Blue Benches, Yellow Flowera

 

A Moral Moment

                                   

Dear Sen./Rep. _______,

I'm guessing you didn't pay any attention to the marathon speech Cory Booker gave, so I'd like to give you a Cliff Notes version of it.

Quoting Heather Cox Richardson (whose Letters from an American it would do you good to read): 

" Booker called out the Trump administration’s violations of the Constitution and detailed the ways in which the administration is hurting Americans. Farmers have lost government contracts, putting them in a financial crisis. Cuts to environmental protections that protect clean air and water are affecting Americans’ health. Housing is unaffordable, and the administration is making things worse. Cuts to education and medical research and national security breaches have made Americans less safe. The regime accidentally deported a legal resident because of “administrative error” and now says it cannot get him back.

"“These are not normal times in America, and they should not be treated as such,” he said. “This is our moral moment. This is when the most precious ideas of our country are being tested…. Where does the Constitution live, on paper or in our hearts?”

So many things to address. Could YOU begin by being outraged that, through an administrative error, a legal resident has been sent to a foreign prison and the administration that sent him there isn't trying to get him back? 

Let this be YOUR moral moment. Or is the word "moral" on the ever-expanding list of words proscribed by this immoral regime?

Your sincerely outraged constituent

 

 

Dancing Woman by Elaine Neil Orr

                                      

A childhood in Nigeria left its indelible imprint on the author's sensibilities, and the sights, sounds, smells, flavors, and textures of that beloved land fill the pages of this rich and thoughtful novel.

1963, and Isabel, a newly married American who has come with her aid worker husband to a small town in Nigeria, struggles to find some meaning in her life. Her husband is busy with fulfilling work, often leaving her alone. She attends a party with friends and is at once drawn to a charismatic musician.  That single night will have consequences both devastating and rewarding.

Soon, while digging in her garden, Isabel discovers an enigmatic terra cotta female figure that somehow seems full of meaning. As she attempts to decipher the message, she returns to painting the watercolors that once gave meaning to her life, until a casual criticism stopped her pleasure in creation. 

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The novel is full of incident and reflection. And always, Nigeria, the place and its people, speak to Isabel-- and to the reader.

Of course, I particularly enjoyed the vivid descriptions as Isabel created her watercolors. And by the end of the book, I was so invested in the characters that I found myself hoping for a sequel.

Rabbit, Rabbit

 

Where wild violets come from . . .