Kent State

Kent State is the name of the book by Deborah Wiles and it is also the name of this university and when one hears it, it one's age or knowledge of history that impacts what it brings to mind.  I was born in 1971 so the Kent State killings had happened before I was born, and I first learned about it when I heard this song.  I remember asking my dad about it and he told me what happened. I can't remember how old I was at the time, probably 7 or 8.  My dad was NOT a fan of Nixon and so he definitely told me about the shootings from his own POV. 
As I grew older I learned more about it and began to have more sympathy for those National Guardsmen who were sent to Kent State and did the shooting.  I have not been able to find much about how they feel, fifty years later.  But I do believe what my parents told me years ago and what has been said many times over "rich men start the wars and poor men fight them."
This book is very well done and I think a very important book for all.
Living in the world is hard when we forget that the answer to everything is to respond with love.  And when we are finished responding with love, we should respond with love.  And when we are finished responding with love again, then we should respond with love...and so on and so on and so on...

So Many Songs

about trouble.  Here, here, here, and I am sure that there are more.   Those are all great songs, but non really compare to the greatness of the book Trouble by the incredible Gary D. Schmidt.
Incredible.  I know I seem to say that about a lot of books lately, but that's because I have just discovered some really incredible authors. These books are totally out of my usual go-to-i-like-this-kind-of-book box.  That's what reading and reading and reading did to me.  Before I started writing this blog, I never would have picked up a book like Here Lies the Librarian, Tiltawhirl John, Graceling, The Orange Houses and so many more.
In Trouble we meet the Smith family from Massachusetts, the very definition of WASPs.  But not in a stereotypical way.  Schmidt is an incredible author and I don't think he is capable of resorting to stereotyping in his writing.  I was sure that the family would be cold and heartless, but no, they really weren't.  They were real people.

I don't want to recap what happens, just read the goodreads summary, but right after that, read the book. Incredible.