Finally, the truth has emerged: Frey Admits Lying; Oprah Apologizes to Viewers. Frey has apparently taken lessons at avoiding the question from some in our current administration. His stammering and stuttering defense of his fabricated tales of addiction and recovery are about as convincing as the tall tales of the sea.

What I find incredible about the entire article is this quote from Frey's publisher:
"“But this question of fact checking is a complicated one. At The New Yorker and Time and Newsweek, you have experienced people who know where to go and what's right and what'’s wrong. We don'’t. There'’s been a traditional dependency on the author."
Is this possible? Why can't a huge publisher afford to fact-check the works they're foisting upon us?

As further evidence of the widening gulf between those professors who have a grasp of the proper usage of English grammar and devices and those who think they do in some misguided way, I had a T.A. suggest to our class that when writing a paper it was encouraged to use footnotes. Just for the hell of it?

I've never had to grade papers for a class of undergraduates at a large university, but, from the impression I get from my instructor this semester, it's easier than ever to plagiarize a written assignment. For this reason, I was required to submit my first paper of the semester to a web-based organism called Turnitin.com, which is supposed to check your documents to make sure they aren't plagiarized in parts or as a whole. How it works is beyond my comprehension of the internet, but, from what I can gather, it searches the web for instances of phrases and similar writing that the writer may have used without giving proper credit. Oddly enough, one of the FAQs on the board has a question related to using one's own previous writing, and, it states that if you don't credit yourself, you're are, in fact, plagiarizing. Plagiarizing one's self? I don't know how you'd do it, but I'd love to see someone sue themselves for plagiarism.

Tainted Memories
I count myself as one who was not surprised to hear that the author of the memoir A Million Little Pieces, James Frey, fabricated or embellished large portions of the text. As a New York Times piece proclaimed, the incident is nothing more than a continuation of the blurring of the line between reality and fiction. Oprah Winfrey, who chose the book for her book club, has even chimed in to state that the message is what is important regardless of how it's ultimately delivered, or something along those lines.

The ramifications of this are obvious to anyone who has a vested interest in keeping the separation of fact and fiction plain for everyone to see. In a previous post, I wrote about the possibility that our news is creating reality as well as vice versa. In the post I discussed the New York Times' seemingly obvious attempts to create a mood in the White House. Are they really nervous, on edge, etc. about any number of things, or is that how the Times wants to perceive it as being? I don't know, but if true it seems to speak to a sense of hypocrisy on their part to blast Frey for his embellishments.

I don't know how much he manufactured. Really, I don't care all that much because these types of books do not interest me in the least, but the industry for them is increasing substantially. I find it hard to believe that any of them are spot-on in their accuracy. It just seems like the premises for a lot of these books are works of fiction spun around a few facts interspersed throughout. As I said about dream recollections that seem flawless in narrative, I just think that writers know that a fractured narrative isn't likely to sell very well, so they fill in the gaps with all sorts of fluff that acts as an epoxy to hold the whole thing together.

The impression I get is that Frey essentially lied about large portions of his life in order to write this book. That, I think, is wrong, and it's equally wrong to label the book as a memoir when it should be labeled, if not just plain fiction, then at least a memoir with embellishments.

Dreamreader
Do your dreams really mean anything? It is one of those eternal questions that will probably be asked forever with no definitive answer. Personally, I do not subscribe to the notion that dreams are anything more than the random thoughts and images that can, and often are, induced by many different means, be it coffee, food, or alcohol. I am not saying that dreams cannot be a part of everyone's normal sleep cycle, but I have a hard time swallowing the hyper-narrative details that some people claim to recall from their dreams. It's not that I think they are lying, but, as with any good narrative, dreams can benefit from a good editor who fills in the logical gaps with any number of devices in order to comprise a whole.

What I will admit is the distinct idea that dreams can be terrifying beyond belief. Some of the common occurrences in my dreams that bother me more than anything else are those in which I cannot speak or my voice will not project properly even though I know what I want to say. For example, I have had my New York Times stolen on several occasions. So, what happens? I have a dream where I'm looking out of my window down upon someone in the midst of taking my paper. I am yelling at this person, but they do not hear me because my voice is not projecting properly. This happens a lot. The other example of really troubling dreams I have are those in which someone, usually a stranger or an intruder, remains in the dark. Another example, my roommate and I are pushing someone out of our apartment, but they remain in the dark because the hall light will not come on. Of course, I am yelling at the person, "Who are you," and they do not respond.

I do not claim to know what any of this means. To me, it is probably just two examples of things that are troubling to think about and that most people fear, being without a voice in moments of trouble and an intruder who you cannot see or will not tell you what they want. Other than that, I think dreams are not windows into the soul or deep interpretations of some Freudian psychology. They just occur.

Here's a New Year's resolution: post more frequently.