tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post2858569557802335198..comments2024-03-07T17:13:54.927-05:00Comments on A Fuse #8 Production: Podcast Edition: Review of the Day: On the Wings of Heroesfusenumber8http://www.blogger.com/profile/16216979020263363698noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-10752189423266323762007-05-15T21:43:00.000-04:002007-05-15T21:43:00.000-04:00Well it's a good point. And certainly I'm not a f...Well it's a good point. And certainly I'm not a fan of the black character who is stuffed into a work of fiction for the sole purpose of BEING a black character. It's funny that I mention Peck's white world in the review when, a little earlier, I'm talking about how I'm not affected by his earlier works like my colleague. But I obviously AM affected by his earlier works because when I parse my own reaction I can see that what I objected to was not necessarily the lack of diversity in THIS book but the lack of diversity in MANY of his books. So why go about claiming that I'm looking at this book on its own merits alone then criticizing it for what the author has or has not done in the past?<BR/><BR/>Oh, I love me a good debate. It's been a while.fusenumber8https://www.blogger.com/profile/16216979020263363698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-10617597706060453252007-05-15T21:39:00.000-04:002007-05-15T21:39:00.000-04:00oh, yikes, on rereading, I'm sort of off the point...oh, yikes, on rereading, I'm sort of off the point. Yes, I believe kids now would see this as a curious historical characteristic and might be cognizant of how the world has changed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-57219343308435178092007-05-15T21:36:00.000-04:002007-05-15T21:36:00.000-04:00"From the vantage point of urban America one can f..."From the vantage point of urban America one can forget how German and Scandinavian and English much of the country is now and, especially, was then."<BR/><BR/>Precisely. Historical fiction does us a service by presenting history as it was (slightly subjectively, and colored by the "fiction" part) and holding up a mirror to what things were like rather than what we pretend they were like. There WAS a time when in a Midwestern city and in some walks of life, at a certain age, one might not come across anyone of color. I think it's important to hold a mirror up to ourselves in this way, to acknowledge that not so long ago, things were very, very different. Why pretend we had the diversity we have today? To throw in a reference for diversity's sake would be historically inaccurate and manipulative. Another way of slicing this is for someone to present, simply, a parallel tale of what life might have been like in a community of diversity, but that's another story altogether. <BR/><BR/>I think telling the story with the nuances of how it was is terrific. A document of what life was like -- realistically -- is a lovely legacy to present. <BR/><BR/>Ahem, just surfing in from the 'net... and surfin' on out...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-40493790045602628252007-05-15T21:13:00.000-04:002007-05-15T21:13:00.000-04:00Well, before we put Peck in a really nasty categor...Well, before we put Peck in a really nasty category, I would be curious to see what the Midwest's demographics were in the mid-40s. From the vantage point of urban America one can forget how German and Scandinavian and English much of the country is now and, especially, was then.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-47706924198992615042007-05-15T18:34:00.000-04:002007-05-15T18:34:00.000-04:00P.S. I probably didn't emphasize enough what a tal...P.S. I probably didn't emphasize enough what a talented speaker he is -- fluid, theatrical, and engaging. And all of his opinions are great food for thought, even if you don't agree with them. I appreciate that he doesn't mince words. It makes me feel like he'd welcome a debate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-74754163880260625482007-05-15T16:43:00.000-04:002007-05-15T16:43:00.000-04:00...but, YES, he does, too, indulge in Bad Nostalgi......but, YES, he does, too, indulge in Bad Nostalgia as well; I have heard him speak, and it sometimes slips out as it does in all of us.<BR/><BR/>I don't think that your idea on the current generation is only a generalization -- if our generation has done one thing correctly, we've mostly remembered to find all of us in our various hues and expression - in our fiction. Mostly.tanita✿davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01671822274852087499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-7542494677278136332007-05-15T16:40:00.000-04:002007-05-15T16:40:00.000-04:00I had to hold off reading this book until I finish...I had to hold off reading this book until I finished a WWII piece I'm working on, but it was lovely vintage Peck -- that good old Good Nostalgia firmly intact. Well put!tanita✿davishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01671822274852087499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-75110130725589172492007-05-15T15:06:00.000-04:002007-05-15T15:06:00.000-04:00.... but probably isn't. By and large it's the ea....... but probably isn't. By and large it's the easiest sport in the world to condemn "Kids Today". Heck, it's each subsequent generation's national pasttime, when you think about it. It doesn't surprise me to hear that Peck indulges in Bad Nostalgia as frequently as he does Good. It's just SUCH an easy cop-out. When one looks at one's own youth through the hazy filter of the decades, it can sound pretty sweet in retrospect. I'm 29 and even now I find myself slipping into old fogey speak when I get on the subject of "Kids Today". But for all the flaws of the current generation, they'd probably be more apt to notice when a work of fiction fails to contain a single minority character than their grandparents would've at a similar age. Or is this yet another rough generalization?fusenumber8https://www.blogger.com/profile/16216979020263363698noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-74950262952325449602007-05-15T14:38:00.000-04:002007-05-15T14:38:00.000-04:00Your son may be an exception to the rule.Your son may be an exception to the rule.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-39384870173763789212007-05-15T14:36:00.000-04:002007-05-15T14:36:00.000-04:00"[Bad nostalgia] wallows too deeply in the idea of..."[Bad nostalgia] wallows too deeply in the idea of how great things used to be and would rather eat its own shoes than allow that there might be some pretty great things going on right now."<BR/><BR/>Interesting that you should say that. In Peck's recent very dynamic Zena Sutherland lecture in Chicago (which will soon be published in the Horn Book Magazine so that I can check it against my memory), he essentially condemned everything about the contemporary child's life (including family, schooling, pastimes), and exalted everything about his own childhood years. I don't think he intended to criticize so completely -- rather, he intended to explain what drives him to introduce history to modern children through fiction -- but unfortunately, it came off that way. My daughter was outraged to hear him say that children nowadays are "linguistically retarded and verbally anorexic." (I'm looking forward to checking her memory against the published version, too.) Forgive me for saying that I got the sense that Mr. Peck was isolated: that he hasn't met enough children like...well, like my son, who can quote Herodotus as easily as he can quote Homer Simpson, who catches all the Odyssey references in "O, Brother Where art Thou," whose favorite artist is Mike Mignola, and who speaks with his peers in a surprisingly sophisticated tongue of Internet comic references.<BR/><BR/>I just wish Mr. Peck had said ONE THING to acknowledge that he meant this only as an instructive generalization, so that my daughter could have heard some optimism in his speech.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-78181988103457252672007-05-15T13:51:00.000-04:002007-05-15T13:51:00.000-04:00Fuse: Once, my former boss (your current boss) too...Fuse: Once, my former boss (your current boss) took the day off work because it was his birthday. While I was working at the children's information desk, a tall, dapper man came up to me and delivered a package to your boss from your boss's sister. The next day, your boss read the note that came with the package, and smiled. "What a show-off!" he said fondly. The man who'd delivered the book was Richard Peck.Saints and Spinnershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04733517166056974501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-72808948196238506202007-05-15T08:52:00.000-04:002007-05-15T08:52:00.000-04:00Haven't read it yet, but I think that First Line i...Haven't read it yet, but I think that First Line is fantastic. You know you're in for some serious nostalgia, dontchya?Laurahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15894879798051029183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15089389.post-71677715670269945642007-05-15T08:18:00.000-04:002007-05-15T08:18:00.000-04:00I just read and reviewed this myself, and you said...I just read and reviewed this myself, and you said everything I couldn't fit into seventeen syllables.EMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15633057062989686339noreply@blogger.com