So, I've mentioned on this blog before that one of my biggest fears is that one of my children will be abducted. On Saturday night, a flyer was tucked into our door informing us of a missing girl, 15 years old, with her picture and pertinent information on her. She was last seen a few days ago and hasn't been heard from since.
Then, I pick up a Chicago Tribune this morning (from Friday's edition -- we have a bunch of Tribs lying around, long story), and read about Yasmin Acree, another West Side girl who hasn't been seen or heard from in almost 2 years.
What struck me as appalling in the article was that the police and detectives automatically assumed that because a teenage girl is African-American and lives in my neighborhood that she ran off with her boyfriend and that she'll be back. They didn't even gather evidence at her house when they answered the initial call! Would those same assumptions be made of a white teenage girl from Winnetka whose lock was found cut and evidence of forced entry apparent? I really don't think so. I think that would be front page news (see: Elizabeth Smart), it would be on all of the tv news (and maybe even national) and there would be candlelight vigils all over Winnetka.
This is just wrong.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
long time no blog
So I've been absent for a loooong time. In fact, my blog tells me it's been 2 1/2 months since I've last posted. It's not for lack of things to write about -- in fact in some ways it's because I have too much to write about and don't know where to start. I've been reading a lot, and with the start of cool weather, the desire to knit has superseded the desire to blog. Those are all of my excuses! I can't guarantee that I'll keep up with this more regularly, but I'll try.
Maybe a good place to restart would be some short book reviews of things I've read recently:
Team of Rivals
Excellent book about Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. Lincoln was not a "yes" man -- he wanted the best people around him, even the ones who didn't agree with him. It was very interesting to see how almost everyone that he selected for his Cabinet did not think he was suited for the office of the President of the United States (because of his low birth, humble beginnings, little formal education), but they all save one ended up respecting and giving him their unswerving loyalty. I came away from this book with a new regard of Abraham Lincoln as a person.
Olive Kitteridge
I went through a phase a few years ago of wanting to read Pulitzer Prize Winning books, so I checked the list for this year, and this book won it for fiction. I put it on hold at the library and waited a LONG time for it. I did enjoy it, but it was somewhat dark and depressing. I had the feeling of peeking into someone's life through both their windows and their friends & family's windows seeing every facet of their being. Very well written and engrossing, but I didn't love it, partially because Olive, the main character, is a difficult character to love.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
A friend of mine recommended this book to me and after my 2,000+ pages of presidential biographies (Truman and Lincoln) and somewhat depressing novel, I needed a bit of a break. This was a very quick read, definitely on the chick lit side, but not entirely. It's written in the form of people writing letters to each other. It's set in England in the 1940's, right after WWII. There were some interesting things in there for history buffs (yours truly) to make it seem not quite so marshmallow fluff-esque, but it was a wonderful read with a great ending.
Maybe a good place to restart would be some short book reviews of things I've read recently:
Team of Rivals
Excellent book about Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet. Lincoln was not a "yes" man -- he wanted the best people around him, even the ones who didn't agree with him. It was very interesting to see how almost everyone that he selected for his Cabinet did not think he was suited for the office of the President of the United States (because of his low birth, humble beginnings, little formal education), but they all save one ended up respecting and giving him their unswerving loyalty. I came away from this book with a new regard of Abraham Lincoln as a person.
Olive Kitteridge
I went through a phase a few years ago of wanting to read Pulitzer Prize Winning books, so I checked the list for this year, and this book won it for fiction. I put it on hold at the library and waited a LONG time for it. I did enjoy it, but it was somewhat dark and depressing. I had the feeling of peeking into someone's life through both their windows and their friends & family's windows seeing every facet of their being. Very well written and engrossing, but I didn't love it, partially because Olive, the main character, is a difficult character to love.
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
A friend of mine recommended this book to me and after my 2,000+ pages of presidential biographies (Truman and Lincoln) and somewhat depressing novel, I needed a bit of a break. This was a very quick read, definitely on the chick lit side, but not entirely. It's written in the form of people writing letters to each other. It's set in England in the 1940's, right after WWII. There were some interesting things in there for history buffs (yours truly) to make it seem not quite so marshmallow fluff-esque, but it was a wonderful read with a great ending.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)