Is Holiday Travel Worth It?Posted by admin on November 30th, 2009

Call me idealistic or old-fashioned. When I think of Christmas, I think of gathering with my family in our living room around a well-lit tree to open presents. Having Christmas at a cabin or in a hotel room just does not sound like Christmas at all. And yet I hear of families who travel to Paris or a tropical resort to celebrate the holidays. Instead of gathering around the family dinner table, they go to a restaurant somewhere. While the thought of warmer weather does sound nice, celebrating anywhere but at home does not sound like Christmas.

Take make matters worse, this usually requires holiday travel. If it requires flying, they are in for a hearty dose of lines, delays, and stress- enough to dampen even the most robust holiday spirit. 

So what do you think? Are you okay with travelling to exotic locales to celebrate the holidays? Or would you rather just stay put at home sweet home with your loved ones and a roaring fire?

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The Road a Tribute to Family BondsPosted by admin on November 22nd, 2009

Cormac McCarthy’s haunting novel The Road gets the Hollywood treatment this week. For those unfamiliar with the Pulitzer-prize winner and Oprah’s Book Club selection (don’t hold that against it), it tells the story of a father and son roaming the remains of North America after an unexplained cataclysm turns everything to sooty ash. The story is as grin as it sounds and then some. Some of the material is hard to stomach but this isn’t Mad Max or Terminator. At its beating heart, this is a story about the sustaining power of love, especially the love of parent and child.

The film, starring Viggo Mortensen and Robert Duvall, has earned an R rating, likely because its depictions of cannibalism, which is constantly looming presence in the book. This may turn off many viewers and it’s a shame really. Nothing in the book warranted a R; even the most gruesome details were only fleetingly mentioned. Unfortunately, this means many parents will not watch this film with their children. Fortunately, there is always the book. And, as everyone says, the book is usually better than the movie.

I give The Road my highest recommendation. The prose is incredible. The arc of the relationship between the Man and the Boy is both epic and incredibly intimate. More importantly, The Road places family at the very center of man’s survival. It highlights the co-dependent relationship between parent and child- child needs parent for physical succor, but parent needs child for salvation. This book easily made my top 5 of all time list.

So, if you’re willing to brave the R rating, the story and the essence may still be intact, but visually you may get more than you bargained for. If you’d rather just read the book, I guarantee you a beautiful, sobering, exciting, and thought-provoking read.



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Is finding health risks in family history such a good thing?Posted by admin on October 23rd, 2009

If you google ‘family history’ in the news section, you’re likely to get a bunch of results about how scientists are linking breast cancer, schizophrenia, and a host of other maladies to family history. Millions of dollars, it seems, are being spent every year on research that seeks to find the warning signs of illnesses in our ancestors, probably with the ultimate goal of eliminating or counteracting these diseases at or before birth. Anyone who has seen the superb sci fi movie Gattaca, however, knows that this kind of over-forecasting can get out of control.

 
For the uninitiated, Gattaca tells the story of a young man who, according to his DNA, is predicted to die at age thirty-something of heart failure. Also, because he was conceived naturally- unlike most of his counterparts-, he is treated as a lower class and is limited to menial work. Going into space- his lifelong dream- is forbidden for him. In short, genetics have become another form of harsh discrimination.
 
Is this where our society is headed? Will we be so hasty to make genetic forecasts that we will limit others and ourselves? 
 
I like to believe that, DNA notwithstanding, it is our choices that make us who we are, it is the good or bad influences we choose to let into our lives that determine our strength or weakness. People born with deformed legs can scale the highest mountains. Men who can’t talk or even move can unravel the mysteries of the universe. 
 
I hope we will never get too carried away with genetic prophecy or with treating maladies for that matter. Sickness is a difficult, but often instructive, part of life.


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