Yes, yes I am. btw, I'm reading The Power of One [!]Jen's mom is actually, genuinely, one of the most intelligent people you will ever know. She and I used to pass each other in the hall at the hospital, but whereas I was going to my office to get a stack of papers to shuffle in order to create the appearance of work, she was more likely to be headed towards a lab in which she researched how to make a new type of brain. I am not making this stuff up.
centavo of Córdoba, Argentina wrote in again and said
I was reading your blog today, and the contest entries were quite impressive. Since you were talking about musicians who sing in different languages, have you ever heard of Juana Molina? She's a little bit weird, but I think she's great, and not just because she is Argentinean. I can bring her most recent CD to book club so you can hear her. Y me interesaria leer las Cartas de Mixquiahuala... yo habia estado buscando algo en castellano para leer.I have not heard of Juana Molina, but this book club has in fact already happened and the topic was mysteriously avoided. Conspiracy? I should apologise for not making it clear that The Mixquiahuala Letters was actually first published in English! I believe it's available in Spanish as well, though. Other people's research maybe more reliable than my own musings.
Every single high school student in the US writes
Can you please explain the themes, symbols, and literary allusions of The Kite Runner in small words and do all of my homework for me?You wish. No, wait, I wish.
Labels: mailbag
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Mailbag
OUT OF THE HUNDREDS OF COMMENTS AND EMAILS WE'VE BEEN RECEIVING every day here at The Point, I have decided to select a special few to answer here. It's the first in our 'Mailbag' series, so keep those letters coming in to 
.
Janet Gallant from Sherwood Park, Alberta writes
I think you must have been confusing reading this blog and watching Oprah. The Lovely Bones is, in fact, the worst book ever. Thanks for sharing!
Queremos Paz means 'we want peace' in Spanish. I titled this entry after the song of the same name by Gotan Project from their album La Revancha del Tango. My friend Jon introduced me to it because he thought I would like how weird it was that the vocals overtop of the crazy Buenos Aires beats were, in fact, a recording of Che Guevara delivering an address to the United Nations General Assembly in 1964. He was correct.
Pascal from Pickering, Ontario writes
It looks like it's spelt أمير in Arabic, so I think it's the same in Persian (aka Farsi), but they're both pretty crazy languages. What's up with that anyway?
I guess you were probably asking because you read The Kite Runner. Farsi and Dari--the language a lot of Afghanis speak in the book--are really closely related, but unless you're sneezing or asking me the time, we probably won't be able to have a very in-depth conversation yet. I feel like I sort of cheated when I talked about The Kite Runner because I only read most of these books a week or two before I write about them, but we actually did that one with my book club last year. I reread the whole thing beforehand though (a good idea, since I would have been totally lost otherwise) and now my old friend Bill Howe is telling me he thinks it might be an allegory for Sunni and Shia relationships.
Aiya. The closest I've gotten to Afghanistan is eating pomegranates in Alberta.
centavo from Córdoba, Argentina writes
No, I hadn't heard about kiva.org. Thanks for sharing, and now that you mention it, maybe I'll write an article about them (yes, my lazy dreams of becoming a freelance journalist might be becoming slightly less lazy).
That's all the time we have for today. Keep writing, friends! Stay warm.
. Janet Gallant from Sherwood Park, Alberta writes
Hey Chris,Hi Janet,
What the hell does queremos paz mean anyway?
Love your show, and bring back Alice Sebold! The Lovely Bones was the best book ever.
I think you must have been confusing reading this blog and watching Oprah. The Lovely Bones is, in fact, the worst book ever. Thanks for sharing!
Queremos Paz means 'we want peace' in Spanish. I titled this entry after the song of the same name by Gotan Project from their album La Revancha del Tango. My friend Jon introduced me to it because he thought I would like how weird it was that the vocals overtop of the crazy Buenos Aires beats were, in fact, a recording of Che Guevara delivering an address to the United Nations General Assembly in 1964. He was correct.
Pascal from Pickering, Ontario writes
how do you spell amir in farsi writing?Hi Pascal,
It looks like it's spelt أمير in Arabic, so I think it's the same in Persian (aka Farsi), but they're both pretty crazy languages. What's up with that anyway?
I guess you were probably asking because you read The Kite Runner. Farsi and Dari--the language a lot of Afghanis speak in the book--are really closely related, but unless you're sneezing or asking me the time, we probably won't be able to have a very in-depth conversation yet. I feel like I sort of cheated when I talked about The Kite Runner because I only read most of these books a week or two before I write about them, but we actually did that one with my book club last year. I reread the whole thing beforehand though (a good idea, since I would have been totally lost otherwise) and now my old friend Bill Howe is telling me he thinks it might be an allegory for Sunni and Shia relationships.
Aiya. The closest I've gotten to Afghanistan is eating pomegranates in Alberta.
centavo from Córdoba, Argentina writes
I was reading your blog yesterday and I thought I would let you know about this website, which Audrey saw a show about on PBS: www.kiva.org. I haven't read all about it yet, but it seems like a cool idea. If you already know about this, sorry for being presumptuous.Hi centavo!
No, I hadn't heard about kiva.org. Thanks for sharing, and now that you mention it, maybe I'll write an article about them (yes, my lazy dreams of becoming a freelance journalist might be becoming slightly less lazy).
That's all the time we have for today. Keep writing, friends! Stay warm.
Labels: mailbag, queremos paz
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