This week's chapters have been quite different but in a good way. Fey describes age, motherhood, and tradition in her house when she was younger. I can relate to the motherhood portion in a way that might not seem like it fits. I grew up taking care of my sister, and now, I am taking care of my boyfriend's siblings little by little. Whether it's helping his sister with homework or teaching his brother a new way of defeating a Indominus Rex on his tablet, I am always around them learning. Watching their mother handle a perfect house on top of four kids is quite a challenge, and she never ceases to amaze me with how well she performs under pressure.
I think Fey is trying to make a point that no matter what, having children is a blessing and even if things fall apart every so often, it doesn't make you a bad person for trying. Nobody is perfect and everyone has their bad days. Fey definitely wants her readers to know that she isn't a perfect, well-managed mother, and I don't think anyone is.
Monday, April 11, 2016
This book has been so wonderful and I feel like I have taken so many things away from it.
Here are some questions for this week's reading:
1. In There's a Drunk Midget in My House (great chapter name by the way), Tina Fey gives advice about motherhood. Do you want to have kids, and, if so, do you think you might look back at this book when you do have kids and revisit it for advice?
2. In A Celebrity's Guide to Celebrating the Birth of Jesus, Fey recounts her holiday traditions, with her eclectic family. What are some of your traditions, and do you have family that always makes the party more interesting?
3. What Turning Forty Means To Me is 3 sentences long, and I quote, "I need to take my pants off as soon as I get home. I didn't used to have to do that. But now I do." I'm using this as a jumping off point. What does being (insert your age here) mean to you?
Here are some questions for this week's reading:
1. In There's a Drunk Midget in My House (great chapter name by the way), Tina Fey gives advice about motherhood. Do you want to have kids, and, if so, do you think you might look back at this book when you do have kids and revisit it for advice?
2. In A Celebrity's Guide to Celebrating the Birth of Jesus, Fey recounts her holiday traditions, with her eclectic family. What are some of your traditions, and do you have family that always makes the party more interesting?
3. What Turning Forty Means To Me is 3 sentences long, and I quote, "I need to take my pants off as soon as I get home. I didn't used to have to do that. But now I do." I'm using this as a jumping off point. What does being (insert your age here) mean to you?
Monday, April 4, 2016
Passage Person: Week 4
I feel like I say this every week, but my gosh I love this book! It's intelligent, quirky, and Fey's voice really comes through. One passage that I - and I feel everyone - can connect with is:
'I was a little excited but mostly blorft. "Blorft" is an adjective I just made up that means "Completely overwhelmed but proceeding as if everything is fine and reacting to the stress with the torpor of a possum." I have been blorft every day for the past seven years.' (156).
I think that I relate to this because senior year, especially first semester, has been so stressful. Now that the second semester is beginning to wind down, it is getting easier, but I know I felt "blorft" on more than one occasion, between college applications, college classes, high school classes, work, internship, and then time to relax. Although I am known to express my emotions easily (my mom always says that I get upset, I cry for a couple minutes, and I'm done; I get it out of my system), I know that I have felt "blorft" - which I think is a very good word for the feeling.
Have you ever felt "blorft"? If so, when?
~Adi
'I was a little excited but mostly blorft. "Blorft" is an adjective I just made up that means "Completely overwhelmed but proceeding as if everything is fine and reacting to the stress with the torpor of a possum." I have been blorft every day for the past seven years.' (156).
I think that I relate to this because senior year, especially first semester, has been so stressful. Now that the second semester is beginning to wind down, it is getting easier, but I know I felt "blorft" on more than one occasion, between college applications, college classes, high school classes, work, internship, and then time to relax. Although I am known to express my emotions easily (my mom always says that I get upset, I cry for a couple minutes, and I'm done; I get it out of my system), I know that I have felt "blorft" - which I think is a very good word for the feeling.
Have you ever felt "blorft"? If so, when?
~Adi
Week 4: Connector
I've been able to connect to this book on many levels. In this chapter is was easiest to relate to Tina's crazy stress from a very demanding schedule. My favorite part was when she talked about the "best part of the worst thing every," when she said everything she loved most was within 10 feet of her. If I'm having an especially overwhelming week and I go to my theatre group, it is such a relief. I like to walk into a room with them, take a deep breath, and think 'everyone here loves me and knows me, there's no one here that could cause me any harm.' I suppose it sounds cheesy, but it's such a relief to me to think that the people I love are all together, we all love the same things, and we can all understand each other. It makes everything seem a little bit smaller in an overwhelming week. It's nice to just have that group of people that you can be yourself around and not have to be so tightly wound.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Week 3: Passage
For this week's passages, I chose the following two:
"You can barely recognize yourself with the amount of digital correction. They've taken out your knuckles and given you baby hands.The muscular calves that you are generally very proud of are slimmed to the bone (141)."
"So my unsolicited advice to women in the workplace is this. When faced with sexism or ageism or lookism or even the really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: 'Is this person in between me and what I want to do?' (130)."
I enjoyed both of these passages because they speak directly to the women in life on huge issues: Photoshop and gender inequality. Fey puts her voice out there to be heard and she definitely makes it happen. I loved how easy it is to stop and actually question myself on what we consider every day things in the United States.
-Madison
"You can barely recognize yourself with the amount of digital correction. They've taken out your knuckles and given you baby hands.The muscular calves that you are generally very proud of are slimmed to the bone (141)."
"So my unsolicited advice to women in the workplace is this. When faced with sexism or ageism or lookism or even the really aggressive Buddhism, ask yourself the following question: 'Is this person in between me and what I want to do?' (130)."
I enjoyed both of these passages because they speak directly to the women in life on huge issues: Photoshop and gender inequality. Fey puts her voice out there to be heard and she definitely makes it happen. I loved how easy it is to stop and actually question myself on what we consider every day things in the United States.
-Madison
Monday, March 28, 2016
Week 3: Discussion Leader
In this portion of the book, we see Tina's fame develop and her career take flight. As a reader, you begin to feel like you really know her and you can relate with her.
2. As a person in the spotlight, do you think it is better to seriously address what people say about you and actually defend yourself and your pride, or do what Tina did and make a joke out of the idiots that have commented of the silliest lies about her? When it comes to cyberbullying these days, do you think that her responses to peoples' comments serve as a good role model?
3. Tina talks about men and woman having senses of humor, but overall, having a common ground for humor, do you agree with this? Do you think there are extremes on either end?
-Katie
Week 3: Connector
I have been loving this book so far! It always puts me in a good mood and I can find a lot of things that Tina Fey and I have in common (which makes me happy because she's Tina Fey). I can relate to the chapter A Childhood Dream, Realized because I have gone through similar processes. Because - like Fey - I am an actor, I have to put myself out there and be my own advocate. Especially for college auditions, I flew halfway across the country to audition, similar to what Fey had to do when she flew to New York to interview for Saturday Night Live. But more than this, I think that all women can relate because often times, we have to be our own cheerleaders and our own agents and managers and producers and be productive and tenacious. Not only can women relate to this, but I think that all women can learn from this - that you have to go after what you want, fight for what you want, and work as hard and be as fearless as possible to get where you want to be.
~Adi
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