Overground railroad: the green book and the roots of black travel in America.   by Candacy Taylor

The green book represents an ingenious solution to a horrific problem - optimism of a race of people facing tyranny and terrorism.

An opportunity to examine America's story of segregation,  black migration, and the rise of the black leisure class; and you go to these sites you remember that America is a messy collection of customs traditions and values and beliefs systems that have been shaped by capitalism patriarchy and white supremacy.

“Don’t buy where you can’t work” great theme for a protest I think

“Sundown town” is an all white enclave that bands black people from entering after dark.

Esso corporation headed by Rockefeller had a vision for treating black people with dignity and respect back in the 1930s. I never knew he had done such good things wayback when and had someone of color, even at the VP level. 

Some green book hotels are literally the first tourist homes - the first Airbnb’s

The new Jim Crowe mass incarceration in the age of color blindness found that more African-Americans are under correctional control today than were enslaved in 1850.

History does not repeat itself humans do!

Prison gerrymandering takes black people out of their communities and places them at least in the census in a nearly all black inmates are counted as resident in the prison instead of the towns where they are from .

Not a particularly well written or structured book. Fraught with redundancy  and cobbled together thoughts. It was extremely well researched and commented. Overwhelming in the totality of institutional racism that has and does continue to define America. Yet, another voice that aids in the awakening of the need for change  in the US of A.

Here in the Real World  by Sara PennyPacker

Under the guise of pre-screening a new book to share with Eden and or Dean, in the NYT Reviews,I found this from the author of Pax, - Here in the Real World - a middle grade novel that is “an ode to introverts, dreamers, and misfits everywhere”.  It had me second guessing at the beginning, in candor to the end, whether it was an evangelical, born-again novella. It was not, she simply uses that vocabulary and language in a comfortable, natural, non-forced manner. I should do more of that by embracing gospel terms in my everyday language. I think the kids will enjoy it. I did.” Don’t ask to be normal - you are so much more than that.” The main characters are different yet the same as they try to self identify and as they do , how to live in a world that does not always embrace who you want to be. Naturally, it is set in Florida.

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell.

Gladwell proposes that we don’t know how to talk to strangers because of this we are inviting conflict and misunderstanding that have a profound effect on life in the world. He provides very solid examples. However I feel short-changed at the end in that he doesn’t provide sufficient solutions or workarounds. Still an interesting read.

• Assume the best of other people is an anchor point of modern society
• There are definitely limits to our ability to decipher a stranger . And statistically were easily mistaken
• we need to exercise restraint / caution and humility when evaluating a stranger
• Truth and transparency are needed recognize that we don’t understand the stranger 

We are the weather Jonathan Safran Foer

We are the weather - saving the planet begins at breakfastJonathan Safran Foer

We all have to choose to make a difference as little as I can be and as public as it can be

   Over the years my motivations changed because the available information changed because my life changed aging has proliferated  my identities ,  time softens ethical boundaries fosters a greater appreciation for what might be called the messiness of life 

      A pivotal moment in the Bible where God asks his people where they are he finds Adam hiding after eating the forbidden fruit and says where are you?and when he calls to Abraham before asking about sacrifice his only son clearly an omniscient God knows where his creations are his questions are not about the location of a body in space but the location of a self within a person

⁃ 59% crop growing land is growing crops  for livestock 

⁃ 1/3 of all freshwater that human use this for livestock 

⁃ 70% of the antibiotics produced globally are used for livestock 

⁃ 60% of all mammals on earth are raised for food 

⁃ There are 30 farm animals for every human on the planet

The four  highest impact things an individual can do to tackle climate change are :

1- eat a plant-based diet 

2- avoid air travel 

3- use the car less

4- have fewer children

I  could not see it because I was not looking for it

It’s a shame that instead of having a minority of climate atheists we have a majority of climate  agnostics

It is not enough to say that we want more life m, we must refuse to stop saying it! can you show me a home together which was arguing with ourselves and we shall make a home together

Kindness and Wonder Fred Rogers By: Edwards Gav

Kindness and Wonder

Fred Rogers

By: Edwards Gav

I just finished listening to this delightful book of an exemplar man; and I’m anxious to see the movie with Tom Hanks . Fred was incredibly consistent between his public and private self; in a good way. 

I enjoyed listening ! 

Phrases to go by

1-there’s just one person in the world just like you and I like you just the way you are

2- A gift of a grand piano from his grandma change the way Fred saw him self

3- there’s no contradiction in using a secular tool for religious purpose (his view was the TV the brothers today as the Internet)

4- pray more for other people in the morning before your day starts

5- that which is essential is invisible to the eye - Ralph Waldo Emerson 

6-You can talk to me about anything you want to and I will try to help you in anyway I can

7- Did I help someone in need today and I let them know I was their friend

Emulate Fred Rogers:

• Be deep and simple 
• Be kind to strangers
• Make a joyful noise
• Tell the truth
• Connect with other people in anyway you can
• Love your neighbor
• Find the light in the darkness
• Always see the very best in everyone
• Accept the changing seasons
• Share what you learn
• (Spontaneous acts of kindness)

The Convert A Novel. Stefan Hertmans. Translated by David McKay

 T

The Convert

A NOVEL.

by Stefan Hertmans 

Translated by David McKay

The story where worlds collide. What’s the blond-hair blue-eyed Viking descendant daughter of a Christian manor lord doing getting married with a Jewish son of a rabbi traversing old France to Egypt evading pogroms and the Crusuades kicking into gear in the 1090’s .

This historic novel is narrated by the author (within the book - not Stephan hertsman) writing the book about the woman convert . Retracing her steps of the 1100s as sleuths

the puzzle of documentation and place 1000 yrs after the fact , by retracing her steps today.

If you like the middle ages , like revisiting places in Egypt and France and Spain that you visited before; like a blend of good guys between Muslims and Christians and Jews - then this is a book for you. I enjoyed all those aspects what a fun read it was a quick read.