Glee

Glee, a show that played on the network television station FOX, aired from May 19, 2009, to March 20, 2015. Though it was a United States show, it gained international success and attention rather quickly. Fans of the show outside of the US watched it on the internet. And with the help of Tumblr, twitter, Facebook and other social networking forums, it gathered a loyal, defensive fan base I’ve not experienced before.

The show was centered in McKinley High School, which represented small town, rural, USA. Most minds and views appeared narrow, or just downright ridiculous, and it was meant to be. It was marketed as a comedy but its seriousness was apparent to me in the first episode. The main characters, a glee club, were a bunch of outcast, misfit students struggling with their individual identities and self-esteem. And, of course, you had the advocates, the teaches (the heroes), who were also imperfect and, of course, there's always a villain. Viewers came to know and identify with the fictional characters and form opinions/solutions/theories of the crisis/storyline/plotline and networked with others across the globe in huge numbers.

I may be embarrassing myself, but I’m publicly admitting it here- I enjoyed glee!  And I’m not in the minority. Fans turned out in record numbers for staged appearances, for concerts, for the actors at other known functions. The fandom became known as “gleeks” –friends were made, and relationships were formed- globally. I met some great people through the love of this show, the actors and their characters. When an actor from the show made his Broadway debut, a get together was arranged by the fandom. I "first met" some online friends, at one of these shows. I put quotation marks around “first met” because in actuality, it seemed as if we knew each other already as old friends. We reserved half of Sardis, for closing show, at least eight countries were represented. We still meet up when they make it out to New York these days, not glee related.

Yes, I enjoyed and admired glee, even with all its failings. It was ridiculous at times, it was over-the-top-beyond-cheesy, sometimes it was great; but besides all of that, it undeniably brought important topics to prime-time-network television.  Some serious issues that were addressed: high school status and social stereotypes, body image, bullies/cyber bullying, teen pregnancy, OCD, discrimination, LGBT teens, physical and educational disabilities, relationships, learning to work as a team, race relations, public school funding for the arts, alcohol and drug abuse, modern families, homelessness, and that’s just to name a few.

I’m an adult. I consider myself very open minded (always have), but many viewers were not. If a show can portray situations in an unconventional way, it’s good. And especially for teens. Because these situations are normal, and happen, but for some reason, not in fictional TV land.

With this show, teens formulated analytical breakdowns of the issues and broadcasted their views. The unhindered access they had to air their thoughts and opinions via social networks made for serious discussions of serious topics and that’s a good thing. Maybe people viewed Glee as a very big joke (and sometimes it was), but I’m not sure if oversimplifying any popular teen media is fair to do, especially if it promotes belonging to a community. Fans became artists, fanfiction writers, charity organizers; sometimes not terribly successful, but hey, everyone has to start somewhere. Besides, isn’t it a good thing if teens see people that look like themselves on the screen? The jock that goes with the unpopular girl, the bad ass who winds up in glee club and best friends with the wheel chair kid, gay couples kissing. That should ALL be commonplace, so I think it’s important that it was shown on our TVs.

While I admit that the show SERIOUSLY fell short in exploring and portraying a lot of these, at least they were there, in the public consciousness. Doesn’t that start the conversations, even if to discuss how it’s being done wrong? Isn’t discourse of any kind better than no discourse at all?

As I have stated, I was invested in the fandom, so I got to see (follow) and befriend groups of people of all ages, ethnicities and locations, but my biggest surprise was the young adults. I must say, I was very often astonished by the very grown up attitudes and writings/analysis by young men and women. I’ll admit, some of it was silly, and blatantly obviously from young viewers, but a lot of it was not. Especially Tumblr users; I found that their opinions, outlooks and writings were very mature and thoroughly considered. I immediately wondered how educators could utilize this creative thinking and organize it to benefit young adults in a productive way. A library program on Glee? Why not!? Teens in groups, talking. In this way, they can focus on their own well being and learn about their individual self-worth. Compare, goof off, get serious or bizarre. High school students are so in danger of getting lost, especially if they feel like they’re not part of the “in” crowd. Social and emotional skills are so vital in keeping students on track, especially those at risk. I think it's healthy to have face to face contact outside the "box".

I have personally traveled to attend book signings, concerts, and fan fests because of glee. I have been introduced to many songs and artists I would have never heard of, and I imagine young people were exposed to classics and “oldies” and different genres in music as well. And it wasn’t just that. Thoughts on societal, family, economic and other issues were posted and pondered and examined because of this situation or that on an episode; so even if the stories weren’t addressing generational interaction, its fans of many ages, spanning many decades definitely were connecting.  And since the fandom was so diverse, we all learned things about other cultures and countries that aren’t taught in the history books. And we all made some very close friends.

Here are a couple of articles I liked:

'Glee': The show heard round the world

"You're Wearing Kurt's Necklace!": The Rhetorical Power of Glee in the Literacy Classroom

Teen readers aren’t in crisis, they’re just making their own rules

This article is applicable to what we were discussing in class. Interesting. Good look at trends of teens.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/25/teen-readers-making-their-own-rules-david-denby-new-yorker?CMP=share_btn_fb

Teen interview

I interviewed two 14 year old girls who are my friends’ children.

My thoughts:

• Libraries must have up-to-date programs and software, and keep the wifi and bandwidth up to speed. Teens are used to immediate access/connection on their PC’s and portable devises.
• Small town rural vs. big city. Libraries need to be effectively marketed and be more community oriented. Better funding is needed to make great programs available more often and in multiple locations.
• Teens are always reading! They are constantly exchanging words and sentences, texting, blogging, besides the actual reading of literature. Teens are never very far from the written word. And I think that’s awesome!
• Friendship. Sharing books, music, creative projects. The shared media interests keep them in a group where they are important to each other and supported.
• Creativity: I’d like to see teens running their own programs (within guidelines and reason). Like from the bottom up. Forming a committee, writing a proposal, getting approvals, the works. Teens are capable. Perhaps open mic or poetry nights, or design your own canvas, improv; organized and ran by teens for teens.

In conclusion, we can do better to more effectively serve teens.

First Test, by Tamora Pierce

I’ve never been a fan of fantasy so I’m not really surprised that I couldn’t really get into this book. I’m not interested in the “magic” and supernatural aspects of this genre and was even less enthusiastic about the immortal characters (both good and evil). Not only that, but the battles, violence and detailed combat scenes had my mind wandering. I really had a hard time staying focused.

Despite all of that, I couldn’t help but love Keladry (Kel). She is strong, confidant and self assured. Actually she’s pretty brilliant all around, never quitting, using positive self talk and never feels she needs to indulge in self pity.

After planning to “fit in” with the boys and wear her usual clothes, she changes her mind and decides that she’ll dress like a girl “They may as well get used to it”, she reasons. She rejects the general stereotyping of women (delicately reared women), recalling her strong mother and admiring Alana, her idol, and all of her accomplishments.

Her greatest motivation is that she cannot tolerate bullies. Her strength is shown early standing up for the weak and combating injustice. Even though she does not possess any magical powers, she is goal oriented and quite competent, determined to achieve everything she chooses to do.

It is very easy to admire her. Clearly, she is singled out and treated unfairly, but it never makes her second guess what she knows she wants. She stands by her convictions. And her love for the animals, Peachblossom specially, who she also rescues, her friends and family is extremely endearing.

The feminism aspect was clear. And if the reader didn’t catch that while reading, it is spelled out by Lord Wyldon, who was her greatest nemesis. Questions of what she wants from life? How being a warrior will affect the ideals of what is considered womanhood. How her contrary, unconventional choices could hinder her future. And as it is in today’s society, like this fantasy, females are underestimated and underappreciated by most but a select few. The smart ones – they know better.

 

 

Cool YA reads, ONE stop shopping.

In my previous post, I described all my favorite ways to find out what’s popular in teen literature. I misunderstood that we were to choose just one (oops). This is a tall order since I do tend to want to know everything, but I’ve decided on NoveList Plus. I have referred to this site many times since I “discovered” it in early LBSCI classes.  Because I consider myself such an avid reader, I am often browsing the possibilities of this resource. So much to read, so little time.

At first glance and covering most of the page is what I am drawn to. And almost center is the sentence “I’m in the mood for books that are…” I love this site for its buzz words, keeps it interesting. Some descriptors for adult are gossipy & witty, heart wrenching, reflective; things like that. Teens uses character driven, amusing, bleak, issue oriented. Two younger categories have their own tag words.  There’s something now that I think is new, it’s a clickable link that says “try our appeal mixer”. In here there are three category drop-down boxes that correlate with a second corresponding descriptor. Pretty cool! You must try it. Meanwhile, there are rows of book covers that you can hover over for a quick peak, or, obviously, click on for more details, including reviews and specs. At the bottom of that page, they’ve added a  “search for more”, which includes tone, genre, subject, writing, style, location, subject, etc. and based on the boxes the user checks, more suggestions will come back.

The very top of the page has a very standard search bar, offering keyword, title, author, etc. I find this to be the best way to find similar books based on individual taste. For instance, I chose “The Storyteller”. After clicking it open, I narrowed the appeal terms only once, by checking “disturbing” in tone.  I should not have been surprised that there were so many titles there that I had already read. It may be the old fashioned way, but it works.

The left side bar is designed first by age group. After you enter “Teens”, there are twenty one options to click. Each one of those gives the user suggestions based on that first choice. Then there are further limitors and the list results are clickable as described above.

The easiest way to search that I found is going down to the bottom of the page. In the “Keeping up” section, you not only get the titles, but they have related articles, booklists, award information, read alikes and more.

This site is easy to maneuver and yet there is a lot of information within.

Everyday, by David Levithan

This is another book that I have always wanted to read and didn’t get around to.

And may I just say -wow! I am blown away by this. Everyday “A” wakes up in a different body and is immersed into a different life. There’s no explanation of why this happens, but to me, it didn’t seem to matter. It is the ideas that this brings about that are so intriguing. As the reader, we get to meet all these characters, we get to delve a little into their personal stories. The book starts at day 5994 and the first person we meet is Justin. A sizes him up and we get to experience the phenomenon of what’s it like to “learn” who you are. But the real story starts when A falls in love with her body’s girlfriend Rhiannon.

The story is a quick read and the chapters, titled by day numbers, flow very easily into one another. I was so wrapped up, that I was surprised when I took note of the day at 6019. All those different teens, each with their own story. It brings attention to the philosophy of body vs. soul. A is a genderless, raceless (sometimes other languages), shapeless form; the ideas of love, goodness, reason, jealousy, sadness and many other emotions are portrayed through the individual personality of the soul, but lived through the body that has been inhibited. In the many individual bodies that are affected, we see a very diverse group of teens, yet they are all the same age and in a pretty close parameter distance. In each situation, A is present but tries to keep the personality authentic to the individual. There have never been visits to previous scenarios until Rhiannon.

While this is a love story, filled with longing, and that is the main plot; we get another plot when A, as another character, crosses town to visit Rhiannon, and the idea of demonic possession is introduced.

I enjoyed this book so much! It’s been awhile since a story has kept me guessing. Still, the real draw is the issues addressed. Some situations were emotional abuse, suicide, sex, cliques, bullies, homeschoolers, exploited immigrants, and drunk driving (one of the saddest things to me was the girl who inadvertently causes her brother’s death). We saw teen emotions in various forms. Some were happy, satisfied, ambivalent, suicidal, healthy, overweight, drug users, scholastic, reckless, blind, afraid, considerate, compassionate, and mean. We, along with A, got to experience their feelings and situations. Relationship dynamics are explored (parents, siblings, other teens). And of course, we get to feel first love, with all it’s joy and heartache.

The reader is witness to the securities and insecurities of just being alive.

As the story evolves, we have no choice but to consider underlying philosophy about good vs. evil, and light vs. dark, and even the examination of separation in technological interactions, in person experiences vs. technological experiences, and to try to just understand the simple idea of being. It made me want to be more aware of time and its passing, noticing the individual moments and their importance.

All and all, a great read! Five stars from me! Oh, and they mentioned my very favorite childhood book, Harold and the Purple Crayon.

YA: What to read?

Even though I work in a community college, you’d be surprised how much fiction we have, often young adult fiction. Unfortunately, I don’t really have much input on the collection development where I work. The librarians work in conjunction with one staff member and only very occasionally (if they have an unexpected windfall of funding) will they even ask any of the rest of us.

Despite the fact that I have little to no influence on what we purchase, I do find myself flipping through the mailings we receive. If I had to choose, I’d say my favorites are Booklist and Library Journal. I like them because the section cataloging is very organized and provides book lists, reviews, awards, discussions and the individual writer’s recommendations. It’s nice to browse. I find that internet searches are more detail oriented and focused. My on-line source favorite is NovelList Plus (EbscoHost) through CUNY libraries. I love this site for its buzz words such as gossipy & witty, heart wrenching, reflective; you don’t find these creative descriptors elsewhere. Its detailed filtering tactics, the categories, the sub-categories; I could go on and on about it.

To be honest though, I do look at a lot at shopping pages. Amazon and Barnes & Noble are frequented very often by me, just to see what’s new and exciting. They display New York Times bestsellers and detailed book categories. After the user clicks into YA, there are other subcategories to browse as well. In this way, the choice is narrowed by genre, best books, book clubs, award winners and editor’s choice.

Another website, I really enjoy is the Strand. Check out three of their creative category labels: Books So Diverse, Stay Home Club, Badass Woman in Literature; those search labels are attention grabbers. If I can, I like to go there for my personal purchases. It feels good to support an establishment with so much history behind it. And they really love books! Everyone should go there at least once.

I do have to mention that I sometimes check in at YouTube when searching for something cool to read. If I am interested in a certain title, I’ll search that way, always noting ‘spoiler free’! But for more broad ideas about what’s out there and popular, there are users who have channels for just that. I find that’s always an interesting way to see what’s up. Here are a few popular reviewer channels:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGeNhLPJHs8kJ9VfM35Okqg
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCefMLMp72_P35UYl31ZuBCA
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtTBwUBtW9KtYLTcOSTO7_Q

And since John Green came up in class, I just figured that I’d mention that I will read anything that he writes or recommends. 🙂

Forever, by Judy Blume

I may as well admit this right now, I read Forever (and other Blume fics) at the library MANY years ago. I think I was about 14 years old and I felt very scandalous and mischievous about it. I don’t necessarily remember banned or challenged books, but I mean, I knew what was considered appropriate and what was not. I’m not even really sure if there were limits on borrowing, for example, now, parents have to choose for their child what can and cannot be taken out of the library. It really didn’t matter to me because I usually didn’t look to take it out; I did most of my reading there in the quiet.  I am the oldest of six siblings, so at that time, I “escaped” in stories often.

I remember loving Forever! It was risque and used some language I’d never heard (which I would ultimately explore further) and it was romantic. I never considered myself a romantic, in fact in contrast, I was a bit of a tomboy, and often angry that I was a girl. This was a time when sports for girls were basically swimming and tennis, which I played, and the glass ceiling was in full force. That’s not to say that it isn’t now; it’s just, what I mean is, that gender lines and roles were widely accepted, known and the “norm”. So I remember really getting wrapped up in the romance of it all. I was at a point in my life where my girl friends were starting to like boys, but YUCK! I don’t like any boys! And I was also very impressed with the way female independence was depicted in the story. The grown women had careers! Yes, it was the late 70’s; things were different.

Rereading it now made me realize that even the young girls were self sufficient. They knew what they wanted, for the most part, and looked to make it happen. There weren’t any self image issues, like so and so won’t like me because I’m too fat. Even the little sister had a special talent. I enjoyed seeing strong, supportive female relationships. And they spoke freely about sex! Actually, there were many teen issues addressed, even though, one would think it is only about first love. Things I kind of remembered, but not really: Artie’s depression and attempted suicide, child/parent relationships and teenage angst, senior year, friendships, teen pregnancy.

Ultimately though, it’s relevant because it’s real. I feel like, it just tells it how it is. Especially “the sex part”. I mean that is what the challenges and banning is all about. Virginity and how it feels (physically and emotionally), the passion and intimacy of first love, without the wine and roses, but rather the desire and jealousy. Accepting that feelings change and sometimes you just don’t know what you think you know.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this as adult, though in some aspects, it’s just a little too easy and wrapped up very neatly. It left enough open for the young reader to want to know more, which is obviously what we would what a teen to do! I believe it is still very relevant! And of course this is why I believe it has stood the test of time.

 

Teenage

I watched it on Netflix and I really enjoyed it! I loved the history and all the old clips, the contrasts between America and elsewhere; and especially the Nazi coverage. The images of PTSD were so candid, wow. The accurate portrayal of the making of teenagers as a social construct was amazing. From the early days (and early in the film), it’s clear that “youth”, were being trained, modeled, may I use the word exploited, to serve the elders. It was for profit, it was for servitude in the workplace, it was for national service (armed forces). The thing is, all the while, the younger generation is observing and learning, and forming their own opinions and stands on things. It’s obvious that their abilities are underestimated (and still are). It was interesting how they showed the distrust and divide between the generations and how it developed and exists. It’s been awhile since I was in the “I hate my parents” stage so this really made me reflect on my own teen years.

Every decade of teens had their “issues” and what society labeled them.  And to me it seemed that there were only two ways this could go. Either they were trouble-drug addicts and criminals or conformists. And even in stating that, we’d have to determine what is a conformist, criminal or revolutionary. The film made me think.

However, to be perfectly honest, I can’t say that I believe TOTALLY in free rein. Yes, obviously, teens have their ideas and opinions, but they need direction. Sometimes they think they know it all when they really just don’t. But then that was the whole idea of this film, wasn’t it? Too mature to be a child, but too immature to be an adult.

The most important thing I took from this, I think, was that the young adults, in every generation portrayed, did not have anywhere to channel their desires, creativity and energy, nowhere they could just be without being judged or labeled. Why is this? I’m pretty sure that mass media just wants us to generally be distrustful of any challenge to authority, which, as we know, comes in all ages (but teens make an easy target). Besides worrying about the future, based on younger generations recklessness,

And in answer to your comment – I love the idea of can-teens- sort of compares to what a youth advisory group in libraries could be. I wish there ACTUALLY was more input from teens about their wants and needs.

Bellerose, Queens, 1978

april_1978_newsletter

I sought out the time period specifically because I remembered being an early teen when our branch, at Bellerose, of the Queens library opened. It seemed it had been surrounded by bureaucratic red tape for so long (I had heard my parents and grandparents speak of it) and I couldn’t wait for it to open. Up until that happened, I had to travel to the Queens Village branch, which was further away and, at 12 years old, it was always dependent on what kind of mood my mom was in whether she’d let me go.

This newsletter portrays a very unfavorable picture of Bellerose teens. There’s one article entitled “War on hoodlums”, which, I guess, speaks pretty much for itself. It deals with getting community approval for better lighting and the fact that “strong action” was needed against the “troublemakers”. The youth are also called neighborhood punks, and vandals.  There is another article called “Danger: Open Manholes”. This has teenagers lifting manhole covers and playing dangerous “games” with passing cars. There’s also a personal piece, in the form of an anonymous letter, speaking harshly of the parents as well.  Obviously, this piece conveys a terrible example of the youth of the area. And that’s not how I remember it at all.

Possible connections between media and library policy? Well, I did say it was built and just waiting to open. It stood there, unopened since 1973-74, because of the city budget crisis at the time. According to the archive at the Central library, it was only after much effort by community activists that it finally opened on February 27, 1978. I’m not sure of the implications this causes. Perhaps community leaders painted the trouble teens as leverage for the library’s absolute necessity? I, personally, would prefer to show an image of successful teens as proof of library necessity.