Now that my classes at the university have ended for the year, I’m looking forward to summer vacation. In a little more than two weeks I’ll be flying to America to see my family, and on the way there, I’ll do a stopover stay for a few days in Edinburgh, Scotland. I’ll blog that trip in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned.
Reading is one of the things I enjoy doing during the summertime when I’m back home. Just recently, when looking for reading material to carry me through the next three months, I discovered Jean Kwok, a Chinese-American writer who emigrated from Hong Kong when she was very young and now lives in the Netherlands with her Dutch husband and two children. Kwok’s first book,Girl in Translation, a novel that is based quite extensively upon early experiences she had in the Big Apple melting pot, was recently published and seems to be getting pretty good reviews.
Kwok can be seen talking specifically about her novel here. I’ve included a CNN interview in which she focuses less on the book and more on her upbringing and the interesting concept of “identity.”
I feel that I have a lot in common with Kwok. Of course, we both write, but I’m thinking mostly about the fact that the two of us have spent significant chunks of time living outside the countries where we were born. Such people, with a foot in two different worlds, are very interesting, I think.
Each year, as I get ready to jet back to Texas, I always spend some time thinking about who I am, where I’ve come from, and how I’ve changed now that I’ve become so international. The conclusion that I always come to, at the end of all that thinking, is that I’m now the intriguing Mr. Gray Kwok refers to in her interview.
My return flight to Cairo is scheduled for the wee hours of Tuesday, the twenty-fifth of August, which means that I’m in the last day or so of this year’s summertime visit with family and friends in Texas.
This particular trip back home was very eventful, and thus hectic, especially toward the end, mostly because there was a last-minute family emergency that has been of great concern. Etta Merle Hausenfluck, my maternal grandmother, a woman I’ve always called “Memaw” (doesn’t that sound southern?) and someone I’ve mentioned in these blogs, has had a couple of mild strokes. As a result, I’ve been staying with her, at her country home, and mostly off the Internet. I suppose this is a very convoluted way of saying that I’ve been unable to put together a new blog for this week. For that, I apologize.
Soon, though, I’ll be back at “home” in Cairo and the blogging will come easier since I’ll no longer be living on the highway or out of a suitcase as I have been doing these past several weeks.
Before I wrap this up, I would like to mention a book I’m currently reading. It’s called Carnal Acts, a collection of personal essays by Nancy Mairs, a writer of great courage who candidly discusses, especially in the piece “Carnal Acts,” what it’s like to be a middle-aged American woman stricken with multiple sclerosis, an illness Nancy Mairs has been living with for nearly two decades.
When I bought this book, about a week or so ago now, I had no idea how apropos it would be given my grandmother’s current situation. The book deals with the subject of illness and limitation, but not in a maudlin way. It’s the sort of book my grandmother should read, but that wouldn’t be her way. For as long as I can remember now, my grandmother has been more a woman of action than reflection, so reading is mostly not her cup of tea.
I just love this video! It’s a wonderful example of creative thinking and problem solving in action.
Creativity and creative problem solving are two of my favorite blog subjects. For those of you who are similarly interested in these closely related topics, I’ve blogged about them hereand here. The video is a case study in how a person can solve a problem, no matter how big, when a creative approach is used. In Angela Logan’s case, she is faced with the problem of needing to raise money to save her Teaneck, New Jersey, home from foreclosure. Her method of overcoming this challenge is one that everyone can learn from.
Firstly, I noticed that Angela very quickly identified a talent that she had and used it to great effect. She knew how to bake delicious cakes, and so she used this ability to raise funds. Watching Angela go to work in her kitchen reminds me of the time when I was in graduate school and similarly needed to augment my income. I had a job as a teaching assistant, but that didn’t really pay enough for me to live on, so I had to find a second job. This problem was made more difficult by the fact that I was so busy with my studies that I didn’t really have much time or energy to devote to such an undertaking. I knew, though, that I’ve always been a pretty good conversationalist and that I had some background as a teacher of English as a Second Language, so I decided to hire myself out to international students who wanted to work on perfecting their speaking abilities in English. All I had to do was sit and talk with nonnative speakers for an hour at a time and was paid quite well for doing so. Thus, the first step in creative problem solving is finding a tool that feels comfortable in one’s hand and then putting it to good use.
Secondly, Angela did not allow herself to feel overwhelmed by the difficulty facing her. Her problem was indeed large and thus daunting, but she was not daunted by it. That’s because she focused on the ” little picture.” She broke her problem down into small, manageable bits and pieces. This is made clear in the video when she set her first goal: to sell one hundred cakes in ten days. Reaching this provided her with the confidence she needed to set a second, larger objective. With each accomplishment, she built momentum, acquired confidence, and put a new piece of the puzzle in place. Rather than looking at the whole forest, she strategically decided to focus her vision on the individual trees that make up that forest.
Thirdly, Angela did not allow her pride to get in the way of her creative thinking. She asked those who are close to her to buy her first one hundred cakes, but she admits that it was difficult for her to do this. As an educator, I find that many students make the mistake of failing to ask for help when they have difficulties with the work I’ve asked them to do. Actually, I can understand this reluctance, on the part of some, because I am the sort of person who hates to admit that I am incapable of doing something wholly on my own. I suppose I feel I have to be self-sufficient in all things. Thinking this way, though, is a mistake and perhaps even a character flaw. Reaching out for help is not a sign of weakness. On the contrary, it is a way of becoming enriched and empowered, two very good things to be. Not reaching out for help, because one finds it embarrassing to do so, is like allowing one’s thinking to be clouded by emotionality.
