Monday, May 09, 2005

Fast, Cheap, Out of Control

Miss Manners is coming! Miss Manners is coming! Oh, I am beside myself! She will speak at the Boston Public Library, and I hope I can go. Linden, I'm sorry if it means a short dinner on Wednesday, but it's Miss Manners. I hope you understand.

This weekend I read (very quickly) My Posse Don't Do Homework, which was amusing and heartwarming, as it was intended to be, and bore little or no relationship to the movie they made from it, Dangerous Minds. I liked the movie, liked the book better, though it was schmaltzier. Best, though, I liked the segement of This American Life where the author of the book--the teacher who was played by Michelle Pfeiffer in the movie and Annie Potts in the short-lived TV series, rips into Hollywood for turning these mostly good, hard-working kids into violent gang members who aren't motivated or interested. It's more complex than that, and in spite of the schmaltz (did I mention the schmaltz?), the book did a better job of portraying kids who want to succeed but are afraid to try, full of anger, or just have other priorities.

There will be plane trips coming up soon, which are good for reading. But also weddings and busy weekends, which are not. But I'm going to start obsessing about the weather now, because I have a goregous new dress, but am apparently attending an outdoor wedding in what promises to be the rain and mud this weekend.

Wish me luck.

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