2/17

Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover

Tara Westover lives in my neighborhood. She’s just another blonde woman, walking by. A reminder that you have no idea what the lady in front of you, getting bagels, has overcome.

Also - her entire family is easy to find on Facebook (find the big family company, look back in newsletters for real names, search). They’re horrifying. They’re…reminiscent of so many people I went to school with. So much of rural poverty means rampant dysfunction, and there are so many kids I still think about, and wonder if they ever “got out” or if they ever arrived at the conclusion of what “out” might be. Or the idea that they might be “in” some kind of torture world.

I dislike how often I read people who question the truth of her memoir. It’s constant. The only thing I find hard to believe is how much adversity and abuse she overcame to get where she is now. Grit.

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela by Nelson Mandela

Well, reading and thinking about adversity seems to be a common theme this week. Mandela is one of those icons you hear about, but not one of those icons you learn about in school. No, my white Maine school did not cover Apartheid. I’ve learned about it through the personal experiences of friends who lived there, but I needed more of a grasp of what happened.

One thing about these legendary people - why are so many of them maybe not so great parents? Having children yet being gone all the time and not being a part of their lives - and I’m not talking about when Mandela went to prison. Long, long before that he was an absent parent. I GET that he sacrificed his family life for the movement and that the nation and world benefitted from that. But can you not do great things but stay present for your children? I’d like some examples.

Capital by Thomas Piketty (partial)