Some days memories flit in on the breeze, gently floating through the air around you until you breathe them in . . . give them a name. Today it is my Grandma come to visit me, though she is gone these many long years. A couple of summers I visited with her in her little yellow house. She must have been in her early 70’s then and widowed for a bit. I always thought her so beautiful, my Grandma. She smiled a lot and hummed some days. I loved her house, her routines, the freedom she had, the perfect “oldness” of some of her belongings. I remember her teaching me to make coffee in a stove top percolator pot and how good that coffee tasted in her old china cups. I remember buttermilk, prunes, clobbered eggs and slightly stale candy, patent leather purses and wide heeled white church shoes. She read Corrie Ten Boom’s “The Hiding Place”, watched “Highway to Heaven” and played “The Gay Butterfly” on her organ. She told me to smile more, reminding me that you catch more bees with honey. She served me tea and taught me tea etiquette; she gave me chores and thought me a bit lazy. It was often scary to ride in any car she drove … she’d sometimes stop in the middle of all the traffic to point out something, tapping on the car window with her still thick, shining fingernail. She told me over and over again the things she thought most important to good health . . . chew each bite of food 20 times so your body didn’t have to work too hard to digest it and be sure you have at least two “movements” each day. She’d spend hours at her meals at that Duncan Phyfe table, chewing . . . one meal almost leading up to the preparation of the next. Milk of Magnesia was freely and cheerfully doled out to everyone she thought might be in need of its freeing properties. Today, Grandma, I am missing you. I wish you were here. I’d love to make you a cup of tea and chat with you now that I’m older . . . know more of you. I know you are in heaven; you spoke of going there so often. Someday I will see you there and we will both smile.

The Why of Dystopian

When people find out that I love to read I am often asked what my favorite genre is. This is not a question that can be answered easily. It’s the same for questions like “What’s your favorite color?”, “What’s your favorite food?” etc. Perhaps some people can quickly and easily answer these questions without the slightest doubt. I am not one of these people. It’s like saying “Which of your five senses would you like to use today?” Hhhmmmm, I choose all, please. Must I pick just one?

That being said, I do have some favorite genres. I used to classify these for myself, like some mini Dewey Decimal system in my brain, and strove to make sure I was reading from several genres at once. These days it’s not as easy. I’m much older and I’ve read more . . . much, much more. Authors cross genre lines and once new books become “classics”. I read genres that never had a name in my youth; one of my favorites is Dystopian Future. Here is what Wikipedia says about dystopian fiction, “Dystopian fiction (sometimes referred to as apocalyptic literature) is the opposite of Utopian: creation of an utterly horrible or degraded society that is generally headed to an irreversible oblivion, or dystopia.” Sounds lovely, eh? Who would want to read such a thing?!

I would. I do. While I can’t entirely pinpoint the draw, I believe it lies somewhere in the most basic of human needs: hope. It eases me somehow to hear of someone who has it way worse than me that still has hope. People who still fight for good, find allies, make the world better. I believe God instilled this need in us, so we would look to Him. There are many dystopian stories in the Bible, maybe that’s where the love starts. God uses people for His good. Writers are people, they can be used. Even if there is no mention of God or faith, no hint of religion or higher powers . . . books can point you that way.

A large amount of the books that fall into this genre are classified as Young Adult (YA). This doesn’t mean they appeal to only the young, it means simply that the protagonist of the story is usually an adolescent, teen or early twenty-something. I have two opinions on why this is: 1) young adults today are growing up in a much darker world than some of us did and are looking for a way to interpret it 2) Sadly, it is much more believable to portray a character filled with hope and the spirit of change if that character is youthful.

I believe this genre can help us see ourselves in a clearer light. Life on Earth is hard. It’s going to get harder. Evil does exist. Most of us want to be on the good side. We want to fight evil, stop bad guys, live peacefully and resourcefully. Sometimes these books show us a version of the “how”. Don’t turn away from injustice, don’t buy into propaganda, fight for freedom and never, ever give up hope.

Wanna be SuperBetter anyone?

My oldest son was sharing a video with the family yesterday (something he does quite often) and there was a very quick mention of the app SuperBetter. It sounded intriguiging and we're all about gamification in this family so, I went to check it out.

What is SuperBetter?
Here's what the website says, "SuperBetter is a tool created by game designers and backed by science. Playing SuperBetter helps build personal resilience: the ability to stay strong, motivated, and optimistic even in the face of difficult challenges. Resilience has a powerful effect on health—by boosting physical and emotional well-being. Resilience also helps you achieve your life goals—by strengthening your social support and increasing your stamina, willpower, and focus. Every aspect of the game is designed to harness the power of positive emotions and social connection to help you improve your life."

I've really enjoyed looking around the web based application and gaining a few points. Right now the mobile app is only available for iOS systems but you can vote to show support for an Android version. I plan to use the application for awhile then report back, but I thought some of you might like to check it out too! Try it here SuperBetter .

Here's a very interesting TED talk by Jane McGonigal, the creator of SuperBetter. This talk was done before SuperBetter's creation but shows a lot of the insight that went into it's making.

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog! Here, I well spend some words . . . book reviews, opinion pieces, fun stuff. Thanks for coming along for the ride.