"Paper Towns"

I've been reading John Green's new novel Paper Towns this week and now that I'm finished, I thought I would spend a few minutes trying to come up with a description of what the story is about and what I thought of it--in short a review.

Now, a few days ago, I threw some phrases up on this post as a draft, trying to capture some thoughts that flitted through my head. Let's see if I can make any heads or tails of what I was driving at when I jotted them down for the first time. 

They are:

1. comfortable innocence of pre-adolescent boys and girls 

Well, here I think I was trying to get at the relationship of the two main characters in the novel--Quentin "Q" Jacobsen and his next door neighbor/object of mystery Margo Roth Spiegelman. You see, Quentin and Margo used to be friends. They grew up together, but somewhere along the years of school they separated and changed and Paper Towns gets at Q's realization that he has mis-imagined Margo for a long time. Back when they were children (during the comfortable innocence of pre-adolescence), they were unselfconscious and more truly themselves.

The story of the novel unfolds during the last month of high school as Q and his friends and Margo and her friends prepare to graduate. So, you know that this is a coming-of-age story, something that echoes American Graffiti--though I'm sure Mr. Green isn't trying to echo that film. It's just what I thought of. 

No, Green is after far more serious stuff here, hanging much of his plot around Walt Whitman's Song of Myself and also (less directly) Moby Dick. But, literary hifalutin-ness aside, this is a story about kids preparing to become something else--maybe not kids, but exactly what? All of Green's three novels (and to a large extent, Young Adult literature it seems) deals with this question of becoming something, the transition from childhood and the mysteries and conflicts that happen during this time.

But, back to me for a minute. I said before that the story is about how these two characters (Q and Margo) grew up together but drifted apart. Well, they come back together again in the central mystery of the plot. But this leads to the second thing that I jotted down:

2. my childhood friend went off and "became" someone while I (as many introverted kids may do) struggled to accept that we could also "become" someone 

I had a "Margo Roth Spiegelman" in my own childhood. Someone that I grew up with, was very comfortable with, and then (due to attending separate middle schools) we drifted apart. Her family moved out of the neighborhood and we didn't reconnect until High School. By that time, we had both changed, but (to my mind) she had changed more. Puberty had turned her into a different girl and economics and society had moved her (I thought) into a different social strata than I. Having been apart for several years, we had lost the connection to our comfortable childhood and she had become something else.

I didn't think that I was capable of becoming something similar, so she seemed to operate in a different social circle of high school--much as Q sees Margo as this unattainable person who no longer resembles that comfortable childhood friend. He/I wouldn't know what to say to her if given the opportunity--not that this opportunity presented itself very often. 

It felt weird to be tongue-tied around someone that you used to "sleep-over" with. It felt odd to not know someone "now" (in high school) but to remember that they had a "Dukes of Hazzard" poster hanging on the back door of their bedroom. But such was my life in high school, with my "Margo."

3. projecting that sense of "becoming" upon someone else, not understanding that they have their own internal dialogues that we aren't aware of. they have their own insecurities and they put on their own masks to meet the expectations that everyone else puts upon them 

What Quentin comes to understand during the course of the novel is that he has in his mind misrepresented who Margo is  all these years in high school. He failed to understand that no matter how a person presents themselves to the outside world, their inner world might be something entirely different. Pretty and popular does not always guarantee happy and secure inside. Q finds a way to learn about who Margo truly is, and in that process, he himself becomes more than he thought he was as well.

*****

It's funny that this book is about how you misrepresent someone. Because I wouldn't be reading this book at all--or Green's other books either probably, had I not first encountered him on Brotherhood 2.o. As I've said before in this space, John and his younger brother Hank spent 2007 creating daily YouTube videos back and forth to each other. In the process, they became Internet-famous and have continued to video each other in the time since their initial year-long project ended.

John was already a two-times published author and Hank was also employed. But I'm quite certain that John's saleability went up as a result of Brotherhood 2.0. The people who actively followed the original blog--and what has come after--are called Nerdfighters (after John inaccurately described an Aero Fighter video game in an airport as a Nerdfighter video game.)

I suppose that I am what might be called in The Silent Nerjority. I have become captivated by the idea of what the Green Brothers have done in the past few years (harnessing their "fans" to do charitable good works--of which this example was only one of the first attempts), but I have not actively participated. I remain stubbornly voyeuristic.

But . . . let me stop this contextualizing and go back to my main point.

I've watched many, many, many of the videos put together by John and his brother Hank. Still, I run the very strong risk of misrepresenting them, since I don't know them in any real sense. Heck, I don't know the people that I work and live with most of my waking hours. Not really. So, how can I hazard a guess at who John Green really is?

But I don't have to. I'm not trying to. I just find it interesting that I ran into him through this very superficial means and then I read a book where he mused on the idea of a similar superficiality. (Since he was well into the writing of Paper Towns when all of this video YouTube stuff starting accelerating, it's probably not surprising.)

But, YouTube or not, as I said at the start, the inner life of Quentin isn't far fetched at all. It happened to me in a similar way. For this reason, the book resonated with me specifically. But I think you might enjoy it as well.

What's that?

If you are a frequent visitor to the Glencoe Current Events Web site, known as "btw," (http://events.glencoe.com) then you've seen the What's That? feature where a common object is displayed in close up and you must figure out what the object is.

So, let's play What's That? With two pictures here:


This looks a bit like a Jackson Pollack painting, but it isn't. Can you guess what it represents? (I'll give you one clue. It is leftover from something that Lynda and I did with Grace today.)

This photo is from something that Lynda and I found when we were clearing out the back corner of the yard during our garden saga. It is a Gatorade bottle and the plastic cylinder of an ink pen. But do you suspect what it was constructed for?

-- Posted From My iPhone (so, I apologize in advance for any typos I missed)

The saga unfolded thusly

I took a day off from work today and rode my bike, ate at local restaurants, and sat in my backyard to finish a book. (The book in question was John Green's Paper Towns.) Once I finished reading, and before I went to get the kids from school, I put this on my Twitter stream.

"PaperTowns": a coming-of-age/American Graffiti tale of growing up, moving on,
self discovery. More details to come tonight over at #WWYG.about 6 hours
ago from Tweetie

Now, of course, when I wrote that (approximately 2 pm), I meant tomorrow rather than tonight. Because I've already promised you, my friendly readers, the story of how our garden came to grow. And then I put it off, and put if off, and put it off.

But tonight seems to be the night.

So, here goes. And I'll be referring back to Twitter posts I made throughout the process, as it helps me remember things and adds exciting flow to the story!

*****

1. Helping out with "square-foot gardening" at church. http://yfrog.com/5eekoj11:56 AM May 17th from Tweetie

It all began over two weeks ago, when Lynda and I were introduced to the idea of Square Foot Gardening at our church in New Albany. Now, we'd been informally mulling over the idea of starting a garden of some sort in our backyard for a while, for a few reasons: 1. we had an unimproved spot in the corner of the backyard that wasn't doing anything, so maybe it might become a garden spot? 2. I found it appealing and "green" to try and grow some of our own vegetables--stuff that the kids already enjoy, like beans, maybe a few corn plants, possibly a tomato for Lynda and I to under-utilize--but everyone has to grow tomatoes, right? And 3. the kids might enjoy digging around and learning about the growth cycle and whatnot.

But Sq. Ft. Gardening was something new. It demonstrated a small, manageable, logical way to introduce a garden into an area without excessive ground preparation. And it helped us keep out ambitions manageable. One small 4 ft. by 4 ft. frame, subdivided into twelve smaller quadrants was all we could realistically handle. After all, Dad had already warned me not to go overboard and not to get my expectations up too much. So, Square Foot Gardening it was! When could we get started?!

2. Stump removal estimate contains three terrible words: Emerald. Ash. Borer. (sigh) goodbye cheap expense.4:11 PM May 19th from Tweetie

Well, there would be some ground preparation. The aforementioned spot in the backyard was unimproved to be sure. It had lots of surface weeds, trash, and some stray plants growing from stumps that would make it very difficult to find a level spot for our garden frame. So, we began an estimate process to clear out the stumps back in the corner, along with a stump on the side yard that Lynda had unsuccessfully tried to dig out last Fall. And there were also two dead trees that needed removing and another stump that our neighbors wanted us to get rid of as well.

Along with all of that stuff we were expecting to have done, the first company informed us that the four trees lining the fenced portion of the backyard were suffering from Emerald Ash Borers and needed to come down. Thus, the estimate went up. WAY up. More than we could commit to at this time. So, we got another company to come out and tell us what they thought. These guys (without our prompting, I believe--though Lynda was doing the talking while I cooked dinner) said the Emerald Ash issue was a non-issue and they could remove all the other stuff for a very reasonable price indeed. SOLD!

Get that ground cleared! Get the supplies! Let's get gardening!

3. Bought wood for garden container. To be constructed tomorrow. Had great time at friends tonight. Maybe work tomorrow? (but only at home)9:52 PM May 24th from Tweetie

The sq. ft. Garden box is together. After stumps are removed we'll get soil mixture and start planting. Anyone have vegetable suggestions?12:05 PM May 25th from Tweetie

Can't you feel the optimism? Doesn't it all seem like it's going to work out swimmingly? The wood was purchase and the square frame was assembled. Heck, even I was able to do that without too much trouble, getting the kids to help me on a Memorial Day weekend. (Just to do my Dad proud, I even bought a container to organize all of the random screws, bolts, nails, and other stuff that had been accumulating in the garage shelves. I was Dad'ing it up all over the place.)

But it was great. The stumps weren't yet out of the ground, but the frame was ready. I was looking for vegetable ideas. The soil mixture would soon be bought. All was right in the world.

4. At home and aiming for a relaxing weekend. And stumps are being removed with extreme prejudice!4:10 PM May 29th from Tweetie

Last Friday I got home to find the stump removal guys had arrived and were practically done with the job. Dead, scraggly trees were gone, wood shavings were piled around. Things were looking UP! I was expecting a relaxing weekend, for heaven's sake. I figured all I had to do was get the frame on the ground (with a blanket serving as a weed barrier between our new cleared ground and the soil mix), mix up our soil, put down our seeds, water, and sit back to enjoy the bounty of Mother Earth!

What could be simpler?

5. Today: more ground clearing, branch trimming, soil and box garden prep. But chocolate chip pancakes start the day off right.8:38 AM May 30th from Tweetie

Now it is Saturday. And I'm still in a pretty good mood. Sure, the weeds have to be cleared off the ground and then the ground has to be levelled a bit. But those things aren't too hard, right?

6. Garden slowed down by the noticeable presence of un-removed stumps. http://yfrog.com/1abdjj10:41 AM May 30th from Tweetie

Oh, dear, what's this? It seems that all of the stumps were NOT removed. It seems that Lynda and I had to spend about two hours of our morning digging two of them up ourselves. That doesn't really fit into our relaxing garden adventure, now does it?

Oh well. We got it done eventually. And then it was back on schedule, levelling, getting the frame ready, getting all of the soil components, purchasing the seed packets, what . . . wait, WHAT?!

Yeah, I bought treated wood from the frame. The box is sitting outside all summer. It's gonna get rained on?! If the wood isn't treated, then it's just rot away, right?

!!!

What do you mean I wasted money and time on that frame? What do you mean treated wood will contaminate the food we're growing? What, start over?!!

. . .

7. Just so angry right now. THIS is why you shouldn't learn anything new in life. The failure just gets in the way of happiness.2:49 PM May 30th from Tweetie

(leave me alone)

. . .

. . .

8. Getting calm. Resigned to new set of tasks. Will laugh about later?4:20 PM May 30th from Tweetie

By Saturday evening, I was accepting of the fact that a new frame had to be built, with untreated wood. Lynda went out and got the wood, the soil for mixing, and the seeds. She then put together the frame and we were back in business.

On Sunday, after we spent the morning and early afternoon at a church (where it all began) picnic eating hamburgers and flying kites, we got back to the task of nurturing food out of the ground. The ground was cleared. The frame was approved. The soil components were assembled. Thunderbirds were GO!

And then, the other shoe dropped.

Lynda was halfway through mixing and spreading the soil inside the frame when we came inside and head-motioned for me to come out into the backyard with her.

"Take a look and tell me what you see," she said.

Immediately, I KNEW. But I stood there silently for a bit, breathing, thinking, wondering what to say and do.

"That spot we spent all that time clearing. It's not as sunny as we thought is it?" I said.

"Nope," she said. "What do you want to do?"

(Scream?) "Well, honestly, I'm ready to just keep going and see what happens. It's not totally in the shade, right?" (But I knew it was foolish to really consider that.)

(sigh)

"I guess we should move it. We'll shovel the soil mix out of the frame onto a tarp, then move the blanket barrier and the frame to a sunny spot in the yard--maybe over here in front of the juniper--drag the tarp over, and shovel the soil mix back in. I'll go get a shovel and be right back."

(All of that sounds really measured and thoughtful. But really we were both extremely tired, frustrated with the project, and angry that out enthusiasm had gotten ahead of our commonsense throughout the entire process and we'd had to start over so many times. We were both beaten down and ready to do something, anything, to get this done and find something positive again.)

In actual fact, the moving of the frame was pretty simple and painless. It got us started back up into happy territory again. By the end of that Sunday night, all was in place and seeds were under the soil, watered, and hope waited to spring forth.

The fact that two days of hard rain immediately followed made me worry a bit that the new plants might get waterlogged too soon--and frankly, some of them still might. It's been a week and nothing significant has started struggling forth yet. But we've been watering daily, looking, hoping. We've got two tomato plants potted, a green pepper plant, some lima beans, some garden peas, green beans, squash, and zucchini out there trying to decide what comes next.

You'd think that--as parents of three children--we'd be comfortable with stepping out in hope, prepared to accept the unknown. But parenting is emotional labor, mental labor. This was physical labor.

(And there is a reason that nerds don't win body building competitions.)

But the negativity is gone now. The struggles only added up to make the story more interesting. And we've got the hope back.

As things grow, I'll let you know.

9. Sore. Stumps and box story to be detailed later in the #WWYG forum. Now time for coffee and many aspirin.7:36 AM May 31st from web

And now the story is done.

Tuesday at home

Both Hannah and I stayed home today--she with a slight fever that didn't worsen and I with a brief cold. Now we're outside with the other two girls in the backyard enjoying what seems to be shaping up as a pre-storm breeze.

Lynda is off for an extremely rare (work week!) night out with colleagues. And so I'm wimping out and taking the girls out for dinner soon. But I want them to enjoy the yard a bit before we go.

I'd say we should water the garden but a strong storm last night provided a good amount of rain. So much that I worried for our newly planted and vulnerable seeds. The tomato plants are still small enough in height not to be bothered by the wind, but I thought the soil would become overdamp and damage what just went in the ground two days ago. Considering the turmoil in getting it all started, to have it be sabotaged from the start would seem to be just about par for the course. (And yes, more details on THAT story is still coming.)


-- Posted From My iPhone (so, I apologize in advance for any typos I missed)

Delays

I regret that I haven't brought forth the wonderful video that I promised last Friday. But it's probably for the best as I can't really recall now what it was going to be about--something about how Heidi Klum's face on the magazine cover looked striking like Debbie Harry (of Blondie fame) and how that was odd because when I saw the other minor headline on the cover, I kept misreading the American Idol winner's last name as Kris "Alien."

So, "Blondie" Klum and "Rapture" and stuff like that, you see?

Even if it had been remotely understandable, it would only have sucked up maybe two minutes (if I was lucky) of video and then I would have been staring at the camera like a deer in headlights.

So, best just to move on.

But to what? My next topic to be covered was going to be the Great Garden Experiment. But I can't give that story the level of detail it demands using one finger on my small iPhone keypad. (Besides I'm not feeling all that great right now and need to rest rather than type my magnum opus one letter at a time.)

If you can't wait for me to recover enough, then scroll backwards through my Twitter feed (www.twitter.com/dtm1971) to read the optimism, tragedy, triumph, turmoil, and angst. (Trust me, it's hidden between the lines--140 characters at a time . . . but with backwards chronology.)

Now, I'll put this away and maybe read a bit more of "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" then call it a night.

(I just want my nose to stop running.)


-- Posted From My iPhone (so, I apologize in advance for any typos I missed)