While this novel is over 500 pages long, it covers only ten days in the lives of three barely adult young men, Emmett, Duchess, and Wooly and Emmett’s younger brother Billy, as they travel east along the Lincoln Highway. When Emmett is dropped off at the defunct family farm in Nebraska by the juvenile detention
Author: Barbara
I attended a zoom workshop on hope at Upaya with Johanna Macy on Sunday. It made me ponder the Buddhist 4 immeasurables: Loving Kindness, Compassion (being present to suffering), Shared Joy, (being present to joy) and Equanimity. I believe all are necessary to stay sane and effective in times of crisis. A current crises for
Multi-talented Elizabeth Alexander shines as a poet, educator, scholar and cultural advocate. Her new book The Trayvon Generation is showcase for her talents. She names the young people growing up in the last twenty years the Trayvon Generation. She movingly describes the costs and hopes that come out of the last two decades of highly
Vanessa Nakate is a young climate activist from Uganda. When she became aware of the climate crisis and its disastrous impact upon her country, she decided she had to do something. She became internationally known at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. She was one of five international delegates alongside Greta Thunberg. The
This is a memoir that exemplifies the phrase coined by the feminist Carol Hanisch in an essay she wrote in 1969, “The Personal is Political.” The essay was in response to criticism of consciousness raising groups. Moore spent a good deal of his early life thinking that the his personal circumstances and the personal circumstances
Every year our local women’s help center, Centre Safe, raises funds by screening Lunafest short films at a local theater. When COVID closed the theaters, the event became available online. The films are all made by women and the ticket sales support women filmmakers and women’s groups. The tickets are $15 plus a small fee.
The Secret to Superhuman Strength is a graphic memoir. It’s the first book I have ever read by Alison Bechdel. She’s a wonderful cartoonist who became well know through her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For (1983–2008). She went on to produce two previous graphic memoirs, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic and Are You
I subscribe to Jenni Monet’s online newsletter, Indigenously. It’s a great resource for information concerning Native American issues. She often makes suggestions for further reading. Based on Monet’s recommendation, I read Ada Blackjack. Her story is a page-turner about early exploration in the Arctic. In 1921 four young men and one Native American woman, Ada
I first learned about Michele Goodwin on a zoom program sponsored by the Beverly Hills Bar Association and Writers Bloc, “The Future of Reproductive Rights in America.” The conversation included Alexis McGill Johnson, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and moderator Jessica Mason Pieklo, Editor at Rewire News Group. Goodwin is the
This is a very moving documentary about the women survivors of Chernobyl who refused to leave their homes after the area was legally condemned because of the danger of radiation poisoning. The film was made in 2015, but I did a bit of research, and I think some of the women are still living. I
Bingo! Summer Reading 