Imagine

Following Fate

2007-08-17T08:01:00.000-07:00

A year since the last post. I have neglected Imagine, writing elsewhere, here and there or not writing at all. But very soon I will be heading back to the corporate world on a technical writing assignment. I will be working with old colleagues at a new company and am looking forward to the challenge. Coming out of the reverie of creative writing and into the precision and analysis that is technical writing. I read recently that writers need to overcome their reclusive nature and stay in the fray of civilization in order to bring energy and truth to their composition. This will be my year to re-visit the workforce, to experience again the urgency of management imposed deadlines and produce content that is reliable to help people do their jobs or understand their equipment. It will be good to see what the last two years have taught me and see where my writing will take me from here. This will be a new adventure with old friends, an opportunity that literally fell in my lap, an opportunity I could never have imagined and yet.....

Blink of an Eye

2006-08-29T07:09:00.000-07:00

So here we are a year after Katrina--the disaster that confirmed everything..that epitomized all my fears about our current government. A year later and we still see neighborhoods that have not recovered, entire sections of the city that still don't even have power. We hear about insurance claims not being honored and people unable to rebuild their homes. A YEAR later and nothing is resolved. I watched all the horror on television; for days I was glued to the unbelievable scenarios going on before my eyes. And then I watched all the volunteers, all the media groups building homes and providing shelter, cleaning up the streets, and still it wasn't enough. And then I couldn't watch anymore and I couldn't write. I read the newspapers and blogs that continued to write and rant about politics and war and I couldn't join in. I just couldn't. I guess I just couldn't imagine anything anymore. I was shocked.

But now it's a whole year. Is it possible? A year of days and not much change out there in the big picture. But here in the smallness of my head life rambles on. I don't have the energy to rant, but I do observe and writing here is better than not writing at all.

Looking back on my year--I adopted a kitten who is the hero of my children's book; the book I haven't begun to write. I took an on-line writing course and totally lost my way through the one novel I've written. Maybe it's just another excuse, but I swear I suffer post-writing-workshop syndrome and don't know where to pick up my story after all the analysis and re-writing I did in six weeks. We totally renovated the first floor of our home and all the outside landscaping, learning a huge lesson in the nature of professional and not-so-professional contractors. We are fortunate our home is still standing. We're just beginning to recover from the chaos and believe the transformation was worth it. In early spring our sweet Golden Retriever died of lymphosarcoma. We learned that there is such a thing as chemotherapy and oncologists for dogs and that vets and oncologists deviate greatly in their philosophies as to how far you should take veterinary medicine to prolong the life of (but not cure) a beloved pet. And along those lines we learned that there is a HUGE controversy out there regarding what to feed dogs and cats--real raw food, holistic manufactured food or good old grocery shelf kibble. I learned that there are Yahoo Groups out there supported by people dedicated to helping others on all kinds of subjects. I am grateful to these on-line communities for getting me through my dog's cancer and now I am grateful to another Group that is supporting me in the training and well-being of my new Border Collie puppy. There are several writing groups on Yahoo too....but, well, I wasn't writing so who knew?

At any rate, I'm back--reading, writing and raising a puppy. I guess as in any grievous situation, life trudges on. We think the world should stop and pay attention, but it doesn't happen that way. My heart goes out to the victims, past and present, of Katrina. Maybe the coming year will bring the changes and improvements and sense of urgency we expect of our government.

Utter Sanctimony

2006-01-27T06:54:00.000-08:00

OPRAH! OPRAH! OPRAH! it’s a MEMOIR! It’s literature! It’s not an autobiography! It’s not journalism! Frey is not a head of state and he’s not a politician. He’s a writer; he told you a story. It’s good writing and you loved it! It’s a book of “brutally honest” feelings about recovering from addiction. It's a work of art!

I continue to be appalled, maybe even frightened now by her impact on publishing. Her sanctimonious confrontation of James Frey actually made headlines in the New York Times! (You may have to subscribe to see it.) Why do we care what she thinks about literature? Is she an expert?

This is so ironic because just last week I was in the Border’s on MacArthur Boulevard in Allentown and they shelve all the memoirs alphabetically by author in their literature section. At the time, I was annoyed and thought it was strange. But now I think maybe they have the right idea.

Harriet Who?

2005-10-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

What part of the discussion on the drawbacks of cronyism did this President misunderstand? He is so egocentric and condescending, he probably believes that the fact that Meirs is a woman will mitigate for the female constituency the fact that her “qualifications” are of the empty suit variety. News reports are saying her confirmation will be difficult since she is not a judge and there is no paper trail of her position on key issues, but I read today that she once stated to David Frum that Bush “was the most brilliant man she has ever met.” There’s a judgment that should disqualify her from the get-go!

Our Own Gulf

2005-09-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

We leaped to the aid of the Persian Gulf; why can’t we rush to the aid of our own gulf coast residents? We dropped food from helicopters all over a foreign country, where is the food and water for our own citizens? This is the fifth day—babies are dehydrated, the elderly and the sick are dying. People are trapped without provisions in shelters, herded there by authorities promising protection. It's unbelievable! Staggering! These American people have been abandoned. These people are desperate. In the middle of this maelstrom, a high-profile politician has been quoted as saying there’s no reason to rebuild New Orleans. How helpless is our government? Or is it heartless? I don’t want to believe that this is racial or political, but think back to 9/11--politicians were all over that scene in a heartbeat! Impending danger wasn't an issue! What are we to conclude about our leaders’ attitudes toward Democratic New Orleans? Or toward human life for that matter? The response (or lack of it) speaks volumes...

The Art of Education

2005-08-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

Bob Herbert’s column in yesterday’s New York Times is disturbing, but not surprising. Just a month ago at the same time Harry Potter’s latest adventure was released, I read articles declaring success statistics for “No Child Left Behind”. But according to a report from the Program for International Assessment, basic reading and math skill of American kids rank 24 out of 29 countries. And low income children in the U.S. were testing at about three grade levels behind “non-poor” students. Bottom line: only two thirds of American kids who enter high school, graduate from high school and those that graduate do not have sufficient reading skills to enter college. A few think tanks have offered solutions to America’s ever-increasing education crisis (yes, it IS a crisis): things like more hours per day in school, getting highly qualified teachers in all schools, national curriculum standards.

Okay, but school isn’t the only place where children learn. A child can sit in school 24 hours a day and if there’s no desire to learn or interest in the information presented, all the teaching in the world will not make an impression. I don’t think this is an education issue, this is a societal issue. If parents or families don’t (or can’t) lay the groundwork by instilling and perpetuating a sense of value and appreciation for reading or math skills, the prospect of the institution making a difference in the child’s life is pretty much doomed. Education in America is centered around delivering information, testing, sitting in a classroom and scheduling how much time is spent on one topic; but learning is accomplished through inspiration, nurturing and following a child’s curiosity. It’s not just about the child’s head, it’s about the child’s whole being. I think when we realize that education is communal and not institutional, we will begin to succeed in improving these statistics.

I Question Therefore I Dishonor?

2005-08-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

Parents of soldiers who were killed in Iraq are all over the board in their response to Cindy Sheehan’s anti-war vigil in Texas. From what I read in a New York Times article on Sunday and from what I’ve heard in interviews with family members on T.V., most of the differences are civil and respectful. If they disagree with Cindy's anti-war stance, they disagree gently, compassionately albeit adamantly. The point of disagreement that I simply do NOT understand is that of parents who say that to protest the war is to dishonor the meaning behind the death of their child because they died believing in the cause. In my mind that point should go one step further—that logic should be analyzed.

War on any front, for any cause is failure. It is a failure of the leaders of government to be able to settle a dispute peacefully; it is a failure of diplomacy. It means that despite all our intelligence and all our technology, the leaders feel compelled to resort to an ancient, barbaric method of solving governmental (or political) differences with violence; life-threatening violence not against themselves, but their own citizens. Particularly in such a God fearing nation, war should not be an option.

However, as a result of our leadership’s failures, any soldier who is serving his/her country at a time of war is, of course, being dutiful and doing his/her job. And certainly if they have to go to war, soldiers have to believe that their leaders are sending them to serve a higher cause, a cause that promises ideologically, a better future. How could they put their lives on the line unless they believed their fight would serve a greater good for future generations. So did our deceased soldier believe in the war? Do any of us believe in war? I think it is safer to say we believe in the higher good, or the better world our leaders promise will be the outcome of the war. But a soldier who serves at a time of war is ultimately serving a leader who has failed, a leader who should be willing to recognize his role in the losses and sacrifices his citizens and constituents experience in that failure. In the case of Iraq, I think we have proof beyond a doubt that our leadership failed miserably.

I think Cindy has every right to believe that her leaders failed her and to question those leaders. She has every right to expect her President to help her understand why she had to lose her son to this cause and to make him recognize that more families in this country may be demanding similar or even tougher answers. Where is the dishonor to Casey in his mother trying to reconcile his death with understanding and awareness? Hopefully, her questions will precipitate a peace of some sort (hers, Casey’s, the world’s).

ICE Revisited

2005-08-15T10:57:00.000-07:00

Came to my attention that there are some inaccuracies as to how the ICE campaign originated and some consternation as to whether or not the campaign is a hoax The latest information I found on the matter is on the East Anglian Ambulance site. It still seems like a good idea from my viewpoint, but you be the judge for yourselves.

Story in A Story

2005-08-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

I read History of Love because I’ve read that author Nicole Krauss is an important young writer today; one that is destined for greatness. I love to hear that about young writers, I am envious and in awe, but I love to hear that there are new great young writers in our midst. Well, “great” is an understatement.

History of Love is a complex, tightly written, intelligent story that completely drew me into its web of a novel within a novel within a translation of a novel. The story mysteriously builds as it drifts between the very authentic voice of Leo Gursky, an aging immigrant who is the only member of his family who escaped WWII Poland, and the very straightforward, innocent voice of fourteen-year-old Alma who lives with her widowed mother and younger brother. Central to the story is a book History of Love, written in Yiddish by Leo Gursky who entrusts the manuscript to a friend who is escaping Poland. The friend translates the book into Spanish and publishes it as his own in South America, Alma’s father buys the book in South America as a gift for Alma’s mother, and years later a mysterious stranger asks her mother to translate the book from Spanish to English. The book is inspired by Leo’s unrequited love for a young woman in Poland named Alma. The story twists and turns beautifully around this love story and leads to a final scene that is pure genius; a scene that will make you smile and break your heart.

Kraus is a reflective, deep thinking writer who expounds on ideas in beautiful language while maintaining a quick tempo and a stranglehold on the reader’s interest. This capability is a huge improvement over her first novel, Man Walks Into a Room, which while formidable in content and language, has a tendency to stall the reader in those reflective thoughts. The characterization in History of Love is also vastly improved from the first novel: the voices are clear, the reader can’t help but become attached to the characters of Leo, his friend Bruno, Alma, her brother Bird. They are alive with personality and emotion and ethnicity.

Both novels are rich, engaging, intelligent stories. Both have a unique premise, yet they are believable and worthwhile. But History of Love shows a flow and a maturity that Man Walks into A Room doesn’t quite accomplish. Nothing about these books is typical, some of the ideas are even quirky, but overall these are deep, shining works deserving of attention and respect. She’s young, but Nicole Krauss is wise and her work …well, I can’t imagine what she will accomplish next, but I’m certain it will be great.

Cell Phones on ICE

2005-08-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

A campaign encouraging people to enter an emergency contact number in their mobile phone's memory under the heading "ICE" (for "In Case of Emergency"), has rapidly spread throughout the world as a particular consequence of the terrorist attacks in London. Originally established as a nation-wide campaign in the UK, ICE allows paramedics or police to be able to contact a designated relative / next-of-kin in an emergency situation.

The idea is the brainchild of East Anglian Ambulance Service paramedic Bob Brotchie and was launched in May this year. Bob, 41, who has been a paramedic for 13 years, said: "I was reflecting on some of the calls I've attended at the roadside where I had to look through the mobile phone contacts struggling for information on a shocked or injured person. Almost everyone carries a mobile phone now, and with ICE we'd know immediately who to contact and what number to ring. The person may even know of their medical history."

By adopting the ICE advice, your mobile will help the rescue services quickly contact a friend or relative - which could be vital in a life or death situation. It only takes a few seconds to do, and it could easily help save your life.

Why not put ICE in your phone now as a new contact in your phone book. Enter the word 'ICE' and the number of the person you wish to be contacted. For more than one contact name ICE1, ICE2, ICE3 etc.

Details, Details....

2005-08-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Looks like one has to be extra, extra careful when researching and writing biographies these days. According to the New York Times, heirs of psychology icon Carl Jung are forestalling the German publication of Deirdre Bair’s book Jung, A Biography (published in the U.S. by Little, Brown & Co. 2003) stating that there are numerous inaccuracies; in fact they have provided a 12-page list of all the inaccuracies. Bair claims that the book stands correct based on scholarly documents she used in her research. The Random House subsidiary intent on releasing the book in Germany has decided to insert two pages of the Jung family’s version of facts in the translation—they say this is a “compromise” since they are subject to attack from either the family or the author if they do nothing. Whoa—I have to agree with Paul Aiken, Executive Director of the Author’s Guild in New York—the insert undermines the credibility of the author and is a bit like putting a “negative review on the cover of the book.” Perhaps they're not worrried about how the book sells in Germany....

Chick Lit Again...

2005-07-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

My underwhelming experience with chick lit (“I Tried…” July 21 entry) generated a reader response suggesting that I try chick lit author Marian Keyes; especially her book Last Chance Saloon. I find it interesting that Marian Keyes is from the UK, as is Helen Fielding of Bridget Jones acclaim. According to an article in Poets & Writers (Jan/Feb, 2005), chick lit originated in the US as post-feminist fiction about women responding to predicaments they encountered in their newly liberated environment. The term first appeared in the titles of two anthologies: Chick-Lit: Postfeminist Fiction and Chick-Lit 2: No Chick Vics in 1995. Two years later, according to Cris Mazza, author of the article and editor of both chick lit anthologies, it was the British book industry that “took the genre and ran with it.” Maybe experience accounts for stories by UK writers being the more popular and highly recommended. Clearly, today's chick lit is a departure from the content of the more socio-politically themed original; today's offerings are sometimes referred to as “commercial chick-lit.” As of 2004, though, five mainstream publishers have chick lit imprints which account for 240 new novels each year—a trend that is fueling the publishing industry. What can I say? At least we’re reading something!

Finally...

2005-07-22T10:22:00.000-07:00

After years of being told that Alice Munro is the master of women’s short fiction, I finally delved into her latest short story collection, Runaway. There is something eerie and unsettling about each of these stories; there is an element that at once drew me in and made me want to turn away. As I proceeded through each tale I found myself not particularly enamored by any of the main characters, but almost reluctantly identifying with their thoughts and observations and self-serving actions. I don’t know if it is the rural Canadian setting that makes the stories seem stark or the mood and emotion of the people they are about These characters are all women at various stages of life: one trying to escape a disappointing marital relationship, one returning to her childhood home with her infant daughter for a visit with her aging parents, one trying to understand the disappearance of her young adult daughter, one who spends the day with her fiancé’s alcoholic brother who ultimately takes her home and continues on to commit suicide by driving his car into a bridge abutment. There are others: a child, an old woman. Each story is clear, vivid, deep, and complicated….I am haunted by this book. I see bits of these stories in my mind even now, days after completing it. And there are moments in those reflections that I feel the need to revisit the story to see if I understood it correctly. Not many authors evoke that kind of response from me. This writing is powerful and compelling. The “master?” I guess so.

I Tried…

2005-07-21T10:42:00.000-07:00

I know nothing about the ChickLit genre, but it is infiltrating the bookstores and it was prevalent at Book Expo so I decided I must be missing something. I’ve heard the rumors about it—"shallow", "trashy", but I am open minded. I understand cultural evolution, and I am determined to stay current particularly in the world of literature. So I checked out the ChickLitBooks website looking for a frame of reference and direction. The homepage provides a great, although broad, definition—“hip, bright literature for today’s modern women.” They suggest withholding judgment of the genre until you’ve read a few….seemed like sensible and appropriate advice. So I took up two titles I acquired this past year: Bling by Erica Kennedy and Starter Wife by Gigi Levangi Granger. Bling is set in New York City and Starter Wife in LA.

Here’s the scoop: the characters are all about shedding their excessive vanity, rejecting materialism, and escaping the superficial demands placed on them by their high society boyfriend or husband. This metamorphosis, though heartbreaking and difficult, promises to open the gates to personal success and independence. This "independence" ultimately leads to the real love and admiration of a new man who is STILL a member of high society but is NOT superficial, i.e., he will not leave her to chase after a younger, prettier version of herself and he will not suggest dieting or dental work or a boob job because he loves her just the way she is.

To understand these novels you must be up-to-date on the most recent beauty regimes, cosmetic surgeries, fashion and jewelry designers, and the latest makes and models of luxury vehicles. If you don’t know these things, you will be lost in an endless stream of proper nouns that will make no sense and you will lose the story completely. At least I think that’s why I missed the stories. I’m sure there was a plot in there somewhere. Anyway, I gave it a shot…I’m heading back to what I know. Maybe I’ll join Oprah and re-read Faulkner.

Occupational Hazzard?

2005-07-06T16:43:00.000-07:00

Awwwww....President Bush had a bicycle accident today at the Gleneagles Golf Resort in Scotland. Rest assured he WAS wearing a helmet (as if that would matter) and the only damage reported was to his ankle. Interesting tidbit though...a year ago the President "sailed over the handlebars while riding a mountain bike at his Texas ranch." That could explain a lot.....

The Mother or the Muse?

2005-06-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

Some writing seems to drive its own destiny. Had this sensitive journalist never crossed the path of this devoted mother, this story might never have been told.

Last night I heard an interview with French journalist, Pierre Haski, who is responsible for bringing to light the ambitions, hopes and frustrations of a young Chinese girl living in stark poverty in Zhangjiashu, a Muslim village in northwest China. Zhangjiashu is in a region of China that has been ravaged by drought and declared uninhabitable by the government, yet more than three million people still live there. Pierre Haski visited this region in 2001 and upon leaving Zhangjiashu was approached by a woman who put three small notebooks into his hands. The notebooks turned out to be a diary written by Ma Yan, the woman’s 13-year-old daughter.

When asked what was so remarkable about the diaries, Haski replied that they are not only a first-hand account of the daily struggle of an obscure population, they also reveal the poignant evolution in Ma Yan’s writing as more and more of her emotions flow into her observations and interpretations of life. Central to Ma Yan’s writing is her belief that education is the key to overcoming poverty and her determination to stay in school despite the overwhelming barriers of money and distance. A French newspaper published an excerpt from the diaries and the public response was so great, it led to a scholarship fund for Ma Yan and the publication of her book, The Diary of Ma Yan: The Struggles and Hopes of a Chinese Schoolgirl.

The book has now been published in sixteen countries and has triggered the establishment of The Association for the Children of Ningxia, an association dedicated to providing scholarships to children in the region, mostly girls, who are excluded from the education system.

Our Children

2005-06-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

For someone who loves to read, I read VERY slowly. And I admit that not only books stack up in alarming numbers before I actually crack them open, so do magazines and newspapers. But yesterday I finally picked up the May 29, 2005 New York Times Magazine and read the article by Cynthia Gorney about Tracy Della Vecchia who runs a website for mothers of American soldiers who are fighting in Iraq. Her own son has spent the last three years in Iraq; he has been home twice in that time. He is 22. Tracy built the website when she learned her son would be going to war “in part because she guessed ….. that people would want a place where they could sit in the dark making an effort to hold one another up…”

Whenever I think about war, I think about mothers having to watch their children openly embrace danger. It breaks my heart; I cannot fathom the immensity of it, the implications. The article follows Tracy through normal days and holidays while her son faces imminent danger in a distant land. It mentions how she spends hours at her computer attending to the website in which “pride and grief and bewilderment and rage seem to be crashing around all the time.”

Why is it that we, as a civilization, still seek resolution to international differences by dressing our children in uniform and sending them off to destroy the enemy in face-to-face battle? Aren’t we sophisticated enough to raise the level of conflict above mass destruction? And what constitutes a win when the repercussions are intangible? The impact on these families is astounding, overwhelming, and on so many levels incomprehensible to those of us who haven’t endured their experience. As a good number of us continue to live untouched by the turbulence in Iraq--thank you, Cynthia and Tracy for a brief, yet sobering glimpse of the personal side of war.

Book Expo 2005

2005-06-07T06:07:00.000-07:00

WHAT an overwhelming, exciting, wonderful experience! Just like the old ABA Conference back in my bookseller days--brought back many memories. We wandered the show...walked down the huge, aisle length booths being handed advance readers' copies from all directions. I tried to discriminate--came home with about 30 books. Everything from chick lit, to a J.M. Coetzee novel, to a journalist's account of the impact of the "American war on Iraqui citizens, to a documented history of life on a plantation in both the "big house" and the "slave cabins' by a University Press, to a bio of Mama Cass--the first ever--and memoirs, lots of memoirs! That is truly my world--the publishing world, the writer's world. Knowing that some of the best (and okay some of the worst) writers were in the building and new work, new art, new books were everywhere--don't know what it is, but that's what stirs my soul. Then we found a great parking space in the Village and just happened to wind up at White Horse Tavern (where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death; somewhat appropriate considering the day we had) for a few beers, and had dinner at a wonderful little French restaurant across the street--Philip Marie's. They have the most amazing Fruit and Nut Salad....then we got back in the car and came home.

So here I sit, surrounded by books and publisher's fall catalogs...magic.

That's Justice?

2005-05-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

So according to a Washington Post article by R. Jeffrey Smith, Corporal Thomas M. Pappas who had operational control of Abu Ghraib prison at the time of the abuse gets a “letter of reprimand” and a two-month pay cut. Private Charles Graner, Jr who says he was carrying out the orders of senior officers gets 10 years in jail…….

What the Buzz Was All About

2005-05-11T19:02:00.000-07:00

I’m probably the last person to have read it, but I just finished (sadly) The Secret Life of Bees. I knew when it was newly published that it was a gem, every critic said so—but let me just confirm it personally. I pulled it off the shelf because last week I bought Kidd’s new novel, The Mermaid Chair. Being the obsessive/compulsive I am, I told myself I couldn’t read the new one until I finally read her first one.

Well, timing is everything – it couldn’t have been a more appropriate story to read over Mother’s Day weekend! It is a sweet, poignant story, rich in tone, solid in its depiction of the south of the Civil Rights era, full of characters to whom I grew deeply attached and humor that made me chuckle out loud. It is essentially a child’s search for mother love--

Perhaps it is impossible to have a relationship with a book, but Sue Monk Kidd has created a story so alive with warmth and emotion I feel like I just spent a few days with a very good friend.

Corporate Semantics

2005-05-09T17:13:00.000-07:00

Strange happenings in my world of the newly unemployed… Several months ago my managers at the mega corporation where I worked for ten years made the decision that my writing job was superfluous. I accepted my dismissal gracefully, along with 300 other employees whose positions were eliminated that day. Working in a corporation in the throes of hefty down-sizing is like working in a haunted house. Ghosts of the laid off reside in every cubicle while those still employed are waiting for the trap door to drop out from under their feet at any moment. I admit I was relieved to come out of the mournful shadows that company had become, and work in the light of day. If I hadn’t been so attached to my salary, I would have ended the craziness myself. Who knew there was a whole world of freelancing out here?

At any rate, last week I received a phone call from my ex-manager asking if I was interested in returning for a short stint as a contractor to help managers “catch up” on their backlog of documentation. So does this mean my job wasn’t really unnecessary or even eliminated? Obviously, it was dispersed among several managers already overloaded with responsibility.

My first reaction: are they kidding? Go back there after what they did to me? What nerve! But I worked hard not to take my lay-off personally so why start now? And let’s face it…it’s a writing assignment; it’s what I do. It’s gratifying to know my work was/is valuable. But the best facet of this opportunity is I’ll do it on my terms as an associate to the giant, not under its thumb. (And it’s probably silly, but it’s nice to know that (like my job) I’ve been gone, but not “unnecessary.”)

Information Overload

2005-05-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

It’s wonderful! It’s marvelous! It’s really confusing….

There are the morning shows on the major networks, there are CNN, MSNBC and Fox, there’s Comedy Central news, there are paper newspapers (remember them?), and there are on line newspapers from ALL the major cities not just the ones in my neck of the woods, paper and on-line versions of monthly magazines and weekly magazines, and there are blogs, thousands of them. With all these resources, all this information, where does a weary reader begin each day?

So last week, in a response to my entry What Are They Thinking? a friend refers me to Paul Krugman’s series of editorials on Medicare issues which, of course, got me even more fired up about my mother’s situation and the elderly healthcare situation in general. Incensed and muttering to myself around mid-morning on Friday, I flipped on the TV as I prepared to go the gym. I happen on an author interview. Two men are sitting at a table discussing how the FDA being a bedfellow with the pharmaceutical, food and insurance industries, is stifling natural remedy manufacturers from adequately marketing and distributing their products. They talked in great detail about FDA restrictions on labels, the $840 million it costs to get a drug approved in the U.S., how hospitals would never administer a natural cure to a patient in place of a more expensive drug. Then they went on to discuss how FDA officials have left their posts to become leaders of pharmaceutical industry lobby groups (a point Krugman alluded to in his May 6 op-ed piece). I was totally absorbed, taking notes, waiting anxiously to hear the title of this book and then it happened. A flash across the screen….”This is a paid commercial. To get your copy of The Cures They Don’t Want You to Know About call 1-800-……”

Now I’m an information junkie, I admit it. But I am proud to say, I do draw the line (albeit sometimes a bit late, sometimes struggling against the temptation) at info-mercials. So far I have maintained the ability to weed out THAT particular source of information. I guess maybe I do know my limits….

Isn’t A Driver’s License about Driving?

2005-05-03T15:31:00.000-07:00

Congress is in the process of drafting leglislation that “would call on state and federal agencies to develop new rules for licenses” that would “require states to check the citizenship or immigration status of applicants.” This, of course, is intended to help deter terrorist attacks since “some of the 9/11 hijackers used driver’s licenses as identification when checking in for their flights.”

It seems to me that Congress is experiencing some confusion over the purpose of certain government-issued documents. Last I checked a driver’s license was for driving legally. A social security card is to prove to your employer that your wages should be documented for social security benefits. And a passport is a government issued document that provides proof that you were born in the country you say you were born in when you cross international borders. Isn’t the passport the travel document? Maybe airlines should be required to change their policies and make passengers carry passports as proof of i.d. rather than burden state governments to re-vamp their old, established DMV policies and procedures at the expense (an estimated $500 million) of their citizens.

Anyone who’s lost their wallet, moved across state lines, or been an out-of-state student can attest to the fact that our documentation procedures are complicated enough—imagine if the safety of the nation was factored into replacing them. We’d all need administrative assistants just to do the paper/pc work!

Drama Queen of the Decade

2005-04-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

Truth is sometimes so much more entertaining (and bazarre) than fiction......Did she even think about discussing her cold feet with any one of all those 500 family and friends before running away and triggering a nationwide search?

What Are They Thinking?

2005-04-29T18:46:00.000-07:00

Couldn’t write all day today…can’t think of anything but the lack of logic behind the Congressional vote to cut the growth of Medicaid when the population of those who rely on it is growing daily and when even the affluent can hardly afford health insurance. WHAT are they thinking?!

This hits home for me particularly since I’ve been told that protocol for my mother’s skilled nursing care is as follows: once her assets run out, we will have to apply for Medicaid on her behalf. Her monthly income, which was plenty when she was a healthy, independent widow, does not cover HALF of her living expenses now.

Never mind the additional burden of the baby boomer population. My mother’s home (and every other home I visited when I was frantically trying to find a place for her to live so they could discharge her from the hospital) is jammed with people who can’t take care of themselves—can’t walk, can’t talk, can’t feed or dress or bathe themselves, let alone remember to take their medications on schedule.

Cut Medicaid growth by $10 Billion over the next 5 years…..have they looked at demographics lately? Have they looked at their elderly parents’ bank accounts lately?

Guess with this administration, we better all start looking at Long Term Care insurance for ourselves. Now, if only I could remember where I put that application….

Interesting Stats

2005-04-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when I was ranting about the overpowering influence of one mega-celebrity over the sale of books, I came across some interesting statistics. Bear with me as I try to share them—making sense of numbers isn’t my strongpoint even though I was recently employed in the Finance Department of a huge corporation (I did documentation for them, not ledgers). But that is another story for another day.

The statistics from the Association of American Publishers show the book publishing industry net sales in the U.S. rose 1.3% from 2003 to 2004. This is encouraging, however this increase in sales has been decreasing steadily the past few years—6.4% from 2001 to 2002 down to 4.6% from 2002 to 2003. Hopefully it doesn’t mean people aren’t reading, maybe it means people are just borrowing books from each other and from libraries. Surely people are reading.

The more interesting figures were those of the largest growth categories. Adult hardbound book sales are up 6.3% from 2003 to 2004. That’s a fairly large percentage and surprises me since when I had my bookstore, my customers had the patience of saints and usually preferred to wait to buy a book when it came out in paperback. Hence the phrase "when I HAD my bookstore." Juvenile softbound book sales were up 3.8% from 2003 to 2004. Not a huge percentage, but this was VERY good news since sales in that category have been decreasing every year: -0.6% from 2001 to 2002 and -5.2% from 2002 to 2003. We’re not buying books for our children? What about all the hype about how important it is to read to our kids? All right, I won’t make assumptions, but come on!

Now the most interesting information in my mind was that religious book sales were up 5.6% from 2003 to 2004. Not too surprising given the political climate these days. But from 2002 to 2003 those sales increased---get this—50.2%. What is that all about? I have to admit that statistic is a little unnerving for me having come from a family that was torn apart by fundamentalist Christianity, but I’m not here to cast any dispersion on anyone else’s beliefs. I want to know what mega celebrity is behind that sales increase (besides the obvious, of course). And maybe, if we’re so desperate for sales, we should think about writing a little more religion into our contemporary fiction……

What Are You Reading?

2005-04-27T13:30:00.000-07:00

A week late here, but was I the only one left dumbfounded by some of the women I most admire? The women of WordofMouthWriters.org? The desperate tone of their letter to Oprah Winfrey has been haunting me for days. The158 women authors made a dramatic plea for Oprah to reinstate her Book Club and save the "landscape of contemporary fiction in the U.S.".

First of all, can it be true that one celebrity's book recommendation can have that much impetus on the sale of books? And not just books in general....a book. Each title selected by the reknowned talk show host sold 650,000 to 1,200,000 copies? Those are huge numbers considering publishers may only do a first run of 2,000 copies of a new title, but overall Oprah's Book Club only featured 25 to 30 titles total. So volume sales of those 30 books upheld the contemporary fiction industry?

While any sales are good--can it be good that those sales are based on one person's opinion and a very narrow selection of literature? I recall when I was an independent bookseller and the large retailers were taking over the industry. I read an article that the big chains each had one buyer per genre who selected inventory for stores nationwide. The concern was that a handful of people were determining what titles and authors would be available to the entire general population. What power! Doesn't Oprah's influence muster up the same concern? I have to agree with Alex Good, Goodreports.net.

The only thing that can save the gloomy place the landscape of literary fiction has become is to encourage individual "literacy, thought and intellectual curiosity". Rather than blame the decline of sales on a celebrity's change of heart, perhaps we should all take it upon ourselves to crusade for our favorite authors or titles. The name WordofMouthwriters.org implies the power we have when we communicate openly among ourselves. Let's see....one media celebrity versus 158 women writers and all the rest of us who are passionate about reading. Perhaps the thing to do is ask everyone (celebrity or not) to discuss outloud what they're reading...at least sales might be more diverse.