In clear prose, sharing personal formative experiences, Mariann Budde illustrates how to encourage yourself toward making brave decisions in life, livIn clear prose, sharing personal formative experiences, Mariann Budde illustrates how to encourage yourself toward making brave decisions in life, living expansively, and making a positive difference for your fellow citizens.
She breaks down the process in clearly defined options: deciding to go, deciding to stay, deciding to start, accepting what you do not choose, stepping up to the plate, the inevitable letdown, and the hidden virtue of perseverance, and what might prompt each choice. In response to the oft thought question "Should I stay or should I go?" Budde responds, "It depends." There are times when striking out on your own, leaving your current situation, is the brave, if difficult, thing to do, and times when staying requires more courage but is the right choice. She draws from her own life to illustrate each of the options, and from the lives of Martin Luther King Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt, and Thurgood Marshall, among others, and most importantly, given her calling, from the life of Jesus and other biblical figures.
I love the ecumenical spirit of the book. Budde, an Episcopalian bishop, turns to the writings of St. Ignatius and attends evangelical meetings. She values the mentorship she receives along the way on her journey to become one of the most important religious figures in the United States, bishop and spiritual leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington D.C. and the Washington National Cathedral.
We all know how she has spoken from that pulpit to gently but firmly advise President Trump to show mercy to "the least of these." How she courageously stood against his posturing in front of her church during the Black Lives Matter protests. Hers is a gentle, clear, well-reasoned bravery based in a profound faith in God. And she is an exemplary role model for us all in making "good trouble."...more
Tom Nichols' take on how we came to be in our present crisis with respect to the very existence of our democracy is a stunning contribution to understTom Nichols' take on how we came to be in our present crisis with respect to the very existence of our democracy is a stunning contribution to understanding that crisis. His prose is engaging, his reasoning solid. He lays blame for our problem in large measure on social media and the persistent flood of negativity and paranoia that have taken up residence there. Every issue now has a national audience, and that leads to people completely unaffected by a crime in New York to assume that crime is rampant in their immediate vicinity, crime that our democracy can't save them from, and so they lose faith in that democracy and hope for a strong man who will make all the scary stuff go away. Enter Trump.
Another point that resonated with me and something I hadn't previously considered is that we are living in pretty secure times. Even those at the lower end of the economic spectrum have a fair amount of security. These are not the worst of times by any stretch of the imagination. And that is even more true for this in the middle class. Nichols points out that the majority of the January 6th insurrectionists are in that fairly comfortable demographic. They own businesses and clearly had the disposable income to make the trip to D.C. on that historic day. So what motivates folks like those to oppose the very democracy and the very government that gave them that measure of security. Boredom. The need for excitement, for drama. An attraction to a reality show host who shows no compassion and wants to fire everyone who displeasures him in any way. Our cable media have built up this expectation for drama, the thrill of going for the jugular, and anyone not in their particular tribe is fair game.
A third idea that resonated with me is Nichols' observation that our community associations have broken down, isolating us from those nearby and thrusting us into virtual relationships, where anonymity is a shield for displaying our worst impulses. We have lost our moral bearings, along with our intellectual curiosity, our desire to learn and to know. I'll be reading Nichols' earlier book, The Death of Expertise to further pursue this aspect of our broken society.
Finally, Nichols speaks of the impact of demographic change, whereby white Christian Americans find themselves facing the prospect of becoming a minority in the country, as a driver of the rejection of democracy in favor of an authoritarianism that promises to keep those others in check ... by deportation, by voter suppression, by denial of services and opportunities.
Nichols' final chapter offers three possibilities for fixing this degradation of our democracy and three nightmare scenarios, if we aren't able to pull back from its destruction. Definitely a great read!...more
I really wanted to like this book, as I'm a fan of Japanese fiction, and have recently gotten back to reading it. However, I just couldn't.
I've read I really wanted to like this book, as I'm a fan of Japanese fiction, and have recently gotten back to reading it. However, I just couldn't.
I've read really lovely reviews by very knowledgeable readers, citing chapter and verse, analyzing the central character's musings, her stream of consciousness coming to terms with life as a young schoolgirl on the precipice of womanhoods in prewar Japan. I certainly appreciate those takes on this tale.
And yes, there are poetic passages ... a bit purple for my taste, but that's youth. And there are the typical back and forth wanderings of a young mind trying to discover what it truly believes about itself, others, and life.
But, I didn't like her, the narrator. And she didn't ring true for me as a young female. My dislike formed early in the narrative, when she is responding to two dogs eager for her attention. Jappy she likes, Poo is a stray with a bad leg, and he is desperate for some show of kindness from her, kindness she doesn't extend. Instead she thinks, "Hurry, Poo, go up into the mountains! No one's going to take care of you, so you may as well die."
I do remember my own young girlhood. I remember thinking mostly about other kids, boys and girls. I remember thinking about school, my studies, my teachers, the activity night coming up. This narrator doesn't think very much about typical kid things. I also don't remember the kind of misogyny threading through my thinking that crops up in hers multiple times, but maybe that's because I'm female and not an adult man trying to imagine the thinking of a young girl. There's something off in Dazai's understanding of the female mind, and I can't say that's true of all male writers trying to portray female characters ... Molly Bloom comes to mind.
It's a quick read that I spread out over many days because I kept wanting to give it time to mellow in my thinking. It never did. I just did not like the narrative voice....more
It's a simple story really, a story about a young woman, strung along by a man she has a crush on who discovers that he is engaged to another woman. TIt's a simple story really, a story about a young woman, strung along by a man she has a crush on who discovers that he is engaged to another woman. That sends Takako into a tailspin. She leaves her job, runs out of money and a place to live so she takes up her uncle's offer to stay at his used bookstore in Jimbocho, a section of Tokyo filled with hundreds of used bookstores. At first her deep depression makes her snappish with him and lost in sleep-filled days, with some helping out at the store to earn her keep.
But then something magical happens. One night she feels strangely agitated and can't sleep. Surrounded by books, she reaches out and grabs one at random, Until the Death of the Girl by Saisei Murō, and begins reading it. Hours later she realizes that something has washed over her, a feeling of peace. Books become important to her, along with the people who love them.
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a book for readers, for people whose own lives have been shaped by their love of books, by special books that deeply spoke to them. We meet some of those books in this one, along with bookshop regulars, folks at the local coffee shop, Takako's quirky uncle, his long estranged wife, a potential new love for Takako, and we see Takako's rebirth into a new and better life ... all centered in the Morisaki Bookshop.
The story is told simply as a first person narrative, the voice is calm and questioning. What is this book about? It's about life ... the day to day. Yes, a different culture, but fundamentally the same. Somehow I'm reminded of Thornton Wilder's Our Town, and Emily's realization: “Let's really look at one another!...It goes so fast. We don't have time to look at one another. I didn't realize. So all that was going on and we never noticed... Wait! One more look. Good-bye , Good-bye world. Good-bye, Grover's Corners....Mama and Papa. Good-bye to clocks ticking....and Mama's sunflowers. And food and coffee. And new ironed dresses and hot baths....and sleeping and waking up. Oh, earth, you are too wonderful for anybody to realize you. Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?"
Somehow, Yagasawa captures that same sense of the sacred in everyday things that we barely notice as we live among them: The taste of a really good cup of coffee, the welcoming smell of musty old books, the little flowers along a mountain path, the comfort of a hot bath, the sound of rain, the love of an uncle for his young niece. Good things do come in small packages. A lovely book!
This is the kind of cookbook I love. There are pages and pages of background on the topic, the history of curry from inception to today organized by gThis is the kind of cookbook I love. There are pages and pages of background on the topic, the history of curry from inception to today organized by geographic region, along with lots of cooking tips to both make the authentic recipes or make modifications with ingredients more readily available. I never realized there were so many different manifestations of curry across the planet. Iyer's style is conversational and personal. He also references other books/authors on the topic so the reader can further their exploration of it. Photos of the featured recipes and engaging graphic design make this book a delight to read. I'm so glad I added it to my collection....more
I had been teaching for a decade at a Catholic high school for girls when the 80s hit. Students in the 70s were all about service to others. They aspiI had been teaching for a decade at a Catholic high school for girls when the 80s hit. Students in the 70s were all about service to others. They aspired to be teachers, nurses, social workers ... women who would make a positive difference in the world. I remember my colleagues and I noticing a big difference between our early 80s classes and those from the previous decade. "They are more about money, about material success, about status." "They all out for number one, can't seem to work together, it's all about competition." Now, they wanted to be lawyers, stock brokers, get MBAs. Those were some of the observations we teachers were making at the time. What turned the empathy/service switch off and the "greed is good"switch on?
After reading Tom McGrath's well-researched excellent book, I still can't answer that question, but his title says it all with respect to our current time ... the Yuppies have triumphed. The narcissistic sensibility that marked the 80s is still dominant today. The Wall Streetification of American society, at least among the advantaged and therefore powerful, is riding roughshod over the lives of the overwhelming majority of Americans.
Case in point: "The various forces that had been bubbling up over the previous few years -- looking out for number one, new energy around capitalism, new aggressiveness on Wall Street, Ronald Reagan's faith in free enterprise and free markets, young professionals' obsession with success -- were coalescing into something bigger. And among the people creating this new moment, the thing that was being used to measure almost everything was financial success." The seeds of Trumpism, of Elon Musk and the oligarchs, were being planted.
So despite the fact that Yuppies' place in the sun did not last very long and they became more of a joke than a viable movement, all these decades later we see those same questionable principles triumphant in our land. The gap between rich and poor that began accelerating in the 80s is a runaway train in the 2020's. Profit still trumps prosocial values. And there's no end in sight. Excellent analysis of a critical time....more
Shelley famously opined, "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." I think we are far past that era, but the quotation is still useful Shelley famously opined, "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." I think we are far past that era, but the quotation is still useful if you replace "poets" with "tech bros." That was one of my takeaways from Rushkoff's excellent book. If they aren't already in the driver's seat, and arguably they are, then they have a burning desire to be so, and the upcoming administration seems inclined to let them.
Quoting Cory Doctorow, Rushkoff drives home the point that even the more benign tech bros feel entitled to reign. "despite his cuddly reputation as a philanthropist, Gates has always pursued the ideology that the world should be guarded over by monopolist kings, dependent on their largesse (guided by their superhuman judgment) for progress." Rushkoff then recounts Gates' pressure on Biden to prevent poorer countries from making their own COVID vaccines through patent waivers using formulas developed in the U.S., preferring that we sell our vaccines to them so that our drug companies would make a profit. Thankfully, Biden didn't listen to Gates, and poorer nations were granted those waivers and able to make their own vaccines faster and cheaper than buying them from the developed world, thus saving millions of life.
Rushkoff's book is chock full of stories like these that make it abundantly clear what we mere mortals are up against: an entitled, petulant, frightened, arrogant, powerful group of individuals who exercise more control over our lives than their small numbers might suggest.
I said "frightened," because a sizable portion of the book traces the escape fantasies of the tech billionaires (note the subtitle.). Recognizing that climate change is a threat and that their enormous wealth could make them a target of a deprived, desperate populace, the uber wealthy have built themselves bunkers, hired private armies, and engaged in other survivalist strategies to be the last men standing ... to hell with everyone else. There is a conspiracist streak in many of them ... note Elon Musk ... and a desire to escape the bonds of body, time, and earth through technologies of one sort or another.
Overall, this is a dark book, very readable, fascinating, but dark. To whit: "When we get to apparent impasses -- like the ones we're facing today -- we try to innovate our way through to the other side, or transcend to some new level. Eventually this catches up to us. We've never seen a society avoid fascism when it gets to this stage of economic inequality, or a civilization avoid collapse when it has taxed its physical environment to this extent." The book is the proverbial canary in a coal mine. It issues a dire warning that we must heed or suffer the consequences of our failure to do so. Much of Rushkoff's text is focused on the environmental toll of the tech billionaires' extractive technologies that give them obscene wealth at the expense of a livable planet for everyone else.
But in the final chapter, he offers some ways we might fight back, regain our equilibrium. Frankly, those means don't seem equal to the task, given the formidable force arrayed against us "just plain folks." We are up against what Rushkoff calls "The Mindset." Stated simply that's the "belief that with enough money and technology, wealthy men can live as gods and transcend the calamities that befall everyone else."
So our only hope is to not buy in, to resist. "We can stop supporting their companies and the way of life that they're pushing. We can actually do less, consume less, travel less -- and make ourselves happier and less stressed in the process. Buy local, engage in mutual aid, and support cooperatives. Use monopoly law to break up anticompetitive behemoths, environmental regulation to limit waste, and organized labor to promote the rights of gig workers. Reverse tax policy so that those receiving passive capital gains on their wealth pay higher rates than those actively working for their income."
All good. But therein lies the rub. Some of these things we can do as individuals, but many require legislators, courts, and a president that will exercise their power to protect the vast mass of humanity and our home planet. And so far we aren't seeing that they are willing to do so or are likely to over the next four years.
This book came out in 1993, the year after I left the classroom. Were I still teaching, I would use it in a heartbeat and not just because it won the This book came out in 1993, the year after I left the classroom. Were I still teaching, I would use it in a heartbeat and not just because it won the prestigious Newberry Award for the Most Distinguished Contribution to American Literature for Children. The Giver is beautifully written, a compelling read, and one that I know kids would love talking about. There are so many themes ripe for discussion in this book. And it seems even more relevant in 2025 than when it was first published.
Because ... just as the Elders in the community portrayed in The Giver have created a society where nothing is unexpected, there is no pain, no history, no dissonance, individuals and coordinated groups today are trying to impose some of those same "values" on us, on our children. Efforts to white wash dark times in our history by rewriting history books and banning books that in any way challenge the status quo, a benign view of the world and ourselves in it, have rapidly gained progress toward the kind of world depicted by Lowry. We might discuss ways our current society is like/unlike the one depicted in the book.
I know students would identify with the protagonist, Jonas, who strives to follow all the rules until love forces him to break all of them. I know they would wonder about the web of lies the adults have woven to keep the status quo unchallenged. Lies they no longer recognize as such. Just as they can no longer see colors, they can no longer see true right and wrong. We might discuss what a cult is and how it is that people might lose connection to facts and feelings.
I decided to read The Giver right now because it was recently featured on Velshi's Banned Books Club. After I finished, I found myself puzzled as to why anyone would want to ban The Giver, so I Googled it. I found out "The Giver is sometimes banned or challenged because it contains themes considered too mature for young readers, including graphic depictions of violence, particularly related to infanticide (killing of babies with disabilities), suicide, and sexually suggestive content, which some find inappropriate for the age group it is often assigned to."
It's most often assigned to 6th - 8th grade and seems entirely appropriate to me for those grades. The sexuality is vaguely suggested but not explicit, and kids of that age are exposed to much more violence on television or in video games. They are aware of their own budding sexuality, the feelings that arise unbidden, and so can identify with Jonas. The violence is one scene describing a Civil War battlefield ... don't we want kids to know that war is horrible? Don't they already know from other media ... graphic visual media ... rather than simply words?
We might discuss what it would be like to be assigned your life's work at age 12. We might discuss the friendship between Jonas and The Giver and whether or not we have any "givers" in our own lives and what their value might be to ourselves and our society. We might discuss "the Hero's Journey" as a literary/mythological theme and how Jonas exemplified it in his courageous trek across vast expanses of land to find freedom in the end. And then compare Jonas to other heroic characters. And find the heroic in our own lives.
The richness of this book makes it a superb choice for middle school kids. Yes, it's disturbing to think of infanticide ... but fairy tales are disturbing, the Bible is disturbing. Kids will survive and be the better for living in a society that helps them confront the darker aspects of life rather than shielding them from anything that might be remotely upsetting. I'm reminded of Lukianoff and Haidt's The Coddling of the American Mind. It doesn't make us stronger or more resilient to be wrapped in cotton wadding. The Giver manages darkness appropriately for middle school students and would give them an enormous gift of things to ponder in life. It's a gift that would keep on giving for many years ahead. ...more
My plan was to read a story a day to brighten what promises to be a challenging new year with lots to be sad about in this old world. What is it RoberMy plan was to read a story a day to brighten what promises to be a challenging new year with lots to be sad about in this old world. What is it Robert Burns said? “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.� Seems appropriate with Burns Night fast approaching. So I barreled through ... a response to the fact that as affirming and charming as most of these stories are, there's not much meat on the bones. After a while, it struck me that I was reading the same voice, same person, over and over again. While there is some cleverness in the writing, the voice is that of an editor, rather than the actual person whose story it is. I missed what Brenda Ueland called and encouraged ... the authentic voice (If You Want to Write). The editors would have done well to keep her good advice on writing in mind and maintained the voice of the tellers, minus some of the most egregious spelling and grammatical errors, of course. That would have added substance, weight, and style to this collection.
Having said all that, I still recommend the book as a light reading reminder of all the goodness in the world and the lasting impact of simple acts of kindness ... they do reverberate through the years. We can never have enough reminders of the kindness of others to inspire our own. As Blanche DuBois said, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." Don't we all?...more
I'm a huge fan of Alexander McCall Smith. Reading his books always makes me feel like I'm becoming better ... as in kinder, more empathetic, less judgI'm a huge fan of Alexander McCall Smith. Reading his books always makes me feel like I'm becoming better ... as in kinder, more empathetic, less judgmental ... because his characters model those traits in their thoughts and actions and Smith always cleaves to our better angels. This series is not my favorite of his, but nonetheless exhibits the qualities I admire in his writing: kindness, gentle humor, intelligence, a breadth of knowledge, and wisdom.
I recently read Good People: Stories from the Best of Humanity, the purpose of which was to put before readers examples of kindness in the real world. I get a bigger taste of that in McCall Smith's fiction, which shows his central characters calling on their own better angels when they lapse into something less than kindness or empathy, even in thought. Their interior wrestling back from that cliff of unkindness is what makes his writing so powerful as an example of how to be in the world. None of us is perfect, but we can all try to be better, do better by each other.
Ulf Varg, his protagonist in this series, is no different. One of his colleagues, Blomquist, gets on everyone's nerves because he rattles on and on about topics he's enamored of ... healthy eating, being a big one. Varg has the same issues everyone else has but he sees Blomquist's intelligence and his basic good nature and treats him with decency and respect other colleagues deny him. And he calls others to do the same. He makes everyone better, more compassionate. And that is Smith at his very best and why I love his books so much. He makes me better too.
The crime at the center of this book is a stolen house ... yes, a house. Don't ask. Just read the book. You'll meet all kinds of Good People, like Varg. "Be kind was his motto. It was a simple and unambiguous rule by which to go through life: be kind to other people."...more
I can't praise On Freedom highly enough. Snyder's writing is poetry in prose, and his vignettes are just the riCan I give this book six stars? Please?
I can't praise On Freedom highly enough. Snyder's writing is poetry in prose, and his vignettes are just the right length for reading and then reflecting on these perilous times. A mix of memoir, history, philosophy, political science, and storytelling, the book is replete with classical and literary allusions. Snyder's breadth of knowledge is stunning! He weaves several narratives together seamlessly ... his childhood on the farm, his time teaching in a prison and what he learned from the prisoners about freedom, his many trips to Ukraine and conversations with Zelensky, his university teaching and writing ... all of it draped on a structure aligned with how each individual human being (ideally) grows through life: Sovereignty, Unpredictability, Mobility, Factuality, Solidarity.
I won't try to explain Snyder's concept of freedom ... what it is and what it isn't, because it really deserves the kind of time and care Snyder takes in defining it ... the point of the book. But there are several things I will share that struck me as particularly brilliant in his analysis of our current political situation. Think of this as a teaser.
Snyder coins a term "sadopopulism," which captures perfectly the form populism has taken in the U.S. "Populism offers some redistribution, something to the people from the state; sadopopulism offers only the spectacle of others being still more deprived. Sadopopulism salves the pain of immobility (not being to get anywhere in the world) by directing attention to others who suffer more. One group is reassured that, thanks to its resilience, it will do less poorly than another from government paralysis. Sadopopulism bargains, in other words, not by offering resources but by offering relative degrees of pain and permission to enjoy the suffering of others.
Donald Trump proved to be a compelling sadopopulist, teaching his supporters contempt for others during his campaigns, then declining to build infrastructure as president -- precisely because it would have helped people. When sadopopulism works, the majority is satisfied with what is, never asking for sensible things like roads or railroads. My roads are bad, but yours are worse. I am trapped in my social class, but you are trapped in a ghetto."
Brilliant! This had never occurred to more, nor had so much of the rest of the case Snyder makes for a better America, where freedom means "freedom to" not "freedom from" and everyone has a shot at the American Dream.
His final chapter "Conclusion: Government" offers ways that the reader can work toward greater freedom for themselves and for all. I plan to follow some of his suggestions going forward because "young Americans need a renewed American Dream." It's our duty to provide them with that....more
What an inspiring book! I enjoy reading cookbooks when there is a narrative to accompany the recipes. This book focused in turn on the lifestyles and What an inspiring book! I enjoy reading cookbooks when there is a narrative to accompany the recipes. This book focused in turn on the lifestyles and foods of Sardinia, Okinawa, Nicola, Ikaria, and Loma Linda, where many people live to be 100. The recipes are easily doable, and the photos are gorgeous. Quite and inspiration to replicate the diets and more of these centenarians. ...more
Loading...
