Author: Alexandra Alessandri

Teller of tales. 🇨🇴🇺🇸 Children's Author. Poet. Educator. Next: The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía (‘23) & Lupita's Hurricane Palomitas (‘24). Rep: Deborah Warren @EastWestLit
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The Hunger Games in Class

Alexandra Alessandri

Today marked the start of discussing The Hunger Games in one of my classes. It’s the first time I do so (but certainly not the last!) and I was as excited as most of my students. I think we’ve all been eagerly counting down until we could indulge in (academic) conversations about the book.

I started them off reading Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” which I think is appropriate on many levels for The Hunger Games. If you haven’t read “The Lottery,” you totally should. You can find it here. The mood, the piling into a square, the selection of names (lottery), the gruesome results. There’s even mention of coal mining and it’s a gorgeous day, the day the story takes place. Some of my students had already read it; others were completely surprised by the outcome.

Then we started talking about the first few chapters: the characters, the setting, the plot, and the themes that were starting to unravel. And we saw a couple short interviews with Suzanne Collins.

There’s a great line in chapter three when Gale goes to visit Katniss before she’s taken to the train. He’s giving her tips on how to survive; she’s a great hunter and it should be no different in the arena. Except instead of killing animals, she’ll be killing people, other kids like herself. She says she doesn’t know how to kill people, to which Gale replies, “How different can it be, really?” And then Katniss follows with this:  “The awful thing is that if I can forget they’re people, it will be no different at all.” Bam.

This is what allows all the atrocities in the world to happen. In real life. It’s people forgetting that those they’re hunting or hurting or persecuting are also people. It’s why genocide exists. Why slavery existed. Why all the horrors we learn about in history, many of which are still occurring, existed.

Throughout the term, we’ve used a thematic reader in my class: Remix: Reading + Composing Culture. It’s divided into seven themes: identity, community, competition, romance, entertainment, nature, and technology. In one of the essays for competition, the idea that fraternity hazings and other college tribes/rituals might not be so far off from other aspects like race, creed, religion, etc. They create an us versus them situation. The moment we have an us, and there’s a them, and we can forget that “them” are just as human as we are, then we’re in danger of violating the basic humanity of “them.” The Hunger Games, like the Harry Potter series, really tap into that idea.

I know the last few weeks of the term are going to be a mix of fun and seriousness. I’m excited about the final papers. They’re analyzing the book using one of the seven themes we’ve discussed throughout the term. These are some of the ideas I gave them:

  • How does Katniss’ identity change throughout the book? Is it molded by her experiences or is she born with certain traits that just flourish with the challenges? How do the assumptions we hold of identity play out in the book?
  • What role does community play in The Hunger Games? Does her community have her best interest in mind? Does it accept her just as she is, or does she have to change to fit in? How are the assumptions upheld or challenged? Is it any different from any current world-wide communities?
  • Are the Games reflective of our natural urge to compete? Is competition linked to a deep-rooted need to survive? Will the same be true for games that are not life-or-death?
  • How is Katniss and Peeta’s staged romance any different than real-world high-profile romances? Does their romance challenge or uphold any of the assumptions? Does love conquer all? Are they soul mates?
  • Think about the way the Games are televised. What role does entertainment play in The Hunger Games? How is such a cruel and vicious “game” used for the gratification of the select, privileged few? What, if any, criticism do you think Suzanne Collins is making of our current obsession with reality TV?
  • Nature in the Games is both beautiful and lethal. It’s also manipulated by the game-makers to ensure someone dies. What assumptions of nature are at play here? Are they challenged or upheld? Does Katniss’ understanding of the natural world aid her in surviving? How have those in power manipulated nature to create alternative, more destructive versions of animals (mutants) and how is that any different to the way we are fixated in fixing or altering what occurs naturally?
  • The world of Panem is limited in some technologies, but it is advanced in others. What role does technology play in helping the characters survive? What tools (think weapons) are used for this purpose?

Yep. I am definitely excited to see how the next couple weeks play out. I am looking forward to talking about the book and I’m enjoying seeing them get excited. I will also be looking forward to these essays. If I have to grade essays, I might as well make them interesting!

Blog, Ramblings, Writing

Five Random Thoughts…Because I’m feeling random today

Alexandra Alessandri

1. I absolutely, positively, no questions asked love the 2004 film The Phantom of the Opera. It is one of the most beautiful adaptations with exquisite detail to set and costume. And of course, there’s the music: it’s hauntingly beautiful. It’s the kind of music that reaches deep into your core and moves you. Andrew Lloyd Weber is a genius. I have to admit that I saw the movie before I ever saw the Broadway production, and that the production I saw was a traveling one, when they came many years ago to South Florida. Though I liked that version, it simply didn’t live up to the art that was the movie (and I love live theater!)

It had been a couple of years since I’d last seen it, and a few weekends ago, my husband and I had a date night in. We pulled out the movie and watched it, marveling again at each part, each song. And I keep replaying the songs –I can’t get enough of them.

2. I am definitely an English teacher and my son is definitely an English teacher’s son. Today, as we were getting ready for bed and I was reading him some bible stories, I went into a short lesson on what a metaphor was. And he listened to everything I had to say, repeating the word back to me and trying out an example with it. He’s four. Yep. Definitely an English teacher’s kid.

3. I want to see The Hunger Games so badly. Like, really, really, really badly. It’s like when Harry Potter came out and every inch of me itched to go see it. That’s me now. Waiting. (Im)patiently. Tapping my toes, strumming my fingers, flipping through the pages, again. Just waiting. I don’t know when I’ll be able to go, which makes the waiting that much more unbearable.

4. I’m eagerly awaiting Veronica Roth’s book Insurgent to come out. I think it’s May; I pre-ordered it on my phone. Sometime before it comes out, I’ll have to re-read Divergent so that it’s fresh in my mind. It’s one of several books that I want to read this summer.

5. I want summer to get here. Now. I’m not a very patient person (though I can be). Four more weeks until this term is over and grades are due. After that, though I’m teaching online courses in the summer, the hours during the day are mine for a glorious month while my son is in school. That means I will have four days, for five weeks, to just write. Of course, I have to factor in some gym time, my gallbladder surgery, and some grading, but I will have more uninterrupted writing time than I do during the regular terms. And I just can’t wait! My goal of finishing the first draft by the end of summer is very much within my grasp…I can almost feel it. And I’m anxious to finish it now. So I can begin really revising it and whipping it into shape; though I tend to write and revise as I go along (I can’t just write from start to finish–I do a lot of back and forth), I won’t feel as if I’m truly revising until the whole damn thing is done. I already have agents I want to query and other stories floating up there in my mind, so I just need to finish writing this thing. Now. 😉

Blog, Writing

Progress

Alexandra Alessandri

The winter quarter is coming to an end at UCLA Writer’s Extension, and, in a last assignment, we posted our “final chunk” of material we’d written throughout the course. I was again pleased and surprised at how much I’d gotten done; in the week-to-week writing, I don’t see the end result. It’s just another scene here and there, another exploration of character and motive, another development of the plot and world. But in this “final chunk” I’m able to see a tangible result of my hard work.

I took it a step further, just for my benefit, and I put together work from the last two classes, all on my novel, and I was happy: 24,297 words in 83 pages. Wow! This past summer, I still had only had a rough idea of where I thought I was going and two main characters. Now, I have a story! I have scenes. I know where the story is going and, for the most part, how it’s going to end, though I know at any moment, my characters can throw me a curveball. I have not only started, but I’m making PROGRESS. That’s one cool bean! It keeps me motivated seeing the end to the first draft.

Next week (I think) I might start reading it at my critique group.

On another, writing related note, I submitted two leveled reader manuscripts to an editor (crossing fingers and toes!) and read another one I finished at my critique group tonight. Making some progress there, too.

I am hoping the next month goes by quickly so I can get to May, when I’m only teaching online and when my son’s still in school so I can spend my days writing. Instead of one full day of writing a week, I can get at least four; oh sweet promise!

Blog

Captain Chemo

Alexandra Alessandri

A mother’s worse nightmare is, perhaps, the death of a child. But a serious illness with an uncertain future is, perhaps, more frightening.

This is the case of a friend of my friend, Beth.

A few weeks ago, she had a perfectly healthy almost-five-year-old Buzz Lightyear fanatic. In the span of a week, her son lost the ability to walk and was diagnosed with Stage IV Ewing’s Sarcoma; the placement of the cancer? A tumor in his back and the bone marrow.

It escapes my ability to reason how something like this happens. How is it that a child has to understand what it means to be in a hospital, undergo surgery, chemo, and radiation?

Her son had surgery, and doctors were able to remove 90% of the tumor in his back. When the tests came back, they discovered it was also in his bone marrow, and so began Captain Chemo’s — as he is lovingly being called– journey in battling cancer.

My heart breaks. It started tearing at the seams when she first posted about him crying at night and being told it was just “night terrors,” and then it tore some more when she was told it was a possible kidney infection. But when they discovered the tumor, and when he was diagnosed, then, it really broke apart. And he’s not my son. But he could be.

At my baby shower, my friend was there with baby Aaron, two months old. When my son was born, while on maternity leave, we went to Sawgrass Mall and roamed around with the kids in the stroller (Aaron is four months older than L), and we even sat on a bench outside of Target and nursed. And I want to ask, illogically, aren’t kids who are breastfed immune to this?

Photograph courtesy of Yap Originals

Four years later, she’s going through what can possibly be the hardest thing she’ll have to go through, and my heart breaks for her and her husband and for their family.

I do the only thing I can do: I pray, hard. Because little Aaron has to beat this. There’s just no other option.

I believe in the power of prayer and positive thought. So I’m bringing this to the blog world. This is Aaron, before the nightmare began.

Please pray for him (or, if you don’t pray, please send good, positive thoughts his way), so he beats this, so he remains the happy little boy he is.

Please pray for his mommy and daddy who need all the strength they can get to maneuver their way through this nightmare.

I’m on Team Aaron all the way….

Blog, Travel

Chicago in review

Alexandra Alessandri

I sit by the window on the airplane, watching the black, jagged shape of the wing against the darkening sky, in which indigo blends with a soft baby blue. The night is winning and soon, black will be the only hue on the horizon, punctuated by, perhaps, the twinkling of stars.

How perfect the sky and the world above and below.

Our trip to Chicago is at its end, and we’re on our way home. Like my son says, part of us is happy to be heading home but part of us is sad. Chicago was fun, while it lasted.

Some reflections:

I was astounded by the amount of sirens that bellowed throughout the city. Every night, as we wrapped up our day and got ready for bed, or as we lay in bed, waiting for sleep to take us, sires bounced through the windows. In the mornings, too, we’d head the sirens of ambulances and police. Every. Single. Day.

I absolutely loved that we walked everywhere. With the exception of the cab we took to and from the airport, and on Thursday, when it rained (oh yea, and when we went to the Navy Pier since it was a bit farther), we walked. It was wonderful! We’d wrap ourselves up, and start walking, passing others in the same treks. It was lovely seeing so many people, young and old, out and about.

I was equally astounded by the amount of smokers in the city.  Everywhere we walked and went, we’d pass by smokers. This got somewhat tiring, though, as we tried to maneuver the sidewalks to get the least possible exposure.

There is amazing history in Chicago, from politics to mafia to immigration.

The hotel in which we stayed, the Renaissance Marriott Blackstone, was perhaps one of the best hotels we’ve visited. The building, over a hundred years old, hosted presidents and mafia lords alike, and a few years ago was bought by Marriott and renovated. It was nicely centered in downtown, an easy 15-minute walk from the Shedd Aquarium and Field Museum. The room was spacious, clean, and comfortable. But apart from the logistics of the hotel and room, the people that work at this Marriott made out stay that much more enjoyable. Rory and KoJo were kind and helpful and humored our son with high-fives, fake boxing, and jokes. They, along with Amanda in Concierge, also directed us towards what to see, where to eat, and how to get there. They remembered us, asked us about our day, and again, humored my little man. Every single employee we encountered in that hotel was beyond helpful. We will definitely be returning to that hotel.

Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria was amazing. It’s a family owned restaurant on the 800 block of State Street that offers tasty food and a comfortable, quaint environment. Inside, family pictures decorate the walls of the restaurant. The first night we ate there, we had the Chicago-style deep dish pizza with cheese bread and a chocolate chip cookie for dessert. The second time, we ordered delivery (again, pizza and cheese bread), and it was just as delicious as the first. The third time we ate there, we had a salad, burger, and a beef sandwich. Just as good.

As soon as we land, my son says: I miss Chicago. And I agree, though it is nice to be home. Until the next time.

Blog, Writing

“Dual [writing] Citizenship” and other news

Alexandra Alessandri

I’m in Chicago this week at the AWP 2012 Conference, and I have to say, I’m loving it (granted, it’s only my first day).

This is the first time I attend  such a conference (most of my conference experiences deal strictly with fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or children’s writing, in mostly workshop form. This, however, is a different experience. For starters, it’s no small event. There are over 10,000 (if I misremember the number, please excuse me) attendees, dozens of lectures/panels happening simultaneously across two hotels, and an impressive celebrity author lineup.

Additionally, though, this conference is great because it encompasses two of my loves: writing and teaching. The lectures/panels that are available broach a wide variety of subjects that pertain to writing and writing programs. The beauty of this combination is that, in one place, I can get tools or listen to conversations about the kids of writing that I do and the classes that I teach. It’s awesome.

The title of this post is in reference to one of the panels I attended today that was titled: “Dual Citizenship: Writing for Both Children and Adults.” It was fabulous and I think it really nailed a problem I’ve been encountering, a sort of snobbery if you will. We’ve been so conditioned to accept a reality of labels that we constantly feel the need to fit into one of those labels, as if writing could be contained in such a way. We don’t have to have just one writing identity (the poet, the fiction writer, the memoirist, the kid lit writer); it’s perfectly okay in embracing this multiple personality effect!

I know that when I get asked the pivotal question,”What do you write?” I stumble sometimes because, well, I like writing it all (though not necessarily all with the same strength)! I don’t want to be known just as a fiction writer or a memoirist or a YA or PB author. I want to write it all. I want to strive to be, like one of the panelists said, Julia Alvarez. Why settle for just one writing identity when you can have several (and be good at several)? It makes perfect sense. Still, whenever I do say I write more than one genre or for more than one age group, I tend to get an “Oh” with a glazed look, as if saying I just haven’t made up my mind what I want to write, that I have to find one niche and stay there.

Well, I refuse.

I enjoy writing. Period. So I will write whatever it is that turns me upside down, inside out. Whatever fills me with excitement. Whatever decides to be what I must write right now. Then, when I’m done with that, I’ll move onto the next project that again commands my attention. Because I think that’s what writers should do. Write what they just absolutely have to write and not what they think they should write. That, I think, should be one of the main writing commandments.

Blog, Travel

For the love of flying

Alexandra Alessandri

Today I got to live flying in an airplane through the eyes of my son, and it made me happy. There’s something wondrous about embarking on something new with a child who is old enough to understand what is going on around him but who isn’t old enough to understand what, if any, dangers lurk in that adventure. At four (and going-on-fourteen…), his biggest fears are the dark, monsters, shadows, and the mystery eyeball (still trying to figure that one out)—he knows nothing about plane crashes, so there’s no reason for the fear to take hold of him.

I’m thankful for that because it lets him truly enjoy this miracle of flying.

I love flying, from the speeding up in the runway to the lifting, when I feel the changes in pressure as I marvel at the city below me growing smaller and smaller until the clouds envelop me and I feel close to the edges of the earth. I also love the landing, when the world below grows larger until we jerk forward as the tires touch the pavement.

Do I get nervous? Of course. My godparents passed away in an airplane crash in January of 1990. I was ten. And since then, I remember hearing of plane crashes and seeing the movie based on Eastern’s crash in the Everglades. I know that it can happen, so of course I get nervous. But I also know car crashes happen and that we are less likely to experience a plane accident than we are a car one.

One of the things I refuse to do, though, is let fear reign me.  I’ve been on the verge of it, for other reasons, and I hate feeling like that.  I’m immobilized, with the weight of impending doom suffocating me until I make the superhuman effort to wrestle that beast out and think of other things, happy things.

And I pray. Whatever resistance I may have with religion, I am still spiritual and I have a strong faith in God and to Him I pray.

Throughout this ride today, on our way to the airport (“Are we there yet?”), as we checked-in our luggage (“Where are they taking our stuff?”) and passed through the security (“Cool!”), boarded the plane, and took off (“That.Was.Awesome!”), I explained what was happening. His excitement was contagious. I hope that excitement never fades and he still finds this adventure as “amazing” and “awesome” as he did today.