ARAB TIMES, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2015
27
Gloria Steinem honored at Ohio city’s peace prize ceremony
American Silberman’s ‘Neurotribes’ wins British book prize
LONDON, Nov 3, (Agencies):
American writer Steve Silberman’s
autism book “Neurotribes” won the
2015 Samuel Johnson Prize for NonFiction on Monday and the author said
he hoped the attention would help support efforts to have autistic people
play a more productive role in society.
Silberman’s is the first work of popular science to win the prestigious
British award in its 17-year history
and comes at a time of growing public
awareness of the neurodevelopmental
disorder that affects millions of people
around the world, the prize committee
said in awarding the prize to
Silberman.
“When I started writing about
autism in 2001 I thought I was going
to be doing journalism about a very
rare neurological disorder”, Silberman
told Reuters at the awards ceremony in
London.
“I ended up writing about the long
journey of a group of people towards
freedom and self-determination and
that is in many ways the great story of
our time”, Silberman, who noted that
he is gay and that his husband had
supported him while he was writing
the book, said.
Autistic
“I think autistic people are coming
into their own and demanding a place
at the table when public policy is formulated that affects their lives and
affects the lives of their families and I
think that’s the future”, he added.
Silberman became interested in
autism when he wrote a ground-breaking article for Wired magazine in 2001
about the seemingly high incidence of
the condition among the children of
successful tech couples in Silicon
Valley.
His book, the full title of which is
“Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism
and How to Think Smarter About
People Who Think Differently”,
delves into the history of the diagnosis
of autism simultaneously by Hans
Asperger in Nazi-controlled Vienna
and in the United States by Leo
Kanner.
Asperger saw that the condition was
not unusual and was manifested in a
family of traits, including socially
awkward behaviour and precocious
abilities, while Kanner described it as
an uncommon condition that was triggered by cold behaviour by a child’s
parents.
Silberman argues that Kanner’s picture of autism stigmatised parents and
the children suffering from the condition, a situation that is only now being
rectified.
“We admired Silberman’s work
because it is powered by a strongly
argued set of beliefs: That we should
stop drawing sharp lines between what
we assume to be ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’, and that we should remember
how much the differently wired human
brain has, can and will contribute to
our world”, historian and journalist
Anne Applebaum, chair of judges,
said.
“He has injected a hopeful note into
a conversation that’s normally dominated by despair”.
The prize, which is open to books
published in English by authors of any
nationality, carries a 20,000-pound
($30,900) cash award. Last year’s winner was English writer Helen
Macdonald’s “H is for Hawk”, about
her decision to train a goshawk as a
way of dealing with the grief of losing
her father.
Also:
DAYTON, Ohio: Author and activist
Gloria Steinem was among those
honored at an Ohio city’s celebration
of the power of literature to foster
peace, social justice and global understanding.
The Dayton Daily News reports
(http://bit.ly/1Q5wQKv) Steinem was
presented with the 2015 Richard C.
Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement
Award at the annual awards presentation Sunday.
The presentation came during
events commemorating the 20th
anniversary of the Dayton Peace
Accords on Bosnia that were negotiated in the southwest Ohio city. The
agreement finalized on Nov 21, 1995,
ended a war in Bosnia.
The award given to Steinem honors
Holbrooke, the late US diplomat who
brokered the agreement.
The Dayton Literary Peace Prize
winner for nonfiction was “Just
Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson. Josh
Weil won for fiction with “The Great
Glass Sea”.
Books
Irving travels familiar road
Ex-music video vixen
fights domestic abuse
NEW ORLEANS, Nov 3, (AP): For
years, Karrine Steffans was one of
the most sought after video vixens
in the hip hop industry. In the late
‘90s and early 2000s she had roles
in more than 20 projects by multiplatinum-selling rap artists, appearing alongside the likes of Jay Z,
Puff Daddy, Mystikal and R. Kelly.
Then in 2005, she harnessed her
celebrity
status
to
write
“Confessions of a Video Vixen,” a
stark account of her hard life growing up in the US Virgin Islands with
an abusive mother to her days atop
the music field and the abusive relationships she had endured throughout. She also chronicled her trysts
with several of
the artists she
worked with,
landing on The
New
York
Times
Best
Seller list as
two
more
books
followed.
Nowadays,
Steffans
no
Steffans
longer
performs on a
video set. She stands at a lectern,
telling her story to students on college campuses, hoping this time
around people will look beyond the
celebrity and hear her out about the
ongoing fight against domestic violence and abuse.
In June, the 37-year-old published “Vindicated: Confessions of
a Video Vixen, Ten Years Later,”
her latest memoir. The book newly
explores her personal journey, this
time in a more toned-down manner.
And it focuses on her on-and-off
relationship with her famous child
star ex-husband and the continued
cycle of abuse she said she withstood.
“This is not a metamorphosis,”
said Steffans in an interview with
The Associated Press during a
recent visit to New Orleans. “I
haven’t morphed into an advocate
against domestic violence. I’ve
always been this way.”
Violence
She said when she wrote
“Confessions” and talked about the
domestic violence she faced as a
child — no one cared. “Why?
Because a woman’s life isn’t valued,
especially if she is also a sexual
being,” she said matter of factly. “ ...
I’ve been talking about this since
2005 but no one’s been listening.”
In “Confessions” Steffans
describes the hardships she suffered
as a child of an abusive mother and
the abuse she suffered later in life,
including a severe beating that left
her with cracked ribs.
Steffans was a guest lecturer at
Dillard University in New Orleans
as part of the university’s acknowledgment of National Domestic
Violence Awareness Month. She
said she’s been developing a college curriculum based on “violence
as a language” for years, primarily
at California State UniversityDominguez Hills.
“The question everyone wants an
answer to is ‘Why don’t we just
leave?’” she said of abusive relationships. “It’s very difficult to
explain to someone the psychological phenomenon. I wanted to find a
way to help people understand why
victims stay, sometimes until their
death.”
One of the issues she’s focusing
on now is social media and how
“violence as a language” feeds into
domestic abuse. She said obvious
signs of abuse — busted lips, broken bones — are easy to recognize.
“I think people are less aware of
the seeds they plant that lead to
those more grotesque forms of violence. And I wanted to start and
center my lectures around judgment
and the idea of people thinking they
have the right to share their opinions on everything all the time,” she
said, adding social media can be
harmful in that way.
“We have millions of people
shouting angry things into the ether
and they’re not thinking about the
seeds they’re planting and the
cracks they’re creating in other people’s armor. That violent language
creates cracks in people’s esteem,
allowing aggressors and abusers to
sneak in.”
She said she hopes her views will
help people “be kinder to each
other.”
Steffans said she endured the
backlash of music artists and others
she wrote about in her first book,
but she still doesn’t understand all
the outrage. After all, she said, she
was just telling her story.
“When rappers talk about their
life, the drug use, the women they
run through, it’s all good. When I
do it, there’s a problem. I’m telling
the exact same story,” she said.
Those stories are now helping
her transition to another career.
Several of her books have been
optioned for film and television.
Ten years later, she said, she’s in
a healthy, happy relationship and
finally comfortable in her skin:
“My destiny has nothing to do with
anybody else’s ideas of me. If God
has a plan for me, what man can
ruin that? No one is strong enough.
That’s what I want people to understand.”
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“Avenue of Mysteries” (Simon
& Schuster), by John Irving
Orphans? Check. Prostitutes?
Check. A prescient child embittered
by the Catholic church? Check and
check.
John Irving didn’t manage to
weave wrestling or New England
into his 14th novel, “Avenue of
Mysteries,” but he ticks all the other
boxes that will keep fans turning
the pages.
Like many of Irving’s stories, it
unfolds in the present day and
through flashbacks. Juan Diego
Guerrero is an accomplished novelist in 2011.
He’s on his way to the
Philippines to fulfill a promise he
made decades ago when he was
raised on a trash dump in Oaxaca,
Mexico. During his travels he is
constantly mixing up doses of the
beta-blocker Lopressor with Viagra,
causing him to fall asleep and
vividly dream of his formative
years south of the border.
In the flashbacks we meet Juan
Diego’s sister Lupe, whose voice
and conviction will remind Irving
fans of their beloved Owen Meany.
Instead of high-pitched yelling,
Lupe speaks unintelligible gibberish that only her brother can understand. There’s also a transvestite
named Flor, a pair of circus dwarfs
named Paco and Beer Belly, and a
life-size doll of the Sister of
Guadalupe.
The present-day plot isn’t quite
so outlandish, but it does involve a
horny mother and daughter who
accompany Juan Diego on his travels throughout southeast Asia.
Irving’s gift is blending all these
crazy plot elements together, stringing along two time lines to tell the
story of Juan Diego’s life from start
to finish. Or as his omniscient narrator tells it: “The chain of events,
the links in our lives — what leads
us where we’re going, the courses
we follow to our ends, what we
don’t see coming, and what we do
— all this can be mysterious, or
simply unseen, or even obvious.”
This being a John Irving novel,
the characters constantly grapple
with their faith. A Jesuit teacher forsakes his vows to fall in love with
Flor, the broken nose of a Virgin
Mary statue plays a central role and
14-year-old Juan Diego questions
the right of the Catholic Church to
impose sexual mores: “How can
they have any authority on sexual
matters if they don’t have sex?”
The novel’s tone moves easily
from drama to comedy to tragedy,
the perfect mix for a film adaptation
someday. Casting will probably
take time — these characters are so
unique. Until then, lose yourself in
this tale from one of America’s preeminent storytellers.
This photo provided by Atria Books shows the cover of the book, ‘The Japanese
Lover’, by author, Isabel Allende. (AP)
This photo provided by courtesy of Simon and Schuster shows the cover of
the book, ‘The Last of the President’s Men’, by Bob Woodward. (AP)
Woodward takes a look at Watergate thru Butterfield’s eyes
Book examines Nixon White House
By Will Lester
‘T
he Last of the President’s Men’
(Simon & Schuster), by Bob
Woodward
For Bob Woodward, former President
Richard Nixon and “the president’s
men” who surrounded him are the gift
that keeps on giving.
His latest book is about Alexander
Butterfield, the military officer who parlayed his college friendship with H.R.
“Bob” Haldeman at UCLA into a job
years later as Haldeman’s deputy in the
inner circle of Nixon’s White House.
Butterfield’s variety of assignments
gave him a front-row seat to witness one
of the more politically skilled, socially
awkward and bitterly partisan occupants
ever to serve in the White House.
And it eventually led Butterfield to
play a decisive role in the president’s
downfall.
Butterfield, a straight-laced Air Force
veteran, reported for duty in the Nixon
White House just as his first term
began. Butterfield was initially
starstruck to be inside the halls of
power, but quickly noticed quirky traits
and actions of the president that would
foreshadow what would come a few
years later.
Woodward’s book, based on extensive interviews with Butterfield and
access to numerous documents he kept
from his White House service, also
includes sections on Vietnam and other
major events during the Nixon presidency. In the Vietnam section, Woodward
writes that Nixon acknowledged in
scribbled notes on an official war memo
that for years the US had total control of
the skies over Laos and North Vietnam
and “the result=zilch.” Yet Nixon
ordered increased bombing, even after
making that observation.
Fascinating
Woodward’s latest offering about
Watergate is at its most fascinating,
however, when it closely examines the
Nixon White House through
Butterfield’s eyes.
Some examples:
■ In his first encounters with Nixon,
Butterfield recalled: “the president had
not only been cold, distant and dismissive. He had been rude.” He said never
in his adult life had he been “treated
with so little respect.” That impression
lingered with Butterfield for years.
■ Early on, Butterfield attended a
presidential briefing and noticed Nixon
“had a way of smiling with his mouth
but not his eyes ... Nixon’s eyes looked
hollow.”
■ At a small private birthday party at
the White House, Butterfield noted
Nixon seemed uncomfortable and had
little to say. Haldeman later told him
‘Reporting Always’: collection of writings by Rose
Allende novel features Japanese internment
By Ann Levin
he Japanese Lover’ (Atria
‘TIsabel
Books), by Isabel Allende.
Allende is partial to strong
women, courtly manners and leftist
politics. In her latest novel, “The
Japanese Lover”, she delivers all
three in a stirring romance about a
passionate love affair between a
Jewish refugee from Nazi-occupied
Poland and a Japanese-American
gardener.
Fans of “The House of the Spirits”,
Allende’s best-selling debut novel set
in her native Chile, will recognize
common themes, including an affection for ghosts, alternative medicine
and childhood romances that endure
into adulthood.
Her latest effort, a sweeping historical novel with some fantasy elements, opens in Lark House, a progressive retirement community in the
San Francisco Bay Area with a “faint
odor of disinfectant, old age, and —
occasionally — marijuana”, and
moves back and forth in time to introduce a geographically and culturally
diverse set of characters.
First, Alma Belasco, the matriarch
of a wealthy Jewish family in San
Francisco who emigrated to the
United States as a little girl when the
Nazis invaded Poland; next, Ichimei
Fukuda, a Japanese-American
whose immigrant father worked as a
gardener for Alma’s uncle before the
war and whose family was interned
after the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor; and also Irina Bazili, a recent
refugee from Eastern Europe who
harbors a terrible secret — as do a
few other major characters.
Many passages are deeply mov-
“it’s probably my fault for not preparing
a briefing paper” ... “if he’s given some
information — just a line or two — a
couple of talking points — he’s fine.”
■ In the spring of 1972, Nixon was
upset that the president of Harvard,
Derek Bok, was on the White House
grounds. Aides explained he was with
the first lady and many others interested
in White House preservation. “I don’t
give a damn,” Nixon snapped. “He’s on
our Enemies List ...”
More than a year earlier, in February
1971, Butterfield was told the president
wanted a taping system installed in the
Oval Office, and Butterfield made sure
it was done promptly. Nixon wrote later
that he had the taping system installed
“Reporting Always: Writings
From The New Yorker” (Scribner), by
Lillian Ross.
There are few people who can say
they have been on the company’s
payroll for decades. Lillian Ross is
one of those individuals. She began
her career at The New Yorker in 1945
as a reporter for “The Talk of the
Town” section. Seven decades later,
audiences continue to be charmed by
a collection of her writings in
“Reporting Always”.
Ross was 19 when she was hired
by managing editor Harold Ross.
Although impatient, he was a mentor
who encouraged her to “follow your
own bent”. Whether it was her young
age or an eagerness to succeed at
an exciting new job, Ross wasn’t
afraid to tackle each assignment with
her own style. Basic curiosity was the
building block of that style.
One endearing entry is an essay
featuring Ernest Hemingway. The
novelist welcomes Ross to tag along
on a few excursions as he and his
family visit New York City for a few
days in 1950. Instead of a stale
review on one of America’s greatest
writers, Ross depicted the energetic
man who hated to shop and loved to
drink. She simply did her job —
reporting not only what she saw, but
also on what she heard, felt, tasted
and touched.
Ross approaches each of her writings as if it were a small movie; there
must be a beginning, middle and end.
She has a way of painting a visual
picture for the audience. In her Robin
Williams essay, readers can feel the
affection the “Mrs Doubtfire” cast and
crew felt for his character. After reading “Symbol of All We Possess”,
readers feel that they, too, attended
the Miss America pageant in 1949.
Who doesn’t wonder if Dennis, the
senior from Bean Blossom Township
High School, ever returned to New
York City after his visit in 1960?.
Readers are invested in Ross’
work because she’s invested. She
has the ability to dive deep into the
minds and hearts of interviewees,
and readers are lucky that through
her writing, they are able to come
along for the ride. (AP)
because he wanted his administration
“to be the best chronicled in history.”
And for reasons he couldn’t anticipate at
the time, it was.
After Nixon won a landslide re-election, Butterfield moved to head the
FAA. The Watergate investigation
unfolded gradually after the initial burglary, and one afternoon, Butterfield
watched the John Dean testimony where
the former White House counsel was
saying Nixon was guilty of involvement
in a cover-up. “One who knew about the
tapes could not help think about the
tapes all through the Dean testimony,”
Butterfield said later.
The Watergate committee leading the
investigation in Congress became aware
of Butterfield, possibly through the
committee’s frequent contacts with
Woodward. When Butterfield was eventually called before the committee in
1973, GOP counsel Fred Thompson
asked him: “Are you aware of the installation of any listening devices in the
Oval Office?” Butterfield’s answer
paved the way for the lengthy fight for
the Watergate tapes and the eventual
resignation of the president who had
snubbed him years before. “I was aware
of listening devices, yes sir,” Butterfield
told the committee.
After repeated forays into the history
of Watergate, Woodward has anointed
Butterfield “The Last of the President’s
Men.” But don’t bet on it. (AP)
ing, especially those dealing with the
hardships of aging. Alma discovers
she needs “to find ways to avoid
stairs or to guess the meaning of a
sentence she hadn’t truly heard”.
Ichimei, meanwhile, confronts the
inevitable with equanimity.
“You are afraid our bodies will fail
us, and of what you call the ugliness
of age, even though you are more
beautiful now than you were at 23”,
he writes to Alma. “We’re not old
because we are 70. We start to grow
old as soon as we are born”.
It’s easy to scoff at some of
Allende’s conceits, including her tendency to make Ichimei and his parents preternaturally stoical and wise.
She can also come across as a
Pollyanna, writing, for example, that
Lark House residents “were conclusive proof that age, despite all its limitations, does not stop one from having fun and taking part in the hubbub
of life”.
Yet she is a dazzling storyteller,
with a wry, sometimes dark, wit and a
great eye for society’s changing fashions. She may be writing a fairy tale
for adults, but like the best of the
genre, it’s almost irresistible.
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