A NEW WAY TO DOWNLOAD, STREAM, & SHARE PODCASTS

CHECK OUT OUR AWESOME NEW WEBSITE PIRATERADIO.ORG PIRATERADIO.ORG, 8350 East Avalon Drive, Scottsdale, AZ, 85251, United States Unsubscribe

Fight Like A Girl

Fight Like A Girl

YA/adult nonfiction
"...In this book I want to reclaim the idea of fighting like a
girl--a phrase that is usually meant to suggest that those who fight
like girls, as opposed to fighting like men, don't really know how to
fight and that their struggle is not real, not intense, not
legitimate--just hair pulling and nail scratching. I know how to
fight, and I know plenty of women whose struggles are all too real,
all too harrowing, all too dangerous. I'm here to say that not only
can we fight like girls; we can win."
The title of Megan Seely's Fight Like A Girl brings back a
memory. I was in fifth grade, one of the smallest class members. Our
class bully, who had stayed back a few times, started a lunch recess
practice of chasing down and beating up a girl each day. Teachers did
nothing. Recess was unsupervised. One day he picked on the wrong
girl, me, and ended up pinned to the ground, blood spurting out of his
nose. His recess practice ended.
Fight Like A Girl: How To Be A Fearless Feminist is a grow with
book. It packs in all the basics for a newly declared feminist to
feel grounded. There are detailed instructions for conducting and
publicizing all kinds of actions. There's also a wealth of resources
for the more experienced members of the tribe.
My only problem with the book is the breaking down of feminists
into first, second, and third wave. I dislike stereotyping on the
basis of something as superficial as age. Chronologically is the only
way I'm second wave. Mentally I'm relating to my kids' generation's
ideas and enthusiasm. A non binary world? Yes! Intersectionality?
He'll, yes! Let's leave waves for oceans. And, while we're at it,
let's not automatically follow gender fluid or nonconforming with
youth. I'm proud to be two spirit.
On a personal note, I am sad to announce that my friend Lauren, who
has run Wilson Center so capably, is moving across the country. She
will be very much missed here. But I'm excited for the opportunities
I know she'll discover in California. I'll miss Wilson Center too.
I'm not moving anywhere. But balancing grad school, work, and home
and family requires me at least temporarily giving up just about
everything else.
A great big shout out and best wishes go out to Lauren. Being part of
her life even for a short time has been a real privilege.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

Nasty Women

Nasty Women

Adult nonfiction
"The 2016 election wasn't just a loss for Clinton, it was a loss
for feminism. Not only did the first female candidate from either
major party lose, she lost to an open misogynist--someone who called a
former Latina beauty queen fat and was caught on the record bragging
about grabbing women by the pussy..."
I woke up the morning after the 2016 presidential election
dismayed--OK, terrified--and far from convinced that President
Pennywise was going to make America great, especially for the folks
who aren't filthy rich, white, CIS, straight, conservative males. I
was overwhelmed by the knowledge of how much bad he can do--to the
point where my brain felt like a hamper of yarn cats had partied in.
With the constant barrage of conflict and crisis coming out of
the White House, time did not do a lot to straighten out my mind. So
I was very grateful to discover Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance,
And Revolution in Trump's America. This anthology of 23 pieces by
feminist and intersectionality writers shines much needed light on the
many facets of the situation. Among them you will find:
*Is There Ever A Right Time To Talk To Your Children About Fascism?
The grandchild of a Holocaust survivor, Kera Bolonik, ponders on how
best to talk to her adopted black son about the racist world he's in;
*Beyond The Pussy Hats. Katha Pollitt reminds us how precarious
abortion rights are and tells us what we need to do to not return to a
time when pregnancy termination was done by back alley butchers and
coat hangers;
*Farewell To Meritocrocy. Jamia Wilson shows how much the deck is
stacked in favor of the already rich and powerful.
I would recommend this reasonably priced paperback to everyone
who wants America to truly become a nation with liberty and justice
for all. It's a must acquire for public and college libraries.
On a personal note, work was really good this week. I was working
suppers, mostly serving. Thursday night I had a wonderful surprise.
I was given my fifteen minute supper break in the middle of a rush. I
wanted the steak tips. Common sense said get pizza or salad; by the
time you get them you won't be able to eat them. But I really wanted
the steak tips. I went to the end of the line of football players.
Only the one right in front of me told his teammates to make me a
place at the front so I wouldn't have to wait, the guy who was just
about to be served stepped aside and invited me to come get my supper,
and the rest of the guys smiled and nodded their approval. So I was
able to enjoy not only my steak and potatoes, but also strawberry
shortcake and strawberry ice cream with sprinkles. That kindness
totally made my week.
A great big shout out goes out to the UMaine Black Bears football
team! They are the cat's pajamas!
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

Two Memoirs

Two Memoirs

Adult nonfiction
My younger daughter, Katie, had read The Glass Castle and
thought I'd like it. Luck was on my side. Orono Public Library has a
whole wall of the community room devoted to a permanent book sale, $1
for hard covers, 50 cents for paperbacks, payable to a librarian on
duty. (I've even seen volumes worth $50 or so.) Anyway I found The
Glass Castle cozier up to another likely looking volume: The Liars'
Club.
Back at home I realized they were both memoirs. That genre of
literature is, in my opinion, essential in today's world. When I was
younger the tv family--mom cleaning the house in dress and pearls, dad
breezing in after a day at the office, kids whose problems could be
solved in half an hour--became the measure of all things. Not fitting
in became a source of silence and shame for kids whose lives were not
similarly scripted. And now with social media images showing people
only at their (often enhanced) picture perfect best, the pressure is
amped even more. In the introduction to the 10th anniversary edition
of The Liars' Club Mary Karr comments on how readers confided that
they, too, grew up in less than picture perfect families. Her book
made them realize they weren't the only ones.
"Even the most perfect-looking clan sailed through a rough
patch. 'I'm from one of those Donna Reed households you always wanted
to adopt you,' the elegant woman in Chicago said. But her doctor
daddy got saddled with a wicked malpractice suit. A few more martinis
than usual got poured from the silver shaker every night. Rumor was
he took up with his nurse."
Both memoirs begin with a childhood memory involving fire.
Karr's is set like a tableau. She sits on a matress with her family
doctor trying to get her to show him the marks. Lecia, her older
sister, is being held by a stocky sheriff. The dog outside strains at
his leash, barking menacingly. Firemen tackle a gasoline fire in the
back yard. Her mother is being taken "away"...
...not exactly a Leave It To Beaver moment...
...and then the narrative moves on, leaving the reader with lots
of questions. The back story is not revealed til much later.
Karr was born into a rather unusual family. Her mother was
nervous, a term that in the part of Texas where she grew up meant
"anything from chronic nail-biting to full-blown psychosis." Her
father was an oil refinery worker, a union man who loathed scabs.
Her parents' marriage was far from made in Heaven. Her mother
would make her nervous with her divorce talk and her anger. As for
her father,
"...he never spoke of divorce as an option. If I asked him
worried questions about a particularly nasty fight, he'd just say I
shouldn't talk bad about my mother as if even suggesting they might
split up insulted her somehow. In his world, only full-blown lunatics
got divorced. Regular citizens in a bad marriage just hunkered down
and stood it."
However, a couple of years after that, following an accidental
move to Colorado, the girls came home from a night riding trip to hear
their parents' divorce announcement. Their father was moving back to
Texas; their mother was staying in Colorado. With whom did they wish
to live?
"She [Lecia] chose, finally. If we left Mother by herself,
she'd get in capital-T trouble. But Daddy would just go back to work
at the Gulf, so we'd always know where he was. The logic seemed solid
enough. Let's go back in there and break it to them, she said."
Only the marriage isn't over yet. The girls flew back to Texas
after a particularly dramatic incident involving their mom, a gun, and
their mom's boyfriend. In Texas another drama, avidly witnessed by
the community, set Karr to musing:
"...All my life I'd wanted to belong in their [neighbors']
families, to draw my lunch from the simple light and order of their
defrosted refrigerators. The stories that got whispered behind our
supermarket cart, or the silence that fell over the credit union when
Daddy shoved open the glass door--these things always set my face
burning. That afternoon, for the first time, I believed that Death
itself lived in the neighboring houses. Death cheered for the Dallas
Cowboys, and wrapped canned biscuit dough around Vienna sausages for
the half-time snack."
A whole lot of fascinating experiences lead up to this
epiphany. You must read the book to get it...
...or know where the title came from.
"It had been months since I laid eyes on Mom, and when she
looked up, I was overcome with panic, that she'd see me and call out
my name and that someone on the way to the same party would spot us
together and Mom would introduce herself and my secret would be out.
I slid down in my seat and asked the driver to turn around and
take me home to Park Avenue."
Why would an adult woman be so afraid of being recognized by her
mother she'd flee to her home, deciding not to attend a social event?
You'll have to read Jeanette Walls' The Glass Castle. If anything,
it's the stranger of the two books.
Walls' fire experience happened when she was three. She was
standing on a chair in front of the stove cooking hot dogs. Her pink
dress caught on fire. At the hospital she was pronounced lucky to be
alive. Her burns were severe enough to require skin grafts. After
she'd been there awhile her father broke her out.
Walls spent much of her childhood moving from place to place,
usually in the middle of the night. Her father, sure the FBI was
after him, fled when he thought they were getting too close. Her
mother said the mysterious pursuers were really bill collectors. Her
father couldn't keep a job. She and her siblings weren't always in
school. There wasn't always food.
The family was on a quest to get rich. As soon as they struck
gold the father would be able to build a glass castle run by solar
cells. In the meantime Walls had to deal with parental alcoholism and
neglect in housing situations I wouldn't leave my cat in. How she
managed to survive and thrive despite her upbringing is the
fascinating narrative of The Glass Castle.
On a personal note, Sunday my friend Lauren preached at my church.
She did a great job running Wilson Center. Now she's moving. We'll
really miss her. Tuesday I was back at Community Garden after missing
three weeks due to work. People were glad to have me back and I was
happy to be harvesting and delivering. I'm still learning lots at
work. Can you believe we have a stir fry place where people can
choose what ingredients they want and see them stir fry cooked right
on the spot? I'd never seen anything like that in my whole entire
life. I was the one who took orders. Friday toward the end of supper
the fire alarms went off. The fire fighters came to find the problem.
I am SO GLAD Wells didn't burn down. So is supervisor Anna.
A great big shout out goes out to Lauren with best wishes. I know
wherever she goes she will do good work and find people who will love
her.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

Hawk Mother

Hawk Mother

Juvenile nonfiction
The cover of a picture book literally stopped me in my shelf
reading tracks. It showed an adult red-tailed hawk sharing a nest
with two perfectly calm baby chickens. That's not exactly what you
expect to see unless large quantities of avian drugs are involved. I
mean in nature a raptor would consider the chicks (who wouldn't want
to be in the same area code, never mind the same nest) fast food...
...So what the heck was going on?
Kara Hagedorn's Hawk Mother turned out to be a very unusual love
story. Sunshine, the hawk, was shot, rendered unable to fly, hunt, or
protect herself. She was taken to a wildlife center. Hagedorn, who
works there, adopted her and took her home.
One spring Sunshine built a nest and layed two eggs which she
tended to. Sadly, since she'd had no close encounters of the male of
the species kind, the eggs were infertile. She tried year after year
after year.
One year Hagedorn obtained two fertilized chicken eggs to
replace the infertile ones. Sunshine didn't seem to notice. But what
would happen when the imposters were born?
Read the book and see.
On a personal note, we had some fun at work. The lights flickered and
went out and a glass fronted fridge started flashing and making
buzzing sounds. All the diners got out of there as fast as their feet
would carry them. Some of the other workers and I started
coconstructing (while we were working) a scary story involving angry
spirits finding a way up to the surface of the earth due to
construction. I was using a flat, raspy voice to say lines like
"They're here.", "The veil has been rent between the living and the
dead", and "I see dead people." People were playing along like
saying. "Are the spirits angry, Jules? I bet they're very angry."
People like stories. Adults can play.
A great big shout out goes out to adults whose imaginations haven't
been euthanized.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

Policing The Black Man

Policing The Black Man

Adult nonfiction
"The tragic killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric
Garner, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, Freddie Gray, and others served as
the catalyst for this anthology. But these killings also inspired the
contributing authors to think about all the ways that black men are
"policed"--in the broad sense of the word--heavily and harshly at
every step of the criminal process. In fact, black men are policed
and treated worse than their similarly situated white counterparts at
every step of the criminal justice system, from arrest to sentencing.
These unwarranted disparities exist whether black men are charged with
crimes or are victims of crime...This anthology explores and explains
the "policing" of black men--from slavery to the present day and at
every stage of the criminal process and beyond."
It seems like every time we watch or read the news another black
man or boy has been killed by a police officer. Most of the boys and
girls in blue are acquitted if they are ever charged. Although this
is tragic in its own right, Policing the Black Man, edited by Angela
J. Davis, shows that this civil wrong is only the visible tip of a
disturbingly huge iceberg. Never before have I seen such a
comprehensive compilation of evidence of racism in the criminal
justice system by experts in the field. Some of the essays include:
*In A Presumption of Guilt: The Legacy of America's History of Racial
Injustice Bryan Stevenson, director of the Equal Justice Initiative,
traces this sordid and heartbreaking history from slavery through the
black codes and lynching to race as a salient feature in capital
punishment sentencing.
*In Poverty, Violence, And Black Incarveration Jeremy Travis,
president of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and Bruce Western,
Harvard professor, explore the intersectionality of those factors to
show the long lasting devastation the incarceration of large numbers
of poor black men inflicts on their families and entire communities.
*In The Grand Jury and Police Violence Against Black Men Roger A.
Fairfax Jr., professor and dean at George Washington University,
explores the role of this group in deciding whether accused people
should face criminal charges and why, in most cases concerning white
police officers killing black men, they choose not to indict.
The essay I found most heartbreaking was Boys to Men: The Role
of Policing in the Socialization of Black Boys by Kristin Henning,
Georgeton law professor. Henning starts off with two narratives of
black boys being treated abusively by police officers. She shows how,
in a society that has bought into the super predator myth popularized
(and later abandoned) by John Dilulio Jr., police unfairly target
black boys and they are tried as adults as young as 13 or 14--the ones
who aren't shot by officers who see thugs rather than children or
teens. Parents have to teach sons how to protect themselves from
those sworn to serve and protect. Then there are the school resource
officers hired to prevent school shootings. Although the shooters are
primarily white and middle class, the cops patrol poor, black schools
where their presence causes incidents that would otherwise be treated
in house to be punished as criminal activities.
Some of those cops carry military grade assault rifles.
Policing The Black Man is a must read for all who care about
racial justice.
On a personal note, it was wicked hot and humid for awhile. Then we
had some spectacular thunder storms which made it comfortably cooler.
I'm getting good hours at work. One of the groups we're feeding is
the football team. It's so much fun when they arrive with their
boisterous good humor and laughter and heart melting smiles. When
they line up for food they are ever so polite and patient--a credit to
their families.
A great big shout out goes out to our Black Bear athletes and coaches.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

The Price of Inequality

The Price of Inequality

Adult nonfiction
"Three themes resonated around the world: that the markets
weren't working the way they were supposed to, for they were obviously
neither efficient nor stable; that the political system hadn't
corrected the market failures; and that the economic and political
systems are fundamentally unfair. While this book focuses on the
excessive inequality that marks the United States and some other
industrial countries today, it explains how the themes are intimately
interlinked: the inequality is cause and consequence of the failure
of the political system, and it contributes to the instability of our
economic system, which in turn contributes to increased inequality--a
vicious downward spiral into which we have descended, and from which
we can emerge only through concentrated policies I describe below."
If you are anything like me, you felt very angry when the ill-
conceived tax reform bill was rammed through Congress so quickly it's
impossible to believe its members had time enough to read and totally
comprehend what they were signing onto. Maybe you were bothered by
the give aways to corporations and the wealthy and apprehensive that
cuts to the safety nets for the rest of us would be sure to follow.
Maybe you had a sense that, trickle down economics never having worked
before, we hadn't just been put on the path to prosperity.
If you're anything like me, you probably wondered how to make
sense of the convoluted mess our country is in. How can we did
ourselves out? How can ordinary citizens participate in this process?
Given the timing of this debacle, so close to the holidays, what
to say to those Republican neighbors, colleagues, friends, and
relatives who were pratically breaking out into choruses of Happy Days
Are Here Again may have crossed your mind.
Joseph E. Stiglitz's The Price of Inequality: How Today's
Inequality Endangers Our Future is your go to guide for all this and
much more. If you read only one book this year (I do hope that you
read more) make this the one. It's a shade more challenging than most
of my recommendations. There is a slight gap between what a Nobel
Prize economist and what the rest of us consider general reading...
...but the cost of ignorance couldn't be greater, so I consider
it worth the extra effort.
On a personal note, I'm going to have to start posting reviews just
once a week one month early. I had no idea student workers would
become such a desirable commodity at dining services in August.
Something about a lot of peeps going on vaca. I hear from reliable
sources that the first part of the semester is hectic while more
student workers are hired and trained. Yikes! I am very glad I
learned a lot over the summer. But I have no idea if I'll be able to
even buy the glasses I'll need to read power points. I am getting
very nervous as school approaches.
A great big shout out goes out to that colorful, loveable, sometimes
exasperating dining services family I joined when I got my student job.
jules hathaway


Sent from my iPod

Zoo Scientists To The Rescue

Zoo Scientists To The Rescue

Juvenile nonfiction
I bet you've been to a zoo at least once. They're very popular
destinations, entertaining and educating over 181 million people a
year. Where else can you see animals who normally dwell half way
around the world? As readers learn in Patricia Mewman's Zoo
Scientists To The Rescue, they can be so much more.
"Zoos also give scientists an up close look at animals that are
difficult to observe in the wild. These scientists use their training
and a hefty dose of ingenuity to study the animals in their care.
What do these animals eat? How do they reproduce? Where do they fit
in their natural habitats? How do we preserve them in the wild? The
answers to those questions unlock those animals' secrets."
Zoo Scientists To The Rescue introduces readers to three of
these scientists and their fascinating work:
*Meredith Bastion who uses observations from seven years of field
study in Borneo to help the National Zoo better care for orangatangs
and educates people on the need to know where the palm oil in their
food comes from;
*Jeff Baugham who is helping black footed ferrets (vital in
maintaining prairie ecosystems) bounce back from near extinction (Can
you believe online dating is involved?);
and *Rachel Santymire who studies the hormones in rhinoceros feces to
help them breed.
As Zoo Scientists To The Rescue shows us, zoos can also spur
visitors to care more about the other sentient beings with whom we
share this planet and make consumer decisions that help them to
survive and propogate. The book gives interested kids steps they cam
take to make a difference and further resources they can investigate.
One of its aims is to inspire the next generation of animal
scientists...
...an admirable goal in which it should succeed if school and
public libraries on their must acquire lists.
On a personal note, we're already into August. Yikes! I feel like
there's so much I have to do before school starts. To be fair some of
it is want tos. I'll live if I don't try at least one publisher or
get more done on my book manuscripts or get a check up. I have enough
reviews and opinion piece for the Bangor Daily stockpiled for the
school year. But I have to get glasses so I can read power points. I
don't know the first thing about getting glasses. I have to find a
friend to go with me. A friend with a car. The buses here add hours
to the simplest of errands. I wish we had a subway like Boston. And
I have to get the tablet (of the computer, not pill sort) Amber and
Brian gave me connected to Internet and printer and learn so much
about how to use it. My grad program is feeling exciting and scary at
the same time. I hope I don't screw up.
A great big shout out goes out to my friend Matt Stone. He is the
kind of journalist we need more of. While too many of his peers go
after the hot, sexy stuff, he follows paper trails and policies and
finances to create stories that tell us what we really need to know
like how the state is not hiring the public health nurses they were
ordered to and how DHHS's cover your ass priorities are breaking up
viable families and putting a lot of kids in far from good
situations. When there's something bad going on in Augusta who ya
gonna call? Super Geek!
jules hathaway



Sent from my iPod