Hey Nostradamus! : Heather

         In Hey Nostradamus!, Douglas Coupland introduces a new character, her name is Heather. Heather is a woman who has fallen in love with Jason. Heather and Jason made a connection as soon as they meet. Jason wasn’t able to connect with anyone, but with Heather, they manage to even create their own imaginary world. One day Jason mysteriously disappeared. His disappearance has Heather worried. She is so worried that she tries investigating on her own. When she was about to give up hope she receives a phone call from a psychic. Heather is not much of a believer when it comes to psychics, but when she mentions a phrase “Oh I say”, Heather begins to wonder. The phrase is what Heather and Jason use to say when talking about their imaginary character Gerard. Heather becomes confused so she talks to Reg about the psychic. Reg who was always religious, was now more open to things. Reg actually listens to Heather and tries to help and understand Heather. The psychic gave Heather a bit of hope, but also a consideration that maybe Jason is dead.
           Chapter 3 of Hey Nostradamus! was interesting because of how some of the characters changed. Reg at the beginning was a sad, strange little man, but in this chapter we saw a twist in his character. He was still religious, but more open to the real world. Reg was actually drinking wine and smoking. This was unexpected but exciting to read. It was also nice to read how Jason actually became part of a relationship with Heather. Because he was always alone and sad it was interesting to read how he made a connection with someone.

Hey Nostradamus! Jason

          Reading the second half of Coupland’s book, Hey Nostradamus!, further got into Jason’s life and what he was going through. After almost 10 years Jason finally spoke to his father Reg. Reg was ill at the hospital and asked if Jason be informed in order for him to drop off some belongings while he stays in the hospital. When Jason went to drop off the belongings, he asked Reg why he had accused him of murdered. Reg responded that he saw him as perfect. Learning that Jason had murdered a kid made him wonder where he would go heaven or hell. After having talked for a while Jason left. To Jason’s luck he came face to face with a similar situation of the massacre. He was about to be killed by another man, but when the man got injured Jason had the chance to kill him. He decided not to kill him. Jason that night was able to let go of so much anger he had inside his heart. Another important issue discussed in this chapter was that Jason is the father of Barb’s twins. When Kent died Barb realized she wanted to feel closer to Kent. So she asked Jason if he would help her. Jason understood Barb, having a baby with him meant some of Kent’s generic traits. The only way Jason would help her was if they got married. She agreed and they flew to Vegas. They got married and then a few months later the twins were born.
          The second part of chapter 2 of Hey Nostradamus! was not what I expected. I have liked most of the reading so far, but the second part of the reading was a little dull to me. Some parts were interesting such as when they began discussing how Barb and Jason got married. It got me wondering why Jason wanted to marry Barb. He isn’t religious no more so why would he go through all that trouble and marry her. I am still not so sure why he wanted to marry her and maybe it will be explained later on in the reading so im looking forward to that.

                                                    Chapter 2 Hey Nostradamus               
              In the second part of Hey Nostradamus! Douglas Coupland’s main focus is Jason. Jason was a quiet religious boy. He had a really bad relationship with his father. Things only became worst after the massacre, where Jason lost his beloved Cheryl. The day of the massacre Jason launched a rock straight at one of the attackers causing the attackers death. When Jason’s father, Reg, was informed by this he accused Jason of murdering a kid. Because Reg was a very religious man, he could not handle his son ending someone else life causing them to drift from one another. After the massacre Jason was never the same. For one thing he was not able to let go of the pain in his heart due of his wife’s death. Also Jason came to trust no one. Ten years later, and Jason has become a sad lonely man. He really didn’t have friends and he knew that he was alone. Noticing his isolation from people caused him fear. He also distant himself from religion and God. Jason became the thing his wished he had never become. He became a bitter, sad man just like his father.
              The second part of Hey Nostradamus! to me was very gloomy. Jason who lost his lover Cheryl, became heartbroken. He had no one there by his side trying to comfort him during such a hard time. His father Reg was a heartless, bitter old man who instead of trying to understand him only made him feel worst. His loneliness and fear to trust other made me think that many people must also feel that way as well. At times I believe I have also felt like that, and I myself find it hard to trust even close friends. Jason’s isolation from people is really scary. Trying to relate and understand Jason made me really enjoy the book.

                                         Hey Nostradamus (pg 3-42)
             In the first chapter of Hey Nostradamus a girl named Cheryl spoke of her life. Cheryl was a high school girl who at a young age was already married in secret to her lover Jason and even pregnant. Cheryl was confused, she believed in God but also wondered why so many bad things would happen. Even though she was confused she still strongly believed deep down in God and would pray. One day her school cafeteria came under attack by 3 students. That was the day Cheryl died, and before her death she began to remember events that had occurred in her life. One such event was the day of her wedding. The crazy ride to Las Vegas and how wrong and at the same time how right it all felt to her.
Cheryl died accepting her death and died wondering if she would be able to see her beloved Jason from the beyond. Cheryl also realized that the world will always be filled with darkness.
                I really enjoyed reading chapter one from Hey Nostradamus! because Cheryl spoke of every moment with so much description. Every story she had to tell was so well described you could imagine yourself there and maybe even being the one telling the story. Also so many of the questions she would ask herself about religion are questions I myself have asked myself hundreds of times. Like if God does exist then why do so many things happen? I myself have come to understand that there will always be bad in this world. Her confusion about religion is something many people must go through everyday which is why it was nice reading Cheryl’s thoughts and feeling.

        In “The library Card”, Richard Wright discusses how his passion for reading lead him to see the world in a whole new way. One day after arriving to work Wright picked up the newspaper and began reading. After that day Wright became curious and was eager to read more. Because he was a black boy, he was not allowed to read from the library. Wright decided to ask an Irish Catholic from his job for books , the Irish man agreed to let him borrow his library card but to not speak of this to no one. After that day Wright would check out book from the library frequently. He began to question the text, how and why the writers would write the way they did and who they would talk about. He was so passionate about reading and could not get enough. Wright eventually began seeing life in a new way, He became unhappy with his life, he felt hostile and hatred. He finally came to the decision to go to the North. He began planning what he would do in order not to feel so hostile, he would wonder if things would completely change for him.
         I enjoyed reading “The Library Card” because Wright spoke of how reading changed his perspective of life. Wright wrote how reading made him see things in a whole new way. Most of the articles I have read so far mentioned how reading changed their life for the better and how they were happy with the results. In Wrights case I liked how reading lead him to question his own life and how he tried to make it better by moving to the North. It made him see that life isn’t always what one thinks and might expect, but is trying to improve it. All the reading and questioning made him feel hostile, but it also made him see that he wasn’t living a happy life.

            In “Only Daughter” author Sandra Cisneros describes her life growing up as the only daughter in a family of six sons. Because she was the only girl, she had plenty of time to spare. Cisneros had time to read, think and imagine. When she was in the fifth grade she decided to share her plan about going to college with her father. Her father was ok with her choice but he had something else in mind. He wished for her to go to college in order for her to find a husband. When the forth year in college came, her father saw her education as a waste because she still had not found a husband. Most of the time Cisneros felt left out by her father. She saw college different than her father. After 10 years of writing professionally, Cisneros began getting financial rewards, such as her second National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. One Christmas day her family gathered together. There for the first time Cisneros felt appreciated by her father. He read over her novel and even asked about the book. Because her father became interested in her book, Cisneros felt it was the most wonderful thing that had happened to her. As the only daughter in her family of six sons, Cisneros finally felt real appreciated by her father.
             The article “Only Daughter” was exciting because I being a female can relate to her situation. Cisneros explained that because she was a woman her father believed she should only attend school to find a husband, but when that didn’t work out he saw her time in school as a waste of time. Having parental support is important and she didn’t have that. Many women are discriminated and may even be put down because of their gender.I really loved that Cisneros didn’t give up. She worked hard and kept writing and exploring through her ideas until she became a success. She achieved her goal which was to make her father become interested in her work. Deep down we all desire to be great and impress others, which is why i found Cisneros article inspiring.Women and even men can  learn from her example and try and follow her path to work hard to achieve greatness.

                                                         Learning to read
                      In “Learning to Read”, author Malcom X discusses how he learned to read and interpret his reading materials. As Malcom spends years in jail he came to realize the joy of reading a simple dictionary. To him books were a way to see the world and understand peoples point of view. As he read more he became fascinated with history. He informed himself as much as he could about events that occurred. A subjected that had a great impact on him was black history. He was fascinated, horrified, and loved every moment when reading about the subject. It was a challenge to find facts about black history because many white people considered there not to be any history in black men. The more Malcom read the more captivated he became and would spend as much time as he could reading and informing himself. He saw jail a time of learning and informing himself as much as he could, Malcom would study up to 15 hours a day. Malcom learned that reading was the best way to find facts about the world and spend every moment he could learning and trying to understand history as best he could.
                    I found the essay “Learning to Read” attention-grabbing. At first like any essay or book it seemed boring. But the more I read the essay the more interesting it became. The way Malcom described the joy of reading was very interesting. He would question peoples actions and read more of why they acted that way. His passion for black history was fascinating, as he described the horrors they went through it made me picture every moment as though I was there. It made me question why white man who called themselves Christians would commit such atrocity? I really liked that Malcom came to understand why other races, such as Chinese and Africans, came to hate white man. His passion for reading and how he comprehends the information he reads is motivating, he described reading in such a way that it made me want to read more about what he has to say in the matter of black history.