Stepping in the Write Direction

I saw author Ira Rosen interviewed on tv recently, and knew immediately I wanted to read his book Ticking Clock: Behind the Scenes of 60 Minutes, as I watched that show for many years, and the subject matter is a virtual time capsule of my lifetime. I checked library digital offerings and borrowed the Macmillan audiobook on Hoopla, unusual for a recent book (2/16/21) that it would have been available without a hold list. I’ve noticed Rosen has not done a lot of interviews that have been recorded online, a good way to get word out for this book that should be required reading for every boomer; it does not disappoint. Some say the truth is stranger than fiction, and this book represents that in spades, if for no other reason than truth has become the empty chair in almost all forms of 21st century discourse. Some have criticized the book based on politics, but liars and scoundrels are bipartisan as well as vocationally omnipresent, and I didn’t find anything particularly off putting that...

I needed a break, a long break, from reading books I thought I should read because they were “critical elite” acclaimed. I needed something that felt like a walk down a pine needle laden path, aromatic in the heat, welcoming, and like a hug from an old friend (the kind that was still a friend despite political differences, and understood the concept of “scroll on by” without the egregious entitlement required to hemorrhage a digital wilding outrage comment on every post on any platform that pricked the echo chamber group think balloon subscribed to). I found I needed to read less and think more.   Saltwater Cove by Amelia Adler is the first in a series set in the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state. Reading it brings back memories of seeing the islands and marveling at their beauty. I enjoyed the story, and never felt the ominous dread of returning to a book I had to force myself to complete. I recommend it to anyone who needs transporting away from the daily grind, ...

Facebook is cautioning against viewing information containing reported C-19 vaccine side effects/injuries without context by providing the linked article below from “health feedback . Org” which states, “...reports of adverse events in people who received COVID-19 vaccines don’t demonstrate that these events were caused by the vaccines.” As long as the articles can still be viewed, I will not see it as censorship. When access/materials are removed entirely by media platforms/big tech, then it certainly is censorship, as we have often seen by the removal of content by YouTube. That is problematic on many levels. The VAERS https://vaers.hhs.gov/ website’s archived self and professionals’ reports of vaccine side effects or injuries are critical, and represent the first shots across the bow for issues with specific vaccines that may ultimately be shown as causal, resulting in those vaccines being removed from the marketplace.  Vaccines are normally vetted for years before coming on ...

The threat to freedom is so near right now, I can almost feel its hot breath on my neck. The world is watching us.  The lamp of Lady Liberty has been a symbol of hope for generations. All nations have iconic structures, but the Statue of Liberty embodies the core belief of this country that when you come to America you are in a land where all men are created equal, that you have rights, and an equality of opportunity exists.  The flame of liberty burns in many hearts, often in places you must keep it hidden. So strong is the promise of Liberty’s flame, that people risk dying to reach our shores. When I lived in Miami boats of Cuban refugees were a common and often tragic occurrence. Trucks of people driven across our southern borders were found with bodies inside, abandoned and trapped by those entrusted and paid to bring them to a land of opportunity and freedom. People risked death regularly just to get here, and many died trying. They were refugees from places run by those ...

Melania and Me by Stephanie Winston Wolkoff reads like a study of all the intrigue and machinations seething below the surface of a venomous blended family Thanksgiving dinner that goes on for years. Normally books written by seemingly disgruntled employees have credibility issues, but this book is one of the most believable behind the scenes depictions of the nest of vipers that West and East wing factions devolve into. The author comes across as gifted in organization, details, and intelligence, all assets in recounting such a multilayered, complex tale. Her book is a flashlight beam that sweeps across the darkest recesses of egotistic and antipathic manipulations of political, professional, and family cabals, tearing at each other like hyenas over a fresh kill. It could be retitled, How a Would Be Sacrificial Lamb Escapes the Grill and Survives to Tell about It. The lecturing self righteous rants (though therapeutic, cathartic, and well earned) scattered throughout, diminish the pow...

Educated, A Memoir by Tara Westover is a stunning, breathtakingly powerful book. It is a recounting of her childhood as the youngest of seven children in a survivalist, fundamentalist mostly off the grid family ruled by the worst kind of patriarchy, one encompassing mental illness, paranoia, delusional religious pathology, and authoritarian tyranny focused with laser like intensity on targeting and controlling the most vulnerable. It’s about the human instinct for survival, the internal fortitude required to reject the fictions jackhammered into developing minds from birth, and the resiliency to thrive in the absence of a lifetime’s imposed structures of autocratic control, an authority often co-opting other family members into reinforcement. Family members live in a concentration camp without locks and keys, trapped by repeated humiliation, threats, deprivation of educational and medical resources, emotional and physical abuse, degradation, and shunning. It is proof that truth can be...

In her book Memorial Drive, A Daughter’s Memoir (7/28/20), Pulitzer Prize winning (poetry), two term Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey describes events in her life that occurred up to the age of 19, giving wings to the past.   The wounds and injustices are carried inside for years, ghosts resurrected in haunting dreams, a wound that never heals. This book is a coming to terms with childhood demons, demonstrating how a single act of brutality in a family can overlie a thousand smaller deaths suffered by the vulnerable, held hostage for years by a tyrant who rules behind the facade of neatly closed doors.  A chance encounter in a Decatur bar becomes a key to unlocking details, providing structure and context to her memories, and an opportunity for healing. The pattern of domestic violence is unconscionably further enabled by those confided in, who signal disengagement with, “sometimes adults get angry with each other.” The narrative is so well expressed, but the chapter of phone t...