Mary Beth Writes

5/3/2023

I will bet you real money I am the only person who will compare the 2022 movie "Nope" directed by Jordan Peele with the novel "The Yoga of Max’s Discontent" by Karan Bajaj.

I rewatched Nope earlier this week. (One of you suggested Nope for the letter N.) Then I happened to read Yoga of Max. Both stories are compelling and I will be thinking about them for a long time. Starting right now.

‘Nope’ is a horror movie but, hey, when I watched it a few months ago that never dawned on me. It has plenty of scary moments but it’s never the gratuitous gore I associate (perhaps wrongly) with the horror genre.

The story is this. Adult siblings OJ and Em Haywood are attempting to keep their family’s horse training ranch going after their father’s death. The family has been in the business of training animals for Hollywood productions for generations.

Weird things are happening. They realize a UFO is hiding behind a cloud that’s permanently parked over their ranch – and the UFO eats living creatures. Em says they should film the UFO because if they can get an “Oprah shot” they can sell that video for enough money to sustain the ranch and save their legacy. OJ is distrustful, although it’s OJ who realizes the UFO doesn’t eat creatures who don’t look up.

The UFO is “a spectacle." Those who try to tame or exploit it become victims of it. OJ and Em survive (as well as some other characters) because they respect the power above and around them. OJ has done the long and ordinary work of caring for and training horses. He’s not relying on razzle-dazzle to protect him. He is an anxious loner who pays attention and responds cautiously – but responds.

The story changes when, in a heart pounding scene of large monkeys playing hide and seek in the horse barn, OJ is trying to keep himself safe until at one point he stops and says aloud, “Nope.” There will be more outbursts of “Nope” in the movie. “Nope” is a secularly sacred word of power; the power of realizing one isn’t going to continue being a victim of terrifying craziness. The person who says “Nope” is the person who changes the trajectory of the story.

This movie is about a black family and is directed and acted by black artists and it starts with the first known motion picture clip. In 1884 Eadweard Muybridge filmed “Horse in Motion” which is a horse galloping with a jockey on its back. That unknown jockey is Black. (You can look at that clip here.)

When spectacle and fame shape the stories we live our lives by –true stories are lost and we live in a false and dangerous world.

Nope.

“The Yoga of Max’s Discontent” by Karan Bajaj is a novel about a man whose life starts in dangerous urban poverty. He works incredibly hard, gets scholarships to elite schools and to Harvard. He becomes a hedge fund analyst and earns great wealth. The story begins when his mother dies and he acknowledges to himself how empty he feels.

An Indian man selling falafels from a food cart awakens in Max his yearning to discover what underlies suffering and life. He goes to India and lives first in an ashram and later he meditates in a cave in the Himalayas.

That’s it. That’s the novel.

The author, who lives in NYC with his wife and kids, was born and raised in India. He first carved out a successful and impressive career in technology; he still runs tech endeavors. Earlier in his life he lived in an ashram, learned Hatha Yoga, meditated in the Himalayas. His novels grow out of his experiences in the world.

This novel is not about an overachieving superhero. It’s the path of an intelligent person weary of striving towards goals he doesn’t care about. He’s witnessed suffering, especially growing up in deep poverty; and knowing what he knows tears his heart. He takes his flawed self to a place where he hopes to find teachers who are asking better questions and then answering them with their lives, not just words.

I now know a great deal more about the practice of yoga and why people pursue it and the goals it aims towards.

More importantly, the story moved me. Aren’t all of us exhausted by the loss and suffering we witness every day in the news feed and among our family and friends? How do we seriously seek honest spirituality and steadfast kindness?

..

You don’t have to watch this movie or read this book. Some of you will want to, others won’t. Inviting you to love tales I love is not my point and isn’t why I’m spending my time trying to write this.

It’s the questions that are raised that are important.

How do we find a true narrative when Hollywood and The American Myth and How to be a Modern Woman and How to be a Real Guy and How to Age Gracefully give us such appealing lies? When I’m tired I want stories where attractive people find each other and solve problems and have a great time bringing serenity, joy, peace, and joy. Yeah, right. Is this how it works?

Nope.

What’s true is the lies. We live under a parked cloud that obfuscates unknown-to-us forces that want to eat us alive.

Pay attention to the individuals we think are “cool”. Pay attention to whom we judge and how we do it. Pay attention to the hours we give to endeavors we don’t actually care very much about.

How do we go forward with our lives when there is so much loss and suffering? How on earth do we watch women and children edging into famine brought about in great part by our climate affecting actions? I started tutoring in my neighborhood school six years ago and on my very first day there a little girl could not answer the easy questions on the worksheet in front of her. As I tried to help she said she was going to kill herself. When I told the teacher she said yes, she had two students that year who would say that. The part time school counselor had met with them but the parents never showed up and so teachers mostly watched them. The child later moved away. That’s how it resolved.

How do we take this in? I’m here for people who ask hard questions we can’t easily answer.

In the meantime, take care of the horses of our everyday obligations, because at some point, we will need them. Exercise thoughtfully. (Yoga begins as exercise). Respond to the actual moments we are in.

Say Nope when Nope is the thing that needs to be said.

 

Tags

Comments

*NOPE* was the best four letter word that I've ever learned, but it took being in my twenties to be able to let it flow from my lips.. Pryor to that I was a *YES* man, afraid that if I said Nope I wouldn't or couldn't be loved or accepted by the people around me.. Because of my upbringing I basically lived in the shadows of the others around me, going around with a giant hole that needed to be filled.. I wanted something I felt I could only get by be compliant.. I felt that in order to get love from my own mother I had to give or do the things she'd ask for.. All my efforts went unappreciated.. I learned that by saying *NOPE* I could slowly give myself confidence and learn to love myself.. *Nope* I can't think of a better life lesson than that..
Mary Beth's picture

Wow, that's really strong. And really true for whole bunches of us, in different ways.

Add new comment

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Len’s Birthday

11/30/2023

Last week I mentioned that Monday of this week would be Len’s birthday. A friend remarked to me ever so kindly later that day, “I thought his birthday was the 30th?”

It is. Len’s birthday is the 30th. This same friend has commented to me, over the years, about how much I remember.

Covid Diary #1350 Thanksgiving

11/22/2023

Today is 1350 days since the that March Friday in 2020 when we all went into quarantine.

Today is 60 years since JFK was assassinated on November 22, 1963. I remember that day, so does Len, so do many of you. Here’s a scary truth. We are as far today from that day – as that day was from the Wright brother’s first flight at Kitty Hawk on Dec 17, 1903.

Quarantine Diary #1349 Sci-Fi & Prophecy

11/21/2023

We both took Covid tests this morning and both of us still have pink lines. I asked the internet what this means and it says I might be pregnant.

I have a call into my doctor’s office to discuss. I feel so much better that if I didn’t know I have Covid, I wouldn’t know it. I’ve been sicker than this after too much pie.

Covid Diary #1347

11/19/2023

A few of you might realize yesterday we were 1345 days since March 13, 2020, and today we’re at 1347. Yup, I used a different calculator. Just a fun reminder that precision depends as much on asking the right question as doing perfect math.

I’m in day #4 of having Covid. No more chills. I have a fever of 100.4 which is more impressive than the 100.2 that Len achieved on his Day #4.  I’m taking various OTC meds and I keep track of them in my phone’s notes because, wow, it’s so easy to have no memory of the last time one took something. I’m good. Enough.

Covid Diary #1345

11/18/2023

I thought I was done with the Covid Diary but guess what? Len and I caught Covid this week! Actually, Covid caught us. We have continued to wear masks in stores, library, meetings, and our church so we will never know for sure where Len encountered Covid. And since I got it four days later, I guess we know where I got it…

My New Substack for Short Stories

11/11/2023

Let’s call this “Old Dog Versus New Tricks.” Does it feel to you as if I’ve been extra quiet these past months? It does to me. One big reason is that I’ve been figuring out Substack.

Here’s the deal: In addition to this blog, I’ve been writing more creative fiction. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I’m finally taking it seriously. I’m not giving up this website, but substack is going to let me concentrate on short stories and other stand-alone pieces.

What’s Substack?

Tag Cloud

9/11 17 minutes 500 Words A-Z AARPtaxes AAUW abortion Acadia accident Accountable Advent aging Alaska anniversary antibiotics antlers apples appointments Arrows art Ashland August Augustine aunts baby Badlands balance Baldwin Barbara Barkskins Beauty Becky Becoming Esther Berry birthday bistro BLM Blue BookReport books boy scout Bread BrokenDays BuyAngry Cabeza de Vaca Cahokia calendars Canada canoe cat romance cats cello Chicago China Choosing Christmas cilantro Cinnabuns circus climate change clouds Clowns clutter Colonialism comet ComfortZone CommonSense community consumerism Cops Corvid-19 Courage Covid-19 Crazy creditreport creosote crime CrimeShows danger DarkRiver death Debate December DecisionFatigue decluttering democracy dentist depression Destination Today Detroit Didion disasterprep dogs dollhouse Dreams Duty Easter eBay Echoes Eclipse election EmilyDickinson eschatology Esquipulas exit polls eyes Fable FairTrade family farmer Fata Morgana ferns firealarm Fitness Five Flatbread Flexible flu Food Pantry Fort de Chartres frame Franc FrancGarcia friends frugal FrugalHacks Frugality frustration Ft.Ticonderoga fungi fusion Galena Gannets Garden GarfieldParkConservatory Gaspe genius geode GeorgeFloyd gerrymandering ghosts gifts girls GNTL gorgons goulash GovernorThompsonStatePark Graduation grandkids granola Grief groceries Guatemala gum guns Hair happiness HaveYouEver? hawks healthcare Healthinsurance hearings heart heaven HelleKBerry heroes hike History home HomeRepair Honduras Hope HowCrowGotOutofJail humor hurricane Ice Cream idiosyncrasy igloos impeachment Innkeeper Instincts integrity InternetPrivacy Interview InviteMe2Speak James Baldwin Jan 6 Janus jewelry JoyceAndrews Judy JulianofNorwich Jump justice Karen kites ladder Lady Lamb LangstonHuges LaphamPeak laundry LeeLeeMcKnight lemming Len Light Lincoln Little Women LockedOut Loki loneliness LouisArmstrong Love Ludington Macaw macho Manitoulin MargaretFuller Maria Hamilton Marquette marriage Marsden Hartley masks Mayan MayaWorks meme Memories men Middlemarch MilesWallyDiego MindfulChickens Mistakes MLK moon Mother MothersDay mounds mouser movies museums must-haves Mustapha NAMI Nancy Drew Newfoundland New Mexico New York City Nomadland nope observation OBUUC Ocotillo OnaJudge ordinary OscarRomero osprey Outside oximeter Parade mayhem PastorBettyRendon Paul Hessert PDQ Penny persimmon photos Pi Pies pineapples pizza poetry Preaching privacy procrastination Protest QE2 Quern quest Questions Rabbit holes racism reading recipe recipes recommendations Remember RepresentationMatters Reruns responsetoKapenga Retirement rhubarb Ricky rime RitesofPassage romance Rosemary Ruether Roses Roti Ruth SamaritanWoman Sanctuary Sandhillcranes Santuario de Chimayo SaraKurtz SaraRodriguez satellites sci-fi ScottSimon sculpture Seasons Sermon ServantsoftheQuest sewing Shepherd Shontay ShortStory shoulder sick sickness Slower snow Social Security SofritoBandito solstice South Dakota SpaceShuttle spirituality spring square feet staining stars stele Stereotypes stories StoryStarts stream monitoring stress SUBSTACK Survival swim Talent taxes teenager thankgsgiving Thanksgiving TheBridge TheMaid ThePerpetualYou therapy ThreeBillBoards Three Thing ThreeThings Three Things TidalBore TimeBeing toddler Tom tortillas Trains travel Traveler Tubing turtle Twilight Bark Tyrone Ukraine Ulysses Grant Umbrella UnrelatedObservations Up North urgency vacation vaccine Valentines vanilla Vietnam vision VivianWokeUpDrowning Vocabulary vole volunteer WalkingAndSeeing Wampanaog war WarsanShire weather weaving Webs wedding whines WhyAttendChurch Wiley Willa WillaCather Wisteria Won! Wonder words Xeriscape Yellowstone Zebra
Ad Promotion