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There Goes The Neighborhood

Juvenile fiction 

"Aight, so I know how it looks--bad--but I can tell you for damn sure that we didn't do it.  Everyone thinks the gang did it, which I guess makes sense giving that gangs tend to have a reputation for stuff like this, but I know for a fact that it wasn't the gang is fake.  I made it up."

     I don't know about you, but talented new author Jade Adia had me hooked on her There Goes The Neighborhood with that very first paragraph.  She followed through on the promise of that paragraph beautifully.  She made a modern day evil--gentrification--the focus of a suspenseful and engaging novel with beautifully crafted characters.  If you're anything like me and you pick up the book you're going to find it very hard to put down.  And you'll hate it when the story ends.  The characters are so real you'll want to know what happens to them next.  It's that kind of excellent.

     Rhea is seeing her Los Angeles neighborhood changing all too quickly, and not for the better.  The unique stores that have been cornerstones of her community are closing and being replaced by the kind of soulless establishments favored by the rich white hipster crowd...

     ...and it isn't only stores that are being replaced.  For much of Rhea's life her disillusioned mom has been MIA.  Her best friends, Zeke and Malachi, have been the cornerstone of her found family.  Now Vic, the slumlord of the apartment building Zeke's family lives in bumps up the rent by an unaffordable 60%.  The building is about to be renovated to house richer, whiter tenants.  

     "I clench my fists until the knuckles crack.  Our crew is not falling apart.  Not like this, not on my watch, not ever.

     We have to stop him."

     Rhea knows that the invasive species, the rich whites seeking affordable housing in vibrant neighborhoods made over for their convenience, fear the original inhabitants of color, associating them with violence and crime.  Maybe if they detect a strong gang presence they'll question their new choice of habitat. 

     "Holy shit.  That's it.  I can picture it clearly: Duos of young white women with quirky bumblebee tattoos and pre-distressed denim jackets hear shots.  They pack up their collection of succulents and stockpiled boxes of LaCroix faster than you can say 'home-brew kombucha.'  They email their landlords as they flee to the Westside, stating that they will no longer continue renting in a neighborhood with so much...action."

     At first the fake gang seems to be working. It's blowing up on social media.  Rich whites seem to be getting the message...

     ...then Vic is found dead and the nonexistent gang becomes suspect numerous uno.  The cops know that even if the perp is white it will be so much easier to convict teens of color.

     "If you haven't realized it by now, here's my not-so-hot take: gentrification sucks.

     It sucks because communities of color are the culture bearers of many cities, yet we are currently facing the threat of displacement.

     It sucks because gentrification undervalues and discredits this cultural labor while exploiting and promoting its product.  

     It sucks because it destabilizes the fragile ecosystems of human connection that not only make diverse neighborhoods so special, but also make life worth living."

     Adia lives in one such neighborhood.  She knows from personal experience the challenges long-term residents of color face.  In There Goes The Neighborhood she seeks to humanize victims of gentrification while celebrating resistance.

Jules Hathaway 

     

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Living Beyond Borders

YA anthology 

"The idea for this anthology arose when our heritage came under attack in the media.  Witnessing the constant spread of negative information fill my newsfeed, I felt compelled to do something.  To fight back against the damaging rhetoric and biased images that clashed with the culture I lived and loved."

     Luckily Margarita Longoria was able to do something to combat the demonizing of Mexicans by the Build A Wall! crowd and their allies.  Living Beyond Borders: Growing Up Mexican in America, of which she is editor, is a celebration of the diversity, beauty, bravery, and resilience of the culture she grew up in and embraces.  The pieces by talented Mexican American authors included provide readers with the stories she found tragically missing from her newsfeed.  

     "As the bus started toward downtown, the two teenyboppers' piercing voices, foul language, and shrieking laughter were becoming intolerable.  They were in that junior high stage when obnoxiousness and vulgarity made someone more popular among their insecure peers.  But I guess it was pretty normal teenage banter.  Then they said it--a word I had previously given little to no consideration."

     In Dominic Carrillo's Ghetto Is Not An Adjective the narrator witnesses a bystander telling two girls who called each other Ghetto as an insult that it's a noun referring to the place he lives and describes both the perils and beauties of living in a place too many people only associate with gangs and crime.

"Tell me a story.

Dime un cuento.

It can be a long story, or it can 

be a short one too.

It can be a brand-new cuento,

or a favorite old one."

     In Xavier Garza's Tell Me A Story/Dime Un Cuento, done in a graphic format, an appealing small child makes a near universal request of a distracted dad.

     "When I got home, I told Mami what had happened.  Her smile disappeared.  She helped me out of my dress, hung it carefully on the nail, but not before I saw tears running down her cheeks."

     The child narrator of Guadalupe Ruiz-Flores' My Name Is Dolores is only weeks into her first year of school when the teacher instructs the children to wear their best clothes for class picture day.  Her mother puts a lot of work into grooming her for this very important occasion.  Then just before the picture is taken her teacher takes her aside away from her classmates and camera range.

"He could only give me one dollar 

a week.  On Fridays, when I'd serve him 

dinner after work, he'd pull the single dollar bill

out of his worn wallet with weathered 

Hands--hands that had cut and transformed 

mesquite, planks, shingles, tiles, and cement."

     Guadalupe Garcia McCall's Ode To My Papi brought tears to my eyes.  Her words brought me back in time to when my now engineer son Adam, would tell my husband he would be a construction worker "just like you, Dad" and Eugene would say, "No, you will do better.  You will work with your head, not your hands."  Across race, ethnicity, time, space--any other divide you can think of--so many workers put their all into creating opportunities for their beloved children to have better lives.

     This anthology is like a sampler box of candies.  Readers discovering an affinity for a particular author can look in the listing in the back of the book 📖 to see what else they've written.  I've added some titles to my to borrow by inter library loan list.  ❤️ 💙 💜 💖 💗 💘!

On a purrrsonal note, the weather continues hot and muggy, temps we in Maine aren't used to.  I can't imagine what people in states like Texas are coping with.  Tobago sleeps more during the day.  At night with the AC on she's ready to party.  She had me up three times last night.  It's like having a new 👶.  Luckily she's irresistible.  🍅 s are finally coming in in community garden.  We're watering, harvesting, and cover cropping.  Yesterday I insisted on carrying watering cans.  The water spillage kept me cool.  We had 🍉 and Zoe's good shortbread 🍪 s for snack.  (Jules)

It's much too hot for us obligatory fur wearers.  I'm a big fan of AC.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to the community garden crew.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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Just East Of Nowhere

Adult Fiction

     When non residents think of Maine they tend to envision all things ocean related:  lighthouses, boats and ships, beaches, quaint souvenir shops and bed and breakfasts, and of course that infamous over priced bottom feeding crustacean, lobstah.  They probably see the Maine coast as the epitome of Vacationland.

     What they don't see is those coastal towns that don't share in the prosperity of places like Portland and Cape Elizabeth.  Some, victims of loss of manufacturing jobs with decent incomes, are beset by levels of poverty, precariousness, opiate addiction, and hopelessness usually associated with Appalachia.  In his debut novel, Just Easy Of Nowhere, Scot Lehigh takes readers to the way off the tourist track area where he grew up.

     Dan, a Bates College student, is returning to a place that doesn't feel like home to him for his estranged mother's funeral.  He feels that her fundamentalist church was more of a family than he could be in her mind.  He's experienced the house he grew up as a possibly inescapable prison.  He plans to just attend the funeral, play his expected role, and return to school.  But there are people from his past who make this unlikely. 

     Dan has managed to track down his biological father, the man who served many years in prison for impregnating his then teenage mother.

     Dan, himself, had spent time in juvie for beating a peer, Griff who had said the wrong thing, savagely battering him after he'd become too injured to fight back.  Griff is still around.  He's bought a gun and learned how to use it.

     Susan, Dan's first girlfriend, is now with Griff.

     Lehigh's first novel is pure raw suspense set in a place far removed from upper crust coastal Maine narrative.  Let's hope he brings us back in the near future.

On a purrrsonal note, I hope you had a wonderful 😊 Labor Day weekend.  Mine was 😍 purrrfect--a romantic weekend at camp.  Eugene did all all the cooking 🍳 leaving me free to read.  For fun reading 📚 😊.  I left the textbooks at home.  The weather was all blue skies and sunshine 🌞.  Eugene's best friend and his wife and their older son were at their camp.  We hung with them some.  Sunday night we joined them for a bonfire with refreshments.  It was so beautiful.  (Jules)

They always leave me enough food.  And they came home safe.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and the Brown family.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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