The Library

[serenesheila]

The Library Our library cafe is open 24/7, the welcome mat is  always out. Do come in from daily chores and spend some time with us. We look forward to hearing from you, about you and the books you are enjoying (or not). Let the book talk begin here!

Suggestion Box for Future Discussions

Oh, I love Pearl Buck!  Have read, and reread, all of her books.  She paints pictures with words.  I have watched the movie, "The Good Earth", many times.

Sheila

[ginny]

Oh my word, have you seen the HBO program about homeless  children living in motels in Anaheim practically at the foot of Disneyland? Diving thru dumpsters?  Oh my gosh.  Have you seen it? 

http://www.hbo.com/documentaries/homeless-the-motel-kids-of-orange-county/interview/alexandra-pelosi.html

They've set up a school for the homeless so wherever they go they can still attend school: they  don't need books, and the school itself has a website:


 http://projecthopeschool.org/make-a-difference/#donation

What can be done?

[JoanK]

Oh, my goodness!

[MaryPage]

It makes my stomach cave in with a truly sick feeling that we seem to be unable to come to grips with the suffering of our own little American children, yet can so quickly mobilize to help those in other nations.  I am not criticizing our government or any particular politicians, but I do wish it did not take HBO to focus on this, and Brian Williams with his Katrina Special, and so on.  If the newspapers were not hurting so financially, most probably they would give us more of the truth we don't want to see or hear.  I remember during the Thirties and the Dust Bowl and the food lines, the newspapers were full of the truth.  I guess, bottom line, it always takes a few to wake the many.  Is it that We The People have oversold our minds and hearts on this sort of thing just not happening here?  Are we what they call these days:  "in denial?"

[mrssherlock]

MaryPage:  I have always had strong feelings for abused children and certainly homelessness is one form of abuse.  I planned to write my senior honors thesis on these "forgotten" children but the research revealed such devastation that I had to give it up.  One part of me blames the thoughtless cretins who keep reproducing with no thought to the care of their offspring.  There has been a rash of baby murders here in Oregon, mothers, boyfriends, baby-sitters.  It should not be so easy for conception to take place, it should be a rational, conscious decision by mature people who can and will provide the nurturing, love and financial support a child needs.  We are focusing on the wrong end of the problem. Whew, that's better, now I can fold up my soapbox and put it away til next time.

[Steph]

 Iloved Pearl Buck. Read it all.. Also Rumer and Jon Godden.. When I was a young married and a doctor said.. No babies for you.. We had gotten in touch with Bucks agency and filled out the forms and had one of the interviews. OUt of the clear blue.. Pregnant became my name and never went any further with the adoptions.. Had two of my own.. Stupid doctor.. Hmm.

[ginny]

I didn't get to see all of the program on the homeless children of Anaheim CA, but what I saw was searing. Their faces haunt me. The little boy shown on the main page is carrying the treasures he got from the dumpster.

The parents work. One of them works in the parking at Disneyland. One of them pays $870 per month for that seedy motel room to get the kids off the street.  

Living in CA is apparently very expensive. Sleeping in a seedy motel is better than in the park where one little girl who seared my soul said it was "embarrassing."

The school is set up by the government and foundations. They get food for the day and then on the weekend each child gets a bag of food to take home.

Here are some statistics from the site:

Homeless Kids In The OC.. [this is the same Orange County which sports the Real Housewives of Orange County]

An estimated 13,000 children in Orange County are homeless, though the number may be even higher – in 2007-2008 Orange County school districts identified 16,422 homeless children and youth (preK – 12th grade). Amongst Orange County’s nearly 3 million people, their young faces are rarely seen.

And when they ARE seen it's absolutely devastating. There must be some way we can help. They have a search engine that pays them every time it's used, that costs US nothing. gotta do something here. Did anybody see The Pursuit of Happyness or read it?

[MaryPage]

Orange County is chock full of multi-millionaires.  They should be ashamed of themselves for not taking care of their own.

MrsSherlock, we are soul sisters.

[bellemere]

Unfortunately, there are only a couple of answers to the rage you feel contemplating the dumpster children of our country.  One: if you are a multimillionaire, try to alleviate some of the suffering with money. Two: channel your rage into constructive political action. Voting for candidates who are not just blabbing empty sympathy, but have shown by their records, that they are committed to helping such children.
I haven't seen the documentary.  Can I get it on youtube?  Right now there is just a short "trailer" on it.

[bellemere]

Mssherlock, we have a program in our town that bears replicating.  It enrolls teenage mothers, most of them impregnated by older guys with whom they were "in love" and who abandoned them wihen they got pregnant.  the progam provides day care, continues their high school education, counseld them on  birth control (with a goal of preventing a second pregnancy) and on vocational preparation, thanks to local women's colleges, manyh of them go on to earn a degree and get jobs in health care, education, business, etc. I attended their graduation ceremongy last spring, two winning scholarships to college, others winning acceptance to community colleges, with financial aid.  Of course, many babies in the audience, as well as supportive grandparents and even a couple of boyfrends who stepped up to responsibility _few and far between , but still.
The program has had evough success to continue with gvt. and private funding for over fifteen years.

[jane]

They get food for the day and then on the weekend each child gets a bag of food to take home.  

It isn't only in CA that children are fed for free and given food to take home.  In this small town of less than 5,000 the Methodist Church offers a  dinner every Monday night to anyone who wishes to come.  Monetary donations are accepted but are not required.   It's called "Second Helpings" and now the other churches have joined in and even though it's at the Methodist Church, the other 9 or so churches take turns with preparation/donations, etc.
I know that the Catholic Church did it last Monday evening and there were about 160 people served.  

During the summer the Methodist Church also has a free lunch for kids who'd have free/reduced price lunches at school during the school year several times a week.  There is also a "backpack" program where food is sent home...and things like a new toothbrush and toothpaste ... to kids in need.  [I know about the toothbrush thing because I had all these ones with small tubes of toothpaste from my dentist and no need for them.  I found out that way about this program.]

Maybe your area has something similar and you could do a bit to help out with donations to your local food pantry (yep, ours is also at the Methodist Church here) which takes donations, of course, from anybody who wishes to donate.

 This rural county has a very high number of "homeless" children...which means they're living with other relatives or multiple families in one home, etc.  The term "homeless" can apparently be defined in multiple ways.


jane

[pedln]

Jane, I like the idea of local donating as you know where it all goes to.  My community also has the "backpack" program, where every Friday  the students can take home a backpack of food for the weekend for their family.  I don't know the percentages now, but a few years ago 51% of the student body (4000+) was eligible for free or reduced lunch.  At one school the percentage was in the 80's.

[jane]

I'm guessing that maybe the "backpack" program is nationwide and associated with the free and reduced price lunches. This way the kids have some food for the weekend, I guess.

Those percentages are huge, Pedln, but with so many people out of work, etc. it's not surprising.

I agree 100% on the donating locally...be it food or money.  I'm very turned off to "big" organizations asking me for money, and they don't get it.  I continue to believe most of them spend way too much on 'overhead'...recalling the United Fund debacle of some years ago and a high priced "officer" of the Red Cross who was later a political figure from the SE who paraded around in her little "Red Cross" T shirt at disaster sites and pulled down a $250,000 salary for it.  BAH!

jane

[MaryPage]

I agree with you, Jane.  Charity sure ain't what it used to be, and the CEOs are taking far too much remuneration proportionately.

[bellemere]

Let me play devil's advocate here.  Don't these food programs teach the children  and their parents to rely on handouts?  Will people become so dependent on handouts that they lose all incentive to work hard?  The Tea Party would do away with all such programs, in the hope that there would be enough private charity to cover the need.  Do you think there would be?
(wouldn't Charles Dickinens have a field day in Orange County?  )
We are all wide-ranging readers of wide life experienceto boot.   Has literature taught us anything about human nature when faced with the needs of others? Should it?
Remember the Ghost of Christmas Present opening his cloak to reveal the two shivering children sheltering there?  The boy was Ignorance and the Girl was Want. "Beware them both," said the Ghost, "but most of all , Beware this Boy." Isn
t that telling us that ignorance is to be feared and dreaded even more than "want"?  Why?

[maryz]

It sounds like the program in jane's community is a non-governmental charity.  We give locally, too, primarily to the local food bank and to Room in the Inn (women's shelter).

[salan]

The utility company in our small town has a box you can check to give a donation to New Horizons, an organization that helps the needy in our community.  This makes it very easy to just add what you can donate to your utility payment and make a note on your check as to how much you donated.  I know that I donate much more this way than I did before.  I always had good intentions, but frequently did not follow up with my action. 
Sally

[pedln]

I think one thing that marks a community, country, you-name-it, is how it treats those least able to care for themselves.

[Babi]

 I don't think so, BELLE. A packet of food doesn't begin to provide all
that is needed for a decent life.  I can't see this bit of help being an
incentive to dependence.  Back when most people lived in small communities private charity was sufficient. Neighbors looked after one another. But today's poverty is far beyond the scope of private charity, which is why all these charities arose in the first place.
 Sadly, but not surprisingly,there are always people who will use other
people's generosity to line their own pockets. That does not excuse the
the prosperous from a responsibility to help 'feed the hungry and clothe the naked', IMO.

[Steph]

My primary charity for the past years has been Second Harvest. It is local.. gets food at a donated or greatly reduced price and then distributes it to the food pantries, etc. They have a very very low ratio of paid employees and do not go overboard on paying. I guess my push is to feed them first and then worry about housing, jobs.. Of course being a total animal lover, I also give to a charity to feed animals and house and replace them , first paying vet bills to heal them. I have done that as long as I have been an adult. The shame of the loved and then thrown away animals is a sin in any language.

[jane]

Sadly, but not surprisingly,there are always people who will use other
people's generosity to line their own pockets

Babi...yes, true, but there "taking advantage" is not limited to the poor.  Iowa's egg producer, Jack DeCoster, [he of the salmonella  egg recall ] is a prime example.  He's far from poor, believe me, and he's been cited and banned from owing egg operations in this state because of numerous "accidents" that dumped livestock waste into rivers and streams, but even when banned from owing, he had "associates" who bought operations and ran them until his ban was over and he then assumed control.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100828/BUSINESS01/8280323/DeCoster-took-control-of-egg-operation-after-state-ban

http://www.chillicothegazette.com/article/20100901/OPINION02/9010310/DeCosters-in-Iowa-A-checkered-legacy


So, "taking advantage," "ripping off others" seems to transcend economic and social levels.

jane

[MaryPage]

The vast majority of people want to have a job and to be able to provide for themselves and their families.  Most of us are wired to want to be independent and proud of it, not to be down and out and needing help.  It is an ugly myth that many take advantage, and for those who are greedy and want more than they are entitled to while taking from those truly in dire straits, we have to leave them to God;  we cannot judge all by that cloth and allow the children of those out of work and unable to find work to quite literally starve.

On the Baltimore news this morning, they told of that backpack system coming to that city.  Seems the teachers at one particular school noted quite a few youngsters on Monday mornings who were almost in comas, they were so unable to participate in learning.  Lo, these were the same kids on the free lunch program.  The teachers quickly discovered these grade school children had not eaten SINCE FRIDAY LUNCH!

So we, as a community of people, are not supposed to DO SOMETHING?

Remember the children.

[bellemere]

I was on the board of the local Red Cross a few years back.  They switched from buying new clothes and food for fire victims to giving them a debit card, good at participating stores for clothing and food.  At the meeting where the new program was being explained, one person asked,"but can they buy liquor with it?"  The stunned Director had to let a few seconds expire while he composed himself and answered, "We are not asking liquor stores to partcipate."  The questioner was not convinced. so many people see the poor as "them" rather than "There but for the grace of God go I"
Does this go back to the old Calvinist belief in predestination?  Where earthly prosperity was indisputable proof of
God's favor?  What does our church historian say?

[mabel1015j]

Yes, Calvinism, and other like-minded philosophies, probably have their share of blame, but so do John Wayne/Gary Cooper movies - they're on my mind from another book discussion - Ayn Rand books, Ronald REagan - i don't believe there was any Calvinism in his background, just rich friends who helped him out a lot - that term "rugged individualism" that has been tossed around thruout American history, etc. etc.

Some how that compassionate part of Christ's teachings gets lost on some of present-day Christians.........altho it's not a new behavior. Why did Bill Gates have to be guilted into setting up a Foundation? He's doing great things now, but he didn't start until he got talked about in the nat'l media. There is soooo much money out there and soooo many people who need help...........who needs a house w/ 20 rooms. We have those going up all around us - well, maybe not 20, but certainly a dozen. It seems as tho they are building houses so people living in them don't ever have to be in contact w/ one another - every one has their own room, plus dressing room and bathroom, then there are music rooms, offices- sometimes 2, one for Mom and one for Dad - and excercise rooms and movie rooms, etc, etc................of course, they do give work to people who are obviously going to have to come in to clean them, lord knows the owners aren't doing it..........

Watching Thomas Jefferson yesterday on the History Channel, they reiterated so much about what a contradiction he was to every thing he wrote and philosophied about - people should live frugally and not go into debt, he died w/ what today would be $2 million in debt; he said the fed'l gov't should be small and narrow in what it delved into - he unconstitutionally doubled the size of the country and began the military academy at WEst POint; he talked equality and freedom, but kept slaves all his life. It just reminded me of how many of us do the same thing when talking about "values," especially "American values." Freedom - for me! Equality - for me! Religious freedom - for me! Freedom of speech - for me! When others try to exercise their freedoms, but they differ from us, OOOOWWWWW! ............ so long.......I'm now officially off of my soapbox................jean

[Frybabe]

I missed it Jean. I forgot it was on until it was too late. Six o'clock is a bit early for me to want to watch TV. I expect they will rerun sometime this week.

[Steph]

Our widows club always goes to the Wednesdaynight buffet at the local methodist church and would you believe?? last night, they announced that the back pack program was starting in our community. They are the first church to take their turns and for the next two weeks, we are supposed to bring in used backpacks and a list of food to fill it with.So I will go out in the next few days with the list. Seems the churches are going to work a round robin in the responsibility of filling the back packs..

[mabel1015j]

I'm so proud of my "home church" - the Methodist churches, which i grew up in,  have been so socially active...........i now am a member of an Amer Baptist Church - they were the most socially active when we first moved to S Jersey and were looking for a church. It was the 70's and they were involved in the anti-war demonstrations and had a co-op nursery and a food co-op once a week, besides sponsoring very interesting discussions for the community. ........... I'm not religious, but i like being a part of social activism and am glad that churches are doing that more today than at any time i can remember. ............jean

[jane]

It's interesting to note that the "backpack" program where food goes home with kids on free lunch for the weekend...is spreading.  I know it's made a difference for a lot of kids here in this rural area.

I guess I follow an "each one, reach one" kind of philosophy. I think helping locally is much more important than giving to nationals, given my resources. 

 A Bill Gates/Warren Buffet and those resources are a whole 'nother story!  

jane

[Steph]

At least Gates and Buffett are doing something. I read in an article, that North American millionaires..donate, but in the orient and south America.. Not at all or very little.
The backpack program is interesting and I am donating, but if the child has no food or very little, so do the parents and in some cultures, they will definitely feed the father first.

[Babi]

 I wasn't thinking of the poor who take advantage, JANE,though there is far
too much of that as well. Medicare fraud, for example. But I was referring
to those who shamefully raise money for 'charities', most of which ends
in their own pockets.
  STEPH, I remember hearing that 'feed the father' explained when I was a just a kid.
The idea was that if there was only one piece of meat, it went to the father because he
was the one working hard to support the all,  and needed it.  I know that's not the reason
in all cultures, but it did make sense to me.

[bellemere]

I forget the person who recommended the Pearl Buck biography byPeter Conn, but thank you so much.  i have just started it and I think I am going to like it.  What a childhood!!!
bilgraphy like this is a nice change from novels, don't you think ?

[mabel1015j]

Because of our discussions, I just started reading Tho Costain's The Black Rose last night. It looks like it's going to be a good read, thanks to whomever reminded us of him. In just the first 50 pages i've sev'l points to think about - my mind went all over history. The book is set in the 1200's, and yet there are those classic issues that seem to just keep going on and on..............religious feuds, class issues, "town vs gown". The first chapter is "Oxford" which made me think of Bill Clinton, Robt Reich and others who were w/ them at O, and i believe that Chelsea spent some time there also. It must be an eery experience if you go to O to think that students have been walking those ground for almost 1000 yrs.

I'm going to learn a lot of useless info reading this book, which is fine w/ me. I've already got a list of dozens of words that i have to look up to find out what they mean. The book was published in 1945 and i'm sure that  Costain must have known that the use of medieval terms wouldn't be familiar to his readers.........he also uses Latin terms w/out defining them. I may have to check in w/ some of you Latin students for interpretation... . What do you think authors are thinking when they do that?

He mentions sev'l books that he used as resources including a Pearl Buck translation of a Chinese book, All Men Are Brothers.............amazing how bits and pieces of tho'ts in my head come together at times.................here we were talking about Buck and here she is in the intro of Costain's book.

In my history classes, I called to the attention of the students those surnames that came about because some ancestor was in an occupation of that name. Ya know - mason, painter, carpenter, cooper, smith, wright, etc. I once taught w/ a man whose anme was Fenstermacher - window maker................... Well, i learned a new one last night - fletcher. He was using the term as the occupation of the father of a character. I had never heard that term, but, of course, knew it as a surname. ....................... i looked it up this morning and lo and behold it means arrow-maker!!!

This is going to be a good experience, i believe........thanks for bringing him, and the times, back to my mind..............jean

[maryz]

jean, I went to school with a girl named Fenstermacher, but never thought about it as window-maker.  I did know about Fletcher.  But one of our daughters has one of those names, too - Fuller.  Do you know what that is?  "Fulling" is the process of pounding fleece/yarn/fabric to make it into felt.  This is particularly appropriate for her, since she is very much into spinning, knitting, felting, and weaving.   

[joangrimes]

Love the discussion of the origins of names.  I really am interested in the origins of names...Joan Grimes

[MaryPage]

I took 4 years of Latin, from 9th through 12th grade;  it was an automatic part of the curriculum at the school I attended in the nineteen forties.  I guess it is really a "dead" language now.

[ginny]

I guess it is really a "dead" language now

hahaa, MaryPage, you picked the wrong website to say that one on.    hahaha How about a few facts?

Latin is not only alive and well but it pays for this website so we can enjoy talking about books here in the Library.

In 2010, 150,000 students from all 50 states in the U.S. and 13 other countries, including Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, England, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore and Zimbabwe, took the National Latin Exam.

Representatives from several countries including  Australia came to the International American Classical League's meeting at Wake Forest University in June and reported  a tremendous upsurge in enrollment in Latin.  Ditto in the UK.

If you could see our email and the schools who have over the years  contacted us  in desperation about somehow getting  a Latin program in their schools, you'd know there's a shortage of Latin teachers, not students wanting to take it.

We here have a very healthy program of Latin students and we're  very proud of them. 16 of them took the National Latin Exam this year, and all 16 got awards. In Latin III where we had two gold medalists and one silver medalist (Latin III!) , 14, 842 took the Latin III and only 1, 205 received a gold medal. Two of them were ours.

We had 5 perfect papers. The stats are much higher  for them. At the Introductory Latin Level, only 795 students out of over 18,800 in 13 countries who took the 2010 Introduction to Latin, National Latn Exam, achieved a perfect score. Our students Melandra II and Cielolama were included in this select group. At Levels I-V, VI, out of 138,000 students, only 568 students achieved the great distinction of a perfect score and three of them are ours: Christy Molzen, Hidaroupe and Jim F.

568 our of 138,000 high school and university students, and those are only the ones who somebody thought good enough to even TAKE the exam,  and OUR intelligent, engaged grandmothers and grandfathers  aced the thing with perfect papers.

This is our 7th year offering  Latin online and it's as healthy as it's ever been,  and interest continues very high. We have a full entering 101 class.   In looking at your sentences I am struck by the number of Latin derivatives and loan words you are using. I guess your 4 years did you some good, after all, it seems to be alive in your speech.

As your old teacher used to say, Latin Lives  Today and she was never more right.

[mabel1015j]

Maryz - i couldn't have told you when you asked about "fuller," but i knew i'd heard it. As soon as i saw your explanation, some neuron clicked and i said "oh yeah." I love the irony of your dgts' avocation - is it an avocation or occupation?

O.K. Ginny and MaryPage - in the book he says there is a call of "surgit, surgit," when there is going to be a brawl between the "towns and gowns." Can you translate?


One thing i had not read about before, but makes perfect sense, knowing how superstitious people were at the time: They lived in the shadow of many fears at Gurnie, but the one which weighed most on all minds was the certainty that the hours of darkness belonged to the devil. Walter had often watched w/ tightenign breath the descent of the sun behind the jagged frame of oak........., half expecting to see the tips of Satan's horns above the horizon. The plowfolk came running from the fields when daylight was gone as tho a covin of witches screeched at their heels..............Walter knew no sound more welcome than the crow of the first cock in the morning. The old house revived to confidence then. One could hear whistling and snatches of song as the servants and the plowfolk tied up their points (?) and sloshed water over their heads at the well near the kitchen midden. God's turn had come again and all was well in the world.

I have searched, but not been able to figure out what "points" means in that context and a midden is the kitchen "dump." I knew there was much fear of the devil, but never saw it applied quite so clearly to the night...........BTW - while looking for "points" definitions, i discovered there are about 60 ways to use the word - must be close to a record..........i learn something new every day - thank goodness...................jean

[maryz]

jean, the fiber art is our daughter's avocation - but she's VERY serious about it.  And she started into it long after she acquired the name (by marriage).   

[roshanarose]

mabel - "they lived in the shadow of many fears at Gurnie..."  Is that segment you wrote from a book?  If so, would you please tell me the name?  Thanks.

"midden" is also the name for an area covered in discarded shells from shellfish, indicating a place where Australian Aborigines ate and left the shells of their catch.  They are often, not surprisingly, to be found on beaches.  They tell their own story.

[MaryPage]

No one is more an advocate for Latin being taught throughout our educational system than I, for it is true that it makes speaking and writing in all Romance languages easier.  I made my comment based upon the fact that it is not a general requirement in these times.  In my great grandmother's day, you had to know both Latin and Greek to be considered educated.  Tempora mutantor.