Book and Movie Reviews II

The holidays are good times to see a movie with friends and family or get cozy with a good book. Sometimes good books are made into movies, and most of the time the movie is inferior to the book. This reviews two books that were made into movies recently. The first one bucks the trend in my opinion and the movie is actually better than the book. The second one is the standard "letdown movie" from a great book.

"Into the Wild"
This book written by John Krakauer in 1996 retraces the story of Chris McCandless who after graduating college took off on a meandering solo trek across the country. Highly influenced by eccentric, idealistic authors such as London, Thoreau, and Tolstoy, McCandless turns his back on society and the high expectations of his overbearing, wealthy father to live a simple, vagabond lifestlyle. Krakauer tries to fit the bits and pieces of information he gleans from letters and journal entries from McCandless and also from interviews of McCandless' acquaintences, friends, employers, and family together to paint a picture as to where McCandless went, what he did, and even tries to answer the big question of why. Krakauer is an excellent journalist and does a good job of speculating based on facts without over-speculating. He paints a picture of McCandless as neither a hero or a fool. The most riveting parts of the book are the two chapters where Krakauer retells his own journey as a young man to Alaska to find purpose. His descriptions of climbing the "Devil's Thumb" with no rope protection are thrilling to say the least. McCandless' goal was also Alaska, and he did accomplish it by walking off into the Alaskan wild to get away from the materialistic society he grew up in. Ironically he ends up making an abandoned bus his home in the wild, and in the end a simple material thing like a map of the wilderness probably would have saved him. Since this is a nonfiction work and McCandless kept his journal entries very brief and to the point, the book cannot fully allow the reader into the heart and mind of the main character---unlike the movie.

The movie, which is out in theaters now, sticks to the book very closely with the dates, places, and people. What the movie does that the book can't is it tries to paint a full picture of who McCandless was while still staying true to the evidence from the book. The character comes fully alive in the movie and the viewer finds himself feeling more fully alive from watching it. The movie is directed by Sean Penn, and he does a wonderful job of fusing beautiful cinematography from the traveling McCandless (especially Alaska) with heart stirring acoustic songs by Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder. Penn also takes the liberty to create dialogue between McCandless and his acquaintances on the road, which proves humorous and heart-wrenching. Everyone from hippies to farmers to old war veterans were touched by knowing this young wanderer. The movie can be seen as a sort of spiritual quest with scenes of McCandless being overcome by nature's beauty, or connecting with people on a deep level, or choosing to reject casual sex, or in the end when it is too late reading Tolstoy's words about the importance of relationships.
I've never felt more personally connected to a movie character. This is an instant top five movie in my opinion. Go see it.
Tracy has yet to see the movie, but she read the book, and every 10 minutes or so would shout out, "Oh my gosh, this is you! This guy is so you! If you never married, you would be this guy wandering around and dying out in the wilderness."
Uummm, thanks, Trace.

"Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"
This book was written in 1970 by historian Dee Brown. It is subtitled "An Indian History of the American West", and that is exactly what it is. While most of us had high school history classes where next to nothing was said about the consequences of "Manifest Destiny" and American expansion in respect to Native Americans, this book tackles it head on. It basically concentrates on the last half of the 19th century and covers a broad range of tribes from the Lakota to the Nez Perce to the Navajo and many more. This book will not make you feel good about American History. Brown sifts through different records, journals, and treaties to show just how dastardly the American settlers and government treated the tribes who had been living on this land for hundreds if not thousands of years. Talk about an immigration problem. That was a true immigration problem. The book describes battles, massacres, and broken treaty after broken treaty. The Lakota signed a treaty saying that the Black Hills would be theirs "for as long as the grass grows...." A couple years later gold was discovered in them hills, so in a sense the grass stopped growing. One of the few treaties that wasn't completely broken was the Navajo Treaty of 1868, but this was signed after the forced removal of thousands of Navajo to the Bosque Redondo almost 400 miles to the east. The living conditions were so bad that they had to eat leather. Once they returned with a newly signed treaty they had to look forward to having much less land than they had before, a growing tuberculosis epidemic, and their children being shipped off to schools in Pennsylvania. Those are just two examples of many with the book culminating by describing the Wounded Knee Massacre where over 200 women and children were shot down. It is crazy to think that our government still calls it "The Battle of Wounded Knee" and there were 23 Medal of Honors bestowed after "the battle".
If you plan on living west of the Mississippi or just traveling west, or your Native American history is based on "Dances with Wolves" then this is a must read.

The movie is only a must see if it will get you to read the book. The movie focuses solely on the Lakota and the band led by Sitting Bull, which is just a small piece of the book. It does a fairly good job of showing the tension Dr. Charles Eastman feels as an assimilated Lakota dating a white teacher and being manipulated by a US senator. The movie was made by HBO this year, but once again we are forced to watch the lead Native role played by Adam Beach. Could Hollywood please enable some other native actors to get lead roles besides Beach? The movie does end like the book with Wounded Knee Massacre, but it barely shows events leading up to it or the massacre itself. Overall there are some bright spots of keen dialogue, but this movie does a disservice to a wonderful book.

Grand Gulch

We recently went on a nice outdoor outing with our good friends, Brian and Holly who are from Glenwood Springs, Colorado. We try to find points in between Tsaile and Glenwood to meet up with them and enjoy creation together. We biked at Moab and Fruita together last year. This summer we enjoyed Telluride together. Our latest outing was on Cedar Mesa, Utah. Cedar Mesa contains many amazing canyons and in those canyons the highest concentration of Anasazi ruins anywhere. We ended up completing a 23 mile backpacking trip over three days and two nights. We began at Kane Gulch, then down Grand Gulch until we met with Bullet Canyon. We then hiked up and out of Bullet. Our dogs also tagged along and did a pretty dog-on good job.

We met and camped at Muley Point the first night. This may be the best view in the Southwest. We slept out on the rocks and woke up to see Monument Valley being bathed in morning light. Even the dogs had to watch.

As for the actual backpacking in the gulch, it posed an amazing variety of terrain.


There were some tight, dry spots....























....And some wide, lush spots.

























This is called "Split-level Ruin". The ancient ones used to party here. At least that's what we imagined.
I tried a black and white photo---just call me Ansel.











Brian and I managed to squeeze into the upper level of "Jailhouse Ruin". We also managed to escape safely.















The Grand Gulch area is closer to us than the Grand Canyon. It is also less crowded and less expensive. It is also more dog friendly. It is a great place to explore and relax in. We would love to go back. We would love for any of you reading this blog to join us. Just let us know!
Special thanks goes out to desert and river rat, Denny Preisser for the beta (that's a hip word for info and maps and such.)

Congratulations Doug!

Our good friend, Doug Imergoot, recently tied the knot in St. Louis. He student-taught with me at Kayenta in 2000. We learned a lot together. Here he is making the banjo sing at the Swinging Steak restaurant in Mexican Hat, Utah, circa 2004. I think he played so well that night that we bought him a steak.

Cooper Crane Has Arrived

My brother, Zac, and sister-in-law, Julia, had their first baby on November 13th. We are so happy for them! I look forward to being "Uncle Jesse". I just need a white beard, overalls, and a big gut. Man, they really look good after an intense experience. We can't wait to see the little guy someday.

The Cranes Reunite

Yeah, that's the Crane patriarch right of me and right of center. Everyone else in the picture is somehow related to Lowell Wilbur Crane. Most of the relatives are from the Indianapolis area. We all congregated at my parents' home in Tulip, Indiana. It was a beautiful setting for a bunch of relatives to get together. Some of them I knew and some were brand new acquaintances. It was a great time of catching up, eating good barbecue, and playing heated yard games. The heat came not only from the 90 degree temps, but also from the old competitive fires of brotherly love. I don't think my brother and I should ever be allowed on a badminton court together again. The weekend was also the Bloomfield Apple Festival, which was one of my favorite yearly events growing up. We walked around the fest Friday afternoon, but it just wasn't the same as when they used to have it at the town square. Of course, we were also chasing girls, spraying people with invisible ink, and watching fights in those days, which may have created a little higher energy. Now when I visit the fest I see those tough guys who used to be in the fights walking their little girls around and the thing that brings the most excitement is bottled water. I was impressed with the Walnut Grove spring water that was on sale. It is very smooth, and considering the heat I'm sure they were selling plenty. Did I mention it was like 95 and high humidity in October? When I was growing up Apple Fest meant rain, sleet, and a high of 50, tops. Come to think of it, the temperature here in Tsaile in November has been really high, much higher than last year. Maybe my friend, Jarrod Holtsclaw, is on to something. Maybe there is something to global warming. Speaking of friends, it was good to see Brian and Brooke Thomas and their baby girl, Ashland. Speaking of babies...my next post. (Actually you will see it before this one, but it is entered into the blog after this one. Comprende?) That is a Spanish word. Tracy and I are supposed to be studying Spanish each evening. I am pretty sad. I aced three semesters of it in college yet still hablo crappy. Anyway...

Catching up with the Youth

Tracy and I have been very fortunate the past two years to be involved in a local church family called Tsaile Community Church. It is part of the Churches of God General Conference and is just a quarter mile down the road. They have been amazing at allowing us to help or lead in different areas of the fellowship. They have been really open to new ideas and perspectives and have shared many with us as well. We have tried to promote more outdoor and service oriented activities with the youth. Here are a few pictures of some recent youth events.

Some of us spent an afternoon chopping wood and repainting Adella's pink hogan. It sure is pink now! Chopping wood is an ongoing service project when you live at 7000 feet.


In October our youth group joined forces with Tom Riggenbach's YES organization and journeyed three hours to the highest point on the rez, Navajo Mountain. We attempted to summit the 10,388 ft. tall lacolith but...


...the summit was not in the cards that day for a sundry of reasons. About 100 yards up the trail one 8th grade gal informed me that she couldn't go on because of a sprained ankle. I asked how and when it happened only to hear her reply, "Oh, sometime last week." Ahhhh. The joys and challenges of working with middle school kids. A couple others fell by the way side on the steep, rocky, six mile trek up to the top, but this group pictured did make it to the last stand of quaking aspens about a mile from the summit. They really wanted to push on, but Tom and I calculated that one more mile would mean we'd be descending mostly in the dark, so we called it. It is great having someone like Tom with your group in the wilderness setting. He has been to Everest base camp, climbed Kilimanjaro, and led hundreds of youth outings in various wilderness settings. He has nothing to prove (other than trying to prove that being a Cubs fan is not detrimental to one's intelligence), which is a nice balance to my overzealousness sometimes. We didn't make the top, but we all returned home safely that night.


The weekend after Navajo Mountain we took some youth to the best viewpoint on the rez, Buffalo Pass. This past summer Tom and some of his Tour de Rez riders cleaned up the picnic area and put in a new sign, so we thought we'd maintain a little bit. In 30 minutes we had gathered six large bags of trash and probably could have filled another dozen. The sad fact of trash is one of the downsides of life on the rez. After the quick cleanup the group jumped on some bikes and rode approximately 20 miles across parts of the Chuska mountains back to Tsaile. I drove the church van as a support vehicle, but how much support can a creaky, wheezy, 1990 Dodge van offer?

I'll spare you a picture of the van. Instead here is a favorite stop in the Chuskas for bikers, hunters, sheepherders, runners, etc. There ain't nothing like pure mountain water to refresh your body. I'd say it even rivals the water of Walnut Grove, which leads to my next post.

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