Orange Words

Hurricanes Anonymous by Adam Johnson

Yeah, I have no idea what to say about this short story. Other than that it might be the longest short story I've ever read. Or maybe it just seems that way because I really didn't like it. Basically, Hurricanes Anonymous is about a UPS driver living in Louisiana. His son is left mysteriously in his truck by his ex-girlfriend and the story begins after he has been taking care of the child for some time. The plot revolves around the main character, Nonc, and the relationships he has with his current girlfriend, his son, and his father after Hurricane Katrina.

While I'm pretty sure that my dislike of this story stems from a misunderstanding of the message, an unfortunate side - effect of this dislike is that I can't pull apart the story in very many ways.

There are some great instances of cajun culture in the narrative, including the origin of Nonc's name and something of his family. I always have to admire how great authors can so easily incorporate a whole culture into a few words dribbled into a handful of sentences. Johnson never went into a lot of depth, but he sketched in enough of a world to understand that Nonc comes from a different subculture than most. Doing that in a subtle way is a real skill.

I wish I had more to say as a writer. Maybe after a class discussion I'll have a greater respect for it.

Rubiaux Rising by Steve De Jarnatt

Wow. I'm not entirely sure what I just read, but the imagery was terrible. And wonderful. I'm overwhelmed by how heart breaking the story is and how grossed out I was at some points. It's not like De Jarnett spent a lot of time trying to make his story visually stimulating with lots of words. Maybe that's what made it so powerful - the lack of extra.

Rubiaux Rising is a short story about a double-amputee soldier who is being forced to detox in his aunts attic after returning from "New Babylon" (presumably somewhere in the Middle East). The story completely takes place in the attic, which is itself located in a house set in St. Louis. That's where he is when Hurricane Katrina (never called by its name) hits, the levies break and the house and attic are flooded.

There's way too much to talk about concerning the story, so what I'll mostly continue saying is - wow. I'm not one to do anything but sit quietly when lost in a story, usually. It only took me three sentences to gasp in shock for the first time with De Jarnatt's story. God, what an opener! Just a few pages later and I was grimacing as Rubiaux ripped the metal plate from the back of his head to set the roof on fire. It took me a second reading of that sentence to verify - yes, he has pried off a metal patch in his head with a rusty nail. Just seconds later I was making more disgusted faces as I read, "something sinister in the water brushes between his thighs, then comes back to nibble at his suturing" (39).

And I don't think I've ever felt so bad for anyone as I felt when Rubiaux, with his brain damage, was trying so hard to sing 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'.

What an amazing story. I really enjoyed it while being disgusted and creeped out.

Sebold, Alice, ed. The Best American Short Stories. 2009 ed. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Company, 2009. Print.

Trailhead by E.O. Wilson

I recently read Trailhead, by E. O. Wilson, which I thought was pretty awesome as far as entomology is concerned. Trailhead is, basically, the rise and fall of a colony of ants. From the journey of their queen to find a suitable nesting ground to her eventual death and the demise of the colony, Trailhead follows it all. I'm usually not really big on bugs, but Wilson made the learning interesting.

Trailhead certainly made me think about humanity. Maybe he didn't mean to write about society through the use of ant-life, but I don't see what the harm in pretending he did, is. Of course, maybe that's just the frame of mind I'm in. Between the sociology minor and the books I've been reading recently, the strangeness of the human race is never far from my thoughts.

In particular, a bit from Trailhead keeps floating around the periphery of my mind: "humans send their young men to war; ants send their old ladies."

It's so true - but why???

Maybe the ants have it right. I have visions of a post-apocolyptic future where humans are replaced by super-intelligent ants. This quickly devolves even further with additions like the presence of the 'hive mind' and before I know it I've got a decent draft for a terrific (in the 'terrible' sense) Scifi (Or Syfy, now....) made-for-tv movie. Brilliant.

E. O. Wilson: Trailhead : The New Yorker