Tag: Canada

Hot, Hot, Hot

We are in the middle of a June heatwave from Colorado throughout the Midwest and probably across the US. So it’s hot outside and the Trump administration (if you can even call it that) is trying to make us hotter. The “Big Beautiful Bill” H.R. 1 is ridiculous and frightening. First of all who names a bill that?

And then if you look at what’s in the bill it seems like even many Republicans would take issue with raising the debt ceiling. And cutting Medicaid and Medicare, adding more money for ICE thugs, more money to the Pentagon, canceling green energy initiatives, and renewing fossil fuel subsidies. All this is bad enough but adding in the sale of public lands as Trump’s idea of solving the housing crisis is absolutely absurd. Horrible, despicable, and completely unhinged. When will Congressional Republicans begin to care about their constituents and saying NO to Trump. 71% of Americans disagree with the sale of public lands.

I had a relaxing morning reading at home before heading off to my local farmers market and yoga class. All lovely, peaceful and privileged. When I came home I started making phone calls though using the 5 Calls app. If you’ve not used this yet please consider downloading and using it every day. I’ll be calling all week long to complain about this bill.

Now I want to focus attention to the book I finished this morning. Where Wolves Don’t Die by Anton Treuer is an excellent coming-of-age Native tale of Ezra Cloud of the Wolf Clan. Ezra has a run-in with a neighborhood bully at school and chooses to punch a locker instead of the bully which sets in motion a chain of events that opens up Ezra’s life in a new way. Treuer’s writing is poetic and I loved the characters so much. I wanted to be at the community feast to celebrate Ezra’s first kill. I wanted to sit at the kitchen table and eat Grandma Emma’s wild rice dish.

A friend purchased this book at Birchbark Books in Minneapolis and shared it with me. The book brought out a lot of emotions for me, thinking of my own ancestors who I hold dear. I highly recommend this charming yet real tale of Ezra and his family. Treuer has a long list of nonfiction books but I hope this story is the start of more fiction from him.

Make some calls, stand up and complain, all while staying cool.

Ghosts of the Titanic by Julie Lawson

Ghosts of the Titanic
Julie Lawson
2012
168 pages

I plucked this title from the library shelves on a recent visit.  I was thinking of my students who just love anything to do with the sinking of the Titanic.  As I’ve written about in other posts it is always fitting to find out a book is worthy of its price tag before I buy it for the library.

I wasn’t sure this one was going to be with it until I’d made it more than half way through.  I often tell my students that the best part of the book doesn’t come until the middle of the book-good thing I took my own advice.  I struggled with the narration, which gave me little empathy for Kevin Messenger, the young man telling the story.  He seemed whiny and filled with negative energy and his relationship with his father is particularly difficult.  But I love stories that intertwine and this one does just that.  Mixed in with Kevin’s story is Angus Seaton’s tale, a 17-year-old seaman who was on the Canadian ship first on the scene to rescue Titanic survivors.  Through Angus’s early actions he forever connects his life to the Messenger family.  This insider look at those days immediately following the Titanic disaster are little known treasures of information and will delight my students.  The fact that this also becomes a real ghost story for Kevin Messenger will make this tale even more thrilling!

Random quote:

Angus had lost count of the number of trips they’d made to the ship.  Ten? Twelve? Back and forth to the ship, pulling hard at the oars or taking his turn at the tiller, breath steaming into icy clouds, the grim task never easing up.  More bodies to be numbered and recorded, more personal effects to be bagged and tagged.  He longed to be back in port, to tear off his clothing, peel away his skin, throw himself into something that didn’t scream of death. (36-37)

The difficult task of pulling bodies from the freezing water and then recording their personal items so they could be identified was a horrific experience for this group of seamen and one that affected many for years after.  Angus is overwhelmed and because of his weariness he ends up with an object in his pocket that should have been tagged for one of the bodies.  This object links him to the woman throughout his days and makes him crazy with grief, regret and her ghost.

Pick up this book to find out how Angus and Kevin are connected through time.

Happy Halloween.

Peaceful Reading…