Arbor Day
It’s Arbor Day and I’d like to hug a tree but just a couple of hours outdoors yesterday had me wheezing and sneezing and searching for my inhaler. The lilacs are almost spent, so if you haven’t been to the botanic garden (and you’re in the city) you might want to get there soon…peonies in bloom, bluebells coming soon…but allergies made me want to drink a gallon of water and sleep for three hours…
I finished reading One Crazy Summer yesterday and it was EXCELLENT! Daring, really, and I’m always drawn to depictions of mothers who lack that so-called maternal instinct. When Cecile’s three girls show up to spend a month with her in Oakland, she says—to their faces—“I should have gone to Mexico when I had the chance.” The girls don’t know their poet mother’s talking about terminating her pregnancies, but they know she’s talking about some other way of abandoning them…I thought it was really interesting that Rita Williams-Garcia chose to have such young children bear witness to their mother’s callousness but also the danger and drama of the Black Panther Party (and its surveillance by the police and CIA). I was in tears at the end…a must read. Can’t wait to meet Rita and Kekla Magoon in late May to discuss the power and appeal of historical fiction.
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