Middlesex+Book+3+journal+9


 * __Middlesex: The Mediterranean Diet, The Wolverette, and Waxing Lyrical__**

What does the term hermaphrodite mean to you? Do you know the definition? What associations do you have about the word? What about transexual? A hermaphrodite is someone who has ambiguous genitalia, so that he or she could have been raised as the opposite sex than what is dominant/what he or she feels to be true. I did not know much about them until this novel, mainly that they were different and somewhere in between a male and female, wrong i know but there is not much correct information in everyday conversation. i did know that they were different than transexuals, who feel that they should be the opposite sex, but have nothing biologically different. mainly i would think of drag-queens and cross-dressers. i never understood why or what caused hermaphrodites and transexuals to be affiliated with a particular sex, not that there is anything wrong with what they feel, but i think that understanding this is outside of the realm of science.

__7. Term or Theory__
 * fate
 * 271, "somebody had given her the evil eye" Desdemona believes that Lefty's death, and her being left behind, is retribution for their misdeeds
 * 317-8, "I suspect that ch11's transformation was caused in no small part by that day on his bed when his life was decided by lottery. Am i projecting? Saddling my brother with my own obsessions with chance and fate?...Ch 11, taking chemical trips of his own, was trying to escape what he had dimly perceived while wrapped in an afghan: the possibility that not only his draft number was decided by lottery, but that everything was"
 * circles
 * 272, Cal's relationships
 * 275, "As far as Desdemona was concerned, death was only another kind of emigration. instead of sailing from Turkey to America, this time she would be traveling from earth to heaven, where Lefty had already gotten his citizenship and had a place waiting"...liminal state
 * 279, Ch 11 and Callie's relationship echos that of Lefty and Desdemona when he was curious about the female body.
 * 305, MINOTAUR reference!!!
 * past and present
 * 273, "a room that wished to be timeless or ahistorical, and there, in the middle of it, my deeply historical, timeworn grandmother. Everything about Middlesex spoke of forgetting and everything about Desdemona made plain the inescapability of remembering...liminal state
 * 276, hercules hotdog franchise, "I didn't like the stands. to me they were a step down from the romantic days of the zebra room" old vs young too
 * 283-4, Dr. P ignores past...because it is so painful
 * 295, reference to Zizmo
 * 305, "And so like Desdemona after her disastrous YMCA makeover, i refused to let anyone cut it" but not an exact representation of the past because Callie's hair is not womanly and strong and clean/neat, hers is an escape. "Desdemona's hair was long and silky, but i'd gotten Jimmy Zizmo's spikier variety"
 * old and young
 * 273, Desdemona and Callie
 * 273, Dr. Phil is too old, D wants a younger doctor
 * 302, "that was when i was young and full of grand dreams. now i've given up any hope of lasting fame or literary perfection. i don't care if i write a good book anymore, but just one which, whatever its flaws, will leave a record of my impossible life.
 * 313, Ch 11 beats Milton at pingpong because he's on drugs
 * Greek and American
 * 275, Hercules hotdogs architecture
 * 298, american vs immigrants...Callie's group of friends is the "ethnics"
 * 308, being hairy is a Greek trait...the women remove their hair because of American influence?
 * Science/Fact
 * 279 "for ten seconds Chapter Eleven studied my documents, detecting no forgery"
 * 286, "Most spectacularly of all, girls are becoming women. Not mentally or emotionally even, but physically. Nature is making its preparations. Deadlines encoded in the species are met" personification of nature
 * 297, Cal describes the female body with a sea creature metaphor
 * 304, "My body might have released pheromones that affected my schoolmates"
 * 305, "the awkward praying mantis of a daughter"
 * Nature vs Nurture
 * 286, does Desdemona wish herself sicker?
 * 304, Callie at her school as she changes...masculine qualities still develop

__Dorothy Hamill 306__ She was a figure skater who had very short hair. Callie references her, saying "Maybe i didn't look like Dorothy Hamill." from the images i saw, Dorothy is a beautiful woman, and appears very feminine in her iceskating outfits, and confident with her short hair. this serves to contrast Callie at the time, her lack of confidence and the fact that she is not comfortable in her skin. http://www.google.com/search?q=dorothy+hamill&hl=en&prmd=imvnsol&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=rH3OTrztK-nZ0QGmvvEG&sqi=2&ved=0CD8QsAQ&biw=1427&bih=719 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Hamill

__Davidoff Grand Crus 307__ this is a type of cigar. at eh beginning of the novel, cal says that he smokes cigars to overcompensate. this cigar site looks very professional and i think they would be expensive cigars. my dad says that to him a cigar is a sign of success and achievement. Cal mentions this after discussing calliope's hair, and how she hides in it. im not sure of the real significance, but it could show Cal's change in confidence and feeling of self assurance. http://pipesandcigars.com/dagrcruse.html