Things White People Like 51-100

According to Landers white people like to be trendy and seem a lot cooler than they really are. Some of the things he lists that apply to this claim I think doesn't really apply for all white people, but perhaps his generation until my generation because I just don't see my parents like this or my grandparents. But I guess making such generalizations about one people, even though you are one doesn't make you and expert.


Indie Music - I see this almost everyday in school. Kids claiming to have found the new band before it hits stores, but once it does, no one likes it. And people are constantly on the search for that song or that band, but once certain people have heard of it or if it is played on a certain commercial then it's done.


Not owning a TV - Landers argues that white people who don't own TVs do so just so they can say that they don't and show that their brains aren't rotting away. This gives white people lots of spare time to do other intelligible things. However I really don't think today that if you've got a computer you do not need a TV. You can watch TV on the computer along with movies etc. Bigger screens are nice, but I know some families that use projectors to watch movies in their living rooms. It's really cool. But I do agree with Landers that when people who say I don't own a TV or I don't watch much TV it just sounds pretentious because I feel as though whether or not it's a TV in your living room or a channel's full video player online your still watching TV.


Other cool things white people do include Veganism/Vegatarianism, Yoga, Whole Foods etc. 


For 101-150 I think I'll keep a list of the most true ones in the book along with a couple featured ones.

The Definitive Guide to the Unique Taste of Millions

Stuff White People Like by Christian Landers is truly my funniest non-fiction read of the year. There are 150 things that white people like and I'm dividing them into three blogs. This is the blog for 1-50. 


Out of the 50 things so far that I have read so far the following are linked together:
# 4 Assists ( like in sports, or just assisting in general.)
# 8 Barack Obama
# (I can't remember and left my book elsewhere) Appologizing

These all have to do with white people feeling bad about the past and trying to make amends for slavery, colonization, the crusades etc. White people like apologizing because they are not only apologizing for what they've done, but what was done by their race. White people like Barack Obama because if they don't they are afraid they'll be considered racist. I found that interesting because in Decatur everyone was so pro-Obama but when I'd ask out of Decatur they'd say I like Obama, he's great but I'm voting for John McCain so he doesn't get shot. White people like to assist in sports because in games like basketball etc. there really isn't much they can do. White men can't jump, can't dunk, but they can pass the ball as an apology.

Landers segments are quick and simple to read and always leave a smile on my face after reading it because it is so funny.

As Alice would say, Lewis Carroll just becomes "Curious and curiouser."

He's a man of many interests, that is for sure. Working as in the clergy, and as a math teacher, not including his own personal studies and habits, I don't know how he does it all. It's quite overwhelming.

The author however writes to calmly for such and eccentric person she is writing about. It's also kind of dry, not much extra to it. Although I find Carroll very intriguing, I cannot say I can find the way he is told about engaging. Perhaps it is because the books is not written chronologically which I am used to in biography. It's more that each chapter is about a subject like math, or his writing, his family, his social life etc. But all seem to weave in and out without a cohesive feeling. I don't know if that makes since.

When I was little I had three favorite biographies that I read, one on Clara Barton, one on Eleanor Roosevelt, and one on Amelia Earhart. Perhaps I found those more engaging because there lives were more public than that of Carroll and none of their papers went missing, leaving gaps for writers to speculate about.  I guess I want to read more about a persons' life and not speculation.

But alas, I will continue to plow through, probably over Spring Break when I can sit with it for an hour or two and just keep my focus.

Little Altars Everywhere (finished)

I've come to the conclusion that all of the members of the Walker family from Thorton, Lousiana are to self concerned. My favorite characters in this are Willetta and Chaney. Chaney was born into the business of helping out the Walker men. Willetta, Chaney's wife helps Vivi Walker lots.

While things in the Walker household may not always be alright due to parental problems or only one parent being there, Willetta and Chaney were always just down the road a bit to help out, even though they had enough problems of their own, like the two daughters they raised.

I guess what's so interesting to me about Willetta and Chaney are their thoughts. Their dialect shines through, but they truly are more reasonable than Big Shep and Vivi combined. It's also interesting to see their perceptions of things versus Vivi and Shep's perceptions of things. They prevent Vivi from beating her children to death. Chaney is there for Shep when his father dies. They're there to keep the Walkers in check.
I have enjoyed the book more when it was told by or about one or the other. The two are just ideal people, very forgiving and they put up with everything. And it's a very positive light that is shown on two African-American characters in a southern novel.

I just finished Little Altars Everywhere and decided that I liked it very much. I'm looking for a copy of Ya-Ya's in Bloom at the moment.

Tallulah Walker

Tallulah Walker steals things. She steals make up for her sister. Gun pellets for her brother Little Shep, nail polish for her mama and a cowboy hat for her daddy.

Stealing the cowboy hat for her daddy was probably her most difficult heist yet. It wasn't an item that you could easily pocket at a drug store. Instead she had to wait until the right moment when no one was looking and that she did. But as she swiped the hat and turned to leave, the two ladies working at the counter quickly caught on to her and caught up to her and hauled her back to the counter, threatening to call the sheriff.

Lulu began to cry, not because she was guilty though, because all of a sudden she got into character. She was no longer Tallulah Walker of Thorton, Louisiana, daughter of Vivi and Shephard Walker, sister of Siddalee, Baylor and Shephard Jr., she was now Corina Axel. She has no parents, they died in a car crash. (A CAR CRASH?!) And she was trying to get her brother, Bucky a hat because he works in the fields to earn their keep and raise her.

The ladies of the store calm Corina down. Let her have an Orange Crush and eventually, she gets to keep the cowboy hat that she was going to steal. And she leaves, and gets way with it.

I have no idea how Lulu could even stomach stealing things, or why she would want to. Her family is pretty well off, they aren't poor, but they aren't filthy rich either. Her Mama and Daddy pay her an allowance, but she insists to steal to get what she-- well she doesn't necessarily want the stuff and she doesn't need it. It's all a game to her really. Just to see what she can get away with. And she does get away with it.

I did some Wikipedia background reading earlier and it said something like "People insist that what Wells writes is autobiographic." And I wonder for what, for Little Altars Everywhere or The Divine Secrets. Or is it all in some sense like that, or not at all. It was just very unnerving to listen into a little girls thoughts and the ability to live with what she was doing. Though, in the end she decided she was done with being Gimmee Gimmee Gimmee.