A Tutorial on How NOT to Write a Book Review

I know the internet is the great equalizer of our time. There are no gatekeepers. Anyone can write anything, no matter how dull, pointless, or just plain dumb. Within the world of social networking sites, idiots are likely to pop up, but you can always turn the down as friends.

However, I have a higher standard for Goodreads, the social networking site for people who actually read books. I expect people who spend enough time reading to warrant creating a Goodreads profile to at least comment on their reading selections with some intelligence.

But this is the internet, and I should never have expected so much. Here are my favorite stupid comments on some of my latest book choices:

On Naomi Klein's No Logo
"Ok ok ok, I know the hype surrounding this book. Your dreddy activist friend keeps recommending this to you. That dirty hippy that is a total vagabond is doing the same.

Well, what sold me on this book was an image taken from a busy street with all of the logo's removed using Photoshop. Striking.

And the book is long, interesting and at times redundant. Naomi Klein is hot, first of all, but mainly she's right. Advertising ruined the planet. Basically."


On David Kuo's Tempting Faith
"Zzzzzz...*snort*...*cough* *cough*...zzzzz..."


On David Sedaris's When You Are Engulfed in Flames
"1. I HATE men who don't do the dishes, I hate it when they sit around and let women do the dishes. David Sedaris doesn't do the dishes and I am glad, because it shows I can hatefully resent slash stereotype gay and straight men equally, and therefore I'm probably not homophobic, although I probably am slightly androgynist, oopsies! But not being homophobic cancels that out, right?

I also HATE IT when a man, like say someone I know, does the dishes as a little something extra to show his wife how much he loves her. ARE YOU SERIOUS? You love her enough to ::GASP:: do the dishes???? OH MY GOD! What a man!

2. I always wonder if David Sedaris would be a fun person to hang out with. I mean, would he just be lame and totally obsessed with creating more stories about his lameness so he could mine his life for better (a k a more pathetic) material? It used to bother me that there might be people in the world who were cooler and better and awesomer on paper than they would be in real life."


More to come.

More Anti-Corporate Ranting (and Book Recommendation if You Agree)

I was hesitant to write yet another post on my growing anti-corporate sentiments. However, Naomi Klein's No Logo has become the manifesto of the anti-corporate movement, and it was a worth-while read.

Much of the content is quite dated. Klein did most of her research in the late 90s and the book was published in 2000. The version I read had an afterward written in 2002, which covered some post-9/11 complexities. That said, I often found asked myself what were today's equivalents of her examples of branding overload and corporate meddling.

However, I find her diagnosis on No Space, No Choice, and No Jobs still very relevant in our over-branded society and big-box dominated landscape. I'm grateful to live in Austin, where local businesses thrive, and for the most part, I've been able to cut myself off from such pervasive corporate encroachment.

I still hold the resentment Klein describes in the latter half of the book, and I still cringe every time I look at the labels on my clothes. Klein gives a detailed account of her visit to factories in the Philippines, and much of the evidence she presents is thorough and well-researched.

That said, I'm sure economists (especially those proponents of the free trade) have criticized this book to no end. As far as the sweatshop debate goes, I'm sticking to my commitment to only buy second-hand clothes and search for fair trade options. I have no doubt that Klein's descriptions were accurate and represent factory conditions across the developing world. Economists have to live with their consciences at the end of the day.

I found her exploration of advertising's growing role in our lives to be the most interesting (and disturbing). Klein describes the corporate pursuit of teenagers, and during the late 90s, I was a part of the crucial demographic and bought many of their promises. Gap jeans did not make my life better, but I was told they would. As a young adult 10 years later, I think my resentment has grown from that influence on my life as vulnerable teenager.

I have to wonder how many of my peers bother to question these things and explore any of their resentments. I think many of them are happy to go along with what their fed, as long as they can still get cheap clothes at Old Navy and lattes at Starbucks.

Overall, No Logo is incredibly thought-provoking, and I'm glad I read it. The book is slow towards the end, somewhat repetitive and tiresome (especially Klein's criticism of Nike). Nonetheless, it's an important read for anyone who is involved in media and interested in media criticism. I wish I had read it in college.

Little Green Things

For a while, I've been compiling a list of easy habits that can decrease one's environmental impact, and here's the list I have so far:

1. Change your lightbulbs. It costs more initially, but you'll save loads on you power bill.
2. Eliminate plastic bags by using resusable ones at the grocery store.
3. Reuse plastic bags creatively. I've starting crocheting with them, so you can always give your old ones to me.
4. Use your dryer sparingly and air dry your clothes. Use drying racks and laundry lines outside.
5. If you have a backyard, start a compost pile and vegetable garden. You'd be surprised how fun it is.
6. Rinse and reuse plastic baggies and plastic food containers. It's a little more work than just throwing them away, but it saves you money, too!
7. Conserve water by taking shorter showers and turning off the water when you shampoo your hair and shave your legs.
8. Unplug all appliances when you're not using them or plug them into a power strip you can switch on and off.
9. Carpool.
10. Bike (I'm not at this point yet myself, but I hope to soon.)
11. Use pubic transit.
12. Educate yourself on your municipality's recycling program and find other recycling centers that take items your municipality doesn't pick up.
13. Eating less meat, especially red meat.
14. Start using a resuable water bottle rather than drinking bottled water.
15. Stop buying new clothes. Buy second-hand and hold clothing swaps.
16. Stop buying new books. Use the library more often and borrow and loan from personal libraries.
17. Don't buy any new furniture. Buy second-hand locally.
18. Make your own natural cleaning products.
19. Shopping more locally in general.

A related topic, I have not eaten meat in 12 days. Even though I've thought of myself as a flexatarian for about three years and have expanded my vegetarian pallet since moving to Austin, this is my first intentional full vegetarian stint. Dave, my vegetarian roommate, told me if I made it a month, he'd buy me dinner at Mother's, a pricey vegetarian place that has renowned spinach lasagna. So far, so good. Now I have just have to decide what to eat for lunch...

Faith-Based... Politics?

Barack Obama and his campaign know he needs some percentage of the evangelical vote to win the general election. They also know that young people make up a huge portion of his constituency.

So it's no surprise that he was happy to have a conversation with Cameron Strang, founder of Relevant magazine, a hip, progressive media group aimed at hip, progressive, young Christians. He managed to land this interview weeks before John McCain, and I'd actually be surprised if McCain did talk to those kids. He's more after their parents, seeing as Relevant readers are only a small percentage of those oh-so-crucial evangelical voters.

Here's the link to the interview.

What was most interesting was Obama's ideas for Bush's Faith-based Initiatives Office. He's planning on renaming it the President's Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

I'm guessing Obama, or at least someone on his campaign, read David Kuo's book about being an insider in Bush's Faith-Based Initiatives Office. After reading it myself, I think his ideas sound like good improvements, but we'll see what happens if he's elected and how things look four years from now.

I don't doubt Obama's commitment to faith-based service, but politics are politics. I believed the lie of compassionate conservatism. Granted I was 17 and gullible and going along with my parents' views for the most part. Now, I've gotten pretty jaded about politics, but I'm not so cynical that I won't vote. I just hope money gets to the organizations and services that need it.

19 Moves in 7 years...

I've considered a few potential subjects for posts. I just finished the book Tempting Faith by David Kuo. I would recommend that any politically minded Christian read this book. I also considered writing about all the movies I've seen recently, and may still write up some reviews, mostly because I enjoy writing reviews.

But, no, I felt the need to share this realization. I was talking to a friend the other night and we counted how many times we've moved since we first left our parents' houses for college. Since 2001, I have moved about 19 times, lived in 14 different houses/apartments, and haven't stayed in one place for more than 10 months. This isn't in reference to geographic regions (I spent about 4 years in Rome, Georgia, though with breaks back in Columbus and my time abroad in Italy, so there were several moves in one geographic location). These numbers relate to my physical dwelling places and all the times I had to put all my crap into boxes and shove them in my car and drive to some new place.

I'm tired of moving. I think I'll stay at my latest house for a while.

The Spice Girls Revisited

As an ardent fan of only "good music" and a true progressive feminist, I have to openly admit: I still love the Spice Girls.

It has been 10 years since Geri left the band. I remember watching 9 and 10 year old British girls crying on TV. I was 15 and I remember thinking how pathetic it was that 9 year old girls thought their lives were over because Ginger left the group. I was just leaving my pop music stage, opting for artists like Beck and Fiona Apple.

But I loved the Spice Girls. They were so crazy and their music was fun. And they had this mantra of Girl Power that I liked. They even had the 10 Golden Rules of Girl Power:
1. Be positive
2. Be strong
3. Don't let anyone put you down.
4. Be in control of your own life and your destiny.
5. Support your girl friends,
6. and let them support you, too.
7. Say what's on your mind.
8. Approach life with attitude.
9. Don't let anyone tell you that you can never do something because you're a girl.
10. Have fun!

But with 10 years of perspective and maturity, I realize that Spice Girls were a source of conflict instead of empowerment.

They were a fabrication, entirely fake, including their nicknames. All of it was to make money, and I knew it. As much as I consumed their happy music, I knew I was being fooled.

More conflicting, though, was their sexuality. They oozed it, flaunted it, waved it in front of all our faces. Unlike teenage Britney, they knew exactly what they were doing. They were all in their 20s, young and beautiful with no reason to keep covered up. The feminist in me understands but can't quite applaud.

They had legions of young fans. Very young fans. Pre-pubescent fans who didn't understand that blatant sexuality. As a teenager, I was uncomfortable to see the little kids I babysat emulate the Spice Girls. I didn't know how to process the Spice Girls' message - how could they?

I still love Wannabe. I still know most of the words of Say You'll Be There. I admit this 10 years later, still wondering what's appropriate and how feminism can practically adapt to our media-saturated society.

The Wal-Mart Effect

I just finished Charles Fishman's book The Wal-Mart Effect. It is a fascinating and potentially ground-breaking look at the retail giant (of giants). Fishman is a seasoned business journalist who, along with his wife, started asking questions about Wal-Mart, which lead him to several different parts of the world in search of answers.

• How much do we actually know about the ways the company works?
• What are Wal-Mart's relationships with suppliers like? How do those relationships affect the market and our economy?
• How much influence and control does Wal-Mart have over our national economy and the global economy?
• What does the opening of a Wal-Mart actually do to a community, particularly low-income small towns?
• Just how does it get those "always low prices"? Are those prices worth the consequences?

This book is not simply a rant against Wal-Mart. It is not some left-wing diatribe against consumerism (although ample criticism is there). It is, instead, a thorough investigation of the world's largest company, its practices, and most importantly, its effects on our economy and our lives.

Fishman makes it clear throughout the book that Wal-Mart's values are those of classic Americana - a diligent work ethic, frugality, modesty, unpretentiousness. It's is not a company so cut-throat as to be only about the bottom line (i.e., profit). No, Wal-Mart's bottom line is provide its customers with the lowest prices possible. Wal-Mart is there for the little guy, there to save him money.

But it comes with some interesting consequences. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is conflicted about Wal-Mart and about the corporate high-jacking of our culture. Whether you like Wal-Mart or hate it, this book will give you plenty to think about. The final conclusion isn't "Don't shop at Wal-Mart." Fishman leaves it up to his audience to decide what to do next. He does tell us to ask questions.

After finishing the book, I know now more than ever that I do not want to shop at Wal-Mart. Maybe as other people read this book, we will start a dialogue and find a renewed sense of creativity that will allow us to change our culture and to loosen the corporate grip of control on our lives.

For now, I will leave you with Fishman's closing statement at the end of the book and encourage you all to read it and think about it.

"Wal-Mart is not just a store, or a company, or a powerful institution. It is also a mirror. Wal-Mart is quintessentially American. It mirrors our own energy, our sense of destiny, our appetite for bigness and variety and innovation. And Wal-Mart is not just a reflection of American society. It is a mirror of us as individuals. In a democracy, our individual ambivalence about such a concentrattion of economic power, even when that power is ostensibly on our side, is a signal. Both as individuals and as a society we have an obligation to answer the unanswered questions about Wal-Mart. Otherwise we have surrendered control -- of our communities, of our economy, of some measure of our destiny -- to decisions made in Betonville [Arkansas, the Wal-Mart headquarters]." Charles Fishman, The Wal-Mart Effect, page 247.