Monday, August 23, 2010

Mockingjay Predictions 

Guess what's happening tomorrow??

Anyone?

Mockingjay comes out!! Hooray!

In case you're one of the few sad folks who doesn't know about the wonderful Hunger Games series (a group which does NOT include either of the last two 10th grade classes I've taught), Mockingjay is the finale to the most exciting, action-packed, romantic YA trilogy to grace the shelves of Barnes and Noble pretty much EVER. (And yes, if you're wondering, I'm rating it over both Twilight {which should have remained a trilogy} and the Mortal Instruments series.)

So, in the same tradition that brought you the Harry Potter predictions of '07, I offer my theories on what Mockingjay will contain.

#1 Peeta will die.
Yup, I'm not alone in this view, according to some of the fansites. It's a pretty fair bet that when someone is too good for this world, he or she won't last long in it. Peeta is just too saintly to survive the cut-throat Panem of the Hunger Games. And his death would maybe give Katniss the kick in the pants that she needs to fully commit to the revolution.

#2 Katniss will end up with no one.
Sorry Team Peeta and Team Gale. As wonderful as both those guys are, Katniss has stated repeatedly that she doesn't want a husband or children. And I can't imagine the aftermath of the revolution to be such a happy fuzzy place that she changes her mind about that. Whether Gale will also die, or whether Katniss will simply choose not to be with him, I don't know. I suspect she'll spend at least the first half of the book agonizing over her guilt about being with Gale while Peeta is missing; but in the end, I think she'll decide to be alone.

#3 Prim will have a crucial role in the resistance.
Primrose has been pushed to the sidelines one too many times, relegated to the role of scared little sister watching as Katniss kicks butt in the Games again and again. I think it's time she found her groove--whether that means she uses her healing skills in a more central role or discovers some other awesome skill. Katniss is going to have to recognize that her sis is no longer a helpless child.

#4 Katniss will reconcile with her mom.
Although they became more friendly during Catching Fire, Katniss and her mother still have some baggage to work through. I'm looking forward to a nice mother-daughter heart-to-heart in Book 3.

#5 It's time for the Capitol to wake up.
As we've seen through the conversations with Katniss's prep team, the Capitol people aren't exactly evil--not the way President Snow and the Gamemakers are. They're just overfed, indolent, and ignorant of how the rest of the world lives. (Hold on, who does that remind me of? Oh well, guess it's not important.) Also, addicted to voyeuristic violence. Okay, so they're a little bit evil. But I think if the resistance can somehow shock them into acknowledging the conditions outside the Capitol and the suffering of the rest of the people in Panem, they might find a few allies among the Capitol residents--like Cinna, for example (assuming he's still alive--which I think he is, by the way).

Okay, so those are my predictions--nothing shocking, I know, but I haven't been quite as active in this fandom as I was in Harry Potter's; plus, two books doesn't give you quite as much of a running start as six. :)

Anyone else want to chime in with some HG predictions? You have about nineteen hours left!

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Posted by: Devon / 12:39 PM
4 comments

Friday, August 13, 2010

I've been thinking a lot about my garden lately. Partly because I've been spending so much time in it, and partly because I've been reading a book about a poet who spent his life gardening. The book is full of photographs, poems, and musings about what is the essence of a garden and what it has to teach you.

I love how much there is to learn about gardening. There are a several plants that I've tried to grow now for two or three years and failed dismally each year. Somehow that excites me--how much more awesome will it be when I finally figure out what they need to grow well! Someday I'll learn how to harvest seeds from all my plants, so I don't have to buy as many annuals and vegetable starts. I'll learn how to recognize diseases and pests and the best ways to deal with them. I'll know the perfect day to plant beans and how to get the jasmine to bloom.

I love how even though I'm still sort of flailing around in my little garden--like a child beginning piano lessons who just pounds away on the keys--even though I'm planting the wrong plants next to each other and over-watering or under-watering and not controlling the weeds well and putting stuff in too early or too late, my garden still manages to be beautiful. Imperfectly, unevenly beautiful, but still. It still produces delicious food for me to eat and flowers to go in my vases.

Gardeners often talk about the endless work of a garden, but I sort of love that there's always something to do. A garden is never finished. It's endless work because it's endlessly producing, endlessly living. And whatever you start in a garden has the potential to go on indefinitely. Unlike a cake which gets eaten or a blouse that gets worn or goes out of style, a garden can make lifelong changes on a landscape--like in my neighbor June's yard, where she has lived and worked since she was a child.



"I think of gardening as an extension of one's own being, something as deeply personal and intimate as writing a poem. The difference is that the garden is alive and it is created to endure just the way a human being comes into the world and lives, suffers, enjoys, and is mortal."
--Stanley Kunitz

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Posted by: Devon / 8:53 AM
1 comments

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