Well, can you see why I'm expecting a great weekend? As far as I'm concerned Emily should be at the top of the nice list.
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
Friday, December 4, 2020
23, 2019 to be exact. Anna gave me a ride to Waterville Humane
Society and waited patiently while my new little friend chose me. In
addition to it being two days before Christmas it was Tobago's third
birthday. I think we both got what we wanted the most.
I'll Meet You There
I'll Meet You There
YA fiction
"...I imagine him sitting at home by himself and seeing shit
that isn't really there and just wondering what the point of things
is. I can picture him trying to mow the lawn or fill his gas tank
because the milk in the fridge is expired and him thinking, Why the
hell am I doing this? He's tired and the nightmares won't stop and
nobody understands, they just want him to be like he was before he
left but he can't be, he can't ever go back because you can't unsee
what you saw..."
Josh, quoted above, is contemplating the suicide of his boss'
son, a veteran who had seen too much on a tour of duty. He has
returned from overseas minus a leg, plus a serious case of PTSD, and
carrying a major guilt secret. He's unsure what kind of life he can
have and exhausted from the pressure to morph back into his popular
high self.
"Why is it that some people in the world get to wake up in
beautiful houses with fairly normal parents and enough food in the
fridge while the rest of us have to get by on the scraps the universe
throws us?..."
When Skylar was very young her father died. She's had to take
on a lot of the adult responsibilities of her grief stricken mother.
Fear of mom being unable to manage without her has shadowed her
passionate desire to go away to college. The summer before her escape
things go from bad to worse. Mom loses her job and, instead of
looking for another, starts drinking way too much and cultivating a
relationship with a guy who is bad news.
Josh and Skylar, protagonists of Heather Demetrios' I'll Meet
You There, are working at the same run down motel. Could this
unlikely pair somehow provide salvation for one another?
Read the book and see.
A key topic of this book, returning, traumatized soldiers, is a
very personal one for Demetrios. She comes from a military family.
When she was a child her father served in the Persian Gulf and came
home. "...He was only thirty-one, but he'd lost most of his hair, his
teeth, his weight, and his hearing. He drank too much. Started doing
drugs. He was sad..."
Demetrios wrote I'll Meet You There for her father and other
wounded warriors and for the kids like Skylar who are pushed by life
circumstances into growing up much too fast.
On a purrrsonal note, I hope you had a good week. I did. Actually it
was an eventful week. Eugene went to camp Wednesday morning. He just
got back and went on an errand. Tobago and I partied while he was
out. Statistics was good. I'm gonna miss it over break. I got a
visit from my manager and super cool friend, Anna. (Recall she was
the kind person who brought Tobago and me together last year?) It was
wonderful to have a chance to talk to her. Taking precautions of
course. Then yesterday I got lost in the forest. After awhile it got
scary when I recalled that Eugene wasn't due home for one more night.
Recent bear sightings among other things. To a fattening up for
hibernation bear I might look mmm mmm good. I was so happy to
rediscover the path. A usually 1 hour walk stretched out to nearly
3. I hope you have a great weekend. I know I will Emily just
brought me over a full dozen awesome looking books from Orono Public
Library. Mmm mmm good. (Jules)
My boy hooman is home!!! Finally!!! I missed him. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene, Anna, Emily, and the
wonderful Orono Public Library staff.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA fiction
"...I imagine him sitting at home by himself and seeing shit
that isn't really there and just wondering what the point of things
is. I can picture him trying to mow the lawn or fill his gas tank
because the milk in the fridge is expired and him thinking, Why the
hell am I doing this? He's tired and the nightmares won't stop and
nobody understands, they just want him to be like he was before he
left but he can't be, he can't ever go back because you can't unsee
what you saw..."
Josh, quoted above, is contemplating the suicide of his boss'
son, a veteran who had seen too much on a tour of duty. He has
returned from overseas minus a leg, plus a serious case of PTSD, and
carrying a major guilt secret. He's unsure what kind of life he can
have and exhausted from the pressure to morph back into his popular
high self.
"Why is it that some people in the world get to wake up in
beautiful houses with fairly normal parents and enough food in the
fridge while the rest of us have to get by on the scraps the universe
throws us?..."
When Skylar was very young her father died. She's had to take
on a lot of the adult responsibilities of her grief stricken mother.
Fear of mom being unable to manage without her has shadowed her
passionate desire to go away to college. The summer before her escape
things go from bad to worse. Mom loses her job and, instead of
looking for another, starts drinking way too much and cultivating a
relationship with a guy who is bad news.
Josh and Skylar, protagonists of Heather Demetrios' I'll Meet
You There, are working at the same run down motel. Could this
unlikely pair somehow provide salvation for one another?
Read the book and see.
A key topic of this book, returning, traumatized soldiers, is a
very personal one for Demetrios. She comes from a military family.
When she was a child her father served in the Persian Gulf and came
home. "...He was only thirty-one, but he'd lost most of his hair, his
teeth, his weight, and his hearing. He drank too much. Started doing
drugs. He was sad..."
Demetrios wrote I'll Meet You There for her father and other
wounded warriors and for the kids like Skylar who are pushed by life
circumstances into growing up much too fast.
On a purrrsonal note, I hope you had a good week. I did. Actually it
was an eventful week. Eugene went to camp Wednesday morning. He just
got back and went on an errand. Tobago and I partied while he was
out. Statistics was good. I'm gonna miss it over break. I got a
visit from my manager and super cool friend, Anna. (Recall she was
the kind person who brought Tobago and me together last year?) It was
wonderful to have a chance to talk to her. Taking precautions of
course. Then yesterday I got lost in the forest. After awhile it got
scary when I recalled that Eugene wasn't due home for one more night.
Recent bear sightings among other things. To a fattening up for
hibernation bear I might look mmm mmm good. I was so happy to
rediscover the path. A usually 1 hour walk stretched out to nearly
3. I hope you have a great weekend. I know I will Emily just
brought me over a full dozen awesome looking books from Orono Public
Library. Mmm mmm good. (Jules)
My boy hooman is home!!! Finally!!! I missed him. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to Eugene, Anna, Emily, and the
wonderful Orono Public Library staff.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
Monday, November 30, 2020
Well it looks like the folks at the Veazie church are entering into the spirit of Advent. My church is too. Instead of an inside tree we'll have an outside tree members are encouraged to add ornaments too. I plan to make the trek after I find or make something strong enough for outside weather. I've also seen a picture of a camel in Old Town headed toward my church in Orono. I'll try to get this picture and forward it to you all.
Sent from my U.S.Cellular© Smartphone
Allegedly
Allegedly
YA/adult novel
"'There would never be this type of outcry if the baby was
black. Period,' says Tamika Brown, public relations rep of the
National Action Network. 'Doesn't matter what you say about racial
equality, you've never seen white families storming the steps of city
hall, demanding justice for a little black baby. They're pushing for
the death penalty and don't even realize executing this little girl is
no different from murdering that baby."
The police arrived at a home to find a White infant being
babysat by the Black single parent in residence dead. The woman's
nine-year-old daughter, Mary, was accused and indicted. Although
names of juveniles accused of crimes are not supposed to be available
to the public, hers was all over the Internet, resulting in death
threats and demands for Mary to be tried as an adult and to receive
the death penalty.
As Tiffany Jackson's Allegedly begins Mary, after serving six
years at an adult prison, mostly in solitary because of her age, is in
a poorly run group home. Bullies torment and endanger her. The
asleep-at-the-wheel adults who run the place do nothing to protect
her. She is exceptionally intelligent and desperately desires a
college education. She's secretly studying for the SATs. But those
in power have capped her education at a GED and cosmotology training.
As a child on trial, a truly terrifying situation complicated by
grief caused by the baby's death, Mary was basically mute. She
remembers every detail of what happened though. She also knows that
exonerating herself would mean incriminating someone she's extremely
close to. Then she becomes pregnant with a being she calls Bean.
With the powers that be determined to put the baby up for adoption
after birth, Mary realizes that coming forward with the truth may be
the only way she can retain custody of her beloved child and secure a
future for both of them.
Allegedly is a gripping narrative and so much more. Although
the characters and plot are fictional, it has its roots in a "justice"
system where Black kindergarteners are put in handcuffs for normal
classroom misbehavior, Black youth are funneled into a school-to-jail
pipeline, and unarmed Black teens are shot by police who are almost
never indicted. It's a must read for all who believe that Black lives
have to come to matter to those, from school administrators and police
through lawyers and judges, who literally hold their lives and futures
in their hands.
On a purrrsonal note, I hope you had a nice weekend. Tobago and I
did. The weather was balmy, getting up into the 40s. I went out to
the forest both days. My supper cooking was simplified by all the
leftover turkey. I attended zoom church and saw a bunch of friends.
Tobago joined in on the hymn singing. I had good library books to
read. And I got my grade for assignment 7 in statistics. 100! My
average in the class is now 97.428!!! (Jules)
It was a good weekend. I does have a lovely voice. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to our church family.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
YA/adult novel
"'There would never be this type of outcry if the baby was
black. Period,' says Tamika Brown, public relations rep of the
National Action Network. 'Doesn't matter what you say about racial
equality, you've never seen white families storming the steps of city
hall, demanding justice for a little black baby. They're pushing for
the death penalty and don't even realize executing this little girl is
no different from murdering that baby."
The police arrived at a home to find a White infant being
babysat by the Black single parent in residence dead. The woman's
nine-year-old daughter, Mary, was accused and indicted. Although
names of juveniles accused of crimes are not supposed to be available
to the public, hers was all over the Internet, resulting in death
threats and demands for Mary to be tried as an adult and to receive
the death penalty.
As Tiffany Jackson's Allegedly begins Mary, after serving six
years at an adult prison, mostly in solitary because of her age, is in
a poorly run group home. Bullies torment and endanger her. The
asleep-at-the-wheel adults who run the place do nothing to protect
her. She is exceptionally intelligent and desperately desires a
college education. She's secretly studying for the SATs. But those
in power have capped her education at a GED and cosmotology training.
As a child on trial, a truly terrifying situation complicated by
grief caused by the baby's death, Mary was basically mute. She
remembers every detail of what happened though. She also knows that
exonerating herself would mean incriminating someone she's extremely
close to. Then she becomes pregnant with a being she calls Bean.
With the powers that be determined to put the baby up for adoption
after birth, Mary realizes that coming forward with the truth may be
the only way she can retain custody of her beloved child and secure a
future for both of them.
Allegedly is a gripping narrative and so much more. Although
the characters and plot are fictional, it has its roots in a "justice"
system where Black kindergarteners are put in handcuffs for normal
classroom misbehavior, Black youth are funneled into a school-to-jail
pipeline, and unarmed Black teens are shot by police who are almost
never indicted. It's a must read for all who believe that Black lives
have to come to matter to those, from school administrators and police
through lawyers and judges, who literally hold their lives and futures
in their hands.
On a purrrsonal note, I hope you had a nice weekend. Tobago and I
did. The weather was balmy, getting up into the 40s. I went out to
the forest both days. My supper cooking was simplified by all the
leftover turkey. I attended zoom church and saw a bunch of friends.
Tobago joined in on the hymn singing. I had good library books to
read. And I got my grade for assignment 7 in statistics. 100! My
average in the class is now 97.428!!! (Jules)
It was a good weekend. I does have a lovely voice. (Tobago)
A great big shout out goes out to our church family.
Tobago and Jules Hathaway
Sent from my iPod
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