And... I'm off

[susandennis]

I'm dressed up - well, jeans and my favorite Liz Claiborne sweater.  I'm ready to hit the road to Redmond for my two meetings.

I had a frustrating phone call with my manager this morning.  Learning to manage him effectively is going to be the great challenge of this job.  I think it's doable but it's such a shame that every interaction has to be such a festuche!  Oh well.

I'm a little worried about Mr. Seahawk.  The morning of the day before every single game day, this guy drives up in his giant RV - giant boat in tow, flying an abundance of Seahawk's flags.  A couple of years ago, I watched him spend a Saturday putting an impressive Seahawks skin on the RV.  He parks in the same place every time and is generally in place before 7 on the day before. 

Today is the day before a fairly important game.  And he's not here.  I'm worried.  I hope he's ok. 

I talked to Mom last night and she's doing better.  She is still pretty limited in what she can do - between not having the energy and limited shoulder range - but she's working it. She's going to the dining room for every lunch and dinner.  Her sitter walks her there and back.  She said last night that she might get back to the computer today. 

Seattle's rain has made national news.  Please.  Yeah, it's rained every day for a long time but it's Seattle forcryingoutloud.  The rest of the world believes it rains every day here anyway. 

And I do not understand why that guy's memoir has to be factual.  It's his memory - his reality.  I don't get what the BFD is.

Now I'm going to meet.  Later, gaters.

Comments

[katbyte.livejournal.com]

And I do not understand why that guy's memoir has to be factual. It's his memory - his reality.

Well, I think from what I have read, that that is the contention. Everyone does not see things the same way. And who is to say that someones memories when they were high or drunk is anywhere near reality anyway,(there go the 70's for me who knows what I really did) and last but not least, who cares. A good read is a good read. (I have not read it, but many have. Not my kind of thing)

It won't be a history text for anyone for crying out loud!!!

[machupicchu.livejournal.com]

.
.
I agree regarding Seattle. It is valid local news, I think, but national news? Is nothing else happening across the country?

I kind of disagree regarding the memoir, however. If I purchase a book billed as "nonfiction," I want to believe it's what really happened. If it's a memory based on being high, that's one thing; I've been under the impression so far that the guy deliberately embellished and/or deliberately altered facts unrelated to his being high. Maybe I misunderstood. But I want a nonfiction book to be at the very least based on the author's perceptions of what actually happened. Otherwise I don't feel like I can trust what I am reading.
.
.

[susandennis]

There was about 2 hours between the time I read this commnent and the time I could get to someplace to respond. Initially, I thought I'd just say something innocuous about 'we agree to disagree' but now I think I owe you more.

I do hope that your global acceptance of all things not labeled as fiction to be fact is really not as global as you make it out to be.

If it is, I really need to send you some Cynic Pills!! Trusting what you read because it is not labeled as fiction is so dangerous.

A memoir is just that - someone's memory, thoughts, reality. It is one of the many many many genres between fact and fiction - also included is commentary, poetry, essay, editorial, travelog, journal...

[machupicchu.livejournal.com]

.
.
No, of course I don't believe everything I read. But I do feel like I tend to have more of a chance of being able to trust what I read depending on the type of text I am reading.

The "non-fiction label" debate is nothing new. It came up in one of my college creative writing courses, using as an example an author who wrote about his own experience of waking up one morning with cat footprints on his shirt -- which as it turns out was actually the experience of a friend of his. That kind of deliberate altering of history, when there's nothing like the bias of newspapers or the propaganda of government pamphlets at play (I already know to take such things with a grain of salt), is what I take issue with. I choose what to trust based on a variety of factors. But if I am familiar with a person's body of work and come to find that their so-called "non-fiction" (which is supposed to mean it actually happened) is riddled with alterations of that sort, I am bound to lose interest in their writing no matter how well written it is.

There's a difference between a memoir that reflects a person's individual perception of how things happen and a memoir that deliberately alters the facts for dramatic effect. I take issue with the latter. If I were to write a book based on my own life, I would sell it as just that -- fiction inspired my true life story, just so I could add fictional elements to make the story more engaging. I would not sell that as non-fiction. As far as I'm concerned, if that guy's "memoir" is filled with inaccurate and significantly embellished details of "what really happened," then it should be billed as fiction.

But that's just me.
.
.

[susandennis]

Obviously, it's not just you!! It's a whole buncha yous! I'm just surprised and guess, once again, I fall out of the norm. Oh well, I've got padding to break the fall.

[vasilatos]

Uh, I thought it was generally understood that a memoir couldn't possibly be taken as factually checked and accurate, and was very likely misremembered and/or embellished (consciously or not), the same way stories people tell over dinner are, or diaries might be. I think there is a norm and Susan and I might be in it. Nobody ever argued about the accuracy of Anais Nin or Frida Kahlo. But que sera sera.