Lawless Spaces

Lawless Spaces

YA fiction in verse
"The whole world (except Mom) is
shouting at me
through comments and texts and phone calls and
news alerts on my phone:
Tiffany Dovewick Tells Her Story
Tiffany Dovewick: A Timeline of Abuse
Is Tiffany Dovewick a Reliable Source?
Tiffany Dovewick: Just Trying to Get Her 15 Minutes Back?"
I'm not sure why we always assume that turning sixteen is
sweet. For Mimi, protagonist of Corey Ann Haydu's Lawless Spaces, it
holds some serious challenges. She's not sure where she fits in with
her mother, Tiffany, and her mother's latest live in, Eric. Her goal
is to become a fashion designer. She alters garments to make them
stylish. Only she has the "wrong" kind of body, the curvy, well
developed kind that makes wearing anything form fitting or low cut
scandelous in many people's eyes. She's still getting cyber bullied
over a picture taken three years ago before she even started high
school.
As if all this isn't enough stress, Tiffany has made the family
very high profile. As a teen she was an actress. A well known
director had molested her. Now she's accusing him. The media is
devouring the conflict. Reporters and camerapeople hang out outside
the family home ambushing Mimi when Tiffany isn't around, asking her
questions she has no answers for.
Mimi's female ancestors have a tradition. At sixteen each had
begun journaling. Their notebooks are all up in the attic. Perhaps
reading them can help Mimi not only understand her family legacy but
begin to chart a path to her own future.
On a purrrsonal note, now the Clean Sweep crew is working the Clean
Sweep clean up. We're restoring the ice hockey arena to its former
state of cleanliness and distributing the unsold merch to local
organizations. Tuesday the Bangor Humane Society people were
delighted with large bags of bedding stuff. Yesterday we delivered
big bags of clothes to Holy Family Thrift Shop and Orono Thrift Shop.
Both sell things people need at affordable prices and raise money for
important community work. Today we'll be delivering to Habitat for
Humanity (which has a thrift shop), Salvation Army, and Welcome to
Housing, an organization that provides people transitioning from
homelessness or transitional housing to first apartments with what
they need to furnish them. We pride ourselves on having the
connections to distribute what we can't sell instead of just dumping
it. (Jules)
They help the Humane Society. YASSS!!! I am a graduate of the
Waterville Humane Society. Without that fine organization I would not
be my family's best little cat in the world. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to the 2022 Clean Sweep crew, our
fearless leader, Lisa, our customers, and the organizations we were
able to help.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway


Sent from my iPod