The Testamements

 I always thought the Handmaiden's Tale needed a sequel. It ended in a way that didn't call for a revisiting of the world or a continuation of the story. Maybe you wanted to know what happened to the narrator after the end, but that is almost always the case in a good novel unless the author ensures everyone is dead at the end.

The Testaments was undoubtedly the result of renewed interest in the book and Gilead created by a hit TV show. That is not to say that I think Atwood was looking to make money out of the deal or that the producer of the show pushed her to write the book. I do think that Atwood had likely moved past revisiting Gilead until the TV show, and Trumpworld, made it relevant, and a possible reality, to a young generation of women.

The novel also once again proves that Atwood is a master story teller. The Testaments is both a sequel and an expansion of the original. By using the same framing device, one shared character, and two successors to the original Handmaid, she manages to bind the two together in structure, place, and time. However, by using the triple narratives to tell the story, Atwood manages to expand the reader's appreciation of how easily Gilead could arise, how easily its residents are willing to accept its "horrors", and how, by its mundanity, the normal world is still a much better place.

Aunt Lydia is the most interesting of the three narrators. She lives in the space between protagonist and antagonist. It is through her that we learn the history of how Gilead came to be. Her position within the society lends credence to her narrative about her position in the formation of the social order. Her apparent complicity in the downfall of Gilead lend credence to her protestations that she did the best she could to make things as right as possible. However, all of her narration could just be a revisionist tale to obscure her guilt and complicity in the horrors she has help bring into being. What is clear is that she is a smart and ruthless woman who knows how to get what she wants. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Lydia is the possibility that in someway she is both saint and sinner. She may have been playing the long game and trying to make the best of a terrible situation, but she is also always looking to maximize her position and prestige.

The two girls, while less interesting, are more sympathetic characters. They are born into the situation and have less ability to choose their paths. Largely this is due to age; they lack the maturity and experience to see their choices.

Of the two Agnes has more agency. She knows her full story and understands the rules of the game in which she is trapped. She has seen the options open to her and does her best to position herself for success. She is not quite as jaded or self-serving as Lydia, but she is willing to do what is needed to get ahead. Agnes, while carried along on an unrelenting current, makes decisions to steer her ship so that she may one day have power and agency.

Daisy, on the other hand, is picked up by the current and smashed into the rocks. She goes from a life that a contemporary reader recognizes of normal teenaged angst to a life where she is both a symbol and a chess piece in a game she'd rather not play. While neither girl has good choices: Agnes can be a Commanders Wife and live a life of relative privilege or be an Aunt and live a life of relative comfort; Daisy can either live a life of constant fear and running or risk death in the hopes of possibly regaining a normal life. That she choses the hero's path cannot not be seen as heroic.

I think one of Atwood's greatest strengths is that she is unsparing. Her characters are flawed, weak, and selfish. Yet, they are also doing they best they can to scrape out a decent life, and possibly, make the world a little better.

That Gilead falls as easily as it was created is not surprising. It was a house of cards built by flawed, weak, self-serving people. The makers of Gilead, including Aunt Lydia, are different from the rest of us only in their cruelty and their lack of empathy.

Once their humanity is exposed for all to see, the rest of the sharks swarm for the kill. Once their depravity is exposed, the rest of the powerful class must quickly move to prove that they are beneficent before the masses recognize their own flaws.

No Drama Discipline

I had heard about this new fangled neuroscience based approach to raising a child. I was intrigued with the idea and looking for ways to avoid drama with my dramatic child. I love Bug to death, but she can make a mountain out of a grain of nanoparticle.
The book was a good read. As with most of this type of book, it was front loaded with the problem. The authors, unlike some, started dropping strategies fairly early on which was nice. The last parenting book I read felt like a litany of "this is what you are doing wrong" for 90% of the book and then one chapter on how to implement the system.
The other thing that I liked about this book was that it is not so much a system as it is an approach. The strategies in the book are pretty broad brushed and seem easy to customize to fit your child and your lifestyle. It was not a one size fits all sort of deal.
The authors also make the pill easier to swallow by making sure that the reader knows that they are human beings as well. There are several tales of how they, and others, have done the wrong thing.
The main take away from the book was that you cannot control your child, you can only help them learn to control themselves. The best way to do that is to allow them to learn when possible and to know when to be the boss when the child cannot.

2014

2014 felt like a long year. There were a lot of great things, but they were punctuated by long stretchs of drudgery.Life comes with a certian amount of drudgery. It is unreasonable to expect constant excitment from visiting to the grocery store, folding laundry, washing dishes, supervising a child in the shower, brushing your teeth, helping your child brush her teeth, watching the same episode of Dragon Tales for a week, watching Elsa build her ice castle everyday for three weeks, or being a taxi service to play dates, gymastics, swim lessons, birthday parties, and dance lessons.
The taxi service does, more than occasionally, lead to excitement or at least a moment of joy and/or wonder. I get to see Bug having fun, learn new skills, surprise herself, listen to her stories, and teach me new things. Taxi service is the drudgery that makes me appreciate the wonder of being a dad.
The additional drudgery this year comes from my job. It pays well, but there have been few oppertunities for me to really sink my teeth into anything. The pace of development is slow and most of the features in development are simple from a user perspective. It is hard for me to get excited about documenting a point-and-click UI or the same APIs in a different language. The amount of process and over management exascerbate the boredom. I pretty much have to clear everything I do through a manager and one other person. This is in addition to technical and editorial reviews…. I’m not sure if the solution is a different job or a different attitude; the devil you know or the devil you don’t….
There were also parenting challenges. Bug went through a bit of tantrum storm through the spring and summer. Two of her great strenghts are her independance and her determination (some may call it stuborness). They help her in all sorts of ways, until they mix together in a cauldron of frustration and explode. We had some rough rides, but, hopefully, we all learned how to modulate ourselves and use our natures positively. The darkest moments made me glad that I wasn’t in this alone. Being able to tag out for some relief and having a different perspective on hand made weathering the storms much easier. It makes me respect the work my Mom must have done as a single parent even more than I already did. One thing is certain: Parenting is the most challenging thing I have, and will likely ever, do.
Fortunately, life has a lot of wonder to offset the drudgery:

• There were a bunch a great paddles this year.
• Bug and I got to go on a bunch of great bike rides together.
  
• Bug learned to ride a two wheeler.
• We all went on our first real hiking adventure in the White Mountains.
• We did our first real kayaking trip on Boston harbor.
• We had a number of relaxing camping vacations.

When I look back on the year, it loses a lot of its drabness. The moments of joy and wonder bubble up and remind me what is important: smiles, laughter, hugs, learning new things, sharing nature.

Deep Freeze

Bug has been watching Frozen a lot lately. Every time I see it, I am impressed with the movies depth and complexity. Frozen subverts almost all of the princess movie conventions while at its heart retaining the power of the coming of age/heroic journey tale. It also pulls off the delicate trick of portraying deep sadness without becoming a deeply sad movie.
Two obvious conventions that it subverts are the central villain an the need for a Prince Charming. Frozen has a number of characters who can be seen as villains: the Duke of Weasletown, Hans, and even Elsa. None, however, are the central cause of the conflict in the tale. Hans and the Duke are certainly catalysts. Elsa's power is the proximate cause of the central conflict. However, it is deep sadness and fear that is the true cause of the conflict. The solution is not as simple as getting home or getting kissed or falling in love. It requires a recognition that feelings cannot be suppressed and that trust and love can balance fear and sadness.
Two characters present themselves as Prince Charming, but neither fulfill the role. Hans is the obvious choice. He and Anna appear to have true love. He is dutiful and loyal. His actions, in the beginning, never betray anything but Prince Charming. Hans, however, turns out to be a liar and a schemer. Kristoff, on the other hand, starts off as an oafish bit of comic relief. It is not until late in the movie that Kristoff becomes a stand in for Prince Charming. He may turn out to be Anna's true love and he does strive to deliver the true love kiss that will end the conflict. He is not allowed to succeed and doesn't get the kiss until the conflict is resolved.
The journey at the heart of the movie, while superficially Anna's, is truly Elsa's. She must learn to accept her powers, trust herself, trust her sister, and allow herself to feel: joy, fear, and love. The story shows Anna's journey because it has a physical manifestation. Elsa's journey is more subtle. Ultimately, it is Anna's sacrifice that shows Elsa how to take the final step out of the dark, but it is Elsa who must take the step. At each point in the movie the crisis is driven by Elsa's state of mind. By opening the gates, she is, grudgingly, accepting that the world cannot be shut out forever. Hiding in the mountains gives her the space to experience her inner strength, but only when separate from the world. The final resolution is her accepting both her powers and the world.
Frozen is a masterpiece.

A Crack in Space

Philip K. Dick's work is a mixed bag. A Crack in Space is visionary in its topics, but not great as a story. There are no issues with the structure of the story or the character development. The plot makes sense. The main characters are fully formed. I just found the plot slow, unconvincing, and the ending felt rushed. The lack of enthusiasm is purely a matter of personal taste.
Regardless of my lack of enthusiasm for the story itself, I do think it is a visionary and impressive work. The themes of racism, population growth, economic disparity, and the stupidity of politicians are all as relevant to our times as they were in Dick's times. It is sad to think that decades after Dick wrote the book racism is still such a big issue for our culture. We elected a black president, but still use racial biases to judge and dismiss him and his contemporaries. Immigration is mired in petty prejudices and willful ignorance. Our economy is stratifying at an alarming rate.
If we had the technology to create bibs, I think we would. It seems like the sort of quick fix that our system jumps at without thought. Hide the problem in a warehouse for now and let the future figure it out.
Read the book. It is not that long. Then spend some time thinking about the world described in it. Is this the world we want to leave to our children?

Zone One

Zone One is what happens when a literary author tries his hand at writing a genre piece. The book tries to be a good post-plague zombie story, but turns into a beautifully written commentary on modern life.
Zone One is not a bad novel; it is a bad zombie novel. I had a hard time buying the post-plague, zombie vibe. Maybe it was just that it was unoriginal in its presentation of the zombies. There were zombies; they were sometimes hungry for human flesh; the world, as humanity, knows it was at an end. It had all the right pieces. For me, however, it just never gelled into a good zombie story.
That does not mean that I thought it was a bad novel. In fact, I enjoyed the social commentary. The author's prose is lush. The characters are well drawn in their damaged and mediocre ways.
The main character is the perfect embodiment of the new human condition. He is an everyman. His only standout trait is that he survives. He believes in the goodness of people while accepting that they are all a mess. He cannot stop surviving even though he sense the game may be up and humanity has lost.
Isn't that just real life. We all trudge through day by day knowing that we have lost. We just keep going because we aren't ready to give up the small bits of joy we find along the way?

2013

2013 felt like a long year that flew past. I guess that is how time goes as you get older. It was a year with some big changes, but no big struggles.
Part of the reason, the year felt long was the constant balancing act between me time and family time. This year I probably weighted things to heavily on the family time side. It is not a complaint. I love family time. H and Bug are my two favorite people and being with them brings me joy. It is just that I also require time alone to kayak, bike, read, or just decompress. Often I feel like I need more alone time than most people and feel guilty about taking it. Then I fear that the guilt will ruin the alone time, so I don't take the alone time. Then I feel a little mad at myself for not taking the alone time and I don't get the regenerative effects. in 2014, I hope to find a better balance.
I had two big changes in 2013: a new job and Bug going to preschool.
The new job has been a generally positive change. I was miserable and bored at Red Hat. It was tough going from being senior and knowing where all the bodies are buried to being a new kid on the block. I had to learn how the new company functions, the politics, and the culture. That on top of doing the job I was hired to do. It is a good change overall. I did learn a few things about myself though. I like flexible work schedules more than I thought I did, I loathe commuting, and I do better working at home than I thought. I know these things because they are the only things I miss about Red Hat.
Bug heading off to preschool was more of a change than I anticipated. She was totally ready to go. I think she was a little bored with day care. For me the change was a reminder that with a child, things are always in flux. It seems like everyday she is a little more independent or has a new skill or is into some new thing. It is great and sad at the same time. She is doing great and that is what is most important.
Our summer was jam packed with travel. We went to Maine, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Florida. Bug is a great traveler and that is a boon for us. She really seems to enjoy camping and kayaking. We got her out a few more times this past summer. The downside of all the traveling is the lack of downtime.
As get older, I am coming to appreciate the value of downtime more and more. Sometimes it is important to have nothing planned and nowhere to go. H jokes that I cannot just sit around for a day and do nothing which is true. I do, however, appreciate the lack of a schedule. I also find that at work, I find it more important to be able to have short days and see my family than be in the thick of things. Relax, be happy.

Frozen

For Bug's first movie we decided on Frozen. It got generally good reviews from both the critics and other parents. I had also heard enough about it to believe that it wasn't the standard Disney princess movie where the hero and true love save the day. I'm not reflexively opposed to traditional fairy tale based princess movies, but I also like subverting tradition when possible.
Despite a rocky beginning, the outing was a success.
It turned out that the screening we went to was in 3D, so Bug was a little thrown by the glasses. Some of the previews were a little intense for her as well. The worst trailers, for a little kid, were for Maleficent and How to Train Your Dragon. How to Train Your Dragon was rough because, Bug saw the nice holiday special, so had happy feeling towards it. After the initial intro to the trailer, things get a little scary.
Frozen was excellent. There are a few heavy moments, but nothing truly scary. The music is great. The animation is luscious. The 3D effects were the smoothest I have seen. I do think that the movie is just as good without them; the 3D doesn't add anything. Bug stayed quite through the entire movie. She moved into the aisle a few times to get a better view of the screen. After the movie, she went home and asked to watch the trailers again. When asked what her favorite part of the movie was, she replied "the music."
Most of the story went over her head, which is to be expected given that she is under four. For us, or for a child old enough to follow it, the story is great. It balances serious and humor well. The tension is modulated well for the audience. You get that big things are being dealt with, but there are very few scares. The best thing about the story, for me, is its subversiveness. In many ways, it plays like the standard princess fairy tale with slight updates to make the princess more spunky ala Tangled. Then the plot turns and it is no longer in traditional fairy tale land.
The pre-movie feature, featuring classic Disney characters, is also top notch. To be most effective, it does require 3D, but it is a fun use of the technology.

The Man in the High Castle

The Man in the High Castle is hard to review. Part of the issue is that I read it over the course of many months so keeping the narrative line was hard. It wasn't the book's fault that it took so long to read; it was a life problem. The story is not fast paced or particularly engrossing, but it isn't a hard read or uninteresting either. It simply wasn't interesting enough to keep me up at night.
Structurally, it follows multiple, loosely intertwined, story lines. The central characters of each story line cross paths, but only one character's actions has impacts across multiple story lines. This makes the story hard to follow and muddies the conceptual waters. In many ways, the novel is more like several short stories weaved together. That may be one of the points of the novel since life, in many ways, is just a weave of short stories. One person's narrative bleeding into others and together forging reality....
The novel also looks at yin and yang, activity and passivity, forging destiny or accepting it. The oracle plays a large part in how the characters decide what to do and interpret what is happening. There is a central question about if the oracle is prescriptive or descriptive. Do you accept what the oracle says, or do you use it to determine your path? The other major point dealing with this is the conflict between East, Japan, and West, Germany. The Japanese are much more soft in their direction of the world while the German's charge ahead convinced of their own righteousness.
The novel never resolves the tension. The man in the high castle doesn't have an answer. He has accepted fate and does not attempt to forge it. The character that stands in judgement of him, chooses the middle path.
If I had to choose, I'd choose the middle path.

The Airs

I recently entered the Air realm. In the fall I got a MacBook Air and then for my birthday I got an iPad Air. They are both light, fast, and pretty to look at.
The MacBook Air was, ostensibly, a work purchase. My previous job had spoiled me with a MacBook Pro as my primary computer and my current job insists that writers need an 8 core desktop PC to do their work. I disagreed and took matters into my owns hand. I got the entry level Air with beefed up storage. It is more than powerful enough for basic needs. I haven't tried any hardcore games or video editing, but everything else runs quickly and smoothly. I have played with iMovie and that is as smooth on the Air as it is on my wife's Pro.
The two most impressive things about the Air are the battery life and the speed at which it starts up. The weight is great, but with a name like Air it is expected.
I have run the thing for a full day without charging it and not gone bellow ten percent battery life. These runs didn't involve a lot of video watching or even too much use of iTunes, but the wireless was always on and e-mail, calendar, reminders, and Safari were constantly running.
The start up time is impossibly fast. It is easily less than a minute from shutdown to fully functional. At start up, my Air loads calendar, reminders, and e-mail. From asleep to ready is instantaneous. It wakes up as fast as my iPad or iPhone. That is impressive.
The only drawback to the Air is the limited storage. I am not sure I could use it as a primary computer without running out of space. I have a large iPhoto library and a mid-sized iTunes library. I could currently move everything from iMac to the air, but the air's disk would be over 90% full. I could get away without moving up the music since I have iTunes Match, but I would be uncomfortable.
The iPad Air was actually H's idea. She wanted an iPad, but didn't want to buy a new one. She encouraged me to upgrade so she could inherit my iPad 3. It has been a successful swap. She enjoys the iPad 3 and I got a new lighter and faster iPad. The iPad Air is a lot like my old iPad except that it is much faster. The speed is noticeable between the 3 and the Air. Things on the Air are just smoother. The Air is also much thinner and lighter. The cut in weight has been great. I never got tired holding the 3 for long periods of time, but it was definitely a two hand job. With the Air I can comfortably sit on the couch and read with one hand. It is not a easy to one hand as a mini, but, for me, the extra screen real estate is a good trade off. I'm not so convinced that the extra thinness is a great thing. At first the edges didn't feel great while I was holding it and typing in bed, but I've gotten used to it.
One thing that I have noticed that isn't great about the iPad Air is that the screen occasionally feels plasticy. The two older iPad, and Bug's mini, have more solid feeling screens. It is not that the Air's screen is bad, it just sometimes doesn't feel as lush to the touch.