Ok, so let me preface this by saying I am not a Republican, neither in the more traditional small government sense nor in the current sense. I decided to read this book because Meghan McCain appeared on Rachel Maddow one night and my curiosity was piqued when I heard her say that she was in favor of gay marriage and the repeal of don't-ask-don't-tell.
The other reason would be that my family is pretty conservative and in the past few months we've clashed on many current issues. Although I know that in order to better understand where my family is coming from I'd need to read and/or watch more of a certain person who shall remain nameless...Let's call him George, for the sake of ease. I don't really like George at all, and have tried to watch George's show but find it makes me very mad.
So, I figured, here's a woman whose father was the man my parent's voted for in the election, she's conservative, though she may differ from them on a few issues, and I found that as I was listening to her talk on Maddow that she was fairly intelligent; so I though she'd be one I could read and maybe be able to better understand where my family is coming from.
Also, it's just really good to every once in a while read something from a point of view that is different than how you would normally think.
So, with all this running through my head, I downloaded Meghan McCain's memoir of the 2008 Presidential campaign onto my Nook and began to read.
In the very first chapter I learned something new about the Republican party. Now in my limited experience with politics, I always heard the Republicans have a very conservative Christian POV about things; specifically homosexuals, abortion and sex education. But, the more traditional, Ronald Reagan type Republican is quite different. Traditionally (and may I say the really true definition of) Republicans are for small government, meaning the less the government regulates and gets into our lives the more our lives can be lived with the freedom America stands for. This means that a tried and true Republican wouldn't try and regulate marriage, abortion rights, etc. because it would infringe upon the belief that government should stay out of your private life. This is the type of Republican Meghan McCain professes to be. Although I do not agree with small government in a general sense, it was nice to finally understand a very small glimpse of why someone might be a Republican because to be honest I couldn't get past all the hate mongering that's going on in the party.
The book has a nice flow to it and is a pretty easy read. Meghan is likeable enough, and you can even cringe and laugh with her as she makes one gaffe after another. My favorite story is when she and her mother went to have lunch with Laura Bush at the White House but it's too long to go into so you'll just have to either buy the book or get it from the Library.
Where it got annoying was the constant talk about how wonderful a man her father is and how he ran such a great campaign with little character assassination, and how he's just so wonderful, and how he's the greatest guy ever...on and on and on. I mean, I do get it; if my dad was running for President I'd gush too, but it was just a little too much. Especially since she talks about how the press was too liberal and too hard on her dad and how he ran such an upstanding campaign and never got into the mud...Yeah, I remember things VERY differently, but then again, John McCain isn't my dad; so I guess I can cut her a little slack.
The end of the book is the point of the book and that is that the Republican party needs to WAKE UP so that they aren't torn apart and crushed by an increasingly marginalizing message. She says, and I agree, that they are forcing moderates within the party to go elsewhere for leadership, relying on a small group of people that speak the loudest and have views that go beyond conservative, and way beyond true Republicanism. Though I'm not a Republican, I think the party does need to listen because what they are doing is damaging and will continue to be damaging to our country. This hate of others because they have a different opinion, different sexuality, different whatever is just awful and it's tearing apart our country. They can blame Democrats all they want, but they are the ones shouting the loudest. The new Republican party goes by names such as Tea Party, Libertarian, Constitutionalist, but they are all under and with the support of the Republican party. And they are causing division and hate. And I am constantly shocked that they profess to be for Liberty and what the founding fathers stood for, but their actions and message are so opposite of all that.
So, what did I think of the book? I liked it, though I don't agree with half of what she said. She's interesting and I'll be interested to see what she does in the coming years. And I hope the Republican party can someday hear her and others like her.
Next week I'll be reviewing "Mists of Avalon" by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Talk about a change of gears, huh?
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Book of the Week: "The Female Brain"
I decided to do a weekly segment called "Book of the week". I'm usually reading two or three books at once, even with a seven month old crawling around and I wanted to share the one that I either finish this week or that has really made me think. So here goes....
"The Female Brain" by Louann Brizendine, MD is a fascinating read. I bought it soon after Rosalind was born because I wanted to better understand her and myself as a new mother. The author is the founder of the Women's and Teen Girls' Mood and Hormone clinic as well as having done years of research on the difference between women's and men's brains. The book comes complete with a sketch of a woman's brain and a chart showing the different stages of a woman's life, what her hormones and brain are going through.
Dr. Brizendine admits that some women are afraid of talking about the differences between men and women's brains because they consider it necessary that no differences between men and women are seen in order for there to be equality. But her point of view, and I have to say I agree, is that if we understand our differences it helps science and medicine better now how to treat our illnesses and needs as women. Dr. Brizendine makes it very clear that this book isn't to say that we as women are imprisoned into one way of being, but that understanding how we are made can help us either accept certain things about ourselves or help us know how to change things about ourselves. "If we acknowledge that our biology is influenced by other factors, including our sex hormones and their flux, we can prevent it from creating a fixed reality by which we are ruled."
It shocked me to learn that as recently as the 1990's very little research had been done in the differences of male and female brains. The author admits that there is still so much they don't know about how a woman's brain functions, and that more extensive research must be done. One area that there is ever changing opinion about is Hormone Replacement Therapy for menopausal women. Apparently until about mid twentieth century, most women weren't living long enough to go through a full blown menopause. Now science must run to catch up with our longevity and the now obvious need for studying a woman's physiology to help prevent diseases and disorders that seem to target women more frequently than men.
I won't go into all the scientific speak; which Dr. Brizendine doesn't dumb down but neither does she write it like a college textbook, but basically our brains and how they interact with our unique hormone cocktail is what makes us women. It's what makes us process information differently, what makes us fight with our significant others and family members differently than men, what makes us need to talk so much, why we have a tendency to gravitate toward the guys or girls that we can "fix up" or the classic brooding male, why we seem to work so hard to avoid conflict (whether by pleasing people or being passive aggressive) and so many other things that seem to make the stereotypical female.
I could finally see why I may remember things Dan said months ago that hurt me, specific things, and he may only remember the highlights. Why I am so affected by the facial expressions of those around me, when most men I know don't really notice. And why I may stress out about things Dan doesn't and that it affects me differently than him.
It was also fascinating to read about how Rosalind, as a girl, would develop differently than her male cousins; not better or less, but differently. For instance "Over the first three months of life, a baby girl's skills in eye contact and mutual facial gazing will increase by over 400%, whereas facial gazing skills in boys during this time will not increase at all." She goes on to explain that baby girls are born with a curiousity and need to connect through emotional expression. They will also learn to speak quicker than boys because their need to communicate is ingrained in how their brain has developed in the womb.
Dr. Brizendine goes through every single stage in our lives as women and how our brains change and grow. I wish I could list all the amazing things I learned, but I'll let you read for yourselves. And I'm gonna see if Dan will read it as well, with two females in the house, it may be good for him to know what he's got and gonna get!
If you are a woman, love a woman, have a young girl or teen in the house I strongly suggest reading this book. The link in this post will take you to Dr. Brizendine's site where you can order the book.
Next week's segment will be about Meghan McCain's memoir of her fathers' presidential campaign "Dirty, Sexy Politics" Surprised I'm reading a book by a Republican? Me too.
And please feel free to share books that have impacted you or you have enjoyed, I'd love to hear from my few but faithful readers.
"The Female Brain" by Louann Brizendine, MD is a fascinating read. I bought it soon after Rosalind was born because I wanted to better understand her and myself as a new mother. The author is the founder of the Women's and Teen Girls' Mood and Hormone clinic as well as having done years of research on the difference between women's and men's brains. The book comes complete with a sketch of a woman's brain and a chart showing the different stages of a woman's life, what her hormones and brain are going through.
Dr. Brizendine admits that some women are afraid of talking about the differences between men and women's brains because they consider it necessary that no differences between men and women are seen in order for there to be equality. But her point of view, and I have to say I agree, is that if we understand our differences it helps science and medicine better now how to treat our illnesses and needs as women. Dr. Brizendine makes it very clear that this book isn't to say that we as women are imprisoned into one way of being, but that understanding how we are made can help us either accept certain things about ourselves or help us know how to change things about ourselves. "If we acknowledge that our biology is influenced by other factors, including our sex hormones and their flux, we can prevent it from creating a fixed reality by which we are ruled."
It shocked me to learn that as recently as the 1990's very little research had been done in the differences of male and female brains. The author admits that there is still so much they don't know about how a woman's brain functions, and that more extensive research must be done. One area that there is ever changing opinion about is Hormone Replacement Therapy for menopausal women. Apparently until about mid twentieth century, most women weren't living long enough to go through a full blown menopause. Now science must run to catch up with our longevity and the now obvious need for studying a woman's physiology to help prevent diseases and disorders that seem to target women more frequently than men.
I won't go into all the scientific speak; which Dr. Brizendine doesn't dumb down but neither does she write it like a college textbook, but basically our brains and how they interact with our unique hormone cocktail is what makes us women. It's what makes us process information differently, what makes us fight with our significant others and family members differently than men, what makes us need to talk so much, why we have a tendency to gravitate toward the guys or girls that we can "fix up" or the classic brooding male, why we seem to work so hard to avoid conflict (whether by pleasing people or being passive aggressive) and so many other things that seem to make the stereotypical female.
I could finally see why I may remember things Dan said months ago that hurt me, specific things, and he may only remember the highlights. Why I am so affected by the facial expressions of those around me, when most men I know don't really notice. And why I may stress out about things Dan doesn't and that it affects me differently than him.
It was also fascinating to read about how Rosalind, as a girl, would develop differently than her male cousins; not better or less, but differently. For instance "Over the first three months of life, a baby girl's skills in eye contact and mutual facial gazing will increase by over 400%, whereas facial gazing skills in boys during this time will not increase at all." She goes on to explain that baby girls are born with a curiousity and need to connect through emotional expression. They will also learn to speak quicker than boys because their need to communicate is ingrained in how their brain has developed in the womb.
Dr. Brizendine goes through every single stage in our lives as women and how our brains change and grow. I wish I could list all the amazing things I learned, but I'll let you read for yourselves. And I'm gonna see if Dan will read it as well, with two females in the house, it may be good for him to know what he's got and gonna get!
If you are a woman, love a woman, have a young girl or teen in the house I strongly suggest reading this book. The link in this post will take you to Dr. Brizendine's site where you can order the book.
Next week's segment will be about Meghan McCain's memoir of her fathers' presidential campaign "Dirty, Sexy Politics" Surprised I'm reading a book by a Republican? Me too.
And please feel free to share books that have impacted you or you have enjoyed, I'd love to hear from my few but faithful readers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)