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Margaret Atwood is such an amazing writer.  I had forgotten.  I disliked Robber Bridegroom so much that I had decided (how?) that maybe I had gone as far as I was ready with her writing, so I haven’t read her work since.  I’m not a sci fi fan, much, so that decision was easy to make.

This book, though, reminds me of why Cat’s Eye is one of my all time favorite books.  It is a series of short stories — thoughtshots — from the point of view of a woman as she goes through life.  The woman ponders her husband, parents, self, and family (among other things), and I recognize myself on many pages.  By turns, the book is insightful, funny, and insightfully funny.  I felt as though I were see the world from a slightly different perspective, with slightly different life experiences, yet I was also seeing the world in ways that simply make explicit the kinds of things and the kinds of thoughts that happen to all of us.

Margaret Atwood writes stories that fill in between Dorothy Parker’s wry comments about the world.  Somehow, these stories make me even more comfortable with my advancing age.

The White Tiger is gorgeous and trapped, pacing back and forth to self-hypnotize so that the anger of incarceration does not overwhelm him.

So it is in this book:  the impoverished are trapped by the wealthy.  All are trapped by money and power, but those who serve the wealthy have the biggest challenge.  They are constantly exposed to what they don’t have.  

The main character, who calls himself The White Tiger, is a driver for a wealthy family.  He is mannerly and dependable, and the boss seems to be a “nice” person.  He treats the driver well, not overly demanding service or overly criticizing him.  He pays a handsome salary.

Yet the driver is entrapped and enraged.  

This is a tale of modern India — and any culture where money is distributed unevenly.

This is one young woman’s story of her life.  She was born in a Thai refugee camp, a place that was wonderful to her but terrible for the adults.  She was surrounded by those who loved her, and thinks on those days as warm and safe.

Her parents, though, were not so happy and, along with their entire clan, applied to leave Thailand for the U.S.  Her parents and some of her uncles were sent to Minnesota; other family members went to Fresno.  

Wending her way through American society was important only insofar as it allowed her to do what her family hoped for:  she was to become an educated woman.  The Hmong knew that they had no homeland, no hopes of ever returning to Laos, no way of honding onto what they once lived.  They had to move forward, and their children’s schooling was the way to do so.

She writes of huge meetings where the Hmong talked about how to make it in America — how to become citizens, how to buy or drive a car, how to find work, how to flush toilets and live on the second floor (in the sky).  She tells of every child having to address these huge groups of people, having to tell them what they planned to become so that their parents knew that their work was the right thing to do.

In Hmong culture, children fall from the clouds.

Such beautiful writing.

This title indicates all of the ways that the writers view technology’s potential in the classroom.  A book from the business community, it explains both the possibilities and glitches for change in our schools, and tracks the way that change will occur.

Clearly, technology will change EVERYTHING about schools.  Currently, our schools reflect the technology of the mid-1800’s…we had rooms, desks, and pens.  Sometimes, paper.  We had only one method of delivery:  the teacher.  

Now, clearly there are many more.  Not only can the delivery model change, but the time (do we need 8 a.m. lectures any more?), organization (the authors point out that, at present, schools are organized by geography, not by strength, professional goals, learning styles, etc.), and delivery (a lecture is a great way for some to learn; others, though, could use interactive charts and graphs or videos or….)

This book talks about the value of the coming techno-invasion, and also about how it will occur:  through disruptive change.  It will change from the outside, where classes are offered that fill specific niches, and will gradually migrate to schools themselves.  After I read this part of the book, I googled “writing classes,” and noted that the writers are exactly right:  there are numerous classes on “creative writing,” on “getting published,” on “writing poetry,” or “writing the novel.”  These are adult pursuits that aren’t supported by public schools, and many writers fear the time that they might have to be in a class, exposed, vulnerable.  On-line writing schools fill this niche, and, I suspect, there is much to learn from them about how to structure in-school writing classes as well.

Having worked in schools for a very long time, I’m excited about the possibilities that are suggested in this book.  The book is clear and accessible, even for the non-business person.  One of the best professional reads in a long time.

Walmart’s power, combined with its focus on low prices, volume, and consistent profits, is a mixed blessing for the world.  While it provides low-cost consumer goods and can implement policies that turn the world on a dime (for example, its decision to only stock deodorants that DON”T come in boxes), it also contributes to off-shoring, lower quality, and companies filing bankruptcy.  

This book is a study in power.   Walmart is huge.  If it decides to eliminate the boxes around the deodorant, it saves trees and fuel costs (for transport).  It also reduces the amount of waste in landfills and offers customers more choices in deodorants (because it increases the number of products that can fit on its shelves).  It also puts the packaging companies out of business.

If it decides to stock pickles, it can demand that a pickle company offer gallon-sized jars at $2.97, a great deal for customers and a loss for the company.  It increases the number of gallon-sized jars used, thereby boosting the company that makes these jars, and also increases the amount of biodegradable waste (because few families can eat a gallon of pickles before they go bad).  It inspires customers to buy pickles.  It runs the company out of business.

Walmart can do all of these things because it’s powerful, one of the most powerful forces in the world.  With this power comes great effect, both good and bad.  Walmart is motivated by profit and by holding costs down, both reasonable motivations…but what of other forces that are powerful but not motivated by such reasonable things?

What if there is a power that gleans its profits from our gasoline-buying and channels its profits into huge systems of schools that teach its students to kill us?  What if that power makes so much money that it can buy us?  What kinds of effects can we expect?

I remember having mixed feelings about anti-trust laws when I learned about them in school.  They are not mixed any more.  With such amazing power, there is no “balance.”

The author of this book was interviewed on NPR, and she sounded so very thoughtful about her main character, the younger sister of a drowning accident.  Nico is in junior high school, and the loneliness rips her family apart.  Dad retreats into writing, Mom into drugs, and Nico into numbness.  

A good, fast read…one that shows how strong emotions build and end.