A New Year is coming and with it -- A New Challenge

I love being on Twitter. I love sending the messages and, even more, I love the serendipitous bits I trip over as I skim along. Today there was a wonderful comment that led me to the Bookjourney Blog and a reading challenge for 2012.

An unusual challenge about where books are set. Each month the goal is to add a review of a book you have read and mark the location of the book on a Google map that blog readers can access. I think it will be fun to find stories set in different states and read themacross the year ahead.

I am looking forward to your joining me on this journey. I hope you will comment here if you have read the book or, perhaps, add books that have taken place in the same setting. In the meantime Happy 2012 to all!!

A Time of Disappointment in our Country....

I have written about my heritage in other sessions but for a quick reminder. My father and his family came from Romania about 20 and my mother's parents came from another part of Romania in the early 1900s, my mom was born here. I know many have ancestors who came much earlier.

I love America and have been grateful for the good life my family has enjoyed but.... I know they say disregard what comes before the 'but' --- please don't in this case as what I have written there is true. My disappointment is coming from the fact that this country seems to be becoming too similar in too many ways to the countries our families left... left with the hope of an opportunity to build a better life. The came for many different reasons; some to find freedom of religious expression, some to avoid persecution in their homeland, some to find better jobs and a better life for their families. It did seem as though this country had created an environment where this could take place. I am not so sure that is nearly as true today as it was at that time!!

For me religious freedom means the right to practice my religion of choice without being told by other religions how wrong I, and my family, are. It means my responsibility to respect and allow others their right to their beliefs. Yet we seem to be judged, and told to live by, the beliefs of the faiths of others and, frankly, I resent that. I am more than willing to allow all faiths their freedom (except if its creed is the destruction and death of people who do not agree with them). I am perfectly willing to have schools closed, businesses closed on the holidays of some larger groups as a sign of respect for those celebrations even if mine are not celebrated in the same way. But I believe we have gone far beyond this shared respect. I am becoming uncomfortable with others telling me what I SHOULD believe and HOW I should behave in person matters in my life. I know that the pro-life call folks who believe as I do 'pro-abortion'. What nonsense!! I do not believe anyone in pro-abortion. I believe that I, and many others, are pro-choice. I do not believe I should make rules for your behaviors and I do believe others should make rules, in this area, for mine. The right to choice, in many areasm does not cause danger to others as laws are meant to do and in this case does take away the rights of many individuals.

Many of our ancestors came for the opportunity to earn a living and raise a family. They did not wish to live as a serf; to have their children subjected to laboring for hours and not have an opportunity to be educated while slaving away for a business owner. We had finally done pretty well in that area; we had gone beyond the age of the Robber Barons of the late 1900s. But we seem to have move right back in that direction. The greed and grab for power of some of those of our time is a disgrace to this United States. That politician, who are supposed to represent all appear to have forgotten that concept. The fact that those who want more and more are assisted by our government in sending American jobs overseas is beyond my ken. I have just learned that tax breaks for sending equipment, used here for our jobs, overseas to be used in factories (where more tax breaks are given to assist in the building of these factories) where child labor is used, were adults are poorly paid, where shoddy goods have been sent here and accepted is heartbreaking to me. Why do corporations feel that there is no limit to salaries at the upper end and no reason for those who are 'workers' to live a good life as well? I am so disappointed to see us moving to become like the places our families left.

And we still persecute those who are not 'like' us. No one gave man the right to approve slavery; why did he take so long for civil rights to take hold in this country... although today it appears some southern states still wants poverty and/ color to be a reason to find a way stop someone who does not think in the 'popular' to be deprived of the right to vote. Why are there some who think we must be alike in all our behaviors to be acceptable to society? From my point of view I think it is certainly worse to be a perons who has no sense of social justice or social responsibility; no sense of responsibility to care for the ill, to make sure that all Americans are educated; to make sure seniors retain their rights to care they have worked AND paid for then it is to be a person who has a different sexual preference.

What has happened here! When did greed, money, power become the most important thing in America? When did decide it was OK to call a corporation a person if it gave more power to the wealthy? When did it become OK for states to outspend themselves, not meet their financial responsibilities and then, I know it sounds impossible but it is not, tell those they have cheated to pay for their errors!! That is what is happening in states across the US. Teachers and school districts, for many years, have met all their obligations to State Pension funds and also managed to invest these monies in a responsible way; yet the states wants to take away and control money that is not theirs!!

We have come to a sad place in our history. I wonder if there will ever be a return to a sense of humanity again in this country. I watch our Representatives in Congress try to hold a hammer over the heads of those who know it is necessary to those US citizens who have suffered so much damage as nature, not man, attacked their cities and homes. When did the definition of humanity among men leave the vocabulary of these people?

Well, the rant is over. Thanks for letting me have my say. I know there are many who do not agree. I can only wish they could respect the rights and needs of all Americans... I wish I could feel respect not disappointment in the ways these folks have chosen to treat our country.

Sometimes The Thinking is the Best Part of the Doing...

My brain has been in a whirl since the first interview last Thursday and, here I am, the afternoon before the final Life Stories Program interview. I think I have relived most of my life in the last week. There are two big things I can identify about this thinking process. One. I have lived through, and can remember, many significant events of the 20th and 21st Century. I know I will have to blog my whole list and the memories each event evoked. Wow! A LOT has happened in the past 80 years. Two. Revisionist or Selective History is alive and well. My children, their children and others to come are the audience for this interview. I have chosen to omit the most painful, the most hurtful past and current events that crossed through my memory this week. It is not because I do not think they are important. It is not because I do not think they have been elemental in shaping who I am today. It is because it would serve no purpose; it would change nothing and would surely hurt some of the readers.

Many years ago I first heard the expression, "You can forgive but you do not forget." In a recent email from a newly found cousin he included his understanding of that phrase. He wrote, "In order for a person to forgive he has to understand that forgiving doesn't mean that they are wrong and the other person is right but it means that the relationship with the other person is more important that their ego.." Reason enough to along with skipping the hurts and nasties of the past.

Thinking Back and A Voice for the Future

Next week I am going to be creating a CD of memories for my children and their children, at the very least. I used to talk with the kids about making a DVD and we all agreed it was a great idea but there is that old problem - time, time, time. A few weeks ago I heard that our North Shore Senior Center had a new solution for creating my story.... The Life Stories Program. For a minimal fee trained volunteers would meet with me, bring some ideas about questions and get acquainted. They would come back a week later and tape an hour discussion. I would be provided with two CDs and could purchase more copies or,I hope,make my own additional copies.

On Thursday of this week Debbie came over for our first interview. She was an interesting woman and our conversation made me think of much I would like to share with my children, grandchildren and future great-grandchildren. I had also asked my kids to send me questions about things they would like to know and several did do that -- and they had very interesting questions for me to consider. So for a day or so I have been thinking about what I should share. You know, it is not as easy as I thought it would be. How does one wrap a life into one hour? What are the pieces that will be of interest? What to include and, as I looked over The Life Stories Program list of questions, what do I want to leave out?

The suggested question are sorted in a semi-chronological order; growing up,love and relationships, raising a family, about your work life and, lastly, the present day and future. Today I think I might use those headings and think of what I would most like to include.... and then, I betcha', it will be cut, cut, cut to get it down to one hour.

Right now, the best part of the process is thinking back to times I have paid little attention to in recent years. How different grammar school and high-school in the 30s and 40s in the South Shore community in Chicago was than the school days of my children and grandchildren. It was be difficult for them picture the rooms with six rows of eight desks each bolted in place. Some rooms you lifted the desk top to put the books and papers and in others they slid in an open shelf. Will they be able to picture the wine bottle shaped containers that were used to pour ink into the small containers in the upper right corner of the desks? After all, no lefties allowed, the pen was dipped into the right side ink holder. No changing room in those days. The music and art teachers came to our classrooms. We did go to gym though and another teaher in the gym. Oh, how they would howl if the could see pictures of us in our white 'sailory' tops with a black tie slid through a loop in front... and, oh, those awful bloomer looking back pants that ended mid-thigh. What lovelies we were!! In those days we had crossing guards at the corners... they were eight grade students who had achieved the honor of being patrol-boys. Perhaps there were girls as well but I don't remember any. How different it was! But, as now, I remember some special teachers.. both good and bad... as my own family does. I will have to leave out the name for courtesies sake, but I will never forget how much Mrs. XXX, my first grade teacher, looked like the picture of George Washington just above where she stood in the middle of the front of the room.

No lunchrooms for us! Everyone walked home for lunch and was back before the 1:00 bell. For me, it was about a 1.5 block walk and I was always in hurry to get home in time for Ma Perkins on the radio. The radio stories were important of life during my school years. And then there was the sandbox, the freezing so we could ice skate in the winter, the two warming houses, and Pete's cart at the Clyde exit at 3:00 most days. Pete had the most wonderful penny candies one could want; long red licorice sticks, wax bottles of liquid, snaps, and so much more.

The school is still there. Still being used.

But fifth graders today do not dress we did in 1942.

So, dear reader, you can see my problem can't you? It will take more than a week to relive it; how much longer to pick the bits to share and how will it ever be enough for them to understand that we had a wonderful time... without any of the technology they so take for granted as necessity and love to use as much as I do. This is not an easy task. I have hunch I will sharing more of it here.. perhaps with a picture of two as well.

Triggers for thinking back.....

The two days at the Arizona Book Festival has impacted my thinking for a much longer time than those two days! Somehow I found my self thinking of books of long ago... the books that began the trip to the reader I am today. I am pretty sure it all began with a wonderful series that can occasionally be found today, the My Book House set. I guess many of those in my age group have the same wonderful memories of those books. Then came the series age including the Honey Bunch, Nancy Drew and Patty books. But then it was time to read a different kind of book.

I recall my first experience with "grown up" books that even now I know was an incredible happening. I lived in South Shore on the south side of Chicago. A local card shop, Blackman's,had a mezzanine level rental library. I often went there with my mother. I think I must have been in my early teens when I first met Taylor Caldwell. I don't remember how it happened but I went home with Eagles Gather. I didn't know then that it was her first novel. It was the first of what became a three book series about the Bouchard's who were in the munitions business for generations. By the time I became a fan all three books had been published. In fact the three books, Eagles Gather, Dynasty of Death and The Final Hour were her fictionalized version of the Dupont famiy. These were the years of WWII. Her descriptions and the story had me hooked into the word of historical fiction -- still a favorite all these years later.

The other book that popped up in my musings was a book by Madeleine L'Engle called A Wrinkle in Time. My first reading was as a young teacher. It was the best! I loved the word 'tesseral'. I had no idea of it was a real word or not but I loved the sound and her definition of it being a 'wrinkle in time'. Some years later I read two of her adult books. They were both personal and meaningful. I recommend them without reservation. Each is a memoir of sorts. A Circle of Quiet(1972) is, as the fly leaf says, is her way of exploring and defining the meaning of her own life. The second, Two-Part Invention(1988) is the story of her marriage. If you are/were a follower of the soaps, L'Engle was married to Hugh Franklin. Franklin was Dr. Tyler in All My Children for many years. Franklin died in 1986 and the book was published after his death. It was nice to have this moment of recall. I guess it is time to read these last two again.