Hey! You’re Here. Thank you.
It feels strange to open up my little computer and tap out some silly words when there is a genocide going on. My government is funding genocide. Bombs paid for with my tax dollars are killing children. I can’t say it any better than any one else, and I can’t say nothing.
I was a Government major in college and I spent a semester as an intern in D.C. I loved every minute of it. I was living my West Wing fantasy. That’s all well and good, but looking back my biggest takeaway is that they want you to think certain things are complicated. They want you to think it’s complicated and nuanced and you need advanced degrees and a three hundred dollar suit to even have a seat at the table.
Yes, some things are complicated. And some things are not.
Every life lost is irreplaceable. The Palestinian children are our children. All children are our children. It is not complicated. It’s wrong.
It’s my instinct, often, to say that I need to read and learn more before I can be certain. I should listen to the people who know more.
I know enough. This is a genocide and it’s wrong.
I am still learning and I will not look away.
Endless gratitude to the leaders reminding us that we are not helpless.
May Things
favorite read:
I already wrote a little about my favorite May read here.
It’s Another Word for Love by Carvell Wallace. It’s the best memoir of the year so far. It’s a book that meets us right here in this moment. It refuses easy answers or trite advice. Carvell Wallace weaves a path through trauma that is not predictable or conventional. They show the reader another way through. I’ve never read anything like it. I needed it.
As always, gratitude to
for recommending this one to me. When someone knows you well enough to recommend a book they are certain you need, that’s certainly another word for love. Sorry I had to!!You can listen to Carvell Wallace on the Stacks here. The whole interview is a balm.
one bright glimmer:
Almost every day this month our little bookstore has had a visit from my new favorite customer:
This is Inigo. He is 13 years old. I had seen him around town before and he came in the shop a couple times - let’s be honest he is pretty unforgettable.
For whatever reason at the beginning of the month he and his person started coming just about every day. He pulls his person right into the shop, up to the counter, sits his butt down, and waits not so patiently for a treat. Sometimes he is a little damp because earlier in the day he took a swim in the river.
After a few days of this his person told my coworker and I that Inigo is on this little treat and river tour because he is in what can only be called his second wind era. He was dealing with some major health issues and his family had decided it was time. They had even made an appointment. Then, all of a sudden, he got a second wind. Now his person takes him to the river every day and to all the stores on Main street that give out treats. It’s something of a victory lap.
I love Inigo. I love his person. I love all of us trying to give each other the best possible life.
I don’t know how such a big dog got such tiny legs but that’s just not for me to know. Meanwhile, this legend deserves a treat and a swim. And, quite frankly, so do you.
book I’m looking forward to:
Akwaeke Emezi is one of my favorite authors. They are one of the few authors in the shop that has titles in multiple sections - fiction, romance, YA, poetry… they can do it all and their books are never quite what you expect.
Kirkus Reviews says Little Rot is, “Contemporary romance for cynics and nihilists.”
I’m in.
Out June 18th!
biggest surprise:
I’m not ashamed to admit that I love a buzzy new release. I love hype! When people I trust hype up a book I am inclined to think I will love it. I was convinced that I would love Real Americans by Rachel Khong.
The first surprise is that I didn’t. This book was too long. It is heavy handed in its messaging and somehow that same message also gets lost in convoluted plot points that require the reader to suspend disbelief in a way that feels unearned. I am all about suspending disbelief! But I need the author to get me there. I need to be putty in the hands of the author so that by the time I have to leave my belief at the door I am so wrapped up in the characters I will go anywhere they lead. Rachel Khong did not achieve that here. And did I mention it’s too long? If we are going over 400 pages together, those 400 pages need to be earned. All of this is to say that from my perspective this book was not successful.
The second surprise, though, is that I got so much out of reading a novel that didn’t work. There was a time when I was so in awe of the fact of a novel, that any novel exists, that I couldn’t get to a place of engaging with it critically. I am not that reader anymore. I know now that to read is to be critical. That criticism can be love. I am a better reader because I can explain what works and why it works and on the flip side what doesn’t work at all and why not.
It needs to be said that I wouldn’t be able to articulate any of this half as well without the loving, critical guidance of
and both of whom are experts in lovingly eviscerating books. I am a better reader because I get to read with them.And, truthfully, I probably should have put this book down when I realized it wasn’t working. I wanted to participate in the discourse so I read every page and that’s fine. But, if you are like me you probably need permission to stop reading books you don’t like. This is your permission slip. Put it down. A better book is out there waiting.
I’m still learning:
In a recent post on instagram, U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón finally spoke out against the U.S. funded genocide in Palestine.
That last line says,
Oliver says, “You do not have to be good.” But we do. Good God, we do.
I can’t stop thinking about this. On a personal, individual level I believe in forgiveness and redemption. I believe in gentleness. Mary Oliver’s credo - you do not have to be good - has saved me in the most literal sense. And collectively, we do. Collectively, we must do better. We must be gentle with ourselves as we witness horror and we must hold ourselves and our communities in the harshest possible light until every colonialist, White supremacist, oppressive impulse is exposed and rooted out.
Both things are true. I don’t know how, but I am learning.
Thank you for pushing me to do better. Thank you for reminding me why it is worth it to keep trying. Thank you for being here.
Love,
Rosamond.
I am honored to be skilled at evisceration. That is another word for love.
Inigo! Another word for love. 🥹