Kellie Powell

The Hypochondriacs: Nine Tormented Lives

admin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Almost everyone knows someone they would describe as a hypochondriac—a friend or relative who is obsessed with ambiguous symptoms, or who hears about a disease and immediately fears they have contracted it. In contemporary pop culture, “hypochondriac” is frequently a pejorative term, and one who suffers from “health phobia” is commonly an object of mockery. The condition is sometimes confused in media portrayals with malingering or deliberate “faking.”

But hypochondria has not always been thought of as a mental problem. To the ancient Greeks, the hypochondrium was the region of the abdomen below the ribs. Ulcers and abdominal problems were once considered part of the “hypochondriac syndrome.” As the actual causes of such disorders were discovered, physical complaints without a clear cause continued to be labeled “hypochondriasis.”

The Hypochondriacs: Nine Tormented Lives documents nine well-known “hypochondriacs” throughout history, and creates a narrative about how the diagnosis has evolved. A wide variety of medically recognized physical and mental issues have at one time been labeled hypochondria. What was labeled hypochondria in Daniel Paul Schreber might today be described as Cotard’s syndrome, or schizophrenia. The symptoms Andy Warhol experienced might now be called body dysmorphic disorder, a fascination with perceived flaws in one’s appearance.

Some of the nine individuals are more well-known than others. Most readers will probably be familiar with Charlotte Bronte, Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, Alice James, Marcel Proust, and Andy Warhol. But I had to Google James Boswell to learn that he is credited with reinventing the biography genre. Daniel Paul Schreber was a German jurist whose memoir of his mental illness became well-known after being analyzed by Sigmund Freud. Glenn Gould was a celebrated classical pianist, conductor, and broadcaster. Each individual viewed their “disease” differently, in accordance or in defiance of contemporary thinking.

Hypochondria was at one time considered the male counterpart to “female hysteria” (madness caused by the uterus). This may explain why hypochondria is frequently stereotyped as a problem affecting females. (In modern medicine, however, an equal number of men and woman are diagnosed with this condition.) The story of Charlotte Bronte implies that her troubling symptoms, and her resulting anxiety, may be connected to her frustration with the confinements of contemporary gender roles. Bronte was repeatedly discouraged from developing literary ambitions because of her sex, and this caused her considerable anguish. It is easy to see a parallel between hypochondria—symptoms with no clear cause—the “problem with no name” that Betty Friedan described in The Feminine Mystique.

The Hypochondriacs: Nine Tormented Lives is best suited for readers who have personal experience with hypochondria. In the introduction, the author mentions that he has experienced some degree of hypochondria in his own life, but this is never elaborated upon. His fascination with the condition is apparent, and the diagnosis is explored in detail. The book is analytical, but does not advocate a particular approach to the disease or its treatment.

Written by: Kellie Powell, December 16th 2009

Somewhere to Run From

admin — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:06:00 +0000

By Tara-Michelle Ziniuk

Tightrope Books

Tara-Michelle Ziniuk is an activist poet, critic, playwright, and performer working in Montreal and Toronto, and whose first poetry collection, Emergency Contact, was published in 2006. Her second book of poetry, Somewhere to Run From, is full of bittersweet and sarcastic poems about love gone wrong, political activism, and loneliness. There is a confessional quality to many of her pieces, which examine a wide variety of emotional topics that range from unfaithful lovers to religious persecution, blending political commentary and personal tragedy. She describes both intimate interpersonal situations and global catastrophe with razor-sharp wit.

Ziniuk's work has a straightforward quality that I found myself wanting to imitate. I was struck by her use of juxtaposition, and how simple statements become somehow more evocative with pop culture references, such as “net-speak,” and unexpected details. Her black humor adds greater depth to poems about small disasters and everyday heartbreaks.

In the prose-poem titled “How To Be Perfect Men,” she writes, “...Every sad mix CD has a song about a basement on it. We do a keyword search for 'waiting' and when I finally remember you, every song I hear makes me feel like I’m on hold...” To me, the magic of poetry is the way reading lines like these reminds the reader of their own long-forgotten mix CDs and their favorite songs about basements and waiting, re-experiencing old sadness through the lens of nostalgia, and with the benefit of hindsight.

In “Through the Night,” Ziniuk riffs on a Frank Sinatra quote:

I’m for anything that gets you through the night. A warm body/hot water bottle/Degrassi special features./I’m all for take-out in bed,/crumbs, spilled shake from the bottom of the bag,/and lipstick on pillow cases...We’re all getting old./Maybe this is what lube is for./Or maybe it’s for people who never liked each other anyway.

This brief and unexpected mention of the campy Canadian melodrama Degrassi inspires a feeling of affinity with the speaker of the poem (and by extension, the poet) in me. References like this one give the collection a feeling of an early twenty-first century time capsule. Ziniuk’s poems are full of quotable—even chantable—lines: “People only spin the bottle/when there’s someone in the room they want to kiss” or “You/give/girls/eating/disorders.”

One of my favorites from the collection is “It Must Be Stopped,” which is a darkly funny poem about a misunderstanding mother. This is a wonderful example of the range of contradictory thoughts and feelings Ziniuk’s Somewhere to Run From will inspire.

Written by: Kellie Powell, November 28th 2009

Portland Noir

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Edited by Kevin Sampsell

Akashic Books

Noir is easier to recognize than to define. The best dictionary definition I found was, “crime fiction featuring hard-boiled cynical characters and bleak sleazy settings.” Portland Noir, then, has a self-explanatory title: it is a collection of short, dark stories that take place in Portland, Oregon. Akashic Books has published a whole series of similar collections set in numerous cities in the U.S. and around the globe.

Reading this book made me want to immediately find a copy of Chicago Noir. Since I’ve never been to Portland, I felt like I was missing out. I was unfamiliar with the neighborhoods and businesses mentioned, and could not judge the accuracy of Portland’s portrayal. It was clear that the city was more than just a setting; Portland is almost another character in many of the pieces.

Despite my ignorance of Portland, I still found the stories very creative and enjoyable. Some of the tales were more traditional noir pieces, with Philip Marlowe-type protagonists and centering around crimes. Other stories had the feel of noir, but might not fit the classic definition.

As with most short fiction collections, the stories vary greatly. Few readers will enjoy every story, but many will enjoy several. Characters include cops and private eyes, drug addicts and prostitutes, murderers and artists, hipsters and activists. Stories involve murder, blackmail, burglary, torture, vandalism, and even a little romance. There is even a comic book style illustrated story, “Gone Doggy Gone” by Jamie S. Rich & Joëlle Jones. Truly, this book has something for every noir fan.

I felt deep disdain for the narrator of the opening story, “The Clown and the Bard,” by Karen Karbo, in which a sexist low-life gets away with killing his ex-girlfriend. But,I was captivated by the next story, “Julia Now,” by Luciana Lopez, in which a woman becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to a previous tenant of her home. I was strangely captivated by “The Sleeper” by Dan DeWeese, a wandering tale of a newspaper delivery man with a possible substance abuse problem. “Virgo” by Jess Walter is a surprising, and surprisingly funny, story about a disgruntled newspaper employee who alters the horoscopes to harass his astrology-believing ex-girlfriend. The narrator is completely unlikable, yet laugh-out-loud funny:

We’d had the same old fight, with the same stale grievances Tanya had been lobbing at me for three months, almost since the day I moved in: Blah, blah, stalled relationship; blah, blah, stunted growth; blah, blah, I worry that you’re a psychopath…

“Burnside Forever” by Justin Hocking–which opens with the two-word sentence, “Fuck Hawaii.”–reminded me strongly of Michael Hornburg’s novel Bongwater, which is also set (mostly) in Portland. “People Are Strange” by Kimberly Warner-Cohen, is a disturbing story about a woman determined to track down her missing identical twin sister. I’d hate to ruin the twist, but know this: Happy endings are rarely found in noir.

Written by: Kellie Powell, September 1st 2009

Do Not Deny Me: Stories

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:20:00 +0000

By Jean Thompson

Simon & Schuster

Do Not Deny Me is a collection of twelve short stories that represent literary fiction at its very best. Each tale is beautifully crafted, with precise and striking phrases and detailed, relatable characters. The first story, “Soldiers of Spiritos,” hints at the writer’s opinions on literary criticism. An aging English professor and his discouraged student find that they share a love of dramatic literature and a distaste for modern criticism that replaces appreciation with overwrought analysis.

There’s much here to appreciate and, if one is so inclined, to analyze. Thompson is renown in literary circles for her sharp wit, and it’s easy to see why, whether you read purely for enjoyment, or dwell on the variety of literary techniques, which include second person narration (“The Woman at the Well”), peripheral character narration (“Little Brown Bird”), and an unreliable narrator (“Mr. Rat”).

The title story is an eerie account of a young woman’s reaction to her boyfriend’s sudden death. She encounters a stranger with questionable psychic powers, and despite her skepticism, longs to find comfort in the idea of supernatural forces. Another exceptional story is “Escape,” a deeply affecting narrative about a man who suffers brain damage and has an increasingly antagonistic relationship with his wife and caretaker. Frustrated with his helplessness and his wife’s ability to control him, he becomes more and more reckless in his attempts to get away. It’s easy to imagine this story on an AP Literature exam ten years from now.

“Wilderness” juxtaposes a love letter from a Walden-Pond wannabe environmentalist with the recipient’s Thanksgiving weekend in the suburbs. The protagonist is surprised to find her former best friend has become a matronly mother of two teenage boys—and even more surprised to find that her friend’s husband is having an affair.

“Little Brown Bird” is the story of an overlooked young girl who reaches out to a neighbor. The neighbor suspects the girl is being abused but doesn’t know how to help, and fears retribution if she shares her suspicions. “Liberty Tax” is a meditation on how people in financial distress rationalize unethical or illegal behavior. “Treehouse” details a man’s attempt to remove himself from the burdens of his humanity by building a new home for himself in his own backyard. “Mr. Rat” features an incredibly unlikable (and sexist) protagonist who gets one of his co-workers fired, and may or may not have driven another to suicide. Readers are left wondering why betrayal comes so easily to this character, and if it is, as he claims, because he is “a triumph of natural selection.”

“Triumph” is an excellent way to describe this collection. The variety of themes, situations, and characters provide glimpses into different experiences of modern American life and leave readers with a wealth to reflect upon. Every story is so full of insight and poetry, readers will find themselves underlining entire passages and longing to discuss them with literary friends.

Written by: Kellie Powell, June 10th 2009

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels

admin — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 17:27:00 +0000

By Sarah Wendell, Candy Tan

Simon & Schuster

Romance is a huge market, the most popular kind of fiction—and one of the most maligned. In the introductory chapter of Beyond Heaving Bosoms, the authors quip, “Let’s face it: romance novels, with their titty-licious covers, overwrought cover copy, and genre constraints are an easier piñata to smack around than most.” Despite the genre’s flaws, the authors started their blog, Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, because they love romance novels and didn’t think it was receiving the in-depth scrutiny it deserved as fiction’s greatest money-maker. They ask, “Are romance novels really candy-coated porn or vehicles by which we understand our sexual and gender politics?” The short answer is: quite possibly, both.

Whether you love romance, or love to mock it—or, like the authors, both—there’s plenty to enjoy in Beyond Heaving Bosoms. Instead of numbered chapters, the book is divided into sections such as “Chapter Cleavage,” “Chapter Codpiece,” and “Chapter Secret Cowboy Baby.” There’s plenty of lovingly-written satire in the Smart Bitches Dictionary, the “Mad Libs” section, and a lengthy “interactive” romance parody in the style of the once-popular “Choose Your Own Adventure” novels. There are e-mails between members of the International Consortium of Heroes, a hypothetical hero and heroine pleading their case before Judge Judy, the Ten Commandments of Heroine Conduct, and an entire chapter devoted to the mockery of ridiculous cover art.

In addition to all the fun and games, there is insightful literary criticism. The book manages to be educational and subtly persuasive, as well as hilarious. The authors identify protagonist and villain archetypes, investigate the tying together of virginity and purity, re-imagine the romance novel as a coming-of-age narrative, and meditate on the cultural implications of “the heroine’s irresistible Magic Hoo Hoo and the hero’s untamable Wang of Mighty Lovin’.”

It’s hard to deny that by and large, romance novels are problematic for feminists. There are certainly feminists who love romance, but some common genre conventions are hopelessly misogynist. Rape is common in what the authors label “Old Skool Romance,” and within the confines of a book’s story, it is often seen as an acceptable means of “seduction.” But, they note that the genre has gone through a lot of changes in the last few decades, and as societal attitudes about rape have changed, its treatment in literature has also evolved. Perhaps paradoxically, there is no other genre that celebrates female sexuality and pleasure so enthusiastically. Romance is a genre written by women and read by women, and it is a wide umbrella with room for feminism underneath.

Written by: Kellie Powell, June 9th 2009

Poseidon and the Bitter Bug

admin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 16:50:00 +0000

By The Indigo Girls –

Vanguard Records

For more than twenty years, the Indigo Girls have been known for their gorgeous, close harmonies and riveting, emotional lyrics. Amy Ray and Emily Saliers are both exquisite singers and talented guitarists. Poseidon and the Bitter Bug is sure to delight fans with ten tracks of mostly-folk songs with pop, rock, and soul influences. The songwriting is top-notch and the award-winning duo has never sounded better.

The album starts strong with “Digging For Your Dream,” a heartbreaking, determined ballad with a chorus you’ll find yourself chanting along: "Every day that you get up and force your cards/ You’re playing your story in fits and starts/ You take your prospects and your pick axe and you trudge down to the stream/ And you bloody your hands digging for your dream."

“Driver Education” opens with the line, “I fell for guys who tried to commit suicide” and takes the listener for a compelling and quick-witted ride through high school nostalgia, crooning, “Where were you back when I had something to prove?” The naked self-criticism of “I’ll Change” makes it one of the album’s most stirring tracks. The singer compares herself to a snake that “bites the hand that feeds it,” and claims, “I’ve been running long before I learned to crawl.”

The most political track is probably “Sugar Tongue,” a hectic indictment of colonialism sung in vulnerable tones. Poseidon is not an overtly political album, even though the Indigo Girls are well known for their political activism on behalf of gay rights organizations and the environment, the rights of Native Americans, and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty.

A second disc is included which features acoustic versions of all the songs, plus a bonus track, “Salty South.” The band versions and acoustic versions aren’t radically different, but especially hardcore fans will enjoy comparing them, anyway. Every song on Poseidon is beautiful and you’ll want to listen to them again and again.

Written by: Kellie Powell, April 24th 2009

The Last Single Woman in America

admin — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 23:14:00 +0000

By Cindy Guidry

Plume

Cindy Guidry is a single woman in her forties living in Los Angeles. The people in her life insist on reacting to her lack of husband and children as though it were a catastrophe. She begins writing a series of personal essays after losing her job as a Hollywood studio executive. She finds herself questioning her choices, her motives, and her identity. The essays span several years, detailing failed relationships and other fiascos. Her life is populated with bizarre personalities—her bleak Canadian neighbor Tomas, an obsessive compulsive pseudo-boyfriend she refers to as “The Viking,” and her parents, who have been separated for twenty years, but who are too close to ever consider an actual divorce. There’s plenty of dating-related humiliation, sex talk, and of course, Hollywood-bashing.

Two of the best essays deal with Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. Guidry grew up in New Orleans, and her parents are still living there when disaster strikes. The first floor of her mother’s house floods, and Guidry invites her mother to stay with her temporarily. Guidry has always suspected that she is not her mother’s favorite child, and living in close quarters eventually leads her to ask her mother point blank, “Did you or did you not have sex with a leprechaun in 1967?” There’s a delicate balance at work in these personal narratives between realism and absurdity that produces laugh-out-loud hilarity. Guidry seems to be fully aware of her own ridiculousness while writing about her veterinarian (“The Cat Whisperer”) or trying to kick Dave Matthews out of her car before he discovers that her CD changer contains nothing but Dave Matthews CDs.

Guidry invites her readers to laugh at her neuroses and her tendencies toward self-sabotage. Unfortunately, her self-criticism lacks bite, and the comedy occasionally gets lost in pages of overwrought abstract analysis. In essays like “Men Are the New Women,” and “Future Ex-Husband,” she reveals her ambivalence about changing gender roles and claims feminism is at least partially responsible for her inability to find a life partner. These remarks feel tired, and certainly don’t add anything new to the discussion of the supposed “gender wars.” Ultimately, her book is like her obsessive love for Dave Matthews—there’s nothing wrong with it, per se, but it’s not exactly unique.

Written by: Kellie Powell, April 8th 2009