I do what I want, I read what I want

I met this reader yesterday on the bus ride home but didn't get a chance to write about him until tonight since I was out at a Mates of State concert at the Henry Fonda theater last night! The show, by the way, was fab-u-loso! It was packed, it was hot, and we all danced, either really danced or just danced alot in our heads and hearts...

I spotted Joseph while I was looking for a seat and decided to plop down in front of him. He was on his way home from working a little overtime at a phone answering service (if I understood him correctly he answers phone calls for celebrities or patches them through. He spoke to Al Pacino that day!). He's reading Dean Koontz's Odd Hours which just came out a few days earlier. He always buys books by his favourite authors when they come out with new ones. Dean Koontz is definitely one of his favourite authors. Others he loves? Clive Cussler, Lee Child, and, of course, Stephen King. He's been a fan of these authors since they came on to the scene - he thinks 20 years or so!

He is only a handful of pages into Odd Hours but is enjoying it so far. It's about this man (a recurring character in many of Koontz's books) who has these premonitions and uses this gift to stop natural disasters (and the like) from happening.


Out of all the authors he named I gathered that his top guy is Clive Cussler, just by the way he spoke about him. Joseph explains that Clive Cussler books are about protagonists similar to Indiana Jones and James Bond - worldly travellin' treasure hunters and the sort! He's read books where he co-authors with someone else and Joseph can sense a difference in the tone and is thusly turned off by it.

And how about these books turned into movies? Not a big fan of them either. He attended one of Cussler's book-turned-movie screening where Cussler was there doing a Q&A. Joseph told me that Cussler expressed to the crowd that adapting your book into a movie is "like selling your child to prostitution". When Joseph watches Stephen King movies he feels that the movies make the stories more complicated than they really are. "Stephen King books are simple and I like that about them." Same goes for the works of his other fave writers. But there are some exceptions like with The Exorcist and The Godfather, both books he read before there was even a movie and he feels that the movies did the books justice. "They were both right on the mark."


Ok, so yes, these authors like Cussler, King, and Koontz and their books are what my lit profs called "grocery checkout novels" but Joseph says you shouldn't knock 'em! Yes, they are easy to get into, and that is why he reads them on the bus to pass the time, but he defends his book choices and rightfully so! He asked me what I was reading and I whipped out Franny and Zooey from my bag. "See, I know people who say the books I read are silly and that I should read books like that. But people should read what they want to read because at least they are reading!" He starts to tell me how in school he hated how they forced you to read only certain books. He also hated it when teachers asked you to read aloud because there were students who just had difficulty with reading and it was unfortunate! We both agreed that people should read whatever they want, as long as they are reading! Books shouldn't intimidate you!

Joseph had a story about how he left one of his books at his brother-in-law's, who ended up reading it. Not really big into reading (and giving Joe a hard time for reading it), it was a wonderful surprise to see that he actually enjoyed the book Joseph left behind. "My brother-in-law told me that it was a great feeling because he felt smart, that the idea of reading always made him feel inferior most of his life."

The topic of audio books came up and he admits that he isn't really a big fan but he did listen to Matt Dillon's reading of On The Road by Jack Kerouac and enjoyed it. He thinks being a fan of Matt Dillon made it worth his while, too.

If he could write a book of his own? This was a tough one but it would be a book based on political topics going on in the present-day. A political-thriller, if you will, about how high gas prices don't really have anything to do with the war in Iraq but some other reason...

Joseph also recommends the book Shardik by Richard Adams.


Do you have any 'guilty pleasure' books that have a certain stigma but you still read 'em and love 'em anyway?

Freudian Slip

On my bike ride home through Larchmont I pass a man sitting in front of a beauty store, waiting for his wife. He had a few minutes to spare to share his current read before his wife was done inside.

Raudel is reading a book from the Great Books of the Western World collection (60 Volumes). This book in particular consists of Sigmund Freud's works. Raudel took a Humanities class while studying at Cal State University of Northridge and read some of Freud's works. Now he's been hooked on Freud and reading his works for pleasure every since! Last Freud book he's read dealt with "necessary illusions".


Raudel also reads alot of fiction but lately it's fiction relating to social theory with political tie-ins - books by Orwell and Kafka, to name a few. When asked if he had a favourite book or author he was stumped BUT compromised by saying he could name his Top 3 (in no particular order, of course) books of all time (so far).

- Women by Charles Bukowski. This book was recommended to him by his wife and has stood out in his mind/made a great impression on him

- Noam Chomsky (no book in particular...but loves his work)

- The Trial by Franz Kafka

If he could write a book of his own? It would have to be something between relations/relationships and social/political matters.


[Photo taken with book held upside-down...by request :-) ]

Ever got turned onto an author in school and decided to start reading anything and everything by that author?

For me I'd say the closest would be Virginia Woolf. I own most of her books, read many of them, and went through a time when I would re-read Mrs. Dalloway every 6-12 months or so for a few years.

Soaking it all in

Happy Memorial Day! I'm sure many of you, like me, are clinging to the last bits of the long weekend before we have to start our work week all over again.

I met Martha Ellen (yes, my eyes definitely popped out when she told me her name - so old fashioned, I love it!) at the Fairfax Farmer's Market 2 or so weeks ago. She was the first person who did not want to talk about her book with me but was willing to talk to me in general about what it is loosely about and what it's for. I asked her why she didn't want to share the book with me and she said that she'd rather not tell me the title. Something about how it may not interest me...or that it was a secret. So secretive that I was not allowed to take many notes. She's reading and researching alot for a fitness show she wants to pitch hence the vagueness. I understood completely.

Martha Ellen was reading a psychology book of sorts that deals with addictions. Many people claim that exercising/working out can be an addiction so she wanted to get more background on addictions in general. She's been reading alot about sports physiology, health, fitness, and nutrition to better arm herself in her TV show pitch. We talked a little bit more about her show and I asked why she wanted to create a fitness show. She tells me that she has been a trainer since 1990 and was also a dancer. She's really interested in movement and how the body works, how it ties to overall health...all this sparked the idea for her new show. Martha Ellen understands that people may be skeptical about having another fitness show and/or book coming out with more diet and workout tips but she's already ahead of the game. Again, mum's the word but we did talk more about how it is important to have a twist to your ideas when bringing your new baby out into the world. You gotta stand out if you wanna make it!


Many of her ideas are in her head and now she is working hard to get them all on paper and properly outline all that she has been reading and researching.

Last book she's read? The 4-Week Ultimate Body Detox Plan by Michelle Schoffro Cook

Other interests? Organic farming and chakras

If you could read books in only one subject matter, what would they be about?

The Many Sides to One Story

Walking home this evening from the bus stop on the Hollywood Forever Cemetery perimeter, I notice a walking reader across the street so naturally I had to yell out to get his attention. Thankfully he was very patient as we waited for all the cars to drive by before I could bustle towards him.

I explain what I do and he smiles and laughs a bit. "Wow! Normally when someone sees me reading while I walk I usually get a negative response! People either say that I am not watching where I am going so I get in their way but they mostly think I'm weird...like I'm showing off that I read and they aren't...so they're almost intimidated because they think I make them look dumb."

Interesting. Normally the thought that runs through my head when I run into a walking reader is, "How can you read while in motion?" Granted I can read while on the bus, plane, or train but not car.

Pauly is currently reading Your Mysterious Powers of ESP by Harold Sherman. He's been reading alot lately about poltergeists, ghosts, and the paranormal because is he working on a script for a horror television series, so along with it being for pleasure, he is reading for research.

He's always been interested in this subject matter and was even a special effects make-up artist! Other books he reads while walking? He absolutely enjoys non-fiction, particularly history. Non-fiction books about the Middle Ages and World War I are his cup of tea. I ask him why WWI and not so much WWII and he says it is because of the amount of technological change that occurred during WWI.

"It is not Napoleonic warfare anymore. With WWI you start to see tanks, planes, poisonous gas, trenches, and machine guns."

Although he still enjoys fiction he prefers non-fiction over its counterpart and finds himself reading a non-fiction books multiple times. Why? He feels that with fiction, you can read a line, enjoy it in the moment, and that is that. It's all very linear. With non-fiction, on the other hand, he doesn't have to commit to reading each line and each chapter in order. He can choose to read one chapter and jump 10 chapters ahead, and he will still be able to understand what is going on. Plus, he can find himself reading a single line in a non-fiction book and contemplate it for hours on end while he feels he can't do that with fiction. I explained that I felt one could still do that with fiction but I digressed...

Pauly had a neat analogy for his theory. "If I first install photoshop onto my computer, I am not going to read the manual from cover to cover first before I use the program. I'm going to jump right in, play around with it, and if I come across a speedbump then I'll refer to that particular chapter or section in the manual." Very interesting to see how his logic words.

Since he is so fond of history I asked if he watched the History channel. He does but he prefers reading about history. "Things like the History Channel not only divert people from reading but they are only getting tidbits about an event. When you read about history you get all perspectives, the different backgrounds, and you can read different books to get different theories. (He is also into conspiracy theory).

Last book he read was Case Closed by Gerald Posner which is about Lee Harvey Oswald and how he assassinated JFK. "When you read a conspiracy book like that you have to be able to accept and the believe the facts of the book. You have to be open to them, you gotta say, 'Yes! Oswald did do it!' Then you read another book with a totally different perspective and then you go into it with an open mind, too. Same with a third theory, and a fourth. After you're done, you look at all the facts and decide which side you want to be on. It is the same with religion. You may be Christian but when you're having a conversation with a Buddhist about Buddhism you must be able to listen to them and not fight their beliefs. Be open to them. Afterwards, you can either agree or disagree. If people were more open to the bigger picture then we'd all be better off."

I like that.

Pauly made sure I got a shot of the cemetery walls. "It's only fitting, especially with my book!"

Addendum: His favourite author is Isaac Asimov

Blog-reader, would you be more drawn to books on ghosts/the paranormal/occult or non-fiction history books?

Any of you into conspiracy theory books?

bloody unicorns?

I had confessed to my co-worker, Lisa Bee, that I had never read a single Narnia book and next thing I know, I walk to my desk this morning and I find the whole series waiting for me! I didn't realise there were 7 books...and that bloody unicorns were involved! (note photo on box) As a trade I will lend her We Have Always Lived In The Castle by Shirley Jackson.

Other co-workers saw the box set throughout the day and now we all are thinking of just taking turns! Can't wait to get started with Book 1. Must finish Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger and What Is The What by Dave Eggers first.

Have you read all Narnia books? And were you a child or adult when you did so?

Chakra Talk

I pretty much spent my whole weekend at the Grove and the Fairfax Farmer's Market. Roamed around the Farmer's Market before the movie started and met David along the way. I had noticed him sitting with a book upon entering and then saw that he had not budged after I spent an hour snacking on fruit. David was reading New Chakra Healing: Activate Your 32 Energy Centers by Cyndi Dale.

He explains that the book breaks down each of the 7 main chakras and even the extra/external 5 chakras. I have heard about chakras so it was interesting to get a general explanation of what they are all about. David tells me that there are 7 chakras in the center (look at the photo below) and each represents an energy center. Each chakra also governs over their corresponding organ. For example, if I'm having some issues in my chest/heart problems then my #4 green chakra is no bueno. If you're not right in the spiritual sense then your divine chakra (top of your head) must be off.

One reaches top chakra status when the energies comes together and work in unison. I even learned a new word! "Kundalini" means that you have reached this perfect chakra harmony and that you are perfect from to top of your head (the divine chakra) to the bottom tip of your spine...there at the red/#1 spot. Achieving perfect harmony!

David tells me a little bit about the "outer" chakras which are your hands and feet...and I'm guessing that energy at the bottom.

I asked him how he got into learning about chakras and he told me that he had done yoga before and a friend of his who did yoga with him introduced him to chakras. This all started about 6 months ago and he has been learning more and more about chakras and how to deal with them and heal them ever since.

Other books he's been reading? He is studying to be a child psychologist so he's been reading alot for that. He's also interested in the super natural so he divulges that he loves to read about the paranormal, ghost hunters, and the like. (Interesting to see his different interests but I can see how they work together in ways). He also likes watching 1 or 2 of those ghost hunter shows on cable. I remember watching something like that on my flight to San Francisco. Scary but fascinating!


Have you read any books that have helped to bring you to a sense of harmony and a balanced (spiritual and physical) well-being?

Do you read book about ghosts and the paranormal? Fictional ghost stories? The Turning of the Screw by Henry James?

What's Your Poison?

What is up with this Summer weather in SPRING!? This Saturday night I had to resort to an evening laundromat visit to avoid bursting into flames. I stepped outside to break away from the hypnotic spinning of the washing machine where I met Steve (who has just moved out to Los Angeles via Indiana). He was hovering intensely over a booklet of sorts and clutching a pink highlighter. What lay before him?It was the National Bartender's School Course Guide and he was getting in some study time while he waited for his clothes to dry.


He flipped through the pages and showed me how much one has to learn to become a bartender! Not only do you have to know how to mix a drink but you have to know all the different names of drinks, the types of glasses each drink must be served in, the names of all those glasses, origins of the different types of alcohols, all types of garnishes, how your bar must be set up and organized, what supplies you need to have when bartending at a private party, bartender etiquette, and more!


Some things I learned while talking to him and flipping through his manual?

• a diet coke and rum is called a skinny bitch while a rum and coke with lime is called a cuba libre
  
• there is a drink called the "gorilla tit"
  
• ladies must always be served first (yeah!)
• darker rums are from Spanish speaking countries while lighter rums are from English speaking countries

Steve is taking a 2 week course and he is 1 week into it. He's got alot to study to be able to pass the test! How does one go about doing this?

• Answer at least 90 out of 100 questions correctly
• Prepare 12 drinks in 7 minutes or less

Out of curiosity, I asked if he has concocted a drink of his own and he shot out that answer faster than you can down a shot! It's called a Becky Sue: 1 oz vodka, 1 oz apple schnapps, and diet mountain dew. The drink is named after his ex-fiance since it was the cocktail they used to drink together. (Awww! Nice of him to give her the homage).

And, of course, I had to ask if he knew how to make a drink that requires an egg since it is something my friend Bryan always asks for at bars. Alas, Steve did not. Damn.

Books he likes to read when he's not studying to become a bartender? Alot of radio ad-sales books. The last fiction book he read was Lord Demons Delight by Gia Dawn, a book consisting of damsels, demons, and decadent delight.


What was the last "How-To" book you read? And...what is your poison of choice?

sons and daughters of fortune

I just got home from the Eisley show and it was absolutely beautiful! The DuPree sons and daughters put on a great show and it was so nice to see Chauntelle close the night with her vocal contribution (that all fans hold their breath for) and touching to see youngest sister, Christie, come on stage to sing the first verse of "I Wasn't Prepared" with her older sisters.


Not realising that Eisley wasn't going on until almost 11pm, I was stuck mulling around in the back, waiting for the first band to at least get the night started at around 8:30. Interestingly enough I spot a woman sitting on the side reading a book!

Lisa (yes, it was the Liza and Lisa show) was there with her two youngest daughters (she has 4 total). Her girls were around somewhere so she was occupying herself with a book while she waited, too. (I totally remembered how my mom would take my sister and I to shows and wait/read in the car).

Lisa is reading the 3rd book entitled Toward the Sunrise in the Daughters of Fortune series by Judith Pella. The events take place during World War II and in this one, if I understood her correctly, the 3 daughters are separated and in 3 different countries - one of which is in a Japanese concentration camp because she married a Japanese man.


She has actually read this series before and now she's reading them again because she enjoys them so much. Historical fiction is probably her favourite genre and she can't get enough of them!

Favourite author? Going to have to go with Judith Pella. She's also read books where Pella co-writes with Michael Phillips but she has never read Phillips' solo work.

Aside from Historical fiction Lisa's absolute favourite book would have to be the Bible and tries to read it as much as she can and everyday if possible. I asked her if she has a favourite passage or Book. She thought a bit then answered, "I have many but it changes depending on how my life is at that moment."


What book(s) have you read multiple times and how many times have you read it?

Double Fisting

Rolled into Larchmont to deposit some checks but was sidetracked when I noticed a woman through a window - one book in hand while another waited its turn.

When I approached Mireya she had just put one book down and was starting to read the flap of the other. It was a big one! Auditions (A Memoir) by Barbara Walters. I had been seeing and hearing alot about it lately. Mireya tells me it just came out and she just got it. I asked what compelled her to get this book. Was she a fan of Barbara Walters? Was she swept by the publicity surrounding it? Turns out she works for Telemundo (Spanish broadcast television network. Upon hearing this I wondered if she knew the Mayor's "mistress"). She had always wanted to be a reporter and now that she works for Telemundo (she graduated from intern-dom), she doesn't know if it's for her. So she hopes that this book will motivate her, give her some insight on how to maneuver and make it through the news business. "I want to feel the passion in this competitive field!"

Since she is looking to this seasoned veteran as her guiding light I wondered if she read other books by reporters. Incidentally, she has! The last "industry" book she's read is by Jorge Ramos, a leading Spanish broadcaster competitor station Univision. Mireya absolutely LOVES his stuff. Although she has never met him in person, she cannot wait to finally meet the man face to face!


Which segues me towards her second book. Mireya had been watching Jorge Ramos' Sunday Morning Show and he had recommended Gioconda Belli's El Infinito En La Palma De La Mano - translation: Infinity in the Palm of the Hand. It's a fictional account of Adam and Eve. She just finished reading the first 20 some odd pages and enjoying it so far. The book gets the reader to understand why women are how they are versus men. It starts off with Adam. Mireya started raving about the first line then thumbed through the pages until she found Chapter One. The first line read "Y fue."

Naturally, I'm sitting there trying to conjure up my memories of Spanish class but before I could attempt to translate it I am told it means, "And so it goes..." She doesn't know why but those opening words opened the flood gates to a now engaging book. Apparently it's been really tough for her to get into a book lately. The last book she's been trying to get through (for a while now) is Isabel Allende's The Daughters of Fortune (en espanol). It's the 2nd book in Allende's series. Mireya had started reading it in English on a trip to Europe, was turned off by it, and then she thought that a copy en espanol would be a better read (she tells me that reading in Spanish flows better for her). She had found a copy in a little bookstore in Madrid and she was excited by her discovery! She could now finally get through the book! Alas, even a Spanish version didn't do the trick. Now the book lives on her bedside table where she means to pick it up every night before bed but still hasn't gotten around to it. Magical realism just isn't for her, she guesses, because she has the same outcome with Garcia Masquez books. 100 Years of Solitude? Not so much. She admits the writing in the genre is magnificent but she feels things just drag on.

We exchanged info and I noticed The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz in her bag. I told her how my best friend is into spirituality (like her) and how she swears by Don Miguel's books and made me read them. Mireya likes those types of books, too. Light reads and great when she is relaxing at a spa. She admits to being a slow reader but she seems to zip through the Ruiz books.

Have you read a book in order to re-motivate/re-inspire your creative and career juices?

Postmodern

Met up with a childhood friend in my hometown in "The Valley" to play catch up and celebrate her joyous news on Saturday. There is not much to do around there so we settled on Starbucks (the mommy-to-be drank tea, of course).

Looked over the first photos of baby Dorian (yep, it's official!)

We're having a baby!

In mid-conversation, my sister glances and points behind me. I turn around to find a girl sitting on one of the cushy chairs, reading a book. I make my way over and plop into the chair next to her hoping she says YES since this blog is in need of some estrogen.

Kennya (2 N's, she clarifies) is reading a book about Postmodernism. "Teach Yourself Postmodernism". She tells me it gives a general overview of postmodernism. I find out that she is an Art History major at CSUN (Cal State University of Northridge) and this book is helping her study for her final on Monday! The book isn't assigned reading, per se, but she's using it as a study aide. "Since the book gives you a general overview about Postmodernism this helps me better understand its relation to the art for my class."


Summer reading is already on her mind and she can't wait for school to be out so she can get started! Kennya really wants to read Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared M. Diamond. She's been dying to read it for a long time and it is definitely on top of her summer reading list. Kennya's passionate about history and all it encompasses. Also, as a Hispanic, she feels this book will help her have more insight on her culture's history.



Found out she also works at the Border's at the Northridge mall so she has a whole arsenal of books at her fingertips (along with the employee discount)!

Have you read Guns, Germs, and Steel or another book that helped you have a better grasp on your own history?

Down-Time Readin' - He Will Rise Again

I had some down time before a showcase at the Gibson (Guitars) Showroom for Trevor Menear so I decided to go for a walk. Across from the Beverly Center I notice a guy sitting on the patio couches of the Starbucks, cradling a book in his lap. It's funny how everytime I see a reader I find myself pacing around them for a bit before approaching them...it's the interrupting someone in mid-read.

Drew is reading The Lazarus Project by Aleksander Hemon. I had never heard of it but according to Amazon, looks like the book just came out at the beginning of the month. Drew says he is enjoying the book so far. He'd just realised that he'd been sitting in that spot for almost 2 hours, consumed in the book! It had been a recommendation so he decided to give it a go.

The book is about a Bosnian immigrant in Chicago there to investigate and write about a Jewish immigrant who was shot by the Chicago police. After a little investigation of my own I found out that this is actually sprung from a historical event of the 1908 kiling of Lazarus Averbuch, a 19-year old Jewish immigrant who was shot by a Chicago cop, George Shippy. So in this novel, the main character, a Bosnian-American writer finds out what really happens and in his journey finds out his life is intertwined with Lazarus. Kind of similar to Everything is Illuminated (a book and movie that I enjoyed).

I asked Drew what he likes to read the most and he prefers fictional humour in the vein of David Sedaris books. He also enjoys James Patterson.

Favourite book? Ohh a tough one! He was stuck so I asked if he had read any book more than once...c'mon, think....

It would have to be Buddha by Deepak Chopra, a book he has read twice so far since its release in February. Did he read it twice because he loved it so much and had to read it again or was it because it was hard to digest and he had to go back and re-read it? Drew says it is a bit of both. He enjoyed the book but the main reason he gave it another go was because he kept finding fascinating and interesting tidbits in the book that he wanted to go back and revisit them and contemplate them more.

We talked a bit more and I found out that Drew just moved here from Boise, Idaho (I think he is my first Idaho-ian encounter...) to attend FIDM (college). School doesn't start until the Fall so he says this is a perfect time to get in alot of pleasure reading. He hadn't really read anything for about a year so now he is loving that he has a few months to get some reading under his belt before school starts. (How fitting! Biblical Lazarus rises from the dead...Drew returns to reading...I love it!)

I asked if he knew what book he wanted to read next then realised it was a silly question because I could see he just started the Hemon book. Lo and behold, Drew digs into his pocket and whips out his iPhone. "Actually, I do know what I want to read next. I made a list!" Fingering the touch-screen, he's found what he was looking for. "Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion!" It was recommended to him 2 or 3 times so he's compelled to read it soon.


What book have you re-read numerous times because passages/ideas the first time around made you think and come back for more?

Has a friend recently recommended a book that you're itching to read in the near future?

How Necromantic!

Biking home from work I decided to ride through Larchmont and rest a bit at Peet's Coffee. I like coming here because they are so much nicer and they have reusable mugs that I can use for my caffeine fix. Plus, I've come there enough to just walk in, they know my name, and they prep my usual without me saying a thing. I hope to be a customer of the week someday for free drinks!

Sittin' and sippin', my favourite barista asks the guy next to me if he was a writer. He's on his laptop and she said she had to ask. He is, "sorta..." Perfect segue for me to talk to him since I noticed a book on his table. I lean over and ask him if he is writing a screenplay (I know, how cliche of me). He's actually working on his 2nd book! But first I pick his brain on the book he's reading!

Peter is reading Undead by Richard Lee Byers. It is the 2nd book in the Haunted Lands series from the Forgotten Realms Books. I study the cover and see a faint skull and sword-wielding arms raised in the air. It's a Fantasy book about wizards (but more like warlocks) who turn the living into the dead so that they can be in a necromantic army! There are all these hierarchies and these warlocks want to battle it out with their legion of dead men walking. But alas, they create way too many undead who end up turning against them. Dun dun dunnnnn I've never really read anything in the fantasy genre and I kind of want to read this now.


Peter loves fantasy books with wizards, warlocks, magic, and other realms. Upon hearing this I had to ask if he was into World of Warcraft. "Are you one of those guys?" Nope, he tried it out and after realising he was entrenched in the game for 5 hours he decided he couldn't get caught in it lest it take over his life.

Other books he enjoys? Lord of the Rings, Song of Fire and Ice, Dune...
Peter couldn't tell me what his favourite book is so I posed a hypothetical...like...if I locked him away and he could only read one fantasy book series for the rest of his life what would it be? "It would have to be R.A Salvatore's Legends of Drizzt series. There are about 17 books in the series! I can't wait for the next one." (And no, he is not going to line up for it or anything. But he has lined up for Harry Potter...no dressing up, though. 30-somethings just can't do that anymore).

I venture to ask about his own books since eavesdropper me heard him saying he was working on his 2nd book. Peter is a spiritual healer and his first book, entitled Open Me is about identifying with your humanness before our societal labels. Our labels (black, white, Asian, gay, Jewish, Catholic) are our costumes and rather than use these distinctions to manifest hatred and seeing people as "others" and "enemies" because they are different from us, we must celebrate our "societal labels" and positively co-exist with our fellow human beings. (Peter, if you are reading this, I hope I got that right!)

His 2nd book? A fantasy novel where he is melding spirituality with fantasy. He incorporates fantasy to spiritually heal his hero. The fantasy world and modern realm become one.

We sit there a while and I ask him about his work as a spiritual healer and he shares his methods with me. Very interesting stuff. I couldn't help but dive in more and more. Before I knew it, it was dark out and I had to start peddling home.


Do you have a favourite book series? Could be anything from the Lord of the Rings series to the Babysitters Club books!

European Samurais, oh my!

I'm at the Starbuck's by my home for my mini afternoon pick-me-up of hot green tea (usually I get iced green tea with no ice but hey, I was cold). Handing the barista my gift card, I spot a reader a few feet from me. Attack! Attack!

Positioning myself across from him, I try to think of how I can make this go smoothly without him thinking I'm hitting on him.

Ryan was reading Stephen Howarth's Knights Templar. It's non-fiction about, "Well, the Knights Templar", he says. I notice a highlighter on his table and a notebook so I ask if it is for school or for pleasure. Although he is a History Major from UCLA (yes, we proceeded to bond over our Bruin-ness) this book is not for class. He starts going on about tidbits on the Knights Templar, about this book tries to weed out what is factual and what is fiction, because there are alot of myths and fiction. I finally interrupt him because I had never heard of them.

"Who are they, exactly?" He had a hard time trying to explain it off the bat so I ask who they can be compared to. Turns out these knights are like Japanese Samurais but of the European Crusades! He goes on to elaborate their status. Like their Samurai dopplegangers, the Knights Templar are elite religious soldiers of the Crusades, soldiers of virtue.



I ask if they raped and pillaged in the name of God and turns out they did little fighting. Yes, they carried swords and the like but they were these high status soldiers who answered to noone. They went around spreading good. They were like gods on earth, if I understood him correctly, and revered by the people. Nice.

Since he has just finished his stint at UCLA as a History major and is applying for grad school (hoping to remain a Bruin if he can help it) I wondered if his forte was in European History, Crusades era. Interestingly enough his specialty is West African History. He is interested in someday writing a book on History's role in social development and he hopes to be a teacher one of these days. Before attending grad school he will be heading off to teach in Oakland first. He wants to make a difference in how History is taught in schools!

Well, why not teach in LA? "I got hired in Oakland first, and I am still waiting on LA. So I will be heading up to Oakland to teach ESL there and then come back to LA later on. As a teacher he wants to reform public education and change education's view of history. When asked what he meant he replies, "I believe different cultural groups should learn about their own culture. I think it really affects how kids grow up, how their minds develop." Ryan starts giving me examples of what he means. (I somewhat stop writing at this point because I am so enthralled in what he has to say).
Ryan believes that a kid in Crenshaw should be learning different History than a kid in, say, Van Nuys (both are little sub-cities in Los Angeles, by the way). For example, a young black female child should be learning about important historical black females/figures as oppose to rich white males like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Not to say that she shouldn't know about these men but she should have an in-depth learning on her own history. There is a lack of this in our school systems and he wants to change that and nurture identities.

We start talking about our education and how we grew up, how our identities were molded. I tell him how in the 1st grade my sister's teacher insisted she was "yellow" and not "light brown". 'Twas a lesson in race. The Whites were white, the Blacks were black, the Asians were yellow. I tell him I'm filipino but I do not identify with filipino culture at all because I was born and raised here. Ryan smiles and says, "Yeah, I'm Japanese, raised Japanese all my life." I smile back, not believing him. He looks white as white can be, then I pause, thinking he is a halfsy. Ryan clarifies that his mother remarried a Japanese man when he was 5 and was raised by his Japanese grandma. "I'd do something bad and get scolded in Japanese by my grandma who spoke little to no English!" He's a Japanese Jew! I love it.

More identity talk ensues surrounding race and sexuality, about how our culture focuses on one individual (when teaching history) when we should focus on the whole event and movement as a whole, i.e we focus on MLK Jr. in schools when we should elaborate on the Civil Rights movement as a whole, and talk about all the other people involved. We talk about how African history is oral, hence less focus on an individual but the whole stories and histories. Amazing and enlightening conversation with Ryan. We were done and he started packing up. I wished him good luck on his grad school interviews this weekend and good luck in teaching in Oakland.
By the way, when asked what his favourite fiction book is he says Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Reader, do you have a favourite non-fiction book?

Did You Know?

I came upon an interesting snippet in the latest Fast Company magazine. It says that 15 to 24 year old Americans spend 7 minutes per day reading for pleasure while a typical 65+ year old American spends 50 minutes per day doing the same.

Crazy! But I can see that. Attention spans are so different nowadays. But 7 minutes? Really? Makes me sad.

[stats courtesy of Book Industry Trends 2007]