This is the third set of longform readings I have come across in 2018. they cover a wide range of topics, yet all are interesting and well worth the time investment required to read them.
For the past decade, I’ve been posting about the books I’ve read throughout the year and sharing my list with others. This will be my last list I make as there doesn’t seem to be a desire for people to read anymore and they certainly aren’t paying attention to what I’m looking at. I also no longer have the desire to make such a post, particularly when it is long enough to be spread over two posts during the year. I have other things I want to write about and my opinion on particular books is not one of them.
Growing up, watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was a given in my home each December. While the show appears to be an innocent, fun time, it’s really an average story with a terrible message.
“He was a nice man. He didn’t deserve to go that way.” The words had a tinge of sadness attached to them as my mother said them matter-of-factly while we sat waiting for the light to turn green at the intersection of East Main Street and Irwin Avenue.
When the light changed, she gently pushed the gas pedal toward the floor and we continued on our way. It was 1986. Not many people understood HIV/AIDS. There were rumors, confusion, and plenty of hatred. My mother’s words were twinged with a sense of hopelessness. At the time, a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS was a death sentence. This man she knew in high school was already dead. There was nothing she could do.
Almost everything I learned about driving, I learned by observing my grandmother, Lorraine. I typically hold the steering wheel as she did, I swear and curse people as I go about my journey, I love manual cars, and I learned the usefulness of a lead foot. Those skills have all been useful and put into practice while living in western Nebraska.
A picture of a picture at Ellis Island and the inspiration for my May, 1991 poem.
This poem was published in the anthology “A Sea of Treasures” in 1995. It was the first thing I had written to be published.
Ellis Island
The beds lie in
Soldier rows
ten by five
Steel frames that are
more of a home
to roaches
Paint peels off
and rust
corrodes the springs
mattresses full
of lice
and
rats
burrowing in
The beds are pushed
against walls
where paint chips
fall
No sheet
no blanket
just a pillow
to rest a
weary head
John Chau claimed he loved the Sentinelese people. He had never met them. His actions could lead to their genocide. His actions led to his death. I, and many others, are extremely annoyed at this vulgar display of religious arrogance.
Redditor, kushoon, posted his anger about the sheer vulgarity of Chau’s parents saying they forgive the Sentinelese. I extend my anger to Chau as well.
I read a lot of things on the internet so you don’t have to. I research and look at the all the angles to make sure I can dig down to the truth. Then I share it with you.
As families plan to get together for Thanksgiving and remember the things they are thankful for, they also make plans for Christmas, which is a time to share memories, make new ones, and reflect on the year gone by.