Cool for the Summer

     For Larissa, protagonist of Dahlia Adler's Cool for the Summer, popular football star, Chase has always been the (probably impossible) dream. She's spent hours fantasizing about attending homecoming and prom on his arm and never getting anywhere...

     ...until the beginning of her senior year when Chase is suddenly noticing her, inviting her into his world, and becoming more and more romantic. Soon they're a school power couple. It's exactly what Larissa has been yearning for years...

     So why isn't it making her happy?

     Could it be because Jasmine, the girl with whom she had a bittersweet summer romance, is unexpectedly attending her school?

     If Chase is really Larissa's one and only, why can't she seem to get over Jasmine?

On a purrrsonal note, this is the kind of book I wish had been available when I was a teen and the happy endings were always the cheerleader winning the ❤️ of the quarterback. Even though the 60s are characterized as sexually revolutionary, they really weren't because we were only presented with one option. 

A great big shout out goes out to the authors who are presenting today's teens with affirmations of a much wider range of ways to be and to love.

Jules Hathaway 

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Mmm mmm good!!!

If you're ever in Penobscot County in Maine make Governors one of your destinations. You'll be glad 😊 😃 😀 😄 you did. 

The Contagion Next Time

     I think that during the pandemic most of us wanted it to be over already or at least morph into something more manageable, something we could get an annual vaccine against and then ignore.  Sandro Galea, author of The Contagion Next Time, warns us against this brand of magical thinking. Our nation and world were tragically unprepared for COVID-19. Unless we take drastic action we will be just as tragically unprepared for the next pandemic which could be even worse. 

     "As the twentieth century was characterized by the threat of mass conflict, the twenty-firstr is increasingly characterized by the threat of mass contagion, driven by our modern connectivity and the reservoirs of poor health we allow to exist. The shock of Covid-19 was amplified by our willful ignorance of this risk. The pandemic revealed just how vulnerable we have always been, and how vulnerable we will remain unless we learn its lessons."

     One of the lessons is our misallocation of money spent on health. The focus is on cure rather than prevention. One way we could invest in prevention is improving the conditions in which people live, widening access to clean air and water, safe housing, nourishing food. And there's this thing of climate change which exacerbates inequities. 

     Another is that we can no longer be complacent with a society where racial and social injustice create areas of serious deprivation. Health can't be dependent on to whom your were born. It has to be a public good. 

     And there are plenty of other well thought out lessons. 

     Basically Galea is calling for restructuring our country and 🌎 for the common good, potentially limiting the scope and tragedy of future contagions...

     ...and helping us all be less vulnerable to the more ordinary health challenges of being human. 

On a purrrsonal note, Eugene and I had our weekly breakfast at Governors. I had strawberry rhubarb pie with a generous scoop of French vanilla ice cream. Perfect blend of sweet and tart. 

A great big shout out goes out to the most excellent Governors staff.

Jules Hathaway 

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They're taking over the house. Oh, my!

Perfectly Parvin

     Parvin, protagonist of Olivia Abtahi's Perfectly Parvin, has concerns about high school. But she's confident she's starting off the year with a boyfriend and a date to the very important homecoming dance...

     ...Until he breaks up with her very publicly at orientation, telling her that she's too loud and too much.

     After a movie night with her two besties, Ruth and Fabian, Parvin comes to a very  unfortunate conclusion. The heroines of the flicks, the girls who catch the male gaze, are the opposite of too loud and too much. They've quiet and demure and wait for the guy to make the first move rather than take any kind of  initiative. That's the kind of girl she has to morph into... 

     ...and she doesn't have a lot of time. She's run into Wesley and his new girlfriend and told them she has a date to Homecoming. So to avoid a second humiliation she has to come up with a date worthy boy.

     But that's not all that's going on in Parvin's life. Her father is from Iran. His half sister is planning to visit her family. But she's detained and deported. It's 2017. Guess who's in the White House. Writing about the Muslim Ban in her author's note, Abtahi says, "But we will never forget the families that were torn apart, the students who couldn't attend the universities that accepted them, and the hate and vitriol the United States was sanctioned to spew."

     With a second T***p presidency on the horizon Perfectly Parvin is a very timely read. 

On a purrrsonal note, it wasn't too bad out this morning. To get fresh air and exercise I made a Hannaford/Goodwill run. At Hannaford I bought the ingredients to make Eugene's favorite kind of 🍪 from his mother's recipe and a bag of dark chocolate sea salt caramels that just happened to fall into my cart. At Goodwill I got what you'll see in the next picture. And all on gift cards. 

A great big shout out goes out to the friends who gave me the gift cards. 

Jules Hathaway 

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Can you believe this? I took this picture today in January after a white Christmas IN MAINE!!! To me this feels like a miracle!

Love Is A Revolution

     It can be very tempting, when meeting someone who you would like to be THE ONE, to try to come across as who they're looking for rather than who you actually are. But if this tactic works it can leave you vulnerable. What if they learn the truth? That's the plight of Nala, protagonist of Renee Watson's Love Is A Revolution.

     Nala lives with her aunt and uncle and "cousin-sister-friend" Imani. It's the first weekend of the girls' summer vacation before their senior year. Nala has agreed to do whatever Imani wants on her birthday. Too bad it's going to a talent show. 

     It's not what it is; it's who's putting it on.

     "Inspire Harlem is an organization for Harlem teens that does community service projects and hosts awareness events about various social issues. Imani has been trying to get me to join for the past year. But I don't know, they're a little too...well, let's just say I don't think I'm a good fit."

     When she sees the night's emcee Nala no longer regrets coming. Tye is fine. When Nala meets him she tries to present a persona he could fall in love with. The problem is it's all based on lies. As she finds herself making the untruths more and more elaborate Nala knows that she can't deceive him forever...

     ...What will happen when he discovers the truth?

     But romantic love isn't the only kind the book is centered on. Nala is also dealing with the complexities of her other relationships. And maybe to sustain an authentic romantic relationship she must first learn to love herself.

On a purrrsonal note, in the bad old days when I was a teen romantic relationships were supposed to be based on deceit. It was all about him. His interests were the only important ones. And if you were smarter than him you never let on. It would scare 😱 him away. I didn't play that game. And I found boys who shared my concerns about the war, the environment, feminism, and racism (as opposed to say being obsessed with football) and weren't scared off by my grades.

A great big shout out goes out to the many boys and men today who don't expect a relationship to be all about males.

Jules Hathaway 

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Tell It True

     Students who have an interest in journalistic ethics (or aren't quite sure there is such a thing) will really enjoy the coming of age narrative that is Tim Lockette's Tell It True.

     Lisa, Lockette's protagonist, is judgemental and cynical about just about everything in her life. She's sure her often away dad is carrying on an affair with his assistant. Her mother has messed up values. 

     "Teachers are fake: biology teachers who've never done research, English teachers who've never published a word of their own writing."

     In fact her hometown and school are fake. And the epitome of the local of it is her school newspaper--"Stuff you already knew or didn't care about, published weeks after the events happened because the paper comes out only three times a year."

     So it's truly ironic when she takes on editorship as a favor to her best (and only) friend. She doesn't take this role all that seriously at first. She suggests renaming the paper the Beachside Strangler.

     But things change when she reads about high school journalists uncovering real scandals, having a real impact on their communities. So when she learns that a man convicted of a double murder a quarter century ago without adequate representation is about to be executed she takes that on as her way to make a difference. 

     It's a real life changing learning experience for Lisa. Her narrative can be quite thought provoking for teens coming of age in today's ethically challenged media world. 

On a purrrsonal note, today is the first day of 2025. I didn't stay up until midnight. Tobago believes it is her duty to get her people to bed on time. I took pity on her at 10:30 when she was beginning to look slightly panicked. My official resolutions are to graduate 🎓 grad school, get a UMaine job, and finish my book manuscript. My covert one is to add more flamboyance to my fashion aesthetic and find more drag ops.

A great big shout out goes out to my precious wing 🐈 😻 🐈‍⬛️ 😺 🐱 😸 sweet Tobago. 

Jules Hathaway 

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