Candor, by Pam Bachorz, is a supremely creepy book. It's about a boy who lives in a special town that his father founded, where music containing subliminal messages is used to control the people who live there. Catchy phrases turn them into loose-clothing-wearing, healthy-food-eating, nonartistic, avidly academic individuals. No one wears eye makeup or nailpolish or holds hands in public, and teenagers never drink alcohol or make out in movie theatres. And if they ever leave and forget to take some of the special music with them, they will go insane and die a violent suicidal death. Oscar, the protagonist, has found a way to outsmart his father, but he's still stuck in this strange microcosm, with questions of love, control and honesty to confront. The entire book was full of suspense - will he escape? Will anyone escape? Will they all be brainwashed by the evil Mr. Banks, with no hope of free thought?
Clearly Bachorz believes that a) the media can affect us without our realization and b) our music, and the messages it contains, can define who we are. I agree that the words in songs, as well as the pictures and articles in magazines and the things we see on TV, can change both our perception and our goals more than we expect, but I think villainizing music is a pretty strong exageration of this concept. Then again, maybe the exageration is necessary to catch our attention.
i don't think this one will be for me somehow. i could do with some advice tho.
ReplyDeletei'm off back to school in a couple of weeks. i'll be speaking to 16-18 year olds for an hour and a half (hopefully not speaking all that time! lol) about poetry and writing. any hot tips for keeping their attention?
no problem! i've had plenty of guest authors and stuff at school & i listen to teachers pretty much all day, 5 days a week, so i have a decent idea of what makes it interesting.
ReplyDeletea) if you're talking about any specific writers, and you can find a way to tie in fascinating things about their personal lives, that always keeps it interesting. For example, did they have any love affairs, addictions, or strange quirks?
b) try to make it personal. if you share things about yourself, even small tidbits, it makes it seem more personal and eases up boredom. in this case, sometimes saying less is more, because mentioning something personal without going into great detail piques everyone's interest, and leaves unanswered questions. and if you do that, they'll be listening.
c)try to be funny or sarcastic at times. don't worry if people don't always laugh; they might actually think you're funny but not feel comfortable enough to laugh out loud, since its a school-type thing.
d) if you bring up poems/books that you like, someone else might know them. personally, if someone references something i've heard of or read, my attention is hooked.
is that helpful? if you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing? teaching about the writing process in general? speaking as a guest author/poet? giving a lecture? i'm sure whatever it is, you'll do wonderfully :)
thanks for that. that's brilliant!
ReplyDeletei'm going back to my old school to do something for my old english teacher and his colleagues. i'll be talking about my book, how it came about, the writing process etc plus doing some creative writing exercise type stuff.
at one level i'm really looking forward to it but at another it's an audience i'm not familiar with so i'm getting the nerves. this has helped a lot tho. thanks again!
happy i could help! do you have a published book? that's so cool! can i ask what it's called? i promise i won't write a harsh review or something haha
ReplyDeletesee here
ReplyDeletehttp://morgandownie.wordpress.com/
that looks like such a cool book - its a collection of poems? i love books of poetry! was that the first time you were published? obviously i have a ways to go, but eventually i want to publish something i've written...
ReplyDeletei've been published in quite a few anthologies over the years and was never much bothered about it to be honest. but a combination of factors, a bit of pressure and a bit of luck and this was the result.
ReplyDeletewhat i get to do now is things like going into the school and encouraging other people that writing/art etc is a good means of being - and beats xbox/tv etc etc hands down!