The Week at Resistance is Futile

Well, the Suicide and Mental Illness Awareness Theme Read hosted here at Resistance is Futile is coming upon me really quickly, and I still haven’t written a post with suggestions. So I decided I would throw in some links for you to check out. 🙂

Popular Mental Illness books (Goodreads list) – Several of the books on this list I have already read or are on my TBR mountain.

11 of the most Realistic Portrayals of Mental Illness in Novels – This is a pretty interesting article with some good suggestions. And don’t miss the embedded list of 20 Greatest Memoirs of Mental Illness.

Mental Illness in Fiction (Wikipedia) – This interesting list includes some much older books as well as some unexpected inclusions (LOTR? – Ok, yeah, I guess Golem was mentally ill, but…it DOES make kind of a fun list, though. And you can feel free to be )

Contemporary YA books featuring mental illness – What is a list of books without YA these days? 😉

NAMI Blog: The Top 10 Movies about Mental Illness – This is a really good list (should be, coming from NAMI). I’ve seen 6 of them. 🙂

10 Gripping Films about Mental Illness – This list seems pretty good, as well.

10 Best Portrayals of Mental Illness in Modern Movies – This list, I suspect, is more about the acting than about psychology. From I totally agree with the assessment of great acting on this list!

This week in Futile Resistance World…

My friend and I watched another two storyarcs of the William Hartnell years for Doctor Who. We’ve made it a good way through Hartnell’s years, and we have decided to move ON to the second doctor. 🙂 YAY!

This week I volunteered 20 hours at the text center

I watched Elysium – which turned out to be a rather philosophical movie with liberal leanings. The whole, everybody-deserves-to-have-medical-care lean. 😉 I found the movie rather sad because the problems portrayed were SO easily translated to problems we’re seeing in today’s world. I know that’s the point of dystopias. But it still made me sad that we should have to question whether a human being deserves to be denied medical treatment just because he was born in the wrong part of the world. 😦

I watched this movie with my nephew. I didn’t think it was fantastic, but my nephew LOVED it. 🙂 Then again, I’m not a purist, so I’m not particularly concerned about the differences between the original movies and this movie…I just found the humor sort of stupid and the turtles were really ugly to look at. So. Meh.

Other posts on Resistance is Futile…

My blog has been really slow lately, but here’s a little something if you’re following my “epic poem” about Facing my demons.

Newly Acquired


Thought I would review the TV show Monk for my Suicide and Mental Illness Awareness theme. This seemed a nice accompaniment, especially since I love the Pop Culture and Philosophy series. Bought this one on my Nook.

This is the first book in a series. I was asked to do a blog tour for the second book in the series, so I’m reading this one first. Got it in hardcover from the library.

ARC provided by publisher
Blog tour and giveaway on 9/4

ARC provided by publisher
Blog tour and giveaway on 10/7

I hope to read this book during September and October’s Suicide and Mental Illness Theme Read. Purchased it in paperback.

Bought this in paperback

Storm Thief, by Chris Wooding

The Storm Thief, by Chris Wooding

Genre: Young Adult Dystopia, Science Fiction, Ages 11-14

Reason for Reading: This was my bookclub book for this month.

Summary: The island city of Orokos has been trapped in isolation for so long that the idea of a “world outside Orokos” had become a dream for only the naive and the fanatics. There is nothing outside of Orokos, and Orokos is nothing but city, ghetto, and the ruling Protectorate. Chaos storms wreak havoc upon Orokos and its inhabitants – picking people up and dropping them elsewhere; crippling some people while giving life to others. Even eyeshadow isn’t too small to be overlooked by the probability storms.

When Rail and Moa make a snap decision to hide an expensive artifact from their Thief Mistress, they must flee with an assassin hot on their trail. While running, they come across a golem, Vago, who’d been misplaced by a probability storm before he had any idea of who he was, where he was from, or why he was made. Where can these refugees go when the Protectorate rules with an iron fist – keeping ghetto-folk away from the city? Their path is simply a series of coincidences strung together…leading, where?

My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. The characters were simple enough to flow well in a book for young teens, but each character had an interesting mixture of strengths and weaknesses. My favorite character was Vago, the Golem, whose process of self-discovery throughout the story made him intriguing.

I loved the philosophical underpinnings of this story. It reminded us that the random power of entropy will always win. It always destroys what we have worked to build. Entropy is a non-stoppable machine. So why do we continue fighting it? Why do we continue dreaming of that “other world” when we have so much evidence that it doesn’t exist? Why do we clutch hopefully to mere coincidences and use them to fuel our dreams?

Slight spoilerish material
This is a book about hope as well as one about chaos. One character, who was “fanatically” willing to risk the lives of her people in pursuit of a seemingly impossible dream said: “We can stay here with our dreams just out of reach, or we can risk everything to reach them.” Even after having finished the book, I’m still not certain which was the right thing to do – was it better for her people to risk everything in pursuit of their dreams? Or was it foolish? Is it better to keep yourself safe by being cynically aware of the brutality of the world, or is it better to hope, dream, or love?

To me, the lasting message of the book is: your life might be nothing more than a series of coincidences that are out of your control, but how you respond to the world defines who you are – and YOU decide how you respond. I’m not sure whether I agree with this philosophy or not. Lately, I’ve had a bit of a faith crisis – which makes the life-is-a-random-string-of-coincidences theory sound rather rational. But I know what everyone expects me to say is that God is in control, it’s not a string of coincidences. 😉

The Week at Resistance is Futile

Don’t forget to sign up for my Suicide and Mental Illness Theme Read, coming up in September and October. 🙂 I know I keep saying this, but soon I will post a some lists of books, shows, and movies for suggestions – but the rule is, if YOU think your review fits the theme, then it does. 🙂 Even if your review is mostly to say “this is a novel completely misrepresents mental illness.”

This week in Futile Resistance world…

Did anyone else watch Guardians of the Galaxy this week? It was HILARIOUS. I loved it!

And when I took the online quiz, it turns out I am Groot. Yeah. That’s awesome.

I reviewed Rin Chupeco’s spooky new YA book The Girl From the Well, (the giveaway is open through the end of the month, you can still sign up!) I also posted the trailer for the book, if you’re interested.

I went to a Frozen-themed birthday party for my friend’s three-year-old. That was a lot of fun. (Happy Birthday Lucy!)

A friend and I watched TWO storyarcs from the Doctor Who (The William Hartnell years).

My friend and I are really struggling with keeping our interest in William Hartnell’s doctor. So far, he’s nosy, tactless, condescending, and self-absorbed. Plus, the overall theme fits the old British imperialism (white man’s burden, and all that jazz). That is in stark contrast to the deeper philosophical message of the modern doctors where his purpose is to protect others’ cultures. And where even there is even depth in the Dalek’s plan of universal extermination. I can’t wait until we move on to the second doctor! Hopefully he’ll be more tolerable.

Well, I accepted a new job coming up in September, which pays double what I was making at unnamed-bookstore-chain-which-I-am-not-allowed-to-blog-about-because-Big-Nanny (BN for short)-might-be-watching. It’s not QUITE where I want to be, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction and introduces some interesting opportunities for growth within the company. This week I got my background and drug test, both of which I passed. 🙂

This week I volunteered for 8 hours as a crisis counselor for a texting crisis line for teens. I encourage everybody who has a lot of empathy for people in crisis to volunteer at a crisis hotline. The suicide CPR training is superb. You won’t regret the time spent!

I finally caught up on my Grimm! In fact, I think this is the first time in the history of me that I’ve been caught up on a TV show that is still running. I can’t wait until Season 4 premieres in October!

Perused some interesting articles in this week’s Economist. I was mainly interested in learning that the state of Britan’s prisons is pretty similar to the state of those in the US. Which is sad. 😦

I got this free e-comic book from Marvel after buying the giganto fountain drink at Subway. In it, the Guardians fight a war to protect Earth. Ironman joins the fight, but he’s not as cool as the Guardians, based upon his ability to remain conscious. This comic was 20 pages of amusement. I guess that’s really good for the price. 🙂

Other posts on Resistance is Futile this week

I added two new stanzas to Facing my Demons

And I posted about My Favorite Childhood Memory

Newly Acquired…

This is my post for Stacking the Shelves (hosted by Tynga’s Reviews), the Sunday Post (hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer), Sunday Salon, and Mailbox Monday.

Favorite Childhood Memories

This week’s Life of a Blogger, hosted by Novel Heartbeat asks us to relate our best childhood memories. I find this a really interesting topic. Memories are slippery little buggers, they never stay the same with time. I know you might THINK your memories are absolute – I frequently fall into that trap – but they do change. They change EVERY time you relive them. But here is my earliest memory – sorry, I couldn’t come up with anything from fetus-hood for you Scientologists out there.

When I was an toddler, I used to crawl out of my crib. I only have one memory of doing it: I had just, with ninja stealth and agility, escaped my prison. Immediately, I heard my mother’s footsteps coming down the hall. I slid silently under the crib wondering fretfully: how does she always know…HOW does she ALWAYS know? (Answer: Clearly my mom is a Ninja Master in disguise.)

One day when I was around 4 or 5, I asked my parents how they always knew whenever I crawled out of the crib. They looked at me in utter astonishment. They had a hard time believing that I actually remembered such an innocuous event. But I DID remember. Now, of course, I’m an adult, and I only remember remembering the incident. But I can learn a couple of things from this memory: 1) Toddlers think before they’re old enough to talk, 2) even though most of us have no real memories from before the age of 4ish, kids that age can remember things earlier than that.

Feel free to comment on YOUR most interesting childhood memory below!

https://widget.bloglovin.com/widget/scripts/bl.js or on Twitter @FutileResistance

In addition to posting this on Life of a Blogger, it is also my Friendship Friday post, hosted by Create With Joy; and my Feature and Follow Friday post, hosted by Allison Can Read and Parajunkee’s View.

Girl from the Well, by Rin Chupeco

The Girl from the Well, by Rin Chupeco

Genre: Teen Horror / Suspense

Reason for Reading: This book was provided by the publisher, Sourcebooks Fire, through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: Tarquin (Tark) Halloway has been haunted his entire life. With a mentally ill mother and a caring father who works too much, he feels he has no one to talk to about the strange lady that slinks through mirrors and makes Tark do terrible things. But when he meets a roaming spirit, Okiku, they both begin to remember what it is to be human. With the help from Tark’s cousin Callie, Okiku and Tark must rid himself of his haunting.

My Thoughts: Let me tell you, if I had read this book when I was 14, I would have been sleeping with the lights on for weeks. The spookiness / imagery is reminiscent of Japanese horror films that The Grudge (Ju-On: The Grudge) and The Ring (Ringu) were based on. (Have you seen the originals? Not the American remakes. Watch the real thing. Darn spooky! That’s what The Girl From the Well is like.) Same evil-ghost-child-with-long-creepy-hair-staring-at-you-in-crazy-fast-did-that-actually-just-happen-flashes feel to it.

Part of Rin Chupeco’s spooky genius is her narration style. The story is narrated from the POV of the ghost, Okiku. Often, it reads like a 3rd person omniscient narrative, because Okiku mostly observes rather than acting. I often forgot I was reading a first person POV, and then suddenly Okiku would say something in the first person, and it was like she had just appeared out of nowhere. Like a ghost. Spooky. And then, sometimes Okiku would describe herself in the third person – a description of a ghost as Callie or Tark would have seen. This gave Okiku’s character a sense of otherness. She felt inhuman. Ineffable.

Overall, I think this was an fantastic book, and I look forward to reading more of Chupeco’s works. I miss the old days when ghosts were ghosts and monsters were monsters. I applaud Chupeco’s work as one more for the #reclaimhorror team. (Ok, I just made that hashtag up, so technically she’s the first on the team. But it’s all good.)

Rin Chupeco: Despite uncanny resemblances to Japanese revenants, Rin Chupeco has always maintained her sense of humor. Raised in Manila, Philippines, she keeps four pets: a dog, two birds, and a husband. She’s been a technical writer and travel blogger, but now makes things up for a living. The Girl from the Well is her debut novel. Connect with Rin at www.rinchupeco.com.

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Weekend Update – Blogging in the Twin Cities

This week’s Feature and Follow Friday asks its participants to tell our readers a little bit about our neighborhoods. I have lived in several states, mostly in the mid-west, and Minnesota is my favorite by far. It’s a fantastic combination of urban hipster, historic city, and wilderness. Above is a picture of Downtown Minneapolis, prominently featuring the stadium-formerly-known-as-the-Metrodome (home of the “president,” Richard Starkey, in The Postman). Below is a photo of our State Capitol building in Saint Paul.

Minnesota can also be rather artsy, and one of the iconic Minnesotan sculptures is Spoonbridge & Cherry. That’s the Minneapolis skyline in the background.

Rochester, Minnesota was the home of the Mayo brothers, who founded the Mayo Clinic. Its skyline is below:

But, of course, my favorite part of Minnesota, by far, is the North Shore on Lake Superior. Hundreds of miles of breathtaking shoreline with campsites and hiking galore.

Life of a Blogger – Favorite Outings

I’ve just discovered a new meme Life of a Blogger, which seems a great way to get to know other book bloggers in a more personal way. This week’s theme, favorite outings, fits in really well with my already-established MN theme. My fondest memory of going on a trip as a child is when dad took my sister and me on a canoe/backpacking trip to the Boundary Waters in MN. I remember how beautiful it was. And how adventuresome I felt! Having more experience with backpacking now than I did as a 10-year-old, I can only imagine how tired my poor dad was canoeing alone in the wilderness with two children.

And now for an update on Rachel B and her blog!
(Yes, I just spoke about myself in the third person. Deal with it.)

This month (well, really, this past year) has been quite rough here in Rachel B. world. I’ve been on the long haul trying to battle depression without any medical aid. Finally, I broke down and tried out anti-depressants, and they made me feel GREAT! In fact, a little too great. And then I went “crazy.” Turns out, I’m bipolar. And bipolar people flip manic when they take anti-depressants. I’d just never experienced that before, so I didn’t know how to deal with it. But now that we know what it is, I think we’re finally getting it under control. I’d like to take this moment to give a hearty thanks to all of my supporters out there (both in the real-world and in the cyber-world) who stuck by me through my hard times. And for those of you who abandoned me…well, you’re not reading this, are you? YOUR LOSS. HA!

Ok, sorry, just had to stick my tongue out just a little.

My main point is, mental illness is poorly understood and greatly stigmatized in American culture. (I assume in many other cultures, too, but I don’t want to generalize too much.) We need this stigma to stop. It’s the people who speak out about their illnesses that get the support that they need, and it’s the people who are abandoned and stigmatized that often end up losing their sense of who they are…We need to end the stigma!

I’ve been doing my part to end the stigma by organizing a Suicide and Mental Illness Awareness Theme in September and October. You can sign up on the post, or just jump in at the last minute. It’s all good. I’ll have some giveaways and some guest bloggers (still looking for people, so if you have something you’d like to share on the subject, just let me know!). In the following week, I’ll post a list of books / movies just to give you ideas. But this is very informal. If you think your book, essay, documentary, movie, etc. fits the theme, it counts! Write a review and send me the link. Reviews on Goodreads, blogs, or any sort of public post will work. I’ll post a list of the reviews as I collect them, so everyone can see what other people are doing.

Other than that, my blog has been sadly inactive, other than occasional poetry posts – Facing My Demons.

Recent Acquisitions

This week, I have acquired only one new book, and it was the Free Friday book on the Nook:

To ASIST or not to assist…

This month, I have been training to answer texts for a crisis hotline aimed at teens. My first shift is tomorrow, and I’m really looking forward to helping out teens in crisis. I think this is the best decision I’ve ever made in my life.

Let me tell you a little secret – I’ve battled on and off with suicidal thoughts myself. At times, to the point where I’m honestly afraid that I will kill myself. Almost no one who is suicidal actually wants to die. These people want to live, and they send out signals. They ask for help. Too many people ignore these signals for one reason or another.

Some people have absolutely no empathy for suicide – they feel that if someone wants to die, let them die. After all, isn’t that “Darwinian selection”? What these people fail to see (whether they are willingly blind or not) is that suicidal people are ill. Their perception of reality is often distorted, and they honestly feel that death is the only way out. They need to be reminded of why life is wonderful. They need (and want!) help. Suicide is a tragedy – not only for the individual, but for all the friends and family.

Some people have empathy, but they are squeamish of mental illness and suicide. They are not comfortable talking about such things. And although they might see the signs, they shy away from providing help, often leaving the suicidal person feeling abandoned. I, myself, have felt that way….and it is one of the most painful emotions I can imagine.

And some people would like to help, but they just aren’t able to recognize the signs or they don’t know what they can do.

But we, as a community, can change this. We can educate ourselves about suicide, and learn to encourage friends and family (and even strangers if we’re willing!) to talk to us. Because it’s the people who talk that end up living. There are lots of ways to educate yourself about suicide. For instance, my blog, Resistance is Futile, is going to host an annual Suicide and Mental Illness Awareness theme read in September and October. I will post about suicide and mental illness (hopefully with guest posts too!) and list book reviews from all participants in the theme read (everyone is welcome!). Hopefully, this will spark discussion about how to raise awareness in our community.

Another way to educate ourselves is by taking awareness classes. Several are offered as community classes, but I highly recommend the one that I completed last weekend. The ASIST workshop organized by Living Works. In this two-day workshop, I learned what signs to watch for, how to address the question “Are you feeling suicidal?”, when to listen to and then remind that person of what he or she has that’s worth living for, and how to create a safety plan. It was probably one of the most important training events of my life. And I hope that many, many other people will also get such training. Living Works also has a less expensive class SuicideTalk (or eSuicideTalk)

Suicidal thoughts can happen to ANYONE. No one is immune. I am lucky enough to have a large, loving family and an AMAZING bunch of friends. I’m intelligent and have accomplished a lot in life. I (usually) have faith in a spiritual system which frowns upon destroying “the temple of our flesh.” I should be immune to such thoughts. But I’m not. It can happen to anyone. And I want to help create a world in which people aren’t afraid to express their feelings and openly ask for help. Who’s with me on that?

Rachel’s Media Update

Completed

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Stacking the Shelves with @Tynga’s Reviews

Blood Ties, by Garth Nix and Sean Williams

Blood Ties, by Garth Nix and Sean Williams

Genre: Middle Grade Fantasy / Adventure Series

Reason for Reading: I’m already reading this series, of course, but I was happy that Scholastic provided an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis (May contain some light spoilers for earlier books in the series): Meilen has run away from the Greencloaks to search for her father in her homeland of Zhong. Conor, Abeke, and Rollan quickly follow – they hope to recover their friend and get the Slate Elephant talisman from Dinesh, the Great Elephant. But Zhong has been conquered, so the kids must fight through armies of enemies to find what they seek. The Devourer is gaining power, and he will stop at nothing to take over all of Erdas with his nature-defiling bile.

My thoughts: Another great installment of the series. And they just keep getting better and better! (Not, of course, because the authors are changing, but because the plot and characters are developing as the series progresses.) Like in the earlier books, Blood Ties shows the power friendship – of working with your team rather than trying to fight evil alone. It encourages trust – of your partners, your friends, and the power of Good to conquer Evil. Most of all, the story is fun. It’s a delight to watch as the kids’ distinct characters develop, and how each character adds to the dynamics of the team. The world-building is also a lot of fun – it has both a familiar and a novel taste. For instance, Zhong is the Erdas-equivalent of Asia. The comparison is undeniable, and yet Zhong’s culture and scenery are also delightfully unique. And, of course, this book is filled with adventures, intrigue, and battles – which any lover of middle grade fantasy / adventure books craves. I’m looking forward to the release of the next book in the series, Fire and Ice, in July.

Did Jesus believe the end of the world was nigh?

Week 2 of Practicing Tolerance in a Religious Society was a lot of work for me, mostly because it was essay week. The assignment was to read and compare Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the Temple in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21. In these very similar passages, Jesus prophesied the destruction of the Temple, war, and many false prophets coming in his name. We were supposed to describe how these passages helped the early Christians make sense of the world around them, keeping in mind that the New Testament was written a half-century or more after Jesus’ death (i.e. around the time of the Temple’s destruction in 70CE).

This was a difficult topic for me because I’m still struggling a lot with the difference between the spiritual Jesus that I was brought up to worship as God, and the historical Jesus who was most likely an apocalyptic preacher. (Though I have decided to keep these two versions of Jesus separate in my mind, for now.) I took the time to read The Eschatology of Jesus, by Dale C. Allison.

The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism, Volume 1

Chapter 8: The Eschatology of Jesus, by Dale C. Allison

Allison’s essay addresses the controversy of whether or not the historical Jesus was an apocalyptic prophet – a phenomenon which was common at the time of Jesus. The reason this question is so controversial, despite the strong apocalyptic message of Jesus’ speeches, is because it would suggest 1) that Jesus was just one among many apocalyptic prophets and 2) that Jesus was wrong, since the end of the world proved not to be so nigh, after all.

Allison surveys current arguments for and against Jesus’ eschatology. He then demonstrates that the New Testament has undeniable eschatological imagery and phrasing. He points out that although it’s possible that the authors of the New Testament had eschatological leanings when Jesus did not, there’s no reason to believe that they mistakenly, or intentionally, changed Jesus’ message; therefore, it is very likely that Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher.

As I thought about my assignment, however, I pondered the possibility that perhaps the authors wrote the passages about the destruction of the Temple after the fact, and then attributed the words to Jesus in order to help make sense of the tragic destruction of Jerusalem by Rome. Did Jesus really foresee the destruction of the Temple? Or were the authors of the Gospels trying to provide spiritual guidance to their people during a time of great turmoil?

In the end, I decided that, since this prophecy isn’t the only eschatological speech Jesus made, he was very likely an apocalyptic preacher – regardless of whether he believed the end of the world was nigh. I plan to read some more on this subject before fully making up my mind, though.

What does everyone else think? Was Jesus an apocalyptic preacher? Did he believe the end of the world was coming in the near future? Were certain passages of the Gospels written by people who retroactively attributed a prophecy of the Temple’s destruction to Jesus?

Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller, by Gary M. Burge

Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller, by Gary M. Burge

Genre: Ancient History / Bible Studies

Reason for reading: This year, I’m studying Jesus and the New Testament. This book was loaned to me by Elizabeth, a friend from work. It was given to her by a friend because the author was her professor.

Synopsis: In this short book, Burge guides the reader to interpret Jesus as a storyteller – a teacher who uses allegory and hyperbole to make important points within his own social context. The book is filled with beautiful pictures and several examples of Jesus’ use of hyperbole to teach an important point. Burge provides historical and cultural insight into what Jesus may have been talking about when telling his parables.

My thoughts: I was surprised at how fun this book was. Although it’s quite short, and half of it was pictures, it made me look at Jesus from a interesting new perspective. Of course, I already knew that Jesus used parables and hyperbole to make points, but it was really interesting to read Burge’s cultural analysis of those parables.

The story I found most enlightening was Burge’s interpretation of the fig tree incident. For those of you who don’t recall, the story is related in Mark 11:12-14, 11:20-25; and in Matthew 21:18-22. In my unromantic version, Jesus is hungry, and he sees a fig tree by the road. It’s not fig season, so the tree isn’t bearing any fruit. Jesus curses the poor tree and it withers. I’ve always disliked that story. Despite my cousin Steve’s insistence that fig trees don’t have feelings, and I shouldn’t take the story so literally, I always felt sorry for the tree. Why’d Jesus curse a tree just because it wasn’t bearing fruit in the off-season? (And, yes, Mark clearly states that it wasn’t the season for figs.)

Burge pointed out that the fig tree represented the Jewish state and religion. Throughout the New Testament Jesus repeatedly pointed out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, who made a public spectacle of themselves fasting, praying, and giving alms; but who did not keep the spirit of religion in their hearts. They prayed for the approval of the people, not for the approval of God. Thus, they were not “bearing fruit.”

Of course, I realize that this insight about the fig tree and the Pharisees is not uniquely Burge’s – in fact I found some interesting articles on the subject after reading Burge’s book (here’s a good one). What’s important is that Jesus, the Middle Eastern Storyteller introduced me to some interesting interpretations that I could look into in more detail later. In that way, this book was a valuable resource for me.