Blogcritics Author: Staci Schoff

Why Democrats Should Choose Clinton

Staci Schoff — Thu, 1 May 2008 07:59:29 EDT

Politics is a game of appealing to the masses � and Clinton is going to be much better positioned to pull that off in the end.
All along I’ve said that Hillary Clinton will have a much better shot in the general election than Barack Obama, and I’m surprised by the number of people who claim to disagree with me. I’ve read some opinions that indicate people think race is easier to overcome as an “issue” than gender, but I don’t think...

That's Why Democrats Can't Win an Election

Staci Schoff — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:43:22 EDT

Barack Obama is a dream come true -- too bad he'll never get elected.
As a hopeful Democrat, I’m so disappointed in Barack Obama’s recent stereotyping of working class, religious, rural, and small town people. In the small Midwestern town where I grew up, there are doctors, teachers, farmers, business owners, and lawyers. There are rich people and poor people, smart people and dumb people – pretty...

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Barack Obama -- the Messiah?

Staci Schoff — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 13:56:41 EDT

Sure, Barack Obama is, obviously, the Second Coming of Christ -- but can he be elected president? This is the question on the minds of those exasperated by the reign of the Bush Administration. And if he can’t get elected, is it because America, as a whole, is too racist to elect a black president – or is there more to it than that?Race isn’t the only challenge for him, of course. He’s also a sees-both-sides-of-the-fence person, and that rarely plays well in politics. Even when George Bush says something entirely senseless like, "The only way we can win is to leave before the job is done," he says it with authority, by God, and the people like that in a leader. On first glance it would seem Obama’s election to the Senate would be a good sign, until we remember his opponent was Alan Keyes.There’s a lot of speculation ranging from Obama will be unable to overcome the inherent bigotry of our nation to Obama will likely be assassinated if he does manage to get elected. But there’s a deeper issue of racism in America that’s personified by the possibility of an Obama candidacy -- and that is, do we have to create a savior complex around him in order to accept him as a respectable leader?Liberals are often accused of seeing racism where there is none, and I’m apparently conservative enough to find fear of his assured assassination to be absurd. I do see racism in the hype surrounding Obama, however, just not in the same way others do. This whole savior thing he’s been burdened with reminds me of the old movie Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in which the father, played by Spencer Tracy, could get used to the idea of his daughter marrying a black man, as long as the black man was perfect in every way. And in true old-racist-Hollywood fashion, Sidney Poitier’s character was just that.Obama has that air of perfection around him now, but will he survive the inevitable media scrutiny should he win the nomination? Famous people don’t get that way by accident. He might be smart and progressive, but he’s also ambitious. And for those not paying attention -- he’s a politician. Obama gives very moving speeches, he’s personable and his intelligence (in sharp contrast to the current inhabitant of the oval office) is refreshing -- yes. But has he really come to “save” us? Those who think so were evidently absent the day Mr. Smith Goes to Washington was shown in their high school Civics classes. (And that’s giving Mr. Obama the benefit of the doubt -- there’s a reasonably good chance that his heart is not quite as pure as Mr. Smith’s.)Don’t get me wrong, I like Obama fine, as far as politicians go. He seems to be doing a good job for the people who elected him and would likely make a fine president. But he isn’t a saint -- I don’t care how many people he currently has fooled. Then again, I don’t need him to be of impeccable character -- I’ll be happy enough if he supports good policy and can actually get elected. If he does, history will show his presidency to have been a mixed bag of good and bad, just like everyone else’s. Massachusetts just elected its first black governor and he’s being heralded as the answer to all of the state’s problems, much as Barack Obama’s being lauded as the answer to our national crises. Jeffrey Berry, a political scientist at Tufts University was quoted in the New York Times recently in response to the election saying, “Democrats regard him as something of a demigod. They expect him to be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound and pay for social services.”Clearly, the question here is not are we as a nation still too racist to elect a black man. Nor is it -- are we so racist that a black president will surely be assassinated. The vital question is, can we acknowledge that a black man could be a fine leader, even if he’s only human? Unfortunately, the answer appears to be a resounding no.

In addition to pontificating in relative obscurity, Staci enjoys a good book, a cold beer and hanging out with her family. Perhaps, but not necessarily, in that order.

Book Review: Super Mom Saves the World by Melanie Lynne Hauser

Staci Schoff — Tue, 6 Mar 2007 04:47:22 EST

Super Mom is back – issuing Super Time-Outs, dispensing apple juice and, of course, saving the world! Birdie’s (aka Super Mom) friend, the budding psychologist, has become “psychologist to the superheroes,” and can’t help but be concerned when Mr. Clean allegedly begins winking at Birdie. Not only does he wink at her, but he takes her on a brief S&M fantasy (yes, I’m serious) en route to an absurd underworld where “new and improved” cleaning products are created, and the likes of the “Tidy Bowl Man” go to live out their retirements. It hearkens to a 1970s' cleaning commercial, with an impeccably dressed woman who is borderline orgasmic at the sight of her freshly mopped floor.But the visit has its purpose. The ability to clean with the power of ten-thousand Swiffers might have been good enough to put the evil creators of video-games-with-junk-food-subliminal-messages out of business, but evidently it just wasn’t going to cut it against the new and improved villains who are endangering the children of Astro Park, Kansas. That job called for Super Duper New and Improved Super Mom who can clean with the power of twenty-thousand Swiffers – naturally. Silliness abounds, but that’s not the greatest strength of the story. The funny and the poignant moments of Birdie Lee’s non-superhero life are what really make the book worth reading. Hauser seems to consider Birdie a “typical” middle-aged mom, but she’s stereotypical to an over-the-top degree. She’s a likeable character overall, and the reader can’t help but root for her; however, it’s hard to relate to a woman who’s goofy enough to blow her nose on her boyfriend’s sleeve. It’s harder yet to relate to a woman who irons her kid’s baseball uniforms - with starch. But perhaps some people find those things more funny and less disturbing than others.The exploration of life with teenagers, and in particular the difficulty in creating blended families when teenagers are involved, is really interesting. Birdie’s change from her son’s good pal to the last person he wants to talk to -- ever -- is painful to read. These themes, along with her new romance, finally obtaining closure after her divorce and teenage steroid abuse (around which a Little League coach says, “Happiness has no place in youth sports, Super Mom”), all balance out the fantasy, and sometimes make you forget you’re reading about a woman who has become a human Swiffer. Especially when Birdie explains how she’s come to associate marriage with toenail clippings.But getting back to the comic book element... You know how mind boggling it is that Lois Lane doesn’t see that Superman is Clark Kent? Likewise, you have to suspend your brain temporarily to accept that no one knows Birdie is Super Mom. But that’s the point, I guess, and somehow it’s entertaining. Sometimes it can even seem satirical, for instance, when she’s passed out and no one thinks to remove her mask to see who she is. And sometimes it seems metaphorical, like when she tests the intentions of her ex-husband based on her boyfriend’s admonishment, “you think a mask and a funny dress can hide someone you love?” Hauser does have a taste for the sweet, sappy and overly-optimistic ending, but then I suppose that’s only fitting for a superhero novel.

In addition to pontificating in relative obscurity, Staci enjoys a good book, a cold beer and hanging out with her family. Perhaps, but not necessarily, in that order.

Book Review: The Cyclist by Viken Berberian

Staci Schoff — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 17:46:10 EST

Viken Berberian’s first novel, published by Simon & Schuster is both of high literary quality and a short, quick read. It opens in a Johnny Got his Gun fashion with the first-person narrator in a vegetative state recovering from a cycling accident. His mission, he explains, is to enter a cycling race that he will purposefully lose by taking a detour to deliver a bomb to a Beirut hotel, which he will then (with assistance) detonate, killing many people (and likely himself as well).His father is Druze - the Druze being a little-known minority monotheistic sect living primarily in Lebanon and Israel. His mother’s background is unclear, except that she is not Druze (according to the unnamed narrator, the village in which he grew up contained Druzim, Jews, Muslims and Christians, all living in peace). When a bomb killed his girlfriend’s parents as well as other neighbors and friends, he and his girlfriend were inspired to join a terrorist organization. There, he prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to promote world peace. Of course he is misguided because he will harm many innocent people in the process, but the reader senses that his heart is pure.This is a well-done character sketch, a drawn-out fantasy about how he will kill many people “in the name of world peace,” and the main character is indeed fascinating. He has a complexity that makes him both interesting and sympathetic. While he expresses a variety of internal conflicts, he never seems to be particularly concerned (or even aware) that his mission is going to cause a great tragedy for a large number of innocent people. He does briefly acknowledge that it takes a great deal of mental training for one to be able to complete a mission such as his, but that is as close as the novel comes to conveying any sense that he might be concerned for the people he’ll harm.His seeming callousness toward the hotel patrons is tempered with a voracious appetite for both food and women, and a wicked sense of humor. He notes to himself that he’s “pithy”, even though he can’t move or speak. At one point he has a visitor and observes that the visitor talks too much while eating, fearing he’s going to cough food all over him… of all the things to be worried about when one may never come out of a coma. His love for food is so great that he frequently describes things, ideas and even the destruction caused by a bomb using food analogies (as well as the dismay of those around him about his “portliness”).Something else that is striking about this novel is not just the narrator’s seeming comfort with mass, random violence, but the way in which other characters are portrayed as having a similar comfort level. The reader is left with the impression, not that these characters are “bad,” but that growing up with unspeakable terror would cause one to internalize a certain degree of hardness and even develop a sense of humor about it as a survival mechanism. The best illustration of this is from a juice bar in Beirut where the drinks are named after “depraved despots.” The theme of the season is Latin America, and one of the smoothies on the menu “the Manuel Noriega.”Using the mixed background of the character, the novel does a fantastic job of illustrating the complexities of hatred, violence and retaliation. However, the enemy is ambiguous, purposefully it seems. Other things in this book are left unaddressed too. Primarily, while the ending is a surprise (the result of a last-minute twist), and part of the surprise is understandable, there was a major detail regarding why the surprise occurred that was left unexplained. That sounds cryptic, but I don’t want to give the ending away. Still, it is clear that Berberian intended the reader to view the ending as highly satisfying for the narrator.Fans of good quality literary fiction, Middle Eastern cuisine, cultural/religious history, and black comedy will all find something to enjoy (and learn) in this novel.

In addition to pontificating in relative obscurity, Staci enjoys a good book, a cold beer and hanging out with her family. Perhaps, but not necessarily, in that order.

Book Review: Hail Mary and Rhythmic Breathing - A New Way of Praying the Rosary by Richard Galentino

Staci Schoff — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 10:42:36 EST

Incorporating meditative breathing exercises into Catholic prayer is a fascinating concept, but is it useful, licit and the key to world peace? The answer is maybe, not exactly and sort of, but Richard Galentino makes a fairly strong and surprisingly poetic case for “yes.”The book begins with a short history of Yoga and the rosary, as well as information outlining some historical connections between yoga and Catholicism. The flow of the language and Galentino’s writing style are often both moving and inspiring, such as when he reflects that “every breath is God’s gift of life to us.” While the prose is impeccable, the book is pretty light on information. There are many places that would benefit from being fleshed out, especially for the reader who’s familiar with Catholicism, but not familiar with the practice of yoga.There’s a good mix of inspirational message and practical how-to information, including both the mysterious origins of the rosary and the benefits of meditation on the heart and respiratory system. But the grandest claims made in this book are that meditation is the key to world peace, and that the Hail Mary prayer is best used as a mantra.It is traditional Catholic thought that individual prayer is the beginning of world peace. Peace begins within, to a certain extent, and Galentino uses the lives of Mother Teresa and Mahatma Gandhi to illustrate how prayer and meditation can give someone the divine energy and purpose to act “humbly with authority,” as they both so famously did. The book is written in building-block style. In the beginning Galentino makes a very strange and unexplored assertion that people "like war" because they “like the feeling of community…” And he begins his solution to this by asserting that the simple act of exhalation (as opposed to action of any sort) is the secret to affecting world peace.Fortunately, he does expand on this idea. The breath is only the beginning, which leads to conversations with God, which leads to action when the meditation is ended. Mother Teresa, as an example, didn’t stop at the exhale. She took her conversation with God into the world and made a difference, both in the lives of the people she served through her charity work, and in the lives of the people she inspired during her lifetime and will continue to inspire long after her death.The practical sections follow a similar path. The beginning of this part seems bizarre, if you know that the rosary already is a tool of meditation and prayer. Generally Catholics meditate on the mysteries of Christ, but Galentino recommends instead meditating on one’s breath. Which is an interesting twist and not entirely compatible with Catholic theology. Catholics are to look to Jesus for strength, peace and clarity, not themselves.But again, he goes on. Instead of "joyful mysteries," "sorrowful mysteries," etcetera, he suggests meditating on “the birth,” “the resurrection,” and so on. The meditations become increasingly complex and longer. They all include 10 to 40 Hail Marys, and begin and end with a Hail Mary said aloud. Why the rest of the rosary prayers are ignored is not addressed.From a Catholic perspective, this could be a good addition to a God-focused prayer life. The meditations seem to be focused on discerning God’s will, and are more akin to the idea of praying to better oneself than praying as an act of worship. Some of the meditations end with suggestions for action to take after finishing based upon clarity attained during the meditative process. Interestingly, the meditation for “breathing peace into the universe” does not.This is a fine resource for people who already make prayer and/or meditation part of their lives and are looking for a way to deepen or expand upon what they’re already doing. It’s probably a bit much for someone just starting out. Many book recommendations are included at the end for those who want to study further. For those not familiar with yoga, a primer would be helpful.

In addition to pontificating in relative obscurity, Staci enjoys a good book, a cold beer and hanging out with her family. Perhaps, but not necessarily, in that order.

Book Review: Confessions of Super Mom by Melanie Lynne Hauser

Staci Schoff — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 07:28:47 EST

Confessions of Super Mom is the tale of Birdie, a divorcee who’s constantly belittled by her ex-husband and suffers from the common “can’t say no” syndrome. Her teenagers don’t respect her either until one day a horrible Swiffer accident gives her the power to zap anything clean in an instant, to sense when a child is in danger and to hear things no one else can hear. Somewhere along the way these special powers help her uncover the strength and the beauty she never knew she had, as well as single-handedly bring down an “evil empire” in true super-hero fashion.The title suggests a June Cleaver-esque housewife driven to tranquilizer abuse and drinking wine in the afternoon for lack of an identity outside of “Swiffer Operator.” And this expectation is precisely what makes the story such a pleasant surprise. The book chronicles the tale of Birdie Lee, a divorced mother of two teenagers, one of whom find her the most embarrassing thing ever and the other who sums up what she “does” by saying, “Well what do you do Mom… you clean stuff, right? And you nag us…” . Then there's the ex-husband from hell.It’s the sweet adventure of “just a mom” whose newly acquired super-powers help her discover how powerful she already was. Sharing her path of self-discovery, the reader can’t help but cheer for her. A reader might even discover her own inner Super Mom.Be warned, the plot is a little silly if you’re measuring the book next to reality, but if you look at it for what it is -- a feel-good comic book for grown-ups -- it’s both charming and fun. The writing style is straightforward and beach-blanket easy-to-read, the language down-to-earth and conversational, and the first-person viewpoint works really well for this particular story.The reader really gets to know the inner workings of Birdie Lee. But there’s also an array of supporting characters, all of whom are well developed. The “perfect” PTA mother is one such character. She’s the archetypical self-righteous, condescending mother who we’ve all (unfortunately) met, making statements like, “One must protect the children at all costs, mustn’t one?”Through a wonderfully fantastical story, Hauser poignantly details the realities of divorce, mothering teenagers, friendship and how a mild-mannered middle-aged woman can learn to respect herself, to demand respect from those who love her and find romantic love again without giving up who she is.Mothers everywhere will relate to Birdie, as she is the extreme example of how we can all lose ourselves to motherhood and then find ourselves again through a powerful jolt. Of course, rarely does the jolt involve an unfortunate mix of cleaning chemicals, but still… Every mother understands the experience of becoming so wrapped up in her identity as “mom” that all else becomes little more than an unidentifiable sense of discontent, until she rediscovers that she’s a person with dreams too. Though few of us rediscover who we are by turning into human Swiffers (thankfully), Birdie’s journey is both entertaining and relevant to the motherhood experience. You don’t want to miss it.

In addition to pontificating in relative obscurity, Staci enjoys a good book, a cold beer and hanging out with her family. Perhaps, but not necessarily, in that order.

Movie Review: Take Out

Staci Schoff — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 19:39:42 EDT

Seth Landau took his experience as a journalist along with a bad experience in a chain barbecue restaurant and turned them into the hilarious and smart indepedent film, Take Out. He wrote, directed, and starred in what became an amazingly high quality movie, after beginning with only a great idea and $13,000. Landau plays the leading character, Zach Turk, who is a disillusioned reporter turned activist. He uses his position at a fictional Arizona newspaper to take on the chain restaurant industry. For added plot depth, he also happens to be the grandson of the CEO of Chief Beef, a fictional chain not unlike McDonalds.While the film offers some serious and important social and political commentary on the state of food production and consumerism in our current culture, it’s most memorable for its unbelievable humor. As a writer, Landau did a good job of creating a compelling story line and making me think, but the images he created as a director had me laughing nonstop.He addresses issues such as how do CEOs of corporations, who make billions of dollars making poor people sick, sleep at night, how can food be so cheap, and is the media interested in informing and protecting consumers or catering to corporate advertisers? And he does it brilliantly and humorously.Landau plays a relatively normal and low-key guy who is surrounded by entirely over-the-top characters. This creates hilarious interactions, but some of the characters went beyond the point of absurd, which really wasn’t necessary. Still, for the most part the satirical sketches worked really well.The story's not only absurdly funny, it's also fantastical. The protagonist prints a news column that is apparently so memorable (we, the viewers, don’t know what it says) that people everywhere read it and magically renounce chain restaurants. Not really "magically" but just that whatever it says, when people read it they say, "Oh my god, you're absolutely right," and then never patronize a chain again. Ah, a wonderful fantasy, if only it were so easy to affect social change!Currently the film is being shown at film festivals while they search for a distributor, and hopefully they'll find one soon. There are some really important ideas that are nicely illustrated through it. You can view the trailer here.

In addition to pontificating in relative obscurity, Staci enjoys a good book, a cold beer and hanging out with her family. Perhaps, but not necessarily, in that order.

Book Review: Don't Let All the Pretty Days Get By By Bruce Hoppe

Staci Schoff — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 08:02:26 EDT

What happens when Teddy Gibbs returns from L.A. to her family's ranch in New Mexico to care for her mother, only to find it necessary to protect her family's land from a clan of nudist balloonists and corrupt casino developers? What happens when she has the cojones but perhaps not the skill to act as her own attorney? Naturally, mayhem and madness ensue.As I began Bruce Hoppe's Don't Let All the Pretty Days Get By, I thought the storyline seemed implausible and it was slow going for the first 50 pages or so. By then, however, I found myself believing, thanks to a tight story, diverse characters, witty banter, and rich commentary on the state of government, environmentalism and even on the nature (and usefulness) of outlaws. It's a page-turner from that point on.On Hoppe's website he quotes Mark Twain as saying, "The truth must be told through humor... otherwise people will kill you." He does a great job of having his characters address a variety of western life's dilemmas in a humorous and original manner. As a bonus for history buffs, a philosophical Billy the Kid makes an appearance.Hoppe has a gripping command of language, writing literary prose interspersed with dialect. His characters are colorful, sympathetic, and well developed, including a senator who claims to channel his dead predecessor among others. The dialog is fast paced and clever, but the novel is not without its shortcomings.Parts of the book are fraught with so much action that I found myself wishing it had come with a fast-forward button. A literary action novel is an interesting concept, but at times it was a little too light on the literary and a little too heavy on the action.Additionally, the protagonist had gone to college and begun a career in L.A, yet she generally spoke like Ellie May Clampett. Being from rural Indiana, I understand how dialect is infectious upon returning home, but in one scene she's speaking at the state legislature, and I found myself wondering why on earth she wouldn't know how to speak proper English at a time like that.On the nitpicky side there are a couple of typos, which is unfortunately common in self-published novels.It is a fun read though, a good story with many interesting and quotable ideas such as, "It has always been the need of the timid to prove passion fatally flawed." While Hoppe is no Edward Abbey or John Nichols, if you liked The Monkey Wrench Gang or The Milagro Beanfield War, you just might like Don't Let All the Pretty Days Get By.

In addition to pontificating in relative obscurity, Staci enjoys a good book, a cold beer and hanging out with her family. Perhaps, but not necessarily, in that order.

Movie Review: Roots Daughters: The Women of Rastafari

Staci Schoff — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 23:22:50 EDT

Roots Daughters: The Women of Rastafari documents a movement among Rastafarian women who are gaining a new understanding of history (or are perhaps re-writing it) to illustrate the matriarchal roots of the Rastafarian movement. And they’re using those matriarchal roots as the basis for claiming power and equality in a religion/social movement that has largely marginalized them since its inception. It’s enlightening and interesting on so many levels, but if you aren’t very familiar with Rastafarianism already, this documentary is going to be a little bit confusing. It does a great job of tracing the origin of the Rastafari movement as a movement of black slaves connecting back to Africa and drawing their strength from their rich cultural history. The film portrays Rastafarianism as a black social movement strongly rooted in Judaism and Christianity, complete with the “woman is evil because she ate the apple first” and “woman is inferior because she was made from man’s rib” routine. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, the spiritual leader of Rastafari (although not himself a Rastafarian), is also viewed as embodying the second coming of Jesus. The film contains interviews with several different women who are currently part of the movement regarding issues such as the reason for dreadlocks, the use of birth control among Rastafarians, and whether women are allowed to participate in the Rastafarian sacred drumming ceremonies. Just like a sampling from any other culture or religion, each of the women has her own interpretation of what is right and good and what is necessary to be Rastafari. Unfortunately, although the women interviewed were chosen based on differing geographic locations (from Canada to Jamaica) and differing social/political circumstances, there was no explanation of the economic and social differences in their realities or how those may have shaped their perceptions and opinions. There is some compelling commentary and beautiful singing by Judy Mowatt, and some addictive chanting that is the origin of reggae. But the narrative is very fast, and if you rarely have the opportunity to listen to Jamaican accents, it’s difficult to understand some of the women. At the end, I just wanted to know more. On one hand, a documentary that inspires you to learn more about a subject is good, but I was also disappointed. It was too short and ended while I still had a lot of questions. I do highly recommend watching it, but for the novice, a primer would certainly be helpful.

In addition to pontificating in relative obscurity, Staci enjoys a good book, a cold beer and hanging out with her family. Perhaps, but not necessarily, in that order.