A Green Bill [Living History by Hillary Rodham Clinton)

I FINALLY got to the point where Hillary meets Bill. I keep wanting to go back to that point. The course of our lives can change drastically…on account of one person.  Mind boggling.

Am on page 279 of the book..so clearly, am no longer tempted to leave. Hillary takes us through her early school years, growing up and the friends she makes, going to an all girls college – Wellesley (which she chose based based on the photographs of the campus), all the way through Yale Law School where she meets Bill. Important to note is that she entered Wellesley a Republican and exited as a Democrat. At Wellesley, Hillary’s leadership skills begin to emerge even more and I personally began to understand that there was no holding “her” back. She has always been a strong personality and at graduation from Wellesley, she gives the first ever student address, which lands her the first TV interview and a lot of controversy to boot.

When she decides to go to law school, she applies to Harvard and Yale and is accepted to both (obviously) but cannot seem to make up her mind as to where to go. However, during a visit to Harvard this decision is made quite easy for her. A male law student introduces her to one of the famous Harvard Law professors saying "This is Hillary Rodham. She is trying to decide whether to come here next year or sign up with our closest competitor”. Mr. opinionated & arrogant Professor then responded “ Well, first of all, we don’t have any competitors. Secondly, we do not need any more women at Harvard”. Need I say more? Yale it was! As the saying goes….”You can tell a Harvard man…but you can’t TELL a Harvard Man”.

At Yale, she does a lot of good stuff (boring but impactful) that oh so prepares her for the days ahead as the first lady of Arkansas and as the first lady of the US of A. More significantly, she meets Bill. Hillary says he was hard to miss not because he was so dashingly handsome (the handsomeness was still brewing) but because he looked more like a VIKING than the Rhodes Scholar he was! Donning a reddish brown beard and a curly mane of hair. YES…there is a photo to prove it too.  Oh Bill! You looked so Green! You guys probably don't believe me so I will scan it and post it next time.

As I carry on, I come across some interesting facts: - 

1. Bill Clinton’s father wasn’t Mr. Clinton or Pops Clinton. His dad died before his was born and his mother later remarried. Interesting….am not sure President Bill Blythe would have sounded very presidential for Blythe was his father’s name.

2. He had a difficult upbringing with an alcoholic & abusive step-father – Roger Clinton who later died but thankfully bequeathed the Clinton name to Bill…otherwise he would have been stuck with Blythe. 

3. His first attempt at public office was running for Congress. He lost.

4. He later on was elected as Governor in Arkansas. He lost the re-election two years later, then ran again and got elected. From there...the next ride took him all the way to the White House.

5. Hillary and Bill got married in the living room of their first home in Arkansas.

6. He makes her laugh…still. There is a genuine love there....and a high sense of mutual respect. One giant married to another.

7. He  knew he would be President way before ever running for any office and so did many people who interacted with him. 

8. Hillary had very bushy eyebrows. Thank God for tweezing! It came to save the world...:-)

Next, I will pick up on their journey to the White House and the early days. Some funny stories in there. Am trying to read very fast…because I want to get to two words “Monica Lewinsky”. Forgive me but its not the juicy story am looking for. I guess am trying to understand WHY. Maybe I’ll find the answer…maybe I won’t. Either way, their marriage cannot be reduced to that one incident. They are both way bigger than a little stained black dress (or what is navy?).

Hillary - I give you lots of credit for the amount of detail and information provided in the book. Wonderfully boring at times...but wonderful all the same!

Salute!

Tiny Gals!

I wonder if the book would have been famous had it been named so. ‘Tiny gals” as opposed to “Little Women”. I doubt it! Book titles do matter…don’t they? 

I came across a e-copy of the book, amongst many other English classics. I was ecstatic! How wonderful! What a find! Reading e-books is not so easy though but am trying. My next investment will be a kindle. Technology calls….but I still find such pleasure in reading through a printed book. Call me old fashioned and I will answer. Yes…am old fashioned. Flipping through a book is more exciting.

Back to Little women by Louisa May Alcott. I am reacquainting myself with the book. I read it more than 15 years ago when some things in the book probably made little sense to me or had no impact. I enjoyed reading it though. Meg, Joy, Amy, Beth. It’s amazing how books can mean something different to you depending on what age you are and what is happening in your life.

 I journey on to rediscover these “Little Women”, for indeed they are.

Leaving History

Ooops...I meant Living History. For that the is the title of Mrs. Clinton's autobiography. I love calling her Mrs. Clinton, although often people liked to think that Mr. Clinton was really Mr. Rodham.



I salute you Ma'am!



Of course she is tough as nails. You can tell that from the very beginning. I can tell you though, am already tempted to "leave" the history. Her story is good but develops slowly in a logical way as opposed to in an excitable way. One needs a lot of patience to read it.  You have to be looking for something beyond the surface. Had I not a deep admiration of her, I would have left already. But my feeling is, there is more to this book. I want to keep up with it.

One of the things am looking for is if she is who she is by Nurture or Nature or both. When she describes her paternal grandma, you begin to get a hint that part of it could be partly nature for grandma Rodham is tough as nails too. She scares hammers away, for they would break instead. Her maternal grandma is nothing to write home about...so indeed, I will not write about her. Grandma Rodham is a bit of a control freak and a strict authoritarian.  Hillary's dad moves away from home in the guise of getting a job in Chicago but really it is to run away from her. Hillary's mum on the other hand is an exemplary example of surviving adversity. Truly, we always have a choice as to whom we can become. You are who you are because you chose and you choose...every single day.

Am eagerly awaiting the point where she meets Bill, for I will be looking for the beginning of  history. World history. I feel strongly that both of them are truly a product of each other.

On another note, I had a sneak preview into "Loosing my virginity" by Richard Branson. Now that's a book I would not leave! NOT AT ALL. That reminds me, I need to raid a certain somebody's library to get a copy. Ever the perpetual borrower I am. Habits die hard though I cannot say its necessarily been a bad one.

Here is a link to the excerpt. Enjoy! http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/books/losing-my-virginity 

Next week: More on Nurture vs Nature.

Adios!

A Queer Feeling

When I picked up Oscar Wilde's "The Picture of Dorian Gray" - I was extremely excited. I have taken a liking to time-honoured English Authors and am thinking of sending a request God's way to transform me into one. I think I may be a few centuries too late though.

Back to being excited. Yes....I was. Very much so. I wanted to devour the book...literally with a high level of concentration and zeal. I wanted to read it so hard, that the words would disappear from the book as I read each one. No more words would be left because they would be hidden in my heart and mind. A part of me really. I did start....but I found that as I turned each page of the book...my zeal waned and waned some more.

Here is why. I found the conversations between Lord Henry and the very gifted painter Basil quite charming..enchanting even. However, I found the topic of their discussion a bit uncomfortable. They used beautiful words......words one would typically use whilst describing a woman. Only that they were describing a man instead. I got a niggling feeling....a queer one. I stopped reading and decided to google Oscar Wilde. A got a queer answer (pun intended). I must be the last person on earth to discover that Oscar Wilde was bisexual and had even been imprisoned at one point for his homosexual activities and activism.

Well, I will not provide my views on the subject. What I will say though...I found it increasingly difficult to continue reading the book. My question therefore is...Is it possible to separate the character and being of an Author, from his or her story? Are the two really inseparable? I would ask the same of Stephen King for example. Let me know what your views are.

In the meantime, this little queer book has now joined the START...STOP! list....and also has the privilege of being listed under NEVER EVER LAND.

I bid you farewell....till the next book. A clue you ask? Mrs. Clinton is all I need to say.

Asante!

PS: Should you care to read it though, you can access an electronic copy here http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/oscar-wilde/Dorian-Gray.pdf

Oscar Wilde

Forced Sabbatical

Has she really been reading? Seeing the silence, perhaps not. I have managed to sneak in a page of two of "The picture of Dorian Gray" and one story out of "Everyday Greatness". It's not been so bad after all. I have not managed to get a sneak peak into madam Clinton's Autobio. I will schedule a meeting with her and her life next week.

It's been a crazy week this one. Lots of proposals....lots of strategic plans...sales, marketing...product design. I feel like my head is going crazy. At the same time, am really proud of my work. I have quite a bit to write about....but I have not the time. All these thoughts....running around in my head, playing all sorts of games with each other. Think about it as the Crazy Stories Premier League (CSPL).

The teams competing against each other are short stories, true stories, book summaries and the unclassified categories. I wonder who will win....or loose but I hope in the CSPL...all the teams are winners and every one will get their day in the "field". However, I see the final being between the short stories and true stories. May the best thoughts win. Hip hip hooray!

I will be back strongly next week.

The weekend is here! Plan to have a good one.

A go a missing!

PLEASE HELP !! AM MISSING!

This post is about a book....a MISSING BOOK! I can't seem to find my "Everyday Greatness" book. Big & bulky it is...and I still cannot find it. I last had it two weekends ago....I thought I left it in my room...but it is not to be found there. I have searched and searched in every nook & cranny....in every crook's fanny as well! :-) As usual, I have half a mind to blame Levi....that's what we always do. Any unexplained circumstances or losses....IT HAS TO BE LEVI. Of course that is not always true....but that's only for 1% of the time. I shake with fear to imagine what it would look like post a "levi attack".

So, in other words.....am not sure what am reading this week....I've got to find me a book. Hmm....perhaps a visit to a certain friend will help me unearth her copy of Richard Branson's Autobio...now that would be a lovely place to start!

Mission of the Week: Raid said friend's library.

Wish me luck!

Of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (with two dots above the "e" in Bronte)

Alas! am not sure what the dots above the E in Charlotte's last name stand for. Somebody better educate me on that.

Anyway, Jane Eyre. What a wonderful find! For some strange reason, I was under the false belief that I had read the book years ago. Turns out I had not. I initially found it in my sister's library. It's an old copy...yellowing pages, musky smell. It does not endear itself to one. I took it to my room and on several occasions, attempted to start reading it. I failed. I couldn't explain why. Then suddenly, on the 1st of May, I found it amongst my things. It had been months since I first picked it up. In that duration, my son Levi had found it and began taking it apart, as he does with everything he comes across. I suppose it's because he is so deeply curious. Almost everything he touches cannot remain the same. Such is his mark in the world. Back to the book. So it was now basically torn. The front cover and several other pages were torn from the main binding of the book. I picked up the two pieces and began to read. I did not stop reading it for the rest of the day and for part of the night. Oh! How I missed those days. It had been ages since I had been unable to put a book down. So gripped with the story line that I could almost forget to do anything else!

I finally finished it yesterday evening in between driving through Nairobi traffic (yes!) and having to stop at the mall on the way home, not because I so much wanted to shop but because I wanted to disappear into the book and finish it. I had an insatiable hunger for it...."What happens next?" "What will Jane do?" Is Mr. Rochester alive?" "How does the story end...Oh help me..how does the story end?".

If you have not read Jane Eyre...it is a classic love story but a realistic one. Not one built upon layers and layers of fairyland ideals and unrealistic happenings. It is as real as I am an African woman...a Kikuyu one. Jane is an orphan, mistreated by her Aunt Reed and her cousins. Finally sent off to a boarding school that sounds so dreary. At some point, half the student population is wiped away by Typhus Fever (I need to research what that is). She finally grows up to be a teacher in the same school and then gets a job as a governess to the french ward of Mr. Rochester of Thornfield Hall (Why were they called halls?). He is a dark, tall man...who is not handsome but seems attractive according to the description. Jane falls in love with him, he with her and they live happily ever after? NO..! Not yet at least. EVENTUALLY....they both admit to their love of each other. Jane thought her dear Edward would marry a beautiful but hideous woman called...hmmm...Miss Ingram. Jane and Edward are to marry...a small ceremony is arranged. But alas! Edward already has a wife..as is revealed in Church. You know that part where they ask "Does anyone have any reason why these two should not be joined"....someone said yes! Edward's wife is a lunatic, locked up at Thornfield's third floor. Jane acts surprisingly calm...but is of course devastated. Why couldn't Edward tell her before they married? Before you get to this part...there are various hints on the existence of a lunatic in the house. I will leave those for you to discover. Back to the story...

Yes, Jane is devastated. She runs away, is helped by strangers (who turn out to her long lost cousins from an aunt she did not know existed). She inherits a substantial amount of money and is now the headmistress of a school. She still longs for her Edward. We don't know what happens to him....but Jane goes to find out. There was a big great fire started by the retched lunatic of a wife! Thornfield hall is burnt down...and Mr. Rochester....Jane's dear Edward is gravely hurt in the fire. He looses part of his arm and is now blind. A recluse in a little house down a valley somewhere...he hardly speaks to anyone and had two servants taking care of him. Am rushing to finish cos I want to get to my most favourite part!

Oh...I cannot seem to find this part that I so favour. I will seek it for another day. Yes! A reason to re-read such a wonderful book. In the meantime...

Jane seeks her dear Edward out...she surprises him...and he thinks of her as a mere dream. For he so longed for her that he went a little crazy...I think. They reunite....and marry. Edward is blind for another 2 years, then slowly he regains the use of his left eye...and they finally have a son. Jane says its their first born...yet mentions no other child. I supposed they had others later on.

After ten years of marriage....Jane could say "I know no weariness of my Edward's Society". That is what I take away with me from this book. I know it's real..because I have experienced it for over 10 years with someone..I will call him my special friend. I knew no weariness of his society. That is a rare thing to find in life.

I hope to find it again.