Mirrorings-Chuck Palahniuk's inspiration for Invisible Monsters?

Am I right? That can't be just a coincedence, can it? Has Chuck been harboring a secret fandom for Miss Lucy Grealy? hmm? I'm suspect.
I read this early this morning, because I like waking up early to read and review, and I felt inspired by it. Although it had its agitating moments, which I will get to later, but for right now, let's highlight some things.
"I knew that to feel warm instead of cold was its own kind of joy, that to eat was a reenactment of the grace of some god whom I could only dimly define, and that to simply be alive was a rare ephemeral gift." (I took joy out of the fact that I read this over a cup of tea.)
But really, thats a good way to look at things. I was feeling sour on my way to class because I was suffering from that ever taxing wet-bottom of pant syndrome that the rain brings. But then I thought about Lucy Grealy, and then I started to think about what a strange little miracle that the water cycle works the way it does, and that some genius named Levi, over two hundred years ago figured out how to make denim so that he could pan for gold, and so that centuries from then, my jeans could get wet.
Genius.
I also liked the line "before I was literally, physically able to use my name and the word "woman" in the same sentence." That line has punch. zing boom Lucy, zing boom. I feel that way sometimes. I think every lady does.
Also, "Gradually, Ibecame unable to say "I'm depressed' but could say only, "I'm ugly," because the two, had become inextricably linked in my mind. "
That's clutch. I mean, really. Very introspective and insightful. Like a Joni Mitchell line if Joni decided to elaborate.
But then she gets artsy again with "it had suddenly occurred to me that I didn't have to make time pass, that it would do it of its own accord, that i simply had to relax and take no action."
and "As for Kafka, who had always been one of my favorite writers, he helped me in that I felt permission to feel alienated and tohave that alienation be ok, bearable, noble even." Wilde and R.M. Rilke did that for me, completely. Letters to a young poet? Czech it.
All in all this essay made me very glad of my purchase of "Autobiography of a Face" because I have every intention of reading it now. Although every once in a while Grealy reminded me of neo-goth-nighmare-before-christmas-garbed-black-shirts-with-whitty-white-writing-blue-monday loving kids. But there is an essential difference between her and them.
1. She didn't come agitate me when I was working at E.B. Games
2. She actually has a reasonable excuse to have that attitude, and normally, they don't.

Oranges and Fish from heaven...you can forget that.--The Telephone

Let's have a celebration for this short story, shall we? On the McKinley scale of 5 stars, I give this essay a strong 4 if not 4.5, depending on my mood.
Mr. Anwaar Accawi is divinely inspired, it would seem. Or atleast that's the impression he makes with his frequent references to the heavens and the way he paints his cousin-marrying, simple, private home town in Lebanon. Don't be a doubter.
"fall from the sky..."
"Heavens were shut for months,"
"fish and oranges from heaven."
^all lines from the story.
In a little religious reflection, I have to say that the theme of "The Telephone" is very reminicent of many religious texts, of all beliefs. One of humanity's greatest flaws being its discontent, restlessness, and acceptance of simplicity. We always have to make things more complicated with our curiosities and idiosyncities.
Anwaar graces this. His entire community was content until they decided to try and improve themselves, after withstanding decades of global peer pressure they decided to "progress" and get a telephone. And then things changed, and people realized that there was "more" in the world, and suddenly they weren't satisfied.
It would be nice to be satisfied wouldn't it? I guess the general masses just aren't. There's just more to be had.
My favorite character was that of Im Kaleem. The loveable whore. Not really whore, because she loved all of he men whom she pleased. (That must have been emotionally taxing right? She gave Natalie Imbruglia a real run for her money on the whole "torn" thing.) And my little heart empathized with her when all of the men of the village ditched her for the telephone. I mean really, who were they expecting to call? Men and their toys.
See what I mean about dissatisfaction? Im Kaleem all of a sudden wasn't cutting it. As there wives weren't before her.
Hopefully someday the telephone won't be enough. But until then, "I'm still looking for that better life."

An Entrance to the Woods, an exit from every day life.

I identified with this essay. I thought it had portions that were beautiful.
And can I just say that I know the exact strip of woods that he was talking about? We had to drive through Lexington to visit family friends in Nashville from Charlotte when I was little. So the second that he brought up I-64, I knew the highway. And when he brought up Daniel Boone National Forest...

That's the forest he was talking about. I'm pretty sure that I've been on feild-trips there. It's gorgeous.
I wonder if this is the part that he's talking about
"From the dry oak woods of the ridge I pass down into the rock. The foot trails of the Red River Gorge all seek these stony notches that little streams have cut back through the cliffs. I pass a ledge overhanding a sheer drop of the rock, where in a wetter time there would be a water fall..."
I like that part, it paints a picture.
Parts of this essay were very thoreau-ish. I guess there's just a universal theme for "I went into the woods..." stories. It's about finding yourself, it's about getting back to the basics of humanity and exisitance. Minimalism.
I think everyone has their escape routes. My roommate goes on runs, I go on drives or watch the airplanes take off at airports.

Smegma

"Why is it that boys get all the cool sex words? Semen, cool word. Sperm, cool word. Wait, ovum? no. SMEGMA?! We get smegma?"
I think we're all in agreement. Stevi is amazing.