(I wrote this post for YA for Obama and am crossposting it here.)
I don't talk about it very often, but I'm a religious person. In fact, before I became a writer, I wanted to be a minister. There is a certain branch of Christianity that has so effectively hijacked the word "Christian" that I feel uncomfortable sometimes using it to describe myself. But I am a Christian.
So I'm going to write this blog post as a Christian. I'm not going to write (yet) about the time I met Senator Obama. I'm not going to write (yet) about how Obama's economic plan offers our country the best opportunity to avoid what will be a long and painful period of economic stagnation no matter who becomes President. But I want to explain three reasons why I feel that I am called not only by my conscience and values but also by my faith to support Barack Obama.
First, there is the question of loving thy neighbor as yourself, which Jesus states clearly and irrevocably is the second most important law for his followers, behind only the love of God. Our healthcare system is profoundly broken because we have failed to live up to this high calling--because most Americans have been willing to live in a nation where tens of millions go uninsured. For all the uninsured (my brother Hank and his wife were among them for many years), bankruptcy is an accident or a diagnosis away. Money they've saved to send their kids to college must instead pay for chemotherapy, and not because they made poor choices or failed to work hard, but because they own or work for small businesses, or because they're unemployed, or because they've been sick before and so insurance companies refuse to cover them. (My father, a cancer survivor, couldn't get health insurance for fifteen years after his recurrence of bladder cancer.)
Making health insurance available to all isn't going to be easy, and it isn't going to run smoothly, and it will require sacrifice by all Americans. But I would have happily made the sacrifices involved for my brother or for my father, and so as a Christian I must be willing to make them for all my neighbors. John McCain and Sarah Palin have already said they will not bring meaningful reform to our health care system. Barack Obama, with the support of the U.S. Congress, will.
Secondly, the world in which we live. Apocalypticism has always been a part of Christianity. Early Christians (and some argue Jesus himself) were convinced the world as we know it would not survive for more than a generation or two. For much of recent history, this has meant for many Christians that we don't need to worry too much about what some Christians derisively call "the World." Evangelical leaders (and Governor Sarah Palin) have said that man can't possibly affect the climate, because God made it and humans could never destroy it. (To which I say: Um, okay, but didn't God make the passenger pigeon?) We are unquestionably called by the Bible to stewardship of the land, and right now that means Americans must make drastic changes in the way we use energy and how we find it. Our failure not to have done this earlier owes to the tremendously powerful oil lobby and an administration that has always protected them over the long-term interests of Americans (and in doing so, has financed a tyrannical regime in Saudi Arabia that has long denied religious freedom or the freedom of expression to its citizens). Climate change is the greatest issue of our time, and if we fail to recognize it, we will be remembered by whatever people remain as the prideful gluttons who said to future generations, "Let them eat cake."
Finally, science. Sarah Palin has repeatedly stated that she wishes to see creationism taught in our schools. I believe that every Christian (and indeed every American) should be opposed to this. What science has taught us does not invalidate religious faith, and to those evangelical Christians who believe otherwise, I would respectfully say that you are placing too much faith in the power of science. Not that science isn't powerful: We now know, thanks to rational thought and the testing of hypotheses, that evolution was the driving force behind the breathtaking diversity of life in the world. And we know that the earth has existed far longer than we have. Science has given so much to the experience of being a creature on this planet. But it does not render our spiritual lives irrelevant.
The anti-intellecutalism that has become the hallmark of religious conservatism in contemporary Christianity (and many other religions) will only set us back--not only economically and politically but also spiritually. We must invest in science; we must teach our children the scientific method; we must share with them the myriad discoveries that the scientific method has brought us. And we must do all of these things in classrooms that are in the business of teaching children how to learn, and not in the business of teaching that faith in God is incompatible with the intellectual rigor and creative innovation that have been the glory of our nation's past. Christianity loses in that bargain, and so, too, does America.
Say your life broke down. The last good kiss You had was years ago.
There's so much promise in that kiss, and it is so brilliant subverted. I find myself whispering it to myself sometimes, and I won't even know why. I guess it's the beat of it; it sticks to your brain like a melody: The last good kiss you had was years ago. There are a few snippets of poetry like that for me*, but not many.
The line is from Richard Hugo, and it gave the title to the crime novelist James Crumley's best novel, The Last Good Kiss. It's an ambitious and deliciously violent novel, and it was the book that made me love detective fiction when my boss at Booklist, Bill Ott, passed it along to me. The Last Good Kiss is famous for its first line, widely agreed to be the best first line in the history of mystery novels, and maybe any novel:
"When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon."
Crumley died last week at 68. He was a hell of a good writer--that sentence just cracks the surface of his achievements--and he'll be missed.
* An incomplete list of other lines that I find myself whispering sometimes, and I am probably misquoting these b/c I'm doing it from memory and when you repeat lines over and over you sort of end up making them yours: Eliot's "The voice returns like the insistent out-of-tune / of a broken violin on an August afternoon." Katrina Vandenberg's "Keep me at my desk / Until this work is done." Whitman's "And now it seems to me the beautiful uncut hair of graves." Dickinson's "I see thee better in the dark / I do not need a light." Hughes' "Good morning daddy / ain't ya heard / the boogie woogie rumble / of a dream deferred?"
So for those of you who do not devote your every waking hour to the world of book publishing, there are several journals that review books in advance of their publication.* In each issue, these journals give their favorite few titles "starred reviews." (I do not know where this tradition started, but anyway it is nearly** ubiquitous in the world of children's books.)
And although most readers probably don't even know about this weird little publishing tradition of starring certain reviews, it is--as they say--kind of a big deal. It provides, for one thing, a relatively broad (or the broadest we have, anyway) idea of what critics think of a particular title. (So if a book gets five starred reviews, as The Book Thief did, it indicates there is broad agreement that the book is excellent. Which of course it is.)
I have worked as a book reviewer, and still do sometimes, and I think it's important and interesting work. But authors cannot take too much stock in reviews of their own books, because otherwise they will go crazy. I read reviews mostly because I'm interested to see what people respond to and what they find lacking, but I try not to take it personally, good or bad.
All that said: Alaska and Katherines both received three starred reviews in advance of their publication. Word came from Julie today that Paper Towns has just received its fourth star, from the nice people at School Library Journal.
So that is nice, even if it takes five paragraphs to explain why I am happy! (Also: Big congratulations to sometimes sparksflyup commenter Anna Jarzab on the sale of her first novel in a two-book deal to Delacorte!)
* These include, for instance: Booklist, SLJ, Publishers Weekly, Horn Book, The Bulletin for the Center of Children's Books, KLIATT, and VOYA. **VOYA does not give stars, for instance.
I love non-denial denials. As a genre, the non-denial denial is as close as politics can come to literature--it is the moment when the right words must be chosen precisely.
Witness, for instance, Bill Clinton's famous statement when the Monica Lewinsky story broke: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky." Oh, it's so good. It's so brilliant. The best part is the diversionary tactic. First he says, "that woman." So you think you have him! You think he will later be able to deny the denial based on "that woman." But then he names her! And you think, "Well, that is a real denial. Boy howdy. Nothing ambiguous in that denial." Of course, the ambiguity is in sexual relations; at least to Clinton's mind, what he had done with that woman, Miss Lewinsky wasn't sexual relations. It was sexual, sure. But it wasn't relations.
John Edwards was more obvious, but equally outraged in his recent non-denial denial: "The story is false. It's completely untrue, ridiculous. I've been in love with the same woman for 30+ years." He denies "the story." He says he loves his wife. He doesn't deny having an affair.
So check out this strangely worded statement from McCain press aide Brian Rogers: "The fact is that as Mayor, Palin never asked anyone to ban a book and not one book was ever banned, period." "The fact is" and "Period" are designed to seem authoritative, unambiguous. But what is that "as Mayor" doing there? Why would you include the "as Mayor" in such a forceful denial?
I'm awfully sad tonight. Infinite Jest was the first hard book I ever loved; it infuriated and baffled me, and it was the funniest book I'd ever read. Infinite Jest introduced me to the idea that real people (he lived in Illinois!) were writing big and beautiful and brilliant novels.
I have been busy stealing from it ever since, of course, like so many other writers (particularly those of us who write about smart teenagers, which DFW did with such perfection).
I've watched a few episodes of The Hills. A friend of a friend is a writer on the show (or a story designer or whatever you call someone who writes for a program that is technically unscripted). It's a terrible show, of course. But there's nothing inherently wrong with terrible shows. I watch lots of them.
I do think The Hills is a little more evil than most terrible TV shows, because it glorifies the kind of anti-intellectualism and self-involvement that lately seem to define Americans to the world. The Hills plays to young people's darkest fears, but worse than that it plays to their darkest hopes--that strangers, and millions of them, will like them and want to be them, that their lives will be played out on a bigger stage than most lives, and that somehow being watched will fill the hole inside them. (I wrote a novel about this one time a few years ago.)
Some people like to say that creative work has no responsibility except to entertain its audience. But that's not true, and I think we all know it. We say such things so we can sleep at night, because it's unbearable to acknowledge that we are exploiting young people so that we might have more money (or, worse, more fame).
(I am by no means immune to this, or even a lesser offender: Many times in my life I've made decisions where I prioritized not my readers, as I should have, but myself or my family. There are all kinds of justifications for this behavior, but they all fall a little flat.)
1. It is ery bad for YA literature. It makes people take YA books less seriously, which will hurt sales among the readers we most need to grow. And it further propagates the insidious lie that YA books, particularly of the 'chick lit' variety, can be written by anyone.
2. LC's book deal is probably slightly bad for the world, in the way that it further contributes to the idea that celebrity is in and of itself desirable because it gives you easy access to anything you want.
3. These books will take up space on the shelf that could be occupied by books that could sell well for a much longer period of time--the kind of books that hang around because they are well-written and carefully crafted by people who care more about the experience of writing a book than the money it pays. (And I don't just mean 'literary fiction.')
On the upside:
1. I'm sure some kids will read it and it will be the first book they ever finished and blah blah blah. I've never bought this line of argument, and neither would Aristotle, because it is exceptionally poorly reasoned. (I mean, if you'd published a different book, a better book, how do you know IT wouldn't have been the first book that kid ever finished?) Also, as I've said before, I think once you are reasonably literate, there is basically nothing gained from reading a bad book that cannot be gained from watching a bad TV show.
2. Somebody at HarperCollins presumably thinks they are going to make some money. I doubt they actually WILL make money--celebrity books usually don't--but they think they will. They think they can take the sloppy seconds of celebrity and offer empty and condescending wish-fulfillment to vulnerable kids who desperately want their voices to be heard in the way that LC's is. There's nothing wrong with them for wanting to be heard--all of us, from Holden Caulfield to Jane Eyre to teen-me to teen-you. There's nothing wrong with that desire at all. But there's something wrong with exploiting it.
Maybe they'll make money off it. After all, you can exploit all of the teenagers some of the time. But in the long run, they won't make money, and they'll undercut the entire publishing business, because you can't exploit all (or even most) of the teenagers all (or even most) of the time.
The John Green / Hank Green / Paper Towns Current Up-to-Date Event Listing
Soon this will have its own tab up at the top, but for now, here's an exhaustive listing of public events between now and the end of November, with all the information I currently have about them. You can also go to eventful and look up (and RSVP for) a few of the events. The rest will be on eventful as we fill in the details.
Friday, September 26th Minneapolis, MN Featuring Amazing Unspeakable Surprises 7:00 pm The Loft Literary Center Open Book, Suite 200 1011 Washington Ave S. Minneapolis, MN 55415
Saturday, September 27th Minnetonka, MN Again with Amazing Unspeakable Surprises 1:00 pm Hennepin County Library, Ridgedale 12601 Ridgedale Drive Minnetonka, MN 55305
Wednesday, October 1st BERLIN, GERMANY (Seriously.) 6:00 PM Schiller-Theater-Werkstatt des GRIPS Theaters
Thursday, October 16th New York, New York The Paper Towns release party with Hank and Sarah and my parents and Maureen Johnson and lots of authors and songs about my books! 7:00 PM Barnes and Noble Tribeca 97 Warren Street
Friday, October 17th Boston, MA with Hank and Julia Nunes! 6:30 pm Cambridge College 1000 Massachusetts Ave. Room 152 Cambridge, MA 02140 RSVP! 617.349.4038
Saturday, October 18th Indianapolis, IN With Sarah! 2:00 PM Borders 8675 River Crossing Rd. Indianapolis, IN 46240
Monday, October 20th Columbus, OH 5:00 PM Cover to Cover 3560 North High Street Columbus, OH
Tuesday, October 21st Atlanta, GA 6:00 PM With very special and thus far anonymous guests Time TBA Little Shop of Stories 133 East Court Square Decatur, GA 30030
Wednesday, October 22nd Coral Gables, FL 7:00 PM Books and Books 265 Aragon Avenue Coral Gables, FL 33134
Thursday, October 23rd Orlando, FL Where most of Paper Towns is set! 7:00 PM Barnes and Noble 481 N. Alafaya Trail Orlando, FL 32828
Friday, October 24th Naperville, IL 7:00 PM Anderson's Bookstore 123 W. Jefferson Avenue Naperville, IL 60540
Saturday, October 25th Chicago, IL 4:00 PM -- TICKETED The Book Cellar
Monday, October 27th Phoenix, AZ 4:30 PM Phoenix Book Company 4134 E. Wood Street Phoenix, AZ 85040
Tuesday, October 28th Seattle, WA With Kristina and the brilliant sweetafton23! 7:00 PM Seattle Public Library 1000 Fourth Ave. Seattle, WA 98104
Wednesday, October 29th Menlo Park, CA with Abby songsfromahat Simons 7:00 PM Kepler's Books 1010 El Camino Real Menlo Park, CA 94025
Thursday, October 30th Los Angeles, CA Halloween Party! 4:00 PM Santa Monica Main Library 601 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, CA
Sunday, November 2nd Plano, TX with Hank and Katherine! Details TBA
Later on Sunday, November 2nd Oklahoma City, OK with Hank and Katherine! Details TBA
Monday, November 3rd St. Louis, MO with Hank and Katherine! Details TBA
Tuesday, November 4th Greenwood, IN Election Day Special with Hank and Katherine and Sarah! Details TBA
Wednesday, November 5th Louisville, KY with Hank and Katherine! Details TBA
Thursday, November 6th Knoxville, TN with Hank and Katherine! Details TBA
Friday, November 7th Gadsden, AL with Hank and Katherine! Details TBA
Sunday, November 9th Newport News, VA with Hank and Katherine! Details TBA
Monday, November 10th Charlottesville, VA with Hank and Katherine! Details TBA
Tuesday, November 11th Lancaster, PA with Hank and Katherine Details TBA
Wednesday, November 12th Westport, CT with Hank and Katherine Details TBA
Thursday, November 13th Pittsburgh, PA with Hank and Katherine Details TBA
Friday, November 14th Ann Arbor, MI with Hank and Katherine and Adam and Eva Details TBA
Saturday, November 15th Racine, WI with Hank and Katherine Details TBA
Sunday, November 16th Ames, IA with Hank and Katherine Details TBA
Monday, November 17th Kansas City with Hank and Katherine Details TBA
Tuesday, November 18th St. Paul, MN with Hank and Katherine Metro State University Details TBA
Hamlet is about to get plastered with Crantz and The Gildensterner
Right now: Sarah and I sitting on the couch together in the loft, she on her computer and me on mine. Listening to wizard rock. Kicking back with a Diet Squirt. Just another night in the crazysexycool life of the Green family.
You: You don't need a master's degree to be an English teacher. You can just take some classes and get certified. Me: Right, but I don't want to take any classes.
You: If you teach an English class online at blogtv or something, tons of people will participate. Me: Not a bad idea, but--and nothing against working for free or anything--in that situation, who would be paying me?
You: Just come teach at my private school! Me: Right, but your private school isn't where I live, and I can't move, because Sarah's job is here, and I feel like it would be bad for our marriage if we lived in separate houses. (Also expensive!)
You: Teach for America. Me: Oh God. Oh God no. Like I said, I have this fantasy where I teach one class of highly motivated juniors or seniors in high school and we talk about books and why reading them critically matters. Teach for America is awesome, and it is great work, and important work, but it is not something you do before going home to write for six or eight hours a day.
You: Substitute teach. Me: No. :)
You: Tutor. Me: That's a good idea. That could work. Not quite the same as ordering kids to read a book and then slowly twisting their arms until they realize it's good, but potentially still fun and engaging.
Anyway, it's all irrelevant for now because I'm about to leave for ten weeks (!!!??!!) of travel. Goodnight from a Holiday Inn in Columbus, and thanks to all the nerdfighters who came out tonight! Best wishes!
Not that I am tired of being a professional writer(/vlogger*), but I would like to teach English to a small group of smart high school students. Just one class, I think. I think I'd be reasonably good at it, but not too good. I wouldn't be Robin Williams in Dead Poets' Society good. I would be the English teacher in 10 Things I Hate about You good, I think.
But I can't do this without a master's degree in education, which I don't want to get.
Solutions?
*I mean, at some point, I am going to accept that I am better-known as a vlogger than an author. But not today.
Galleycat and Time Magazine are reporting that during her rocky tenure as mayor of Wasilla, Sarah Palin sought to remove many books from Wasilla's public library. When the librarian, Mary Ellen Baker, refused to do so, Palin tried (but ultimately failed) to have her fired.
The full story on this isn't out yet--Baker, for instance, hasn't commented--but local news reports from the 90s confirm the bones of the story.
LATE UPDATE: The list of books Palin wanted removed that has been circulating isn't well-sourced. Hopefully we'll eventually find out the whole story, including the titles she wanted removed, but for now I'll reserve further comment.
Yep, context is everything. Take teen sex for example. When there's teen sex in Alaska, it's all about life and love. When there's teen sex in Looking for Alaska, it's pornography.
Sometimes, I'm still surprised when people are offended by the drinking and language and, most of all, the sexuality in Looking for Alaska. I don't feel annoyed or enraged or any of that--just surprised.
(Most of the people who find Alaska offensive seem like totally nice people who I would like in real life; we just disagree about what books do and do not accomplish.)
But anyway, I was reading such a review today--this one, in fact, calls the novel blasphemous. I don't know what's so blasphemous about it--as I've said before, I think Alaska is basically Christian Fiction. (People laugh whenever I say that, but I'm not kidding!)
Right, but anyway. This reviewer asks, "Are there any uncrossable lines anymore? Are there ten, seven, or even five words, you can’t use in YA fiction?"
My answer to that question: The idea of uncrossable lines presupposes that the manner in which the line is crossed is irrelevant. In fact, all that matters is why and how the line gets crossed. See, for instance, the sex in Coe Booth's brilliant new novel Kendra, which is so incredibly sad that you cry while reading it; sex is a vitally important part of the book, but it's not in any way arousing or titillating. (In fact, rendering sex explicit often has the effect of de-eroticizing it, de-romanticizing it, and finally making it less attractive and interesting--which is, for instance, why high-definition porn has famously sold poorly.)
That said, the whole question reminds me that YA writers ARE capable of real obscenity, as evidenced by this hilariously dirty Twitter, which I happen to know was started by two YA authors. (Really. And no, I'm not saying who. You'd never guess.)
