borkal14

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Black Men Read "Project 2025" And Share Their Unfiltered Reactions

I got a lot out of watching this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iyd0ve1B8E4

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My Summer Reading in Photos

So these three went back to the library today — The Cat in the Hat was read about 12 or 15 times, Bewilderment was never read beyond the first page, and Slonim Woods 9 got a skim. Slonim Woods 9 is a memoir that relates to the Hulu series Stolen Youth – Inside the Cult at Sarah Lawrence — I watched the documentary earlier in the summer and picked up this memoir from the library to learn further.…

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Fran Lebowitz on the Process of Great Writing

Kicking off summer reading with Fran Lebowitz talking about great writing at The Morgan Library in NYC. A delicious five minutes — I hope you enjoy. Of course, my implicit bias about letter writing continues 😉 Fran Lebowitz on the Process of Great Writing

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A Poet’s Reckoning with What Poetry Can Do

From the most recent edition of New Yorker magazine, this article inspires me fully to keep throwing those lines on a page… The poet Diane Seuss and I began a recent conversation by talking about the burdens of companionship—or, at least, how those burdens are manifested through affection for a pet. Seuss lost her dog Bear during the pandemic. When we spoke, by phone, she was at home in Michigan…

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The 57 Bus by Dashka Slater

I was recommended this book by a teenager and am glad I dove in. It’s a gentle read with lots to learn about Oakland, crime, punishment, LGBTQIA+ and everything in between those two domains. A coupla teenagers aboard the 57 bus in Oakland– going to a fro their lives — one lights the other’s skirt on fire — their first interaction, their last. A tragic and telling tale of life in Oakland. I loved…

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ADHD Showed Showed Me I Wasn't a Spiritual Failure

This article struck me: https://sojo.net/articles/adhd-showed-me-i-wasnt-spiritual-failure I hope you all are doing ok out there ❤

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a country shaped by poetry

I really enjoyed this article and thought I should share here: https://www.noemamag.com/a-country-shaped-by-poetry/

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The Woman in Me by Britney Spears

I thoroughly enjoyed The Woman in Me by Britney Spears. I acquired this from the Woodland Public Library– the queue was very long! I think I was something like the 349th person in line to read this book. It was worth the wait. Reading this book felt like Britney was my gal pal for about 300 pages. She’s so honest, and straight forward, and gentle in her storytelling. I had no idea that Justin…

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The Benefits of Working on a Sunday

Well friends, working on a Sunday sucks and yet, we find our joys. Today I’m working on course development for a class I’m actively teaching, which makes me extra anxious. I’ve been trying to pull out a lesson about nootropics — brain enhancing plants — the last several weeks. Today there was a breakthrough. I found this podcast by John Green about a Ginkgo biloba tree and it made all the…

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On Java Road by Lawrence Osborne

Osborne is new to me– I was recommended to read The Forgiven but started with his most recent novel On Java Road instead. It is his newest book — I borrowed it from the library and am better for reading it. Based on Hong Kong, during the heavy protests about independence, this book kept me engaged. I enjoyed the writing and the story, which is about a lonely(ish) expat journalist who has been in…

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Italian Shoes by Henning Mankell

An amazing recommendation from my neighbor Diane. On the back of an envelope I wrote, So what do you like to read? We have been connected at least 5 years through the library and somehow this question slipped my mind. We’ve been too busy working for the library and literacy council. She got back with a few recommendations — Italian Shoes coming first. I read it voraciously — please do the same. A…

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I finished reading The Seven Sisters

The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley It took a little longer than a month, but I’ve finished reading The Seven Sisters. I enjoyed it but do not think I’ll continue in the series, as the writing style is not for me– it’s just a bit too much. The story kept me interested, the characters are lovely, but I felt like sometimes the writing was — cumbersome, bulky, overdone. However, if you like a good…

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Best of American Poetry

I recently read an article in LitHub about the 2023 Best of American Poetry and was inspired to investigate the lineage. The series is new to me so I have put several anthologies on hold at the library and invested in a few – such as this first Best of the Best – from Better World Books. Reading the foreword by Lehman — I’m like, this could be written yesterday- the corporate literature complex…

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The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

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So Much Frida in My Mailbox

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Wild Life by Molly Gloss

Recommended by @foshee07, I have been working through this novel over the last several weeks. It was delicious – literary fiction – the protagonist a turn of the century female author with a mouth and opinions – hilarious commentary and a highly engaging story. Her housekeeper has a daughter and the daughter’s daughter goes on a logging adventure in Oregon with the father — young Harriet goes…

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Father's Day by Simon Van Booy

Another Van Booy book down the hatch! This novel was sentimental- maybe a bit too sentimental for my liking- but I do enjoy the way the author writes, so it was easy to finish anyways. The story is about a young girl – Harvey – who ends up in foster care because her parents die in a car accident. She has never met her paternal uncle, Jason, but has heard stories about him — not much from what we…