Terri Gross

Dan Fante: Confronting His Demons on the Page

I listened to Terri Gross interview Dan Fante, a writer who's new book depicts a character in the midst of dealing with drugs and alcohol addiction. The character is based very much on Fante's own life and struggles with substance abuse. He is now sober and portraying aspects of his former life in his character. Terri Gross does a very good job of introducing the writer and starts write in with the questions. Her first being, "You've been sober for years now, right?" This alone shocked me and I knew the rest of the interview would be a style that I'd never heard before. Throughout the interview Gross was able to extract so much emotion and feeling out of Fante. He was even brought to tears when talking about the writings of his father.

At one point when Fante was talking about the voices he would here when he was abusing substances, Gross abruptly says, "Have you been to like a psychiatrist for that voice? Seriously." Fante laughed and so did I. I had never heard an interview say anything like that before. It wasn't structured and it didn't feel as thought she had an agenda with specific questions. She had control of the interview, which is important, but was still able to let it ease off into different areas. In a question regarding love and whether or not he had felt it during that time in his life he responded with something along the lines of, I've had sex with pretty much anything but an '87 Ford pickup. Any interview who can get that kind of response out of someone is A-ok in my book.

There was only one thing that I didn't like and that was her us of "um" as a filler word or at the beginning of a thought. She used it a lot, at least in this interview. It was a little annoying and in turn distracting.

Blog about blogs

The following are a few blogs I came across, all with a different purpose and geared toward different audiences.

http://moviesblog.mtv.com/

This MTV blog is full of movie reviews, articles, interviews and trailers for the latest movies that will soon hit the box office. Written by "a team of film experts with celebrity contributers", this blog is entertaining and gives information that their target audience would be attracted to. MTV is geared towards teens to people in their mid-twenties. These blogs are filled with pictures and videos that keep young people interested. People my age are fascinated by celebrity gossip and entertainment which is why blogs like this are so popular.

http://cookingwithamy.blogspot.com/

This blog impressed me, ultimately because it has the appearance of a real website. It wasn't until later that I realized that is it actually found on blogspot. This blog includes a lot of recipes, food and restaurant reviews, news and travel. Amy Sherman, the creator of the blog, includes personal anecdotes behind the recipe that is given. She also includes reviews of cookbooks as well as her travel experiences and the recipes she takes away from them. I think this blog is aimed towards women with families, maybe in their 30s and older; women who enjoy cooking and are looking for new recipes as well as a little entertainment.

http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/afb/

This is the blog for the Union Tribune's website, Sign On San Diego. It is written by a Union Tribune editorial writer, Chris Reed. The site states, "While the items on U-T online:Americans Finest Blog are written by a U-T editorial writer - they are his views not those of the U-T Editorial Board. So if (when) he irks you, blame him. He'll post the sharpest responses" This disclaimer already has an edge to it and provides a glimpse of how the blogs are written as well. Most of the entries are responses to what is going on in the news. I think it is written for a wide range of readers starting with young adult and older. Because of its subtle sarcastic flair it may have more appeal to younger readers, compared to the newspaper articles themselves.

Yosemite

This past June I spent one of the best weeks of my life in Yosemite with my boyfriend, Greg. I had never been to Yosemite before, which is quite a shame considering it is only a few hours from my home. As we started to near the entrance of the park, Greg wanted me to prepare myself for the view I was about to see. Sure I knew it would be beautiful, it was nature of course it would be nice. Little did I know that it would be one of the most breathtaking things I had ever seen in my life. No wonder people go there all the time! We drove in silence as I stared out the window in awe.

Once we arrived we checked in and went to our campsite...no we did not necessarily camp, we cheated a little. They were tent cabins with a wooden frame, canvas roof, and beds(my favorite part). We spent the rest of that first day unpacking all of our stuff and bear-proofing our tent. The following week was filled with yummy breakfasts, beautiful hikes and quality time together. Greg was very adamant about doing one really big hike during the week. I obliged. However, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. For any of you who have been to Yosemite, then you know the Upper Yosemite Falls trail is quite the doozy, at least for me it was. We started out relatively early in the morning and after 15 minutes of trying to find the trail head (not Greg's fault at all...) we started the hike. As soon as we began the incline I knew I was done for. "I hate you". This spewed multiple times from my mouth on this hike. Of course I didn't actually hate Greg, the hatred was really bitterness because he was in much better shape than I.

The trail is about 7.5 miles round trip and according to my googling ability, it is the equivalent of climbing two Empire State buildings. You gain roughly 2,600 feet in elevation and the first 1,000 feet is gained in the first mile. I had no idea why I agreed to this, maybe it was for fear of being left alone all day while Greg went and climbed mountains by himself, or maybe deep down I knew it was worth it. I'm not sure how many hours it took us to climb, but with my frequent "picture" stops it was probably longer than normal. Finally, we reached the top, finally! Once we did, it started raining, harder and harder. It then proceeded to hail. I was soaking wet, even with my rain gear on, and freezing. We huddled under a tree and ate our food and then went and looked at the amazing view and the mountain we had conquered. I didn't hate Greg anymore. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and one I would gladly do again.