The Moth Presents Occasional Magic

 The Moth Presents Occasional Magic: True Stories About Defying the Impossible Edited by Catherine Burns
2019
Weight: 1.05 lbs
Method of Disposal: Giving Away

I accidentally picked up the first Moth book while in Santa Rosa, Florida at a wonderful little bookstore called Sundog Books.  I have no idea what drew me to it, but I picked it up last minute while waiting in line for the register.  I was buying an absurd amount of greeting cards, as usual, and a few books.  There were a lot of people in there, and the downtown Square was much more popular and populated than I had ever remembered seeing it.  The small city had really grown in the years I had been away.  It is hard to imagine all the things we did on that trip now.  Covid would have changed everything, as it has done this year.  I am so glad we already had so many of the times we've had.  I know the present and future have so much to offer also, but it is not terrible to reflect on the past.

Moth has these incredible, sometimes unbelievable, personal stories, like the piece by a teenager about her experience saving a shooting victim.  She used skills she learned from Umedics, a black grassroots group that teaches people how to medically respond in emergency situations.  Not only does she save him, as a child, but then she goes on to help get his family trained to also respond in similar situations.  Those kind of stories make you wonder about your own mettle.

There was another story about a young, gay man, growing up in a homophobic landscape, trying to find himself.  Trying to win over and then ultimately deciding to emulate a young man he had been seeing in the bar only to find out much later that the man he had been hyping up was Jeffrey Fucking Dahmer.

There are also stories about what one woman wore to her divorce, what it was like to meet President Obama while working for his team, an adult son finding a relationship with his dad, and so many others.  It is good stuff.  

Icon Paper Dolls

Marilyn Monroe Paper Dolls 1985 and Vivien Leigh Paper Dolls 1981  by Tom Tierney
Weight: 18.6 oz
Method of Disposal: Given to coworkers

Who wouldn't want Vivien Leigh and Marilyn Monroe paper dolls?! I knew I had to have these the second I laid eyes on them 12 years ago.  The only problem with the lovely items like these is that in actuality there is no real need or use for them. I cannot imagine a small child would fully appreciate them for what they are, but frequently adult have lost the ability to use paper dolls the way they were intended. They become collector’s items only, and I have no need in my life right now for collector items. I hate to see them go, but if I’m honest, I never look at them unless I am thinking about getting rid of them. 

"He said you're really an ugly girl, but I like the way you play. And I died. But I thanked him. Can you believe that?"

Tori Amos Collectibles by Paul Campbell
1997
Weight: 2 lbs
Method of Disposal: Donate to AKF

I wish I did not know what possessed me to buy this book from a used book store called “Books for Less.” Unfortunately, I do. Luckily, I have no idea why I have lugged its 2 lbs around with me all over the great state of Georgia. I initially bought it on one of those awful (and wonderful) used book binges. You walk into a store and start a little stack of books you absolutely want to buy. Before you know it, you are holding onto some maybes and some good deals. Soon, you are in over your head or, at least, your bank account. That is what happened when I picked up this particular book.

I had an addiction to books and an extreme fascination with Tori Amos. Did I realize it was a book about collectibles?! When I spent $11.98 on it? I hope not, but I get this gurgley feeling in my belly that says I probably was fully aware. I never intended to have a Tori Amos collection so this book was useless to me. I just wanted to revel in her music. If I “collected” anything it was all of her cds, which I promptly played to death. I hope the next owner of this book is a collector. Too bad the book isn’t in mint condition.

All My Countrymen

Vintage Baldwin James Baldwin
2004 (The Estate of James Baldwin)
Weight: 7 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving to my friend, Tracy



I am not a huge fan of anthologies because I hate it when I get very into a piece of work and realize that it is just a selection from a much larger piece of writing. I tend to avoid buying anthologies for this reason alone but, for whatever reason, at some point I bought this book anyway. It sat on my bookshelves for years, unread. I picked it up the other day. I was in the mood for Baldwin, a very confident and brazen author.

The majority of the book left me feeling riveted and active. I wanted to get out in the world and do something. I wanted to write something that mattered. I wanted to hide in a corner and worry about how slow progress seems. There were some parts of the book that left me sneering and unhappy. The excerpt from ANOTHER COUNTRY was particularly hard for me. I felt so much resentment for the lead character even though Bladwin did such a good job of creating a complex character who had been through so much and done so much. You were motivated to feel for him and tempted to understand him, but I guess I am just not there yet. His interactions with Leona, a girl he became involved with, were so revolting. In the sex scene, the blurred line between rape, force, and sex made me recoil. The job of writing is not to make me feel good about everything. I know that, but I did recoil. A lot. In fact, I found myself avoiding all of Baldwin’s descriptions of women in the book. It is always hard to hear such a progressive author write about women in such a gross and unappealing way. It is one of those fallacies of the activist world. You know better than to expect more out of people because they fight for something you believe in, but you do it anyway. And, of course, men do interact with women in a forceful and sometimes detrimental way. We cannot just avoid writing about. So, here we are. It’s complicated.

All that being said, I will definitely be reading more Baldwin. He has a powerful voice that is impossible to ignore. So, here is my recommendation, read Baldwin, but read complete works. I am sure Another Country would mean more in its entirety. I intend to find out, anyway. I will leave you with two quotes from the collection.

“…all my countrymen had been able to offer me during the twenty-four years that I tried to live here was death—and death, moreover, on their own terms.” p.153 (NOTES FOR The Amen Corner)

“It has to do with political power and it has to do with sex. And this is a nation which, most unluckily, knows very little about either.” P.82 (Nobody Knows My Name)