Holy Surprise! Jah is Good Everyday

Looks like I'm going to Taitung on Wednesday. A three hour train ride there and four ride back. Harsh but necessary.Z will probably tag along. Why the midweek, last minute trip?

This afternoon, I just got a surprise, out of the blue phone call and I was in happy tears, jumping around my living room!! Someone I met 2 years ago in Taitung, remembered me, saw my blog and called me. We were going for the same job at Stanley Yen (嚴長壽) 's Junyi Bilingual school, (he got the job- ). Now they want me. (Read, Tantalizing Taitung)

 The elementary school is totally Waldorf now, the  Middle School is halfway there. The salary is same as the one I had here at the bilingual school in Yilan,which is significantly better than my part time situation at the moment.  Z's tuition for the semester would be what I was paying Chung Dau every month (wonderful!).

Thankfully I hadn't booked flights back home for our August trip yet, that sort of is all up in the air. There is no way we are NOT going home, but when we do will be a factor. I am not even thinking about the stress of moving again. The move to Yilan from Tainan was boatloads harder than I expected, but we have seriously less stuff now, so for someone reason I am not concerned about another move, perhaps because its "meant to be."

I'm rushing ahead. There is still the whole process to go through again, a demo and interview that needs to be successfully completed. But I am as ever hopeful. 

Why the massive elation? 
1.) Its in Taitung, need I say more?

2.) Stanley Yen (嚴長壽) is THE mover and shaker in Taiwanese education reform. To be under his visionary leadership for my own personal values, would be like a firecracker under my wings igniting the flame of purpose. Imagine being that passionate about a job again. Its only in the void of terrible to mediocre to better than average leadership that you recognize a trail blazer, visionary when you meet him face to face.

3.) Z could go to a Waldorf school 

4.) Z could go to a Waldorf school with Aboriginal students 

I must confess that the one time Z saw me cry and in public was on the train leaving Hualien to Taipei when I found out I didn't get that job 2 years ago. I was just so pining for it. She remembers it to this day. I suppose being a single mom I have "be strong" and all that, breaking down for a good cry only occasionally, when she is asleep. She is absolutely fascinated by wanting to see me cry, she often mentions wanting to capture it on video recording which is extreme. I guess I saw my parents cry a
lot because my brother was often in the hospital, in ICU. I'm not trying to be unreal, inauthentic, I'm not the crying type to begin with. But on that train out of Hualien, when I found out they gave the job to the guy who already lives in Taitung -who happens to be getting me this job now- I let the tears roll down my face in front of everyone. As the cycle of tears keeps turning, today those tears were happy. I was moved this guy remembered me from 2 years ago and would seek me out, compliment my blogs, recognize that I share the same values, want me on his team, on Stanley Yen's team no less. 

Who doesn't love lightening bolt news out of the blue? But I do especially. Le't hope for more tears of joy.

Game of Boners and the Season of the Woman

"Men are not aware of the misery they cause and the vicious weakness they cherish, by only inciting women to render themselves pleasing." - Mary Wollstonecraft (1792)

I love Game of Thrones, it gets better and better and the latest headline has heralded season 5 as the "Year of the Woman". Truly? Its about time! Arya Stark and Daenerys Targaryen are the series' current strong women. If season 5 is anything like its previous seasons, than the notion of "strong women" will be defined from the point of view of the average male viewer. How would women retell the story of Game of Thrones had they the chance? Elle magazine had the female characters ranked according to their looks, which is appalling but hardly surprising. Sounds like not much of an opposing angle from average female viewers either. 

My main question as a female viewer is, where is the mother daughter relationships, and why are they missing and ultimately devalued? There's plenty of father-daughter, mother-son, but not much air time devoted to this special relationship, which to me is more evident of the blatant patriarchal entertainment industry's fear of strong mother-daughter bonds, than the excessive screen time of GoT's over the top sexualized nudity. Frankly the lack of dynamic mother-daughter relationships in the show ultimately reflects in a weak and uninspired character development of its heroines. Don't get me wrong, I adore Brienne, Daenerys and Arya, but I take it with a grain of salt. I can guess that the phallocentric show, like western culture is totally shit scared of a close Mother-Daughter relationship which attacks it as unhealthy, pathological or in this case totally missing.

I am not the first one to critique the show's use of sex as a plot device, ok maybe I was, but I didn't write about it first. I was surprised to read that the show is supposedly an improvement from the books in terms of less rape, and HBO created totally new female characters with some kind personality ("9 Ways Game of Thrones Is Actually Feminist").  I love the response to this in Megan Murphy's critique of how people are forcing feminism in places it doesn't exit ("Just Because You Like it Doesn't Make it Feminist".) I do like it but I'm also very aware that the show is hardly the beacon of gender equality people claim.

The show is soft porn for dudes and the first few seasons straight female viewers like myself had to endure T and A here and there and everywhere as all the female characters were literally either Queens or prostitutes. "But that's how life was like back then!" Say the typical male viewer. "Back when?" Middle Ages? Renaissance? History should be called Hisfantasy. What was true then is true now - rape is still very much alive and well (read, Will It Really Take a Man's Word...). What is going on is this, "the patriarchal castration of the female personality principally offers women but two alternatives: an impossibly idealised motherhood or an emphasis on the kind of sexual attraction that turns women into objects" ( Phillips, "Beyond the Myths"). Popular story telling hasn't moved past the Virgin Mary/Mary Magdelene polarity, despite reality being so much more interesting. Phillips goes on to write, "Patriarchy devalues femininity. It creates a dichotomy between feminine sexuality and motherhood." In GoT femininity and sexuality are one in the same. When will this dichotomy of femaleness not be the world view in which we tell stories and watch great entertainment or frame "strong women"? Motherhood is hardly portrayed at all, except as a vehicle for men's security of kingdoms or the dragon fantasy of Daenerys.

What of normal women, mothers, married to the local miller, tanner, cobbler, farmer, weren't there any legitimate women, somewhere between Queen and whore back in western history? Is it responsible to re-represent Western history that way, basically making the lives and stories of ordinary women disappear as if they never existed? I suppose that is much of history anyways. In early Medieval writings, there was total gender separation, with men having little contact with women who lived in a world of their own (Phillips 1991). What the majority of women did was not recorded. In later medieval writings there are records of women working alongside fathers and husbands in shoe-making, candle-making, the silk industry, they were members of guilds. Normal women did exist. 

So what is it about this show that everyone is gushing about? For Canadian, feminist author Margaret Atwood, who wrote a recent column in the Observer, the popularity of the show is not from its influence from English history but literature. GoT "Draws its inspiration from so many fictional sources it’s hard to keep track. The Iliad, the Odyssey,Beowulf, ancient Egypt, H Rider Haggard, The Sword in the Stone, the Ring Cycle, Tolkien, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the Mabinogion, Harry Potter, The Jungle Book, Ursula K Le Guin, Hans Christian Andersen, Idylls of the King, Conan the Barbarian – himself the stolen-away downmarket twin of Walt Whitman – and The Wind In the Willows." If only there was some Willa Cather, Virginia Woolf, or Christine de Pizan thrown in for good measure.

Think about the series' strong heroines, they are hardly the wholly feminine superpower they seem. Classical strong heroines in Western history are always linked to their strong relationship with their mother or mother figures-ie the only fitting spouse to the God of the Underworld was the daughter of Demeter.   There isn't much of that in Game of Thrones and in fact it follows Hollywood's stereotypical mistrust of mother-daughter relationships. I think Margaery Tyrell is an example of a strong woman who has been schooled by her grandmother Olenna Redwyne on the ways of the world, but that hardly got any air time.

Daenerys has no connection to her mother, no females who mothered her, she has been ruled by men, her brother, her late husband, and all her counselors are older men and even her current beau gives her policy advice! She hardly has her own voice, tho that's forgivable because she is sexually attractive, young and never mothered. The only female who gave her advice at all, was a courtesan of her husband, who taught her a few bedroom tricks as he only knew one, the Dothraki favorite (think horse). She isn't even a queen, "Khalisi" is only the title referring only to the wife of the khal. I am hoping the writers will connect her with more of her feminine wisdom as she has to learn to mother her uncontrollable, adolescent dragons. How will they mythesize motherhood though her story?

As for Arya Stark, she did have a  relationship with her "strong" mother Catherine who was tragically murdered in the already classic wedding murder scene.  But did they have a strong relationship? One can only assume. Since her mom's death, she has also been groomed and counseled by men, the swordsman Syrio and now the Faceless Man who serve the many faced god of death. That daughters without mothers like Arya and Daenerys are obliged to develop self assertiveness and independence without disturbing patriarchal values on femininity and containing "strong women" is nothing new. Jane Austen did it first in her female characters.

Whats more comical than claiming these characters are "strong women" is after 5 seasons of sexualizing the female characters, the actor playing Jon Snow, Kit Harrington was huffing and puffing about becoming a sex symbol! ("Being Called a Hunk is Demeaning"). Before you call me a hypocrite or a sexist (because I am all about hunkifying Drago), its not the same thing.

The Guardian columnist Barbara Ellen put it this way, "However, male sexual objectification is relatively rare – generally reserved for well-known males, fictional or otherwise...By contrast, female sexual objectification is an ongoing socioeconomic-cum-psychosexual epidemic, affecting the vast majority of women at some stages of their lives. Even when they are no longer objectified (losing looks or fertility; ageing), it’s used against them in a routine way. Without meaning to be crude, from a female perspective, you’re screwed when you’re being sexually objectified, then you’re screwed when you’re not. This is the truth of female objectification – it’s less about personal sexiness and more about impersonal power structures. Where sexual objectification is concerned, fame is a game-changer for men, while merely amplifying normality for women. To suggest otherwise seems misguided at least. Maybe it’s time for men to speak up about things that genuinely affect them instead of putting a spurious man-spin on typically female experiences."( Men Know Nothing At All About Being Sex Objects")

Is there any other female GoT character that deserves to be called a "strong woman"?  Melisandre, she is the high priestess of the male God of Light and hardly the epitome of feminine power, although she uses her sexuality when she can as a weapon, more soft porn scenes. So nope. However she unlike most of the female characters is not expected to bear children or marry for a position or security.

Brienne of Tarth would never even be a possibility historically speaking. If women dressed as men to escape female bondage, or to act like them, they were put to death. Arya would never make it. Just read the 13th century French romance "Huon of Bordeaux". Of course in Celtic and Teutonic pre-Christian groups women did fight alongside men, but they also believed in female goddesses and had a completely different way power was shared and femininity viewed than the medievalist GoT.

So whats a woman with a brain to do who likes watching GoT? I'm not going to feel guilty, if Margaret Atwood is a fan I'm in good company. I'm waiting for the leak of episode 5 along with the sheep, fingers still crossed that Drogo might return and hoping the writers might grow up from the way they trivialized Cersei.

Resources:
Beyond the Myths: Mother Daughter Relationships (1991) by Dr. Shelly Phillips
The Abused Wives of Westeros
Today's Twisted TV Moms

Seemingly Prosaic

Easter lunch at Balagov's

My personal temperament wont allow me to pass up a 4 day weekend without some kind of adventure. But considering my finances post birthday weekend in Borneo and then Chiang Mai for Chinese New Year and then not working for all of February, only to go part time in March. I could hardly afford going anywhere for Easter/Tomb Festival weekend.

It was heart wrenching getting updates from Tiger Air on last minute deals. In the past for Tomb Festival we have gone to the Pengu Archipelago, had a BBQ with friends, and or had gone to Taipei. Other 4 day weekends we had gone to Japan, Green Island (twice), Matsu Island, Guanshan and Kenting, just to name a few.

Not to feel sorry for myself, we made the best of it. The weather in Yilan for our 4 day weekend was perfect. The rains returned on Tuesday which I guess was tolerable. My daughter played with her friends in our apartment complex all weekend, I hardly saw her. She certainly preferred their company to mine, until it was bedtime and then snuggle bug didnt want me to leave. I went across the street alone, everyday to my favorite park in all Taiwan to do a quick workout or yoga. It was as close to a retreat as I got.

Easter services in Luodong with Jocelyn

 We went to church on Easter and had Easter lunch at Balagov's. We shared a plate of baked potato, salad and non -Taiwanese sausages which was topped with smuggled Ukrainian horseradish that's now flourishing in the mountains of Yilan, mixed with beets, which was to die for.

Easter lunch

My 4 day weekend basically consisted of me  teaching a few private ESL lessons and packing away the bulk of my heaviest winter bedding and clothes, washing and ironing summer clothes, while catching up on TV shows like Broad City and Indian Summers. We made kiwi cupcakes, chocolate banana cupcakes and macaroons. Hardly the adventure I might of had, but I doubt if I am missing out anything.

Z with one of my students

 I worked on my list of places to go and see in Yilan county, especially during my kid's half days. I definitely was not going to venture out on a holiday weekend in Yilan, it would be a zoo as all of Taipei likes to come here for the fresh air. Between house cleaning and reading in my hammock (my second favorite place in all of Taiwan), life was blissfully mundane. I certainly wasn't complaining.

Yoga at my favorite park, Yilan County Government Buildings

Going Green: Yilan Green Expo

The past 15 years the Yilan County Government (my neighbor) has annually held this now famous Green Expo to expose residents to environmental education, sustainable development via local culture. The kindergarten I work for took a morning field trip there yesterday, which I was grateful for the free opportunity (tickets are 300NT). My daughter's class will go within the next 2 weeks, so I hope they learn something.

To me its just another avenue to give local vendors and farmers a platform to sell their products. I happily bought organic heirloom carrots, hand made non-toxic mosquito repellent gel and portable hand soap. There were goat milk products from local farms, mushrooms, stuff you might find at the local farmer's market. Nothing earth shattering, like plain Stevia, almond butter, or corn tortillas (I think I may be homesick).

There are some interesting themed zones with kid friendly activities. My class enjoyed the whale skeleton area with stamping and rubbings of whales that frequent the waters of Taiwan. They also have a petting zoo at the top of the hill.

 My coworkers told me the grounds of the Wulaokeng park are a good place to come explore and pitch  a tent in the highlands, obviously not during the crowds of the expo or a holiday weekend like this one. I'm always up for hitting new trails, so I hope to return. The expo ends in May, so maybe I will come back in 2 months, see how much has changed, how the flowers grew in and hopefully crowds dissipated.

Resources:
http://www.necoast-nsa.gov.tw/user/Article.aspx?Lang=2&SNo=03000060

http://www.greenexpo.e-land.gov.tw/