Them

 Them: Why We Hate Each Other by Ben Sasse

2018

Weight: 1.06 lbs

Method of Disposal: Donating

I was drawn to this book when Trump was in office, and the growing division was unbelievable and stressful.  It seems like the damage has been happening for quite some time now and that now we cannot seem to turn it around.  We took a huge hit in the 2016 and 2020 elections, though they did not start it.  I was feeling frustrated and angry towards the Republican Party, and I was struggling to find compromise.  I was hoping this would be helpful and that, maybe, magically, someone had ideas on how we might heal from this.  Because the thing is, many people think you are for America or against America, but in actuality, many people who want America to change and are fighting for change, love America too.  That is why it is worth the effort and the pain.  There is an idea that compromise and learning and evolving is flip flopping, and this comes from both sides, but it is not.  It is necessary for our current political system.  And, when your side breaks the rules, no matter what side you are on, it will hurt your party in the future when it gets turned around.  We must be ethical and respectful, but how?

You will not find the answers here.  It is clear that the author has a lot of opinions and biases that are quite strong,  It almost felt as if he was saying, the answer for all of us to get along is to agree to embrace the same ideals, to embrace tradition and conservatism. That, clearly, will not be happening.  There must be some other way than agree with me, that is the answer.

That being said, I do think someone else should write a similar but better book that also covers news, social media, politics, and tribalism.  There is a lot in here that is interesting and worth a closer look, and there is a big problem in this country right now with division.  I wish I knew the answers.  I give him props for trying.

.

The Audacity of Hope

 The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama
2007
Weight: 9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Donating

If I had not already been a fan of Barack Obama, I would have become one after reading his memoirs.  I cannot begin to tell you how much I miss having a competent, collected, savvy leader.  I know there are many people out there that can empathize.  His memoirs were great.  They were interesting and inspiring. He showed you some flaws, many of his strengths, his passion for helping people, and his sense of community.  The love story of Barack and Michelle was fun to read about.  He had a perfect past to set him up for leadership.  He had spent ample time in other countries, which broadened his mind, no doubt, but he had a clear love for America and was an established American (since that was such a big issue to the birthers, like Trump himself).  His work as a community organizer, his upbringing, his family, his being young and doing what young people do--all of it made him a real person that so many of us could connect with/see ourselves reflected in for so many different reasons and in different ways.

Obama really did give me hope and made me expect more and want better.  I did not feel like the things I had heard growing up about politicians held true anymore, not to me.  I was able to break out of the mindset that "all politicians are corrupt" and that "both parties are the same."  The idea that the government does not exist for the people.  I began to really think about just how hard of a job it would be to be the President of the United States of America.  I can tell you, even if it were on the table, I would turn that job down!  It takes a special person, and Obama was uniquely special.

I would not have wanted him to serve more than 8 years because I appreciate our democracy and the rules that are in place to stop us from having a dictatorship.  That being said, it is hard to imagine how different 2020 would have looked with a leader like Obama.  It is painful anyway, because the last four years have been so trying and overwhelming.  I wake up every morning expecting there to be another massive news event or emergency and, most of the time, there is.  I think of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, and I see it happening all around me.  It is terrifying.  

We are really in a mess now and, while I am grateful to Biden for stepping up, I do not envy him.  Can you imagine being the leader of this ship?  

To this day, I am soothed by Obama's words when he speaks publicly.  His voice is reassuring and his composure helps me regain mine.  I dream of having another leader like him.  What a difference we could make in America.  Also, and I never quite realized how much this meant to me before Trump, what are all the great American things that we could preserve.  This has been a scary time for our democracy, and I am worried about how much damage has been done, though I hope this is just the chaos of old ideas dying off.  The rallying cry of people who no longer have a footing in a new, more progressive world.  I want to hope that we are on the precipice of something we can all be proud of creating, even as it looks like we are losing ourselves to global warming, violence, and individualism.  Thank you, Obama, for helping me know that dreaming big is not being unrealistic.  It is important and necessary.  We have to dream big to make big changes, and the changes we make (for better or worse) will be felt for generations to come.

Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man

 Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
2020
Weight: 18 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

What can I say about this book that has not already been said?  Likely, nothing.  I can tell you that I read it before falling asleep, and I had nightmares all night about the Trump family.  I kept waking up in the night, in a stupor, frustrated with Robert Trump, who was trying to surrender a dog.  I cannot tell you how many times I woke up gritting my teeth saying, "We will take it.  We will take it.  I can't leave that dog with you.  I told you.  Just let me deal with it in the morning."  I was so tired the next day.  I said something in passing to my Dad in a text, and he wrote back, "You made me laugh out loud about a politician's dead brother coming to you in a dream requesting he surrender his dog to you.  I know exactly what that means.  It means you work too much, and you need to see less news."  He might be right about that!

Also, the other thing that is evident is that if Trump is elected again in November, we are in HUGE (YUGE!) trouble.

The Communist Manifesto

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels

1998

Weight: 12 oz

Method of Disposal: Giving Away

Let me just warn you now,  I am not going to have some valuable or life-changing insight on The Communist Manifesto.  So much has been written and said about it over the last 172 years, and Communism itself existed before it was written.  One thing that does seem to be true to me is that many people speak about it that have absolutely never read it, and they have also never read anything else about Communism since.  Communism is a dirty word to this day.  Communists cannot be trusted, and they are stupid.  On the other side of that, there are people who embrace Communism as the anti-however they were raised.  They embrace it without attempting to understand it or the other options, and there are many of these people who have not tried to learn further than the sound bitess they get on tv either.

This manifesto is important because it is still relevant almost 200 years later.  That says something.  Whatever the solution, there is a problem with a small minority benefiting from the blood and labor of a working class majority, and the dream of the working class coming together as a whole is inspiring even if it is consistently undermined by our other differences. 

"The Communists are distinguished from all the other working-class parties by this only:

1.  In the national struggles of the proletarians of the different countries, they point out and bring to the front the common interest of the entire proletariat, independently of all nationality.

2.  In the various stages of development which the struggle of the working class against the bourgeoisie has to pass through, they always and everywhere represent the interests of the movement as a whole."

"They have no interest separate and apart from the proletariat as a whole."

Abolish the family, women are not just a means of production, workers unite.  This is a manifesto.  In true form and in the style of a rallying call, ideas are made simplistic and passionate so as to inspire large groups of people quickly.  To bring people together for change but, as with anything like this, the world is more complicated than what is in these pages.  These pages are a tool, but they are not THE answer. 

Jailbird

Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut
1999
Weight: 9.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving to Mom

There is nothing better than reading Kurt Vonnegut when you are disappointed in people and the state of the world.  He makes the deplorable sound lighthearted and funny, in a dark, poignant way, of course.  I was reading this book and thinking, "I wish I had a Kurt Vonnegut book about life in a pandemic.  That would bring me some joy right now."  I guess Galapagos is the closest I can think of to that, but it is not what my hopes and dreams are made of.  Instead, I have moved on to Happy Birthday, Wanda June. I have never even considered a Vonnegut play.  I am a little unsure about how that will go.

I have received word that there is one named Slapstick!  Or, Lonesome No More that I need to check out.  I am excited about the idea of that because I do not own it, nor have I read it.  He was so prolific that, even when I think I have read them all, another can be found by going down the Google search rabbit hole of "Kurt Vonnegut, Jr."

At one point, while reading Jailbird, Harry asked me what it was about.  I read her the back cover, and her eyes glazed over.  She just began laughing.  Once she was through with her fit, she said it sounded like the most boring book around and thought it was funny that I was reading it of my own free will.

So, here we go.  It is a history of America!  It includes Sacco and Vanzetti, Watergate, McCarthy's hunt for Communists, the Cleveland Massacre.  You briefly meet immigrant laborers and coal miners, labor union organizers and women who work and die due to their work in factories.  Even a of those women!  There is so much packed into one novel, as is common for Vonnegut.

It is not that this is my number 1 top favorite Vonnegut of all time, but he has a way.  Whether I love his books a little, a medium, or a lot, they still have me laughing and just feeling connected in some way to someone else.  I am not sure who so do not ask.  He is the master of witty and one line can just pop up and stick with you forever.  Truly.  I have one tattooed on my back, maybe not forever, but for a lifetime.

This book was about greed, capitalism, America, politics, and power told through the life of a poor man raised as a wealthy man--a Harvard man--named Walter Starbuck.  Who would think that could be a "fun" read?  Thank God, for Kurt Vonnegut.  That is all I know for sure.

Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere

Courage Calls to Courage Everywhere By Jeanette Winterson
2018
Weight:3.2 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

This is a quick easy read. There’s a short essay on women’s suffrage/feminism, then and now, by Winterson and then a speech by Emmeline Pankhurst—“Freedom or Death.”  It is fun to read and reminds me of other feminist books I read in the 90s that were equally frank, not complicated, very gender focused. There was nothing newly inspiring, but I appreciated the British touch. It is definitely white woman feminism through and through. There was not an examination of intersectional oppression or a clear, laid out call to arms, but that feels like the point. It’s a flashback to the suffragettes and a call to be involved in the fight for social justice and feminism in particular.

My favorite parts?

1. anorexia scholastica
    -What the actual fuck?

2. “When women are respected we don’t need protection.” pg 36
     -Amen. This is one of those quick, political, sound bites that rings true and stirs your inner  
      activist. It’s so simple that you think everyone should understand and get it. 

Unhinged

Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House by Omarosa Manigault Newman
2018
Weight: 1 lb
Method of Disposal: Donating to Goodwill

You are not always glad to have someone "on your side."  I was dog sitting for my mom and started reading this while at her house.  I was not done by the time she got back, but I was not that bothered.  I put it back on her coffee table and told her I was not impressed.  She said she wasn't either.  My grandmother had given it her after trying to read it.  Everyone just kept passing it on to the next person with the warning, "you may not want to waste your time..."  So, here I am passing it on with that same warning.

Still More George W. Bushisms

Still More George W. Bushisms: "Neither in French nor in English nor in Mexican" edited by Jacob Weisberg
2003
Weight:3.4 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donating

These books use to be so funny and so sad.  We thought we were watching our government and way of life fall apart, and I guess we were.  We were just getting set up for something so. much. worse.  Trump could fill a book this size in one day.  We are almost use to the bullsh** he spouts after a year of this, and it is hard not to block it out and stop resisting, but we can never stop resisting until we find a way out of this muck.

These will seem like small potatoes now, but here are some of my favorites:

"I'm the master of low expectations." pg 2  There is a new master now, Georgie!

"I know something about being a government. And you've got a good one!" pg 3 Bring on the dictatorships!

"We don't believe in planners and deciders making the decisions on behalf of Americans." pg 77 And to that I say F*ck.  Neither does Trumpy.

"I think war is a dangerous place" pg 7 Yes, I agree.  It must be...

Now that quotes like these are common place and expected--only much much worse--please someone or something, save us.

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
2004
Weight: 13 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving somewhere in Tucker or Decatur

I am sometimes terrified, sometimes ready to rise up, and most often overwhelmed and sad.  In an effort to prepare myself for my own future and for America's future, I am reading books that apply immediately to the current world climate.  I read Obama's biography in the month before he left the White House and his presidency ended.  I loved it.  I found it inspirational, and I was shocked about his life and how he came to be president.  It gave me hope--how Obama-cliche is that?--but it did.  It showed me what made Obama such an amazing leader, though I simultaneously mourned the life our new president had led in comparison.  Looking at Trump's past there is none of the passion for social work and people, none of the world experience and travel that led Obama to have an incredible amount of empathy, none of the strong family ties, and deep-rooted morals.  I am hoping that when I pass this book on it is picked up by someone else that needs inspiration, hope, and an extra push.  I hope it makes them feel that they can stand up, voice their opinions, listen to others, and make a difference.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds Charles Mackay
1995
Weight: 1 lb
Method of Disposal: Leaving in Decatur, GA

2017.  It is quickly becoming a year that will be difficult to forget.  We have elected a monster, and he is proving himself to be more immoral/vindictive/cruel than simply dumb.  People are standing up for justice in cities all over the country, though we fluctuate between being frightened and furious.  You cannot look at your phone without another news story popping up that makes you feel like you have swallowed bricks.

I am scrambling to find my footing and a focus for my action.  I feel attacked on all sides.  Our president says he does not read.  He is a quoted as saying to Megyn Kelly in and interview, "I read passages, I read areas, chapters, I don't have the time.  When was the last time I watched a baseball game? I'm watching you all the time."  I am still reading, pouring through pages and pages, looking for some answer to this mania, this complete breakdown of human decency.

I did not find the answer in Extraordinary Popular Delusions, but you can understand why I looked there.  I did find more evidence that I should, in fact, be worried and that en masse people can be nonsensical,unreasonable, and incredibly dangerous.  I am not a religious person, but God help us.

Volume 17, Number 4

Tin House: Summer 2016
Weight: 1 lb
Method of Disposal: Donating

Have you ever experienced night paralysis?  There is this moment of awareness before the visions start.  You feel that your body is heavy and unmovable, and there is this dread that overcomes you.  Will you be able to wake yourself up in time or is it too late?  If you give in completely you will be overcome by horror and completely incapable of escaping it.

That is the gloom I have been living in since November 8th.  Some days I wake up and can almost forget that we are on the verge of collapse--that my whole life could possibly change.  That a lot of lives could change in ways most Americans would struggle to imagine.  I don't think this is dramatic.  My worst nightmare is the collective leadership of Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Ben Carson, Mike Pence, Rudolph Giuliani, and now Steve Bannon.  It is like a really bad SNL skit and my deepest darkest nightmare combined.  It is so impossible I do not know how to wrap my brain around the fact that it IS possible.

What will happen to us?

McCain Paper Dolls

McCain Paper Dolls  tom Tierney
2008
Weight: 1.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving in a Box in Decatur

Did I mention Obama won?  Did I mention he won again?  Yaaaaaahhhhhhooooo!  This was passed onto me and the only reason I still have it is because I kept thinking it might be fun to play with a paper doll again, turn it into some sort of "art project," or more likely write letters on the back of the dolls.  I have faced the facts.  Never gonna happen.  And it may be suprising when some unsuspecting person stumbles across it after all this time.

OBAMA!

 

I would love to hear from some of you.  What are you doing to help your community?  What does progress look like now?  How can we get the best out of this presidency?  Give me some inspiration to go with my ever increasing urge to fight and move forward!