It seems as if nearly everyone is connected to Russia these days. I am too. I was drawn into the warm splendor of the dining room at the Hotel Metropol and fell in love with Count Rostov.
A Glass of Wine with a Gentleman in Moscow
People, Get Ready
Rod Stewart
Miami, Get Ready. We have never had the ability to mobilize quickly as a community when something we disagree with happens. Many friends and like-minded neighbors have told me that they are willing to be ready to stand up against injustice and nonsense – the minute it happens. We are forming a citizen’s Rapid Response Team that can let you know where and when to gather. Thanks for being ready.
Please take a moment to give the Rapid Response team your information here.
Then take a listen to Rod Stewart … and get ready.
“The way to get rid of a ghost is to take it home.”
Nathan Hill
This is a ghost story, a story of this world and another, of befores and afters. Before his mother leaves him. After she went to Chicago. After Bishop was raped. Before Samuel’s story revealed Bishop’s secret to Bethany. Before Faye knew Sebastian for a fake. Before the war. After he abandoned Norway. After Bethany becomes the forbidden fruit. After he thought of everyone as an enemy, an obstacle, a trap, or a puzzle. Before he asked the right questions. Before that treacherous pebble ghost was pocketed. Before it became a stone. Before it became a boulder weighing all of them down, dragging them under as they sailed on separate seas further and further away from the shores of family, friendship and love.
To get rid of a ghost, you must take it home. To Bethany. To Norway. To Iowa. To forgiveness, but not forgetting for “every memory is really a scar.” They are with us and they don’t look nice, but they don’t hurt.
It takes some skill to weave a story out of fishing, napalm, Norway, violent protests, Richard Nixon, video game addictions, child abandonment, the midwest, and classical music, but Nathan Hill has woven a spectacular read. This books is terrific. Don’t let its 620 page girth sway you. #ReadThisBook #OneNightstand
If you know who the murderers are, why don’t you arrest them?
In Richmond, CA police identified a mere 25 people causing 70 percent of the city’s violence. When I learned these statistics were similar to ours in Miami, I asked what I thought was a simple question. “If you know who these murderers are, why don’t you just arrest them?” The answer is not so simple. These people often escape arrest and prosecution because witnesses are too fearful to testify. So, no, the police can’t just arrest them even though they’d like to.