Investigators dig up clues burned in bomb wreckage
Young lives lost in Boston blasts
In the world of acts, the urge to help overwhelms
Attacks at end of marathon have crossed symbolic line
Bystander: I did my duty
6 trauma centers played crucial role
No. 1 goal: Find who did it
The ‘Why not’ instead of ‘Why?’
The 2014 Boston Marathon: A race with familiar rhythms and no surrender to fright
***
Source: Chicago Tribune, Section 1, Wednesday, April 17, 2013
If you like to read, this challenge will intrigue you: write a list of the last five books you’ve read. Then consider what your list might mean to someone else.
John Warner figures that out in his weekly Chicago Tribune column titled The Biblioracle. From the lists emailed to him, he assesses what the person likes to read—for instance, a list may show that the reader “likes solid characters” or “doesn’t mind going down a weirder path”—and then recommends what to read next.
Warner’s column came to mind last week as I was thinking about this belated Monday post. I was far from home, “house sitting” my young adult, self-sufficient grandchildren. and had thought I’d have lots of time to read. I didn’t, however, because it was much more fun hanging out with them as they dashed in and out between their active work and school schedules.
My personal assistant for the week!
But I did squeeze in reading three books. So, pretend for a moment that you are a Biblioracle and are figuring out what you think I may want to read next.
Timothy Kurek’s The Cross in the Closet, the story of a young white male, a Southern Baptist, who goes undercover for a year as gay to experience that life first hand.
Mary A. Osborne’s (author of Nonna’s Book of Mysteries) Alchemy’s Daughter (forthcoming, second in a series of three), a story of a young woman in fourteenth century Italy torn between convention and desire.
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the story of a man who changes personalities back and forth between good and evil.
Cover via Amazon
Because the Tribune’s Biblioracle has a list of five to work with, I’ll add two books I bought while on a shopping spree with my granddaughters that included a thrift store. I’ve not read them yet, but the titles seem to tell their story.
Geneen Roth’s Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything
Lewis Smedes’ Standing on the Promises: Keeping Hope Alive for a Tomorrow We Cannot Control
At the end of the week with my grandchildren, I spent the weekend with one of my sisters living nearby. We are known to talk for a week straight, so we had to talk fast.
Of course we talked books. She was my high school American Literature teacher in 1958. I told her my idea for this post and gave her my list of titles. She volunteered her recommendation for my next read: John Grogan’s (author of Marley and Me) new memoir, The Longest Trip Home, the story of a spiritual struggle.
Do this exercise for yourself. Do you see a pattern in what you choose to read, or do you like to skip and hop among the variety of selections?
If you’d like to make a recommendation for me, let me know by clicking on comments at the bottom of this post. Happy reading!
From the Chicago Tribune yesterday:
The Rev. John Buchanan retires from Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago.
Sunday was a big day at our church. We’re happy for John and his wife Sue. He’s prepared us well for his leaving, and we’re grateful for his parting message, as quoted in the article above, that reflects the thrust of his ministry:
The retiring pastor called on congregants at Fourth Presbyterian Church to love their neighbor regardless of race, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, economics or politics.
Read that statement again. Let it soak in. A big challenge, right?
A reception followed the third packed service in the Drake Hotel. Some of my memories in pictures:
the last Sunday
associate pastors and crowd waiting
the final exit
at the Drake
tea sandwiches and scones
From the cover of Sunday’s bulletin, our minister’s parting words after every service:
Go into the world in peace and courage.
Hold to the good. Honor all God’s children.
Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.
It’s time to tell you that my “skip sugar” resolution for the month of December paid off. Three pounds lost. Try it. You may find a little thing—a no candy, cake, pie, or cookie deal—could work for you.
However, all is not well. At my yearly physical last week, my doctor told me, even if there’s no family history, I am entering the decade when my age is a risk factor for heart disease. Comforting, isn’t it. He asked about my diet and what I did for exercise. If I don’t downsize the former and upsize the latter, I may have to consider medications for those cholesterol and blood pressure numbers that have been creeping up. With great haste, I assured him I was serious about lowering both those numbers, and that I was ultra serious about not taking medication, and, yes, I was determined to follow through with diet modifications and walking. So I staved off the prescriptions for now with his promise of a review again after a few months.
If you didn’t hop on my skip sugar train, maybe after your holiday scale demise, you’d like to hop on my jetliner to lower my numbers over the next six months. June can be our goal!
Aside from persistent health-based resolutions, I have two sets of resolutions I’d like to share. First, a literary editor at the Chicago Tribune suggests a list of twelve classic books to read. As I scanned the list, I found myself feeling more and more troubled. I’d read only one. And so I could fault my life once again of eating, drinking, and sleeping nursing. I am happy though that the book club in my building usually builds in a classic each year. In April, we’ll be reading J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. For many it’s a review; for me it’s a first-time read.
Second, a clinical psychologist blogged the next set of resolutions. At first read, this post, To Your Good (Mental) Health: One Hundred Resolutions for the New Year, appears brief, concise, simplistic. Ponder awhile, though, and you will be startled at the depth of each thought. Imagine, if each of us adopted these resolutions, the world could be a more content, more compassionate, more altruistic, more trusting, more thankful place. More of a lot of good things.
Kindle and iPhone
One more thing—my fingers are sliding and tapping around these holidays with new technology. An iPhone and a Kindle have taken over my free time. The day before these were to arrive, I told my husband, “After tomorrow, our lives will never be the same.” Looking a tad worried, he peered over his newspaper. “Why?” I thought about saying something drastic like “I’m thinking of going back to school” (he’s threatened no more degrees) or even worse, “I’m thinking of taking a year-long solo trip around the world”. But I stayed in reality and addressed the problems, and then the joys, of turning our lives over to touch technology.
Wish us well. And I wish you well this year, whether it be with improvements in your health; your reading habits; your every day thoughts, feelings, and actions; and/or the things you promised to yourself last night at midnight.
And, just what were those things??? Document them here!
Image via Wikipedia
If you’re a reader and/or a writer, you would love the free, two-day Printers Row Lit Fest, the largest literary event in the Midwest, sponsored by the Chicago Tribune. Read details here.
With 200 booksellers, 7 stages, and more than 100 free literary events, I spent an evening scouring the schedule in the Tribune’s insert, and then reserved free tickets online for events requiring them.
Each year, I look for events in which I can learn something—about the author, the book, or the writing process. Here’s a snapshot of the five moderated author sessions I attended and a one-liner about what I learned:
Deborah Baker, author of The Convert: A Tale of Exit and Extremism, the story of a young New York woman in the early 60s who becomes obsessed with Arabic culture and moves to Pakistan. Baker, a biographer, stumbled on letters by the protagonist, and they piqued her interest to write the woman’s story. I learned that I must be aware that I bring my bias of my own religion to my encounters with religious views that differ from my own.
Alice LaPlante, author of Turn of Mind, a literary novel/mystery that was inspired after a visit with her mother who has Alzheimer’s. I learned that a painful personal experience can be turned into something that will provide insight into the mind of a person with Alzheimer’s.
Richard Ford, editor of Blue Collar, White Collar, No Collar: Stories of Work, stories that include showing how the language of our work spills over into our personal relationships. I learned that, as a nurse, I had better watch my use of medical terminology at dinner! My word choice probably would be more appetizing if I’d become a chef.
Dr. David Ansell, author of County, a parallel story of his training/practice at Cook County Hospital in the context of Chicago’s political clout in 70s and 80s. I learned to take more notice of how our system of health care is “designed” to be unresponsive to the poor. When asked his ideal system, Ansell responded that health care must be “socially integrated.” Rich people should lie next to poor people in hospitals and receive the same level of care.
I particularly enjoyed Ansell’s presentation because I spent three months at County for my psychiatric nursing rotation in the early 60s. I saw my experiences in some of his examples—overcrowded wards, lack of fresh linens, no call bells for patients. See the photo above for County which still stands but is not in use.
Robert McClory, author of Radical Disciple: Father Pfleger, St. Sabina Church and the Fight for Social Justice, a biography of a priest’s work and mission on the south side of Chicago. I learned never to underestimate the power of what one person’s passion for social justice can accomplish for a community.
I promise, that if you come to this Lit Fest, you will be enriched in ways you would not anticipate. For each one thing I learned that I’ve stated above, there were at least five others!
Image via Wikipedia
I was thrilled yesterday (5/30/11) to find an article titled “Jobs in Health Care on the Rise” in the Business section of the Chicago Tribune.
In a discussion of the need for more doctors, Christopher J. Gearon notes that more of their jobs are being held by nurse practitioners and physician assistants who also are in short supply. He adds, “The shortages are exacerbated by a lack of training slots, particularly notable in nursing schools, to meet rising demand, and too few professionals with advanced degrees to do the teaching” (pp. 21-22).
A shortage of faculty in nursing schools. My point exactly.
In my year-long search (2009) for a literary agent to represent my career memoir, Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor’s Journey of Faith and Self, my query letter contained variations of this theme: “…I’m concerned about projections that the shortage of registered nurses (RNs) could reach a half million by 2025. There is already a shortage of RNs and of nursing faculty. Qualified nursing school applicants are being turned away.” And, to emphasize the need for a book such as mine, I’d add that in a market where there are few nursing memoirs, my book is the only one I know of that is written by a nurse educator.
There were a few agents who took the time to write me a personal response that they liked my writing, but didn’t see that they could “successfully interest a publisher.” Apparently, I did not do a good enough sell job about the need for such a book. I should have had Gearon’s help!
I hope literary agents are reading articles like this one in the Trib. My dream is that they and publishers would be clamoring for more memoirs by nurses. Memoirs that could dispel stereotypes of our profession, that would show that we are a thinking as well as a doing and feeling profession, that would interest readers to think about becoming a nurse. Or a teacher of nursing.
I also hope that reading Caring Lessons (Deep River Books, 2010), the story of my career from nurse’s aide to professor emerita, from a diploma in nursing to a PhD in nursing science, may nudge a few readers into those halls of ivy!
I’m not famous. I’ve never been on the front page of any newspaper, unless I can count my president’s notes years ago on a District 20 newsletter of the Illinois Nursing Association. And I’ve not had a traumatic history to relate. So how do I promote my book? My promo literature includes something about an ordinary suburban sandbox mom who eventually got a PhD and enjoyed a lengthy career teaching psychiatric nursing. But noteworthy? Not really in the everyday world of sensationalist-type memoirs.
And that’s my point. I believe every person, regardless of fame or trauma, has a worthwhile story to tell. The most mundane things can be made interesting. And maybe humorous. Think about what you did this morning. Put a humorous slant on it, and you have a story that others can relate to.
I was prompted to write this post this morning by an email from my friend Carol Rottman who responded to my bike tour post of a few days ago. I featured her latest book awhile back–All Nature Sings: A Spiritual Journey of Place. She asked about my promotion ideas. I promised an answer here.
With the arrival of Caring Lessons: A Nursing Professor’s Journey of Faith and Self imminent, I made a list yesterday of all the people I’d like to notify. Here goes a sampling:
Former classmates at every school I attended ( notices in alumni magazines)
Former students and colleagues (notices to the deans of those schools of nursing)
Nursing organizations that I once belonged to
Area deans of schools of nursing
Churches where I’ve had memberships
Family members on both sides
Friends (and friends of friends)
Neighbors over time
Fellow students from writing workshops
SheWrites (an online group of writers)
LinkedIn groups I’ve joined
(No Facebook or Twitter. Yet…)
Appropriate people on my email list
My husband’s work colleagues
There are many names under each of the above categories–contact people, etc. And I will ask each of them to invite their friends and family to visit this blog to see if they’d be interested either for themselves, a nurse friend, a harried mom trying to balance career and motherhood, or a person experiencing mental illness herself or in her family. (For information about mental illness, see the site for the National Alliance on Mental Illness.)
Some of these people have connections to larger venues. I have been networking to see how that might help with book promotion. I’m very thankful for many folks who are supporting me in this new journey. Until then, I’m waiting for the Chicago Tribune to call. Or maybe the President. Nurses need a voice!
