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From: Maia <maia>
Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 22:17:01 -0400
Eleanora E. Tate" wrote:
To try to answer the questions I think you were asking: I used the word
'bitterness' because it's the word Taylor used in her Newberry acceptance speech. Perhaps I interpreted the word differently than Taylor meant it; with my roots in psychology, I tend to be concerned about 'bitter' people (here meaning characters), because bitterness, as opposed to anger or fury, tends to be self?structive and leads to depression.
When I wrote about modeling, well I guess that's because I see all media as modeling options for how to live life. When I said:
"Is it wrong to want to be able to trust that Cassie will make it,
that living or dead, beaten or lifted up, her soul will still remain
whole? Maybe I'm nuts, (!) but I think that kids need to have a
model for that, more than anything else."
what I meant by 'model for that' is something that educates us about how to survive to go on and on, soul-whole. Cassie and her family do provide strong role models - her mother, I thought, was an amazing woman... I had just hoped that Taylor would provide more of a sense of where that strength came from. Maybe I'm out in left field here, but I don't think that one can continue to be strong and beautiful without something to nourish that strength and beauty. What I saw in Taylor's books were strong and beautiful people, I just wish she'd let us in on more of the nourishment.
Please do know that I think that Taylor's books are valuable, and I respect what she teaches in them; I'm just not sure that I'd use them for, say, a "Battle of the Books" without making sure that those kids had more of a diverse background than was commonly available in schools when I was growing up. Am I alone in that in my childhood, the only texts available with black characters were ones that illustrated the horrible experiences? I don't think that there was much positive literature at the time, and although there is much more available now, I know that it often isn't used, in favor of so?lled classics.
I certainly know that *I* can get overwhelmed by the horrors of my own cultural and family history, and that if I didn't have a balance of the hopeful, I'd would've been lost years ago. So who knows, maybe I'm oversensitized to bleak futures? But I do think that books ought to give readers something to live for, to fight for, and believe in.
Anyway, I hope some of the above makes sense. (Eleanora, I really hope I didn't offend you earlier - the brevity of your message made me nervous! Feel free to email me directly if you want.)
Yours,
Maia Cheli-Colando maia at littlefolktales.org
Received on Fri 07 May 1999 09:17:01 PM CDT
Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 22:17:01 -0400
Eleanora E. Tate" wrote:
To try to answer the questions I think you were asking: I used the word
'bitterness' because it's the word Taylor used in her Newberry acceptance speech. Perhaps I interpreted the word differently than Taylor meant it; with my roots in psychology, I tend to be concerned about 'bitter' people (here meaning characters), because bitterness, as opposed to anger or fury, tends to be self?structive and leads to depression.
When I wrote about modeling, well I guess that's because I see all media as modeling options for how to live life. When I said:
"Is it wrong to want to be able to trust that Cassie will make it,
that living or dead, beaten or lifted up, her soul will still remain
whole? Maybe I'm nuts, (!) but I think that kids need to have a
model for that, more than anything else."
what I meant by 'model for that' is something that educates us about how to survive to go on and on, soul-whole. Cassie and her family do provide strong role models - her mother, I thought, was an amazing woman... I had just hoped that Taylor would provide more of a sense of where that strength came from. Maybe I'm out in left field here, but I don't think that one can continue to be strong and beautiful without something to nourish that strength and beauty. What I saw in Taylor's books were strong and beautiful people, I just wish she'd let us in on more of the nourishment.
Please do know that I think that Taylor's books are valuable, and I respect what she teaches in them; I'm just not sure that I'd use them for, say, a "Battle of the Books" without making sure that those kids had more of a diverse background than was commonly available in schools when I was growing up. Am I alone in that in my childhood, the only texts available with black characters were ones that illustrated the horrible experiences? I don't think that there was much positive literature at the time, and although there is much more available now, I know that it often isn't used, in favor of so?lled classics.
I certainly know that *I* can get overwhelmed by the horrors of my own cultural and family history, and that if I didn't have a balance of the hopeful, I'd would've been lost years ago. So who knows, maybe I'm oversensitized to bleak futures? But I do think that books ought to give readers something to live for, to fight for, and believe in.
Anyway, I hope some of the above makes sense. (Eleanora, I really hope I didn't offend you earlier - the brevity of your message made me nervous! Feel free to email me directly if you want.)
Yours,
Maia Cheli-Colando maia at littlefolktales.org
Received on Fri 07 May 1999 09:17:01 PM CDT
