A bit late, effed my back up with yard work and sitting for long periods just isn't feeling too wonderful now.
I had a difficult time relating to this story, and maybe it's just that I'm not part of Julia Wertz's generation. I kept wanting to shake her and say, "Girl, seriously, what sort of trajectory do you think you're on???"
There were some moments I saw that Julia was really trying to think outside of her life. Page 31 when she is unpacking and is seriously aggravated about the loss of her box with her favorite comics, seeing the newspaper headlines that likely were being seen for the first time, put her complaint into a perspective (the last frame).
Her drinking on her 25th birthday (page 85 to 97) and her brain taking a holiday allowed her to self-reflect and with that, self-loathe on her liquid activity taking active control of her life. Her blackout and coming "back" at the Laundromat and returning to her apartment is telling. On learning what happened, Julia starts drinking. Again. Later on page 89, she asks THE question, "What the fuck is wrong with me?" as she heads into the liquor store. She's starting to see what the f*ck is wrong, but the neurons aren't firing everything at her. The attack of the bottles and her brain taking off is telling. From that point to the Holmes and Watson vignette to p 97, she is interjecting some humor while at the same time, noting (p 96) "It's a civious cycle with those two rubes." Who, really, are the rubes, Julia? Um....you AND your brain/common sense!
Is this something common to twenty-somethings today? If so, I am seriously angered that this is an acceptable way to maneuver into adulthood. Granted, we've created quite the f*cking mess in our world, but drinking it away doesn't make it go away.
I kept wanting things to get better, and she does it again on p113. Made me think of the old song Drinking, Again... Julia is a hot mess, and I again wonder about this behavior being indicative of lots of folks her age...or perhaps her life is a warning siren to other twenty-somethings????
Julia shows regret at her drinking, but keeps doing it. Her self-loathing and Ms. Critical-Bitical show up in little ways, such as p 127's vignettes showing her failings, summing herself up as "Actually, I'm more like a toilet with bad plumbing." That's hella sad.
She also has regret for not being available in SF for her brother, and has regrets (p 117). Her phrase, "...I'm just gonna bottle this back up until it explodes in my future therapist's face." says many things. She puts it as "bottled up" and when you stuff those feelings, they will come out, likely in a not-too-pleasant manner. She is predicting her future with the "explodes in my therapist's face" line. So, Julia, you can't control people, but you are trying to over-control how YOU feel.
The mechanics of the piece were well laid out in grid form, even without frames, the majority of the pages were a 2x3 grid. The artwork was pretty simple, and her caricature was reminiscent of cartoons in the 30s and 40s.
Her brother......he changes at one point, and I was wondering if that was related to his addiction and recovery process, but then that didn't hold up as a theory. Page 76 he is depicted with small eyes, then the next page, he and his sister have the same large buggy eyes. Ditto page 78. Then page 81 he goes back to the small eyes. I wasn't sure what Julia's message was there. Anyone know?
Page 15 lower right frame gave me the only LOL, and to be honest, I know people who actually did vote for Schwarznegger just for kicks.
I was curious about Julia's memoir and the characterizations of women from California from two other readings this semester: Imposter's Daughter and Lucky. Is it me, or do these perpetuate some sort of characterization that California women have lots of problems, whether it be addition, relocation anxiety, moving multiple times, self-awareness issues, inferiority complexes, lack of confidence???
I ended on page 187 feeling hopeful for Julia. I hope she sticks to her guns.
I like what you say about "drinking it away doesn't make it go away," because something that was painfully obvious was that no matter how much she drank, the next day just brought on yet another reason to keep on drinking. But I couldn't help the desire to really root for her to quit, especially since she notes what a petite person she is, which makes her tendency to order three times as many drinks as everybody else troubling. Her alcoholism reminded me of a scene from Austin Powers that always made me want to cry even though it was supposed to be funny: "I drink because I'm unhappy, and I'm unhappy because I drink" (the addiction was a bit different though). Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit older than Wertz, too, but I certainly see twenty-somethings (and plenty of people who are older than that) dealing (or not dealing) with their problems the same way, as I work in a bar. My friends and I spent much of our time in bars when we were in our 20s, too, but most of us are fine now...Obviously, she had a drinking problem, but it does seem like drinking and drugs are often a rite of passage for people of many generations when they are in their 20s, and it doesn't always lead to raging alcoholism. It's probably twisted that I just expect people in their 20s to abuse alcohol, and I expect most of them to figure out how to drink responsibly within the same decade. I've seen it actually happen a lot of times.
ReplyDeleteI'm almost more disturbed by the idea of people throwing their votes away as a joke. *Shudder.*
'I'm almost more disturbed by the idea of people throwing their votes away as a joke. *Shudder.*' --> yes, me too, Rhonda. Me too!
ReplyDeleteBut, I see a lot of 20somethings, many of whom are my friends, get caught up this cycle too. And it's heartbreaking, but I love how Julia deals with these running emotions...
I wouldn't count on Julia being any more of a representative character than Marjane. It's a dangerous place to go, to put a cultural, generational or even regional burden of representation on any one character. Having said that, this character brings up behaviors that are disturbing and she wrote it so we would be disturbed and maybe perturbed at her character. It was a very narrow development and so the choices the character makes become more emphatic.
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