Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions

I am currently reading "Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions" by Gloria Steinem. 

I think this book is described best by the review on the back cover from actor, Alan Alda, "Her book is like the women herself: Intelligent, concerned, articulate, precise, and never without a sense of humor or balance." Basically that sums up everything. Way to go Hawkeye Pierce!!

To say that I am an admirer of Gloria Steinem is an understatement, which I'm sure will one day be an entry. My point is to explain just how much I've learned from this book when it comes to words. I have never been one to write or underline the contents of a book I'm reading. I figure I won't remember the significance of the underline or I won't read it again so why mark up a perfectly good book. Well, I guess I'm growing because I have not only underlined and pointed out paragraphs and anecdotes that are simplistically moving and revealing, but I have also begun to circle words I do not know. Oh, but I don't stop there. I have also included the definition in the blank space on the page. It's one of the first times while reading a book that I don't just want to guess what the word means, or look it up only to forget it in 5 seconds, but to instead write it down so I will always have it, literally, at my fingertips. 

This is an entry devoted to words. Not mundane words. Not everyday words. Not bland words. But words with which we are unfamiliar, a relative statement if I've ever seen any. The words I know, recognize and use will be different from yours, as it should be. I bring this up because I love to read and I love to learn, both of which are happening at the same time, in full force, while reading this book by this amazing author/journalist/activist/feminist/former comedy writer.

----- Spelling Test Study Guide from Ms. Gloria Steinem -----

Itinerant: traveling from place to place

Bastion: upholding particular principles

Metier: occupation/activity a person is good at

Acerbic: sharp and forthright speech (I've been trying to use this in a sentence. Easier said wished than done.)

Subterfuge: deceit to achieve one's goal

Jettison: abandon or discard

Palliative: fixing a problem without addressing the cause

Empathy: understand feelings of another (I knew this but always need a reminder.)

Apathetic: feeling no interest or concern

Antithetical: directly opposed or contrasted; opposite

Quixotic: resembling or befitting Don Quixote - chivalrous

Appropriations: anything appropriated for a special purpose, especially money

Circumlocution: roundabout way of speaking - indirect (she uses this word to describe Nixon)

Bombast: speech too pompous for an occasion; pretentious

Condescension: voluntary assumption of equality with a person regarded as inferior

Obsequious: compliant, obedient, dutiful

Ideologue: a person who zealously advocates an ideology

Pragmatist: person oriented toward success or failure of a particular line of action; practical person

Manchurian Candidate: novel by Richard Condon about the son of a prominent U.S. political family who is brainwashed to be an unwitting assassin for a Communist conspiracy. (Wikipedia)

Burghers: inhabitant of a middle class town

Inexorably: not to be persuaded

That's it so far and I'm only on page 105 out of 410. I also love that, just from this list of words, you can tell it mostly has to do with politics or at least the political arena thus far. It may be just the perfect time for me to be reading this book with elections looming around the corner. :)

A big thank you goes out to Gloria Steinem for improving my vocabulary! *Oh, and improving my life as a woman!*

First Encounters and Initial Impressions

Depending on how this goes this could, quite realistically, be my first and last blog entry. The intention of this blog is to act as a sort of "public diary". To me "public diary" sounds more like an oxymoron than something for which to strive, but I'm committing myself to the phrase because it's catchy and rolls off the tongue. Also, if it catches on as being witty and novel, let's all remember where you first heard/read it. *I'm pretty sure it's been used before but we'll forget about that for the time being.*

You may be asking yourself, "Why have a public diary? Why not just have a private one, at home, in your desk under lock and key so you can divulge your deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings?" Well, in the immortal words of Lucille Bluth, "I don't understand the question and I won't respond to it." In all seriousness however, your question is something I've mulled over and will share with you the conclusions I've found thus far.
 
Reason 1: I'm positively incapable of keeping a journal, especially with the intention of me being the only audience. Not only do I find my entries boring when reading through them again (which is immediately after writing them to check for stupid sentences and horrible grammar) but I also have never been a fan of writing my thoughts down only to be sent into the ether, never to be shared. Don't get me wrong! I find myself to be a very interesting person with grand thoughts and dreams, however, those grand thoughts and dreams do not seem important when kept to myself. They instead should be shared, discussed and dissected.

Reason 2: I define what a diary should be by the examples around me which ultimately limits myself of my true nature. My definition of what a diary should be is a chronological record of my life as it progresses to my death. Now, does that sound clinical? Well, that is exactly what my diary entries become; clinical. I have thoughts and feelings that are important and incredibly valid, but when I come up to the piece of paper or word document on my computer, I turn into a sort of Jane Goodall/Charles Darwin character and instead of expressing myself, merely record my observations on the events of the day and the people around me. I have important thoughts and revelations about religion, politics, family, friends, the environment, art, music, history, volunteer opportunities, etc. but when I sit down to express them, it turns into, "I went to work. It was boring. Had a good lunch. It's funny how I can eat the same thing every day. Came home and watched a movie. Time for bed now. Night." I immediately think if anyone were to find my diary, read it, they have only one conclusion to come to; I have no life whatsoever.

Reason 3: When there is a book out there called "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank, anything you think or complain about in your life seems incredibly ridiculous, ignorant and wasteful. I don't mean to say that my life isn't important enough to be documented but seriously, folks...Anne Frank...her diary...nothing short of positively brilliant and an insight to how we should all see life!

Reason 4: All I ever want to write about are the movies I watch and my intellectual and emotional reactions to these movies. Many of you who know me, and will read this blog, already know this about me and may even love this most about me. So if you find that there are several entries in a row that have nothing to do with me and everything to do with the entertainment world, particularly classic hollywood films, consider this to have been your warning.

So with all reasons shared and out in the open, I will conclude this first entry and hope for the best. As I go into this blogging experience with no particular expectation of quantity or quality of entries, I see this as an opportunity to express myself about the things I love and find interesting to and for the people I love and find interesting!