Coming of Age

"I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation

I've never been afraid of any deviation

An' I don't really care if you think I'm strange

I ain't gonna change

An' I'm never gonna care 'bout my bad reputation

Oh no, not me, oh no, not me

An' I don't give a damn 'bout my reputation

The world's in trouble, there's no communication

An' everyone can say what they wanna say

It never gets better, anyway

So why should I care about a bad reputation, anyway?

Oh no, not me, oh no, not me"  Joan Jett & the Blackhearts "Bad Reputation"

 As I think I have mentioned, 2 of my children have come out in the last few years as gender queer/gender non binary. They are both still exploring what that means in their lives. One was in their late teens and one in their early 20s when they came out, though I think they had both been pondering things for a while. 

  The thing I have noticed about them, is that they are happy (ier). They feel free to explore who they are and are sharing more of who they are with us and with their friends. While I struggle sometimes to understand everything and not to worry/care about what others think, I am both happier and immensely proud of them and their ability to be honest with themselves and with others.  I also hope to be an ally and hope I am not unwittingly making things harder for them.

 Overall, It has been a positive experience for everyone. Again, I won't deny my own fears and lack of understanding at times, I just recognize that these things are for me to work out, not a burden to place on my children. I think it has brought us all a bit closer and helped us all gain a little more insight into how others view the world. 

One of my dear friends recently told me about her niece, who is a younger teen and her struggles with depression and her recent coming out as gender nonbinary. My friend expressed concern about her depression and wondered if so many choices made things harder not easier.

I have two thoughts about this:

1. Having fewer choices may be easier for some people, but it is immensely harder for those who don't fit into those categories. It is hard to decide what type of cookie to buy at the grocery store because there are hundreds of choices. It would be "easier" for many if there was only chocolate chip or peanut butter. Except what about those people who like oreos best? They live life without that option. This can lead to anxiety and depression. or maybe just "mediocrity" or living someone else's dream, not yours. If oreos are seen as deviant or dangerous then society is losing a taste sensation, just for the comfort and ease of those with peanut butter and chocolate chip preferences. The world has become smaller to accommodate some at the expense of many. If the PB/CC become rigidly convinced that their taste preferences are the only legitimate or "morally sound" tastes, then not only is the world smaller for all, but it is now needlessly dangerous for oreo lovers and angrier and divisive...over what?

2. The developmental period of adolescence is always  a time of uncertainty and the main quest is to figure out who we are and what we believe and where we fit in this world. We separate some from our family to think for ourselves. We look outside of our small circle, widening it to include both peers and other adults... What do children need from their culture/society/parents/peers/teachers? They need guidance to help navigate all of these choices to help them settle on what feels right for them and how they want to be in the world. And they need our love and support when they decide what that is, not our judgement, not our disappointment, and certainly not our hatred or our anger. They need us also to be willing to learn from them, to try to understand their evolving insights about themselves and about the world. It is no surprise they don't find it easy when they are surrounded by adults who fight with each other and dismiss or diminish certain people because of how they choose to express themselves. It is no surprise this can lead to anxiety and depression for those who don't fit in nicely to the binary.

When we see children learning to hate themselves because they don't fit into an "acceptable" category, then we can expect them to become anxious and depressed teens and adults.  Many adults never discover who they really want to be because they were expected to conform to what someone else thought they should be and maybe they were never aware there were other options. Maybe more kids are anxious today not because they are presented with more choices, but because they lack guidance and support while they navigate them.  This is sad and infuriating. 

I also want to speak to the very real view of the world that cultural mores are important to prevent the "collapse of civilization". Without them, the thought is, we will fall into chaos where "anything goes." This is a world view that can be so ingrained as to make people unaware of it pervasive influence on their thoughts.

I  think that we need to acknowledge that as cultural norms go to the wayside, it can be disorienting for those who did not question the status quo, and push back is to be expected. I bring up a "trivial" example. Table manners. As my children were growing up, I continued what I had been taught about where to place silverware, how to use your napkin etc. My children did not naturally adapt to these rules...I tried to teach them, but my husband was not on board, and I thought to myself, why am I enforcing these rules? I could not come up with a good reason so I let them slide. We are still happy even when not following proper etiquette. It doesn't really matter which side of the plate the knife is on or which fork we use...Occasionally I see the value in some rules of etiquette- for example, it slows the meal down, which is good for digestion and for social interaction...so maybe best not to throw out the baby with the bathwater so to speak, but understand the reason for the rule, decide if it is still relevant, and reevaluate. 

 I recall the movies/books about the British colonizers, making the natives lug their fancy china and accoutrements into the deepest "wild" places in order to maintain their own sense of etiquette and "culture" while amidst the native peoples and amidst hard conditions. ("be careful, that is my Limoges"). They felt it vital to maintain their cultural mores as they felt without them they would slide into the savagery they saw all around them. Their world would collapse. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, this example of asserting their perceived superiority over other cultures in their colonizing adventures laid waste to many other peoples and their understanding of the world including their own maintenance of and symbiosis with the land they lived on. The Spanish, French, Dutch and then the Americans were quick to follow this colonizing impulse, and we are only starting to come to any terms with the devastation wrought on both people and the flora and fauna on the land they lived on as it comes back to haunt us. The people labelled as "inferior" who actually have much to teach us, are (re)attempting to assert themselves and the land we have decimated burns with fire or suffers through drought or floods...So, manners may not be so important,  and a specific etiquette may be more representative of an imbalance of power than of an innate superiority.  If you are born an inheritor of privilege, losing these things may seem dangerous, but for the rest of the world, maybe not so much. Yes, YOUR world might change, but THE world will be better.

Maybe, we could take the useful parts or western etiquette, share the reasoning, learn what others value and how they manifest and safeguard those values and work to find common understanding. We could then find room at our table for different types of "etiquette" with the goal of improving health and social interaction....(Did I take this metaphor too far?:)).

I want to be very clear, I don't mean there are no rules we should live by. I just don't think that rules of one culture are what is standing between us and chaos. But they are often standing between us.  And they are keeping us from living with each other in a just society.

 Let's first acknowledge that we are equals...and by we I really mean not only ALL people, but also other creatures flora and fauna, though I  understand that not everyone shares that point of view. If we could at least get the ALL people part down, then the respect other cultures have for flora and fauna will start to follow, hopefully in time to save more from extinction. From that start, there are very simple rules that are universally espoused (even if not lived by)- Love one another.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Let's start there. 

My wish and goal for my children has always been to help them grow into who they were, whether it was what I expected or not. I saw my children able to break free of what society expected regarding gender, because others before them expanded the options of what their gender identity means, and shared their journeys despite the push back they suffered from the culture. My world has changed, but it hasn't collapsed, it has expanded. They are being their true selves and I love them for that, and I love what they have taught me. 

Book Recommendation: 

"The Liar's Dictionary"  Eley Williams, 2019.

Letter to the Editor

"And we love to wear a badge, a uniform
And we love to fly a flag
But I won't let others live in hell
As we divide against each other
And we fight amongst ourselves
Too set in our ways to try to rearrange
Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song

Let the bells ring out
Let the bells ring out
Is there nothing left?
Is there, is there nothing?
Is there nothing left?
Is honesty what you want?"

U2 "Like a Song"

Pro-Child, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice!

Now that I have your attention…hopefully you will be curious enough to keep reading despite your opinion on the topic. I promise that there will be no more tired talking points only an attempt at a real conversation. 

I made up this pithy but honest catchphrase. Catchphrases and simple talking points are easy to use to quickly express your opinions. I must confess I use them often as bumperstickers or in my windows. But you can’t begin AND end with them. There must be an in depth exploration of the topic at hand as well as an openness to conversation about the topic. There must be a willingness to listen to what other’s think and why. Life is complicated, even if we don’t want it to be.

As for the topic at hand-abortion, my own thoughts on the matter are much more nuanced than 6 words can convey. And I welcome conversation about them. I worry a great deal that there is not enough conversation. (Yes I have been called Satan for having this view).

In my opinion…Abortion is a tragedy. A woman having to confront the decision about whether to have an abortion, is a woman in a place she probably never imagined herself or wanted herself to be in.

Abortion is about ending a life, a fact many take as the beginning and the end of the subject, and that others try to avoid.

In fact, this life is ended in as many as 10-20% of pregnancies in which women know they are pregnant, and as many as 30% if you include those that occur before a woman is aware of her state. This is called a miscarriage. This is a distressing end of life that occurs. Some may say it is “God’s will” others bad luck. But this happens.

Some women abort their pregnancies for medical reasons- an ectopic pregnancy, aneuploidy or anencephaly, or for maternal health conditions for which carrying a pregnancy to term is contraindicated. Yes I used medical jargon. These are medical decisions. This is a tragedy. We do fetal surgery to help some conditions that were once near uniformly fatal but we can’t fix everything. Carrying a non viable fetus to term endangers the life of the mother for no reason.

Some women have “elective” abortions. This is a terrible term that makes it easy to assume these are financially independent consenting adults who have knowledge about the outcome of sex, the power to say no and access to reliable contraception. It also implies they have a supportive partner, a job with a livable wage, health insurance, and maternity leave. This term paints the picture of a decision made lightly and without thought by an irresponsible person who doesn’t deserve our empathy. 

This is simply not true. 

I want to end the need for abortions, but I recognize that the way to do it is not to ban them. These bans only help to ease the conscience of some and worse perpetuate a classification of women as second class citizens without natural rights, all at the expense of reality. This is a complex issue that will not go away because you pass a law. 

If you want to end abortion, as I do,  then lets work together to improve our society. Let’s raise the minimum wage, lets provide universal health care, lets educate our children about their bodies and about what consent looks like. Lets provide access to contraception. Lets guarantee paid family leave. Let’s actually punish men who assault women, including their partners/spouses, or who use their economic or societal power to “persuade” women to have sex with them. And let’s do it  without putting the victim on the firing line. Let’s stop imprisoning people at such high rates thereby breaking apart families and perpetuating cycles of poverty. Let’s truly value children and support families and stop just giving them lip service. Let’s actually put our money where our mouth is. (Sorry I slipped and used a catchphrase). Let’s recognize families of all configurations and raise them up and celebrate them.  Let’s FINALLY pass the equal rights amendment and recognize and codify that all people of any and all genders and orientations are full and equal participants in this country.

What else could we do if we were truly Pro children and Pro family in our country? 

If you want to end abortion, hold your elected officials accountable to help meet the needs of families. And give women back the right to control their own bodies. If they have to face this tragedy, let’s give them the dignity and respect to face it according to their own consciences, not yours or mine.

Playlist :Letter to the Editor. 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4x7FxkXeivyEIl16mb2NxT?si=885201014dcd4aa8

Book suggestion: "Ways of Being" James Bridle 2022

Broken

 "Let's not deceive ourselves: that damaged planet will not be safe for the little ones. The children need at healthy world that provides them a healthy life, not a poisoned, bulldozed, desperate world, where forests burn and rivers run dry. Not an insane, nihilistic, unstable world where the powerful people pursue profit, even to the end of civilization. What else is my work, my role-responsibility, the duty that comes with loving the children, if not to defend their future?" "Earth's Wild Music: Celebrating and Defending the Songs of the Natural World." Kathleen Dean Moore 2021

"Goin' home, I've done enough to sow my little name
Goin' where the fields are green and I can do my macramé
A buffoon fumblin' without a clue, likes to shift the blame
And often feels betrayed, there's gonna be some changes made
There's gonna be some changes made
Gonna be some changes, changes made
Can't keep on doing what I've been doing these days
Look in the mirror, I see a clown's face
It's gotta take it off, gotta get myself straight
Gonna be some changes, changes made" Bruce Hornsby 2004 "Gonna Be Some Changes Made"

Congress, get off your asses and pass federal gun safety legislation- dying from gun violence is now the leading cause of death for children age 1-19 in the United States. Congratulations. Well done. 

Do not tell me you care about children! Do not tell me you value life! You are liars who care about power and profit and nothing else. Shame on you and shame on us for allowing you to continue.

IF you care about children:

Make the child tax credit permanent.

Improve SNAP and continue the summer meals program.

Pass the Equal Rights Amendment to empower women.

Require paid parental leave.

Fund and require science based comprehensive sexuality and gender education. Children deserve knowledge as they grow into their bodies and explore identities, not shame and ridicule from narrow minded adults.

Fund Single payer healthcare to give access to care for all.

Pass a federal law to keep abortion legal and contraception accessible. 

Raise the federal minimum wage, consider a universal basic income.

Tax the billionaires and stop whining about the cost of funding social programs while you continue to accelerate funding of the war machine.

Stop destroying our planet by extracting and burning fossil fuels.

Stop denying that we are part of nature. We need all the other members of our ecosystem for the health of ourselves and of the planet. We rush on towards the extinction of millions of species, including our own thinking somehow we will outsmart evolution. 

Allow people time for the necessity of reflection in nature, for creativity, for art ,for the nurturing of children and of relationships.

End agribusiness and support small farming, vegetarian based diet and an end to highly processed foods. Make whole food cheap and processed foods expensive. Stop destroying waterways. Save the bees. 

Stop protecting profits at the expense of people.

"The gift of nature tells us there is a persistence to life that no measure of insolence of greed can destroy." KDM

We can change. We just have to stop living in fear and prioritizing the pursuit of money over all else.

Look around. Read a book. Stop listening to people who spew hatred.

"Meanwhile Earth turns, birds fly north or south, fish rise or sink in the currents, the moon spills light on snow or sand, and we --do we think we turn the crank that spins the Earth? A good dose of wonder, a night of roaring waves, a faceful of stars, the kick in the pants of an infinite universe, the huge unknowing--these remind us that there is beauty we didn't create. There is mystery we cannot fathom. There are interests that are not our own. There is time we cannot measure. When we live humbly in full awareness of the astonishing fact that we have any place at all in such a world, we live richer, deeper lives, more fully realizing our humanity. And so a sense of wonder impels us to act respectfully in the world. There is meaning and significance in these products of time and rock and water, far beyond their usefulness to human purposes. The sweep of time and the operations of chance have created a world that leaves us delighted and dazed, struggling to understand the very fact of it, its colors, its squeaks and songs. It deserves respect, which is to say that a sense of wonder leads us to celebrate and honor the Earth. Too a sense of wonder shows us our own responsibilities to care for the objects of wonder-to do them no harm, to protect their thriving. Rachel (Carson)-"Wonder and humility are wholesome emotions, and they do not exist side by side with a lust for destruction." To the extent that she is right, wonder may be the keystone virtue in our time of reckless destruction, a source of decency and hope and restraint." KDM p. 210 

Just stop. 

Peace out.

Sheila

https://www.tiktok.com/@michaelkosta_/video/7098512768285838634

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3bfn4W4zojSwZoPPwAEd7H?si=85985b78c77e40f2

 

The importance of stories

 ""I didn't do it," I said. 'I never touched that lady. She thought it was me. You couldn't tell her that I didn't break into her room and hold her down. When she was on the stand, I couldn't even look her in the face, because in her eyes, I was a barbarian, worse than a dog. When I looked at her looking at me, I became what she thought I was."" from An American Marriage by Tayari Jones 2018.

 I just finished this novel. This was a hard but necessary read. I don't mean hard as in "dense" or boring.  It was beautiful writing and an intelligent, nuanced study. But the story was difficult to hear, because it reflects reality for many people living in my country. 

When I finished, the quote above stuck out in this story of one black man's life and the havoc created for him and his family from a false accusation and the ensuing experience in our criminal justice system.

This novel, took me from knowing in an intellectual sense that black lives matter and that our country continues to harm them daily, that this myth of the "dangerous black man" is perpetuated through our actions (conscious and unconscious) as a nation. I knew, I know, black lives matter. But after reading this story, I understand more deeply not just that black lives matter in the abstract, but that this man's life matters, as does that of his wife, friends and family. I know that his life that he worked so hard to achieve and that was snatched away abruptly, ruthlessly, matters. It was lost because of a myth so deeply engrained that for many it is called "justice" and for others it is called "reality." But really it is fear. It is fear.

This is the power of storytelling. Facts are a necessary preliminary to action, but they seldom cause a change in heart or spur a true change. Facts alone allow us to keep our distance. But stories draw us into the heart, the mind of the person. We can't run away from the mirror held up to ourselves in this story. We can't hide from the common humanity.

Life can be cruel. There are many ways that our lives can be abruptly changed...illness, injury, rejection, heartbreak, death. We have the power to remove only a few of these possible disruptors. We can remove this one, but only if we are willing to discuss it, to learn the facts, to listen to the stories and then to work for change. 

Thank you Ms Jones for sharing this powerful story. 

I recommend this book, but also any story that gives you someone else's perspective. Read. Empower yourself with knowledge, with empathy for the lives of others. 

Peace out,

Sheila

Growing Pains

 "The price one pays for pursuing any profession, or calling, is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side." James Baldwin (Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son.)

This quote struck me at a time in life...when both my husband and I alternate between joy and despair at both the daily grind and the overarching processes at work in our chosen professions which we have practiced for oh these 25+ years. We see the ugly side at work.

This author of whom I know but have not read, struck me as someone particularly entrenched in and wise to the ugliness manifest in the world.

His reality was difficult, violent and misunderstood. He lived in troubled times. And yet...from it came his voice, his life.

We look around now at the war in Ukraine and the madman leading Russia in the style of other madmen given power throughout history.

We despair of anyone taking seriously our changing climate- refusing to even see the long term economic devastation (never mind loss of life) from continued inaction when it interferes with our short term gains -the state government in Texas- that shining example of how to be cruel and vindictive to the marginalized- is now refusing to do business with companies that do NOT invest in their fossil fuel industry. Don't mess with Texas ---I will refrain from further comment.

We look at the backlash against the expression of diversity and the urge for other voices to share in our communal prosperity and to have their voices heard and respected. The white guys (and women) in power respond by banning books and targeting our children in their infantile attempts to pound their chests and declare America for the bland hypocrites...keep those donations rolling in boys...

Meanwhile infighting among the members of the progressive party reveal a weakness of their own- it's easy to rally everyone around a cause when a criteria for membership in your clan is conformity of thought but to  truly embrace diversity requires not only vilifying everyone that strays from the accepted standard of the moment (Beware the influencers), not even just listening and embracing others ideas unquestionably, but actually being willing to think for yourself about whether a party line makes sense to you and if not why not. Question, learn, speak your mind,  don't just agree and don't just dismiss, this is how you can progress towards a more just world. BUT it also makes unifying your political party and making concrete laws difficult.  Slow progress is at least progress though.

 I just read an interesting post from a Pediatrician in Florida who is gay who delved into the new law about not discussing gender/sexual orientation in school and his take on it is that it is more of a thoughtful law about the rights of parents to take the lead over their elementary school child's education than it is an inflammatory anti lgbtq+ law. The actual name of the law is "Parental rights in education."It did make me think. 

But it is interesting that in Florida parents are supposed to be the ultimate arbiter for their child's exposure to gender, while in Texas parents who make a choice to help their children obtain gender affirming care are being investigated for child abuse (meanwhile in Pennsylvania parents can starve and beat their children and withhold standard medical care for their children all in the name of their "religion" and that's okay). It does seem very inconsistent, ugly and with the best interests of anyone but the actual children  in mind.

It also brings to mind the parents screaming at school board meetings, threatening school board members and politicians taking advantage of this outrage against the "tyranny of masks in school" by claiming they value parents opinions over science( those who "use" science to take away their freedoms...)Really?  How do we give parents the final say over their children when parents are acting like children?  How do we respond when parents think they own their children and that their own rigid views must be handed down the generations even if it leads to self hatred and fear. 

James Hamblin has an excellent opinion piece in the NY Times (3/12/22) "Can Public Health Be Saved?" in which he makes a  statement that should be obvious in a democracy but which has been lost. - "In any crisis, serious disagreements over values and priorities is inevitable. How many lives saved should justify, say, closing schools? Is preventable illness acceptable as long as our hospitals are not overcrowded? There is no single correct answer when choosing between losses that people value differently. Trust in a system, does not mean always agreeing that the correct decision has been made but that decisions were made in good faith, transparently, taking all perspectives into account... This process cannot happen without a baseline of evidence and facts, from which people can agree or disagree about policy."

"A healthy distance between the CDC and other political leaders would allow the agency to communicate information to the public even when it is politically inconvenient." When health agencies, scientists and politicians appear to be working as one, especially in a highly polarized political climate, people can dismiss the messages altogether. "

"The overall effect can erode a common factual basis for reality, leaving many people believing that everything is simply a matter of opinion."

The ugly side...Troubled times. I want to stick my head in the sand. I want to run away. I want to stop.

But while the ugly side has always been there and people screaming get more attention, more "likes", the beautiful side has always been there too. It feels harder to find, and if I'm honest, I am not sure that I ever find it in humanity (well, not in anyone over the age of  5 or so...) but the world, the universe...there is beauty there. And some of us humans can see it, some of us lucky ones who aren't living with bombs dropped on us, or in poverty or without access to clean water.. or to vaccines. The privileged- maybe we have an obligation to shine a light on the beauty when we see it.

I don't really know. I have no answers.

Is being kind enough? I have some money in the bank... should I give it all up? Will that help? 

Barry Lopez says these horrible things that happen- war, destruction, murder- and we decry them as "inhuman acts" but they are all to human. They are what we humans do. They are part of all of us, of each of us. How do we reckon with that fact? He suggests that accepting the paradox of life is difficult. He proposes that our goal be to "Lean towards the light." That has become my mantra.

I end with  a book recommendation and playlist again. My new format became my old one again quickly. Thank you for listening. It is good to get my thoughts out...to explore them, examine them, learn from them, change them, grow...It can be painful but it is also a beautiful process...

Peace out.

Sheila

Books: 

1. "Adventures in Opting Out: a field guide to living an intentional life." Cait Flanders 2020 (highly recommended for people in all stages of their lives- very wise and thoughtful- made me think closely about my choices and  challenges some of the things I wish for my children as maybe just my own desires - really focuses on doing what you feel is right, allowing others to do the same and showing kindness to all.)

2. "The Witch King" H. E. Edgmon 2021 - NOT my favorite genre (romance/fantasy/YA), and not my favorite book but asked to read it for a book club and it does have some good insights for those of you who do enjoy those genres...

Playlist" "Tangled" 

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0k7ISESlCJJwfHh3EfhJNo?si=3bbb0fb85a0e44df

Book Recommendations

 1. "The Island of Missing Trees" Elif Shafak 2021

  2. "What to Do, How to Live" Josh Cohen 2021

3. "To the Bright Edge of the World"  Eowyn Ivey 2016

4. "Nudge: the Final Edition" Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler 2021

Where are the strong, and who are the trusted?

" Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?

 Where have all the flowers gone, long time ago?

Where have all the flowers gone?

Young girls have picked them everyone

Oh, when will they ever learn?

Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the young girls gone, long time passing?
Where have all the young girls gone, long time ago?
Where have all the young girls gone?
Gone for husbands everyone
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?


Where have all the husbands gone, long time passing?
Where have all the husbands gone, long time ago?
Where have all the husbands gone? Gone for soldiers everyone Oh, when will they ever learn? Oh, When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

Where have all the soldiers gone, long time passing?
Where have all the soldiers gone, long time ago?
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards everyone 

Oh, when will they ever learn?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time passing?

Where have all the graveyards gone, long time ago?

Where have all the graveyards gone? 

Gone to flowers everyone

Oh, when will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?"

Pete Seeger 1955

Dated yes, but still a song to make you think. Described by many as a song of hope and peace. I am not sure I see the hopeful part there. Mr Seeger says he was inspired to write it by a book about the Cossacks in Russia in the 19th century...Have we learned anything?

I remember listening to this song on my father's reel to reel tapes in the 1970s when I was a young child. My father was no beatnik:) He was a naval officer for 20 years who spent time serving on submarines during the Vietnam War. He did describe himself as a pacifist, but he did his duty, serving his country, trying to serve others. He was a complex person although he would claim not to be. He lived his life trying to follow his ideals of honesty and humility and tried to pass on those teachings to his children. He was so impactful because of how he lived, not what he said.

 You are a complex person aren't you? You are not consistent in all of your thoughts and beliefs but you try right? We are all complex individuals...We all have our scars.

I just want you to know. I am labelled as a member of "the woke mob" that politicians run ads about as evil people that must be defeated. I am a Pediatrician-have been for 26 years. I run an early literacy project to help get kids reading. I have a Little Free library in front of my house in suburban PA. I have been married for 32 years. I have 3 children. I have 2 rescue dogs (currently). Am I evil in your eyes? If so, I'd like to talk with you one on one and share some stories... yours and mine.
Peace out.
Sheila