Any of you read "A Wizard's Dilemma"?

[conuly]

That's the one where Nita's mom is dying. At one point, they describe the heart of NYC as being Times Square.

That always strikes me as being wrong. Times Square is for the tourists, as far as I'm concerned. My city's heart is at Union Square, and always has been.

Union Square was as far south as you could go after 9/11. Couldn't go below 14th Street. And the one memorial that was put up there that *stayed* up was just, on a wall in the train station, a series of stickers with names of people who died. Their birthdates and deathdates as well. Deathdate, yeah.

Well, it's been a while. Some of the stickers are missing now. Others are grubby - they've clearly been peeled off and put back too often.

And I'm just not sure what I think. Do I think it's a crying shame, and there should be a public outcry? That the city or whoever should shell out to make that wall a permanent memorial, with the names engraved in properly? Or do I think this is as it should be, that we can't remember people forever and ever, that we have to live our lives? People fade from our memories, and that's as it should be.

I don't know. I just noticed it today, and started thinking.

Comments

[ganas-de-ti.livejournal.com]

union sq.'s where it's at. :) i like the thought of it being able to deteriorate on its own. all those city funded memorials end up seeming...somehow lacking. i like the spontaneous ones.

union sq is one of my favorite places...st. mark's place is a close second.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

My problem is with A Wizard Alone.

She starts out with presenting some viewpoints that would be great for neurodiversity (all kinds of people are needed in the world, people don't always know why, that kind of thing).

Then she continues into a stereotypical and rather disappointing and totally unrealistic view of autism (I won't spoil the ending if you haven't read it, but it's bad).

[conuly]

Oh, I have. There's a reason I never bought that book. I just... I just couldn't. I've considered writing to her and complaining, nicely, but I haven't re-read it, and I'd have to do that first.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I've thought of complaining (also nicely, I love that series) too.

In particular, I found the contrast...

Like she talks about how words have to mean something. Like they shouldn't be used to distort the truth because lots of trouble can come from it.

And she talks about the value of all kinds of people, and then... you know what kind of person he turns into (not the kind of person he was).

And then she talks about how Kit is not getting certain things right because he is reading too much professional crap that says false things about autism.

...and then her portrayal distorts the truth, engages in some of that professional crap as opposed to the realities, and does not let him stay who he is.

[ganas-de-ti.livejournal.com]

union sq.'s where it's at. :) i like the thought of it being able to deteriorate on its own. all those city funded memorials end up seeming...somehow lacking. i like the spontaneous ones.

union sq is one of my favorite places...st. mark's place is a close second.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

My problem is with A Wizard Alone.

She starts out with presenting some viewpoints that would be great for neurodiversity (all kinds of people are needed in the world, people don't always know why, that kind of thing).

Then she continues into a stereotypical and rather disappointing and totally unrealistic view of autism (I won't spoil the ending if you haven't read it, but it's bad).

[conuly]

Oh, I have. There's a reason I never bought that book. I just... I just couldn't. I've considered writing to her and complaining, nicely, but I haven't re-read it, and I'd have to do that first.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

I've thought of complaining (also nicely, I love that series) too.

In particular, I found the contrast...

Like she talks about how words have to mean something. Like they shouldn't be used to distort the truth because lots of trouble can come from it.

And she talks about the value of all kinds of people, and then... you know what kind of person he turns into (not the kind of person he was).

And then she talks about how Kit is not getting certain things right because he is reading too much professional crap that says false things about autism.

...and then her portrayal distorts the truth, engages in some of that professional crap as opposed to the realities, and does not let him stay who he is.