This is a Story of an Independent Female

I moved around after college and inevitably found myself back living with my dad in the attic that had seen me get ready for prom and go off to college. It was a smart move in that I enrolled in graduate school and became a teacher. I also got myself out of all the debt moving around had caused...New York was not a cheap adventure.I do think that everyone needs to live in New York at least once, most likely in their early to mid-20's, but then you need to leave it and move on. New York is tiring and really overrated. There's other adventures to be had.

It also made me fixated on the idea that when I moved again, it would be to a place wholly my own. I did not want anymore crazy room mates and I didn't want to move in with my boyfriend. I wanted the experience of having someplace that was completely mine that my parents had no claim on. I wanted ultimate privacy.

I rented a one bedroom apartment on the second floor of a building a town away from where I work. I filled it with art, and vintage plates, cute pillows and little knick-knacks that I would find at the local thrift store. I moved over the summer so when fall began to give way to winter, I learned pretty quickly that apartments and heat do no coincide. I treated myself to a gel fireplace.

I searched all over for one, finally finding the perfect one that would match the slate on my coffee table. It arrived the night of a school function where I came home around 8pm and found it sitting on my doorstep...several huge boxes that the UPS person stacked and left.

I set to work immediately, I propped open the doors and began lifting one box up and in. I was successful with the first, but then the unthinkable happened. I kicked the doorstop to the outside door out and when I turned to grab the door, it had already slammed shut. Worse yet, my keys were dangling from the door of my apartment...on the inside.

After cursing and literally stomping my feet. Hey, I was very sweaty and still in work clothes, I decided my only option was to ring my downstairs neighbor's bell because of course, my phone was in my bag that I could see on the other side of the now locked door.

I rang the bell and held my breath. I hadn't even met my downstairs neighbor yet.All I knew about her was that she was a teacher like me. I felt all sorts of terrible when she came to the door, in her pajamas.

"Uh, I'm sorry to bother you, but well you can see," I stopped, feeling awkward and unsure.

She laughed. "I saw that! I can't believe they just left you with those boxes. I'm Gail," she said, still sleepy, but friendly.

I relax. "I'm Katherine."

We shake hands and she offers to help me. I decline, thinking that as long as I didn't lock myself out again that I should be good to go. I lug the boxes up the stairs, panting and grunting the whole time. Though the fireplace is in pieces, it's all wood and planks of wood stacked into boxes is ridiculously heavy. I get everything upstairs and begin to take everything out of the boxes.

I sigh when I realize that I now have to lug all of the Styrofoam and cardboard back down the stairs and out to the dumpsters.

I am exhausted by the time I get back upstairs and sit down on the floor of my living room. I begin to put the pieces of my fireplace together. At this point, I am sticky and gross, but I want that fire place put together because I know that in a week or so, I'm going to need it.It's almost 10pm at this point and I am trying very hard not to make a lot of noise while I balance pieces on top of each other. My hand starts cramping from having to screw everything together and just as I get the front mantle done, I realize the worst is yet to come.

Overstock never pre-drilled the holes and no matter how hard I push, the screw is going nowhere.

I burst into tears. Milo is sitting next to me at this point, watching the entire episode with faint curiosity. I throw the screw driver down and walk away. He scurries off at the sound, it will take him a good hour to come out of the bedroom.

Life and sanity return after I down a glass of iced tea. I begin to scour every other piece, making sure the holes are there. I decided that as long as I could get everything else together, it would most liely stay together until I could get a power drill.

And so I did and so it has also sat in my living room, warming me all winter.

I never did get that power drill though and when I move in two weeks, it's going to be fun getting it out of my apartment.

I really think it's time to buy that drill now.

Book Review: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Phil took me to see this in theaters over my Christmas break. I love every minute of it, largely because my girl, Reese was the leading role. I also liked it because it showed a woman's insane journey back to herself following traumatic experiences within her own life. I identified with Cheryl greatly because I too have had periods in my life where I was totally lost and heartbroken.

The book in comparison was much more detailed than what they were able to fit in the two-hour movie. What I appreciated most about the book was Cheryl's honesty even in the grittiest of parts. It made her real and greatly humanized her for me.

Overall, I going in just greatly admired her balls for walking the PCT by herself and then as I read, I admired her even more for writing such a candid memoir about her experience. This is a must read, for sure.

This review refers to the Vintage Books first edition from March 2013 of WILD  by Cheryl Strayed with ISBN 0307476073.

Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

Book Review: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

The story of Chris McCandless isn't exactly new. There were plenty of young men before him and plenty after him that believed, almost arrogantly, in their intelligence and ability so much so that they felt that even against the strength and almighty power of nature at its most wild that they would win out regardless of how ill-prepared they were for their journey. McCandless was a smart, well-educated twenty something from a well-off suburb of Virginia. His family, friends and those that knew him described him as such adding that, Chris often liked to be alone, not in the sense of being a "loner" and all that that term conjures, but in that, Chris didn't mind being alone and often was, finding ways to entertain himself.

He enjoyed wandering. He took long trips across the US and would often disappear for long stretches of time. After his graduation from Emory University, McCandless did just that. He packed up and left, eventually getting rid of his car, possessions and even burning what little money he had on him. From there, he drifts all over the West before finally trekking into the Alaskan bush country with ill-fitting boots and little to no food on him.

He plans to live off the land and strike out on his own totally negating the fact that he does not have the supplies needed nor has he taken the time to build the skill set that is needed to survive in the wilderness. Ultimately, the end of Chris McCandless is evident and it's easy to write him off as a know-it-all kid that got in over his head and paid the ultimate price.

And in some parts I do have to agree with that. He had a comfortable life set up for him and he gave it all away to pretty much tell his parents, up their's. On the other hand, Krakauer also includes stories of other boys who did the same as McCandless including stories of his own rebellion and his stupidity and near-death experience in trying to climb the Stikine Ice Cap. He spoke of how in your early twenties you grasp mortality, but your own seems so far off and something you're incapable to completely understanding that you slmost want to push yourself into the tip of it, the brink in order to look down on it and feel it.

Which, I get. It reminded me of how when I was 23, I went sky-diving and nothing makes you feel mortal and face your own mortality more than throwing yourself out of a plane and plummeting to earth with nothing but some flimsy material to save you. It was exciting, thrilling and it took away any and all control I had over myself and my well-being. It was exhilarating and something I probably will never do again.

Overall, did Chris McCandless over do it on the rebellion? Heck yes! But, his story and John Krakuer's take on it does make for a good read.

And then there's always the 2007 Sean Penn  movie adaptation which boasts lots of beautiful scenes and enough Eddie Vedder to keep any Pearl Jam enthusiast satiated:

Score: 5/5
Book Information: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer was reissued on August 21, 2007 through Anchor Books with ISBN 978-0307387172.

Book Review: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya

Lush and dream-like, Bless Me, Ultima takes us to New Mexico in the 1940s where six-year-old Antonio Marez tests the bonds that tie him to his people and to his past. When a famous curandra, a healer, moves in with Tony's family, he becomes emmersed in a world of the old ways, the pagan ways. For a boy that is on the cusp of making his First Holy Communion, this troubles Tony and often makes him question which God is the right God. Is it the God found in church? Or is it the old Gods, the ones that he finds all around him?

To guide him on this journey of self and of truth, the curandra or la grande, Ultima takes the boy under her wing, bringing him with her to help cure the townspeople of the curses that have plagued them. For such a young boy, Tony is exposed to many things including deep, earthly magic and even murder. He remains strong and resilient in his quest to find the truth and his rightful path.

Told with such language, description and emotion, Bless Me, Ultima is almost written magically, plunging the reader into the mystical world of New Mexico and the culture of its people.

Score: 5/5
Book Information: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya was published originally published in 1972. This review refers to the 1994 edition published by Grand Central Publishing with ISBN 978-0446600255.

And, the book was made into a movie to be released in 2013:

Book Review: A Woman in Berlin by Anonymous

This past week, I read A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in a Conquered City. It was hard to get through, not because of the writing which I loved considering the material, but just with how emotional the book was. The novel is the diary of a woman who recorded daily life during the Russian occupation of Berlin during the second World War.

For years, the book was published without credit, since its author feared what could become of her if it was known that she had in fact written it. It is presumed that the diary actually was of German journalist, Marta Hillers. 

The diary largely chronicles the brutality and atrocities that can and do occur during wartime. The author descriptively records the multiple rapes se suffered at the hands of the Red Army, the murders, the suicides and the bombings that prevailed in Berlin following Hitler's fall from power. She raises the question, is it really the more humane thing to do to leave women and children behind while men fight in wars? Without protection, women do become the booty of war (pun intended) and they die, along with the children. 

The author is admirable because instead of making herself the victim, which she no doubt is, she rises above that. She uses her mind and her body to keep herself safe and to ensure that she can get food to feed herself and in turn the people that she lives with. Her bravery and courageousness that echoes in her writing is just unbelievable as when she was writing this, there was no end in sight for her. This was her life. 

The book moves pretty quickly and what I enjoyed most about it was the author's writing style. Though written in the 1940's, the book had a more modern feel to the way it was written, completely pulling me into her story and the story of those she lived with. 

Score: 4 out of 5
Book Information: A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in a Conquered City is available for purchase with ISBN 0312426119 via Picador. This version was originally published in July 2006.

If you're interested, there was even a movie made of this book not too long ago: