May Wrap-Up:Books, K-Dramas, and Films
This past month, I was confronted by a tea bag.
You may ask, "How can you be confronted by a tea bag?" and I would say it goes against how I see the world.
I read a quote off of a tea bag's tag from Emily Dickinson:
“Beauty is not caused. It is.”
I take issue with this seemingly harmless statement, so let me explain.
Beauty is caused; it simply is not just "is." Probably one of the more cliché examples of beauty is the flower, so I feel this is a good example to use. A flower does not "just is." It works to stay alive, converting sunlight through the process of photosynthesis, dragging nutrients and water from the ground that may be dry or flooded—rarely ever just right—and fending off bugs that mean to terrorize it with their diets. Flowers, even at seemingly their most effortless stage of beauty—flowering—are going through a radical period of their lives. The flowers are not just flowers but plants, with flowers being an extension and means of survival for the plant to repopulate its own kind by pollinators. Beauty is created, not merely "is." To be merely beautiful from the moment of our existence until the lights go off, and every minute in between, we would have to be God, who was and will always continue to always be truly beautiful.
To say the least, living isn't easy, creating beauty isn't easy, and looking at your ugliness in the face and putting it at the foot of the cross sometimes isn't either. It is a comfortable life when you consider yourself to have already been and continue to be at your full potential of beauty, needing no correction or change. True beauty, I think, is the closer we get when we can convey what is truly beautiful. Much like Plato's true forms outside the cave illuminated by the sun, in contrast to the shadows on his cave, we must get closer to the true realities of what we already are and what we are called up into being through Christ.
Other than being irritated by a tea bag, I've been in the process of beauty myself intellectually. I took my first university course this month and had to learn the hard way the difference between an essay and a personal reflection. Thankfully, I have a gracious professor who helped me through and understand what I needed to do, but it was a difficult process.
As always, thank you again for reading my posts and giving me the grace to keep growing in front of all of you. I hope all of you who are reading my post will take some time to be like a flower and work towards beauty, knowing you're already beautiful (while taking some time to enjoy the summer sun).❤🔆❤
Monthly Wrap-Up
Table of Contents
The Essential by Patricia A. McKillip — 3.5 stars
These are stories, stories of humans struggling with their humanity, struggling with their past, present, and future, struggling with what it means to be human, and struggling with the burden that humanity sometimes brings. From a beautiful woman called "skull crusher" trapped without escape in a high, keep-like tower in the middle of a wasteland, to a Knight of the Greenwell in a society that must placate impish, sometimes violent, sea folk in their mis-worship of water, Patricia A. McKillip’s stories cover a lot of ground regarding what it means to be human.
Overall, I thought The Essential was pretty good. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to get into more classical fantasy but may not have the patience or attention span for a long fantasy story. While the latter half was okay, I found the latter half of the book not as captivating as the first half; however, readers who are not opposed to skipping certain sections of the novel may find this compilation of short stories right up their alley.
Read my full review of The Essential by Patricia A. McKillip
K-Drama Review: It's Okay to Not Be Okay — 4 stars
If everything around you indicated that you were a monster as a child, every failed relationship, every time other children excluded you, and every relationship breakdown, even the relationship you have with your parents, what kind of adult would you grow up to be? Ko Moon-young, she has an answer to that question. Antisocial and menacing, Ko Moon-young works as an author creating children's stories that reflect her inner pain, resonating with thousands as she tells the reality of the human struggle through her unhappy endings and gruesome illustrations.
But what happens when she meets the Prince Charming from her childhood— the one who was supposed to save her, the one that she pushed away? What happens when she decides that she is still "hungry" for some sort of human connection? What happens when she realizes that both of their pasts are more intertwined than she ever could have thought?
Moon Gang-tae never stays at the same hospital for more than a year. As a nurse in a psychiatric clinic, he is subject to abuse because of the nature of his job. He works with people who are difficult to deal with all day long, and the only way he can get through the day is if he suppresses his feelings deep inside himself. But when he takes the fall for the mishandling of a patient, he finds himself back in his hometown—where everything bad happened, where his life began to spiral out of control, and where his brother first began to say that the butterflies are going to kill him.
“So don't forget any of it. Remember it all and overcome it. If you don't overcome it, you'll always be a kid whose soul never grows.” I really enjoyed this K-drama, but I wouldn't recommend it to those strictly looking for a romantic comedy because it carries with it an emotional mellowness and complexity that is heavy and very impactful at certain points. It's one of my favourite sorts of media that looks at the human condition honestly and doesn't make excuses or ignore humanity's capacity for harm, as well as showing the goodness that humanity in all of its complexity can bring. I would also caution those very sensitive to 'basic' sorts of humour from watching the show, as one of the main plot devices centers around physical connection and the aversion to physical connection.
Read my full review of It's Okay to Not Be Okay
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher— 5 stars
Once upon a time, there was a toad who lived in a thornbush. The bush was tight and large — large enough to keep out a grown man and desperate travelers with axes.
One day the toad prayed, even though she didn't know who would answer her, as she's, of course, a fairy, not a toad; but also in a way sort of a toad, thus her name, Toadling.
Anyways, she prayed, petitioning who ever heard her to keep away the humans, making sure to say "Amen." at the end like the priest who died taught her to. What results is a Muslim knight who mistakes her for the sleeping, cursed princess she's been guarding.
Thus, is the beginning of Thornhedge, a story where a desperate curse holds back evil.
Overall, I loved this novella, and I'm so glad I picked it up and read it. It's a beautiful and sweet story that connects to me deeply as an adult reader who has lived, and failed, and grown, who has asked questions, and who has wanted to be more kind.
Read my full review of Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
Gather Together In My Name by Maya Angelou
In 1940s America, there was a famous author and cultural voice who was admired by many. One day she decided to tell her story—the messy part of it. This review is about that.
Overall, it was a hard book to read, but a good book to read. Since this is a biography, I'll refrain from giving it a rating because this is somebody's life experience and their story. Instead, I'll give you my takeaway from it. As I stated before, this book is written to people who are grappling with and processing their own messiness.
Maya Angelou comes alongside the reader and supports them in their own grief from their own miseries, as a colleague of a member of humanity, whether they brought it on themselves or somebody brought it onto them. This is a book that puts a magnifying glass on the human condition, human error, and human moral failing; it is a profoundly honest book that deserves respect and cultural humility, as many of the readers have not had the same specific cultural experience. I am grateful that Maya Angelou created this book to dispel the illusions of perfect adults with neat and tidy pasts. I am thankful to Ms. Angelou that she was brave enough to create this book to not only help her own generation that suffered through similar pains of racialized, sexualized and sexist America, but also later ones who suffer and grapple with the same human condition as the one she grappled with.
Read my full review of Gather Together In My Name by Maya Angelou
That's all folks! If you’re planning to read or watch anything from my May wrap-up list, feel free to comment below! ❤❤❤
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