Because I've been out of the cultural loop for ten years, I'm discovering all kinds of things I've missed. For example, I've read all the Harry Potter books this year and have found them to be quite entertaining. I still am not encouraging my kids to read them yet, nor do we watch the movies, because they're just not old enough or mature enough yet to handle wizardry and paganism. Not going there.
Anyway, there have been several books that have come down the pike that I've completely missed in my ten year hiatus from society. I just finished one of them today:
Red Scarf Girl by Ji-li Jiang
What an amazing story! Everyone who thinks Communist-chic is cute or fun or trendy, had better read this woman's simple account of her life during the Chinese cultural revolution in the 60s. This is what Che and Mao and Stalin were all about, folks. I'm thankful I haven't seen anyone here at my high school wearing a Che t-shirt, but I promise you that if I do, I will pull them aside and let them know just exactly what kind of monster they're celebrating. I am just as offended by them as I would be if someone came to school wearing a shirt emblazoned with Jeffrey Dahmer's picture. A mass-murderer is a mass-murderer.
I'm seriously considering assigning this book to my students to read.
No comments:
Post a Comment