Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work and Whether It Was Intentional

I read this great post on John Green's Tumblr, titled Famous Novelists on Symbolism in Their Work and Whether It Was Intentional:

"Reading is not a game of Clue; books are not a mystery that you have to solve by putting all the pieces together. That’s not the point. Find the meaning you want to find in it. That’s what we do with books because that’s what we do in life."

[John adds this:] If the point of reading is merely to understand precisely what the author intended, then reading is just this miserable one-sided conversation in which an author is droning on to you page after page after page and the reader just sits there receiving a monologue.

That’s not reading. That’s listening.

Reading is the active co-creation of a story, complete with all its symbols and abstractions.

I thought about what John said. It set a small fire in my brain, and this is what came out:

English teachers who forced me to find symbolism and meaning in books make assigned reading in high school absolutely miserable. It was bad enough that I couldn’t just enjoy the story and spend time with the characters, but they also made me go on some kind of treasure hunt where I had to find something the teacher/school/board of education/someone-who-was-not-me decided was the “correct” thing to find.

As a result, I hated many classic works of literature, and actually resented them and the people who wrote them. I'm pretty sure that's the opposite of what any teacher would want their students to take out of any class, especially an English Literature class, but it's what happened to me.

Years later, when I was in my mid-twenties, I spent the summer rereading the books I’d hated in high school, because I figured they were classics for a reason and maybe as an adult, I'd be able to see why. I read:

Great Expectations - still hated it.

A Separate Peace - liked it, didn’t love it, but that’s a big improvement over how much I despised it when I was in school.

1984 - Loved it. Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Brave New World - Read it just after 1984. Loved it.

Romeo and Juliet - Hated this when I was 14 (who, at 14, is mature enough to appreciate it? What a huge FAIL it is to teach this to 9th graders), and was moved to tears by it as an adult. Went on a bit of a Shakespeare tear as a result, and did Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet, and Macbeth. Still didn’t understand all of it, but loved every second of it.

All Quiet on the Western Front - When your authoritarian Cold Warrior English teacher isn’t somehow making this book all about how fucking great Reagan is, it’s just amazing.

There were others, but you get the idea, right? I even grabbed the Cliff's and Spark Notes to get some "education" from the books when I was done reading them, but I can't recall anything the notes said, just what the book gave me when it was all done… I think that says a lot.

When I was a kid, I was already an avid reader, so these (hopefully) well-intentioned teachers couldn’t turn me off from reading in general and forever, but both of my siblings still won't pick up a book if you gave them a hundred dollars to do it. I understand that educators want to encourage students to dig into stories and see what they can find in them, and that’s a great exercise, but forcing them to find what some board of education has decided is the One Right Thing To Find does those kids (and did this kid) a huge disservice.

And not that it matters, but I'm going to reread The Great Gatsby just as soon as I finish A Clash of Kings, because it feels like the right thing to do.

Afterthought: I love teachers. I'm on record stating that my heroes are teachers, and I believe that teachers do not get the salary or respect by American society that they should get. I'm not attacking teaching or teachers at all with this post; I'm just recalling the experience I had with a small number of teachers in the 80s, who I'm sure were doing their jobs they way they thought was best for their careers and their students.

It’s a new Tabletop! Castle Panic! Yaaay!

Things I love:

Tower Defense games.
Cooperative games.
My friends Yuri and Tara.
My new friend Andre.

Oh, look what happens when we combine all of these things:

Wil’s Yummy Asparagus

My contribution to dinner tonight was some yummy asparagus, it totally didn't suck, so I wanted to share the simple steps to create it with the Internet:

Wil's Yummy Asparagus

1. Get some asparagus.

2. Wash it off.

3. Cut Snap off the bottoms where it's all fibrous and gross.

4. Put about 2 inches of water into a pan.

5. Put some garlic salt into the water.

6. Bring your about-to-smell-great water to a boil.

7. Put the asparagus into the water for about 2 minutes, turning it or rolling it over once after about a minute.

8. Put some olive oil into a shallow dish.

9. Put a little bit of powdered garlic and ground pepper into the olive oil and mix it up real good.

10. Brush the tasty oil onto the asparagus.

11. Grill the asparagus (if you don't have a grill, you can use one of those grill pans) for about 4 or 5 minutes, turning a few times so you get nice charring all over it.

12. Serve immediately.

13. The next several times you pee, that's your body saying, "Dude! You had some seriously yummy asparagus tonight!"

Update: Reader Sans Diety offers this addition: During the last minute of grilling, squeeze a lemon over it, and then add a slight bit of grated Parmesan, just as it comes off the heat.

Mental Floss really likes Tabletop, and I talk to Nerdist about Second Watch

Two things for you, free of charge.

1. Mental Floss said really nice things about Tabletop:

So Wil Wheaton has a YouTube show about boardgames, and it’s awesome. It’s called TableTop, and it’s a long-form (about a half hour per episode) look at various good boardgames, including a basic explanation of how to play each — plus an actual play session so you can actually get it. Whether you’re a boardgame nerd or a “normal” person looking for a fun diversion for your next party, this is for you.

I'm crazy about Mental Floss, so this means a lot to me. I think Mental Floss reaches people who don't already know about Tabletop, and I'm hopeful that this will bring some new viewers and eventual new gamers into the world.

Also, I met a woman in Trader Joe's today who watches Tabletop. This is how I recounted it to Twitter:

Girl in store: Do you make that tabletop show? Me: Yes! Her: My husband and I love it! We have a game night because of it! Me: AWESOME!

Then:

Her little girl: Daddy's favorite is the trains! Her: We love Ticket to Ride. Anne: Careful with the board. Me: Voice of experience, here.

Her husband told me via the tweety box that she was there to get snacks for their weekly boardgame night, which exists because they were inspired by Tabletop.

Mission: Accomplished*

2. I talked with Nerdist Incorporated about Falling Skies Second Watch, Tabletop, and the new media revolution:

N: 2nd Watch will be living on the web. In what ways will the show’s format be taking advantage of its portal?

WW: Hopefully, it will let us reach out to and embrace the audience in a more interactive way than we can with television, which is one-way communication.

N: With after-shows like this and Talking Dead, you and Chris are acting as ambassadors to the community on behalf of those shows. Do you think networks are finally seeing the value in personally connecting with the audience? And how does having the trust of an audience weigh on deciding whether or not to take on a job like this?

WW: It’s a huge responsibility to host one of these shows, because we need to know as much about the individual episodes and the cast as the most über of überfans. We’re essentially acting as a bridge between the fans of the show and the people who make it, so we absolutely need to have our shit together. I take the responsibility very seriously, and I know that there’s a certain amount of “this is awesome” implied when I agree to do something like this, which is why I wouldn’t have said yes if I didn’t absolutely love the show.

The networks are taking baby steps, as younger executives who have grown up with the Internet replace retiring executives who are still trying to fight the Napster battle. One of the key areas (in which) indies are destroying the majors is with fan outreach, no region-locking, no DRM, and things like that. It makes me really, really happy that TNT and AMC are seeing that the old style of one-way, top-down network to audience relationships need to adapt and change to meet what audiences expect right now.

There's a lot more to our interview, which I hope you'll read because I spent a lot of time thinking about and writing my answers down. For you. For science. You monster.

*And not in the fake codpiece way.

This is a real thing that you can own

About a year ago, I dared my friend Joel to imagine what it would be like if he designed a little plushie Wil Wheaton, and this happened:

After we stopped laughing about it, and enjoying how oh-so-clever we were, we started thinking about actually making it a real thing that someone could own, mostly because the idea of letting my dog murderize one was really funny to me. Then Joel pointed out that if we made it, we could give little Wil some minature dice, and someone would probably make a little clown sweater for him to wear…

I know, right? This was long before we even thought about dressing him up as Sparks McGee!

It took a long time and a lot of work, but it's finally happening. Little Plushie Wil Wheaton looks like this:

Which came first? The Internet or Wil Wheaton? No one knows for sure, but rest assured top men are working on the answer. TOP. MEN. Since the actual Wil Wheaton lives inside the Internet, you can't actually possess him. OR CAN YOU!? You can't, but you can own your very own soft, diminutive effigy of Wil that may or may not be a horcrux containing a tiny piece of his soul. I'm just saying, give your Li'l Wil a hug and I bet somewhere in California the real one lets out an audible sigh of contentment. Set it on fire and… well, you paid your money. Do what you want.

You can pre-order one of these little guys right now. Seriously, get together twenty of your internet space bucks, and go to the Hijinks Ensue store, for great justice.

Because Pinchy would have wanted it that way.