(Don't) Call Me Crazy
YA/adult nonfiction
"(Don't) Call Me Crazy is a conversation starter and guide to
better understanding how and where mental health impacts us each and
every day. This is neither a tool for diagnosis nor a medical guide.
It's a pulling back of the curtain and an opportunity to get up close
and personal with mental health. It is by turns intense and raw, as
well as humorous and lighthearted. It showcases a wide range of
experiences as well as the power and eccentricities of each person's
unique mind."
As someone who has experienced depression, left anorexia in the
rear view mirror, and seen stigma stand in the way of loved one's
getting needed help, sometimes with tragic consequences, I am big on
helping to pull back the curtain. I want to live in a world where
seeing a professional for anxiety or depression is no more frowned on
than teaming up with a physician to deal with diabetes or heart
disease. I am out with my experiences in daily life and not reticent
about taking the stage.
When the focus is suicide, as it just was where I just played
the part of a severely depressed student in Tunnel Of Oppression, I
find myself thinking on people I've lost too soon that way. I usually
push their fates out of my mind. But, like in Stephen King's The
Shining, under those circumstances they're back. No wonder I suddenly
found a need to read (Don't) Call Me Crazy: 33 Voices Start The
Conversation About Mental Health edited by Kelly Jenson.
This is an amazing anthology. Thirty-three individuals who have
achieved success in fields ranging from sports to writing share their
candid personal experiences. You'll learn about:
*American born writer Hannah Bae surviving a traumatic childhood, not
understanding that her troubled mother could not seek treatment due to
the stigma surrounding mental illness on her native Korea;
*Memoirist Clint Van Winkle going through experiences most of us would
consider unthinkable as a Marine in Iraq and determining not to let
trauma define him or keep him from being a responsive father to his
beloved daughter;
*Author Mike Jung discovering a name--autism--for the confusions and
struggles of his earlier years;
and *so many other amazing true stories.
I highly recommend this fine book. Even if you aren't in the
one in five people who will experience psychological challenges at
some point in life, chances are you will teach, work with, live near,
be friends with...
...or even love one of us.
Given those odds, it's a pretty good investment.
On a personal note, I am on a road trip with my son, my husband, and
his brother. We are in Augusta at a sportspeople's (It's billed as
sportsmen's. But puh leeze. A lot of the attendees could not be
billed as men by any stretch of the imagination) show. As I wrote
these words, I'm sitting in on a gun auction which is interesting for
a writer with a yen for diverse experiences.
A great big shout out goes out to all who suffer from or fight to
eradicate the stigma our society erects around psychological challenges.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Friday, March 29, 2019
People Kill People
People Kill People
"While the outcome of stricter gun control continues to be
debated, I felt it was important to try and understand why someone
might be compelled to pull the trigger. This is what authors do: we
ask why. Why are people prone to violence? Why do people seek
revenge?Why do people hate or fear or despair?Why do people kill
people? If we can understand the whys, perhaps we can begin to solve
the problem."
One of the total delights of my just past March break was
finding a new book by Ellen Hopkins, my all time favorite YA author.
I discovered her Perfect back in 2015 (faked sick so I could stay in
bed and read the whole thing) and was elated to locate her previous
work. Many of her books are in poetry, sometimes with a separate form
for each of a bunch of narrators. But there is nothing artsy or
artificial about her content. It is raw, intense, real, and
gripping. Hopkins deals with issues like drug addiction and teen
prostitution--the stuff most of us who are parents hope our kids steer
clear of but few are willing to come out and discuss.
People Kill People focuses on gun violence from a unique angle.
It is told in second person because you, the reader, are invited to
"slip into the skin" of six different protagonists, each of whom is
fragile, stressed, potentially capable of pulling the trigger under
the right circumstances. You get to walk in the shoes of:
*Rand, a 19-year-old, supporting his wife and son and, although loving
them, missing his more carefree days. He wants to become a cop partly
because he has a score to settle;
*Silas, a white nationalist teen whose father is cohabiting with a
Hispanic woman and whose mother is about to marry a Jew. He's still
obsessed with an ex girlfriend who wants nothing more to do with him;
*Daniel, the out of wedlock child of a well off white father and an
undocumented mother. Since his mom was deported and his dad died he's
been struggling to survive on the streets;
*Noelle, a former successful student who incurred grand mal epilepsy
in a car accident caused by her best friend's father, the driver,
being shot. There are days when she doubts that her own life is worth
living;
*Cami, Reed's wife, who is finding full time housewifery boring and
lonely. She's making money on the side in a way that could get her in
trouble with the law;
and *Ashlyn who saw her violently abusive father kill her mother and
now lives with an indifferent aunt and uncle. She finds the feeling
of belonging she craves in the white nationalist movement.
All these characters are united through ties of family, school,
marriage, work, love...anything but love. Before you turn the final
page one will have pulled the trigger and one will have fallen, never
to get up.
People Kill People is both an impossible to put down cliffhanger
of a novel and a potential impetus toward a topic in need of much
discussion. I highly recommend it as well as all of Hopkins' other
books.
On a personal note, Wednesday was Tunnel Of Oppression at UMaine.
Groups were led on a tour of rooms in which scenarios were acted out.
Like one showed the kind of harassments and other cruelties LGBTQ
people might have to go through in a day. For the second year I was
in the mental health room. Eleven times during the day I played the
part of a severely depressed student with a clueless roommate. It was
an amazing experience. I was participating in something meaningful
with potential to touch people's hearts and minds. (But I have to
admit I really love acting. And all the compliments I got later did
make me happy).
A great big shout out goes out to all who were involved in the fine
production, especially Ben who was in charge.
Next year I'll get to not only act, but script write.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
"While the outcome of stricter gun control continues to be
debated, I felt it was important to try and understand why someone
might be compelled to pull the trigger. This is what authors do: we
ask why. Why are people prone to violence? Why do people seek
revenge?Why do people hate or fear or despair?Why do people kill
people? If we can understand the whys, perhaps we can begin to solve
the problem."
One of the total delights of my just past March break was
finding a new book by Ellen Hopkins, my all time favorite YA author.
I discovered her Perfect back in 2015 (faked sick so I could stay in
bed and read the whole thing) and was elated to locate her previous
work. Many of her books are in poetry, sometimes with a separate form
for each of a bunch of narrators. But there is nothing artsy or
artificial about her content. It is raw, intense, real, and
gripping. Hopkins deals with issues like drug addiction and teen
prostitution--the stuff most of us who are parents hope our kids steer
clear of but few are willing to come out and discuss.
People Kill People focuses on gun violence from a unique angle.
It is told in second person because you, the reader, are invited to
"slip into the skin" of six different protagonists, each of whom is
fragile, stressed, potentially capable of pulling the trigger under
the right circumstances. You get to walk in the shoes of:
*Rand, a 19-year-old, supporting his wife and son and, although loving
them, missing his more carefree days. He wants to become a cop partly
because he has a score to settle;
*Silas, a white nationalist teen whose father is cohabiting with a
Hispanic woman and whose mother is about to marry a Jew. He's still
obsessed with an ex girlfriend who wants nothing more to do with him;
*Daniel, the out of wedlock child of a well off white father and an
undocumented mother. Since his mom was deported and his dad died he's
been struggling to survive on the streets;
*Noelle, a former successful student who incurred grand mal epilepsy
in a car accident caused by her best friend's father, the driver,
being shot. There are days when she doubts that her own life is worth
living;
*Cami, Reed's wife, who is finding full time housewifery boring and
lonely. She's making money on the side in a way that could get her in
trouble with the law;
and *Ashlyn who saw her violently abusive father kill her mother and
now lives with an indifferent aunt and uncle. She finds the feeling
of belonging she craves in the white nationalist movement.
All these characters are united through ties of family, school,
marriage, work, love...anything but love. Before you turn the final
page one will have pulled the trigger and one will have fallen, never
to get up.
People Kill People is both an impossible to put down cliffhanger
of a novel and a potential impetus toward a topic in need of much
discussion. I highly recommend it as well as all of Hopkins' other
books.
On a personal note, Wednesday was Tunnel Of Oppression at UMaine.
Groups were led on a tour of rooms in which scenarios were acted out.
Like one showed the kind of harassments and other cruelties LGBTQ
people might have to go through in a day. For the second year I was
in the mental health room. Eleven times during the day I played the
part of a severely depressed student with a clueless roommate. It was
an amazing experience. I was participating in something meaningful
with potential to touch people's hearts and minds. (But I have to
admit I really love acting. And all the compliments I got later did
make me happy).
A great big shout out goes out to all who were involved in the fine
production, especially Ben who was in charge.
Next year I'll get to not only act, but script write.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Sunday, March 24, 2019
The Nutcracker In Harlem
The Nutcracker In Harlem
Picture book
Of all the Nutcracker versions I've read to date, T. E.
McMorrow's The Nutcracker In Harlem, vividly illustrated by James
Ransome, is my all time favorite. It's set in the 1920's during the
Harlem Renaissance when jazz was beautifully altering American music.
On Christmas Eve Marie's whole clan is celebrating at her
house. Everyone else is singing and dancing. They want her to join
in. But she's afraid that she isn't good enough.
Marie falls asleep under the tree holding a new toy nutcracker.
When she wakes up the living room is full of white light. The tree,
ornaments, and toys grow bigger and come to life, dancing and
singing. When the party is in full swing, a mouse army invades,
planning to steal the Christmas goodies. The Nutcracker needs her help.
Will Marie find her voice in time?
This narrative reminds me of an incident from my own life. I
used to think I couldn't sing well enough to be in church choir. The
only being I sang to was Joey cat who joined me in a rumbling tenor
purr. (He currently is purrrforming a solo curled up on my lap.). One
day I auditioned for a play. I didn't realize I'd have to sing a
Capella. To me the choice was embarass myself or chicken out. My
brain froze. I could remember nothing but hymns. I belted out Let
All Mortal Flesh Be Silent to audition for The Evil Dead.
When I opened my mouth a clear strong alto came out. I was
hitting all the right notes. My listeners were stunned. The director
dropped her pencil.
So now I sing in choir and on stage. The moral of both
stories: sometimes a challenge can bring out a hidden gift.
If you have a younger child or grand put The Nutcracker In
Harlem on your shopping list. It's a great way to introduce the
robust vitality of jazz and the amazingness of the Harlem Renaissance.
On a purrsonal note, it's the last day of March break. Yesterday I
shelf read at Orono Public Library's juvenile wing. The librarians
can't believe how fast (and still meticulous) I now am. I owe it to
my hours serving and making hot sandwiches. (Thanks, Dining
services!) I'm up to 26 volunteer hours--74 to go. I bought a cat
shirt. A five cat shirt vaca! Today I went to Old Town Trading Post
with Eugene and bought his anniversary gift when he wasn't looking.
Now I just need to get packed for school and pick a cute shirt. All my
friends will want to know how the conference and my vaca went. You
know?
A great big shout out goes out to the people who run Old Town Trading
Post and their regulars who speak outdoor sports jargon a lot better
than I do.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Picture book
Of all the Nutcracker versions I've read to date, T. E.
McMorrow's The Nutcracker In Harlem, vividly illustrated by James
Ransome, is my all time favorite. It's set in the 1920's during the
Harlem Renaissance when jazz was beautifully altering American music.
On Christmas Eve Marie's whole clan is celebrating at her
house. Everyone else is singing and dancing. They want her to join
in. But she's afraid that she isn't good enough.
Marie falls asleep under the tree holding a new toy nutcracker.
When she wakes up the living room is full of white light. The tree,
ornaments, and toys grow bigger and come to life, dancing and
singing. When the party is in full swing, a mouse army invades,
planning to steal the Christmas goodies. The Nutcracker needs her help.
Will Marie find her voice in time?
This narrative reminds me of an incident from my own life. I
used to think I couldn't sing well enough to be in church choir. The
only being I sang to was Joey cat who joined me in a rumbling tenor
purr. (He currently is purrrforming a solo curled up on my lap.). One
day I auditioned for a play. I didn't realize I'd have to sing a
Capella. To me the choice was embarass myself or chicken out. My
brain froze. I could remember nothing but hymns. I belted out Let
All Mortal Flesh Be Silent to audition for The Evil Dead.
When I opened my mouth a clear strong alto came out. I was
hitting all the right notes. My listeners were stunned. The director
dropped her pencil.
So now I sing in choir and on stage. The moral of both
stories: sometimes a challenge can bring out a hidden gift.
If you have a younger child or grand put The Nutcracker In
Harlem on your shopping list. It's a great way to introduce the
robust vitality of jazz and the amazingness of the Harlem Renaissance.
On a purrsonal note, it's the last day of March break. Yesterday I
shelf read at Orono Public Library's juvenile wing. The librarians
can't believe how fast (and still meticulous) I now am. I owe it to
my hours serving and making hot sandwiches. (Thanks, Dining
services!) I'm up to 26 volunteer hours--74 to go. I bought a cat
shirt. A five cat shirt vaca! Today I went to Old Town Trading Post
with Eugene and bought his anniversary gift when he wasn't looking.
Now I just need to get packed for school and pick a cute shirt. All my
friends will want to know how the conference and my vaca went. You
know?
A great big shout out goes out to the people who run Old Town Trading
Post and their regulars who speak outdoor sports jargon a lot better
than I do.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Friday, March 22, 2019
What Is Given from the Heart
What Is Given from the Heart
Picture book
Patricia McKissack's What Is Given from the Heart is a
touchingly beautiful book, made more for its simplicity and
directness. When James Otis loses his father his mother cries. She
has no suit to bury her husband in. They lose their farm and have to
move to a run down shack. Their dog disappears.
The next year their minister tells the congregation about a
woman and her daughter who have lost everything in a fire. He asks
them to bring anything they could possibly use to church. He tells
them that what is given from the heart teaches the heart.
James Otis' mother turns the only pretty thing she has--a white
tablecloth--into an apron for the mother. She urges him to give
something to the girl. But what can a child with so little have for
her?
You'll have to read the book to find out.
In contrast to the family in the book, most of us have a great
plenty even if it doesn't always feel that way. What can we give from
the heart in the form not only of material goods, but of time and
caring?
On a personal note, it reminds me of the relationship between dining
services and Black Bear Exchange. Our non student workers are far
from rich. Some even have to support families on these low wage
jobs. But when the truck comes around to collect unused foods for the
food pantry they are do excited to be helping food insecure students,
some with families, get by.
A great big shout out goes out to those workers who are some of the
most down-to-earth, caring friends a person can find in this world.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Picture book
Patricia McKissack's What Is Given from the Heart is a
touchingly beautiful book, made more for its simplicity and
directness. When James Otis loses his father his mother cries. She
has no suit to bury her husband in. They lose their farm and have to
move to a run down shack. Their dog disappears.
The next year their minister tells the congregation about a
woman and her daughter who have lost everything in a fire. He asks
them to bring anything they could possibly use to church. He tells
them that what is given from the heart teaches the heart.
James Otis' mother turns the only pretty thing she has--a white
tablecloth--into an apron for the mother. She urges him to give
something to the girl. But what can a child with so little have for
her?
You'll have to read the book to find out.
In contrast to the family in the book, most of us have a great
plenty even if it doesn't always feel that way. What can we give from
the heart in the form not only of material goods, but of time and
caring?
On a personal note, it reminds me of the relationship between dining
services and Black Bear Exchange. Our non student workers are far
from rich. Some even have to support families on these low wage
jobs. But when the truck comes around to collect unused foods for the
food pantry they are do excited to be helping food insecure students,
some with families, get by.
A great big shout out goes out to those workers who are some of the
most down-to-earth, caring friends a person can find in this world.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
On Being In America
On Being In America
Who belongs in America is certainly a topic of discourse (some
pretty heated) for those of us who are in the (soon to be minoritized)
white majority. There are those of us who believe that we need to
stop breaking the promise represented by the statue of liberty. There
are others who feel either that we are superior or equal but in need
of separate spaces to not dilute the old gene pool. I suspect that
most of us fall somewhere in between. But what is it like to be new
in this country, to cope with the competing demands of two or more
cultures, or to wonder exactly who you are in this light? Fortunately
I was able to find two books in Fogler (UMaine) library.
America Ferrera (If, unlike me, you watch tv, you've probably
heard of her) wrote American Like Me: Reflections On Life Between
Cultures because, as an American actress of Honduran descent called on
to play stereotyped Latino roles and wanting to play more authentic
characters, she understood the power of inclusive narrative to make
people feel seen and accepted. She writes of a childhood of being put
into categories by the people around her.
"I may have been a whitewashed gringa in Latino groups, but I
was downright exotic to my white friends; especially to their parents,
who were always treating me like a rare and precious zoo animal.
They'd ooh and aah at my mother's courageous immigrant story, then
wish out loud that my hardworking spirit would rub off on their
children..."
In addition to her story, the book contains those of thirty-one
other famous people who also grew up American and indiginous,
immigrant or of immigrant descent. Some of the others you'll hear
from are:
*Actor and Activist Bambadjan Bamba, originally from West Africa, who
moved to a very unwelcoming New York at the age of ten. To escape
bullying he became as Americanized as possible. Year later he was
struck by an epiphany:
"...It is said 'When you submit your will to other people's
opinion, a part of you dies.' Well, I was dying inside because I was
a people pleaser. I spent most of my time trying to be something I
wasn't just so I could survive and got in with my peers..."
and *Actress Liz Koshy, the biracial, raised-in-Texas daughter of a
father who immigrated from India and a mother born in Virginia. Her
suburban neighborhood was very mixed and her parents easy going with
people from a wide range of cultures:
"Thank God I'm a mixed kid from a Texas-salad-bowl world. I
wouldn't have it any other way. I never had to be ashamed of my
Indianness. Or my whiteness. No one called me out for speaking
Spanish or twerking poorly. I was welcomed with open arms to drink
from the fountain of liquid milk chocolate--and got to grow up just
being me."
That is the book I think all of us should read.
The Good Immigrant, edited by Mikesh Shukla and Chimene
Suleyman, takes the concept to a whole new level. It's more scholarly
and existential. Also, these are mostly the experiences and worlds of
adults rather than children with layers and layers of meaning. Some
of the pieces you'll encounter involve:
*Krutika Mallinkarjuna reconciling her devoutly religious Indian
mother to her bisexuality,
*Wale Oyejide performing a role, stay home father, that would have
been anethema to his African ancestors,
*Jim St. Germaine revealing that his greatest source of joy, his son,
Caleb, is also the source of his greatest fear. "...my beautiful boy
isn't protected anywhere in this country...And I can't perform my
number one job as a father: to keep him safe. Being his father is
the equivalent of living with my heart outside my body in a war zone."
I recommend this fine book to those who can understand and
appreciate it.
On a personal note, despite the homework, my vaca continues to be
AMAZING. I was on campus yesterday and saw some friends who were
saying how they aren't doing anything nearly as exciting. Next week
so many people will want to hear about what I did. I admit that I
enjoy being the center of attention. I'm getting so much cuddle time
with the best little cat in the world. I got the script for next
Wednesday. I'll be acting instead of working. And then I found out
the drag show which I'll be performing in will be in the Collins
Center for Performing Arts which is simply the BIGGEST DEAL VENUE ON
THE WHOLE UMAINE CAMPUS! This is beyond my wildest dreams only REAL!!!
A great big shout out goes out to all of us who are going to burn up
that stage the night of the drag show.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Who belongs in America is certainly a topic of discourse (some
pretty heated) for those of us who are in the (soon to be minoritized)
white majority. There are those of us who believe that we need to
stop breaking the promise represented by the statue of liberty. There
are others who feel either that we are superior or equal but in need
of separate spaces to not dilute the old gene pool. I suspect that
most of us fall somewhere in between. But what is it like to be new
in this country, to cope with the competing demands of two or more
cultures, or to wonder exactly who you are in this light? Fortunately
I was able to find two books in Fogler (UMaine) library.
America Ferrera (If, unlike me, you watch tv, you've probably
heard of her) wrote American Like Me: Reflections On Life Between
Cultures because, as an American actress of Honduran descent called on
to play stereotyped Latino roles and wanting to play more authentic
characters, she understood the power of inclusive narrative to make
people feel seen and accepted. She writes of a childhood of being put
into categories by the people around her.
"I may have been a whitewashed gringa in Latino groups, but I
was downright exotic to my white friends; especially to their parents,
who were always treating me like a rare and precious zoo animal.
They'd ooh and aah at my mother's courageous immigrant story, then
wish out loud that my hardworking spirit would rub off on their
children..."
In addition to her story, the book contains those of thirty-one
other famous people who also grew up American and indiginous,
immigrant or of immigrant descent. Some of the others you'll hear
from are:
*Actor and Activist Bambadjan Bamba, originally from West Africa, who
moved to a very unwelcoming New York at the age of ten. To escape
bullying he became as Americanized as possible. Year later he was
struck by an epiphany:
"...It is said 'When you submit your will to other people's
opinion, a part of you dies.' Well, I was dying inside because I was
a people pleaser. I spent most of my time trying to be something I
wasn't just so I could survive and got in with my peers..."
and *Actress Liz Koshy, the biracial, raised-in-Texas daughter of a
father who immigrated from India and a mother born in Virginia. Her
suburban neighborhood was very mixed and her parents easy going with
people from a wide range of cultures:
"Thank God I'm a mixed kid from a Texas-salad-bowl world. I
wouldn't have it any other way. I never had to be ashamed of my
Indianness. Or my whiteness. No one called me out for speaking
Spanish or twerking poorly. I was welcomed with open arms to drink
from the fountain of liquid milk chocolate--and got to grow up just
being me."
That is the book I think all of us should read.
The Good Immigrant, edited by Mikesh Shukla and Chimene
Suleyman, takes the concept to a whole new level. It's more scholarly
and existential. Also, these are mostly the experiences and worlds of
adults rather than children with layers and layers of meaning. Some
of the pieces you'll encounter involve:
*Krutika Mallinkarjuna reconciling her devoutly religious Indian
mother to her bisexuality,
*Wale Oyejide performing a role, stay home father, that would have
been anethema to his African ancestors,
*Jim St. Germaine revealing that his greatest source of joy, his son,
Caleb, is also the source of his greatest fear. "...my beautiful boy
isn't protected anywhere in this country...And I can't perform my
number one job as a father: to keep him safe. Being his father is
the equivalent of living with my heart outside my body in a war zone."
I recommend this fine book to those who can understand and
appreciate it.
On a personal note, despite the homework, my vaca continues to be
AMAZING. I was on campus yesterday and saw some friends who were
saying how they aren't doing anything nearly as exciting. Next week
so many people will want to hear about what I did. I admit that I
enjoy being the center of attention. I'm getting so much cuddle time
with the best little cat in the world. I got the script for next
Wednesday. I'll be acting instead of working. And then I found out
the drag show which I'll be performing in will be in the Collins
Center for Performing Arts which is simply the BIGGEST DEAL VENUE ON
THE WHOLE UMAINE CAMPUS! This is beyond my wildest dreams only REAL!!!
A great big shout out goes out to all of us who are going to burn up
that stage the night of the drag show.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Telling Time With Big Mama Cat
Telling Time With Big Mama Cat
Picture book
I have never before seen as charming a book on how to tell time
as Barry and Cara Moser's Telling Time With Big Mama Cat. I admit to
being biased toward feline friends (as in queen of the cat shirts).
Luckily most young readers share my prejudice.
Mama Cat, a green eyed beauty, takes readers along on her day
from 6:00 a.m. when she stretches (note claw marks on the back of the
chair) until midnight when she dozes on top of a radiator. Kids will
find some of her escapades quite funny:
*At 9:00 she "cleans up" spills from the baby's bottle.
*At 11:00 she tries out the new off-limits chair, only to be
unceremoniously removed at 11:05.
*At 9:00 she "helps" with the dishes.
*At 11:00, on mouse patrol, she fails to notice a plump rodent
chomping on cheese.
The book comes with a clock face with moveable arms. I suspect
that cat loving telling time learners will find it simply irrisistable.
On a purrrrrsonal note, I had a purrrfect day. I put in 5 hours
volunteering at Orono Public Library. (I'm up to 21 for the year, 79
to go.) The librarians were very happy to see me shelf reading in the
juvenile wing. I stopped by Orono Thrift and found myself one piece
Minnie Mouse pajamas, silver high tops, and four shirts including two
long sleeve cat shirts. Now I'm home in my new warm pajamas cuddling
with my sweet Joey cat in our beautiful studio.
Tomorrow Anna has said she'll help me with the computer trainings I
have to do to keep my job. I am anxious about that.
Great big shout outs go out to Joey cat for loyal, unconditional love
and Anna for willingness to help me.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Picture book
I have never before seen as charming a book on how to tell time
as Barry and Cara Moser's Telling Time With Big Mama Cat. I admit to
being biased toward feline friends (as in queen of the cat shirts).
Luckily most young readers share my prejudice.
Mama Cat, a green eyed beauty, takes readers along on her day
from 6:00 a.m. when she stretches (note claw marks on the back of the
chair) until midnight when she dozes on top of a radiator. Kids will
find some of her escapades quite funny:
*At 9:00 she "cleans up" spills from the baby's bottle.
*At 11:00 she tries out the new off-limits chair, only to be
unceremoniously removed at 11:05.
*At 9:00 she "helps" with the dishes.
*At 11:00, on mouse patrol, she fails to notice a plump rodent
chomping on cheese.
The book comes with a clock face with moveable arms. I suspect
that cat loving telling time learners will find it simply irrisistable.
On a purrrrrsonal note, I had a purrrfect day. I put in 5 hours
volunteering at Orono Public Library. (I'm up to 21 for the year, 79
to go.) The librarians were very happy to see me shelf reading in the
juvenile wing. I stopped by Orono Thrift and found myself one piece
Minnie Mouse pajamas, silver high tops, and four shirts including two
long sleeve cat shirts. Now I'm home in my new warm pajamas cuddling
with my sweet Joey cat in our beautiful studio.
Tomorrow Anna has said she'll help me with the computer trainings I
have to do to keep my job. I am anxious about that.
Great big shout outs go out to Joey cat for loyal, unconditional love
and Anna for willingness to help me.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Tuesday, March 19, 2019
Escape From Aleppo
Escape From Aleppo
Juvenile/YA Fiction
"'They're pushing out another bomb,' cried Khala Lina. 'We have
to go.'
'She can't be dead!' came her mother's anguished wail.
'We can't leave her,' sobbed Razan.
'If we stay, we're all going to die!' shouted Khala Lina.
Nana's strong voice rose above the rest. 'I don't believe it--
she is alive...Find her!'"
Before you read more of this review of N. H. Senzai's Escape
From Aleppo try a little exercise. Picture the places that figure
prominently in your daily life: your home and neighborhood, your
school or work place, your library or place of worship, the stores you
patronize. Picture all that is easy to take for granted. Now
imagine, due to bombings and civil war skirmishes, the whole landscape
is pretty much trashed. Most buildings are reduced to rubble.
Anything edible has been stripped from the ruins of stores. Hunger
and fear are your constant companions. The fighting between
government forces and various rebel factions is going on. There is
nowhere safe. Someone who could take your life could be around any
corner.
That's the nightmare Nadia, Senzai's protagonist, is trapped
in. It's the wee hours of the morning. She and her extended clan are
fleeing their family compound. Helicoptors are dropping bombs. One
knocks her down a flight of stairs, separating her from the rest. (If
you're a parent, can you imagine her mom's plight?).
When Nadia is able to extricate herself from the rubble, unable
to find any family members, she sets off for their intended rendevous
spot in a city where all landmarks are gone. At one point she talks
to children who are watering a patch of dirt, hoping a shady plant
will grow over where they've buried their mother. When she finally
gets to the designated place she finds a message that her folks have
had to move on. Her father will wait for her at the border of Syria
and Turkey.
Luckily she is not alone. Her faithful ginger cat, Mishmash,
finds her. She joins forces with Mazen, a mysterious man with a cart
pulled by a donkey named Jamilla. Two boys from an abandoned
orphanage round out their crew.
Escape From Aleppo touches on a lesser known tragedy of war--the
destruction of irreplaceable antiquities like books and works of art.
Unlike America, where anything predating the first revolution is
ancient, these treasures can be thousands of years old. Nadia
encounters some of the people who are valiently striving to keep them
from being destroyed or stolen by private collectors.
Although Nadia is fictional, her plight sadly isn't. As Senzai
reminds us,
"Reeling from six years of war, Syria is a fractured, broken
country, its cities in ruins, its people deeply traumatized. The
numbers are simply staggering. Since the conflict began, more than
450,000 Syrians have been killed, more than 1.8 million injured, and
12 million--half the country's prewar population--displaced from their
homes as refugees."
Senzai wrote the book to help put a human face on those
staggering numbers so more people would care enough to help. I
reviewed it for the same reason. What can you do?
On a personal note, I went on a Goodwill run yesterday. I lucked
out. I found a ceramic Santa driving a toy truck bank, a musical
snowglobe with two skating snow people, and two of my signature cat
shirts. They don't call me queen of the cat shirts for nothing.
A great big shout out goes out to the wonderful Goodwill workers who
make shopping at their stores such a positive experience.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile/YA Fiction
"'They're pushing out another bomb,' cried Khala Lina. 'We have
to go.'
'She can't be dead!' came her mother's anguished wail.
'We can't leave her,' sobbed Razan.
'If we stay, we're all going to die!' shouted Khala Lina.
Nana's strong voice rose above the rest. 'I don't believe it--
she is alive...Find her!'"
Before you read more of this review of N. H. Senzai's Escape
From Aleppo try a little exercise. Picture the places that figure
prominently in your daily life: your home and neighborhood, your
school or work place, your library or place of worship, the stores you
patronize. Picture all that is easy to take for granted. Now
imagine, due to bombings and civil war skirmishes, the whole landscape
is pretty much trashed. Most buildings are reduced to rubble.
Anything edible has been stripped from the ruins of stores. Hunger
and fear are your constant companions. The fighting between
government forces and various rebel factions is going on. There is
nowhere safe. Someone who could take your life could be around any
corner.
That's the nightmare Nadia, Senzai's protagonist, is trapped
in. It's the wee hours of the morning. She and her extended clan are
fleeing their family compound. Helicoptors are dropping bombs. One
knocks her down a flight of stairs, separating her from the rest. (If
you're a parent, can you imagine her mom's plight?).
When Nadia is able to extricate herself from the rubble, unable
to find any family members, she sets off for their intended rendevous
spot in a city where all landmarks are gone. At one point she talks
to children who are watering a patch of dirt, hoping a shady plant
will grow over where they've buried their mother. When she finally
gets to the designated place she finds a message that her folks have
had to move on. Her father will wait for her at the border of Syria
and Turkey.
Luckily she is not alone. Her faithful ginger cat, Mishmash,
finds her. She joins forces with Mazen, a mysterious man with a cart
pulled by a donkey named Jamilla. Two boys from an abandoned
orphanage round out their crew.
Escape From Aleppo touches on a lesser known tragedy of war--the
destruction of irreplaceable antiquities like books and works of art.
Unlike America, where anything predating the first revolution is
ancient, these treasures can be thousands of years old. Nadia
encounters some of the people who are valiently striving to keep them
from being destroyed or stolen by private collectors.
Although Nadia is fictional, her plight sadly isn't. As Senzai
reminds us,
"Reeling from six years of war, Syria is a fractured, broken
country, its cities in ruins, its people deeply traumatized. The
numbers are simply staggering. Since the conflict began, more than
450,000 Syrians have been killed, more than 1.8 million injured, and
12 million--half the country's prewar population--displaced from their
homes as refugees."
Senzai wrote the book to help put a human face on those
staggering numbers so more people would care enough to help. I
reviewed it for the same reason. What can you do?
On a personal note, I went on a Goodwill run yesterday. I lucked
out. I found a ceramic Santa driving a toy truck bank, a musical
snowglobe with two skating snow people, and two of my signature cat
shirts. They don't call me queen of the cat shirts for nothing.
A great big shout out goes out to the wonderful Goodwill workers who
make shopping at their stores such a positive experience.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Americanized
Americanized
YA memoir
"Puberty is the equivalent of guerilla warfare on your body.
Society commonly refers to it as the awkward phase, but I've always
preferred to call it the 'everything totally sucks and I hate my life'
phase. I, for one, don't miss 1993. That was the year I naively
thought my biggest problems were my underdeveloped breasts, the cystic
acne that had built a small colony on my chin, and the sad fact that
my prettier friend and I had set our sights on the same guy...I
thought there was no way my life could get worse."
Reading the first paragraph of Sara Saedi's Americanized: Rebel
Without A Green Card makes it pretty obvious that the next sentence
will be "But I was wrong.". Very very wrong it turns out. Sara, then
12, was at home doing her homework while her older sister, Samira,
filled out applications for retail jobs. Samira said no one would
hire her. Sara reminded her she had experience working at their
parents' store.
That's when Samira dropped the bomb, shattering Sara's carefully
maintained innocence. Mall stores required a Social Security card
which she did not have because the whole family (except little brother
Kia who was born in the USA) was in the country illegally.
Try to imagine a revelation like that in your preteen life--at
your most awkward, insecure, vulnerable phase. You and your folks are
breaking the law just by being where you are. Not only could you be
deported at any moment to a country you don't remember, one you left
as a toddler, but your social status might change if the truth gets
out. Remember she's twelve.
"This was before 'undocumented immigrant' became the more
commonly used and politically correct term. The words 'illegal
aliens' echoed through my head. Suddenly hormonal acme and
microscopic boobs paled in comparison to the revelation that I was a
criminal and, apparently, an alien. How would I explain this to my
law-abiding human friends? They'd probably want nothing to do with me
once they learned I technically wasn't allowed to be living in the
country. If this got out I could lose everything."
Americanized is a beautiful hybrid narrative, skillfully
combining the subgenres of coming of age in America and living in the
shadows. As she and her folks struggle to meet the demands of inept
and indifferent agencies, Sara must return to the school where her
crush has humiliated her. Combining experiences most of us can
remember with the perils encountered by our refugee and immigrant
sisters and brothers creates a very powerful and humanizing message
without being preachy. I highly recommend the book to all who were
(like Bruce Springsteen) born in the USA.
On a personal note, these are my take sways from the conference. I
learned a lot and made really good contacts. I have a number of
things I want to try. The biggest are I plan to submit a proposal to
present at the next conference which will be in Kentucky and to use
the food insecurity rubric developed by Auburn University to assess
UMaine when I can get my hands on it. For someone who hasn't been out
of Maine except for family trips to Santa's Village and one road trip
to my Alma Mater, Kentucky seems very far away and exotic.
A great big shout out goes out to Lisa Morin who not only made all the
arrangements for our group and worked on the conference, but won an
award for running and greatly expanding the Black Bear Exchange.
UMaine can be very proud of her. I know I am. She also did something
very kind. After the awards she introduced other winners to me and
made me look like someone of substance. She does not let all she
achieves go to her head. She's still one of us.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA memoir
"Puberty is the equivalent of guerilla warfare on your body.
Society commonly refers to it as the awkward phase, but I've always
preferred to call it the 'everything totally sucks and I hate my life'
phase. I, for one, don't miss 1993. That was the year I naively
thought my biggest problems were my underdeveloped breasts, the cystic
acne that had built a small colony on my chin, and the sad fact that
my prettier friend and I had set our sights on the same guy...I
thought there was no way my life could get worse."
Reading the first paragraph of Sara Saedi's Americanized: Rebel
Without A Green Card makes it pretty obvious that the next sentence
will be "But I was wrong.". Very very wrong it turns out. Sara, then
12, was at home doing her homework while her older sister, Samira,
filled out applications for retail jobs. Samira said no one would
hire her. Sara reminded her she had experience working at their
parents' store.
That's when Samira dropped the bomb, shattering Sara's carefully
maintained innocence. Mall stores required a Social Security card
which she did not have because the whole family (except little brother
Kia who was born in the USA) was in the country illegally.
Try to imagine a revelation like that in your preteen life--at
your most awkward, insecure, vulnerable phase. You and your folks are
breaking the law just by being where you are. Not only could you be
deported at any moment to a country you don't remember, one you left
as a toddler, but your social status might change if the truth gets
out. Remember she's twelve.
"This was before 'undocumented immigrant' became the more
commonly used and politically correct term. The words 'illegal
aliens' echoed through my head. Suddenly hormonal acme and
microscopic boobs paled in comparison to the revelation that I was a
criminal and, apparently, an alien. How would I explain this to my
law-abiding human friends? They'd probably want nothing to do with me
once they learned I technically wasn't allowed to be living in the
country. If this got out I could lose everything."
Americanized is a beautiful hybrid narrative, skillfully
combining the subgenres of coming of age in America and living in the
shadows. As she and her folks struggle to meet the demands of inept
and indifferent agencies, Sara must return to the school where her
crush has humiliated her. Combining experiences most of us can
remember with the perils encountered by our refugee and immigrant
sisters and brothers creates a very powerful and humanizing message
without being preachy. I highly recommend the book to all who were
(like Bruce Springsteen) born in the USA.
On a personal note, these are my take sways from the conference. I
learned a lot and made really good contacts. I have a number of
things I want to try. The biggest are I plan to submit a proposal to
present at the next conference which will be in Kentucky and to use
the food insecurity rubric developed by Auburn University to assess
UMaine when I can get my hands on it. For someone who hasn't been out
of Maine except for family trips to Santa's Village and one road trip
to my Alma Mater, Kentucky seems very far away and exotic.
A great big shout out goes out to Lisa Morin who not only made all the
arrangements for our group and worked on the conference, but won an
award for running and greatly expanding the Black Bear Exchange.
UMaine can be very proud of her. I know I am. She also did something
very kind. After the awards she introduced other winners to me and
made me look like someone of substance. She does not let all she
achieves go to her head. She's still one of us.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Voices From The Second World War
Voices From The Second World War
Juvenile nonfiction
"I remember Sunday, September 3, 1939, very well: we were told
to listen to our radios at eleven a.m., as there was to be an
announcement from the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain.
The announcement finished with these words, 'We are at war with
Germany.' Nobody had any idea what that would mean for us or how long
the war would last. Someone remarked to me he thought it would carry
on til till Christmas at least. Little did we know that we were to
spend six Christmases at war."
Recently I read an article questioning how we would teach about
the Holocaust in the future. The survivors who have put human faces
to one of the world's most brutal tragedies are dying off. How do we
keep a tragedy that should have us working dilligently toward never
again from becoming dusty history?
I was inspired and encouraged by reading Voices From The Second
World War: Stories of War as Told to Children of Today. Covering the
years from the declaration of war to the aftermath of Hiroshima, it
contains the narratives of dozens of regular people as told to school
children. Among those who you will meet are Margaret Clapham who was
sent to England on Kindertransport, Francois Conil-Lacost who was a
child in occupied France, Cornelia Manji whose family helped hidden
Jews, Bettine Le Beau who was smuggled out of a concentration camp,
and Takashi Tanemori who was only eight when the bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima.
The stories are direct, poignant, and evocative, probably in
large part because they were told to youngsters.
"When I was five, I was very ill with mumps. My father managed
to visit me, but I was too ill to talk much. I just remember him
sitting in the chair by my bed. I fell asleep and when I woke up I
was heartbroken to discover that he had gone. So it was just as well
that I didn't know that I would never see him again..."
The children who did the interviewing were deeply touched by the
experience. One boy said, "I enjoyed doing this project with my
grandfather, as otherwise I would not have known about his
experiences. Grandpere was my age when France was at war. I can't
imagine what it is like worrying about not having enough food, and I
can't bear the thought of eating rabbits. I think I am lucky to live
in a country at peace."
Not all the people who were interviewed were children during the
war. Some were teens or adults who fought or worked on the home
front. So the book should appeal to YA and adult readers as well as
its intended juvenile audience. I read it cover to cover and learned
quite a bit.
Teachers, get your kids out of class and empower them to
preserve oral histories and walk in the shoes of others. It can make
a world of difference.
On a personal note, I was kidnapped the night between the two
conference days by my Katie, Jacob (her significant other), and Ann
(his mother). First we explored the Portland Museum of Art which is
an enchanting building containing a wide range of art. We saw art
ranging from the old masters to pieces done by children. I was amazed
how many artists I recognized the work of on the basis of reading
about them for this blog. It was a thrill to see their actual work.
Ann is a professional artist. But we were able to carry on an
animated and easy discussion. (A casual observer would probably think
we'd been friends for ages). She bought me a card of the picture I
liked best. It will have a place of honor in my studio. Then we went
to Slab for supper. It is the one pizza place I've been to that isn't
meh compared to dining services. When we walked in I was greeted
enthusiasticly by one of my new conference friends.i had beef braised
in beer stew in a bread bowl and a wine spritzer. Everything was
delish. It was a totally enchanted evening. When they delivered me
to the hotel I discovered I had a posh suite I didn't have to pay
for. I took pictures and had Georgia take one of me in the one piece
Mickey Mouse pajamas Katie gave me for Christmas a few years ago.
Talk about the sweet life!
A great big shout out goes out to my delightful kidnappers and to
Lisa, our leader, who made sure they knew where to find me.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile nonfiction
"I remember Sunday, September 3, 1939, very well: we were told
to listen to our radios at eleven a.m., as there was to be an
announcement from the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain.
The announcement finished with these words, 'We are at war with
Germany.' Nobody had any idea what that would mean for us or how long
the war would last. Someone remarked to me he thought it would carry
on til till Christmas at least. Little did we know that we were to
spend six Christmases at war."
Recently I read an article questioning how we would teach about
the Holocaust in the future. The survivors who have put human faces
to one of the world's most brutal tragedies are dying off. How do we
keep a tragedy that should have us working dilligently toward never
again from becoming dusty history?
I was inspired and encouraged by reading Voices From The Second
World War: Stories of War as Told to Children of Today. Covering the
years from the declaration of war to the aftermath of Hiroshima, it
contains the narratives of dozens of regular people as told to school
children. Among those who you will meet are Margaret Clapham who was
sent to England on Kindertransport, Francois Conil-Lacost who was a
child in occupied France, Cornelia Manji whose family helped hidden
Jews, Bettine Le Beau who was smuggled out of a concentration camp,
and Takashi Tanemori who was only eight when the bomb was dropped on
Hiroshima.
The stories are direct, poignant, and evocative, probably in
large part because they were told to youngsters.
"When I was five, I was very ill with mumps. My father managed
to visit me, but I was too ill to talk much. I just remember him
sitting in the chair by my bed. I fell asleep and when I woke up I
was heartbroken to discover that he had gone. So it was just as well
that I didn't know that I would never see him again..."
The children who did the interviewing were deeply touched by the
experience. One boy said, "I enjoyed doing this project with my
grandfather, as otherwise I would not have known about his
experiences. Grandpere was my age when France was at war. I can't
imagine what it is like worrying about not having enough food, and I
can't bear the thought of eating rabbits. I think I am lucky to live
in a country at peace."
Not all the people who were interviewed were children during the
war. Some were teens or adults who fought or worked on the home
front. So the book should appeal to YA and adult readers as well as
its intended juvenile audience. I read it cover to cover and learned
quite a bit.
Teachers, get your kids out of class and empower them to
preserve oral histories and walk in the shoes of others. It can make
a world of difference.
On a personal note, I was kidnapped the night between the two
conference days by my Katie, Jacob (her significant other), and Ann
(his mother). First we explored the Portland Museum of Art which is
an enchanting building containing a wide range of art. We saw art
ranging from the old masters to pieces done by children. I was amazed
how many artists I recognized the work of on the basis of reading
about them for this blog. It was a thrill to see their actual work.
Ann is a professional artist. But we were able to carry on an
animated and easy discussion. (A casual observer would probably think
we'd been friends for ages). She bought me a card of the picture I
liked best. It will have a place of honor in my studio. Then we went
to Slab for supper. It is the one pizza place I've been to that isn't
meh compared to dining services. When we walked in I was greeted
enthusiasticly by one of my new conference friends.i had beef braised
in beer stew in a bread bowl and a wine spritzer. Everything was
delish. It was a totally enchanted evening. When they delivered me
to the hotel I discovered I had a posh suite I didn't have to pay
for. I took pictures and had Georgia take one of me in the one piece
Mickey Mouse pajamas Katie gave me for Christmas a few years ago.
Talk about the sweet life!
A great big shout out goes out to my delightful kidnappers and to
Lisa, our leader, who made sure they knew where to find me.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Sunday, March 17, 2019
Everything You Love Will Burn
Everything You Love Will Burn
Adult nonfiction
"What had initially motivated my excursion into the world of
white supremacy was curiosity about a brand of politics that seemed
almost too outdated to be real--and one that I was surprised to find
thriving throughout the country. At the time my impetus was little
more than a fascination with the strange and offensive. But then, in
the sumner of 2011, only a few short months after my initial reporting
had begun, Anders Behring Breivik massacred seventy-seven people in
Norway...The act exposed a world of far-right radicalism that I had
scarcely known existed until then and certainly had not believed
capable of such a level of carnage."
Here in America, in the middle of Trump's presidency hate crimes
are on the rise, social media teems with prejudice, and a crowd of
malcontents, actually believing that whites are an oppressed,
endangered race, have a friend in the White House. I think just about
anyone who enjoys reading my blog is bothered by these people who have
been collectively dubbed the alt right. But how much do we know about
them?
Vegas Tenold, author of Everything You Love Will Burn: Inside
The Rebirth Of White Nationalism In America, did something few of us
would even contemplate. Acting on the premise that we must understand
extremists if we ever hope to defeat them, he spent six years getting
to know prominent players in nationalist movements--eating, traveling,
and staying with them. Who were these people? What attracted them to
their groups of choice?
Some of the people Tenold got to know fit every racist
stereotype in the book; others were decent, thoughtful humans he would
have considered friends under other circumstances. Some hated or
considered inferior Jewish, black, or brown people; others felt that
they had to secure a future for their own beleaguered race. Some held
colorful tangible rallies; others gathered in the virtual world.
People trying to unify the various groups for more power found this a
difficult, if not impossible, challenge.
When Tenold started his research the groups he was investigating
were pretty much flying below the radar. But as the years went by
they became more known and powerful, especially in the time leading up
to and following the 2016 presidential election. They aren't going
away any time soon.
If you are concerned about their emergence on the national
political scene, you'll find Everything You Love Will Burn to be a
must read.
On a personal note, I spent two days at the most amazing conference.
Universities Fighting World Hunger. It was at University of Southern
Maine which is in the Big City (Portland). Georgia, Taylor's Katie,
Lisa Morin, and I were the Bodwell Center group. For two days we went
to presentations and break out sessions. My favorite, not
surprisingly, was the one on ASSESSING food insecurity on campuses.
Auburn University has a RUBRIC colleges and universities can use to
assess food insecurity on campuses in order to improve. When they get
it out they will need some schools to pilot it. I hear the sound of
opportunity knocking. I also enjoyed learning what other schools are
doing to address the problem. They gave me lots of ideas. I met some
really neat people. The night life was cool...
...and you'll learn about my night out in the Big City...
...in the next review.
A great big shout out goes out to all involved in the conference.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Adult nonfiction
"What had initially motivated my excursion into the world of
white supremacy was curiosity about a brand of politics that seemed
almost too outdated to be real--and one that I was surprised to find
thriving throughout the country. At the time my impetus was little
more than a fascination with the strange and offensive. But then, in
the sumner of 2011, only a few short months after my initial reporting
had begun, Anders Behring Breivik massacred seventy-seven people in
Norway...The act exposed a world of far-right radicalism that I had
scarcely known existed until then and certainly had not believed
capable of such a level of carnage."
Here in America, in the middle of Trump's presidency hate crimes
are on the rise, social media teems with prejudice, and a crowd of
malcontents, actually believing that whites are an oppressed,
endangered race, have a friend in the White House. I think just about
anyone who enjoys reading my blog is bothered by these people who have
been collectively dubbed the alt right. But how much do we know about
them?
Vegas Tenold, author of Everything You Love Will Burn: Inside
The Rebirth Of White Nationalism In America, did something few of us
would even contemplate. Acting on the premise that we must understand
extremists if we ever hope to defeat them, he spent six years getting
to know prominent players in nationalist movements--eating, traveling,
and staying with them. Who were these people? What attracted them to
their groups of choice?
Some of the people Tenold got to know fit every racist
stereotype in the book; others were decent, thoughtful humans he would
have considered friends under other circumstances. Some hated or
considered inferior Jewish, black, or brown people; others felt that
they had to secure a future for their own beleaguered race. Some held
colorful tangible rallies; others gathered in the virtual world.
People trying to unify the various groups for more power found this a
difficult, if not impossible, challenge.
When Tenold started his research the groups he was investigating
were pretty much flying below the radar. But as the years went by
they became more known and powerful, especially in the time leading up
to and following the 2016 presidential election. They aren't going
away any time soon.
If you are concerned about their emergence on the national
political scene, you'll find Everything You Love Will Burn to be a
must read.
On a personal note, I spent two days at the most amazing conference.
Universities Fighting World Hunger. It was at University of Southern
Maine which is in the Big City (Portland). Georgia, Taylor's Katie,
Lisa Morin, and I were the Bodwell Center group. For two days we went
to presentations and break out sessions. My favorite, not
surprisingly, was the one on ASSESSING food insecurity on campuses.
Auburn University has a RUBRIC colleges and universities can use to
assess food insecurity on campuses in order to improve. When they get
it out they will need some schools to pilot it. I hear the sound of
opportunity knocking. I also enjoyed learning what other schools are
doing to address the problem. They gave me lots of ideas. I met some
really neat people. The night life was cool...
...and you'll learn about my night out in the Big City...
...in the next review.
A great big shout out goes out to all involved in the conference.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Two From The King...
Two From The King...
...or to be more specific, the henchman of horror, the governor
of gore, Maine's own master of disaster, Stephen King.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Pop up book
You'd think a literary offering from Maine's home grown
horrormeister and a type of book usually reserved for alphabet and
other cutesy volumes would be a highly unlikely pairing. It did
happen in 2004 when The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon came out in pop up
book format. I found it quite detailed and fascinating. I was deeply
disappointed when more of his works didn't make this transition.
Fast forward to 2018. My younger daughter, Katie, has an
extensive collection of Stephen King books. She'd come from the Big
City (aka Portland) for Amber's birthday party. A memory popped into
my head. It was of the kids and me getting that book autographed in
silver by the author with all our names on it. I asked Katie if she'd
like it for her collection.
I decided to reread it before I passed it on. It's a macabre
version of Lost on a Mountain in Maine. Trish, a major Tom Gordon
fan, is hiking with her squabbling mother and brother. Ducking off to
pee, she loses track of her family. So now she's lost, low on food,
and clueless about how to reunite with family or return to civilization.
And goodness only knows what could be lurking in the woods as
darkness falls.
The pop ups are crisp, clean cut, and detailed, but never overly
busy. They compliment the text beautifully.
If you can get your hands on a copy in good shape, take care of
it. I know Katie will.
Just for fun question: are there any Stephen King books you'd
like to see a pop up version of? Mine are Stand By Me, Carrie, and
The Shining.
The Outsider
Adult fiction
"One thing was sure: when night fell the skinny, tubercular man
from Yune Sabb's fairy tale became more plausible. Not believable,
Ralph could no more believe in such a creature than he could in Santa
Claus, but he could picture him: a darker-skinned version of Slender
Man, that bugaboo of pubescent American girls. He'd be tall and grave
in his black suit, his face like a lamp, and carrying a bag big enough
to hold a small child with his or her knees folded up against his or
her chest. According to Yune, the Mexican bogeyman prolonged his life
by drinking the blood of children and rubbing their fat on his
body...and while that wasn't what happened to the Peterson boy, it was
in the vicinity..."
In Stephen King's The Outsider an apple pie Americana scene is
rudely interrupted. A City League baseball tournament is underway.
It's the bottom of the ninth. An undersized kid at bat is about to
make or break the game for his team when...
...suddenly two police officers walk onto the field, handcuff
one of the coaches, Terry Maitland, and read him his rights, arresting
him in front of well over a thousand spectators. A child has been
brutally sodomized and murdered. All clues including fingerprints and
eyewitness accounts make this bust seem to be a slam dunk. If
Maitland is as guilty as he seems, it's a good thing to get him away
from the boys before he reoffends.
There's only one problem. Maitland has an airtight alibi. At
the time the murder took place he was at a conference with teacher
colleagues. Fingerprints and eyewitnesses corroborate his story as
strongly as they do the accusation. He's even caught on news footage.
The brutal murder of two young sisters a few months earlier
poses the same dilemma. Can one person be in two places at the same
time? Or can some unspeakable force of evil be at work?
Considering that the plot stems from the vivid, bordering on
lurid, imagination of Maine's own master of horror, I think you know
the answer. But you'll have to read the book to see how the premise
plays out. You're in for a real treat, especially if you enjoyed
King's Mr. Mercedes. In fact, you'll become reacquainted with one of
its more memorable characters.
Just don't read the book too close to bedtime if you want to get
a good night's sleep.
On a personal note, the last week before March break is speeding by.
School is going well. Our assessments prof, Leah, gave the class a
much needed extra week for our small group literature reviews. Work
is awesome. Today I had an opportunity. There were a bunch of call
ins. Anna asked me if I could stay late and get the tables and napkin
holders ready for the supper crowd. I was so happy to be her night in
laundered uniform. (Shining armor is way overrated.) I've started
packing for my conference in the Big City which starts Friday!!! I'm
so looking forward to this adventure!!! I am one of the luckiest
people I know. I am living the dream.
Great big shout outs go out to Leah, my classmates, Anna, and my
dining services family.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
...or to be more specific, the henchman of horror, the governor
of gore, Maine's own master of disaster, Stephen King.
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon
Pop up book
You'd think a literary offering from Maine's home grown
horrormeister and a type of book usually reserved for alphabet and
other cutesy volumes would be a highly unlikely pairing. It did
happen in 2004 when The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon came out in pop up
book format. I found it quite detailed and fascinating. I was deeply
disappointed when more of his works didn't make this transition.
Fast forward to 2018. My younger daughter, Katie, has an
extensive collection of Stephen King books. She'd come from the Big
City (aka Portland) for Amber's birthday party. A memory popped into
my head. It was of the kids and me getting that book autographed in
silver by the author with all our names on it. I asked Katie if she'd
like it for her collection.
I decided to reread it before I passed it on. It's a macabre
version of Lost on a Mountain in Maine. Trish, a major Tom Gordon
fan, is hiking with her squabbling mother and brother. Ducking off to
pee, she loses track of her family. So now she's lost, low on food,
and clueless about how to reunite with family or return to civilization.
And goodness only knows what could be lurking in the woods as
darkness falls.
The pop ups are crisp, clean cut, and detailed, but never overly
busy. They compliment the text beautifully.
If you can get your hands on a copy in good shape, take care of
it. I know Katie will.
Just for fun question: are there any Stephen King books you'd
like to see a pop up version of? Mine are Stand By Me, Carrie, and
The Shining.
The Outsider
Adult fiction
"One thing was sure: when night fell the skinny, tubercular man
from Yune Sabb's fairy tale became more plausible. Not believable,
Ralph could no more believe in such a creature than he could in Santa
Claus, but he could picture him: a darker-skinned version of Slender
Man, that bugaboo of pubescent American girls. He'd be tall and grave
in his black suit, his face like a lamp, and carrying a bag big enough
to hold a small child with his or her knees folded up against his or
her chest. According to Yune, the Mexican bogeyman prolonged his life
by drinking the blood of children and rubbing their fat on his
body...and while that wasn't what happened to the Peterson boy, it was
in the vicinity..."
In Stephen King's The Outsider an apple pie Americana scene is
rudely interrupted. A City League baseball tournament is underway.
It's the bottom of the ninth. An undersized kid at bat is about to
make or break the game for his team when...
...suddenly two police officers walk onto the field, handcuff
one of the coaches, Terry Maitland, and read him his rights, arresting
him in front of well over a thousand spectators. A child has been
brutally sodomized and murdered. All clues including fingerprints and
eyewitness accounts make this bust seem to be a slam dunk. If
Maitland is as guilty as he seems, it's a good thing to get him away
from the boys before he reoffends.
There's only one problem. Maitland has an airtight alibi. At
the time the murder took place he was at a conference with teacher
colleagues. Fingerprints and eyewitnesses corroborate his story as
strongly as they do the accusation. He's even caught on news footage.
The brutal murder of two young sisters a few months earlier
poses the same dilemma. Can one person be in two places at the same
time? Or can some unspeakable force of evil be at work?
Considering that the plot stems from the vivid, bordering on
lurid, imagination of Maine's own master of horror, I think you know
the answer. But you'll have to read the book to see how the premise
plays out. You're in for a real treat, especially if you enjoyed
King's Mr. Mercedes. In fact, you'll become reacquainted with one of
its more memorable characters.
Just don't read the book too close to bedtime if you want to get
a good night's sleep.
On a personal note, the last week before March break is speeding by.
School is going well. Our assessments prof, Leah, gave the class a
much needed extra week for our small group literature reviews. Work
is awesome. Today I had an opportunity. There were a bunch of call
ins. Anna asked me if I could stay late and get the tables and napkin
holders ready for the supper crowd. I was so happy to be her night in
laundered uniform. (Shining armor is way overrated.) I've started
packing for my conference in the Big City which starts Friday!!! I'm
so looking forward to this adventure!!! I am one of the luckiest
people I know. I am living the dream.
Great big shout outs go out to Leah, my classmates, Anna, and my
dining services family.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Morning Earth
Morning Earth
YA/adult poetry
"My Earth Journal is a celebration of Earth's daily gifts. For
me it is a daily daybreak practice--if you will, a devotional
practice--a way of integrating myself with the whole of life. It lets
me know each day that I belong to something infinitely larger and
older than myself. It is a path to intimacy with nature and an
awareness that we are the conscious part of Earth. We are Earth
regarding itself."
You'd probably think that, being a poet, I'd be a big poetry
reader. If so, you'd be wrong. I find much of the genre to be too
pretentious, abstract, formulaic, or just plain dull for my taste.
Unless a poem is evocative, unless it engages my senses and/or
emotions, it leaves me cold. John Caddy's Morning Earth: Field Notes
In Poetry was one of those extremely rare verse volumes that so deeply
moved me that I read it cover to cover.
Caddy realizes that people aren't moved by generic abstractions
like nature. It's individual insects, trees, and chipmunks that grab
us. Unfortunately too few of us make the time to make the intimate
discoveries that would enable us to fall in love with the rest of
creation. [reviewer's note: especially when so many of us walk
around with our eyes glued to those ubiquitous tiny screens]. He
wanted to enable and empower people to connect with the realm of
nature around them and develop a sense of belonging in its intricate
web. Each morning he writes a piece and sends it, unedited, to
hundreds of people (including teachers who share with their classes)
on four continents.
In Morning Earth Caddy shares excerpts from a years worth of
pieces. Each consists of a poem and comments that anchor it in a
larger context. One beautiful sharing was written September 20. The
poem reads:
"The white horse lets me caress his face,
enormous bone behind his skin,
this great round of jaw.
I rub between his ears,
slide down and stroke his nose.
He whuffs out at me:
Hot air from a bellows wide."
This observation follows;
"Touch other lives as you can. When a cousin of any kind allows me to
touch, I am honored. One way to ensure our humanity is to caress
lives that are not themselves human."
On May 21 the poem reads:
"In bright sun
the indigo bunting
flashes in,
lands on a white tulip,
bends it for a breath,
and flies."
It's followed by this observation:
"Be careful when you look up, for you may be ambushed by joy. So much
takes place in instants."
The morning after I read Morning Earth, walking across the
UMaine campus, I had a close encounter of a crow kind and tried to
describe it:
He stiff leg walks
Across the grass,
As awkward on the Earth
As graceful in the air.
His head moving
Backward and forward,
On the alert, searching, seeking.
He stops, tilts his head,
Gold eye appraising me,
Still as a statue
Until he seems to decide
I'm not a predator
And hobbles on his way.
Something beneath the grass surface
Lures him to pause
And begin a frenzy
Of pecking and swallowing.
Caddy would like the poem I shared part of as well as the fact
that I watched the bird and shared my observations. He hopes readers
will do just that. Throughout the book he tries to demystify poetry
writing. He even has a section of helpful suggestions.
"One of my goals with the Earth Journal is to practice a
transparant poetry that is simple and accessible. People respond to
it, I suspect, because we all hunger for news of Earth and reassurance
that wild exists. My hope is that the Earth Journal helps readers and
students know that they are part of the community of life, from which
our culture often divorces us."
Amen, brother!
On a personal note, and now to the antithesis of nature: the
computer. It's like the great white shark in Jaws: every time I
start to feel safe it pops out of the water showing its teeth. Anna
and a dude did a manditory training for student dining services
workers on stuff like customer service and food safety. Anna told me
I have to do five computer trainings with tests every year I stay in
dining services. She gave me a paper that might have been written in
Latin. (I'm all for trainings. But would it have killed the powers
that be to provide a paper version for those of us who didn't cut our
teeth on electronic devices?) Fortunately before my mind went into
full panic mode I realized Jodi would help me. And when I emailed her
she replied she would be happy to help me.
Great big shout outs goes out to Jodi for being one of the kindest
people in my life and Anna and the dude for creating and arranging a
very useful and interesting training. Did you know that food
thermometers need to be calibrated regularly?
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA/adult poetry
"My Earth Journal is a celebration of Earth's daily gifts. For
me it is a daily daybreak practice--if you will, a devotional
practice--a way of integrating myself with the whole of life. It lets
me know each day that I belong to something infinitely larger and
older than myself. It is a path to intimacy with nature and an
awareness that we are the conscious part of Earth. We are Earth
regarding itself."
You'd probably think that, being a poet, I'd be a big poetry
reader. If so, you'd be wrong. I find much of the genre to be too
pretentious, abstract, formulaic, or just plain dull for my taste.
Unless a poem is evocative, unless it engages my senses and/or
emotions, it leaves me cold. John Caddy's Morning Earth: Field Notes
In Poetry was one of those extremely rare verse volumes that so deeply
moved me that I read it cover to cover.
Caddy realizes that people aren't moved by generic abstractions
like nature. It's individual insects, trees, and chipmunks that grab
us. Unfortunately too few of us make the time to make the intimate
discoveries that would enable us to fall in love with the rest of
creation. [reviewer's note: especially when so many of us walk
around with our eyes glued to those ubiquitous tiny screens]. He
wanted to enable and empower people to connect with the realm of
nature around them and develop a sense of belonging in its intricate
web. Each morning he writes a piece and sends it, unedited, to
hundreds of people (including teachers who share with their classes)
on four continents.
In Morning Earth Caddy shares excerpts from a years worth of
pieces. Each consists of a poem and comments that anchor it in a
larger context. One beautiful sharing was written September 20. The
poem reads:
"The white horse lets me caress his face,
enormous bone behind his skin,
this great round of jaw.
I rub between his ears,
slide down and stroke his nose.
He whuffs out at me:
Hot air from a bellows wide."
This observation follows;
"Touch other lives as you can. When a cousin of any kind allows me to
touch, I am honored. One way to ensure our humanity is to caress
lives that are not themselves human."
On May 21 the poem reads:
"In bright sun
the indigo bunting
flashes in,
lands on a white tulip,
bends it for a breath,
and flies."
It's followed by this observation:
"Be careful when you look up, for you may be ambushed by joy. So much
takes place in instants."
The morning after I read Morning Earth, walking across the
UMaine campus, I had a close encounter of a crow kind and tried to
describe it:
He stiff leg walks
Across the grass,
As awkward on the Earth
As graceful in the air.
His head moving
Backward and forward,
On the alert, searching, seeking.
He stops, tilts his head,
Gold eye appraising me,
Still as a statue
Until he seems to decide
I'm not a predator
And hobbles on his way.
Something beneath the grass surface
Lures him to pause
And begin a frenzy
Of pecking and swallowing.
Caddy would like the poem I shared part of as well as the fact
that I watched the bird and shared my observations. He hopes readers
will do just that. Throughout the book he tries to demystify poetry
writing. He even has a section of helpful suggestions.
"One of my goals with the Earth Journal is to practice a
transparant poetry that is simple and accessible. People respond to
it, I suspect, because we all hunger for news of Earth and reassurance
that wild exists. My hope is that the Earth Journal helps readers and
students know that they are part of the community of life, from which
our culture often divorces us."
Amen, brother!
On a personal note, and now to the antithesis of nature: the
computer. It's like the great white shark in Jaws: every time I
start to feel safe it pops out of the water showing its teeth. Anna
and a dude did a manditory training for student dining services
workers on stuff like customer service and food safety. Anna told me
I have to do five computer trainings with tests every year I stay in
dining services. She gave me a paper that might have been written in
Latin. (I'm all for trainings. But would it have killed the powers
that be to provide a paper version for those of us who didn't cut our
teeth on electronic devices?) Fortunately before my mind went into
full panic mode I realized Jodi would help me. And when I emailed her
she replied she would be happy to help me.
Great big shout outs goes out to Jodi for being one of the kindest
people in my life and Anna and the dude for creating and arranging a
very useful and interesting training. Did you know that food
thermometers need to be calibrated regularly?
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Friday, March 8, 2019
Made for Each Other
Made for Each Other
Juvenile nonfiction
Chances are there's a dog in your life? If so, do you ever have
questions about your beloved canine companion? You'll find Dorothy
Hinshaw Patent's Made for Each Other: Why Dogs and People Are Perfect
Partners to be a must read. It explores topics like
*how dogs possibly evolved from prehistoric wolves and learned how to
work with humans;
*what dogs think, feel, and understand;
and *how humans and dogs enhance one another's lives.
Heck, I liked the book, especially the pictures, and I'm totally
a cat person. According to my fellow UMaine students I'm queen of the
cat shirts...which reminds me March break will be a good time to look
for more at the thrift shops.
On a personal note, this is book 1,400 that I have reviewed for you in
the almost eight years I have been writing this blog. Feels kinda
like a milestone.
A great big shout out goes out to you, my readers, as we dig into our
next hundred. :-)
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile nonfiction
Chances are there's a dog in your life? If so, do you ever have
questions about your beloved canine companion? You'll find Dorothy
Hinshaw Patent's Made for Each Other: Why Dogs and People Are Perfect
Partners to be a must read. It explores topics like
*how dogs possibly evolved from prehistoric wolves and learned how to
work with humans;
*what dogs think, feel, and understand;
and *how humans and dogs enhance one another's lives.
Heck, I liked the book, especially the pictures, and I'm totally
a cat person. According to my fellow UMaine students I'm queen of the
cat shirts...which reminds me March break will be a good time to look
for more at the thrift shops.
On a personal note, this is book 1,400 that I have reviewed for you in
the almost eight years I have been writing this blog. Feels kinda
like a milestone.
A great big shout out goes out to you, my readers, as we dig into our
next hundred. :-)
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Born To Swing
Born To Swing
Juvenile herstory
"I was just born to swing, that's all. Call it what you want,
blues, swing, jazz, it caught hold of me way back in Memphis and it
looks like it won't ever let go."
Lil Hardin Armstrong, subject of Mara Rockliff's Born To Swing,
grew up in Memphis close to Beal Street. She was so young when she
started learning to play the organ she had to have a cousin work the
pedals. Her mother tried to protect her from what she called the
Devil's music. But when she was able to play at Sunday school she
added her own twist, causing the minister to frown.
During the Great Migration Lil's family moved to Chicago. She
got a job playing piano in a music store that also hooked bands up
with musicians. Girls called canaries sang in jazz bands. But none
played piano in them...
...until...
...read the book and see.
On a personal note, I am making some progress in learning how to use
computers. Last semester and this semester I had an annotated
bibliography to do. Last semester I had no clue how to use the
databases. I needed a lot of help from Amber Grey, reference
librarian extrodinaire, in looking up my articles. This semester I
just asked her two questions and looked up the articles myself. :-)
Also today I learned about devices called thumb drives that will make
it easier to get my papers printed. Back in September learning
computer felt like putting together a huge jigsaw puzzle with no box
top picture. Now it feels like I have many of the edge pieces in place.
A great big shout goes out to all who have helped me get this far.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Juvenile herstory
"I was just born to swing, that's all. Call it what you want,
blues, swing, jazz, it caught hold of me way back in Memphis and it
looks like it won't ever let go."
Lil Hardin Armstrong, subject of Mara Rockliff's Born To Swing,
grew up in Memphis close to Beal Street. She was so young when she
started learning to play the organ she had to have a cousin work the
pedals. Her mother tried to protect her from what she called the
Devil's music. But when she was able to play at Sunday school she
added her own twist, causing the minister to frown.
During the Great Migration Lil's family moved to Chicago. She
got a job playing piano in a music store that also hooked bands up
with musicians. Girls called canaries sang in jazz bands. But none
played piano in them...
...until...
...read the book and see.
On a personal note, I am making some progress in learning how to use
computers. Last semester and this semester I had an annotated
bibliography to do. Last semester I had no clue how to use the
databases. I needed a lot of help from Amber Grey, reference
librarian extrodinaire, in looking up my articles. This semester I
just asked her two questions and looked up the articles myself. :-)
Also today I learned about devices called thumb drives that will make
it easier to get my papers printed. Back in September learning
computer felt like putting together a huge jigsaw puzzle with no box
top picture. Now it feels like I have many of the edge pieces in place.
A great big shout goes out to all who have helped me get this far.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
The Queen Of Water
The Queen Of Water
YA/adult fact based fiction
"And then there were us, the indigenas, with skin as rough and
ruddy as freshly dug potatoes, cheeks rubbed raw by the sun and wind.
The mestizos called us longos, stupid Indians, dirty Indians, poor
Indians. We had awkward, backward names like Farignango, which our
grandparents signed with an X on contracts they couldn't read. In
this way, our grandparents sold their land and then, forever after,
paid the mestizos half their harvest to rent what was once theirs."
When author Laura Resau visited Maria Virginia Farignango, a
student at the Colorado community college where Resau taught English,
they talked for hours. As a very young indigenous child in Ecuador,
Virginia was one of very many girl children sent to live with well off
mestizo (non indigenous) families.
"...the arrangements were often vague. There was a blurry line
between giving daughters away, having them work as nannies or maids,
and selling them. It was sometimes unclear to the girl how often she
would return home for visits, how much--if anything--she would be
paid, and even whether the arrangement was temporary or permanent. In
some cases, when the wealthier families did not uphold their end of
the vague bargain, the girls were essentially stolen..."
Virginia was stolen. For eight years she didn't see her
family. Her bosses had lied to both, telling her that her parents
would sell her to someone else and telling them she was now too
refined to want anything to do with them. During those years she was
treated like a slave, sleeping on a rug on the floor, eating from
separate dishes, often locked in the house. While only a child
herself, she was tasked with cleaning, cooking, and caring for a
toddler. The wife beat her severely. When she began to develop a
figure the husband started to make improper advances.
But Virginia was clever and took advantage of every opportunity
she could find or make. She was a covert student. With her teacher
bosses sure she was still illiterate, she taught herself from their
textbooks to the point that when she had a chance for formal schooling
she was an outstanding student. It was her cleverness and spunk that
made Resau want to write her life story. Luckily for her and for
readers, writing her story with the help of an experienced author was
one of Virginia's life goals.
On a personal note, I had a really good week. Class was great. Work
was also. I really had fun serving Thursday. When I serve I make
sure I can answer any question our student clients can ask about the
food. I hit the jackpot: almost two dozen about the panini and seven
about the corn fritters. When I serve I'm going to be simply the best
because our clients deserve no less.
I got the listing of break out sessions for the conference I will
attend next weekend in the Big City (Portland). It is going to be
amazing!
A great big shout out goes out to everyone who has been working hard
to make the conference a reality. It will be such an opportunity for
all of us who have the great good fortune of being able to attend.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA/adult fact based fiction
"And then there were us, the indigenas, with skin as rough and
ruddy as freshly dug potatoes, cheeks rubbed raw by the sun and wind.
The mestizos called us longos, stupid Indians, dirty Indians, poor
Indians. We had awkward, backward names like Farignango, which our
grandparents signed with an X on contracts they couldn't read. In
this way, our grandparents sold their land and then, forever after,
paid the mestizos half their harvest to rent what was once theirs."
When author Laura Resau visited Maria Virginia Farignango, a
student at the Colorado community college where Resau taught English,
they talked for hours. As a very young indigenous child in Ecuador,
Virginia was one of very many girl children sent to live with well off
mestizo (non indigenous) families.
"...the arrangements were often vague. There was a blurry line
between giving daughters away, having them work as nannies or maids,
and selling them. It was sometimes unclear to the girl how often she
would return home for visits, how much--if anything--she would be
paid, and even whether the arrangement was temporary or permanent. In
some cases, when the wealthier families did not uphold their end of
the vague bargain, the girls were essentially stolen..."
Virginia was stolen. For eight years she didn't see her
family. Her bosses had lied to both, telling her that her parents
would sell her to someone else and telling them she was now too
refined to want anything to do with them. During those years she was
treated like a slave, sleeping on a rug on the floor, eating from
separate dishes, often locked in the house. While only a child
herself, she was tasked with cleaning, cooking, and caring for a
toddler. The wife beat her severely. When she began to develop a
figure the husband started to make improper advances.
But Virginia was clever and took advantage of every opportunity
she could find or make. She was a covert student. With her teacher
bosses sure she was still illiterate, she taught herself from their
textbooks to the point that when she had a chance for formal schooling
she was an outstanding student. It was her cleverness and spunk that
made Resau want to write her life story. Luckily for her and for
readers, writing her story with the help of an experienced author was
one of Virginia's life goals.
On a personal note, I had a really good week. Class was great. Work
was also. I really had fun serving Thursday. When I serve I make
sure I can answer any question our student clients can ask about the
food. I hit the jackpot: almost two dozen about the panini and seven
about the corn fritters. When I serve I'm going to be simply the best
because our clients deserve no less.
I got the listing of break out sessions for the conference I will
attend next weekend in the Big City (Portland). It is going to be
amazing!
A great big shout out goes out to everyone who has been working hard
to make the conference a reality. It will be such an opportunity for
all of us who have the great good fortune of being able to attend.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Thursday, March 7, 2019
Why We Sleep
Why We Sleep
Adult nonfiction
I love my sleep, my dreams, and jumping out of bed in the
morning full of energy. If I don't get enough slumber I don't feel
like myself. I don't believe people can get by on a mere four or five
hours a night. Matthew Walker Ph.D.'s Why We Sleep confirmed my
beliefs. This excerpt from the first chapter should give us all food
for thought.
"...Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night
demolishes your immune system, more than doubling you risk of cancer.
Insufficient sleep is a key lifestyle factor determining whether or
not you will develop Alzheimers disease. Inadequate sleep--even
moderate reductions for just one week--disrupts blood sugar levels so
profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic. Short
sleeping increases the liklihood of your coronary arteries becoming
blocked and brittle, setting you on a path toward cardiovascular
disease, stroke, and heart failure..."
Do you realize what the man is saying? We can stack the odds of
getting the scariest diseases known to humanity in our favor by
increasing our consumption of something pleasurable that doesn't carry
a list of harmful side effects. If your inner skeptic is starting a
chorus of "yeah, right." tell it to shut up and try at least a few
chapters of the book. It will be time well spent.
Walker starts off with the sleep basics such as the circadian
rythym (which explains, BTW, why some of us are morning larks and
others night owls), sleep pressure (a less familiar chemical
barometer), and the factors regulating them. He ties them in with
familiar experiences such as jet lag. If you've ever wondered why
your coffee or energy drink will short circuit your sleep drive, only
to lead up to a total crash later, here's your chance to find out.
We've all heard about REM and non REM sleep. Walker shows a
sleep cycle that is a lot more complex than that. He proves that each
componant is essential in its own way to optimum physical and mental
health. He shows how sleep patterns typically change over a life time
and how poor sleep hygiene can lead to the dreaded diseases I
mentioned earlier.
What I appreciate the most is that Walker addresses lack of
sleep as a policy and public health concern as well as a private
health issue. Optimally people have a large chunk of night time sleep
and a short afternoon nap. Modern buzz kills such as electric lights
turning night into day, electronics, and shift work schedules are
really messing with our sleep hygiene. It's not just a matter of so
sad, too bad. Companies, schools, and governments need to take (and
will totally benefit from) actions.
A very convincing example Walker provides is changing too early
school start times for teens. Since teens fall asleep later, early
rising robs them of sleep stages necessary for learning. So later
start times should enhance academic achievement. Some schools have
made this adjustment and gained this benefit as well as unexpected
ones such as reductions in teen traffic accidents.
I've wondered why I am the way I am. At a stage where most
people at least contemplate retirement I'm balancing a masters program
and a student job in dining services. I wake up without an alarm
clock ready to sing. My blood pressure is low and I have a kick ass
immune system. I have the energy to perform in drag shows and one of
the sunniest dispositions on the UMaine campus. Maybe Walker has
provided at least part of the answer.
On a personal note, time for bed! Good night!
A great big shout out goes out to you, dear readers! Sweet dreams!
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Adult nonfiction
I love my sleep, my dreams, and jumping out of bed in the
morning full of energy. If I don't get enough slumber I don't feel
like myself. I don't believe people can get by on a mere four or five
hours a night. Matthew Walker Ph.D.'s Why We Sleep confirmed my
beliefs. This excerpt from the first chapter should give us all food
for thought.
"...Routinely sleeping less than six or seven hours a night
demolishes your immune system, more than doubling you risk of cancer.
Insufficient sleep is a key lifestyle factor determining whether or
not you will develop Alzheimers disease. Inadequate sleep--even
moderate reductions for just one week--disrupts blood sugar levels so
profoundly that you would be classified as pre-diabetic. Short
sleeping increases the liklihood of your coronary arteries becoming
blocked and brittle, setting you on a path toward cardiovascular
disease, stroke, and heart failure..."
Do you realize what the man is saying? We can stack the odds of
getting the scariest diseases known to humanity in our favor by
increasing our consumption of something pleasurable that doesn't carry
a list of harmful side effects. If your inner skeptic is starting a
chorus of "yeah, right." tell it to shut up and try at least a few
chapters of the book. It will be time well spent.
Walker starts off with the sleep basics such as the circadian
rythym (which explains, BTW, why some of us are morning larks and
others night owls), sleep pressure (a less familiar chemical
barometer), and the factors regulating them. He ties them in with
familiar experiences such as jet lag. If you've ever wondered why
your coffee or energy drink will short circuit your sleep drive, only
to lead up to a total crash later, here's your chance to find out.
We've all heard about REM and non REM sleep. Walker shows a
sleep cycle that is a lot more complex than that. He proves that each
componant is essential in its own way to optimum physical and mental
health. He shows how sleep patterns typically change over a life time
and how poor sleep hygiene can lead to the dreaded diseases I
mentioned earlier.
What I appreciate the most is that Walker addresses lack of
sleep as a policy and public health concern as well as a private
health issue. Optimally people have a large chunk of night time sleep
and a short afternoon nap. Modern buzz kills such as electric lights
turning night into day, electronics, and shift work schedules are
really messing with our sleep hygiene. It's not just a matter of so
sad, too bad. Companies, schools, and governments need to take (and
will totally benefit from) actions.
A very convincing example Walker provides is changing too early
school start times for teens. Since teens fall asleep later, early
rising robs them of sleep stages necessary for learning. So later
start times should enhance academic achievement. Some schools have
made this adjustment and gained this benefit as well as unexpected
ones such as reductions in teen traffic accidents.
I've wondered why I am the way I am. At a stage where most
people at least contemplate retirement I'm balancing a masters program
and a student job in dining services. I wake up without an alarm
clock ready to sing. My blood pressure is low and I have a kick ass
immune system. I have the energy to perform in drag shows and one of
the sunniest dispositions on the UMaine campus. Maybe Walker has
provided at least part of the answer.
On a personal note, time for bed! Good night!
A great big shout out goes out to you, dear readers! Sweet dreams!
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Wednesday, March 6, 2019
Congo Stories
Congo Stories
YA/Adult nonfiction
"When I talk about Congo in the United States, most people first
just want to know where the country is located. In Europe, however,
people know well where Congo is. This is probably because of the
colonial past linking Europe and Africa. You see, colonization was
not just about bringing religion and civilization to the 'barbaric'
indiginous people of Africa. In Congo, colonization was about
controlling and exploiting the strategic natural resources of a
country that could not defend itself from these outside forces. To
some extent, especially for ordinary Congolese people who are deeply
impacted by the violent exploitation of our natural resources, this is
still the case."
Now that I'm in grad school during the semester I normally
reserve non homework books for the commute to and from UMaine and a
little cat assisted reading before bed to help me sleep. But when I
picked up John Prendergast and Fidel Bafilemba's Congo Stories:
Battling Five Centuries of Exploitation and Greed I could not put it
down. It was literally that compelling a read. It gives Americans a
look at a complex and fascinating nation through three tightly braided
strands.
The first strand is the nation's history. For centuries America
and Europe have plundered Congolese resources: humans for the slave
trade, ivory, rubber, copper, gold, and the minerals without which we
can't have our ubiquitous electronic devices. Workers mining the
resources have been and are too often treated cruelly. Illicit
financial gains have fueled bloody civil wars replete with atrocities
such as mass rape and kidnapping children to be soldiers. The tide,
however, is turning with native activists, aided by allies in other
countries making strides toward peace and wellbeing.
The second strand is narratives: profiles of "upstanders" (in
contrast to bystanders) who risk their lives to "defend human rights,
press for peace, resist dictatorship, provide education, and prepare a
better future for their fellow Congolese." These stories are
incredible. People profiled have suffered atrocities most of us can't
imagine and gone on to fight and work for change. Honorato, for
example, was kidnapped by a militia and held as a sex slave for
fifteen months. When she was able to escape her husband resfused to
let her come back to their family. She works to help other survivors.
The third strand is Ryan Gosling's photographs of Congolese
people in everyday life: a toddler learning to walk, children playing,
students and a teacher in a classroom, couples, sleeping babies...
This was my favorite part of the book.
The authors of Congo Stories want us to disregard the narrative
that we have been fed by the if it bleeds, it leads media--that the
Congo is hopelessly broken, a cesspool of death and depravity, and
whites are the all knowing saviors. The Congo has resources including
forests that contribute to the health of the planet and a strong,
resilient people rising up to create a more peaceful, prosperous
future for their beloved nation. We may and must help in ways that
respect their agency and autonomy...
...such as making sure that the companies that make our
electronics gain minerals in ways that don't finance civil war and
human rights atrocities.
"This is our challenge: To help tell the whole truth about
Congo and its people. And to believe that there is hope based on that
truth. And to demand from our political leaders and the companies we
buy products from that they support positive change and partner with
Africans as equals in an interconnected world."
On a personal note, in my assessment class we got back our final
drafts of our surveys. I was pleased and proud to get 28 out of 30 on
mine. I've only just begun with it. I am going to, in the not so far
off future, use it to do research on behalf of my beloved dining
services. That class is so inspiring! Every time we meet I come away
just dazzled by all the new possibilities.
A great big shout out goes out to my classmates and professor, all of
whom I learn a great deal from.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA/Adult nonfiction
"When I talk about Congo in the United States, most people first
just want to know where the country is located. In Europe, however,
people know well where Congo is. This is probably because of the
colonial past linking Europe and Africa. You see, colonization was
not just about bringing religion and civilization to the 'barbaric'
indiginous people of Africa. In Congo, colonization was about
controlling and exploiting the strategic natural resources of a
country that could not defend itself from these outside forces. To
some extent, especially for ordinary Congolese people who are deeply
impacted by the violent exploitation of our natural resources, this is
still the case."
Now that I'm in grad school during the semester I normally
reserve non homework books for the commute to and from UMaine and a
little cat assisted reading before bed to help me sleep. But when I
picked up John Prendergast and Fidel Bafilemba's Congo Stories:
Battling Five Centuries of Exploitation and Greed I could not put it
down. It was literally that compelling a read. It gives Americans a
look at a complex and fascinating nation through three tightly braided
strands.
The first strand is the nation's history. For centuries America
and Europe have plundered Congolese resources: humans for the slave
trade, ivory, rubber, copper, gold, and the minerals without which we
can't have our ubiquitous electronic devices. Workers mining the
resources have been and are too often treated cruelly. Illicit
financial gains have fueled bloody civil wars replete with atrocities
such as mass rape and kidnapping children to be soldiers. The tide,
however, is turning with native activists, aided by allies in other
countries making strides toward peace and wellbeing.
The second strand is narratives: profiles of "upstanders" (in
contrast to bystanders) who risk their lives to "defend human rights,
press for peace, resist dictatorship, provide education, and prepare a
better future for their fellow Congolese." These stories are
incredible. People profiled have suffered atrocities most of us can't
imagine and gone on to fight and work for change. Honorato, for
example, was kidnapped by a militia and held as a sex slave for
fifteen months. When she was able to escape her husband resfused to
let her come back to their family. She works to help other survivors.
The third strand is Ryan Gosling's photographs of Congolese
people in everyday life: a toddler learning to walk, children playing,
students and a teacher in a classroom, couples, sleeping babies...
This was my favorite part of the book.
The authors of Congo Stories want us to disregard the narrative
that we have been fed by the if it bleeds, it leads media--that the
Congo is hopelessly broken, a cesspool of death and depravity, and
whites are the all knowing saviors. The Congo has resources including
forests that contribute to the health of the planet and a strong,
resilient people rising up to create a more peaceful, prosperous
future for their beloved nation. We may and must help in ways that
respect their agency and autonomy...
...such as making sure that the companies that make our
electronics gain minerals in ways that don't finance civil war and
human rights atrocities.
"This is our challenge: To help tell the whole truth about
Congo and its people. And to believe that there is hope based on that
truth. And to demand from our political leaders and the companies we
buy products from that they support positive change and partner with
Africans as equals in an interconnected world."
On a personal note, in my assessment class we got back our final
drafts of our surveys. I was pleased and proud to get 28 out of 30 on
mine. I've only just begun with it. I am going to, in the not so far
off future, use it to do research on behalf of my beloved dining
services. That class is so inspiring! Every time we meet I come away
just dazzled by all the new possibilities.
A great big shout out goes out to my classmates and professor, all of
whom I learn a great deal from.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Sunday, March 3, 2019
A Trio of Picture Book Treasures
A Trio of Picture Book Treasures
Picture books
I am realizing that I am erring on the side of adult in my book
choices. (Think this has anything to do with graduate school?) Today
to try for a little balance I'm offering up a trio of picture books
for my mentor, Jodi, and all the other parents of very young children.
The Seeds Of Friendship
Although he misses his former home, Adam loves his new
apartment. But the world beyond his window seems bleak and grey. His
first snow leads to friendships as he shows some other kids how to
build creatures like rhinos and lions.
At his new school, as spring arrives, Adam loves the garden.
His teacher gives him seeds to plant in the window boxes at home...
...and this is only the beginning.
The Seeds Of Friendship can be a wonderful inspiration for
children and families wishing to add a touch of home or beauty to
their environments.
The Night World
When I was a child during the day the basement of my house was
familiar and cozy. It was a place for storage, laundry, and play. We
had a huge wood table dedicated to messy crafts. I had a little play
house with blanket walls, a comfy chair, and all kinds of books and
good things. (My first studio). When night fell, however, it was not
a place I wanted to be--sinister shadows, ominous furnace noises...
Heck, when I was in undergraduate college the president's
residence was set off in the woods, accessible by a path. In addition
to being hired for social events put on by the pres and his wife, I
was best friends with classmates who rented there and often slept
over. I have fond memories like the president's wife appearing in
bathrobe and slippers to invite us for snow day pancakes. The woods
path was pretty and scenic in the day, but six times as long after
darkness fell, seemingly full of creatures from Stephen King's
imagination.
When Mordicai Gerstein was four he woke up needing to pee. He
and his father stopped in the kitchen on their way back to bed. They
looked out a kitchen window into a very transformed back yard.
Readers of The Night World will see that that experience stuck
with him well into adulthood.
A cat, whose green eyes are the only touches of color in a
shades of grey world, wakes a sleeping child. The cat wants to go
out. The child thinks it's too late. The cat persists. Cat and
child tiptoe through a sleeping house to a shadowy, star studded dew
wet outside night world...
...where something special is on the way.
A lot of kids have night time fears. If any live in your home
The Night World will be a fine investment.
Wolf In The Snow
Matthew Cordell's Wolf In The Snow is a wordless book with a
timeless message.
A bundled up child walks away from a school in a snow storm.
Trudging through thickening flakes, that little one finds a lone baby
wolf too young to survive on its own. The child picks up the cub and
searches for its mother, collapsing in the snow from exhaustion after
the reunion takes place...
...and the wolves find a way to help their new friend. Read the
book to see how that happens.
On a purrrsonal (Joey is sprawled out on my legs) note, I had a good
week. I was not a fan of the two really cold days when my commute was
a real challenge. (At work I talked to a lot of students about the
importance of dressing to prevent frostbite.) My best day was Friday,
my dress up day. I decided to assess people's reactions to my
strawberry ice cream pink angora sweater which I wasn't sure I liked.
(I had people, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 the ugliest thing you've
seen today, 5 beautiful, and 3 meh, rate the sweater. All 5s. It's a
keeper). It was first Friday bagels and coffee at the commuter
lounge. Wonderful tradition! I found enough articles for my
annotated bibliography just in the nick of time. More homework I
can't do at home. I unexpectedly saw my good friend, Mazie. I got to
do a craft at women's resource center. We collaged notebooks.
Everyone's looked amazing. It's an easy and useful craft. All you
need is a notebook, magazines with pictures, glue, stickers, and your
imagination. You can have a fancy journal at a notebook price.
That's what mine will be. And I saw Jodi for the first time in two
weeks. We went over my progress in the new GROW (guided reflections
on work) program she chose me :-) for. I had lost my watch. She gave
me one with cats on it. She also gave me a ride home which was an
excellent way to start my weekend. This coming week I'm both nervous
and eager to find out how I did on my survey final draft. I'm very
excited for the work training scheduled for Saturday on stuff like
customer service and food safety. I am going to bring a notebook,
pens, and my listening ears.
Great big shout outs go out to Mazie, the Women's Resource Center gang
who will make this Women's History Month memorable, Jodi, and Anna who
is arranging the training opportunity.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Picture books
I am realizing that I am erring on the side of adult in my book
choices. (Think this has anything to do with graduate school?) Today
to try for a little balance I'm offering up a trio of picture books
for my mentor, Jodi, and all the other parents of very young children.
The Seeds Of Friendship
Although he misses his former home, Adam loves his new
apartment. But the world beyond his window seems bleak and grey. His
first snow leads to friendships as he shows some other kids how to
build creatures like rhinos and lions.
At his new school, as spring arrives, Adam loves the garden.
His teacher gives him seeds to plant in the window boxes at home...
...and this is only the beginning.
The Seeds Of Friendship can be a wonderful inspiration for
children and families wishing to add a touch of home or beauty to
their environments.
The Night World
When I was a child during the day the basement of my house was
familiar and cozy. It was a place for storage, laundry, and play. We
had a huge wood table dedicated to messy crafts. I had a little play
house with blanket walls, a comfy chair, and all kinds of books and
good things. (My first studio). When night fell, however, it was not
a place I wanted to be--sinister shadows, ominous furnace noises...
Heck, when I was in undergraduate college the president's
residence was set off in the woods, accessible by a path. In addition
to being hired for social events put on by the pres and his wife, I
was best friends with classmates who rented there and often slept
over. I have fond memories like the president's wife appearing in
bathrobe and slippers to invite us for snow day pancakes. The woods
path was pretty and scenic in the day, but six times as long after
darkness fell, seemingly full of creatures from Stephen King's
imagination.
When Mordicai Gerstein was four he woke up needing to pee. He
and his father stopped in the kitchen on their way back to bed. They
looked out a kitchen window into a very transformed back yard.
Readers of The Night World will see that that experience stuck
with him well into adulthood.
A cat, whose green eyes are the only touches of color in a
shades of grey world, wakes a sleeping child. The cat wants to go
out. The child thinks it's too late. The cat persists. Cat and
child tiptoe through a sleeping house to a shadowy, star studded dew
wet outside night world...
...where something special is on the way.
A lot of kids have night time fears. If any live in your home
The Night World will be a fine investment.
Wolf In The Snow
Matthew Cordell's Wolf In The Snow is a wordless book with a
timeless message.
A bundled up child walks away from a school in a snow storm.
Trudging through thickening flakes, that little one finds a lone baby
wolf too young to survive on its own. The child picks up the cub and
searches for its mother, collapsing in the snow from exhaustion after
the reunion takes place...
...and the wolves find a way to help their new friend. Read the
book to see how that happens.
On a purrrsonal (Joey is sprawled out on my legs) note, I had a good
week. I was not a fan of the two really cold days when my commute was
a real challenge. (At work I talked to a lot of students about the
importance of dressing to prevent frostbite.) My best day was Friday,
my dress up day. I decided to assess people's reactions to my
strawberry ice cream pink angora sweater which I wasn't sure I liked.
(I had people, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 the ugliest thing you've
seen today, 5 beautiful, and 3 meh, rate the sweater. All 5s. It's a
keeper). It was first Friday bagels and coffee at the commuter
lounge. Wonderful tradition! I found enough articles for my
annotated bibliography just in the nick of time. More homework I
can't do at home. I unexpectedly saw my good friend, Mazie. I got to
do a craft at women's resource center. We collaged notebooks.
Everyone's looked amazing. It's an easy and useful craft. All you
need is a notebook, magazines with pictures, glue, stickers, and your
imagination. You can have a fancy journal at a notebook price.
That's what mine will be. And I saw Jodi for the first time in two
weeks. We went over my progress in the new GROW (guided reflections
on work) program she chose me :-) for. I had lost my watch. She gave
me one with cats on it. She also gave me a ride home which was an
excellent way to start my weekend. This coming week I'm both nervous
and eager to find out how I did on my survey final draft. I'm very
excited for the work training scheduled for Saturday on stuff like
customer service and food safety. I am going to bring a notebook,
pens, and my listening ears.
Great big shout outs go out to Mazie, the Women's Resource Center gang
who will make this Women's History Month memorable, Jodi, and Anna who
is arranging the training opportunity.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Total Cat Mojo
Total Cat Mojo
Adult nonfiction
"In the sanctified realm of our home among our family members
true empathy shouldn't be reserved for one and not the other, for some
and not all. As enlightened as we may fancy ourselves, as long as
there is even a splinter of treating our animal family members as
things we own as opposed to those we love, that splinter will infect
the body of our family. This splinter has a name: ownership. The
way forward also has a name: relationship."
Jackson Galaxy, author of Total Cat Mojo, source of the above
quote, worked in an animal shelter for ten years. For many of the
cats in this and other shelters (millions each year) surrender becomes
a very undeserved death sentence. His vocation is all about by
preventing that by helping people better understand the felines with
whom they share home turf as sentient beings rather than possessions.
I can give you an example of cat as thing. Decades ago I had a
week long pet sitting gig. The cat in question--not even a year old--
had just been spayed and declawed...
...We now interrupt this review for a public service announcement.
NEVER DECLAW A CAT!!! It's basically removing its fingers and toes up
to the first joint. Not only is it painful and often botched, but it
effects the way it walks and leads to arthritis. If you are
contemplating the act ask yourself. IS THIS WHAT I WOULD WANT DONE TO
ME?...
...and she returned to her home, barely out of anaesthesia, to see her
human companions departing for who knows how long and leaving a
relative stranger in charge. That poor cat didn't let me out of her
sight even long enough for me to use the bathroom. And any time I sat
or lay down she was glued to me. Her people returned without a clue
that the experience might have been traumatic.
Galaxy wants us to know that our cats aren't all that far
removed from their in-the-wild ancestors. For example, even if they
derive most of their nourishment from Nine Lives, they are wired to
hunt. Cat mojo comes from a confidence of owning one's territory.
Joey, for example, shares our studio with me. His catio, a cat
bed on top of a coffee table in front of the biggest window, gives him
access to what Galaxy calls cat tv, the fascinating sights of the
outside world. A soft chair and bed give him the chance to mingle his
scent with mine. When I'm there he can cuddle, lie nearby or at a
distance, or leave the room.
Galaxy helps readers understand cat world and create an
atmosphere that lets felines rock their mojo, vastly improving life
for both human and feline. He covers situations such as introducing a
new cat into the family, introducing a new baby to the resident cat,
solving litter box avoidance and furniture scratching problems and so
much more. Even if life with fur baby is going splendidly, at least
from the human perspective, Total Cat Mojo is a fascinating read.
It's down to earth enough for a possible first time adopter. But I've
been bringing my cat companions to Veazie Vet nearly three decades and
I learned quite a bit.
So who should buy the book? Anyone who shares a home (or
contemplates sharing a home) with a feline friend. It's a very
worthwhile investment at a quite affordable paperback price.
On a purrrsonal note, Joey, at 15 1/2 seems to be thriving. He eats
well, uses his litter box, and follows a routine he seems to enjoy.
He always has a lot to tell me when I get back from UMaine. When I
come back from serving at the dining commons he draws in lungfulls of
his favorite meaty perfumes. Lucky for me, he is a real cuddle bug,
especially when I am in our studio. One of his cutest tricks is lying
across my neck and purring in my ear. Despite what that old ad says,
the coffee in my cup takes second place to my human-cat reunion as the
best part of getting up.
A great big shout out goes out to all who help keep our beloved feline
(and canine) friends in the game like the Veazie Vet gang.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Adult nonfiction
"In the sanctified realm of our home among our family members
true empathy shouldn't be reserved for one and not the other, for some
and not all. As enlightened as we may fancy ourselves, as long as
there is even a splinter of treating our animal family members as
things we own as opposed to those we love, that splinter will infect
the body of our family. This splinter has a name: ownership. The
way forward also has a name: relationship."
Jackson Galaxy, author of Total Cat Mojo, source of the above
quote, worked in an animal shelter for ten years. For many of the
cats in this and other shelters (millions each year) surrender becomes
a very undeserved death sentence. His vocation is all about by
preventing that by helping people better understand the felines with
whom they share home turf as sentient beings rather than possessions.
I can give you an example of cat as thing. Decades ago I had a
week long pet sitting gig. The cat in question--not even a year old--
had just been spayed and declawed...
...We now interrupt this review for a public service announcement.
NEVER DECLAW A CAT!!! It's basically removing its fingers and toes up
to the first joint. Not only is it painful and often botched, but it
effects the way it walks and leads to arthritis. If you are
contemplating the act ask yourself. IS THIS WHAT I WOULD WANT DONE TO
ME?...
...and she returned to her home, barely out of anaesthesia, to see her
human companions departing for who knows how long and leaving a
relative stranger in charge. That poor cat didn't let me out of her
sight even long enough for me to use the bathroom. And any time I sat
or lay down she was glued to me. Her people returned without a clue
that the experience might have been traumatic.
Galaxy wants us to know that our cats aren't all that far
removed from their in-the-wild ancestors. For example, even if they
derive most of their nourishment from Nine Lives, they are wired to
hunt. Cat mojo comes from a confidence of owning one's territory.
Joey, for example, shares our studio with me. His catio, a cat
bed on top of a coffee table in front of the biggest window, gives him
access to what Galaxy calls cat tv, the fascinating sights of the
outside world. A soft chair and bed give him the chance to mingle his
scent with mine. When I'm there he can cuddle, lie nearby or at a
distance, or leave the room.
Galaxy helps readers understand cat world and create an
atmosphere that lets felines rock their mojo, vastly improving life
for both human and feline. He covers situations such as introducing a
new cat into the family, introducing a new baby to the resident cat,
solving litter box avoidance and furniture scratching problems and so
much more. Even if life with fur baby is going splendidly, at least
from the human perspective, Total Cat Mojo is a fascinating read.
It's down to earth enough for a possible first time adopter. But I've
been bringing my cat companions to Veazie Vet nearly three decades and
I learned quite a bit.
So who should buy the book? Anyone who shares a home (or
contemplates sharing a home) with a feline friend. It's a very
worthwhile investment at a quite affordable paperback price.
On a purrrsonal note, Joey, at 15 1/2 seems to be thriving. He eats
well, uses his litter box, and follows a routine he seems to enjoy.
He always has a lot to tell me when I get back from UMaine. When I
come back from serving at the dining commons he draws in lungfulls of
his favorite meaty perfumes. Lucky for me, he is a real cuddle bug,
especially when I am in our studio. One of his cutest tricks is lying
across my neck and purring in my ear. Despite what that old ad says,
the coffee in my cup takes second place to my human-cat reunion as the
best part of getting up.
A great big shout out goes out to all who help keep our beloved feline
(and canine) friends in the game like the Veazie Vet gang.
jules hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)