My Neck of the Woods

I discovered that I have this old blog still posted on Blogspot from when I was still working night shift as an auditor for a hotel, while going to college. Though I get busy, I wanted to dust it off and put it to good use, so I guess it will now become my blog for whatever projects I'm working on. Enjoy!

Gas Prices Caused the Recession of 2008

Okay, this might be just a rant of mine, but it's one spoken through experience: The "Great Recession" of 2008 might have been exasperated by the financial meltdowns on Wall Street and the Housing Crisis, but it was fuel prices that tipped the scale and started the domino effect in the first place. I have a theory that when gasoline goes above $3 a gallon, the economy gets a stain put on it. I know because I think I'm a fairly average person, and when gasoline went above the three dollar mark, chaos in sued in my life, and my lifestyle went downhill.
To be honest, the last election didn't have as much to do with who did sympathize with me on the fuel prices, but who didn't: The GOP, whom I have voted in favor of for years, acted as though rising fuel prices was a good thing. John McCain even mentioned early in his campaign that "the numbers looked good" (meaning the economy) when they clearly didn't. In my mind, it made all of the talk of Bush and Cheney being in the back pockets of Big Oil true.

Tortilla Flat

While student teaching this spring, I went over to the school library across the hall from my classroom and asked if they had any John Steinbeck books. Though I'm student teaching in a rural Arkansas school, I'm originally from the Salinas Valley of California (Atascadero) and I've always loved Steinbeck books. On Fridays my students are to read all period, and I try to set an example and do likewise.

The school library didn't have many Steinbecks, only three of his early novellas; Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, and Tortilla Flat. Well, I've already read the first, the second didn't interest me at the moment, but the third was one I planned to read someday anyway, so I checked it out.

I've read somewhere that Tortilla Flat was partially inspired by The Tales of King Arthur, except it takes place in the ficticious Tortilla Flat district of Monterey, California, just after World War I, and just before Prohibition. The characters, rather than the chivalrous Knights of the Round Table, are paisanos, which could be roughly translated to mean home-boys. Paisanos seemed to be described as a mixture of Mexican, Indian, White, Portuguese, and other races; decendants that can trace their local roots back one hundred or two hundred years. The paisanos of Tortilla Flat live mostly in a sort of idyllic poverty, with a laissez a'faire lifestyle of drinking, partying, womanizing (or man-izing,) thievery, and just being all around bums.

The story centers on Danny and his friends and their adventures. Danny came back from the service where he spent the war breaking mules for the Army in Texas. The family patriarch, called the Viejo, considered him a favorite heir and left him two small houses in the Flat when he died. Danny came home, went on a binge which landed him in jail overnight, then, on his release, slept in the ditches around Monterey until he remembered that he was now a house owner, which he decided to take up residence in the larger while renting the smaller to one of his drinking buddies, Pilon.

The story reads a little like a fable, with the dialogue becoming, at times, almost Shakespearean in nature. Each chapter becomes a morality tale in a satiristic way, though lessons learned are mostly tongue-in-cheek. Steinbeck gives some great quotes throughout the book, many of which I will probably use, such as "The belly of every black and evil creature has a belly as white as snow (sic)" and "The parts of angels that are covered are often leperous." I'm quoting these passages from memory, as I don't have the book beside me. Please don't ask me where they are, but trust that they are there.

If you like historical fiction and enjoy a humorous read, Tortilla Flat is a must read. Besides, Steinbeck is considered by many one of the classic American authors, and by reading TF you could safely say that you were versed on at least one of the classics. I'm not sure if it was made into a movie. I think it was. I'll check.

I recently read another blog about what is considered Steinbeck's finest work, East of Eden. Though this epic story is indeed on my "to do" list, I think my next JS read will be Cannery Row, which is sort of TF's sequel (of sorts.)