Like-Roots

I finished White Teeth. I felt a little unclear about the end, so if anyone has read it or is planning on reading it, let me know your thoughts!

I thought this story I read on the Washington Post was also somewhat timely in relation to my reading White Teeth. The article is about a young woman who was born through artificial insemination. I don't think she holds anything against her mother, or at least not as much as she holds against her "father," but she's not pleased about the way she was brought into the world.

She describes that people aren't born in a vacuum, and sperm donors don't think that what they're doing actually creates people with thoughts and feelings. It creates people who will be affected by the genetics of their parents and who want to know the history of where they came from.

Zadie Smith also deals with history and getting to the root of things. Her characters I don't think ever quite make it there, although they want to. The girl in the article doesn't make it there, even though she found her father. For someone like me who also wants to get to the root, who searches for answers about the past, who can't tie up history in a neat bow (because if I did, I would just unwrap it, poke at it, rewrap it, and repeat the cycle), I think it would be very difficult for me not to have that key piece of information (father, family, who am I).

Not that I even know that much about my father now. He offers very little about his life or his family. I can see him, I can trace the lines of my face that are directly from him. It's not a whole picture, but I'd rather see than not see.

I hope everyone is having a good countdown to the holidays. It's hard getting through work this week, especially noticing how fewer and fewer people are on the train each day. I'm planning which Christmas cookies I'd like to make. My rather excessive list for a family of four consists of:

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Russian Teacakes
Magic Bars
Peanut Butter Blossoms

Keep the turkey/ham/bread pudding or whatever else you have; I adore Christmas cookies.

Happy "Hump Day"