It's Complicated

It's Complicated

YA nonfiction
I can't remember a time when America has not been ageist, a
place where generations are reduced to shallow stereotypes. I don't
know if the actual amount is increasing or if I'm just rebelling
against the limited expectations for over 50's mindset that seems to
prevail. But reducing beings as complex as humans to lowest common
denoinator is never a good thing. For this reason I was delighted
when I picked Robin Bowman's It's Complicated: The American Teenager
up at the Orono Public Library.
Over the course of four years Bowman traveled 21,731 miles
around the country photographing and interviewing teens. (The
comprehensive 26 question interview script is included). Although she
connected with some subjects through traditional means, she met most
of them as strangers on the street. Through a several step process
she would photograph, collaboratively choose which image to use, and
then ask the questions. All the four-hundred nineteen young people
she interviewed were included--and what a beautiful diversity they
represent: debutant to homeless; atheist to fundamentalist; student,
worker, parent; wide ranges of color, ethnicity, gender and sexual
orientation...
Here are just a few you will meet:
*Elizabeth (17) lived (at the time she was interviewed) on a
small island off the coast of Maine. There were only fifty students
in her high school. Rather than going on to college, she planned to
join her family business: lobstering.
"For work I'm up at five and I'm usually going by five thirty,
six o'clock. We're [she and her father] usually in by two or three.
We have, like, six hundred traps...I usually make like, a hundred
bucks a day. I've been doing this for probably ten years."
Said [15] had fled war torn Somalia. He had to walk for months
to get to Kenya. He arrived in America (Minnesota) during winter with
only shorts, a tee shirt, and sandals.
"But here, when I go to school I see black kids cursing at
Somalians. I see white people hating Native Americans. People hate
you and then you have to hate them back...I don't want to do that. I
want to be friend with everybody. We should all get along."
Aramitha [19] had to raise herself the best she could because
her mother was a drug addict. When she was sixteen she learned that
her boyfriend was cheating on her. She went to the girl's house to
talk to her and ended up shooting her. She lost the baby she was
carrying in prison.
"Killing that girl bothers me a lot. I feel bad and that's
something I'm gonna have to live with every day of my life. I ask God
every day for forgiveness. It's not nothing that I'm proud of, but I
can't change it."
Menucha (19) was born to parents who grew up nonreligious and
returned to their faith after marriage. She fantasized about getting
a law degree and becoming a detective but considered motherhood more
likely. She said that being a Hasidic Jew fulfills her need to find
meaningfulness in life.
"To be Hasidic means basically someone who does more than what
is required from them. The whole religion is geared to keep yourself
separate from non-Jews. Not in a bad way, but simply to protect, to
keep yourself Jewish. You have requirements to fulfill, and you have
things to do, and you can't forget that..."
If you have the good sense to read the book you will learn more
about them and meet four hundred fifteen more unforgettable teens. I
highly recommend it.
On a personal note, I had a great Labor Day weekend. Saturday I met
up with my Real Food Challenge chums at UMaine near the steam plant.
The farmers market people were having their annual customer day. They
put on a feast! Fruits, veggies, salads, shortbread, lobster
rolls...my favorite was the chicken wings. I lost track of how many I
ate. Great food, great company, a perfect day...who could ask for more?
A great big shout out goes to local, ethical, and sustainable farmers.
jules hathaway





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Free Verse

Free Verse

Juvenile fiction
"'Harless, this is dispatch, please respond.'
We wait for his voice to come over the air.
'Harless, this is dispatch, come back?'
Come back! I think.
'Dispatch to Harless, please respond.'
He doesn't, and he doesn't, and he doesn't.
'Dispatch to Harless,' the voice on the radio says. 'You are
relieved of your duty. God bless you for your service.'"
As I (and my regular readers) can personally attest, poetry can
become a working out of salvation for people who go through a lot of
trauma and change. It can help glean insight into self and others,
give comfort, create identity, and communicate with others. Sarah
Dooley's Free Verse explores this process beautifully through the
thoughts of an unforgettable protagonist.
Sasha's troubles began when she was only five. Her mother took
off, leaving her coal miner father as sole parent for her older
brother, Michael, and her. Then a mine collapse took their dad's
life. While only eighteen, Michael put his dreams of Navy or college,
of escaping their worn out town, on hold to care for Sasha to the best
of his ability.
[flashback] "I thought of our mother, who ran away, and I linked
my arm through Michael's, suddenly scared he might disappear too. It
wasn't till a long time later, thinking back, that I realized that was
around the time Michael stopped talking about getting himself out of
here. The only escape he talked about anymore was mine."
Sadly Michael died in the line of [fire fighter] duty.
Sasha is having a hard time of it in her foster home. She's
constantly running off. She does destructive things she can't
remember. She finds sessions with the school guidance counselor
pointless. She does her best to save for the escape Michael had
convinced her was essential.
But Sasha has two things going for her. There's the next door
neighbors turn out to be cousins, separated from her closer kin by a
long ago falling out. And there's her newly discovered ability in
poetry and the peer poetry club she is invited to join. The poetry,
however (as I have also discovered) is a mixed blessing.
"Now there are even more words, too many words for me to write
down, bubbling up in my head and through my heart, and I can't make
them stop. I hear patterns of syllables in my head, 5-7-5, and they
are all about loss and death and sadness and men with grimy faces who
leave for work and don't come home. It's like haiku has opened a door
inside me that I'm trying with all my might to shove closed..."
At that point she swears off poetry. Don't worry. It's a
promise she can't keep. Her narrative is authentic and well worth
reading.
On a personal note, now that I have a fire fighter son, I notice
sirens in a way I never did before. I look for the truck(s) to see
the town(s) responding. I have a new fear of losing the young man who
towers over me but will always be my baby to the call of duty. Every
time I read the excerpt I quoted at the beginning of this review I
have tears in my eyes.
A great big shout out goes out to all the firefighters who protect and
serve us.
jules hathaway



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Their Great Gift

Their Great Gift

Picture book
Immigrants come to the United States from many different
nations. Despite cultural and religious diversity and a wide range or
reasons for making the journey, they experience some universalities.
John Coy and Wing Younh Huie's Their Great Gift explores those deep
similarities.
Sparse text talks about coming from far away because of dreams,
not knowing the language, encountering prejudice, having to work hard
and do without, and pouring all energies into the welfare of one's
children. The pictures steal the show. A mother hugs two daughters.
A family shares a meal. People work in a factory, a restaurant, a
store. They come in a range of colors and ways of dressing.
In an America where political leaders too often score cheap
political points by demonizing newcomers to our nation this is a
beautiful reminder of the courage and determination this journey
requires.
On a personal note, Real Food Challenge had our first meeting of the
school year. We tossed out ideas as we feasted on pizza. We will be
doing a lot of really cool things.
A great big shout out goes out to my RFC gang.
jules hathaway


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The Land of Forgotten Girls

The Land of Forgotten Girls

Juvenile fiction
"Things I know to be true: Tita Vea married my father so she
could come to the States, and there is nothing magical about that.
And there is nothing magical about Giverny either, even though it's
just outside of New Orleans and people say New Orleans is loud and fun
and vibrant. Giverny must have drained from its gutters."
Soledad, narrator of Erin Entrada Kelly's The Land of Forgotten
Girls, has suffered more loss than many adults. A younger sister died
in an accident she considers her fault. If she had not distracted
their mother, beautiful little Amelia would not have drowned. Not
much later her beloved mother died of cancer. After moving them from
the Philippines to Louisana, her father has abandoned her and her
little sister, Ming, with the woman they consider their evil
stepmother. No one knows when or if he will return.
Soledad and Ming live in a cigarette smelling apartment where
rats run in the walls at night. Vea, resentful of being stuck with
two grieving children, is emotionally and physically abusive. Soledad
desperately wants to save up enough money to run away with Ming to
somewhere better.
But how?
On a personal note, we had our first Wilson Center Program of the
school year. It was great to see people who had been away all
summer. My new friend Sam came like I'd invited him to. After we
feasted on baked potatoes with all kinds of toppings and watermelon we
had a water ceremony.
A great big shout out goes out to my Wilson Center family.
jules hathaway



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Dare to Disappoint

Dare to Disappoint

YA graphic novel
The literature that captures us the most deeply often skillfully
blends universality of feeling with specificity of time and place.
The reader is hooked by empathy and drawn into exploration and
discovery. This is the case for Ozge Samanci's Dare to Disappoint.
Ozge and her big sister, Pelin, grew up with high expectations.
They were to study medicine or engineering at a prestigious university
so they could get good jobs with high pay. Their dad, who would boast
of not getting pleasure out of anything, focussed on discipline, hard
work, and order. Ozge longed for his approval. But somehow she could
never quite compete with Pelin. And the fields she was being pushed
toward did not align well with her talents or interests.
As you may have guessed from the main characters' names, the
book is not set in America. They grew up in Turkey in very
politically turbulant times. Even for the very young there was huge
pressure for obedience to the state. Government employees who didn't
engage in less than ethical practices, like Ozge's teacher parents,
barely earned enough to support their families.
Graphic novel is the perfect format for this coming of age
tale. The pictures carry nuances that really expand the power of the
written and help to add an element of humor to what could be an
entirely grim narative.
On a personal note, the UMaine students organizational fair was
awesome. There were tables circling the whole mall--something for
everyone. Eager students made the rounds, studying all the
offerings. I tabled with my Real Food Challenge gang. We got some
real interest. Even the weather (the one element CASE has no control
over) was a perfect mix of sun and breeze.
A great big shout goes out to all who enabled this event to happen.
jules hathaway



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Almost Astronauts

Almost Astronauts

Juvenile nonfiction
"Most men who had fought in the war wanted to leave that grim
scene behind and return to a nice home, a sweet wife, a growing
family...Many women agreed that their place was the home. But others
had tasted independence, had felt the satisfaction of earning their
own money, supporting their families, excelling at jobs outside of the
home. They didn't want to give all that up and did not like this
change in the national mood. They still had hopes and dreams beyond
serving up hot casseroles for their men returning home from work..."
Tanya Lee Stone's Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared To Dream
gives the reader the story of a gutsy group of women whose hopes and
dreams were sky high.
In 1957 Russia's launch of Sputnik gave the United States a bad
case of outer space envy. My generation of schoolkids was found to be
woefully science and math deficient. NASA came into being. President
Kennedy put kicking Soviet butt in this arena at the top of his
national to do list. The all male Mercury 7 astronauts were recruited
and trained.
There was a doctor, Randolph Lovelace, who believed that women
were equally capable of space exploration despite popular prejudices.
In his mind they could even save NASA money. He had tested the
Mercury 7 guys. He wanted to evaluate similarly qualified female
subjects. In 1959 he met up with Jerrie Cob who had set records and
won awards as an aviator. She and twelve other aviatrices were put
through grueling physical and psychological tests which they passed
with flying colors, often doing better than the men.
Well you can probably guess what happened. An American public
addicted to Love Lucy and Father Knows Best remained unconvinced that
women belonged in space. NASA showed no interest. John Glenn claimed
that men and women astronauts working together would not be able to
keep their minds on work. Vice President Johnson wrote "Let's stop
this now!" on a letter about woman astronauts. Cartoonists had a
field day.
It would take two decades before woman asonauts finally got the
chance to show that they had the right stuff.
Period photos and cartoons help to vividly establish time and
place. This window on a little known chapter of herstory really
needed to be opened. Feminists, including those well beyond its
target demographics, will find it well worth reading.
On a personal note, Orono Community Garden was helped immensely by a
group of 40 UMaine freshpeople who helped us with the task of turning
some of our beds over to cover crop for the winter. I got my own
group to supervise. It was so much fun talking to them.
A great big shout out goes out to the UMaine class of 2020!
jules hathaway


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The Two-Family House

The Two-Family House

Adult fiction
"Before today she [a midwife] she thought she had seen every
permutation of circumstance: the girls who cried out for their own
mothers even as they became mothers themselves; the older women who
had marked themselves as cursed, suddenly bursting with joy over a
healthy child come to them at last. She thought she had heard every
kind of sound a person could make, witnessed every expression the
human face could conjure out of pain, joy, or grief. That was what
she thought before this evening."
This paragraph lifted from the prologue of Lynda Cohen Loigman's
The Two-Family House beautifully sets the stage for the rest of the
book. It's a narrative that makes the reader captivated by the
interpersonal drama of ordinary human life. It's a story that any of
us enmeshed in the complexities and loyalties of the multigenerational
family can relate to if we look below the surface of our own lives.
Rose and Helen, married to brothers who are owners of a family
business, have lived intimately for many years as the book's pivotal
event unfolds. Upstairs in their shared duplex Helen and gregarious
Abe are parenting four spirited boys who seem to need their mother for
little more than cleaning up their messes. Downstairs Rose and the
far more reserved Mort are raising three girls--children who are a let
down to their father who wants a son to pass the business on to. (Of
course he wants his brother's children to join the firm--his, however,
would run the show.) Helen longs for the intimate relationship she
could have with a daughter; Rose thinks a son would make her husband
less impossible to please.
Unexpectedly both women become pregnant. The day they both go
into labor is much less than propitious. Mort and Abe are away on
business. Because of a raging blizzard no ambulances or taxis are
available. Luckily a midwife is the area. Side by side the women
give birth within minutes of each other.
Helen has her daughter, Rose her son. All should be well. But
in that stormy night something subtle begins to eat at the
relationship between the sisters-in-law much like one dropped stitch
can gradually unravel an afghan. The inexorable deterioration and its
effect on the family, told from the alternating viewpoints of major
characters makes for enthralling reading.
In my mind, Loigman's greatest strength is her show, don't tell
character development. I chose to close this review with a paragraph
each about Mort and Helen:
"After the news of Rose's pregnancy became public, Mort became
increasingly annoyed with his coworkers. Most of them seemed to think
he had nothing better to do with his time than to answer personal
questions about Rose's condition and their family life...it would be
so much easier to be nice to people if only they would stop talking to
him."
"...The recipe box was the only part of her mother that Rose had
left. When her mother died, Rose didn't care about the jewelry. All
Rose really wanted was the box. Their mother rarely wore her earrings
or necklaces, but Rose knew she had opened the recipe box nearly every
day. To Rose, it was her mother's touchstone, and she was certain it
had absorbed a small part of her mother's essence..."
Now can't you just see them in your mind's eye?
On a personal note, I found myself reading this book at just the right
time. I was feeling overwhelmed with the losses (including a sense of
identity) involved in losing my place on school committee after 11
years in which I'd risen to chair and experiencing my last child to
home move to his first apartment. Somehow I was able to step back and
see the present from the larger perspective of my life to date...like
a sequence of treacherous rapids in a river. It was an epiphany that
I've handled challenges before. This one is no different.
A great big shout out goes out to all families who struggle with the
intricacies of intimacy.
jules hathaway


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