In Praise of Khaled Mattawa
I returned from Ann Arbor full of awe and admiration for my friend Khaled Mattawa. Over the three days of the Rawi conference, he managed to take part in two panels, one on translating Arabic poetry and one on style, welcome each participant, handle numerous logistical details, and contribute to several discussions of literature, culture, and politics.
- Laila Lalami
http://lailalalami.com/2010/in-praise-of-khaled-mattawa/

I chose this blog because it is not a about a famous writer or someone really well known. It is about a friend of Laila Lalami who has done something very impressive. She is proud and wanted to tell people about it.

The Risks of Fiction: On The New Yorker Writers Under 40 List
Part of my motivation had to do with my own ambitions as a fiction writer; another part had to do with my high school teaching job, which included a course in Reading and Writing Fiction. I thought maybe, by studying closely what the magazine was publishing, I’d get a better sense of just why my own stories were getting unceremoniously rejected everywhere I sent them (with the minor exception of a brief but kind note scribbled at the bottom of a form rejection from McSweeney’s.) If not, at least I’d maybe come away with some good stories to teach in class.

In the first few months of the project, I encountered some great pieces of fiction: Tobias Wolff’s “Class Picture” (an excerpt from his novel Old School), Maile Meloy’s “Red From Green,” and Lara Vapnyar’s “Love Lessons, Mondays, 8 a.m.” And I found that, having preemptively committed myself to reading each story, I sat down with a helpful patience, an openness to the experience and to the writer’s art.
- Frank Koverick
http://www.themillions.com/2010/06/the-risks-of-fiction-on-the-new-yorker-writers-under-40-list.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+themillionsblog%2Ffedw+%28The+Millions%29

I chose blog because I found it interesting. It talked about a teacher that wanted to improve his writing. He wanted to improve his fiction idea.This is because no one wanted to read his writing, so he went to the New York Times magazine to get inspired. This is an impressive blog because it may also inspire others to pursue what they want to improve.

International Video

http://wherethehellismatt.com/



http://playingforchange.com/



http://www.spiritofbaraka.com/



Matt did not really mean to start what he did. What did he start? Well, he started dancing, first alone and then with other people from around the world. He travelled all over the planet doing a goofy dance, not particularly done very well. I find what he did quite interesting. When his dance was first seen on the Internet, it was not really on purpose. One of his travel buddies had video taped his dance, and put it on the Internet. From there the video dance took off. People wanted to see More dancing. His then had the privilege of actually making money from some of his ideas. He sold some to the stride gum company. With this money he chose to travel around the world some more and dance with a more and more people! He created a very intriguing video which is on his website. The video consists of him dancing with people around the world, and also alone at some very amazing places in the world. This was a very interesting video and idea that Matt has.

The God of Small Things Review

The setting of The God of Small Things is in Kerala, India. The book travels through time frequently, there are times when it is in the present, and also many times it is set in 1969. There are quite a few important characters in the novel, because it tells many different stories all in different times. The main character who is narrating the story is Rahel, she was born in Ayemenem, India. When she got older she moved to America and got married. Her fraternal twin brother Estha (Esthappen) was also born in Ayemenem. He left with their father when he was a small child. As an adult he returned to India, Rahel heard this and also returned. Sophie Mol was Rahel and Estha's cousin, she was visiting Ayemenem and died while she was there. The death of Sophie changed everyone and the way they were, even if it was only a little. There are quite a few other characters in the book that had parts and stories of thier background. Some stories were very dramatic. The God of Small Things has a plot that is not very easily understood. There is time travel and stories within the present. All the characters in the book have a story, in the present or the past, most of the characters are not happy with their lives. The main story is about the twins Rahel and Estha, the book talks about their childhood, their parents splitting up and the death of their cousin Sophie Mol. Her death devastated the twins, it changed them forever, Estha basically stopped talking and caused people to believe he is crazy. In the present the twins reunite, after being apart and living completely different lives for a long period of time. The theme of The God of Small Things is family issues. I think this because in the novel it talks about mainly the childhood and how the people around them fought and created a pretty terrible early life for the twins.


I am going to compare The God of Small Things to The Time Travelers Wife. I chose to do this because they are both novels with the time traveling element. The similarity between the two is mainly time travel. I do not really see any other aspects they have in common. The differences they have are when they are traveling through time in The God of Small Things they do not clearly state that they are changing time, they just stitch off from paragraph to paragraph, causing it to be a little confusing. In The Time Travelers Wife they state when they are changing time and it tells what time period they are travelling to. This novel is much easier to follow. Also the stories between the two are very different. The Time Travelers Wife is a love story and The God of Small Things is more of a tragedy.

The God of Small Things in my opinion was not very well set up. I did not particularly enjoy the novel, I found it confusing with the time travel. This is because they did not clearly state the time or part they are switching times in. Also I did not really get hooked, I found that the detail over powered the plot. I thought it was a little confusing, and over all did not really enjoy it. Although this is just my opinion.

http://www.curledup.com/godsmall.htm