December 2, 2023 BLOW YOUR OWN TRUMPET

 

It's the countdown to Christmas Break. Yup. Only a few weeks til midterm exams. I can't wait. I REALLY need a break. It's a hectic time of year. Four thousand things to do every day and I only get three thousand done. I feel like a chicken with my head cut off---I actually said that the other day at school and the kids looked at me--HORRIFIED.  I guess they took it literally. Back in the day---I used that idiom ALL THE TIME--and never really thought about it. BUT TODAY--in our super sensitive world--I am going to have to refrain from THAT idiom. OOPS. Some kid will probably go home and tell their parent AND I'LL HAVE TO EXPLAIN THE IDIOM TO THEM TOO. So strange how our world's changed. A few other idioms that I should reconsider "There's more than one way to skin a cat", "Don't bite off your nose to spite your face" , "Break a leg" and " Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater". Not sure what that last one really means but I'm sure it would spin a few heads. HA.......If you like historical fiction, you will really enjoy The Last Rose of Shanghai by Weina Dai Randel. As the story unfolds, Aiyi Shao is an elderly woman living in Shanghai, who has just hired a documentarian to tell her life story.  The novel then jumps back and forth between the 1940s and the present with alternating points of view as Aiyi narrates her unfortunate past.  In 1940 Aiyi was a young Chinese heiress living in Japanese occupied Shanghai where she owned a popular night club. Ernest Reisman was a Jewish refugee who had just arrived in Shanghai who was looking for work to support not only himself but also his young sister. After an unlikely meeting on the street,  Aiyi hires Ernest to play the piano at her bar. Aiyi who is engaged to another man, finds herself drawn to Ernest which ultimately sets off a chain of events that shapes their lives. This novel is rich in history--the horrors of war in Japanese controlled Shanghai, the desperation of people, and the ultimate strength of the human condition. It is also the story of a forbidden love--between a Chinese woman and a German, Jewish refugee, at a time when such a relationship was unthinkable. Find out what happens to these incredible characters and so much more when you read this interesting story for yourself. There is a huge twist at the end that I didn't see coming either. Enjoy.