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Written for parents of adolescent girls attending public or private schools, Wiseman does a thorough job of expaining girl cliques and their dynamics in these settings. Her suggestions are primarily addressed to parents of neuro-typical daughters, but it is possible to adapt these to work with girls with Asperger's Syndrome who are bothered by "mean girls" as well, particularly those Aspies who desire to make many friends. I think that this is an essential book for parents who choose, or whose daughters choose, public or private school, and I don't see why some older adolescent girls couldn't read this themselves to help them understand what is going on with those girls who are mean. It won't stop the problem, but it could help them get through it. Homeschooled girls are much less likely to suffer from this problem, but it could still prove helpful if these girls are involved in activities where cliques exist.
Twenty Years at Hull-House with Autobiographical Notes by Jane Addams, illustrated by Norah Hamilton, 1910, 1990
Hull-House was a settlement founded in 1889 by Jane Addams, after the mold of Toynbee's settlement in the slums of East London. Hull-House was located on Halsted by Polk, in Chicago's 19th ward, which at the time was an immigrants' neighborhood. The idea of the settlement house was to improve the lives of the residents and their neighbors. Because the residents of Hull-House lived among those whose lives they intended to enrich, they could better understand what was needed. In its first twenty years, Hull-House hosted numerous societies, devoted to various mixtures of debate, culture, recreation, education, reform, and neighborhood renovation. While leading Hull-House, Addams was also involved in securing justice by serving as a go-between during labor disputes, opposing the corupt local alderman, lobbying for cleaner streets, serving on the Board of Education, and diverse other endeavors. I thoroughly enjoyed Addams' writing style. Although she often refers to characters and events no longer famous, and although she is careful not to say anything potentially embarrassing about anybody, her accounts and explanations remain clear. Addams' continued idealism after twenty years of social work is reassuring. The illustrations are very well done, but their subject matter is not the most relevant addition to the story: a picture of the building behind Hull-House doesn't tell me much about Hull-House's activities. Happy reading.
Elijah Silver was born when his brother Danny was seven. For many years, Danny was an attentive older brother and Elijah a worshipful younger brother. But sometime during Danny's teenage years, the bond between the brothers dissolved, replaced by caution and suspicion. At 23, Danny is a workaholic, so focused on his work that his bosses have ordered him to take a vacation. His parents claim that they made reservations for a trip to Italy but can't go and would like him to go with Elijah in their stead. Elijah is a student in a boarding school. He loves his life, his friends, the world. When his parents call to ask him if he'd like to go to Italy with his brother, he says sure. Danny and Elijah are both likable and realistic. The people they meet, the sights they see, their reactions to both, are likewise realistic. Some of the details of their lives(especially Danny's) are improbable enough to be subtly funny but do not intrude on the story. A few details do not seem well thought out- why do Danny and Elijah sightsee together? Why didn't Elijah need the money Danny offers? While the overt moral appears to be that it is wondrous when brothers get along, it bothers me that Danny rather than Elijah is the one to change towards that end. Question: Danny's friend says that brothers generally are not as close as sisters. Does that appear to be true? Is it true? Happy reading.
Becoming Visible A Reader in Gay and Lesbian History for High School and College Students edited by Kevin Jennings, 1994
To many youth, it appears that gays and lesbians are oddities, freaks, alone. Much of what they learn in school is heterosexist. Teachers who seek to teach about gays and lesbians in the past and present, when not censored, find that the lack of material geared towards youth is prohibitive. This book is meant primarily to provide a text for teachers, and only secondly to educate the general public. Each of seventeen chapters provides an introduction to a particular topic, exerpts of writings on that topic, and then a list of questions and activites designed to promote the understanding and sensitivity of students. Topics range from berdaches and the Stonewall riots to the bisexuality of ten successive Chinese rulers and the affect of World War II on the American Gay/Lesbian identity. The selection of topics seems somewhat skewed towards presenting gay rights. That is, the topics are either about the fight for gay rights or the acceptibility of gays to straights. Aspects of gay or lesbian culture are never really discussed- and the simple definition of queen or camp might significantly add to this book. Although Jennings acknowledges that gay rights did not equate to lesbian rights in represive atmospheres, that the gay and lesbian community are still seperate(although related) is not something a casual reader would understand from this book. The activities suggested are more reasonable than the questions. The very first reading is designed to make readers think, but may not be appropriate for high school students, as it assumes that the reader is already certain of his own sexual orientation, which many high school students are not. Pleasant reading.
On her first day after moving to attend an art college, Ellie attends a costume dance, where she meets a guy dressed as the devil. They dance and kiss and Ellie goes home with him. The devil's name is Nate Finerman, and he is a sophmore sculptor. Because she has deferred for a semester, Ellie attends an intensive six-week course. She has two classmates: Ralph, a gay fashion designer, and a very mellow graphic designer named Sam. The instructor is a very hyper, very enthusiastic, man named Ed. Although Ellie and her fellow students do not share Ed's extreme enthusiasm for his projects, they do enjoy them. Ellie's focus on Nate distracts her from the class. Ellie meets Nate's girlfriend, with whom Nate says he has an open relationship, and Ellie begins to look at her relationship with Nate more critically. I didn't like Nate. He is unrelentingly selfish, asking for consideration from others that he does not extend to them. The book contains over forty small illustrations(by the author), unusual in a teen book. The pictures add emphasis to the story. Although most of the story is cohesive, I wondered why Ellie had deferred a semester. That deferring is usually done for a reason(such as an experience the student wishes to have) is not addressed; neither Sam nor Ralph offers a reason for deferring either. Pleasant reading.
Raising Adopted Children Practical, Reassuring Advice for Every Adoptive Parent by Lois Ruskai Melina, 1998
Parenting adopted children a complex task, having issues not to be found in other families. Adoptive families form more suddenly. The parents and child may not be prepared. Parents should do things to make adoption seem more immediate so that they are not taken by surprise. When they are separated from their foster or birth parents, children grieve, even if those first parents were abusive. They need help to get through their grief in a healthy manner. Adoptive parents should not feel rejected if their children are not immediately comfortable with them. Interracial adoption requires parents to teach their children about race, and about culture that may not be familiar to them. When possible, open adoption is often helpful to the parents and adoptee. In an open adoption, the medical information of the parents is available to children as it becomes known. For example, if the birth parents develop diabetes, then the child knows that she may be susceptible. Also, it helps the adoptee to come to terms with her adoption. This book has a lot to say on adoption, but a lot of the advise is vague. Many of the statistics given are not adequately explained. This book does include a list of resources which may be helpful, and may also reassure parents who are worried about their own parenting skills. Readers may also find advance warning for some of the issues that may crop up useful. Due to her own experiences, Melina assumes that the couple adopting is infertile, and that this is an issue. Includes an index. Pleasant reading.
Astro Turf The Private Life of Rocket Science by M.G.Lord, 2005
During the cold war, an engineer worked on the small parts of rocket ships. Years after his death, his daughter decided to investigate California's Jet Propulsion Lab, where he had worked. Her investigative journey brings her to many figures who remind her of her own politics, which she spends an inordinate number of pages ranting about. One of JPL's founders was persecuted by the FBI for his alleged communist leanings, and so Lord talks about how awful the FBI is and this reminds her of Operation Paperclip, in which the FBI expunged Nazi records. Nazis remind her of the oppression of women, as does just about everything, and so she talks about the atmosphere towards women in JPL, past and present. With the oppression of women still on her mind as she talks about the funding of rocket science and current launches, Lord depicts everything as either feminine or masculine. I got lost in Lord's description of lift-off as birth, with an umbilical cord and masculine and feminine aspects. For those who need a more positive spin. Wary reading.
Teenage fashion consultant Hunter impulsively invites an Innovator to a consultation. Jen (the innovator) makes an immediate impression. Later, she is invited with Hunter to meet his boss. But when Jen and Hunter arrive at the meeting place, no one else is there. Upon calling his boss, an answering ring is heard coming from a nearby abandoned warehouse. Hunter and Jen break into the warehouse, and find the phone next to the coolest shoes that they have ever seen. Then a scary bald man chases them away. Hunter and Jen decide that Hunte's boss has been kidnapped and that there is a plot afoot, so they set out to the rescue. Although I enjoyed reading this book, I was not impressed by the ideas presented. I was not convinced of the importance of fashion. So Yesterday does not compare favorably to Maxx Barry's Syrup. Jen meets Hunter when he asks permission to take a picture of her shoes(because of the way she tied them). How would you react if someone tried to take a picture of your footwear? Pleasant reading.
Okankwo's father was Unoka, a man with much debt, lazy and without a title. Okankwo feared being like his father, and so he worked industrially, and came to have three wives, eight children, many yams, respect and a title. Okankwo feared weakness, and so when the oracle told the people of Umuofia to kill Ikemefuna, who was like a son to Okankwo, Okankwo helped to kill him, not wanting to be thought shy of blood. When the white missionaries came, Okankwo was in the land of his mother, having had to flee there on account of accidentally killing another. Nonetheless, Okankwo felt the sting, as his own son converted to Christianity, and was his son no longer. And when Okankwo returned to his own village, the land of his father, he found that Christianity had already taken a solid root there. Okankwo and his family are depicted as being a member of the Igbo people of Nigeria. Things Fall Apart is both the story of Okankwo and of his culture. It does not glorify the culture beyond credibility, but rather paints its flaws and strengths such that they seem to be dependant on each other. A glossary of Ibo words is included. Do things fall apart? All things? Thoughtful reading.
Biblio Files Month 18 Books Reviewed:12 Total Books Reviewed:362 Days Blogged/Days In Period:8/31 New Members:none Active Members:2 Number of Hits This Data Period:165 Features Added: none My recommended book for this month: Wired For Sound by Beverly Biderman Comments: My apologies for the paucity of posts; I will not post less than once a week, regardless.
Wired For Sound A Journey Into Hearing by Beverly Biderman, 1998
When visiting her ENT, Biderman would always ask him if there were any new things that might improve her hearing. In 1992, he said yes. When testing showed that Bidedrman was indeed a candidate for receiving a cochlear implant, she did some research, spoke to people with cochlear implants, and decided to get one. Immediately after activation, Biderman was disappointed. She could not understand the speech of the technician. All sound grated. She was functioning very similarly to someone with severe Central Auditory Processing Disorder. After much fine tuning, careful listening, and effort, Biderman was not so disappointed. She did not have to strain, trying to lipread. She could conduct phone calls, especially if the other person spoke slowly. Her tinnitus, after a brief increase, disappeared. So did the headaches, born of the strain to get along in a hearing world. She could once again appreciate music. At the time that she wrote this book in, 20,000 people worldwide had cochlear implants. Most Deaf organizations actively opposed cochlear implants, especially for children, feeling that the implants endanger their their culture. As one of the conditions on which cochlear implants are given is that the user live in the hearing world, capital D Deaf people are generally not eligible for cochlear implants anyhow. From the opposite side exists the misunderstanding that cochlear implants are merely better hearing aids. Hearing aids carry bad memories for many deaf, having been painful, or carrying wrong expectations. But cochlear implants are not amplifiers like hearing aids. They do not operate on a person's little remaining hearing; they create it. This book contains Biderman's own autobiography; excerpts about deafness, Deafness, and cochlear implants; information on the demographics of deaf people; the history and progress of cochlear implants; endnotes; recommended reading; a resources list; an index. As Biderman notes in her prolouge, this book is partly for the benefit of people who have heard about cochlear implants mostly as something that Deaf people do not want, and to that purpose, this is recommended reading(recommended by me). Biderman attempts to present the Deaf side of the argument as well, but not as successfully. Understandably, she is biased. In particular, Biderman underestimates the quality of life of those living in the Deaf world. Due to being Canadian, Biderman's cochlear implant was paid for by national health coverage. This is not the experience one would get in the U.S.. In this book, I see a lot of parallels between Biderman's experience and the experience of living with CAPD. By the end of the book, Biderman processes what she hears better than most people with mild CAPD, but the forms of her continued problems with hearing, and her strategies in getting to the hearing abilities she does get are similar to those used by people with CAPD. Thoughtful reading.
Calvin Schwa. They say his eyes change color to match the backround. They say that if you stare at him for long enough, you'll see through him. They say that his mother disappeared in the middle of a store. Anthony and his friends decide to test the Schwa Effect. They put nine students and The Schwa in a classroom, and send another kid in to count the kids. 4 out of 5 count nine. The Schwa goes in the bathroom, dressed as a cat, wearing an orange sombrero, and singing at the top of his lungs. The kids coming out remember that there was a weird kid in there, but not what he was wearing, and not what he was singing. The Schwa goes to the airport with an iron bar. No one notices him until the metal detector goes off. To capitalize on this phenomenon, The Schwa begins taking bets on the things he can do unnoticed, with Antsy as his manager. They rake in good money, until The Schwa is dared to steal a dog bowl from old Mr. Crawley, whom no one has ever seen and who has fourteen Afghans, but who weilds incredible power. The Schwa realizes he's in trouble when he sees that the dog bowls are all nailed to the floor. A disablities note: this book features a blind character who owns a guide dog. Although the character's portrayal is mostly realistic, her account about aquiring the dog, and the other guide dogs shown, are not realistic. For one, it is unusual for children to own guidedogs. Question: Would you want to be invisible? How about unnoticable? Happy reading.
Shortly after he turned four in 1938, Vedi suffered from meningitis and went blind. Wanting better for his son than the only blind people he had seen (beggars), Vedi's father sent his son to a school for the blind , 1300 miles away. There Vedi learned Marathi, Braille, and Christianity (the school had been established by missionaries). Vedi was guided by an older pupil named Deoji, who was partially sighted, but whose vision was decreasing rapidly. Activities and outings are infrequent but exciting. Mr. Ras Mohun, who is in charge of the school, set up lines for the totally blind to run in, based on the ones at Perkins Institute. Brailled cards and a chess set were acquired during the time Vedi spent with his family. This book is a compilation of memories. Because they are ordered by subject, chronology is strangely absent. Although each memory is interesting, the memories do not form a continuous story: each is almost isolated. There is also no especial point or plot. Vedi never seems to have any goals, objectives, or fears. The condition of a school for the blind in India during the 1930s and 1940s is interesting, but this is only incidentally that story. Happy reading.
Hate Crimes Criminal Law & Identity Politics by James B. Jacobs and Kimberly Potter, 1998
Laws making crimes motivated by racial or other prejudice began to be legislated in the 1980s, and gained momentum in the 1990s. These laws were lobbied for by the interest groups who felt victimized: minority groups, women's groups, gay groups, and disabilities groups. Nobody opposed most of them: a win-win situation for the legislators involved. But hate crime laws did not work the way that lobbyists had intended: data gathering did not show large numbers of hate crimes, and inter-group crimes were often committed by the minorities feeling victimized. Because the laws' purposes included among them acknowledgement of the status of varius groups, strife grew between minority groups seeking inclusion in the legislation. From a civil rights point of view, the hate crime laws started on shaky ground. After all, hate crime laws add to the criminal sentences of those with politically incorrect opinions. Courts have nonetheless upheld hate crime legislation. This book makes a lot of good points, but in an inelegant fashion. The authors' overcritical style is overkill. The points that they cede are ceded reluctantly. And while the authors' assertion that hate crime is not on the rise may be correct, the claim that hate crime is not rampant is absurd. As the authors point out elsewhere in their book, most violent crime includes an element of hate. For that reason, I believe that the hate crime statistics are underestimates, not overestimates. Some of what the authors have to say is outdated; the supreme court no longer upholds sodomy laws, for instance. Politically charged reading.
The legislature makes laws. Judges make laws. Custom can be law. Nature may have laws. None of these laws are entirely made in one way, by one entity. Judges make laws within the constraints of precedants and legislature. The purposes of laws are many and varied and any attempt to align all laws with one sort of purpose(rehabilition, prevention, etc.) falls into a quagmire of contradictions. Fuller's analysis of the anatomy and philosophy of law is carefully logical. It acknowledges and analyzes many famous earlier works of legal philosophy. As an introduction to legal philosophy, it is superb. However, the reader should have a very good vocabulary, as well as some understanding of law. Fuller's opinions for most of the book remain in the background, allowing for a more rational and critical perspective, but the postscript is full of moral should and should nots. Contains a useful index. Question: What is a law? Happy reading.
Confessions of a Gender Defender A Psychologist's Reflections on Life among the Transgendered by Randi Ettner
Most people with working proprioception have the luxury of identifying themselves as their bodies. At the least, most people's bodies are the gender that they identify as. But some people are not so lucky. Their birth certificates and bodies brand them as a particular gender, but they identify themselves as another. In different places and times, these gender dysphoric people have received a wide variety of treatment. The society extant in the United States sees such people as curiosities. Mental health professionals and medical professionals often treat these people as disorded, obsessive or insane. Ettner holds that these people are what they say they are, that they have a better knowledge of who they are than the professionals do. This book is composed of short stories and essays on transgendered people, mostly MtFs, because those are apparently the people that Ettner works with most. I wanted to read more on the issues involved in FtM transgendered people, as it looks like these are different issues. The title led me to expect a defense of conventional American ideas on gender, which the book does not deliver. All of the stories in this book involve people who are truly happier living with their chosen genders. Incidents showing a broader range of outcomes would have been appreciated. Question: What is gender? Happy reading.
