Writing Group and Family Situations

[davetheanalyzer]

I had the library writer group meeting two Saturdays ago. There were technical issues with zoom, like the videos and then audio freezing out. I had to refresh multiple times and it even once crashed my browser. I ended up turning off the video and leaving it audio-only, which stopped the issues. Other than that, I did enjoy the meeting and even gave my own writing advice as well as feedback to one submitted piece. I hope I didn’t interrupt too much but it was hard to tell timing on zoom and everyone didn’t seem bothered. Hopefully I’ll get better at that. The person in charge noted the meetings will shift to a hybrid that accommodates those who want to be together in-person and those who want to stay home. I’ll see if there’ll be tech problems for the hybrid program but the person in charge said it shouldn’t be too difficult. At any rate, I enjoyed talking about writing with others and look forward to doing so again, where maybe I’ll show off some of my own writing for feedback. 

The house is thankfully a bit less crowded. The uncle who’d been sleeping in the porch for nearly two years had finally been urged to leave around Halloween. He has some…personal problems that made living with him difficult. Despite his departure containing some shouting, he doesn’t hold it against us since he later stopped by amicably two times this month, one to pick up any remaining stuff he had left. Hopefully he can find help but we aren’t equipped to deal with his issues. My parents assured there’d be no more house guests that’d have to crash out in the porch and my dad has been cleaning and refurbishing said porch, making it look more open. I’ll be seeing more of it, as the cold forces me to use the treadmill in there more often.

I saw Encanto last Saturday. I’ve seen the film’s trailers and been interested in it. I went with my mom and older brother and did enjoy it. The story covered fitting in a family and the damage keeping up appearances can do to one’s self. I like how it was shown how Mirabel being the only family member without a gift (aside from the husbands who marry into the family) affects her, how she puts herself out of situations and gets told not to rock the boat. The pressure doesn’t come from “evil” or “bad” family members but people who still care but their priorities can skew how she’s treated. I do like throughout the movie, other family members were shown to feel the pressure to fill a role, from Luisa feeling overwhelmed with the many tasks and not wanting to let others down to Isabella having to keep up a constant perfect image. This is all revealed through song, which’re good, but I didn’t follow all of the lines and not because some were in Spanish – some of the lines were said very fast. Fortunately, I could check out the song lyrics online with subtitles (Mom, being a musical fan, loved the songs.).

The film showed well the familial pressure to keep up a “everything is fine” image for the family and community and that trying to solve the problem can get one branded as the cause of the problem. Mirabel gets scolded and stymied from getting to the bottom of the problem of the gift vanishing. That pressure to maintain things is such that there’re unintended consequences like Bruno feeling the need to leave the family without any prompting. Abuela Alma seemed to believe that questioning or inspecting the foundation of their life could lead to its collapse and doesn’t react kindly to Mirabel’s actions. Alma realizes her error after Mirabel gives her a chewing out and the Casita collapses (I like the Casita protected her in that scene and seemed to get on well with her). Alma had been putting pressure on her family with good intentions, not wanting them to lose their gift or precious position. This was partly from the trauma of having been driven from her home and the heartbreak of her husband’s sacrifice. I’ve read some interesting meta about how generational trauma can be passed on and can explain her behavior.

Now Alma realizes the personal needs of her family have been neglected and in reconciling with Mirabel, makes sure to change things accordingly. I read a few posts about how the “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” song is more focusing on the grim prophecies while he isn’t around because his disappearance was actually painful, which’s why they happily welcome him back. I know a few of Lin Manuel Miranda’s political choices are iffy and there’s a brief fat joke in the Bruno song. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the film and would recommend it for anyone interested.

That’s all for now. I can’t believe it’s almost the end of 2021 and I’m going to start the next year with no more schooling. No update on the job situation. Until the end of the year, see you!