![]() It took me about five years to really acknowledge what was going on and decide to find a different spiritual path. ![]() ![]() For about four or five years I tried walking that way, but I saw a lot of contradictions. And many of those people in that church were mixed-blood (although the were assimilated), they told me to just be “normal” because this was the “normal” way to follow Jesus. There’s this idea of a super-spiritual existence outside the flesh, and Western identity is all rolled up into that. Without knowing it at the time, I was faced with what I came to understand years later as this Platonic dualistic dilemma. After that the people in my church basically told me to cut my hair and get rid of my native posters-those things were all “of the flesh.” I started following Jesus at that time and was miraculously delivered from the addiction. John Mohawk, the editor there, would later become a major influence in my life in terms of my intellectual journey and understanding Indigenous rights. It was something of an underground rag for the Indian movement. I’ve always had a native identity, and in high school I used to receive the Akwesasne Notes, which was a newspaper published by the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne. Randy Woodley: Both my parents are mixed blood Cherokee, although assimilated. Alexandria Barbera: Tell us a little bit about your background. ![]()
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![]() ![]() ![]() And in the all-out battle to debut, Candace is in danger of planting herself in the middle of a scandal lighting up the K-pop fandom around the world. Rule number one? NO DATING, which becomes impossible to follow when she meets a dreamy boy trainee. Under the strict supervision of her instructors at the label's headquarters in Seoul, Candace must perfect her performance skills to within an inch of her life, learn to speak Korean fluently, and navigate the complex hierarchies of her fellow trainees, all while following the strict rules of the industry. although it's nothing compared to what comes next. And convincing her strict parents to let her to go is all but impossible. So when Candace secretly enters a global audition held by SLK's music label, the last thing she expects is to actually get a coveted spot in their trainee program. She doesn't see how a regular girl like her could possibly become one of those K-pop goddesses she sees on YouTube. For most of her life, she's been playing the role of the quiet Korean girl who takes all AP classes and plays a classical instrument, keeping her dreams of stardom-and her obsession with SLK, K-pop's top boyband-to herself. ![]() Candace Park knows a lot about playing a role. ![]() ![]() ![]() She does get support from her Aunt Bea (GINNIFER GOODWIN), but she's recently been distracted by Howie's uncle, Hobart (JOSH DUHAMEL), her former high school sweetheart who wants to win her back despite him preparing to move to Alaska. ![]() ![]() Meacham (SANDRA OH), is disappointed in her performance at school. While Ramona has a good friend in Howie (JASON SPEVACK), it doesn't help that classmate Susan (SIERRA McCORMICK) is always putting her down or that their teacher, Mrs. The latter is near constantly irritated by her younger sister (including her nickname that stemmed from Ramona being unable to pronounce Beatrice when she first learned to talk), and Ramona often feels inadequate and inferior compared to Beezus who's developing romantic feeling for her longtime friend, Henry (HUTCH DANO). PLOT: Ramona Quimby (JOEY KING) is a 9-year-old girl whose overactive imagination often amuses her parents, Robert (JOHN CORBETT) and Dorothy (BRIDGET MOYNAHAN), but also means that she doesn't live up to the personal and school standards set by her "perfect" teenage sister, Beezus (SELENA GOMEZ). QUICK TAKE: Dramedy: A 9-year-old must deal with her overactive imagination regarding developments at school and home, much to the chagrin of her teenage sister. ![]() ![]() Funnily enough, she isn’t the only complicated character the reader comes across the span of the story. Naoko, Toru’s dead best friend’s girlfriend who then gets involved with Toru, is a lot more complicated character, and even at the end of the story, I do not think anyone completely understood her, including Toru. And maybe I’m being too sensitive, but this guy slept around a lot throughout this whole novel! This got very frustrating to me at times and I felt like whacking him multiple times throughout the story honestly. He gave me Nick Carraway vibes from The Great Gatsby (which is his favourite book, so coincidence?) because he spends the majority of his life being a passive observer of his friends’ lives. Though he is the main character, Toru was not my favourite character in Norwegian Wood. ![]() As the story really delves into Toru’s memories, the reader ends up really face-to-face with his inner workings and emotions, so it is really interesting how I felt like I was hijacking Toru’s body. ![]() |