Note to Self: 30 Women on Hardship, Humiliation, Heartbreak, and Overcoming it All, edited by Andrea Buchanan

I know that my "Currently Reading" section indicates that I'm still reading The Pillars of the Earth. I still am. I'm currently on page 600. However, it recently occurred to me that I need to read other books as I'm reading those for my Chunkster Challenge; if I don't, I won't get to the 100+ book goal for J.Kaye's 100+ Reading Challenge.

Not only that, but one of my book clubs is meeting tomorrow, and this was the selection. I knew I had to buckle down and whiz through it, pronto. I started either last Wednesday or Thursday night and finished it this afternoon. It's a quick read, but not something that you can whip through entirely on a Sunday afternoon. There are thirty essays in here, and it's best to read about four or five of them at a time, so that you can reflect upon what you have read.

I thought that this was apropos to read, given the times that we're living in right now. Many women are facing hardship, humiliation, and heartbreak right now. I thought that this anthology would be an enlightening, feel-good read that would help liven the spirits of a woman who is facing hard times. This book does exactly that. The essays are all very honest and real, and in most cases, the emotions are raw. There's no sugar-coating in any of these essays, and while most of them end on an upbeat note, they don't end with a neatly packaged ending wrapped in a pretty pink bow.

Some of the situations that these women face are absolutely heartbreaking. Melinda McGraw writes with much candor about her daughter's premature birth, as well as the heart attack she suffered the day she was supposed to be discharged from the hospital after giving birth. Maisie McInerney, who, at 13, is the youngest contributor to the book, writes with a maturity and grace that is well beyond her years. She writes about her diagnosis with juvenile arthritis and the effects her subsequent treatment had on her life. Katie Hnida, the first woman to play college football, recalls the harassment she faced from her fellow players on the Colorado University Buffaloes football team. Maile Zambuto, director of the Joyful Heart Foundation, recounts her years of sexual abuse at the hands of one of her teachers.

The subject matter in most of these essays is very heavy, but there are a couple that are humorous, such as Kathleen Dennehy's recollections of her New York therapist, as well as Annabelle Gurwitch's memories of guest-starring on the 1990s version of Hollywood Squares. I'm glad that these were in there to lighten the load. As I mentioned before, I had to put the book down after I read some of the heavier material, because I didn't know how much more I could take.

Each essay ends with a little "note to self," or a life lesson learned from the experience of hardship, humiliation, or heartbreak. Some of these notes to self include the following, which are taken directly from the book's back cover:

"Only you can determine the moments that define you." --Katie Hnida

"You can only command an audience when you know your self worth." --Kathy Najimy

"If you stand just an inch away from the edge of the tapestry, you can't see the whole pattern." --Cal Peacock

"If somebody treated your best friend as badly as you treat yourself, you'd kick their ass." --Camryn Manheim (This one's my personal favorite).

Overall, Note to Self is a worthwhile read, especially for those who have experienced some hardship, heartbreak, and humiliation. All of the women in this book tell stories that people can relate to, and readers will be inspired by how these women were able to overcome their odds. The best part about this book is its lack of saccharine; while the conclusions to the essays are satisfying, for the most part, they're not overly sentimental. I think I appreciated that most of all.

This is the latest entry in my 100+ Reading Challenge, my A to Z Challenge, my Pub Challenge, my Read Your Own Books Challenge, and my Dewey Decimal Challenge. Click on the buttons in the sidebar for all of the latest updates, as well as archives of past reads!

The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan

"It is one thing to be a man's wife--quite another to be the mother of his children. In fact, once you become a mother, being a wife seems like a game you once played or a self-help book you were overly impressed with as a teenager that on second reading is puffy with common ideas. This was one of many things I had learned since crossing over into the middle place--that sliver of time when childhood and parenthood overlap. One day you're cheering your daughter through a swimming lesson or giving her a pat for crossing the monkey bars or reminding her to say 'please', and the next, you're bragging to your parents about your newest trick--a sweet potato recipe, a raise at work, a fix for your ant problem. It's a giant Venn diagram where you are the only member of both sets." (p. 29)

Oftentimes I get so absorbed in a book, I don't put it down till I finish. Or, I finish it in two settings. Such was the case with Kelly Corrigan's memoir, The Middle Place. I don't often cry as I read books, yet this one had me close to tears for so much of the time, I wasn't afraid to let them spill.

The Middle Place is a book about so many things.

1. It's a memoir about one woman's struggle with breast cancer, and how she copes with raising two toddlers simultaneously.
Corrigan isn't afraid to let her emotions become raw, as she goes to chemotherapy, as she tries to explain her illness to her daughters, ages 3 and 1, as she gets to know the nurses and doctors who treat her. She candidly describes the reactions of some of her daughters' playmates and mothers honestly, and doesn't sugar-coat anything.

2. It's a memoir about how, while Corrigan was going through chemo and radiation, her father was diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Corrigan recalls the anger and sadness, but mostly anger, when she learns of her father's diagnosis. A large portion of the book deals with her guilt at not being in Philadelphia, at home with her parents, as her father goes through chemo and radiation herself. (Corrigan lives in the San Francisco Bay Area). She calls and E-mails various doctors and does not hold back her frustration at what initially seems to be her parents' and brothers' indifference towards her father's disease. (It later turns out that this supposed indifference was a coping mechanism).

3. It's a memoir about father-daughter relationships.

This is what I loved most about this book. Kelly Corrigan takes great pride in being "George Corrigan's daughter." George Corrigan is a man that readers will grow to love throughout the memoir. Here is a man who started off the day by opening the window and shouting, "Hello, World!" Here is a man who is so positive and upbeat that people gravitate toward him. Here is a man who has unconditional love for his daughter. Kelly loves her father so much that she is so afraid of losing him. Her dedication to his care is inspired not only by this, but also, undoubtedly, by her own cancer.

4. It's a memoir about family relationships.

Corrigan recalls a conversation she had with her father about why she did not changer her name to her husband's after she married him. I won't write down the whole text of the conversation, but I will say that she is proud to be a Corrigan, proud to be a part of the loud, boisterous Irish Catholic family that she grew up in.

Corrigan also addresses many of her immediate family's personality quirks, and how they especially affect her during her father's cancer treatment. She is not afraid to hold back on her emotions or opinions, which is one of the reasons why the book is so gripping.

I really enjoyed Corrigan's style. Each chapter altered back and forth between the past and present. One chapter, she wrote about going to the prom with her two brothers. The next chapter, she talks about going into a chemo session. This style enables the reader to understand how her life was shaped, and how these past events continue to shape the person that she is.

As I read, I thought about the relationship between me and my own father. Papa Cat and I are close, but not as close as Kelly and George Corrigan seem to be. I really envied the closeness that these two have. I also thought about how Sister Kitten and I would react if something ever happened to him or Mama Cat.

Which leads me to wonder...

...is there a Middle Place for those who don't have kids? Is there a place where childhood and adulthood overlap, as opposed to solely childhood and parenthood? For people like me, what is that one event, or series of events, that signals that you have permanently crossed into adulthood, and that there's no looking back?

For me, that day will be if and when my parents get too feeble to care for themselves and my sister and I will have to care for them. It could also be, if it ever happens, the day when I marry and have children, but that's a ways away, if it ever occurs.

The Middle Place will have you thinking about your own family, and what your Middle Place might be. It's a book that will stay with you for a long, long time.

P.S. This book also provided resources for those who have family members or friends who have struggled with cancer. Kelly Corrigan is the creator of the website circusofcancer.org, a website that teaches people how to help a friend who has breast cancer. I've read it and believe that this should be a website to teach people how to help friends who have all sorts of cancer. She also has her own website, kellycorrigan.com, which is primarily devoted to promoting The Middle Place, but also has a blog that provides updates on her family. Both are worth checking out, especially the Circus of Cancer site.

***This is my latest entry in my 100+ Book Challenge, my Support Your Local Library Challenge, and my Dewey Decimal Challenge. Click on the buttons in the sidebars for lists and reviews of past entries!***

Kitten's 2009 Dewey Decimal Challenge

Just when I thought I couldn't sign up for more reading challenges...I find this one over at A Striped Armchair:The rules are simple: You read one book from each of the Dewey Decimal categories by October 31st. So that's ten books.

I have always loved nonfiction, so this is not a problem for me to complete. And, as a bonus, without realizing it, I've already got the 700 category done!

Here are the categories of the Dewey Decimal System, as well as my list, updated as of April 14, 2009:

000: Generalities:

• A Year of Reading, by Elisabeth Ellington & Jane Freimiller, Ph.D. (Dewey decimal no. 011.73)
• 1001 Books for Every Mood, by Hallie Ephron, Ph.D. (Dewey decimal no. 011.73)
• Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in Books, by Maureen Corrigan (Dewey decimal no. 028.9)
• The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, by A.J. Jacobs (Dewey decimal no. 031)

100: Philosophy and psychology:

• Note to Self: 30 Women on Hardship, Heartbreak and Overcoming It All: Edited and With An Introduction by Andrea Buchanan (Dewey decimal no. 158.12)

200: Religion

• When in Doubt, Sing: Prayer in Daily Life, by Jane Redmont (Dewey decimal no. 248.3)

300: Social sciences:

• The Middle Place, by Kelly Corrigan (Dewey decimal no. 362.1969)
• Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (Dewey decimal no. 371.822)

400: Languages:

• The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got That Way, by Bill Bryson (Dewey decimal no. 420.9)

500: Natural sciences and math

600: Technology

• Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell (Dewey decimal no. 650.1)

700: The arts:

• Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, by Michael Davis (Dewey decimal no. 791.4372)

800: Literature

900: Geography and history:

• The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream, by Barack Obama (Dewey decimal no. 973.0496)

Click on the button in the sidebar for all of the latest updates!

Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street, by Michael Davis

I found this book at Borders the night I bought New Moon. Since I only had enough cash to buy the paperback, I wrote down the title, went to my library's website, and immediately put the book on reserve.

I got it the other day; it was such a new book that it was a 14-day loan. Still, when I saw the cover, I knew I had to read it.

I grew up during the Golden Age of Sesame Street. I loved the show so much, my childhood teddy bear is named Radar, after Big Bird's. I had a little Ernie doll that went everywhere with me, including Sister Kitten's baptism (I was three at the time). I also had Bert and Ernie finger puppets, as well as a plastic, full-size Bert puppet.

I loved the human actors as much as the Muppets. I grew up with Bob, Gordon, Susan, Maria, Luis, David, Olivia, and Buffy. My 3rd grade class got to see Bob perform live at the Bushnell. It was a sold-out performance, and the way all of those grade-schoolers acted, you would think that Springsteen was there. (BTW, yesterday's halftime show? AWESOME!)

Anyhoo, with that spot of childhood nostalgia in my heart, I picked up the book late Saturday night. When the author says that it's a complete history, he really means it. Years of research went into this book; Michael Davis not only poured over various magazine articles, he studied an extensive oral history of the Children's Television Workshop (CTW). He conducted many detailed interviews with many of the actors who have starred on Sesame Street through the years, and they were all very happy to give the project their blessing.

More importantly, Street Gang received the blessing of who many consider to be the mother of not only Sesame Street, but children's educational television as we know it today: Joan Ganz Cooney, co-founder of CTW.

The first few chapters provide not only a fascinating history of Sesame Street's origins, but also a very interesting tome about the fledgling first years of public television. So much was involved: government funding, endowments, private donations, and research, just to name a few of the factors that went into even getting a pilot approved for the program. The parts about PBS, funding, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are a little dry, but are absolutely essential in understanding how revolutionary an idea Sesame Street was back in the mid-1960s, when Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, who worked with the Carnegie Corporation, came up with the following question at a dinner party:

"Could television be used to teach?"

From there, Davis tells the story of how the Sesame crew came together, and the way it did was almost serendipitous. A few original producers once worked for Captain Kangaroo, and as I read their recollections of working with Bob Keeshan, the Captain himself, another part of my childhood died. I won't reveal too many details, but let's just say that Keeshan was not the easiest man to work with (as was another childhood icon, Buffalo Bob Smith, who also merits some recollections in this tome).

This book is very thorough in dissecting Sesame Street's history up until the 1990s, when various other children's programs started to air. (Barney? Blue's Clues? Dora the Explorer, anyone?) Davis almost glosses over the tumultuous period that CTW faced once counterprogramming to Sesame Street became popular. Still, at 379 pages, and with 40 years of history, this period may best be explored in another volume.

At various times this book brought a smile to my face, as Davis wrote about the events leading up to the episode where Luis and Maria were married. Yet there were also times when I found myself biting my lip. I remember, very clearly, the episode when Big Bird learns about Mr. Hooper's death. I was seven years old, and sobbed throughout the whole show. It aired on Thanksgiving day, and I also cried at various points during the turkey dinner.

Davis devotes a lot of this book, and rightfully so, to Jim Henson's role in the production of Sesame Street. I got the most emotional during the chapters that recalled Henson's death and subsequent funeral.

This was a very, very interesting book, and one that was written in very thorough, caring detail. Davis makes it very clear that everyone who ever worked on Sesame Street was passionate about the show and its role in educating children. I was left with a much greater appreciation about the hard work, research and development that goes into this show. I didn't realize as a kid that I was learning the ABCs, or even another language. I just viewed this show, as well as The Magic Garden, as a time to be among my favorite playmates.

And to me, Big Bird will always be the prominent symbol of Sesame Street. Elmo?!?! Elmo who?

***This book is the latest installment in two of my challenges: My 100+ Book Challenge, as well as my Support Your Local Library Challenge. Click on the buttons at the sidebar for all of the latest updates!!!***