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Writing about what I have been reading and encountering in the media. |
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WELCOME TO MY BLOG! I comment on things I am reading, thinking about, encountering in media, and spiritual issues. I hope you will find something interesting. PS. I love feedback... |
| I, like most people who did not vote for our current President, am increasingly at a loss for words. I can’t wax poetic in a slam. When I try to say anything, the images that come to my mind are unspeakable. I look to my friends for support and encouragement. That sometimes helps in that they do say I am still in reality. Oh my! This reality! How do I escape? It is too late to just stop watching, to turn off the TV and stop listening to news on the radio. The callous, racist destruction of our Democracy is going on right around me and I can’t stop it. I can’t forget. So, I have developed a list of coping mechanisms that bring about temporary reprieve: 1. Focus on what I am doing in the present so completely that nothing else exists. 2. Do yoga. 3. Pet the cat. 4. Write about anything but the you-know-what. 5. Make jokes. 6. Take a walk with my headphones focused on a pleasant novel. 7. Participate in Stand and Resist. 8. Make quiche. 9. Trim my toenails. 10. Did I say pet the cat? 11. Create a community of stuffed animals that say only what I want them to say. 12. Listen to jazz. 13. Walk in the yard looking at the flowers. 14. That is a really good time to pet the cat. 15. When I lay down to sleep, listen to recorded poetry, then, dream of the cat. Right now, I am going to try once more to write a slam poem. Stream of consciousness is a good place to start… You fill me with hate…. Well, I’ll try again. |
| I heard this morning that Franklin Graham says the evangelical Christians have backed off from their support of President Trump. I hope that is true. As I understand it, forgiveness requires confession and behavior change. The firing of Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, by tweet, directly after he joined 6 other countries in condemning Russian poisoning of British citizens can be viewed in several ways. Mr. Trump had been threatening to fire Mr. Tillerson for a long time. Perhaps you may be inclined to overlook the timing. Perhaps you take at face value that Tillerson had been informed as Mr. Trump says. However, put yourself in the place of Mr. Tillerson and think through how he has been treated after pouring his life hours into representing American interests internationally without any statement of wrongdoing from Mr. Trump beyond once losing patience and calling the President a “moron.” Then comes the firing of Mr. McCabe 26 hours short of his retirement causing him to lose his pension, and then the next day calling for the end of the Mueller investigation. This petty, vindictive behavior appears self-serving. Of course, it could be appropriate based on the report of the investigation into the FBI handling of the Clinton Foundation and the behavior of the FBI in releasing information about it in a way that influenced the election. Have you ever heard Mr. Trump express genuine concern for Hillary Clinton outside of the context of the Mueller investigation? This week’s dramatic developments are typical of the Trump administration and you might say “so what. You are a liberal. This is just business as usual. The silence of the Republican Party is clear indication that all is well with the clearing of the swamp.” While all this drama progresses, decorated by the titillating pictures of Stormy Daniels all over the TV, the Republican Congress is busily repealing the laws passed to protect average Americans’ finances and prevent another 2008 economic disaster. There are hundreds of thousands of voices objecting to this behavior and the Republican response is to say, “this is what you want.” I am very troubled. I have been reading the book Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Plan for America by Nancy MacLean. I find her work very credible as she is a scholar, a teacher at Duke University, and she refers repeatedly to primary documents. In addition, her writing validates what I have been seeing and thinking about the functioning of the Republican Congress. Briefly, the goal of the “Alt-Right” is to destroy democracy. Does this sound radical to you? It is. The “Alt-Right” has co-opted many Libertarians who prefer oligarchy (rule by the wealthy) to democracy. The initial impetus of this movement was Brown vs. The Board of Education, the Supreme Court decision requiring the end to segregated schools. Seeing the Ku Klux Klan join in is totally consistent with Alt Right thinking. Some of you may think this is all hunky dory, just what needs to be done. Pay attention to this. Russia is an Oligarchy with huge problems of racism and history of war based on ethnicity. You are living in a country that has tried to be better than that. Of course, we aren’t much better if you look at the mess we’ve made of the Middle East, and what we have done and continue to do to Native Americans, African Americans, and Hispanic Americans. Nevertheless, it is easy to say the grass is greener over there. You haven’t tasted it. Do you really want to live in an oligarchy? We are very, very close to that today. Your vote counts! Informed voting is our tool to save Democracy. |
| This week, according to MSNBC and CNN, has been extraordinarily disrupted at the White House. At the same time, the Republicans continue to dismantle the work done over the last 60 years to level the playing field for everyone, reducing advantage for those with a lot, and increasing advantage for those with little: the labor law that requires employees who benefit from union activities to pay dues is about to be dismantled in the Supreme Court. Bears Ears National Monument has been shrunken to allow for mineral exploration against the wishes of the people most affected: Native Americans who hold the area to be spiritually important, and the people of Utah, as well as everyone who sees dependence on carbon-based fuels as leading to our doom as a species. This is just one example of the many plans and choices made to give Mother Earth a chance to thrive without letting her most influential species destroy ourselves are being decimated. Choices that will impact generations to come, such as the national debt and international relationships have been made without listening to those who will pay the bill. Despite almost unanimous (98% by some polls) desire for gun control, the President is taking his direction from the NRA leadership. I find it all very distressing, as does, apparently, President Trump: As another friend abandons me My heart burns hot with tragedy. It used to burn with simple greed but now I face another need. I wish that I, as President could cloak my friends with armament. I hated it when Michael left. It felt real bad when Bannon went. Now, the worst of all for me is watching Hope abandon me. I keep hoping, though, that the Meuller probe will lead to changing all of this but my hope is weakening. I don't really know what the President feels. I hope he is learning in a way that will help him make a few reasonable decisions that will have a positive impact on us all. |
| I am encouraged by the actions of the surviving students from last weeks school shooting. They are saying what needs to be said with a lot of energy. Unfortunately, they are up against an unresponsive legislature at both the state and federal level. They are also up against Russian misinformation campaigns. And most of them are not of age to vote, yet. Nevertheless, I am so pleased to hear them raise their voices. I got to thinking about the Arkansas school shooting in 1998, so I looked it up. The boys, 11 and 13 at the time, are out in the world now and have been for a decade. They were not charged as adults. They are having some problems, but nothing that is hurting the people around them. I also learned that Arkansas has had no more incidents. I wanted to think they have made wonderful changes that brought that about, and perhaps they have. I found no documentation on the internet to support that idea. I do know that in some Arkansas schools, there are school-based mental health services. This seems sensible to me. One of the things that may have contributed the most recent incident of school shooting is the school gave up on the child. Nevertheless, he received very significant support from kind families in his community. It looked as if he hadn't given up on himself, but he had. I suspect no one recognized how vulnerable he truly was to his own emotions and irrational thoughts until the last month of his freedom. When teens are talking about having killed animals, they should be hospitalized until someone has figured out what he needs. This didn't happen. I don't know why. What if instead of giving up on him, the school had increased their investment in him? We will never know. However, we can support our schools in not giving up on troubled youth in the future. We can ask our schools if they have school-based mental health services. If they do, we can support those services. If they don't, we can attend school board meetings and ask for services for students and their families. We don't have to have children in school to participate. We only need to speak clearly and politely and demonstrate concern for the well being of all members of the community. It is one thing for an adult to dedicate his life to teaching, but no one should be shot for doing so. It feels to me like we are going backward at breakneck speed into the lawlessness and related trauma of the past. We can stop this with our voices and our votes. |
| Another shooting. Seventeen dead while at school. There is a hero or two, and a villain. We are developing shooting leagues: school league, shopping mall league, entertainment league, political rally… the school league is in the lead I think. A lot of people are angry that government does not act to once more ban assault rifles. Others say everyone should be armed. Picture this: armed first-grade students, prepared at any moment to shoot down the guy with the assault weapon because you never know when the next shooter will show up, or where. The teacher leads the children in regular drills during which they all must wear bulletproof outfits because they aren’t strong or well enough coordinated to be certain to keep the bullets in the gun. Why not just provide the children with bullet-proof clothing to wear all the time? Then the kids would be safe at the theater and at Walmart. They could finance this extra cost by selling candy bars. Of course, they would need a new size every few months or year. Handing the safety clothes down would help, as long as the outfit hasn't been ruined by a bullet. The focus on arming all children requires a lot of practice. As school shooters usually come from the school they attack, the next shooter will have the best information because they will have participated in these drills. The shooter will know all the safety strategies and be able to plan to defeat them. Knowing this, the schools will identify potential shooters early and expel them so they won’t have this information. How will they know who the shooter is? Why it is the black kids, isn’t it? Gangs? No. When they look at what is happening, they will see the most talented school shooters are white males who come from families that can afford guns. We don’t know a lot more about them because there is a federal law prohibiting research into the problem. Good work America! |
| Last night on MSNBC, Brian Williams reported the Russians have a new under-water delivery system to carry a nuclear attack that could make the entire west coast of the US uninhabitable. He said it feels like a new arms race and commented on the last arms race that older Americans remember. Earlier in the day, I read Rober Lowell's poem "Fall 1961." I share it here: 1917-1977 "Fall 1961" Back and forth, back and forth goes the tock, tock, tock of the orange, bland, ambassadorial face of the moon on the grandfather clock. All autumn, the chafe and jar of nuclear war; we have talked our extinction to death. I swim like a minnow behind my studio window. Our end drifts nearer, the moon lifts, radiant with terror. The state is a diver under a glass bell. A father's no shield for his child. We are like a lot of wild spiders crying together, but without tears. Nature holds up a mirror. One swallow makes a summer. It's easy to tick off the minutes, but the clockhands stick. Back and forth! Back and forth, back and forth – my one point of rest is the orange and black oriole's swinging nest! © Robert Lowell I like how he begins with a man-made timekeeper and ends with the oriol's nest as a pendulum counting out time. I love his images. The mood of the poem seems so correct for the subject. I remember drills during which we got under our desks at school. This might have been useful in a conventional attack. We all knew we were a prime target and assumed we wouldn't survive. I had nightmares of me running alone with fire all around me screaming for my father. In that dream, I believed my father could shield me, but I couldn't find him. Lowell is right; "a father's no shield for his child." I am also reading Learning to Die in the Anthropocene by Roy Scranton. This is about global warming and postulates that mankind will not find a way to save ourselves from ourselves. Early in the book, the author describes his experience in combat and how he managed his fear by seeing himself as already dead and with nothing to lose. I expect this will be his suggestion. In any case, we face the dual threats of global warming and a new arms race. At this time, I feel rather hopeless some days. I found the Lowell poem refreshing. I hope you do, too. {image # 1445398} |
Growing up, we had neighbors with large families who received public assistance. Other neighbors gossiped “they had all those kids so they could get more welfare money.” I knew those families were not profiting from welfare. I had been in their overcrowded homes and had seen the sparse furnishings, lack of decoration, and lack of privacy. I had way too much information to believe the gossip. In 1970, I moved to Connecticut. There, I noticed that the youngest child in my public welfare caseload was age 6, no matter how many children there were in the family. One day I asked one of those mothers how that could be. Her reply: “Birth control wasn’t legal here until 1964. Do you think I would have had all these children if I could have stopped it?” I have been a member of Planned Parenthood since they provided health care that I could not otherwise afford in my early twenties. Later, they provided education about STD that my gynecologist did not provide: Unfortunately, too late to preserve my fertility. They provided unbiased counseling about my reproductive health choices about surgery because they wouldn’t profit from unnecessary surgery. Their medical care has made a significant contribution to bringing the AIDS epidemic under control. I have no idea how many pregnancies they have prevented. I have no way of knowing how many unplanned pregnancies I prevented in my life with their help. I am greatly troubled by the attack on Planned Parenthood. They work to prevent abortion by preventing pregnancy. The largest number of requests for abortion come from peri-menopausal women whose families are grown, who are worried about the many challenges presented by a late pregnancy including a much-increased risk of birth defect and miscarriage. This is a difficult problem for a family, for a woman to face. They provide healthy support, help women think it through without pushing them one way or another, and continue to provide the care no matter what choice the woman makes. This attack on Planned Parenthood is an attack on birth control, on prevention and treatment of Sexually Transmitted Disease, on appropriate reproductive health education for teens, and on other prevention and health care activities. The complaint is thinly cloaked as a problem with abortion. If people really cared about abortion, they would strengthen supports to families who experience an unplanned pregnancy. No. There is a billboard I often pass that says “babies: God’s economic growth package.” This is the consumer economy gone wrong. Think about this: your support of the attack on Planned Parenthood supports the kind of spying and twisted editing that results in the creation of, and dissemination of inaccurate political “information” (propaganda). This could happen to you, to your interest groups. Is this how you want your Democracy to function? Finally, Planned Parenthood is a private, not-for-profit organization. The effort to “de-fund” simply restricts options for the healthcare of people who use Medicare and/or Medicaid. We pay lots more for pregnancy and raising of a child than for prevention of the pregnancy in the first place. We will spend much more for the care and treatment of each case of STD than to prevent it. Please, everyone who agrees, make a donation to Planned Parenthood today. www.plannedparenthood.org Please write to your Congressional representative against de-funding of Planned Parenthood. |
| The author of the article I am reading relies heavily on the thinking of John Rawls, A Theory of Justice, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1971. In the development of his concept of justice, Rawls uses a thought experiment: suppose you are part of a committee that is setting up a society. You do not know where you will fit into the society or what resources, advantages or disadvantages you will have. You could be someone with the least, in the middle or at the top. First, you must decide what is needed by anyone who might appear in this society to live a reasonably satisfying life; not ideal, but basic needs. Are all needs tangible? What intangible needs might be included on the list? Then you must decide how needs will be met; how will necessities be distributed; total equality? A range of inequality? By answering these questions, you would define distributive justice. I hope you will take some time to think about this and discover your own current beliefs. It is important to remember a couple of things: 1. You could be at the bottom; 2. What happens to a minority impacts the entire society. Perhaps this latter, the systems theory idea, is new to you, or something you have heard but never thought much about. How do you feel when around someone who clearly is from a different economic status than you? Do you get excited and want to meet them? Do you feel self-conscious and hope you won’t be noticed while you observe the other? Do you want to escape out of some sort of fear? Think about health issues. If a person with a communicable disease can be treated and the disease contained, do you want the person to have access to medical care to accomplish this or would you feel okay about encountering them untreated in a public place where everyone can be infected? There was a movie made in the recent past titled The Giver. It is based on a novel of the same name written by Lois Lowry. The story takes place in an ideal society where no one experiences illness or unhappiness. The society is isolated and unaware of a larger community outside its boundaries. The Giver is central to the entire enterprise. The Giver keeps the memories that motivate key choices underlying the functioning of the society and enforces certain rules. A pubescent male is identified to live with the Giver and one day fill that role. There he learns things that make him question the basic goal of the society and the role of the Giver. These are the things that keep the people perfect. Lois Lowry has written this story in a way that could be an example of the thought experiment. Initially, as I approach this experiment, I think I know the answers. As I think more about it, I realize the answers are not at all as obvious as I initially thought. I happen to also be reading a biography of Thomas Jefferson written by John Meacham. I just finished a biography of John Adams by David McCullough. It is clear to me these founders of the United States of America were trying very hard to answer the same questions. Their goal was to contribute to the development of a real society where people with different answers to these questions can live and work together peaceably and effectively for the benefit of all while thriving in their own lives. These two men are very, very different from each other, perhaps nearly as different as Barak Obama is from Donald Trump. Yet, they saw each other as profoundly important to the enterprise and its outcome. Perhaps you and I are just as different from each other as they. Perhaps in dialogue with each other, we would try to convince the other of the rightness of our thinking. I am certain I would try to convince you. Yet, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton and Washington and so many others never did convince each other. Instead, they acted on their commonly held belief in the importance and positive value of their differences. Each leader’s sense of right and wrong, of honor vs. dishonor, was somewhat different from the others. I suspect the differences are as important to the success of their enterprise as the agreements. Them knowing and expressing their own thoughts and learning the thoughts of others made all the difference. |
| Today, I am reading an article concerned with “justice theory” and “distributive justice.” So far, I think I understand that justice is a social contract in that there is broad agreement in society on the definition of Justice. It is clear from the article, however, that there are a couple of broad agreements in our society about that. At least that is one of the pieces of confusion I am experiencing in my reading. The author, Jerome Carl Wakefield, decided to focus on “distributive justice:” the “sharing” of the products of society. These products are the things that any human needs to participate in society. They include meeting survival needs, learning the skills required for social participation, economic resources, and self-esteem. In Mr. Wakefield’s discussion, he briefly critiques “social constructionist” thinking. He focuses heavily on the thinking of Rawles. (I have one of his books and hope to wade through the 674 pages.) This is philosophical writing and there are assumptions with challenges to assumptions, and the goal of the Wakefield article is to operationalize the thinking in a way that clarifies the goals and functions of the social work profession. I have not done a lot of reading of philosophical writing in the past. I can be tedious, but I am finding it interesting. My primary goal is to understand the nuances in the meaning of the word “Justice.” I want to be able to talk about it with confidence that I know at least something about it. I also want to have a more defined approach to my political thinking and a good deal of the political thinking I do focuses on the issue of Distributive Justice. My, starting position on the subject is that a person with the fewest “products of society” should have enough to stay physically healthy so he/she doesn’t become a breeding ground for communicable disease. That person should have enough resources so they don’t have to steal to survive. I don’t want people “dying in the streets” of starvation. I want universal sanitation so we don’t have breeding grounds of disease in the waste we produce as living beings. I believe that pockets of extreme poverty are a danger to all of society, whether you can see them or not. I also know that in an upwardly mobile society, there exists downward mobility. Things can go awry and people with excessive resources can lose them. The older we get, the higher the risk that we will become partially or completely dependent on others to survive. I want effective caregiving everywhere, so I don’t land in one of the “bad places.” It will be interesting to read how these writers sort this out. |
| I have been listing my completed reading since my retirement in March 2015 so I could remember and refer back. I decided I would like to elaborate so blogging seems like the next logical step. Now the list has become really long, so today, December 28, 2017, I am putting this into the body of the blog and start again. These are things I have read completely, not just halfway; March 2015 through the present, with a few additions. 1. Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting; Powers, Kevin, Little Brown, 2014. Poetry by an Iraq War veteran, exploring his life. This is his second published work. Excellent read. 2. The Yellow Birds; Powers, Kevin; on Kindle, Little Brown 7 Co. 2012. I read this novel after the poetry because I love Mr. Powers' writing. I was not disappointed. 3. An Atlas of the Difficult World; Rich, Adrienne, WW Norton & Co 1991 Very serious poetry, lovely, about the difficult world of the survivor. 4. (3/15) Faithful and Virtuous Night; Gluck, Louise, McMillan e-book 2014 Poetry. Explores aging from a first-person perspective. Outstanding! 5. (11/14) Defending Jacob, Landay, William, Random house e-book 2012 a novel about a family dealing with antisocial personality in its genes. Good, not outstanding. 6. (2014) The Paper Magician, Holmberg, Charlie N., e-book 2014 Fantasy Novel about a magician, who uses paper as his tool, and his apprentice. I really enjoyed this. He has a sequel I hope to read. 7.(4/1/15) Betwixt, e-magazine, Spring 2015, issue 7, "The Blueberry Knight" a short story by Jennifer Hykes. About a sister trying to regain her brother's normal form for him. Well done. 8. (4/1/15) Abyss & Apex, issue 54, second quarter, 2015, e-magazine, "The Truth about Unicorns" a short story by Jennifer Hykes About a child who wants a unicorn for her 5th birthday. Well written, whimsical. 9. (1/15) Who Will Say Kaddish for the Chinaman's Dog? Hykes, Jon: A story of love from various spiritual perspectives. A novel. Very interesting. 10. (4/2/15) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, Haddon, Mark, Kindle edition, Novel: First person perspective about an autistic teen coping with life. Wonderful read. 11. (4/4/15) Son, Lowry, Lois, Houghton Mifflin, 2012: A young adult novel, the sequel to The Giver. Excellent read. I am a great fan of Lois Lowry and have now read all four of that sequence. 12. (4/6/15) A Spot of Bother Haddon, Mark, Kindle edition, About a family with mental health problems coping with a crisis in a way that makes them grow. The writing style is excellent. The story, interesting enough to keep me reading, but just that and no more. I suspect this is the author's first novel. I like his Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night much better. 13: (4/11/15) Kinky, Duhamel, Denise, Orchises Press, Arlington VA, 1997. Poetry. This is a wonderful volume of poems about Barbie. Yes, the doll. It is funny, witty, and critical of the place the doll fills in society. 14. (4/12/15) The Thing with Feathers. Strycker, Noah, Riverhead Books, NY, NY 2014, A wonderful read about birds and humans, scientific, readable, very interesting. 15. (4/21/15) Border States Hoogestraat. Jane, BkMk Press, University of Missouri-Kansas City, MO 2014 Winner of the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry. The blurb on the back says this book has a sense of place. I found this to be so. Jane H., a teacher at Missouri State University, writes about North Dakota, Missouri, Kentucky, and reflects on immigration including places people came from. This is well written and I enjoyed reading it. 16. (5/9/15) Poetry,V: 206 N: 1 April 2015, Poetry Foundation, Ed. Don Share: This edition is focused on Hip Hop poetry both in presenting examples and criticism that is helpful in thinking about it. For me, the best part is the essay by Michael Robbins, "Equipment for Living," about the functions of poetry in culture. He jumps off with a quote from Kenneth Burke: "Poetry is produced...as a ritualistic way of arming us to confront perplexities and risks. It would protect us." I had not seen this idea previously and am very much enjoying pondering with Mr. Robbins. 17. (5/16/15) Fifth Generation Immigrant Busby, Lee. ELJ Publications LLC, New York. 2014. Poetry. This is Lee Busby's first book having previously published a chapbook, which I read last year. I am reading at least 5 books right now, but I have gone every time to his book first. His characters are local country people and he draws them with empathy, realistically, in all their confusion, questioning, and emerging wisdom. Included is a series of poems about Blackbird and his friend, Banner. For me, these are the most memorable. When I pick up the book I turn to the last of those first. The author teaches writing in Kansas City and provides leadership to the Riverpretty Foundation and the semi-annual Riverpretty Writers Retreat in Tecumseh, Missouri. He has another book, also from ELJ Publications, coming out soon. I will be excited to get it. I also hope to attend the Fall Retreat. 18. (5/18/15) The Most of It Ruefle, Mary. Wave Books, NY 2008. This book is described as prose, but it reads more like prose poetry. The entire book presents brief, never more than 3 pages, quirky descriptions of particular moments. The last section is something like a dialogue between someone named Mary and "the anchorite." I liked this section especially. I would recommend the book to anyone and gave my copy to my best friend. I bought the book from Mary Ruefle in person at the April 2015 Riverpretty Writers Retreat at Dawt Mill in Tecumseh, Missouri. It was a huge privilege to have her there supporting and critiquing and being the fine poet that she is. Having read this book, I have ordered another of hers. 19. (5/25/15) Nine Horses Collins, Billy Random House 2002. Poetry. After learning that someone had shot an autographed first edition of this book, I retrieved my copy from the shelf and re-read it. This is the book that inspired my poem "A Famous Poet Reads at Hammonds Field." I wonder if It might be the best of the five Billy Collins books that I have read. I'll have to get the others down and re-read them and find out. This book seems to be out of the mind of a man at peace with himself and the world when he is writing. It is not confessional or written to heal something. It is meditative in tone and looks closely at quiet observations in a rather lyrical way. Which leads me to wonder why someone would have shot all those holes in it. Is it an act of performance art? Or, could it be the act of a very disturbed mind? I don't think I have ever heard of such a thing before. Book burnings tend to be very political and carefully explained. Book shootings? Very odd. Perhaps if you read it you will figure it out. 20. (06/06/15) Paper Doll Fetus Hoffman, Cynthia Marie. Persea Books Inc., New York, NY, 2014. Poetry After reading this fascinating book about anomalies in childbirth, I went to the author's website where I read about her background and approach to writing. She has an MFA and has taught writing. I found it interesting that she works for an engineering firm. This is her second book. I will be acquiring the first ASAP. She states she does a lot of research. That is obvious in this book. I am very interested in her muses. Original documents written since the 12th century CE about many odd events related to childbirth have informed and inspired most of these poems. The language she uses is precise, yet includes sounds and images of great beauty, as well as some slightly unsettling images. I selected this book, as I often do, by picking it randomly from the shelf in the bookstore, flipping it open, and reading the first poem I see. In this case, it was the title poem, which has stuck with me through reading the rest of the book. Others who have written about the book pick different examples. This would be easy to do. I think if the book had fallen open to a different page, that poem would have stuck with me equally well. The work is divided into 4 sections. After reading the first section, I wrote the best poem I've written in some time and it was clear to me Ms. Hoffman's imagination and excellent writing had awakened something in my mind that had been at rest. All in all, I found this book to be an excellent read and highly recommend it to anyone interested in poems about the history of the practice of medicine, and/or women's experiences with reproduction. 21. (7/3/15) Our Souls at Night, by Kent Haruf, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2015.This is the final work of Kent Haruf as he has passed on. I had not heard of Kent Haruf but was browsing in Barnes & Noble and read on the back of the book that Ursula Le Guin recommended the book, I figured it would be worth reading. It turned out to be a good choice. In this novel, the author presents two main characters, both widowed, who have lived in the same neighborhood for most of their adult lives. It opens with Addie Moore visiting Louis Waters, whom she hardly knows, though she knew his wife, with an interesting proposition to cope with the loneliness of old age and widowhood. The book tells the story of the results of the choice they both make in very simple language. Along the way, their adult children enter a 6-year-old grandson, and some interactions with neighbors. This book reminds me of The Bridges of Madison County, the first novel in a trilogy by Robert James Waller, published in 1992. Like Our Souls at Night, Mr. Waller’s story is a compelling, down to earth romance, and, as I recall, has a similar style. I was also reminded of a clinical book I read some years ago, Stories That Heal: Reparenting Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families Using Hypnotic Stories in Psychotherapy by Lee Wallas, W.W. Norton & Co. 1991. Wallas presents a clinical approach of using stories during a period of deep relaxation in the therapy room to help clients heal from trauma. Wallas makes use of the suggestibility common in people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder originating from child abuse as a strength, or ally, in the healing process. With this approach, therapist prompts client into relaxation using a focusing protocol, and when the client is fully relaxed, the therapist uses guided imagery, the same one each time, followed by a new short story. Each story is a brief description of appropriate parenting starting with pregnancy and moving through childhood. Wallas’s writing style in the healing stories is very similar to Kent Haruf’s style, and so, Our Souls at Night has a mildly suggestive quality, presenting pictures of true intimacy between two 70+year olds. As such, it is excellent bedtime reading. The images are compelling enough that I awakened this morning with my first thoughts focusing on the book. When that happens, I think I have found something truly worth reading. 22. Into the River, Dawes, Ted, Polis Books, Kindle Edition. 2016. This is a young adult book suitable for mid-teens, probably more interesting to boys as the main character is a boy at a boys school. This is a look at the challenges of coming of age as an indigenous Australian in the context of the dominant English culture. 23. Hillbilly Elegy, a Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis, Vance, J. D., Harper Collins Kindle Ed. 2016. I selected this after hearing an interview with the author on radio. It is interesting and well written. Description is vivid. However, I did not come away with much improvement in my understanding of the issues he addresses. 24. Bonhoeffer Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich, Metaxas, Eric, Thoman Nelson Books, Nashville, Tennessee, Kindle Edition, 2010. This is a wonderful book full of wisdom and courage, pain, and a lot of history. It took a long time for me to finish reading it because the history of the Third Reich is so troubling I would put the book down for a while before picking it up again. It is not good bedtime reading, but it is gripping and valuable. 25. The men Who United the States; America's Explorers, Inventors, Eccentrics and Mavericks and the Creation of One Nation, Indivisible. Winchester, Simon, Harper Audio CD, unabridged, 09/16/14. I very much enjoyed reading about these people who significantly impacted the development of the USA, but few received notoriety. It is organized around issues of earth, wind, fire, and water and focuses on development in transportation and communication that gradually led to the emergence of the USA. Mr. Winchester, as narrator of his own writing, creates a wonderful listening experience. I am sure that reading it would be equally interesting. I happen to love audiobooks. 24. Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together. Danforth, Senator John, Listen and Learn Audio with Permission from Viking Penguin 2006. This is refreshing in that Father Danforth applies his background in theology to his observations as a politician ending with a career as US Senator. His ideas are well stated, calm and wise. This is a very good read. 25. Our Revolution, Sanders, Bernie, A Macmillan Audiobook from Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martins Press, 2016. This is long and full of well documented, clear descriptions of the main issues that face America today with Senator Sanders' ideas about how to make them happen: Very valuable content. 26. The Boy Who Made Dragonfly, A Zuni Myth, Hillerman, Tony, Illustrated by Janet Grado, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, 1972. This is a 500-year-old tale created to teach core values of the Zuni including kindness, humility, mutual care, and personal commitment. The cover blurb says it is written for people 10 years old and older. I loved it. 27. The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, Elisabeth Tovil Bailey, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 2010' This is WONDERFUL Book! It is a personal memoir but also a nature study focused on snails. It would be appropriate to read to young children who are curious about nature or to yourself, your friends, the person who repairs your car.... It is well written, engaging, and it has short chapters making it great bedtime reading. Also, there is very little that is upsetting or worrisome. It is positive and just a great read! 28. A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens. Most people say, when I mention I just read this book, "I read that in high school: Well, I didn't. Finally, I got around to it. I am astonished at the gore described concerning the French Revolution. However, I found it compelling and artful and interesting. I don't think it is a good choice for teens before their senior year due to the gore. 29 The Glass Magician Holmvueg, Charlie M. This is the sequel to the Paper Magician. I enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed The Paper Magician. I think this is a young adult book. It is fantasy with engaging characters: Not great literature, but a very pleasant read. 30. The Master Magician, Holmvueg, Charlie M. The third in the series, this brings our hero and heroine back in conflict with the evil magician while Ceony, our heroine works to get ready to pass her final test to become a Master Magician. Light reading, pleasant, fantasy novel. 31. The Underground Railroad, Whitehead. Colson. Kindle Audible Edition. This is an Oprah's Book Club selection. The writing is interesting, characters well developed, and it has kept my interest from beginning to end. I don't like that the author has portrayed the underground railroad as a rail system underground. I don't like that the Tuskegee experiment of the 1930's is stuck into the 1830's. There is an enormous amount of violence, so I hope they don't make it into a movie. It is interesting but disquieting. 34. Bartleby the Scrivener. Melvill, Herman. Kindle Audible Books. This is as odd a tale as you can find. The narrator, a barrister, hires a scrivener. As he relates to the scrivener and his decisions, he examines his values. It is a novella and is worth the hour or two it takes to read it. I highly recommend it! 35. My Own Words, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with Mary Hartnett, Wendy W. Williams, and portions read by Linda Lavin, an Audioworks edition. This is a collection of interviews, essays, and speeches given by Justice Ginsburg over the years. I "read" it by listening to a CD of the book, which I would say is the best way to read it, as a lot of it is in her voice. She discusses the role of the supreme court, the collegial relationships on the court and how the judges interact, and she even talks about her love for opera. It is a really interesting read. I highly recommend it! 36. Washington, a life, Ron Chernow, read by Edward Herrmann, Penguin Audio, abridged. This was as interesting as Mr. Chernow's biography of Hamilton. In addition to providing a careful look at the Revolutionary War and the skirmishes before and after, as well as the development of the Presidency, Mr. Chernow discusses Washington's struggle with "the peculiar institution" and his agricultural activities. I wish it hadn't been abridged. The entire book is available in paperback from Penguin. 37. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens, Kindle audible. Another excellent read! I just love Dickens' humor. It is no wonder his books remain part of our literature as his writing is so extraordinary. I hated when it ended as, so far, I haven't found another of his books in audio form. I have so many audiobooks piled up that I haven't read that it will be a while before I read on paper. 38. 1984, George Orwell, Kindle Audible edition. Having never read this before, it seemed a good time to read it. I found it interesting, but bleak. There is little more I want to say about it. 39.To The Last Man, a Novel of the First World War. Jeff Shaara, Kindle Audible edition, Ballentine Books, 1984. (The name of the reader is not listed in the Kindle catalog.) This is so very interesting I hated to be interrupted in reading, but sometimes, I had to put it down because the content is so intense. As most of us know, WWI was horrible with trench warfare, both the US and Germans using mustard gas, and the introduction of the machine gun, airplanes, and tanks, and because, throughout most of the war, it was a stalemate. The US was in it only in the last year and the war was so violent that the US alone lost as many men in that one year as were lost in the entire Viet Nam conflict. Jeff Shaara writes this as a historical novel, but all characters are real people. As a teen, I read a book, title and author no longer remembered, that was contemporaneous to the war. It really impressed me. This was my maternal grandparent's generation, so I have this awareness of the people that make the content more real for me. Even so, the descriptions are so vivid I found myself reading from the place inside me from which I listened to trauma memories when doing therapy. I was engaged with my mind, but feelings needed to be set aside so I could read the book. There were times it was so desperately sad and gruesome that with all my protections in place, I was still brought to tears. I selected this book because I have read very little about WWI. Of course, this was because I knew it to be so gruesome. While I was working, it was just too much pain to face while facing pain all day. Retirement is good this way. All in all, this is carefully researched, brought to life through vivid dialogue, paced so you are not in the trenches constantly, detailed, vivid, and an extraordinary read. 40. A Song Flung up to Heaven. Maya Angelou, Bantam, 2003. Kindle Audible edition, read by the author. This is a memoir of Ms. Angelou's life leading up to her writing "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." It describes the people who influenced her as a creative person and the important relationships in her life. It also recounts her experiences of the deaths of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr., people she knew personally. I enjoyed it but wish it included a little more detail about each relationship. 41. The Sympathizer. Viet Thanh Nguyen, Grove Press, 2015. Kindle Audible edition read by the author. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. This is a long novel written in a first-person view about a young man who experiences the Viet Nam war as a Vietnamese person, a soldier, and a spy. Very well written, rich in detail and in historical information, I enjoyed it more than I ever would have predicted. I highly recommend this book. It deserves the Pulitzer Prize that it won. I also think listening to the author read it very much enhanced the experience. 42. Truman, David McCullough, Simon & Shuster, NY, 1992, Encore edition, abridged, read by the author, 2002. It was good to read about Missouri's native son and to learn I could truly respect him. David McCullough presents him as an eminently reasonable, responsible, down to earth, wise, and fallible human, truly a "citizen leader." I am glad I listened rather than reading because I got to listen to Truman speak. All in all, an excellent read. 43. A Grief Observed, C.S. Lewis, HarperCollins, 1994. (75 pp.) Grieving the loss of his wife, the author wrote of his immediate experiences in notebooks which he later used as a basis for this book. He describes the emotional, intellectual and spiritual experiences of a normal grief process well and with energy and compassion. He shares the challenges to his Christian faith and some insight into how he resolved them. Excellent work. 44. Beneath a Scarlet Sky, Mark Sullivan, Lake Union Publishing, Kindle Audible Edition. 5/1/2017. This is a biography that has sections that are fictional due to lack of evidence for those sections. The author spent a lot of time with the Italian resistance fighter about whom it is written. This is a wonderful read about an intelligent, resourceful, and athletic teen dealing with the Nazi occupation of Italy. It includes action scenes that would please those in need of action, romance, suspense, and it presents the pain and courage of Italian citizens coping with the occupation. Very well written, this is a page-turner that I highly recommend. 45> Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet, Charlie N. Holmberg, 47North Publishers, Kindle audible edition, 6/28/2016. If you have been reading my list, you know that I enjoy this author. All of these books are light reading. In this book, the type of magic is cooking. As usual the "magician" gets into scrapes and has to figure out how to solve the main problem she faces. Very enjoyable read. |
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