Ordinary Hazards

YA memoir 

"I used to have a friend who stepped 

off and on the bipolar train

once too often for me to handle.

Had to cut her loose.  Had to.

I'd already taken that rough ride

With my schizophrenic mother,

and that's one ticket

I will not buy again."

     I'm a big fan of Nikki Grimes' writing.  So when I saw her Ordinary Hazards: A Memoir described in a newsletter I just had to seek it out via the magic of inter library loan.  Especially since it was written in verse.

      On the first page Grimes shares this definition: "memoir: a work of imperfect memory in which you meticulously capture all that you can recall, and use informed imagination to fill in what remains." She explains in her author's note that the traumas that were a constant thread through her growing up years stole large chunks of her memories, leaving her to reconstruct periods of time from that informed imagination.

     The traumas Grimes had to survive included but weren't limited to:

*living with a schizophrenic, alcoholic mother who looped between periods of involuntary commitment and precarious being out in the world, never attempting to really communicate with her younger daughter;

*sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather;

*foster home separation from her only sister;

and *the too early death of her father from an accident that could have been prevented.

     Fortunately early in life Grimes learned how to channel her grief, fear, and anger into writing, filling a series of notebooks that would eventually be thrown out by her mother.

"The blank page 

was the only place 

I could make sense 

of my life,

or keep record of 

each space 

I called home.

The daily march of words 

parading from my pen

kept me moving

forward."

Writing and reading were to be her salvation--from foster child to award winning author.  Her account of the journey will both dismay and astound you.

On a purrrsonal note, looking forward to next semester I've pretty much decided I want to do a third internship instead of some random elective.  It would be with the office of institutional research and assessment.  I'm a total assessment geek.  I took an extra statistics class for the fun of it.  And more practical experience will make me more employable.  I've talked to a few OIRA people who like that idea.  Now I just have to convince my advisor.  (Jules)

Know of any internships testing cat treats or nip?  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to survivors of traumatic childhoods.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

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