Episodes: My Life As I See It

by Blaze Ginsberg Narrated by MacLeod Andrews

Overview

In Episodes, Blaze Ginsberg offers a unique view into his mind and life as a high functioning autistic teenager. Inspired by the format of the Internet Movie Database, Ginsberg organizes the events in his life as a collection of “episodes.” Some of these are ongoing (like Thanksgiving dinners with his family), some are in syndication, and some (his crush on Hillary Duff, for example) have sadly come to an end. Using a style and a language all his own, Blaze reinvents the traditional memoir for listeners of all ages.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Ginsberg's mother wrote about parenting a highly functioning autistic child in Raising Blaze (2003), and in this autobiography Blaze tells his own story. Inspired by the format of the Internet Movie Database, Ginsberg organizes his life as a progression of television series, such as “Thanksgiving Special 2002” and “Freshman Senior Year 1.” Each series has a release date and cast list (“Amber: friend. Played herself in 2002's My Freshman Year as a girlfriend [not romantic] of mine”) and is further subdivided into episodes, each with their own summaries, quotes, soundtracks and trivia. Despite the inherently cerebral nature of the book's structure, the episodes paint a vivid picture of Blaze's thought processes (“This year was something unforgettable and legendary beyond conceivable knowledge because it really changed the way school had been for me for the past ten years”), life experiences and preoccupations, such as his crush on Hilary Duff or obsession with the year 1994 (“There is something about the numbers in the year 1994 that draws me to them”). A singular reading experience that gives insight into an equally singular way of processing and reflecting on life. Ages 12–up. (Sept.)

Kirkus Reviews

Crushes, obsessions, friendships, family, Grand Theft Auto, Thanksgiving and Hilary Duff form the topics of just a few of the stories in the memoir of Blaze Ginsberg, high-functioning autistic son of writer Debra Ginsberg. The author repackages the stories from his life into "episodes," IMDB-like entries complete with cast, plot synopses, quotes, notes, trivia and soundtracks. Instead of organizing his life chronologically, Blaze categorizes it by life events, such as his hilariously lovable crush on Duff from 2004 to 2006, during which he single-handedly purchased every album, saw every film and simultaneously most likely drove his entire network of friends and family crazy over it. Though original, this format isn't so easy to follow. Many of the vignettes that make up the episodes are choppy and leave too much information to imagination, and even the most sophisticated teen reader will be left with questions. They will, however, come to understand Blaze, as each passage functions as a minimalist gateway into his passions, dreams, fears and desires. (Memoir. 12 & up)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940173602589
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	09/01/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	10 - 13 Years

Read an Excerpt

my freshman year of high school 1 (2002)

(A.K.A. ONE OF THE BEST SCHOOL YEARS EVER 1)

series: 2002–2003 release date: SEPTEMBER 3, 2002

genre: FRESHMAN FOOLISHNESS status: ENDED

cast:

blaze ginsberg: himself

courtney: friend

Friend of mine and for a short time, a possible girlfriend. I met her in the summer of 2002. Is an only child. Left our school, Surrey, in the summer of 2003 because she hated it and was throwing tantrums about it like Dudley Dursley from Harry Potter. Also had a lot of crying cases in My Freshman Year of High School. Liked Marvin Gaye and pretty much agreed with me about everything. If there was anything I did not like, she did not like it either.

amber: friend

Played herself in 2002’s My Freshman Year as a girlfriend (not romantic) of mine. Later played herself in the series Blaze, Courtney, and Amber. Claims she rescued me on my tenth birthday in 1997 when I ran away from home.* In September 2002 I reunited with her and we became buddies instantly. Is very sensitive to how people approach her.

wendy: teacher

Was one of my teachers at Surrey. She and her boyfriend went to high school with my uncle Bo, and they are still friends with him. She is pretty strict with her students and does not have a high tolerance level for bad behavior. One day in class she made us put our heads down like we were in kindergarten because of our bad behavior.

mr. kent: english teacher

Mr. K is also serious with his students about their behavior and whatnot. Mr. K really goes into detail when reading a story, like when we read The Body by Stephen King. I asked Mr. K why a character was crying over something small in the book and Mr. K told me it was because he (the character) never cried when his brother died. Mr. K got me interested in reading certain books like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. He is very into literature.

ms. kennedy: speech therapist

Speech therapist at Surrey. Very nice and caring, and she always wants everything to be the best it can be. She and I met when I was having a problem with another teacher one day and we became friends from there.

jane: occupational therapist

The Surrey School occupational therapist. Was very close to me. I liked her from very early on because of her personality. She really liked the stories I wrote when we were working together. She also had kind of a low tolerance level for bad/insubordinate behavior.

dr. r: counselor

various friends: themselves

series summary

My first year at The Surrey School (a.k.a. My Freshman Year of High School) may be number 1 in my top two best school years to ever exist in human civilization (for me that is). The Surrey School is a special school for kids with learning differences/those who are not able to function in a regular school. The classes are very small (only about ten kids per class) and there are only about 100 kids altogether in the school. I was at The Surrey School for many reasons, but mostly because middle school was a total disaster. In my other schools before this there were very few teachers who cared and were willing to work with people like me.

At Surrey, things really made a big turnaround from the way school used to be. This year was something unforgettable and legendary beyond conceivable knowledge because it really changed the way school had been for me for the past ten years. Prior to this year, I never really liked school too much, and most of the time I didn’t really want to be there. Freshman year changed everything. Even though I had teacher issues and got sent out/was in trouble a lot, this was a good year because I was slowly starting to become a grown-up, hanging out with homies, talking to girls, and thinking about my future. Also this was a good year because I was starting to interact with other people more than I had in the past. Although I didn’t realize it at the time, the ten years of school before Surrey were kind of depressing because I was really too much inside my own self and not relating to other people. So even though my interactions with people during my freshman year at Surrey were sometimes negative, at least I was having interactions.

Episode List

Episode 1 Season 1

title: PILOT air date: SEPTEMBER 3, 2002

summary

It is my first day of high school and it is somewhat nerve-racking. I enter the school before class starts. I see Courtney but turn away from her because I am feeling shy. Later on I report to class. My day starts off with Physical Science. I am a bit spacey because I have not had to sit and listen in class for quite some time. It ends all right. After that I report to Math and I need a VTO (voluntary time out) because I am antsy and need to walk around. I am allowed ten minutes and then I go back. The teacher has an aide named Rebecca; I work with her on the math. Later I go to class for RL (reading/language). It is not too great because I have been struggling with the teacher since the summer session. (I had taken Summer School at Surrey in June as a trial period to see if I would be able to go there or not). Then it is time for English. I feel a bit anxious (or, as I call it, “tight”) because it’s still the first day of school, but nonetheless it’s fi ne. Then I go to lunch. After lunch, I report to PE. We play football, run laps, and it is pretty fun. Later I report to Tutorial and it is fun, although I do not do any of my homework which is what tutorial is for.

quotes

me: “Can I get a VTO, please?” (Teacher writes one up)

me: (seeing that the VTO paper says “Student Referral”): “What? I’m in trouble?”

teacher: “Oh no, that’s just what it says. It’s fine, it’s a VTO.”

trivia

A VTO is when you get ten minutes to leave class and walk around the school or sit on the bench to chill yourself out. You get one VTO per class per week. If you abuse the privilege, by staying out of class for too long, you get sent to the offi ce and get your VTOs temporarily suspended.

soundtrack listing

“Bird of Beauty” by Stevie Wonder (Fulfillingness’ First Finale 1974)

This song plays because it goes really well with running laps. I like the way it makes me feel.

* THE INCIDENT WHEN I RAN AWAY FROM HOME OCCURRED AFTER I HAD AN ARGUMENT WITH MAYA. I WENT OFF WALKING BY MYSELF AND HALF THE NEIGHBORHOOD ENDED UP LOOKING FOR ME.

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