A blast from the past

I received a comment today that reminded me of this book that I read and reviewed five years ago. Its message still seems pertinent - maybe even more so - today.

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Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982

by Cho Nam-Joo

May 11, 2020

I have to admit up front that I read this book in a state of fury. It's easy to see why it caused such a stir in South Korea when it was published there in 2016. No doubt it struck a chord with many Korean women, probably every one who read it and it soon became a best-seller, selling more than a million copies. The reviewer in The New York Times compared its effect there to Uncle Tom's Cabin in this country. It sparked a feminist wave in South Korea and I can certainly understand why.

The book has now been translated into 18 different languages and is an international best-seller. And now we have the English version.

The book tells the story of a young woman who suffers from dissociative episodes and is driven to psychosis because of the stresses of her life. She is the middle child of her parents. She has an older sister and the only reason they had another child was because they were trying for a son. They failed. After her birth, her mother got pregnant again and learned that it would be a girl. That idea was anathema to her husband and she made the difficult decision to have an abortion. She mourned the loss of that child with no one to comfort her except the gynecologist. After some time, she got pregnant again, this time with a boy. The son was given the best of everything by the parents. Their daughters represented nothing but failure to them.

The grown-up Jiyoung gets a job at a marketing agency, but her work life is constantly marked by the misogyny of her co-workers (mostly men) and her bosses. Even when she marries and quits her job and has a son, she feels the overwhelming pressure from her society to be the perfect wife and mother. Her husband tries to help, but he seems incapable of actually giving her the support she needs. And her dissociative episodes become more frequent and severe.

The form that the book takes is interesting and makes it seem more real, even though the book is fiction. (I did read somewhere though that the germ of the story was taken from the author's own experiences.) There are copious footnotes, unusual in a work of fiction, that refer to studies that confirm the degree to which Jiyoung's experiences are the experiences of the Korean Everywoman. In spite of South Korea's economic prosperity and technological advances, gender equality does not exist there and even today, male children are preferred and abortions of female fetuses still occur for the purpose of gender selection. This has left South Korea with a serious imbalance in the sex ratio, with significantly more male children than female children born and all the problems that that imbalance implies when those grown-up children look for mates.

The book, in fact, read almost like a scientific study and near the end, we learn the reason for that; it is actually written as a case history of Jiyoung narrated by her male psychiatrist. It was a very effective way of presenting this cogent and disturbing story.

As a side note, the usual internet trolls have spread their vitriol over the book and those who have read and praised it. Misogyny is still alive and flourishing in social media.

This is a very powerful book and, although the story is specific to South Korea, I think women everywhere will find a lot to identify with here, including the postpartum depression that is perhaps the final straw that breaks Jiyoung. I hope that the book will find an audience in this country as it has everywhere else that it has been published and that it will inspire women to work even harder to make gender equality a reality in our society.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars 

Poetry Sunday: Daisy Time by Marjorie Pickthall

Shasta daisies have been in bloom in my garden this week and I've been enjoying them while they last. They don't last long, but while they do, their hearts of shining gold and rays of shining whiteness are a joy to behold. They gladden my own heart with their beauty. This little poem by a poet I'd never heard of expresses that joy.

Daisy Time

by Marjorie Pickthall

See, the grass is full of stars,
Fallen in their brightness;

Hearts they have of shining gold,

Rays of shining whiteness.

Buttercups have honeyed hearts,

Bees they love the clover,

But I love the daisies' dance

All the meadow over.

Blow, O blow, you happy winds,

Singing summer's praises,

Up the field and down the field

A-dancing with the daisies.

This week in birds - #641

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment: 

This little guy is the well-named White-browed Tit-Spinetail. It is only found in threatened Polylepis forests in the Andes of southern Peru. Its numbers are decreasing as its habitat is under attack. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. 

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Of all the outrageous acts of our current administration in Washington, there are few that appall me more than the destruction of the Rose Garden. Apparently it is to be paved over.

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The battle over a mine to be built next door to the Okefenokee Swamp has ended in a victory for the conservationists who opposed it.

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But in a defeat for conservationists, the administration is planning to roll back the 2001 Roadless Rule that prevented roadbuilding and logging on roughly 58 million acres of federal forest and wildlands.

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A runestone found in a Canadian forest in 2015 may be the oldest such artifact yet found in North America.

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A black bear in Michigan has been freed from a plastic lid that was trapped around his neck for two years.

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The origin of radio pulses in Antarctica that were first picked up by scientific instruments ten years ago remains a mystery but researchers believe they are closer to figuring them out.

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Orcas massaging each other? Apparently that is a thing.

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The House Finch can sometimes be hard to distinguish from the Purple Finch, but here are some clues that might help.

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Japanese scientists have retraced the 30,000-year-old sea voyage of ancient humans, and they did it, as the ancients did, in a hollowed-out log. 

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Researchers have recreated a lifelike facial reconstruction of a woman who lived during the Mesolithic Period 10,500 years ago and here she is, in all her humanity.

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Although crocodilians and lemurs went extinct on the mainland, many continued to survive and thrive on islands.

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Ancient DNA has revealed that a previously unknown group of humans lived in Colombia but they disappeared about 2,000 years ago.

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Mangroves form an important buffer on the coastline of Florida, one that helps to protect the state from the worst effects of tropical storms and hurricanes.  

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I've long found Hatshepsut to be one of the most interesting characters from ancient history but why were statues of this female pharaoh destroyed? Perhaps not for the reasons one might expect.

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Night lizards like this one are descendants of an ancestor that lived 90 million years ago. Thus, that ancestor survived the impact of the Chicxulub asteroid that ultimately killed about seventy-five percent of species on Earth. 

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At one point in my life, I lived in an eighth-floor apartment in a high-rise building that overlooked the roofs of a couple of buildings where Pigeons gathered. I spent a lot of hours watching those birds and learned to appreciate them in a way that many city dwellers don't. But Ben Crair understands.  

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At another point of my life, when I was a child, I loved fireflies. I still do though I seldom see them anymore, but here are some ways that we might help them. 

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Do wolves still deserve endangered species status in the European Union? It's an issue that has become entangled in politics, rather than being considered as a scientific and environmental question.

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This is a splooting squirrel. Stretching out this way, or splooting, is one of the squirrel's methods for cooling off in hot weather.

Poetry Sunday: The Summer Day by Mary Oliver

Yes, yes, I know I've used this one here before. It's a personal favorite of mine: "I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention..." 

When the next summer comes, assuming I'm still here, I'll probably use it again. 

          Tell me, what is it you plan to do 

          With your one wild and precious life?

Enjoy!

The Summer Day

by Mary Oliver

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean--
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down--
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
With your one wild and precious life?

This week in birds - #640

 A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

Gray Catbirds are among my favorites of the birds that visit my yard throughout the year. Here are ten interesting facts about these lovely critters.

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The pangolin is often referred to as the most trafficked animal in the world, traded for its scales and meat. Pangolins are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species And now they may be protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act as well. That is currently being proposed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

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Bird conservation is an important part of the federal budget. It is essential that those federal programs continue.

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Banks are the biggest funders of fossil fuel expansion and under the current administration which is a friend of fossil fuel they are retreating from their climate commitments.

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This administration's Environmental Protection Agency seems determined to forego the protection part of its name at least when it comes to the oil and gas industry.

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Mountain lion kittens have been seen recently on trail cameras in Oklahoma offering evidence that the big cats may be reestablishing themselves there.

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This is an Akohekohe, a Hawaiian honeycreeper, one of the species that is a victim of avian malaria. Scientists are releasing thousands of non-biting male mosquitos on the islands and it is hoped that these males will help produce sterile eggs that will aid in suppressing the disease.

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As the climate gets warmer, ticks of several kinds are flourishing throughout much of the continent, and they are a menace to both animal and human health. 

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In South Africa, veterinarians are shooting rhinoceroses with tranquilizer guns in order to remove their horns in a bid to save them from poachers. 

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As you might expect, the current administration is no friend to birds.

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The State of Utah is attempting to use public opinion in order to justify seizing public lands.

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How do viruses leap between species? Footage from a bat cave offers some clues.

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This beautiful creature is the Purple Quail-Dove, a South American species that is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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Scavenger animals are in trouble and that is bad news for humans.

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The funding cuts proposed by the administration would have a detrimental effect on the Jane Goodall chimpanzee conservation project in Tanzania.  

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Long-billed Curlews seem to use prairies dogs as a warning system. Their alarm calls alert the birds to danger.

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What really constitutes an "invasive" species?

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This little Canada gosling was lucky enough to be adopted by a doting pair of Sandhill Cranes and the interspecies family is flourishing.

Poetry Sunday: June by Edgar Albert Guest

The American poet Edgar Albert Guest lived from 1881 until 1959. In this poem, he describes the month of June in his experience. See if it sounds like the Junes you have known.  

June

by Edgar Albert Guest

June is here, the month of roses, month of brides and month of bees,

Weaving garlands for our lassies, whispering love songs in the trees,

Painting scenes of gorgeous splendor, canvases no man could brush,
Changing scenes from early morning till the sunset's crimson flush.

June is here, the month of blossoms, month of roses white and red,
Wet with dew and perfume-laden, nodding wheresoe'er we tread;
Come the bees to gather honey, all the lazy afternoon;
Flowers and lassies, men and meadows, love alike the month of June.

Month of love and month of sunshine, month of happiness and song,
Month that cheers the sad wayfarer as he plods the road along;
Spreading out a velvet carpet, green and yellow, for his feet,
And affording for his rest hours many a cool and sweet retreat.

This week in birds - #639

 A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

Isn't he cute? He is a Black-crested Titmouse and he is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. His range includes central and western Texas, Oklahoma, and northeastern Mexico. He is a cousin to the Tufted Titmouse, a resident of my yard, one that I frequently encounter, sometimes in company with Carolina Chickadees, whenever I am outside. The Black-crested often hybridizes with the Tufted when their ranges overlap.

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Earth's temperature is soaring and that is a threat to our food supply as food crops must quickly adapt to those higher temperatures in order to photosynthesize.

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Hurricane season started two weeks ago but so far the Gulf and the South Atlantic are quiet.

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Monarch butterflies in the western states are beginning to reach their summer breeding grounds and so hope for their continued survival is kindled.

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Ocean acidification passed a critical tipping point some years ago and is now a threat to global ecosystems and coastal economies.

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Ancestral lands that were taken from them over 120 years ago have now been returned to California's Yurok Tribe.

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We have a small goldfish pond in our backyard and I love to sit beside it and watch the critters that visit. Among them are dragonflies, including Autumn Meadowhawks like this one. 

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California's Anna's Hummingbirds are expanding their range northward and are changing the shape of their beaks in order to better take advantage of backyard feeders.

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Atlantic sturgeons are still endangered, but all along the eastern coast from Maine to Florida, the population is rebounding and the prehistoric species is staging a comeback.  

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Wild pigs are becoming a problem in the Bay Area of California and their numbers appear to be growing.

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Here are some fun facts about orioles.

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The Pacific island nation of Tonga is set to recognize that whales have legal rights.

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When I was about twelve or thirteen years old, I read The Last Days of Pompeii by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It totally captured my imagination and I reread it several times over that summer. All these years later, Mt. Etna is again putting on a spectacular display.

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How do you round up fourteen million honeybees? These beekeepers know and they got the job done after the bees escaped from an overturned truck in Washington state.

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Axolotls fascinate me. In addition to being perfectly adorable, they have the ability to regrow missing limbs and scientists are studying them to try to understand the process.

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The giant long-necked sauropod dinosaurs were long believed to be vegetarian and now there is proof of that. 

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My introduction to Tasmanian devils was in the cartoons that were featured along with the Saturday matinees I used to frequent at the Princess theater when I was a teenager. Now, Australia has a breeding program to try to help the devils come back from the depletion of their population and this week they confirmed at least ten joeys growing in their mother's pouches.

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It can be hard to tell House Finches from Purple Finches but here are a few clues that might help.

Poetry Sunday: June by Vinaya Joseph

Searching for a poem that described this time of year, I came across this one by a poet I'd never heard of.  I still know nothing about him/her. I wasn't able to find any useful information online. But I liked the poem and so I decided to feature it here anyway. 

June holds many special memories for me, not least of which my wedding anniversary that will be coming up later this month. (Has it really been fifty years?) Perhaps June is a special month for you, too...

June

by Vinaya Joseph

With skies of blue and sun-kissed air,
June whispers secrets everywhere.
In fields of green and blooming flowers,
June paints the world with vibrant powers.
Each petal dances in the breeze,
A celebration of life's ease.

With every dawn, a promise anew,
In June's embrace, dreams come true.
A time for adventure, for love, for play,
As June guides us along our way.

In June's light, memories are made,
In laughter shared and joys displayed.
A tapestry of moments, rich and bright,
In June's embrace, we find delight.

So let us cherish June's sweet song,
And let its melodies carry us along.
For in its midst, we find the key,
To unlock the door to destiny.

This week in birds - #638

 A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

This little cutie is the Ash-breasted Tit-Tyrant, a bird of the high Andes of Peru and Bolivia. It is a bird that has a very limited range and whose numbers are decreasing. In fact, it is classified as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature red list. Overgrazing and uncontrolled use of fire, as well as wood cutting for timber, firewood, and charcoal are threats to its habitat. The changing climate could also affect its habitat and the availability of its food. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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Wildlife tunnels that allow critters to pass under busy roadways are saving the lives of those critters. Amphibians in the northeastern United States, for example, have had an 80.2 percent reduction in deaths from automobile traffic as they migrate to their breeding grounds.

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The Monarch butterfly is one of the most closely watched and monitored of members of the lepidoptera family. We've come close to losing it, but now numbers have rebounded. The latest update on the butterflies report larvae being observed in the Midwest and Northeast.

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I'm not sure we fully recognize just how smart Cockatoos are!

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Robert Frost wrote that "Something there is that doesn't love a wall..." but Margaret Renkl reflects that some walls are different some walls are different. (Link corrected. Thank you, Deb!)

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Carrion flowers are interesting plants. (I remember visiting one at the Houston Museum of Natural Science several years ago.) So, how and why do they develop their stink? 

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"The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" played through my mind as I read this story about a shipwreck on Lake Michigan.

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Burmese pythons are an invasive species that is creating havoc in the Florida Everglades, but there is evidence that one of Nature's warriors, the bobcat, is fighting back. 

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A team comprised of ecologists, epidemiologists, and veterinarians is working to save the northern elephant seals of the Pacific coast from the deadly bird flu that has decimated southern elephant seal populations in the past.

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I've been fascinated by the Maya civilization since I first studied it in a long-ago college archaeology class.  We are learning more about them now through the study of genomes.

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The budget proposed by the administration in Washington features significant cuts for scientific endeavors.

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And we are still learning more about the ancient Egyptians.  

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I can confirm that Taos is indeed a great place to visit.