I stayed up too late last night watching Oprah Winfrey Presents Their Eyes Were Watching God starring Halle Berry, since TEWWG has been one of my favorite books for years. I was hoping that since Lady O loves the book, too (and Suzan-Lori Parks wrote the screenplay) the movie wouldn't suck, and I was right. We got Monster's Ball Halle instead of Catwoman Halle, and the rest of the acting was solid as well. The director really captured the sensuality of the book. Even my husband got sucked in: "Oh, shit. Now he's going to steal all her money, isn't he?"
But I would have been just a teeny bit tired from staying up too late. What really is making me a zombie today is that at approximately 4:30 am, El Chico started running into our room, screaming, "I don't want a Beverly burrito!"
"You don't want a Beverly burrito?" we both asked.
"I don't want a Beverly burrito-o-o-o!!" El Chico sobbed.
Then he didn't want to crawl in on my side because he didn't want a Beverly burrito, and he didn't want to crawl in on El Grande's side because he still didn't want a Beverly burrito. Finally I coaxed him in and the two men went back to sleep. I got up to pee, and then my mind started racing about a project for Thursday (which I'll probably reveal in my next post).
The next thing I knew, I was being awakened by El Chico's little happy cheerful voice saying, "Mama! It's light outside! Did you have a good sleep?"
When I asked him about the night before, he revealed that it was a pepperoni burrito that he didn't want, not a Beverly burrito. Apparently he dreamed that I was trying to force him to eat a pepperoni burrito, and he threw it on the floor, and got in trouble for throwing food on the floor. All this was so traumatic that he woke up and ran screaming into our room.
"I'll never make you eat a pepperoni burrito, honey," I said. "But if you don't want to eat something, you should just tell me. You can't throw food on the floor."
I'd now like to make a formal, public apology to my mother. I didn't have many nightmares as a kid, but I have always had very vivid dreams, and every morning I forced my mother to listen to my dreams in excruciating detail.
Mom, I'm sorry. I had no idea.
And might I be the first commenter to note that Teacake was FINE.
Posted by: Molly | March 07, 2005 at 10:37 AM
Good heavens -- are there such things as pepperoni burritos? I am all for the fusion cuisine, mind you, but that seems like a combination that would indeed give any right-thinking person nightmares.
Posted by: Erica | March 07, 2005 at 11:45 AM
How sweet! You are such an awesome mother.
Posted by: Julianna | March 07, 2005 at 12:02 PM
that is fantastic!
i love hearing about other peoples' dreams. i get all excited and wish i could see the images the way they see them in their heads.
my mom once asked me if i dreamt in color or black and white. i promptly responded that i dreamt in cartoons--and i did, until i was about 8 years old, everything in my head was essentially rotoscoped.
Posted by: wix | March 07, 2005 at 12:59 PM
Okay, see, I planned to stay up for TEWWG, but I reconsidered almost immediately when I saw Oprah's introduction (I compromised and taped it, but haven't watched the end yet.) I love this novel too, but I really object to the movie being advertised as one of the greatest love stories of our time cuz that just ain't what it's about.
Now, Tea Cake was FINE, but the whole point of the novel--I thought--was about self-identity and hawking it as a love story (a love story that ends when one member of the loving pair is forced to kill the other) undermines its depth.
Case in point: we teach this in our A.P literature courses and our assistant principal--who watched the movie but has not ever read the novel--came in this morning and suggested that if the novel really was "just" a love story, it ought to be removed from the curriculum.
Okay. End of rant.
Posted by: Brooklyn Girl | March 07, 2005 at 04:01 PM
Oh my goodness, I'm so glad to hear that we're not the only parents who sometimes let our shouting kid come in our bed in the middle of the night. Our daughter has done that a few times in the past week including last night when she had to come in TWICE. She woke up crying and was very upset so we let her sleep in our bed for a little while. It was so sweet when I felt her little fingers on my back.
Posted by: Elise | March 07, 2005 at 09:42 PM
Brooklyn Girl, I didn't see the TV introduction to the book, so I had no idea Oprah was billing it as the world's greatest love story. Halfway through the movie, my husband asked me "What do you like so much about this book?" I answered that it was a novel about a woman discovering her own power. The men in the book are more than just foils for her own process, but it's not about love. It's also just such a lyrical gem, and the way Hurston stays completely in the black culture without ignoring the white world is true talent.
Now that you mention the introduction, which sounds just horrible, I wonder if there are people who watched the movie as a straight love story. I think it would be incredibly disappointing to do so, since it takes you through her process and the part with Tea Cake is really so minor compared to all the other stuff.
Personally, I think they should keep it in the curriculum no matter what it's about just because the language is so beautiful (why else read "Romeo and Juliet"?). If I could change the standard curriculum I'd take out Grapes of Wrath and replace that with Chronicle of a Death Foretold, which I think high school students could really get into. But that's just me.
Elise, El Grande and I are waaaay too lazy to consider any course of action for treating nightmares besides just having him crawl in with us so we can all go back to sleep. It might be different if he had nightmares every night, but it seems to be maybe once a month at this point, so it's better than having to get up, talk him through it, and then convince him to go back to sleep in his own bed.
Oh, and Erica, I think the point of the dream was that a pepperoni burrito would be disgusting. I don't even want to think about it. Which is why I could promise without hesitation never to ask him to eat a pepperoni burrito.
Posted by: Moxie | March 07, 2005 at 10:00 PM
a pepperoni burrito *is* terrifying. i forgot to mention that on my earlier stalk-through.
grapes of wrath was the only book i never finished in my entire english lit career. the fucking tortise! i was slain by the time i arrived at page 3. i bought the cliffs notes and felt awful, until i tried again and then started using the phrase 'tom joad' as a nonspecific epithet. i gave up, i just couldn't take it.
Posted by: wix | March 07, 2005 at 11:34 PM
I'm glad that the movie was good, I Tivo'd it, but haven't watched it yet. I loved the book, too.
Belated Happy Birthday El Chico!
And I'd like to thank you for your email on breastfeeding--just waded through a clogged email box (not keeping up on it like I did before my bundle of baby arrived). We ended up staying with formula, but I'd like to try breastfeed my next child so I'm going to save your email to use then.
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