August 2021 Books

* The Way I Was ¹ by Marvin Hamlisch - Really easy and absorbing read with excellent narration by Robert Klein.

A Memoir ¹ by Rita Moreno - I wanted to love this but it was really just okay. 

* As You Wish ¹ by Cary Elwes - First listened to this in October of 2018 and it was just as much fun the second time around.  

* The White Ship ¹ by Charles Spencer - A while back I saw Charles Spencer on a chat show talking about his book and it sounded really fascinating. It was, but I think I need to give it another listen and take notes on names and their relations so as to follow it a bit better.

♥ Riders of the Purple Sage ¹ by Zane Grey

* No Time Like the Future ¹ by Michael J. Fox - I've read Fox's other books and he still just comes across as a warm and genuine fella with a refreshing outlook on life. What's not to love?

¹ - audiobook

² - abridged version

* - liked

♥ - loved

Any unmarked titles were, in my opinion, so-so.

The Wallpaper at the House

Mum is looking to paint over some of the wallpaper, some of which has been hanging on those walls for over three decades. Here are my faves.

Hans

Out of Print Wants

Out of Print has thee bestest stuff for literary junkies like me. Here's some shirts that are super fab and that one day I hope to add to my collection.

Summer 2021 Donations

Life got in the way and I skipped a month of donating and then I forgot to post for the months that I did donate so eff it - here's a combo of organisations to whom (Whom? Who? I'm American. No one here knows when to use whom.) I did manage to donate.

Doctors Without Borders

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) provides lifesaving medical humanitarian care, and speaking out about what they see. My primary reason for donating is their work regarding sexual and gender-based violence: 

Since sexual violence can occur anywhere at any time, we strive to ensure that all our projects are able to handle sexual violence cases. In some places with high levels of sexual violence—for example, in Papua New Guinea, Colombia, Kenya, and Democratic Republic of Congo—our projects have dedicated services for sexual violence victims, available around the clock. In all cases we strive to offer a comprehensive package of care, including medical treatment of injuries, preventive interventions, and psychological care. 

Our medics urge people to seek treatment within three days of an attack if possible, not only to treat physical injuries, but also to prevent disease. Our comprehensive care for victims includes the following:

• Post-exposure prophylaxis using medicines that prevent sexually transmitted infections, such as HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea. To be effective these drugs should be given within three days of the attack. Hepatitis B and tetanus vaccines are also given in some cases.

• Offer of emergency contraceptives for female victims where allowed by law, to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

• Treatment for physical injuries, including surgery, if necessary.

• Pregnancy tests for female victims at follow-up visits, to determine if they became pregnant from their attack.

• Support to female victims whose attack caused an unwanted pregnancy, to help them manage their care and treatment decisions.

• Psychological care.

• Medical certificates to survivors, for legal purposes.

Through Omaze:

HeadCount

HeadCount is a non-partisan organization that uses the power of music to register voters and promote participation in democracy. We reach young people and music fans where they already are – at concerts and online – to inform and empower.

We stage nonpartisan voter registration drives at more than 1,000 live events each year and collaborate with cultural leaders to promote civic engagement on a national scale. Since 2004, we’ve signed up over 1,000,000 voters through our work with touring musicians like Ariana Grande, Dead & Company, and Beyoncé and events like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Pride Festivals and RuPaul’s DragCon. 

Movember

Movember is the leading charity changing the face of men's health on a global scale, focusing on mental health and suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. The charity raises funds to deliver innovative, breakthrough research and support programs that enable men to live happier, healthier and longer lives. Movember encourages men to stay healthy in all areas of their life, including staying socially connected and becoming more open to discussing their health and significant moments in their lives. 

The Clooney Foundation For Justice

The Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) advocates for justice through accountability for human rights abuses around the world.  

We believe that justice means fighting for the rights of individuals unfairly targeted by oppressive governments through the courts: this is what we do through our TrialWatch program. And we work to expose the corruption that fuels grave human rights violations through our other flagship programs: The Sentry, which “follows the dirty money” of human rights abusers to ensure that they face financial consequences through targeted network sanctions, anti-money laundering measures, and other policy instruments; and The Docket, which aims to trigger criminal prosecutions and civil claims against individual and corporate actors who profit from war crimes and human rights abuse.

But justice is more than what is meted out in courts, it is litigated in communities as well. Advancing the cause of justice also means advancing justice for marginalized and vulnerable communities targeted by hate; justice for displaced children deprived of opportunities to learn; justice for refugees seeking to rebuild their lives abroad.  Through our projects for marginalized communities, we have partnered with organizations that help to educate refugees, reunite children separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border, and litigate against groups that commit hate-crimes in the United States.

Planned Parenthood

After the latest bullshit in Texas where they continue to do everything possible to control a body that is not their own I had to throw some money to Planned Parenthood. See below for info from the site on SB8.

What is SB 8?

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 8 into law on May 19, 2021. Sometimes referred to as the “heartbeat bill,” SB 8 is one of the most extreme abortion bans in the entire nation. Effective September 1, 2021, SB 8 bans abortion in Texas at approximately six weeks — before most people even know they’re pregnant — with no exceptions for rape or incest.

For people with a regular menstrual cycle, that’s just two weeks after a missed period.

SB 8 is different from other abortion bans because it contains a “private cause of action,” which is a legal provision that allows private individuals — not the state — to enforce the law. 

This provision lets anyone sue an abortion provider and anyone else who helps a patient access abortion care that is prohibited by SB 8. Anyone who successfully sues an abortion provider will be entitled to at least $10,000 and a court order preventing them from providing abortions in the future.

That means anyone, anywhere in the country — from anti-abortion protesters to out-of-state lobbyists — can sue an abortion provider, abortion funds, or anyone who “aids and abets” someone seeking an abortion that is prohibited by SB 8, regardless of whether they are directly involved or even know the patient.

This is a new tactic by opponents of abortion designed to make it harder to challenge the ban in court.

Please join me in the Low Budget Philanthropy movement and help out your community and beyond in the simplest way - donating any amount to whatever charity or organisation that you care about!

Garland of Letters with Kay

Finally after who knows how long, Kayla and I got to go back to the best spot on South Street for some incense and other goodies. Plus I got to hug one of my favourite people on the planet for several minutes. (And give some love to Zuko the kitty!)

She Gave Me a Flower

This morning at work was hellacious but it got better by the end of the day and then everything was turned right around and headed toward joy and elation when I saw a letter from Melissa, all the way from Portland. I opened it to find that she included a sketch she did at her drawing class. And it's perfection! I mean how stinkin' sweet is this lady?? Off the charts sweet. Now I need to find a proper frame for displaying.

Mel Won't Tell

For some inexplicable reason I captured Melanie, on December 5, 2009 at a holiday soiree, lamenting on just how much wood that woodchuck could chuck.  

Audible Email

Not terribly long ago I decided to do my best to have Audible try and make some of my audiobook dreams a reality. I sent off an email and actually got a real human reply. How nice is that?! Even if they never record unabridged copies of Dominick Dunne's books or fulfill any of my other requests, I just feel grateful that someone read what I wrote and is sending it off to the department that could consider them. 

Hello!

I'm fairly obsessed with audiobooks and have a few suggestions. Maybe they're possible, maybe they aren't, or maybe I should mind my stinkin' business, but I feel compelled to share them with you in the hopes that my Audible dreams will one day come true. Here goes: 

• I would love to see the unabridged works of Dominick Dunne narrated beautifully and perhaps draw people's attention to his fantastic writing. His novels are page turners and with the right narrator, a new group of people might fall in love with him, as I have.

• Next, I was looking at my Andy Warhol Diaries and thought, "Hmm...I wonder if anyone has ever bothered to tackle this beast and set it to an audio version..." Might be worth thinking about.

• One of my favourite FAVOURITE audiobooks is Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days" but it MUST be the version read by Jim Dale. I was able to listen to it through an old copy my library had, but it was a bit sketchy and scratched. If Audible had this, I would buy it instantly so I could listen to it again and again. It is that phenomenal.

• Lastly, and this is a very long shot, I have this day-dream of my fave authors, actors, narrators, etc, reading some of their own favourite books, be they novels, children's stories, non-fiction, doesn't matter. I mentioned this to John Waters when I met him for all of four glorious minutes a few years back. I love his books and he does an incredible job narrating. He is himself a huge fan of the written word and it would be so cool for him to read an oddball book from his "best of" list or even just whatever is on his nightstand. Something like this would give an artist's following a chance to see what makes them tick and also give new life to some books that have been all but forgotten.

Thank you so much taking the time to read this rather long note and take care,

Lisa Star

Hi Lisa,

Thanks for reaching out. I'm so happy to hear that you really enjoy your service. I have read through all of your suggestions and I understand where your heart is at.  I have taken your requests and properly routed them to our publishing rights team who can determine if we are able to acquire the content. If in the future you have any other content suggestions please feel free to send them over to Content-requests@audible.com. The appropriate teams will see your request and see if the rights can be obtained to get the audiobooks made.

I hope this helps!

Sincerely,

Jon

Lauryn's Big Day

Lauryn looked absolutely stunning on her wedding day. I wisely avoiding taking too many photos during the ceremony and just sat back to enjoy it and be in the moment. I did get one of her and her dad coming up the aisle and a couple photos of Mel and Kat. It was so wonderful to see Lauryn so happy and having a blast.

The Gals at the Wedding

Sunday evening was Lauryn's wedding. As much as I was dreading it, like I dread all social gatherings, it was a really good time. The music was phenomenal and we four pals took advantage of the photo booth plus scored a selfie by yours truly. More details to come but here's the best of the ladies.

Growin' Up Fast

The other day when I was watching some season two eps of Ted Lasso with Xavier in the garage, Jax came out to chat for a bit. He filled me in on going back to school-school versus remote learning and I snapped a photo of him looking so cute and maturing before my eyes. Dig his rad King Ad-Rock t-shirt from Tees4Togo! Wonder who gave him that??

Vision Board

This is the one just behind my desk for work. Seeing Martin Clunes' face, a lovely green field, the glow of a warm fire, a handsome bearded beauty, and a kitchen with a window over the sink brings a sweeping calm over any rough workday.

58 - The Smile

The Smile

There was a woman we loved to see. She had a lovely smile that would spread from her face to ours. It was not the type of grin that appears when you hear a clever joke or you've been tickled, but the elegant smile of someone who has learned a bit of wisdom through the years and might even be satisfied with life. Whenever she entered a room her smile was a welcome and reassuring sight, and we sat a little straighter and felt a little smarter. One day somebody whispered in her ear and it must have been quite a joke, for her gentle smile grew into a goofy grin and we smiled too at first. But then her smile grew so big and wide that she looked like a strange cartoon and we became frightened, although we could not quite explain why.

Our emotions are contagious. Joy comes from curiosity and truth, and must be balanced with dignity if it is to last. Examine your principles and encourage others through kindness.

I Smell Like a Plastic Dinosaur

Tuesday morning I drove to Ashlee's and dropped off a box of some toys I had in the basket under my purple chair. Most of the toys in the basket were from when I was a kid and Xavier, too, plus when I would have Ashlee and Nicole sleep over when they were little. I don't have children stay at my place any more so I went through and gave some trucks, mini stuffed animals, and other odds and ends for Avery and Bailey. Avery's been in to dinosaurs lately so I had to include the triceratops. Later that night Ash sent me a video of Avery randomly holding the dinosaur to her nose while watching TV. When pressed to answer why she was doing that, she, rather indignantly, answered, "Because it smells like Lisa Star." She then sat back and took in two big snort-fulls of Dino/Star. Too cute not to post!

Beautiful Bailey

Ash sent me this yesterday and I immediately gasped at just how perfect this girl is. I texted Ashlee back and told her that if catalogs still existed, Bailey would be the face of JCPenney's Fall catalog. She is just such a lovely little lady and the fact that she is expressive and kind and hysterically funny makes her one hell of a package. My life is so much better with her in it.

Krispy Kreme - Autumn Style

Oh they have an apple cider cake donut. I love love love Krispy Kreme's cake donuts. Back in the day I ate three devil's food and three blueberry cake donuts on the way home from Richmond. I was still in my twenties and my tummy didn't react at all to the download of hundreds and hundreds of grams of sugar. Now I'd probably self destruct. I can't eat any of these non-vegan friendly beauties, but damn they look good...when, oh when will the Double K get on the vegan and gluten free bandwagon!?!

Ida's Bookshop

Bishop told me about this new bookstore that was coming to Collingswood in July and on Friday I finally made it over there. It's a rather unusual bookshop, as it has limited inventory and the books are mostly displayed rather than in rows and rows of shelving units. The prices are as marked by the publisher and are higher than you'd find online, but it still felt good buying local. It's a beautiful place and clearly I made a beeline for the little room with kids books.