A Danger To The Minds Of Young Girls (adult nonfiction)

     "Our youth are in danger...Vile books and papers are branding-irons heated in the fires of hell, and used by Satan to sear the highest life of the soul. " Anthony Comstock. 

    It is very fitting that Adam Morgan's A Danger To The Minds Of Young Girls: Margaret C. Anderson, Book Bans, And The Fight To Modernize Literature was published in 2025. Although about a century separate the events Morgan wrote about and today it seems sadly that in some ways not all that much has changed. 

     "Margaret Caroline Anderson wasn't proud of her origin story. 'I came from nowhere, out of nothing, into nothing,' she liked to think, as if she had sprouted--full-grown and motherless--from the forehead of Zeus like Athena. In reality, Margaret was born on November 24, 1886, in a city she would resent for the rest of her life." 

     Anderson was a rebel from the start. She was constantly locking horns with her proper bourgeois middle class housewife mother who was trying to raise her three daughters to follow in her footsteps. She found an escape in reading. As soon as she could she escaped to Chicago where she pursued a colorful and unconventional lifestyle...

     ...and started a magazine, the Little Review, which would bring her into escalating conflict with the patriarchy and its tools...

     ...in the form of the New York Society for Suppression of Vice, founded by Anthony Comstock who passed on the torch [literally--the bros were into book burning] to Anderson's nemesis, John Saxton Sumner...

     ...who would put her on trial in 1921--portraying her as a danger to the minds of young girls--for her serial publication of James Joyce's Ulysses. 

     Morgan brings the time, the players, and the events and issues vividly to life. A Danger To The Minds Of Young Girls is an excellent read for feminist scholars and for those like myself who see chilling echoes of this not too distant past in today's wave of censorship purportedly to protect the minds and psyches of young white children. 

On a purrrsonal note, today in an online newsletter I was reading about people being arrested and being put in solitary confinement for being in possession of writings considered dangerous by those in power. Despite our nation's enshrinement of free speech, its history is riddled with periods of censorship, and not just in wartime. While the 1920s are popularly seen as the era of flappers, bootleg gin, speakeasies, and gangsters, the bigger picture was one of widespread fundamentalism, white supremecy (the KKK went mainstream), and massive censorship. It was followed by the McCarthy Era when people were encouraged to spy on each other and possessing the wrong reading matter ruined careers and lives. In this century following 9/11 we had the government trying to get librarians to turn over patron reading lists. Given the current political climate I'm pretty sure that our rights to write and read what we want and need are in increasing jeopardy. We can't just take them for granted. 

A great big shout out goes out to our courageous librarians who refused to turn over those reading lists. In large and small ways they defend our rights to read controversial books even as they are targeted by  book censors, banners, and burners. We owe them our loyalty, support, and heart felt gratitude. 

Jules Hathaway 

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Snow ❄️ Girl

Well I can put her out on the next porch to brighten things up until the next storm. 

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Joy journal

Well here's another couple of pages. I hope you enjoy seeing what made me happy. 

It's supposed to be another relatively warm day. So I'm heading to campus in a couple of hours. 

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And Don't Look Back (YA chiller)

     "Eyes gleam in dark, and Harlow throws herself backward before she puts the face and the voice together, before she understands it's her mom shaking her awake...

     There isn't time for her to think. There never is. It doesn't matter: they've done this so many times now that Harlow is an expert at packing without thinking too much."

     As far back as Harlow (17) can remember it's always been her and her mother against the world. Or at least the mysterious being they flee every few months. Although she has begun to suspect that her mom is paranoid, whenever Cora says it's time to go she speed packs her few possessions and gets in the car, ready to head off into the night to the next town where she'll have to assume a new name and identity and not let anyone get too close. 

     But this night is different. A truck smashes into their car. Her dying mother tells her about a safety deposit box in a nearby bank. 

     "'Just go,' her mother rasps. 'It has. Everything you need. You have to go now. Listen to me. Keep running. Don't ever stop. And don't look back. Just go."

      When Harlow opens the safe deposit box she finds a huge wad of cash, a bundle of fake IDs, a will, life insurance papers, a deed to a house in the possession of a Cora Kennedy, a newspaper clipping about the disappearance of an Eve Kennedy whose three daughters remain hopeful that she'll be found, and old photographs of three teenage girls, one of whom Harlow recognizes as her mother. 

      "Now there is a missing mother, and two sisters whose existence her mother never even hinted at, and a place that it seems her mom set off from first, so many years ago. It's the most she's ever had to go on."

      Hoping that she'll be able to finally get answers to the questions that have haunted her for most of her life, Harlow drives to Crescent Ridge, moves into the little house in the woods, and starts asking questions...

      ...which is risky business. Mom was not paranoid. An evil person is honing in on her location...

     ...and this time she may not be able to escape. 

     Hard core chiller affecianados will find And Don't Look Back to be a real treat.

On a purrrsonal note, here in Central Maine the high temperatures are predicted to be in the high 30s. Compared to what they've been recently it feels like a heat wave. Since I'm working at home one more day unless weather goes rapidly downhill I'll supplement my stationery biking with a mid day outside walk. I've been thinking of something safe to eat on nights when I serve Eugene stuff like pork that is a little less plain than sugarless yogurt. My kids are all vegetarians. I was one for ten years until I was having trouble donating blood because of low iron but iron pills upset my stomach. Anyway I mentioned to Amber that now that I'm not donating (I quit after giving 10 gallons) bean based veggie meats might be an option. She sent me info. This looks very promising. I'll see what local stores have when I go on my self designed nutrition field trip. 

I'm also thinking of the research I did awhile ago on entomorphagy which is insect eating which is practiced in much of the world. Insects have more vitamins and protein than beef or pork and are much more environment friendly. And in my opinion insects taste just fine. 

A great big shout out goes out to Amber who provides me with lots of good information. 

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Goodwill finds

These are the Goodwill finds from the road trip Eugene and I went on. Aren't they awesome? Squishmallow Squad shirts are really hard to find. And the dress is a purrrfect fit.

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Valentines Day flowers

These are the flowers Eugene gave me. Aren't they beautiful? As you can see they add a much-needed touch of spring to the winter landscape. 

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Street Cats & Where To Find Them (adult nonfiction)

     Fellow feline fanciers get ready. Have I got a book for you: Jeff Bogle's Street Cats & Where To Find Them: The Most Feline-Friendly Cities and Attractions Around the World. Here's the information you need to plan a truly memorable vaca. Or, if you're like me, daydream about someday being able to afford such a vacation. 

     Now mind you, Bogle did not start out as a friend of felines. He grew up without a ginger or a tuxedo in his home. His parents were always spreading anti cat propaganda. (He would eventually manage to convert his mother to the joys of cat parenting.) When at the age of twenty-four he was told he would have to temporarily take in a feline he was sure it would ruin his life...

     ...Needless to say it didn't...

     ..."Four hours later, Kitt was on my lap kneading biscuits into my doughy body. Roughly four hours and two seconds later, I was an unabashed cat dad who wondered, What in the hell was wrong with my parents? Biscuits in your neck, sleeping on your chest, and purring into your shoulder--what's not to love, Dad?"

     Now Bogle is a travel writer, earning his living and some pretty awesome perks doing what most of us pay to do or want to be able to afford to pay to do. His mobility and his unabashed fondness for felines combine to make Street Cats & Where To Find Them something special. He takes readers to almost two dozen locations around the world--from Chile to Iceland, from Japan to Puerto Rico--introducing us to the defining features of the place, its foods, and the felines who frequent it, and sharing GORGEOUS PICTURES of those felines. For each location he gives the basics--like where to stay, where to eat, how to get around. He also has a section on cat cafés, museums, festivals...

     But he realizes that there are a lot of street cats not as fortunate as those that live out their best lives in cafés and other shops or have their needs met by groups of dedicated volunteers. He knows that for all too many street cats existence is a frightening, exhausting struggle for survival. He fills readers in on the many organizations through which we can help these forgotten felines. 

     I am personally grateful to Bogle for affirming a concept I've intuited since the precious 16 years when Joey cat--short for Joseph Jacob Hathaway--was my beloved cat companion. The soul cat. Don't get me wrong. I've loved all my cats. And you know I adore Tobago. But Bogle affirms what I believe--that there can be the one soul cat. And if she or he becomes part of your life you are blessed beyond measure. At Veazie Vet the doctors frequently remarked that we were one of the most tightly bonded cat-human pairs they'd ever seen. 

     Anyway, if you're a fellow feline fancier I recommend that you get Street Cats & Where To Find Them. But don't stash it on a shelf and forget it. Give it prime space on your coffee table or other central location. You'll be able to flip through those gorgeous photos whenever you want. And you'll impress your cat loving friends and family members with your most excellent taste.

Well I had a simply dreamy Valentines Day. Eugene had given me flowers 💐 the night before. I woke up to find a beautiful sentimental card at my place at the table. He took me to Governors for breakfast and dinner. We went for a road trip, stopping at 2 Goodwills. He paid for the stuff I couldn't resist including a Squishmallow and a Squishmallow Squad shirt. Tobago gave me sweet snuggles and was delighted with her special treat: a tuna Fancy Feast entrée. Our house was lit with love. 

A great big shout out goes out to Eugene and precious Tobago. 

Jules Hathaway 

     

     

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