HAHA...Actually, I went to Windy City Soul at the Empty Bottle with Dena and Beth. We also saw my friend, Mark, who I played volleyball with this summer out on Hollywood Beach. He joined in our craziness and we all had a good night of dancin' and fun. I cannot wait until the next Windy City Soul night. My friend and co-worker, Aret, is one of the DJs for the group. He spins 45s. I think it is pretty awesome to have found a venue where I can dance to 60's music. Everyone was just so fun and free last night. It was refreshing to see so many people just have a blast and let loose. I have never seen such an eclectic group of people. Hipsters mingled with potheads mingled with goths mingled with gays mingled with couples mingled with normal people. It was so awesome. Every race was in attendance. I feel like I was transported to another time. As the night progressed, mind you we did this for three solid hours, the dance floor became more and more crowded. I mean crowded. The best part of it all was the fact that there was no booty dancing. Now, I realize I am great at it, but it was nice to not have grinding music. It was fun dance-how-you-want music with no judgments which basically boils down to: white people dancing like white people.
Mark from volleyball!
The 100 Dresses is a great book. I finished it in about 30 minutes...in fact, the entirety of the book was read in one 30 minute session on the eliptical at Bally Fitness (it took less than 30 actually...I started re-reading it at around 25 minutes). The book surveys a topic that has never been much of a problem in my life...well it never was in my grade school years...only when I got to college. Wanda Petronski, a poor Polish girl, is made fun of constantly by Peggy, the richest girl and most popular in Room 13 (wow...isn't she amazing...her popularity actually reaches the confines of the ENTIRE classroom...to think I was my university's Man of the Year), and other girls. Maddie, Peggy's sidekick never steps in, but she never makes fun of Wanda, either. She just stands back and watches. Now, the making fun of is pretty benevolent in today's standards. Peggy teases Wanda because she only wears one dress every day...over and over...the dress is described as a blue in the most beautiful summer day. Peggy never says anything ugly to her, she just provokes Wanda about the amount of dresses she owns. Wanda always says she has "one hundred dresses in my closet all lined up." Peggy says "Oh really, I bet they are bea-you-tiful." and walks away. Now if Peggy existed today, she would say "You are such a stupid piece of sh**. You are so poor you don't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of." I know. I have taught kids their age.
Well, it comes to the day when all of the students submit their drawings into a contest. The boys were all to draw a motorboat and the girls were to draw dresses. Peggy is sure she is going to win. When she and Maddie walk in the room, a hundred drawings of dresses line the wall. The teacher announces Wanda has won because she drew all of these beautiful drawings. Unfortunately, Wanda was not at school that day. After she announced, the school secretary entered the room and gave the teacher a letter from Wanda's father. In broken English, it proclaimed Wanda was moving because the family needed to move to a big city where their name was not an issue and they were not made fun of in the least bit...they could be with more Polish people.
Immediately, Maddie feels bad. She feels responsible for always standing around and never doing anything about the provocations. Peggy asks her if she wants to go to Boggins Heights to see if Wanda has moved yet. They go to the shanty she lives in and see that she has moved. This disturbs Maddie because she will never get peace. They decide to write a letter to her and have the Post Office forward it.
At Christmas, the class receives a letter from Wanda. It says she is doing well and loves the city. It also says to give the picture of the blue dress to Maddie and the green and red to Peggy. Maddie feels even worse and more guilty. She realizes Wanda liked them even though they never treated her like a friend. It does not phase Peggy. One night, Maddie is looking at the brilliant drawing and realizes something. The face of the girl wearing the dress is Maddie. Wanda drew Maddie. Maddie teared up and ran to Peggy's house. She told Peggy and sure enough, Peggy's picture was of Peggy, too. Maddie cries and realizes how much love Wanda had for them. That is it.
Eleanor Estes wrote this book because she experienced a similar situation growing up. There was Polish girl in her small New Haven, CT classroom that did not fit in. People made fun of her so the family moved to New York City. The book was a tribute to the girl to apologize for everyone's behaviour in general. Eleanor Estes was the Maddie of the situation, btw.I think it is important for kids to read a book of this nature; it is a Newbery Honor because of the valuable lesson it teaches. As my mom was explaining to me today...you just never know what is going on in someone's life...so therefore I should stop bitching while people walk in front of my car while I am driving down Howard Street. Kids are bullies...I was bullied when I was younger. I think we all are. My friend and I were just having this discussion the other day. When I taught, we had to take seminars on bullying and how to identify and stop it. It is hateful. I do talk about people...yes...we all do, but I would never be ugly to someone causing them to move, etc. The book is definitely a kid's bestseller recently because it was made into a play. It was in Chicago for a while and EVERYONE wanted a copy!
Well...this is it for now. Everything at work was NORMAL today. :) The only thing is that it was CRAZY for a while...and I re-organized bargain overstock...which is something only an angel in Heaven would do...and I am...so that is that.
No comments:
Post a Comment