All Politics is Local. Go Vote.

As it tends to do, our dinner table discussion turned political tonight. Thanks to YouTube and old-fashioned parents who still enjoy reading the print edition of their newspapers, Boo is smarter about politics than your average 5th grader.

Tomorrow is an important election for Pittsburgh. After what has been a rather interesting (and kinda crowded at times) primary campaign for Mayor, we go to the polls.

Well, not we exactly. We're in the suburbs, so we don't have a direct say in this contest. Boo, however, has been following this race closely and has a definite favorite candidate. (He's endorsing Bill Peduto, in case you're interested.) When I asked him if he was planning to wear his campaign button to school tomorrow, he looked at me perplexed.

"But we can't vote tomorrow," he said, meaning voting in the geographical (not chronological) sense.

"No," I acknowledged. "That's true, we can't. Not in the Mayor for Pittsburgh race. But we can care about and find out more about the issues they stand for because they affect all of us. What happens in Pittsburgh affects the entire community because we like to go into Pittsburgh to do things, right?"

"Like the Pirates? And the Carnegie Science Center? And food?"

"Exactly. And we care about a lot of people who live in Pittsburgh. And we can encourage other people to vote right here in our little town for our local elections. So, maybe wearing your button might remind them."

He shrugged. (These days,the half-hearted shrug is something I'm getting used to.) Still, I think he got it.

So. No matter how small or how local, if you have an election tomorrow, your voice matters. Make it be heard. Make it be counted.

#VotePgh

photo taken by me, Pittsburgh, March 1, 2012


I am an Amazon.com Affiliate. Making a purchase via any of the Amazon.com links on The Betty and Boo Chronicles will result in my earning a small percentage in commission, which will be used to support the upkeep of this blog, as well as the real-life versions of Betty and Boo. Thank you!

copyright 2013, Melissa, The Betty and Boo Chronicles If you are reading this on a blog or website other than The Betty and Boo Chronicles or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

taking care of business: my newest nonprofit strategist post

My newest "Nonprofit Strategist" column is up at Benchmark Email's website, and I hope you'll take a look. This month I'm talking about Ori and Rom Brafman's book Click: The Magic of Instant Connections (Broadway Books, 2010). They didn't write this as a business tome, per se, but the concepts that they present about how we interact and connect with others are interesting ones for the professional and the personal worlds.


From my post:


Now, I'm one of those people who believe that we meet the people we meet in life for a reason. There are just too many people in this world for us to be meeting the ones we meet for no good reason ... hence the people we meet need to matter.  Call it karma, fate, providence, whatever you want.

But this clicking business ... I always thought it was sort of serendipitous, a bit of magic. As it turns out, magic is actually part of it but there is more psychology involved than one might think.  What's even more fascinating is that it is actually possible to create these moments because in almost every instance when we click with someone, the same five factors (or, "accelerators") are generally at play.

If you have anything to do with donors or volunteers or organizing special events or dealing with people, read the entire post ("Making Nonprofits Click") here.

It's a Small World, After All

I'm trying to imagine the conversation, trying to put myself in another person's glass slippers shoes, so to speak.

I'm thinking the scenario goes something like this:

Two moms, both living with their modern-day Prince Charmings in Manhattan.

Both with children attending the same private school.

Mom A mentions that they're going to Disney World for spring break and Mom B's response is the all-too-familiar eye-roll, accompanied by the even more familiar been-there done-that semi-annoyed sigh.

That's because Mom A and Mom B know what we all know - that even though Disney is supposedly The Most Magical Place on Earth, it can also be akin to The Seventh Ring of Hell (at least in my view) with wait times for rides being as long as 90 minutes, according to a poll of my friends via Facebook.

A disclaimer: I don't wait 90 minutes for anything. Not a table in an overpriced chain restaurant, and certainly not for a 3 minute amusement park ride, Disney or no Disney. Hence, I needed to do the Facebook poll of friends who have gone to the Magic Kingdom as a family because The Betty and Boo Family has not made a sojourn to Orlando, Land of Required Childhood Vacation Spots. Nor do we plan to in the foreseeable future. 

(I know. My kids are dreadfully deprived.)

But! There's good news for those who ARE sprinkled with pixie dust. Apparently it's now possible to arrange for a fairy godmother to wave her magic wand and bibbidi-bobbidi-boo! You now have a pumpkin in the form of a motorized scooter or wheelchair and your long-line ride problem is solved!

According to an article in yesterday's New York Post, you can hire a disabled "black-market tour guide" (the NY Post's words, not mine) to pose as a member of your family's entourage and therefore easily bypass those pesky 90 minute wait times for the rides by taking advantage of Disney's services for guests with disabilities. (Disney allows each guest who needs a wheelchair or motorized scooter to bring up to six guests with him or her to a more convenient ride entrance.)

This supposedly could have been arranged via a VIP Tour with Dream Tours Florida, a firm reportedly owned by Ryan Clement and his girlfriend Jacie Christiano, and will run you $130 per hour, or $1,030 for an eight hour day. (They are, according to their website, suddenly not offering such tours at this time "[d]ue to inaccurate press and slander.") This practice was discovered by social anthropologist Dr. Wednesday Martin while doing research for her new book, Primates of Park Avenue. She is also the author of (in keeping with the Disney theme) Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do. 

Okay. Deep breaths. As you might imagine, I have a few issues with all of this.

First, let's play devil's advocate for a minute. Like all good movies, sometimes what we think we're seeing isn't always the whole truth. One reads that all these rich bitches are hiring these tour guides, which then somehow translates into our minds as there must be this underground secret stash somewhere of developmentally disabled people that Dream Tours is exploiting by renting out by the hour.

Which is entirely believable because we have seen such examples of such depravity time and time again, haven't we? It's our biggest fear as parents, as people who love someone with a disability, and it's not impossible for us to go there, to make that leap, because we've seen the worst in people. (Hell-lo, Cleveland!)

We know and we fear the happily-never after side of how our kids and the most vulnerable are treated by the Cruella de Villes lurking among us.

But could it also be possible that Mr. Clement and Ms. Christiano, for whatever reasons - call it desperation, call it greed, call it whatever - are in this just for themselves? That they see this as a way for Ms. Christiano (who reportedly has an auto-immune disease and uses a scooter) as a way to make a few extra bucks? Who the hell knows how their business was really doing in this shit-tastic economy? Maybe it's really just Ms. Christiano who is really the only "black-market tour guide" who is earning $1,030 a day by using her disability to help families get onto the rides faster.

I'd like to believe that. I really would. I'd like to believe that their bungled media response to reporters' questions is simply a result of scared naivete, of poor crisis communications management. (And if that's the case, I hope they get in touch if they need a PR strategist. I happen to be available.)

That still doesn't make it right.

Because there are still a lot more things incredibly wrong and rightfully outrageous about this.

In my view, this story shows that we truly do live in a small, small world when it comes to employment and people with disabilities.

It's a small, small world where only 20.7% of the labor force is made up of people with disabilities. (Source: United States Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy)

It's a small, small world when the unemployment rate for people with disabilities is at 12.9%, compared to 6.9% for people without. (Source: United States Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy)

And it will continue to be a small, small world with the current dismal economy and the state of human services for the number of people with disabilities who need gainful, meaningful employment as well as those who will need jobs in the future.

We're living in a fairy tale, going 'round and 'round on the same ride.

The only way this story has a chance of a happy ending is if changes are made. Because people with special needs deserve the same employment opportunities as all of us. Because if indeed there was a practice of employing and hiring people with disabilities for the purpose of skirting the system, then the outrage most certainly belongs with those who perpetrated such morally despicable acts.

And it certainly belongs on a mindset that sees people with disabilities mere playthings for the rich, as objects and goods to be bought and sold on the "black market."





I am an Amazon.com Affiliate. Making a purchase via any of the Amazon.com links on The Betty and Boo Chronicles will result in my earning a small percentage in commission, which will be used to support the upkeep of this blog, as well as the real-life versions of Betty and Boo. Thank you!

copyright 2013, Melissa, The Betty and Boo Chronicles. If you are reading this on a blog or website other than The Betty and Boo Chronicles or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

The Sunday Salon: May 12

I've been surrounded by books for most of the past week, yet little reading has been done.

(As you may have noticed, even less blogging has been done, too.)

In January, I started attending a new church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation that I've been meaning to "check out" since we moved here. It only took me a mere 16 months to get around to going one Sunday.

It was time. If I'm being honest, I've been feeling somewhat adrift and unsettled here. I started feeling that way during The Husband's cancer treatments, when our entire support system was six hours away, and it isn't helping that the one-year anniversary of my unemployment looms with continued dead ends everywhere I turn.

When you're in such a state, you tend to turn to anything that is familiar and (hopefully) safe and legal for comfort. We were UUs back in Philly and Delaware, so we know this faith. It's home for me. I really like this congregation and I think it's a good fit with what I am looking for. So, when they asked for volunteers to help out with the rummage sale fundraiser this week, I signed up for several mornings as a way to get out of the house and to try and meet some new people.

We had a large book section and of course, that's where I spent most of my time - organizing and sorting donations and (whoot!) getting first dibs on the offerings.

Meet the newest additions to my bookshelves:

Fresh Choices: More Than 100 Easy Recipes for Pure Food When You Can't Buy 100% Organic, by David Joachim and Rochelle Davis

New American Poets of the '90s, edited by Jack Myers ad Roger Weingarten

Half of a Yellow Sun, by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Herland: A Lost Feminist Utopian Novel, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The Tennis Partner, by Abraham Verghese

Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann (one of my favorite books EVER and one that I own on Kindle, but I couldn't resist a copy in print)  

Sarah's Key, by Tatiana De Rosnay

Crash Diet, Stories by Jill McCorkle

Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes

I donated six books to the sale, plus a bunch of children's books, so coming home with nine books isn't too bad, huh? I can live with that ratio. We made $6,000 on the rummage sale, according to what they announced at church this morning!

As for the rest of today, I'm planning to spend what's left of my Mother's Day catching up on the reading I've neglected over the past week. On Friday I started Deb Caletti's novel He's Gone (which is also Ms. Caletti's  first novel of adult women's fiction). I loved The Queen of Everything, which was my first introduction to Deb Caletti, and this novel is also completely engrossing.

He's Gone begins with the sudden and unexplained disappearance of Dani Keller's husband, Ian. The couple, both on their second marriage, live on a houseboat in the Seattle area (a familiar setting if you've read Caletti's other books). As Dani desperately searches for her husband, the reader learns about the couple's not-always-smooth-sailing pasts through Caletti's skillful use of flashbacks.

I'm on page 136 of 323 of the ARC, and I've found myself saying some variation of "Why don't you ____??!!" or "You really need to ____!" and "When the hell are you ______, you idiot!" a few too many times. I'm hoping these questions and issues will be answered or resolved soon. They're not at the point where I'd be tempted to give up (yet), but something needs to start happening. That being said, this is a really good "escapism" novel.

Literally.




I am an Amazon.com Affiliate. Making a purchase via any of the Amazon.com links on The Betty and Boo Chronicles will result in my earning a small percentage in commission, which will be used to support the upkeep of this blog, as well as the real-life versions of Betty and Boo. Thank you!

copyright 2013, Melissa, The Betty and Boo Chronicles If you are reading this on a blog or website other than The Betty and Boo Chronicles or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

light to guide you (for mother's day)

On this Mother's Day, my boy will be the chalice lighter at church this morning. 

It's especially significant, I think, because tomorrow marks 28 years since learning that becoming a mom would take a very different path than most travel. Little did we know. 

And that's what today, all of our days, are really all about, aren't they? We forge our own paths and our own way as mothers and as women. As people. We do the very best we can in the face of obstacles, big and small. 

And whether you're a mother in the traditional Hallmark sense, or as a different definition that has special meaning for your life, know that on this day and every day you are a light to those on your path.

Happy Mother's Day. 

photo taken by me, April 2009. 













I am an Amazon.com Affiliate. Making a purchase via any of the Amazon.com links on The Betty and Boo Chronicles will result in my earning a small percentage in commission, which will be used to support the upkeep of this blog, as well as the real-life versions of Betty and Boo. Thank you! copyright 2012, Melissa, The Betty and Boo Chronicles If you are reading this on a blog or website other than The Betty and Boo Chronicles or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Book Review: Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson, by Mitch Albom

Tuesdays with Morrie
by Mitch Albom 
Doubleday
1997

Random House Audio
2007
3 hours, 41 minutes

Yeah, I know.

Everyone in the world knows what Tuesdays with Morrie is about, so this hardly needs an introduction - much less a review.

A guy's favorite teacher is dying; guy decides to spend every Tuesday with favorite teacher; guy learns about himself and life in the process. Guy writes book about the experience and the rest becomes bestselling history.

Schmaltzy? Sure. But you know what?

Sometimes we need a little schmaltz.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of life's truths and lessons.

Such was the case when I picked this audio book up at the library. I've had this on my bookshelves forever - I think I bought it at a book sale or maybe I inherited it from my grandparents' belongings after one of them died. At the time I listened to this, The Husband was going through his cancer treatments and I wanted a short audio that would both preoccupy and inspire me in the car.

It certainly did that - and I have to say, this was a lot better than I expected. Mitch Albom narrates this audio and the version I listened to was a 10th anniversary edition with a prologue of Mitch's reflections on the memoir's overwhelming success and how his life changed as a result. He also addresses criticisms that he  "cashed in" on Morrie's illness and points out that proceeds from the book greatly helped Morrie and his family with the medical bills brought on by his fight with ALS.

I thought Mitch's narration of this was wonderful. Truthfully, I don't think anyone else could have narrated it because it is such a meaningful and personal story to him. It felt like he was having a conversation. The production quality was also very good, with no distracting music.

Maybe this resonated with me moreso because of the circumstances going on while I was listening to Morrie's words of wisdom. During a difficult time, Tuesdays with Morrie was a nice reminder to appreciate the lessons that life, no matter what trials it gives us, has to offer.

I am an Amazon.com Affiliate. Making a purchase via any of the Amazon.com links on The Betty and Boo Chronicles will result in my earning a small percentage in commission, which will be used to support the upkeep of this blog, as well as the real-life versions of Betty and Boo. Thank you! 

copyright 2013, Melissa, The Betty and Boo Chronicles If you are reading this on a blog or website other than The Betty and Boo Chronicles or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.

Not Just Any Cover Reveal (this one has a blurb by me!)

When I was a kid, I always wondered about those people who were quoted on the backs of book covers.

Never mind the authors themselves. In my view, they were, like, gods. Or goddesses.

But as awesome as I always thought it would be to be an actual author (I'm still working on that), I thought it would be just as cool to be one of those important people who somehow got their thoughts blurbed endorsing a book.  I always wondered how that happened.

Now I know.

Here's the funny thing, though.

Regular readers of the blog know that, while I often read young adult novels, I very, very rarely read paranormal romance young adult novels. That just isn't my thing (and this isn't an open invitation for every paranormal romance YA author to send me your book to review, because most likely I will say no.)

But Melissa Luznicky Garrett is a friend and has been one for a number of years. Some time ago, I did some writing for Melissa when she edited an online parenting magazine. We kept in touch after she closed the publication and these days we mostly hang out on Facebook talking about writing, our kids, and griping about the crappy winter weather in our respective corners of the world.

So, yeah. We're friends.

I've followed her writing career through her first novel Precipice (which I reviewed here) and her three books (Turning Point, The Spirit Keeper, and Blood Type) thereafter.

I thought Melissa's talent really took off with The Spirit Keeper, which is the story about Sarah Redbird, a Native American teenager whose mother and grandmother died in a house fire when she was 11. The truth behind the fire, however, involves a family secret, an ancient legend, and a curse - not to mention Adrian, the cute new guy at school.

It's a fast-paced, entertaining read. Near the end of The Spirit Keeper, Sarah reflects that "[t]he uncertainty of my future was written in the margins of my life." (pg. 276). I love that line, and it sets up perfectly the conflict that readers are in store for in The Spirit Keeper's sequel, The Prophecy, which is due out at the end of this month.

As you know, the traditional job hunt hasn't gone so well for me, so I've been trying to make my own professional path as a writer and editor. I approached Melissa about doing some editorial work on The Prophecy and she happily agreed.

Today, the cover of The Prophecy has been revealed.

I loved being part of The Prophecy and I loved the editing experience. I'm proud to have been a part of making this book happen. And I am so incredibly proud of my friend Melissa for all her hard work and her dedication to her craft that has gotten her this far. What people don't know about her is that she is often working on three or four books at once, while caring for three children, and managing a busy household, and promoting her other books. She is definitely a writer worth watching.

Please. Take my blurb for it.

"Just as 17 year old Sarah Redbird finds her inner strength to break an ancient curse, THE PROPHECY proves that author Melissa Luznicky Garrett continues as one of the strongest writers of paranormal romantic young adult fiction. With her innovative plots, dramatic scenes, and memorable characters, Garrett makes her readers of all ages fall even more in love with Adrian and Sarah. The result is a highly entertaining read with echoes of the eternal powers of ancestry, spirit, nature, and love on every page."  ~ Melissa M. Firman, author and book blogger, The Betty and Boo Chronicles, http://bettyboochronicles.blogspot.com 

For ordering information for The Prophecy (Book 2, The Spirit Keeper series), follow this Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17878345-the-prophecy

For The Spirit Keeper, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12369175-the-spirit-keeper

I am an Amazon.com Affiliate. Making a purchase via any of the Amazon.com links on The Betty and Boo Chronicles will result in my earning a small percentage in commission, which will be used to support the upkeep of this blog, as well as the real-life versions of Betty and Boo. Thank you!

copyright 2013, Melissa, The Betty and Boo Chronicles If you are reading this on a blog or website other than The Betty and Boo Chronicles or via a feedreader, this content has been stolen and used without permission.