Warning: there's virtually nothing about Ken Kesey in there. Also, her broad characterization of misfits as misunderstood creative geniuses is not only unfounded and probably inaccurate, it is repugnant to the entire ideal of the misfit that she herself is trying to cultivate; people that resist being categorized and sorted.
Sometimes a Great Notion, Kesey's autobiographical novel about a prodigal "hippie" son returning to his Pacific Northwest logging family and joining an internecine skirmish against corporate raiders is also psychologically revealing ;)
I don't think that's a fair reading. What I took from the piece is not that misfittedness is a kind of martyrdom, but rather that it has value for more than just those who experience it; to cast the thing in a political metaphor, misfits drag the Overton window in the direction of weirdness, and in so doing make space that wouldn't otherwise exist for the lower-amplitude, but still meaningful and worthy, weirdness that's part of everyone, even the mythical "normal people". Such spaces in turn make it possible for not only those who create them but also "normal people" to live a richer life than would otherwise be possible; not only do those who are on intimate and ineluctable terms with weirdness have a place to be, but those who could take weirdness or leave it - but are likely to be all around happier and more satisfied with life if they take it - have a place where an option exists of safely doing so.
Sometimes that's a physical place you can go to, if you have the means; sometimes you find it described in a story or some other work of fiction, and even though it's only your mind that can travel there, it might still do you the quietly invaluable service of creating a safe home for the secret parts of yourself that can find no expression, perhaps aren't even suffered to exist, in the world where your body lives and where the majority of your experience thus necessarily resides.
"Sneaked" vs. "snuck" is one of the Grammarnazi holy wars.
They are both technically correct, because English is very permissive with what it allows. But "sneaked" is the pure and good form, whereas "snuck" is only uttered by perverts and lowlifes.
Reply: Oh, I'm a fan. I'm sure he'd also agree with me just before using "snuck" in a sentence and winking.
This is obviously a very personal story so I'm not trying to shit on it, but isn't "sneaking in" just sitting in on a class? Professors don't care, you usually don't even have to ask, but if you did it seems like most people welcome it. I turn up for talks at schools I don't attend, its not like there's security at the door.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 28.5 ms ] threadSometimes that's a physical place you can go to, if you have the means; sometimes you find it described in a story or some other work of fiction, and even though it's only your mind that can travel there, it might still do you the quietly invaluable service of creating a safe home for the secret parts of yourself that can find no expression, perhaps aren't even suffered to exist, in the world where your body lives and where the majority of your experience thus necessarily resides.
If you're going to write professionally, please at least start with correct grammar and spelling.
They are both technically correct, because English is very permissive with what it allows. But "sneaked" is the pure and good form, whereas "snuck" is only uttered by perverts and lowlifes.
Reply: Oh, I'm a fan. I'm sure he'd also agree with me just before using "snuck" in a sentence and winking.
His advice of - "Never let your schooling get in the way of your education." - is worth keeping in mind.
I strongly doubt that.
"It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure, that just ain't so."