In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts

This book was written by a doctor in Canada who cares for addicted, homeless people in Vancouver. He explains addiction as he understands it (it's causes and the ways it changes the brain), he explains why the war on drugs has been a complete failure, and believes we treat addicted people horribly.. less than human. He suggests kinder, more humane approaches to the addicted as they affect all of us.

He also makes a broader point about our society (western Europe, Canada & the US): we have sky-rocketing rates of all manner of addictions (drugs, alcohol, gambling, spending, work), depression and anxiety so perhaps we should look a little more closely at our values. The way we treat the most vulnerable is founded in the (at this point, very bad) idea that each person is responsible only for himself. If you make mistakes, they are your own and you should pay for them. If you cannot survive within the capitalist structure that values people only for what they can produce, then you have no value. And then worse, you deserve what you get.

I don't think most of the liberal people I know think this consciously. However, the way people raise their children now exposes the rot described above.  Hyper-competitive parents cultivate their products ( I mean kids ) into production machines. They do not care about other people's children.  We are lost.

A Year in Provence

This book was written in 1989. It's is a very popular, bestselling memoir that details a couple whose problems you wish you had. They buy a home in Provence. It's hard to get contractors to come to your home to finish the remodel. The concrete table may not be in place by the summer. Tourists swarm in the summer ( I am sure they are there year round now). The neighbor is cranky but lovable.

 In 1989, we had not begun to feel the effects of globalization.. or we didn't understand that globalization was the force causing the problems. We didn't know the earth was cooking. There was no internet or smart phones or 9-11 or the myriad of other things that have changed. The world seemed simpler. I am not sure it was though.

The book is fun and fluffy. A good escape from the modern world.

The Long Hitch Home

This book arrived on my door step and I had no idea who had sent it. It took 2 guesses. It was from my friend Kate in Australia. She loves travel. Friends of hers gave her the book when they met the author selling his book on Portabello Rd.

This is a memoir written by a British man in his early 30's.  He details his ~4 month trip hitchhiking from Tasmania back to Britain. This dude is very adventurous. He told great stories and I admire his resourcefulness and commitment to travel. He met lots of local people and understands a great deal about the politics of places I had never heard of and rarely think about. Fascinating how the US is truly everywhere .. especially when there are natural resources to be had.

I appreciated his political view point. I was surprised when he referred to Tony Blair as a war criminal but he's spent lots of time in places where imperialist American and British interests have wrecked people's lives.

One thing that gave me pause is that I will never be able to do what he did. It is not possible for a woman to hitch hike alone throughout the world and not be harmed. Just not possible. There are many things I choose not to do (ie climb Mt Everest) but I don't think a lot about things I am excluded from doing. Most people in the world do not have the luxury to travel like this author even if they are male.. they are limited in other ways.

In any case, I enjoyed this book and passed it on the a very adventurous neighbor.

NYC days 3 & 4

Our third full day in NYC was Thanksgiving. It was the coldest thanksgiving in 117 years.

Since I'd made these plans in August, I purchased tickets for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was extremely cold at that end of Manhattan. I purposefully decided not to get near the parade. We saw a lot of the set up the day before and I was grateful for that decision.

No good family pictures to be had

The kids enjoyed Ellis Island. Sonia followed a guided audio tour and learned a lot about immigration from the late 1800's to mid 1900's. They turned the building where immigrants were processed into a very kid friendly museum.

We spent 4 hours at the statue and the museum so we went home to rest before our Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant we chose (very randomly) in Brooklyn. It was very disappointing and very expensive. We took the subway both ways so at least we didn't overpay for transportation. 

On our last day, we split up. Sonia wanted to see a Broadway show so I'd purchased tickets to Wicked. First we visited the Empire State Building.

The Empire State Building as a cake.

Then we visited the Museum of Modern Art. This was a bust. The audio guide Sonia picked up was terrible compared to the made-for-kids version at Ellis Island. She was bored. I was bored too. In fact, large museums filled with people overwhelm me. I wanted to go to the more manageable Guggenheim but I learned that even though NYC is small, one cannot get around quickly. Walking is as fast as driving.. and the subway isn't much better. The Guggenheim was 2 miles a way while the MoMA was only 1.

We had a mediocre lunch and then went to Wicked. We loved that. I could see plays every day. Sonia agreed.

I really like NYC and I enjoy adventure. However, this trip was very expensive and the kids fought and complained a lot. It's made me re-think travel. I do not think I'll take them to another large urban center unless I have a free place to stay or some other obvious incentive. 

NYC! Days 1 and 2

At the beginning of the year, I'd planned a trip to Japan for the last 2 weeks of November. I've always wanted to go. In the summer, however, I cancelled the trip. Because we'd be visiting all urban places in November, the trip sounded like more work than fun. When a friend told me there'd be an exhibit celebrating the 20th anniversary of the American publishing of Harry Potter in NYC in November, I decided that would be our substitute for Tokyo. We are here for 5 nights. Urban trips are a lot of work but they are also fun.. although they might be more fun for adults than kids.

On the first day, we walked 10 miles.

We took the subway

We walked along the Highline

We visited the Intrepid: a decommissioned aircraft carrier built for WW2. Years ago, when the aircraft carrier was decommissioned, it was put up for sale with the expectation it would be turned to scrap. A wealthy New York businessman thought it would make a great museum. He parked it on the lower west side of NYC. I was surprised the Intrepid got on of the Space Shuttles-- the training unit but that's more than Seattle got when they bid to host one of the shuttles.

One of two shooter seats for large anti-aircraft machine guns.. seems like a slice of hell to me but Jack liked it.

We then took a cab to the Tenement Museum on the lower east side. It turns out that in NYC walking and taking a cab take about the same amount of time. Before the Tenement Museum, we went to a famous Jewish food/culture restaurant called Russ and Daughters. The restaurant is owned by a 4th generation member of the family and started in the early 1900's. I thought that since we'd arrive around 230, we'd be able to get in for lunch pretty easily. I've also learned the lunch hour in NYC starts at 2. Ryan thinks it's because so many people work with businesses on the west coast so they don't start work until 10. I think there are 1.6 million people who live in the 22 square miles of Manhattan and then 1.6 million more tourists who are there at any given time. NYC is popular so there are lines.

It was worth the wait though. We had bagels and smoked salmon and matzah ball soup among other things. Great food.. this is one of the reasons for 1.6 million tourists.

The tenement museum was interesting for us but pretty boring for the kids. You have to sign up for a tour and the shortest one was 90 minutes. The kids did a good job but Jack asked the tour guide many times when the tour would end. No pictures allowed.

We headed back to our hotel's wine and cheese hour and then onto an Italian food court where we had gelato and canoli. 

Day 2 started with a trip (by taxi when we should have taken the subway) to the NYC Historical Society for the Harry Potter exhibit. It was great.. They have some of JK Rowling's original notebooks where she wrote HP in long hand. The books are such a phenomenon that it's hard to imagine these ideas just leapt out of someone's brain onto a piece of paper.

We walked through Central park to the upper east side where we walked into the lobby of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The kids were adamant that they didn't want to go in but I at least wanted them to see the lobby. Maybe they'll return as adults. We then walked to midtown through Central Park. We stopped at lots of playgrounds and enjoyed the nice weather.

Alice in Wonderland statue

Sonia throws leaves when I snap the picture. Jack shows you how he feels about walking around Central Park.

We walked down to midtown so Jack could visit the Nintendo store and Sonia could ice skate at Rockefeller center.

lots of Christmas decorations and so many people it was hard to walk on the streets.

Even walking two streets over from the Avenue of the Americas meant less people traffic. We headed back to the hotel. We walked 8 miles today. 

San Diego

We visited San Diego last week because Jack wanted to go to LEGOLAND for his birthday. We haven't done much travel as a family this year so in the summer, San Diego in November seemed like a good idea.

We stayed in South Oceanside which is almost Carlsbad. The Southern California coastal towns run together. South O as they call it is on the 101. The 101 seems a lot like Aurora as it's no longer than main highway up the coast. However, it's clear this area is in the middle of a revival. There was lots of construction, hipster restaurants (we ate at a place called the Wrench and the Rodent), good coffee and many a pilates studio.

LEGOLAND is a theme park geared for younger kids. Because Jack is a bit young for his age, it was a great park for him. Since we went the week before Thanksgiving, there were no lines. We also got to visit the beach when we got home from the park. Fun was had by all.

While Jack can have fun when we travel, it also challenges him a lot. Melt-downs are very common as he is called upon to be flexible. I include moments like this because it's not all fun. 

Slow cruise through LEGO mini town. We are in NYC right now so when we were in San Diego I pointed out many of the major landmarks we'd see in NYC.

San Diego in November... sunny, 70's, perfect

Almost Everything: notes on hope

Anne Lamott is great. I admire her authenticity and her ability to write about pain and joy and somehow make it interesting.

My favorite part of this book was her point that "we should never allow them to get us to hate them."

If you don't know to what she is referring, consider yourself fortunate and move on.

Phoenix

We visited Phoenix to celebrate my brother's 40th birthday. My mom threw a lovely celebration... lots of fun. It was 88 degrees during the day.. so we spent time sweating by the pool.

Santa Fe

I visited one of my college roommates for 4 days in October. Santa Fe is at 7000 ft above sea level. It's also the oldest city west of the Mississippi river -- founded in the 1600's by the Spanish. Somehow the Spanish and Native Americans sort of got along and traded so there is still a lot of influence visible from each group. Cool city.

We went to the famous balloon festival, hiked and hit a few spas carved into mountains. Great visit.

hiking slowly at 10,000 feet.

hieroglyphics from a REMOTE trading post

How to Build a Girl

I listened to this story. It's about a teenager who lives north of London in a poor / working class neighborhood in the early '90's. Her dad takes disability payments and hates Margaret Thatcher. The book describes the destruction of British industry as globalization rises. The book isn't about that though. It's a funny and sad story of a young girl trying to get out of a hopeless situation by becoming a music critic.  There are lots of stories of terrible, painful humiliation but the narrative is about growth and that is sadly just part of it for everyone.

There were parts where I laughed out loud. It distracted me from the sadness of the world so thumbs up!

Los Angeles

I visited LA for two days in August to visit my sister and a friend from my year in Italy.

I did not take one photo. I can report the air was better in LA than it was in Seattle. My sister and I ate really good Peruvian food.  I went on an 8 mile urban hike as I walked from my sister's neighborhood to my friend's. I listened to the Wilderness podcast. Great fun.

Bellingham

I went to Bellingham for a couple of days last month with mom friends. Our kids have never hung out and are completely different so we have to hang out on our own. We've started a monthly get together so we can have parent friends during middle school. We are all isolated for our own reasons, and we have fun together.

Bellingham is really beautiful. We walked along a lovely downtown board walk and had lunch at a brewery I've been to many times but can't remember the name.. I am such a good travel writer.  Other than that, we just hung around and went from restaurant to bar to theater to walking trails. Lots of fun.

Lost Connections

My brother recommended this book to me. It was recommended to him by some intrusive software that had figured out he was going through a hard time.  The book is about the recent history of depression and anxiety and the current theories about their treatment.

The writer is someone who had suffered from depression since adolescence. He is from Britain but they have many of the same problems we do and they treat depression in the same way: they medicate it without asking any other questions about the person's life.

The author documents lots of really good reasons an average person in the US or Europe would be depressed or anxious ( they are treated as the same thing in the book -- their treatments by the medical community are the same):  lack of community and social and family ties, lack of autonomy from monotonous low paid and/or high stress work, empty values such as materialism that simply lead to emptiness.

I remember years ago when a friend called me to say she was considering taking medication for depression. I said, of course you are depressed. We live in a culture that hates women.  Who is happy here? Only people swimming upstream and that is exhausting.

In the years since I had to learn this lesson for myself.. so much easier said that done. To be content in our culture is an act of defiance against the rules of the society and the force and influence of our human condition. I've had to redefine the rules by which I live to avoid the fate of so many. It is a lot of swimming upstream but it's very worth it. Plus, as the author points out, the medication doesn't work for long.

Good book.

Three Identical Strangers

It is very rare that I see a movie in the theater.. or even at home. For my birthday, I watched The Spy Who Dumped Me because Kate McKinnon is in it, so is the guy from Outlander, and it's directed by a woman.  It was fine.. too violent for me. After seeing the movie, I vowed only to go to independent theaters where they don't assault a viewer with trailers for shitty movies for half an hour before the actual movie is shown. I digress.

A friend invited me to the documentary Three Identical Strangers. As promised, we went to an independent theater where I was not assaulted by shitty trailers. Good start.

This movie is not what I expected. It was so chilling, and thought-provoking, definitely not a feel-good show even though it starts out really happy. I cannot stand violent movies but I do not mind movies that are sad or like this one, disturbing, especially if they make you think.

I won't reveal the twist but the movie has lots of themes including which has more power: nature or nuture. A friend of mine once said that she didn't think you could change a child for the better ( however you define better ). Encouraging them to practice violin more or work harder on math usually has no outcome on the child's adult life other than hating music or math or the parent who pushed it. Ask Andre Agassi how he feels about tennis and/or his dad.

However, she said, you can hurt a child or change her for the worse by treating her poorly (belittling, berating, excessive punishing, limiting freedom, general meanness). You can exacerbate whatever genetic weakness may be lurking especially in the realm of mental health.

This movie seems to support that premise.

Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus

I've heard the author of this book, Douglas Rushkoff, referred to as a futurist. I think that means someone who can see trends and extrapolate them to create a vision of the future. He's a professor of something that sounds like liberal arts but he clearly understands a lot about technology -- both the specifics of how it works and it's implications for our lives.

His premise is that corporations exist for growth. They must grown infinitely. Now, however, they have reached maximum growth. There is nowhere else to grow. No new markets, no extra planet. Even if that isn't true, he says the corporate model is broken because it does not serve humans. I think he'd say that the corporate model has more responsibility for the decline of the American worker than automation.

He suggests that we create businesses for reasons other than growth, and that growth as a strategy is already failing. Oddly, his solutions sound idyllic. We could live in a world where people are not overworked and anxious about their jobs. They are paid a good wage and have time to enjoy their lives because business will serve human interests.

I liked his ideas so much I joined his email list.

The title refers to the futility that most people in our economic system feel. He claims even CEOs do not like running a business with only the next quarterly investor call setting their priorities.  Maybe but we all perpetuate the system because we don't have a lot of choices.. CEOs could lead the way but they don't.

Educated

My aunt recommended this book when I told her I was searching for books by people who have overcome great difficulty. While that is an accurate description of Educated, it doesn't capture even 10% of themes of this book. This is a phenomenal memoir. I do not know how it became a bestseller by its publishing date but I certainly understand it.

Tara Westover lived an unusual life. She was raised in rural Idaho by people who could be described as the Taliban wing of the Mormon church. I thought all practicing Mormons were devout but the contrast between the Westover family and the Mormons of my childhood is vast. Her parents were survivalists. They didn't believe in school or medicine so the children received no education and no medical treatment in spite of many life threatening injuries. The kids worked with their dad in a scrap yard. I could go on but the summary is lots of terrible stuff happens.

The fascinating part of the story is the way Westover chronicles how she transforms from an abused and thoroughly brainwashed person into a woman who wins the fellowship to Cambridge to pursue a master's degree then PhD. 

Depending on your own childhood, you might experience this book differently from me. I had loving parents who defined loving their child as allowing the child to grow into whoever she wanted to be. Westover also had loving parents but in their family love was defined by obedience and loyalty and the extent to which each child would kneel to the will of their father and his vision of their family and the world.

If your parents were not so accepting, if you've had to live your adult life trying to heal from your own childhood, this book might be more painful than fascinating.

When I want to condemn Westover's parents for what they did to her, I am reminded of the book The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.  Similar to the Westover parents, Amy Chua loves her children and felt that she knew what was best for them. She withheld her love from her children so they would be academic superstars and accomplished musicians-- identities she chose for them.  Their adherence to her will was the most important component to receiving her love.  That's a fairly accepted way of parenting among my peers. They want their children to succeed out of love for them (and if they're being honest, their own fear for them) so they force them to perform in school or sports or fulfill whatever identity the parents have selected. The children do not have a choice (or a very limited choice) in who they become.  It seems less violent but I am not sure by how much.

Yes, we (still) can!

Dan Pfieffer started working for Barack Obama in early 2007 when he was building his team to run for President.  He worked for him until 2015 ultimately serving as Director of Communications for the White House.

His book is filled with anecdotes about how they responded to the propaganda machines that existed to defeat Obama's goals.

Pfieffer is one of the hosts of my favorite podcast, Pod Save America. I know he is very smart and knowledgable about politics but I didn't love his book. It was unsatisfying.  Talking about life before Trump is like talking about the US before Sept. 11. Those rules no longer apply. Obama's team tried for years to negotiate and act like the opposition did not hate him personally. Hillary Clinton seemed to run on that premise as well.

Pfieffer's book became an immediate bestseller and that gives me some hope that there are lots of people like me who are spending more time on civic engagement than ever before. That said, we live under a gerrymandered congress that's supposed to be balanced by a gerrymandered presidency and, as a result, a gerrymandered supreme court. The odds are long.

Cambria

Every year, we visit Ryan's parents on the Central coast. This has to be one of the most beautiful parts of the world. We always have a good time. We visit the beach every day and then eat dinner with Ryan's parents. 

San Simeon cove

morning hike

not funny

The Last Black Unicorn

While trying to deal with the sadness that comes from living in a country moving towards fascism, I've searched for stories of inspirational people. I listened to Oprah interview Bryan Stephenson who wrote Just Mercy. Stephenson is a lawyer who started the Equal Justice Initiative. He has spent his career defending people on death row who have been convicted of crimes they did not commit. He is a lovely and hopeful man. Then I listened to Oprah's interview with Anthony Ray Hinton, a man who spent 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit. Stephenson had been his lawyer and Oprah learned about Hinton when she interviewed Stephenson. Hinton is another extraordinary individual who overcame infinite obstacles and walked out of prison a hopeful person. Then I listened to Oprah's interview with Malala and her father. All of these people have one thing in common: they chose love over hate even though they are victims of extraordinary acts of hatred and violence.

Tiffany Haddish is a comedian who had a terrible childhood. Her story of success is an extreme version of the Horatio Alger stories. Somehow, she overcame poverty, abuse, illiteracy, race and gender discrimination to become a famous stand-up comedian and movie star.

This book is not well-written. Haddish didn't learn to read until she was 15. I listened to her read the book so it felt like I listened to a person tell me stories from their life. She is a very fun person to spend time with .. funny, hopeful, real. Many of the stories are very sad.

A heard about the book from a 75 year old white woman from eastern Washington who sat next to me on my flight to SLO earlier this month. She mentioned that she'd read it in a book club and was the only person who liked it. The other women thought it was too vulgar. It is definitely that .. so .. don't read it if you can't handle vulgarity.

Decatur

We are fortunate to have some lovely and adventurous neighbors who recently bought a share of a cooperative vacation property on Decatur Island in the San Juans. They invited us to visit with them a few weekends ago.

It was amazing!  The co-op is made of about 20 families who've owned the property for 40 years or so. The property consists of 8 homes of varying size on the water, lots of fun sports equipment (bikes, canoes), a tennis court, a couple who maintains the property and a boat that ferries members of the co-op from Anacortes to Decatur.

The island is very small, has lots of hiking trails, and kids can run free. The sun was shining and we had a great time.

view on the way to the co-op

Sonia returning from playing with a friend she made on the island.

love truck seen on a hike

Why the Rich are Getting Richer

I have mentioned that I read random finance books I find at the local library. This one has to be the worst I've read. The author, Robert Kiyosaki , wrote a very popular finance book in 2000 called Rich Dad Poor Dad. The premise of the two books seems the same: borrow heavily and invest in real estate. Not surprisingly, he names Donald Trump as a friend and personal hero. They wrote a book together. Also, not surprisingly, the author filed for bankruptcy in 2012 (he does not mention that in his second book).

The rich are getting richer because they have more courage. They don't pay taxes. They care only for themselves.

This reminds me of an article I read recently by a futurist named Douglas Rushkoff called Survival of the Richest.

Here's an excerpt of the story:
------------------------------------
After I arrived, I was ushered into what I thought was the green room. But instead of being wired with a microphone or taken to a stage, I just sat there at a plain round table as my audience was brought to me: five super-wealthy guys — yes, all men — from the upper echelon of the hedge fund world. After a bit of small talk, I realized they had no interest in the information I had prepared about the future of technology. They had come with questions of their own.

They started out innocuously enough. Ethereum or bitcoin? Is quantum computing a real thing? Slowly but surely, however, they edged into their real topics of concern.

Which region will be less impacted by the coming climate crisis: New Zealand or Alaska? Is Google really building Ray Kurzweil a home for his brain, and will his consciousness live through the transition, or will it die and be reborn as a whole new one? Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system and asked, “How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?”

This single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from the angry mobs. But how would they pay the guards once money was worthless? What would stop the guards from choosing their own leader? The billionaires considered using special combination locks on the food supply that only they knew. Or making guards wear disciplinary collars of some kind in return for their survival. (emphasis mine)
---------------------------------

We have all heard that money is the root of evil but I think it's greed: the concept that you can never have enough. It seems to corrode people from within and turns them into fearful, myopic trolls. To avoid the taint, I am avoiding finance books for a while.. maybe forever.

Anyway, don't read this book. 

SLO

This weekend, I visited San Luis Obispo with my high schools friends.. or rather, my high school friends were supposed to be there but only one other person came. Still, we had fun.

We chose SLO because my friend wanted to visit Hearst Castle. Luckily, I have a friend from SLO who offered us her home since she would not be there. Central California is really amazing. We went to a winery (there are at least 15 close to the city),  we visited a hot springs, we hiked.

Montana de Oro

        We ate good food. We toured Hearst Castle:

Indoor roman pool -- from the internet

aerial view -- huge main home, 3 separate guest houses, an indoor and outdoor pool, tennis courts,  a theater, 116 bedrooms, 50 or so bathrooms

The castle is the property of the State of California. After Hearst died, the heirs apparently did not want to maintain the property and sold it to the state for $1. Hearst had an interesting will. He did not allow his 5 sons to inherit his wealth directly. He set up a trust (or some legal entity) in which each child and grandchild owns shares in the Hearst Corporation.  The privately held company has 13 board positions and only 5 can be from members of his family. The company is now very valuable so I am not sure what shares are worth now. I read an article from 2006 that said each heir got $10 million a year from the estate. When the last of the grandchildren die, it seems like the heirs will then split the value of the company.

I heard an interview with Warren Buffett where he said the two worst words for the human spirit were welfare and trust fund. It seems most of the Hearst heirs are the idle rich but they do seem to have the energy to sue the estate on occasion apparently in search of more money. 

I understand why Hearst chose central California for his Shangri-la. The weather is perfect. The views are always amazing no matter where you stand. Birds of Paradise (my favorite flower) are everywhere as are bottle brush trees, palm trees, flowers of all colors.

We really enjoyed our weekend. Luckily, I get to return in July with the family while we visit my husband's family. Yahoo!

A Short History of Nearly Everything

I FINALLY FINISHED THIS BOOK. I started it over a year ago.

It's a history of how of world formed to look like it does today. Most of the story takes place between billions and millions of years ago. If the history of the world were a 24 hour day that starts a midnight, homo sapiens come on the scene at 3 minutes to midnight the following day.

Our existence seems entirely improbable and very tenuous. There is no chance we are going to survive indefinitely as a species because no species ever does .. although did you know alligators were around with the dinosaurs? I also learned that Yellowstone is a giant volcano and the bulk of the park is the cone that is 40 miles wide. 

He also introduces us to the great thinkers of the 19th and 20th century ( and a few from earlier centuries ) who studied how the universe was formed. When Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity, he was working in a patent office because he couldn't get a job as a teacher. It took people a while to understand the significance of his work.. and by work, I mean his thoughts. He seemed to have worked out the theory of relativity in his head.

Sadly, I have a hard time with natural history. I was interested when the book focused on cell development and genetics. I liked the part about the formation of Yellowstone. Otherwise, I struggled with this book. 

Ready Player 1

There is a quote on the front of this book from the Huffington Post: Delightful! an adult Harry Potter.

I would never call this book delightful. It was suspenseful, imaginative, clever but not delightful. Harry Potter is a story about love, self sacrifice, friendship, and defeating an evil dictator. This book also contains elements of those things. It's the setting of the two novels that makes one delightful and the other vaguely creepy. At times while reading, I felt the same queasy feeling I had when I read the Handmaid's Tale.

The book takes place in a video game / virtual world called the OASIS.  The real world is a miserable, hopeless place that everyone wants to escape because they are mostly destitute due to living under a fascist government.

The creator of the OASIS dies. He has no heirs or friends and lived a very isolated existence because (people assume) he had Asperger's.. and he was a mad genius and billionaire because of the world he created. He decides to give his company and his billions to the person who can win the game he created within the OASIS.

The book's author is clearly passionate about video games. He creates a fantastic virtual world -- far more creative than anything you could experience in the real world.. like Disneyland would be super dull in comparison.  At the end of the book there are a few sentences of dialog between characters about the fact that the real world is a better place to be .. escaping is not a good idea. This would be like reading a book about people who have the best time of their lives all while high and then at the end, someone says, you know, drugs aren't good.

The best part of the book were all the obscure references to pop culture in the 80's.  Fun book.. I just hope that future does not become reality.

Homegoing

This is the best novel I've read this year. I love this book.

Every year, the Seattle Public library chooses a book that they suggest the city read. The idea is that the city can participate in a conversation about the book as people do within book clubs. They buy hundreds of copies and make sure there are many available at each branch.

The author, Yaa Gyasi, is a young woman (29) born in Ghana who immigrated here with her family when she was very young. Her father is a professor. Their fanily ultimately settled in Mobile, Alabama. Gyasi attended Stanford, then the Iowa Writer's workshop.

The New Yorker wrote a lovely review:

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/05/30/yaa-gyasis-homegoing

The book is an interesting story of Africans who stayed in Africa and those who were brought to the US. It feels like an explanation of how we got here since slavery shaped this country and our politics. It is also a story about the disintegration of community in a culture that values the individual over the family and how that causes suffering especially to vulnerable populations but really, to everyone.

Oddly, it is not a depressing book to read.

local adventures

I've never been much of a hiker.. instead I've chosen cycling or running or other outdoor endeavors. Suddenly, I love hiking.  There are so many great hikes right around Seattle so I decided to start exploring.

For Mother's day, I decided to go to Poo Poo point on Tiger Mountain. On a Sunday morning it only took 25 minutes to get there. I went with a dear friend and we enjoyed the 4.5 miles to the top with one small exception: we saw a black bear.

There are signs all over Tiger mountain that tell hikers bears live there but everything you read says it is highly unlikely you'll see a bear. As we approached the end of the trail, we passed two women raising their arms in the air saying in loud voices "there is a bear right there there is a bear right there." And sure enough, 10 yards away: a bear. My friend and I imitated the women and because rational thought was beyond my grasp I just kept walking forward on the trail. The bear just watched us. When my friend and I reached the top, we tried to figure out how we could get down without going back the way we came. 

Here's the top:

It's a popular place to launch para gliders so we wondered if we could hitch a ride. Alas, not possible so we headed down after a long conversation of who the bear would likely attack.. my friend insisting I run because I have children and me refusing to be the person to leave anyone behind. Or one hopes..

To celebrate Mother's day with the family, Ryan rented a very cool electric boat on lake Union. It was a beautiful day and great fun for all.

Oink: A food for thought mystery

Oink was our latest book club pick. It was selected because we read so much depressing, heavy stuff that we decided we wanted something light, fluffy and inconsequential. This was definitely that book.

I liked it because the narrator teaches women's studies and likes food and generally sees the world just as I see it. Also the book read like something I would write.. not extremely well-thought out or deep. A good book if you are tired of the heaviness of the world.

Plutocrats

The subtitle of this book is "The Rise of the new global super rich and the fall of everyone else."

I bought this book at the bookstore in the Pike Place Market. It was a featured used book at the front of the store. Somehow, I thought it was going to be a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. It was not.

The book, written in 2012, describes the economic and political forces that brought us our current economy -- the one that works for a few much better than it works for anyone else. It was really interesting. A few things I learned

There are 40,000 HNWI (high net worth individuals) in the US. This means they are worth $30 million dollars or more. Most of the super rich today are the working rich meaning they benefitted from a combination of globalization and technology (the internet, big data) rather than those who inherited wealth 100 years ago. Although the author points out that in a generation or two, those people will be handing down their money creating a large class of idle rich.

The number of billionaires has increased across the globe. Russians benefitted from privatization and knowing the right people. The Chinese did the same.  One interesting fact about Chinese billionaires is they all must remain in the good graces of the Chinese communist party. In the last 20 years, 13 Chinese billionaires have been executed.

The rise of authoritarianism is also explained. No happy news there but there is a link between the super rich and the US propaganda network. I was surprised (sort of) to learn that even the wealthy who support some traditional Democratic party values tend to want to keep the system as it is. All believe they've earned their good fortune through effort rather than systemic advantages. The fact that only a few of these people are women or people of color should make these people question their assertions.. but of course, it only reinforces it.

So, not great.

Whidbey Island

I purchased a cabin for 3 nights on Whidbey Island during a fundraiser I'd attended last year. Ryan came one night while my kids stayed with my mom. Then two college friends joined me for the next two nights. We had to plan that last year to find a date that worked for all three of us.

Whidbey is lovely. We hiked and ate and chatted. It was great fun.

hiking with Ryan. The wind was extremely strong so the scarf is holding my hair down.

friends in front of the Whidbey Inn.. pretty place but we did not stay here.

Back to the Sleeping lady

Once a year, I visit the Sleeping Lady for a lovely yoga weekend. It's a dream. Food, yoga, hiking, sleeping. The best.

I attend every year with a friend from my amazon days. it's the only time we see each other even though she lives down the street. middle aged life.

The stay-cation

For spring break, we are staying home. On Monday, we were tourists at the Pike Place market. We visited the famous Piroshky place. Even though I have lived here 25 years, I had never tried the piroshkys (kies?). Anyway, delicious! There is a reason there is always a line there. We saw the first Starbucks. The kids only wanted the sweet piroshkys so we went to Taxi dog for their lunch.

lunch at Victor Steinbruek park

the chocolate place. juice from the fruit of the cacao bean

view over the soon to be gone viaduct

old picture I found. funny.