Hello July! Part I

Summer Reading

"The Arrangements," by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  

Recently, The New York Times commissioned authors to write fiction inspired by the election.  The first story, "The Arrangements," is an intimate portrait of the Trump family.  On the surface, it is about Melania Trump's effort to plan an anniversary dinner for her parents.  On a deeper level, it describes the different types of female power operating within Trump's inner-circle.   "The Arrangements" is deceptively easy to read, but the questions it poses will stay with you.

Read it here.

The New York Times

Summer Make-Up: 

Nars Velvet Matte Skin Tint and Laura Mercier Translucent Pressed Setting Powder.  

I walked into Bluemercury the first day returning to work after Winter Break thinking that a new lipstick would lift my spirits.  Not surprisingly, I ended up returning to school with a  new foundation and powder, in addition to the lipstick, tucked into my bag.  It's funny how that happens . . . Anyway,  when RM picked me up from school that day he said "wow, your skin looks great; you're glowing." I felt like I was in an informercial!  The fact that he noticed a difference in my skin was notable, considering the fact that he hadn't noticed that my hair was a weave until I told him three or four months into dating . . .well, maybe he did notice and was just being polite.  Either way, both the man and the make-up are keepers!

The Nars Velvet Matte Skin Tint (my shade is Cuzco) blurs my pores and gives me light to medium coverage, which is perfect for summer.  I also love that it has an SPF of 30 since I am not at all religious about using sunscreen.  Best of all, immediately after I started using it, the redness and irritation I was having along my cheekbones cleared up.  It claims to be mattifying, but I use the Laura Mercier Pressed Setting Powder to tone down shine throughout the day.  Be warned: the powder is white.  It works well for me, especially around midday when grease is sliding off my face and I don't want to layer on more color.  Coincidently, Mikita uses the same powder and thinks that it makes her look slightly chalky.   She uses a finishing spray to give her a dewy look.  

Summer Listening:

Serial Season 2.

Summer brain drain can happen to teachers too; there are only so many Instagram posts one can scroll through over the course of the day before feeling stupid.  Luckily, I discovered the second season of Serial, which focuses on Bowe Bergdahl, the American solider who deserted his post and was captured by the Taliban.  Bergdahl was held in captivity for nearly five years and then labeled a traitor when he was released in exchange for 5 members of the Taliban held at Guantamo Bay.   Bergdahl claimed that his plan was to walk off into the desert of Afghanistan in order to bring attention to the lack of leadership in the army, but why did he really leave his post?  Should Bergdahl even have been accepted into the army in the first place when he had previously been "separated" from The Coast Guard?  Was he a Taliban sympathizer? Was he mentally ill? Bowe's story is interesting, as is the larger discussion of the failure of the war in Afghanistan.  

Snow Day Obsessions

I should have been planning and grading vocabulary tests, but instead I read, listened to the entire season of Serial, thought about lipstick, and played in the snow.  Ok . . . I didn't actually play in it; I watched Chloe play.  I'm not the playing type!

1.  Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng

Photo: LA Times

I feel a certain level of anxiety if I'm not reading a book. I love having something to look forward to each day, and books are my thing.  Everything I Never Told You, was so good that I found myself slowing down as I neared the end because I feared that whatever I would read next would not be as satisfying.  Everything I Never Told You begins with the drowning of a beloved daughter and slowly reveals the fraught dynamics of the family that she belonged to.  It is a thriller that is also a family drama -a novel that is a perfect balance between being readable and thought provoking.

Many of the reviews of this book have begun with the issue of race, mentioning that the main character, Lydia, has an Asian father and a white mother.  Everything I Never Told You examines the idea that race can limit our thinking and analysis of a situation.  For example, Lydia has blue eyes, and initially the reader assumes that is why she is the favored child. However, as we read further we learn that this may not be only issue at play.  The novel examines the way that parents see elements of themselves in the children and either try to erase or magnify these characteristics.  It demonstrates how the scars of a parent's childhood can reappear as fresh wounds in their children.

2. Serial

My 6th graders taught me how to use PicCollage!

Over the past few weeks I have seen articles and posts about Serial on social media, but I couldn't figure out what it was until recently.  Serial is a 'podcast'  (which is like an online radio show or a story told in installments on the internet).  Serial details the criminal case against Adnan Sayed, an American teenager of Pakistani heritage.  Sayed was convicted of first degree murder for killing his Korean-American girlfriend, Hae Min Lee in 1999.  All of this happened in Baltimore, MD on the eve of their graduation from high-school.  The only evidence against Sayed is the testimony of an acquaintance, Jay, who says that he helped him bury the body -yet never served any jail time.

At first it was hard for me to process the podcast; just sitting and listening was difficult even though I found the story very interesting.  I kept feeling like I should be doing other things: writing, cleaning, wearing a waist trainer . . .

Anyway, this podcast makes you think about the factors that influence memory,  race and religion in criminal justice system, and the nature of psychopathology.  There is no real resolution at the end of the twelve episodes, but my opinion is that Sayed shouldn't have been convicted because the state did not prove his guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt."  However, this doesn't mean that I think that Sayed is innocent.  As I listened to episode after episode, I found myself being charmed by Sayed's eloquence, so based on my track record that probably means that dude is guilty.

Start listening now here.  I'm curious to know what others think.

3. Matte Light Pink Lipstick: 
On Friday, I was scrolling through the television channels and happened upon the Sparkle re-make.  Out of curiosity I started watching it; I didn't want to like it, but I did.  After the hotmess that was Being Bobby Brown, I was relieved that Whitney's last appearance on screen was dignified.  However, the real star of the show was the make-up. I have been looking for the perfect nude toned lipstick forever.  My current favorite is Nars Het Loo, but the shade that I have in my imagination for the Spring is matte and pink.  Hopefully Mikita, Jennifer, and I will get to go to Bite Beauty Lab and get custom lipsticks made next month!

Carmen Ejogo as Sister in Sparkle

4. Central Park:
Chloe's first words this morning when she looked out of the window at the snow (or lack of it) were "they lied to me."  After making blueberry pancakes, she convinced me to leave my warm bed and take her to play in the snow.  On our way to the train station she commented that the snow looked like "coffee ice-cream;" (she's a master of metaphor already!)  Once we got to Central Park it was really like a winter wonderland! Couples took pictures with snowmen, children made snow angels,  and college students whipped down hills on NYU cafeteria lunch trays.  There was such a sense of joy and play in the park, as if time had been suspended.   Read Chloe's post about today here.