Matt Hazel > Recent Status Updates

Finished with the short stories. They were lovely, each filled with care, whimsy, and hear-felt emotions, true to Towles writing

The hoarding is so clearly described as a mental illness struggle, it is emotional. Also the self hatred and negative self talk from Benny is upsetting to know it is a common struggle. There are signs of hope and coping the characters are learning but the author is continuing to so realistically write the inner monologues that deal with our emotional relationships with our surroundings

"Books..are all related, enjoying a kinship..beneath human consciousness and knits the world of thought together." Ozeki still heavily uses the principles of emotional and spiritual connection. But instead of with others like in A Tale For The Time Being, it is with things. They just might have a connection with us too in this universe and it feels like danger is coming. I cant tell yet if books are friends or foes

1 seemingly based in depression, the other OCD. Part 1 included the magic and struggles being defined. Benny is starting progress & has opened a door from Alice. He has been hospitalized & released. "Books have feelings too..if skin marks the border where an I ends and a you begins, then in these moments of impassioned boundary crossing called love, we envy you" The books & objects have complex feelings toward humans

Part 1: Home

It is sad so far. We start with a boy hearing the objects around him and learning to understand their opinions. This is his story and a narrative "alive" book telling the story. But that and his mother's struggles are due to the death of the dad. His life left the form and imprint and now has left the emptiness where it was. This has triggered 2 unhealthy relationships w objects...

Inequity is still found in churches, music, healthcare, & traffic. Churches remain segregated. Artists are stolen from and award shows classify artists of color into R&B categories. Healthcare has never covered the working class fairly and Black people are more likely to be misdiagnosed & mistreated. Traffic's a victim of redlining as racist planners and suburbanites avoided public transit to further segregate

Cont'd
-Self-defense-reconstruction lasted 10 years then progress was undone. Efforts to ask for equality were met with white violence "w/o fear of punishment, and w/o loss of reputation" - Ulysses Grant. Lynchings & property destruction made self-defense dangerous and:
-no inheritence/economic moves
Now we created a rhetoric that it is Black people that are dangerous leading to:
-war on poverty/prejudiced punishment