Judy Rickard is being honored as a Champion of Change for her efforts as an Immigration Reformer.

Nothing is more personal than who you are, who you love, and how you create family. But because of who I am and who I love and how I have created my family, America forced me to choose between spouse and career, spouse and country, spouse and family, life as I knew it and an unknown future. That’s not right! No American should have to face such choices. For me and my wife, and an estimated thirty-six thousand other such families, our futures are not our own. DOMA determines them. So my work to fight discrimination amped up big time.

When I met my wife and we fell in love and committed to each other, we had no idea it would mean lots of separation and possibly leaving America, a future that still looms for us. I never thought I would have to leave my country to stay with my wife. Who would imagine that? It shouldn’t be a risk, a problem, against the law to love and commit to someone born in another country. But we have paid a big price by being different, being a same-sex binational couple. We have been apart half of our time together because we are both women and not both American citizens. We have faced expenses and problems and stress that most people don’t have to deal with  just to be partners, family, loved ones.

When the hammer dropped five years ago, I made the right choice, the only one. I took early retirement with a reduced pension for the rest of my life so that my wife and I would be together more than apart. Why? Because Karin was detained in a cell at the San Francisco International Airport and told she was visiting the U.S. too often. She was told to get her affairs in order and leave the country for a long time. She wasn’t even allowed to visit me for the usual six months. Her crime? She had been visiting too often.

I knew we had to fight this discrimination and realized we needed a tool to share the information. My book, Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, is part memoir, part a collection of stories of others’ who are discriminated against by DOMA, part a how-to on how others can help and part resource guide. It keeps getting updated with my blog and web site at http://tornapart.findhornpress.com.

Sharing my story – personal and political – is how I roll. Letters to editors, conferences, phone calls, blogs; you name it, I do it. As my book came out, I met more allies. I got more press. I talked to elected officials. I spoke at churches. I spoke to organizations and conferences. I shared with LGBT seniors and youth. But the most powerful efforts by far were dialogues with immigrant groups. We learned of each other’s struggles and found commonality. I learned to go outside my comfort zone. And it just keeps going. Sharing that story. Finding those allies. Blogging. Posting on Facebook. Creating a Facebook page for my book. Creating a portrait project of same-sex binational couples. Creating a Facebook page for that. Working on the solution we all need. Sharing. Connecting. Making friends. Making community.

So here I am, being honored as a Cesar Chavez Champion of Change. Something else new has happened to me because of my story. But the truth is very personal. Here it is: immigration, like sexual orientation, is not a skin color, or a country of origin, or a religion, or a culture, or an ethnicity. It’s all that and more. It’s not “them.” It’s “us.” We need a country where we are all “us.” Let’s make it so!

Some people think of immigrants and hold the word “illegal” in their hearts and minds. Some people think of the LGBT community and hold the word “immoral” in their hearts and minds. Imagine how that makes people like me and my wife feel! We live in that world where these two intersect – it’s like pouring gas on a fire when people who hold illegal and immoral in their hearts and minds think of LGBT immigrants and same-sex binational families. These categories, LGBT and immigrant, are the two most volatile subjects in politics today. Who is going to help us? Who will include us in comprehensive, common sense immigration reform?

DOMA is at the Supreme Court this week. Three bills are working their way slowly through Congress. President Obama has spoken out for people like me and my wife. I’m 65 now. My wife is 72. I sure hope to spend whatever remains of my golden years being able to do other things than fight to keep my wife with me. In my country we say that’s the American dream: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I’d like an unimpeded chance at that. So would lots of others.

Judy Rickard is the author of Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law and works to promote civil rights.

________________________

So here’s my regular sign-off for posts:
Immigration Equality, Out4Immigration and Love Exiles Foundation are the three groups working on our issue – and the three groups who receive whatever money comes in from sales of my book, Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, Findhorn Press, 2011.My newer project, with David W. Ross, whose new film “I Do: The Movie” will be out in June 2012, is a portrait project of LGBT binational families, United by Love, Divided by Law Portrait Project. It expands the reach of my book and will keep adding portraits as we find couples and funds to add more. We will hold events to assist the work being done for our families by Lavi Soloway and Stop the Deportations – The DOMA Project.Check out the site athttp://unitedbylovedividedbylaw.com/and see the Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/unitedbylovedividedbylawTo follow Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, go to its Facebook page at:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Torn-Apart-United-by-Love-Divided-by-Law/116343758442046Read an excerpt of my book at this link: http://bit.ly/eIyGxhOrder online from the publisher at this link:http://www.findhornpress.com/relationships-43/torn-apart-392.htmlElizabeth Gilbert wrote the foreword to my book. She is an ally in our fight and has suffered from the immigration situation herself as part of a binational relationship. Though she and her boyfriend were able to marry, they know what the drill was and they advocate for LGBT binational families. We like that! Remember, too, you can follow me and what I am doing and thinking and reading on twitter   @tornapartbook

We will be asked questions and respond to them, sharing our history of involvement in community organizing, our work, our challenges, our inspiration, why we do what we do, that sort of thing. We are to help people get to know who we are and also hopefully inspire action in others. This is all from the conference call we had today to give us information and details about the upcoming event.

I am part of the Second Annual Cesar Chavez Champions of Change. This is designed to carry on his legacy of service activity and to spotlight those who do similar work. This year the focus is on immigration support and honors people or people from organizations who support this. The title is “A Legacy of Service: Organizing for Immigration Reform,” but the best thing I have heard and learned so far is the phrase the folks in the White House are using – “common sense immigration reform.” How refreshing! Wish I had thought of that.

I keep telling people that immigration reform is not truly comprehensive unless it includes folks like me, namely same-sex binational families. We are in need of comprehensive (or common sense) immigration reform big time. We LGBT Americans in legal marriages with foreign-born spouses cannot sponsor them for immigration to be with us because of our country’s Defense of Marriage Act, DOMA, signed into law in 1996.

So on the day before the Supreme Court hears arguments on DOMA, I will be sharing my immigration reform work and story with White House executive staff and my fellow honorees and an audience in the room and via online streaming. If you don’t catch me live in person or live online, the session will be on YouTube later.

If I could stand there for a few minutes without the panel format, this is what I would like to say, how I would share who I am and what I have done.

The Hurtful Politics of Love Beyond Borders

Speaking at the White House is not something I do everyday, that’s for sure. I appreciate being here and I appreciate you listening to my story. Life is personal, isn’t it? All of us have stories and our stories are very personal. Your personal story and my personal story and all the others make America’s story. That’s what we are addressing today.

Nothing is more personal than who you are, who you love, how you create family. But because of who I am and who I love and how I have created family, my government has forced me to choose between spouse and career, spouse and country, spouse and family, life as I know it and an unknown future. That’s not right. No American should have to face such choices. For me and my wife and an estimated 36,000 other such families, our futures are not our own. DOMA determines them.

When I met my wife and we fell in love and committed to each other, we had no idea it would mean lots of separation and possibly leaving America – a future that still looms for us. I never thought I would have to leave my country to stay with my wife. Who would imagine that? It shouldn’t be a risk, a problem, against the law to love and commit to someone born in another country. But we have paid a big price being different, being a same-sex binational couple. We have been apart half of our time together because we are both women and not both American citizens. We have faced expenses and problems and stress that most people don’t have to deal with – just to be partners, family, loved ones.

When the hammer dropped five years ago, I made the right choice, the only one. I took early retirement with a reduced pension for the rest of my life so that my wife and I would be together more than apart. Why? Because Karin was detained in a cell at the San Francisco International Airport and told she was visiting the U.S. too often. She was told to get her affairs in order and leave the country for a long time. She wasn’t even allowed to visit me for the usual six months. Her crime? She had been visiting too often.

That pissed me off! I started sharing my story, our problem. I found allies who knew of our plight – Immigration Equality and Out4Immigration and Love Exiles Foundation as well as folks sharing their personal heartache via social media. I jumped in and started making connections, sharing stories, searching for the solution we needed.

I went to my Congressman, Mike Honda, who I knew from years of LGBT civil rights work. He learned of our struggle and added us to his comprehensive immigration reform bill, Reuniting Families Act. Sharing story is powerful!

Then I realized since so few knew of this problem we needed a tool, to share the information. I tried to get Elizabeth Gilbert, herself a victim of immigration problems with her boyfriend from another country, to write a book about immigration discrimination we faced. But she was too busy with a new book deal. She told me if I got a book deal, she would write the foreword. So I did, and she did! My book, Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, Findhorn Press, 2011, is part memoir, part a collection of stories of others’ discrimination from DOMA, part a how-to on how others can help and part resource guide. It keeps getting updated with my blog and web site at http://tornapart.findhornpress.com

Sharing my story – personal and political – is how I roll. Letters to editors, conferences, phone calls, blogs, you name it. I do it. As my book came out, I met more allies – Lavi Soloway, The Doma Project; Brynn Gelbard, DeVote Campaign; David W. Ross, I Do: The Movie. I got more press. I talked to elected officials, clergy, PFLAG, California Teachers Association, National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association. I preached at an MCC church in San Francisco. I talked to senior LGBT groups and LGBT youth groups. I met more allies and learned to go outside my comfort zone with dialogue groups bringing LGBT groups together with immigrant groups. And it just keeps going. Sharing that story. Finding those allies. Blogging. Posting on Facebook. Creating a Facebook page for my book. Creating a portrait project of same-sex binational couples with David W. Ross. Creating a Facebook page for that. Working on the solution we all need.

So here I am, something else new is happening to me because of my story! Standing in front of you I may not look like someone you would think has an immigration problem, needs an immigration solution. But the truth is very personal. Here it is:

Immigration, like sexual orientation, is not a skin color, or a country of origin, or a religion, or a culture, or an ethnicity. It’s all that and more. It’s not “them.” It’s “us.” We need a country where we are all “us.” Let’s make it so!

Some people think of immigrants and hold the word “illegal” in their hearts and minds. Some people think of the LGBT community and hold the word “immoral” in their hearts and minds. Imagine how that makes people like me and my wife feel!

We live in that world where these two intersect – it’s like pouring gas on a fire when people who hold illegal and immoral in their hearts and minds think of LGBT immigrants, same-sex binational families. These categories, LGBT and immigrant – are the two most volatile subjects in politics today. Who is going to help us? Who will include us in comprehensive, common sense immigration reform?

We know the Supreme Court is dealing with DOMA as well as the related California same-sex marriage case. We know that Congress has three pieces of legislation languishing without much traction to date – Uniting American Families Act, Reuniting Families Act and Respect for Marriage Act.

That leaves the third house – you folks of the Executive branch. I’m hoping you and your boss, President Obama, can help too. Your voices will help things move along faster to the solution we all need for common sense immigration reform that is truly comprehensive. I’m 65 now. My wife is 72. I sure hope to spend whatever remains of my golden years being able to do other things than fight to keep my wife with me. In my country we say that’s the American dream – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I’d like an unimpeded chance at that. Thanks for listening and I hope you can help us all.

______________________

So here’s my regular sign-off for posts:
Immigration Equality, Out4Immigration and Love Exiles Foundation are the three groups working on our issue – and the three groups who receive whatever money comes in from sales of my book, Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, Findhorn Press, 2011.My newer project, with David W. Ross, whose new film “I Do: The Movie” will be out in June 2012, is a portrait project of LGBT binational families, United by Love, Divided by Law Portrait Project. It expands the reach of my book and will keep adding portraits as we find couples and funds to add more. We will hold events to assist the work being done for our families by Lavi Soloway and Stop the Deportations – The DOMA Project.Check out the site athttp://unitedbylovedividedbylaw.com/and see the Facebook page athttps://www.facebook.com/unitedbylovedividedbylawTo follow Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, go to its Facebook page at:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Torn-Apart-United-by-Love-Divided-by-Law/116343758442046Read an excerpt of my book at this link: http://bit.ly/eIyGxhOrder online from the publisher at this link:http://www.findhornpress.com/relationships-43/torn-apart-392.htmlElizabeth Gilbert wrote the foreword to my book. She is an ally in our fight and has suffered from the immigration situation herself as part of a binational relationship. Though she and her boyfriend were able to marry, they know what the drill was and they advocate for LGBT binational families. We like that!Remember, too, you can follow me and what I am doing and thinking and reading on twitter   @tornapartbook

Now, he says DOMA is unconstitutional. He’s in good company today. I hope the Supreme Court agrees with the voices raised against DOMA so that Karin and I and sooooooo many other families can be safely and legally together in America. We need immigration reform that helps us in addition to the help so many others need that are not separated by DOMA. I hope that all the same-sex military families will get the protection and benefits they need.

DOMA has taken away or blocked the 1,138 federal rights that marriage automatically gives heterosexual couples when they marry. It has denied survivor benefits and other rights that opposite-sex military couples get. The hurt goes on and on.

I’m not an expert, so I will let others say their piece about this. Here’s a few recent articles about Clinton and DOMA, starting with the former President’s Washington Post opinion piece with the best headline I ever read!

Opinions
It’s time to overturn DOMA

By Bill Clinton, Published: March 7

The writer is the 42nd president of the United States.

In 1996, I signed the Defense of Marriage Act. Although that was only 17 years ago, it was a very different time. In no state in the union was same-sex marriage recognized, much less available as a legal right, but some were moving in that direction. Washington, as a result, was swirling with all manner of possible responses, some quite draconian. As a bipartisan group of former senators stated in their March 1 amicus brief to the Supreme Court, many supporters of the bill known as DOMA believed that its passage “would defuse a movement to enact a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, which would have ended the debate for a generation or more.” It was under these circumstances that DOMA came to my desk, opposed by only 81 of the 535 members of Congress.

On March 27, DOMA will come before the Supreme Court, and the justices must decide whether it is consistent with the principles of a nation that honors freedom, equality and justice above all, and is therefore constitutional. As the president who signed the act into law, I have come to believe that DOMA is contrary to those principles and, in fact, incompatible with our Constitution.

Countries where same-sex marriage is legal: While the United States continues to debate the legality of same-sex marriage, some countries have had laws legalizing gay marriage for more than a decade.

Because Section 3 of the act defines marriage as being between a man and a woman, same-sex couples who are legally married in nine states and the District of Columbia are denied the benefits of more than a thousand federal statutes and programs available to other married couples. Among other things, these couples cannot file their taxes jointly, take unpaid leave to care for a sick or injured spouse or receive equal family health and pension benefits as federal civilian employees. Yet they pay taxes, contribute to their communities and, like all couples, aspire to live in committed, loving relationships, recognized and respected by our laws.

When I signed the bill, I included a statement with the admonition that “enactment of this legislation should not, despite the fierce and at times divisive rhetoric surrounding it, be understood to provide an excuse for discrimination.” Reading those words today, I know now that, even worse than providing an excuse for discrimination, the law is itself discriminatory. It should be overturned.

We are still a young country, and many of our landmark civil rights decisions are fresh enough that the voices of their champions still echo, even as the world that preceded them becomes less and less familiar. We have yet to celebrate the centennial of the 19th Amendment, but a society that denied women the vote would seem to us now not unusual or old-fashioned but alien. I believe that in 2013 DOMA and opposition to marriage equality are vestiges of just such an unfamiliar society.

Americans have been at this sort of a crossroads often enough to recognize the right path. We understand that, while our laws may at times lag behind our best natures, in the end they catch up to our core values. One hundred fifty years ago, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln concluded a message to Congress by posing the very question we face today: “It is not ‘Can any of us imagine better?’ but ‘Can we all do better?’ ”

The answer is of course and always yes. In that spirit, I join with the Obama administration, the petitioner Edith Windsor, and the many other dedicated men and women who have engaged in this struggle for decades in urging the Supreme Court to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act.

Here’s some more from him and from David Mixner. Check them out at these links:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/07/clinton-urges-court-to-overturn-marriage-law-he-signed/?

http://www.davidmixner.com/2013/03/bill-clinton-doma-and-history.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavidMixnerCom+%28DavidMixner.com%29

______________________

So here’s my regular sign-off for posts:

Immigration Equality, Out4Immigration and Love Exiles Foundation are the three groups working on our issue – and the three groups who receive whatever money comes in from sales of my book, Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, Findhorn Press, 2011.
My newer project, with David W. Ross, whose new film “I Do: The Movie” will be out in June 2012, is a portrait project of LGBT binational families, United by Love, Divided by Law Portrait Project. It expands the reach of my book and will keep adding portraits as we find couples and funds to add more. We will hold events to assist the work being done for our families by Lavi Soloway and Stop the Deportations – The DOMA Project.
Check out the site at

http://unitedbylovedividedbylaw.com/

and see the Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/unitedbylovedividedbylaw

To follow Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, go to its Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Torn-Apart-United-by-Love-Divided-by-Law/116343758442046

Read an excerpt of my book at this link: http://bit.ly/eIyGxh
Order online from the publisher at this link:

http://www.findhornpress.com/relationships-43/torn-apart-392.html

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the foreword to my book. She is an ally in our fight and has suffered from the immigration situation herself as part of a binational relationship. Though she and her boyfriend were able to marry, they know what the drill was and they advocate for LGBT binational families. We like that!
Remember, too, you can follow me and what I am doing and thinking and reading on twitter   @tornapartbook

Guess where they live?

1. Mississippi (26%)

2. Wyoming (25%)

3. Alaska (23%)

4. Idaho (22%)

5. Montana (22%)

This is from Gary Gates and his wonderful work at The Williams Institute at UCLA. It’s not The Onion, though it might sound like it. I am shocked and I am also more aware how much we need to help these folks survive bullying and homophobia and general issues of equality. No mention of how many in the study are same-sex binational families, but we must assume there are some in the findings.

Here’s the press release about the study, followed by the link to the complete study. Thanks for this important look at LGBT parents and their impact on the future by their offspring, Gary.

Six Million American Children and Adults Have an LGBT Parent

Greetings from warm and sunny LA!

“Gay Americans Pay More Taxes for Fewer Rights”

CNN, www.cnn.com, February 25, 2013, Suze Orman, Special to CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/25/opinion/orman-marriage-equality

Here’s a photo of Suze and her wife K.T. (I think that’s what she said in the video – it may be Katie, but it sounded like K.T. to me)

_____________________

So here’s my regular sign-off for posts:

Immigration Equality, Out4Immigration and Love Exiles Foundation are the three groups working on our issue – and the three groups who receive whatever money comes in from sales of my book, Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, Findhorn Press, 2011.
My newer project, with David W. Ross, whose new film “I Do: The Movie” will be out in June 2012, is a portrait project of LGBT binational families, United by Love, Divided by Law Portrait Project. It expands the reach of my book and will keep adding portraits as we find couples and funds to add more. We will hold events to assist the work being done for our families by Lavi Soloway and Stop the Deportations – The DOMA Project.
Check out the site at

http://unitedbylovedividedbylaw.com/

and see the Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/unitedbylovedividedbylaw

To follow Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, go to its Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Torn-Apart-United-by-Love-Divided-by-Law/116343758442046

Read an excerpt of my book at this link: http://bit.ly/eIyGxh
Order online from the publisher at this link:

http://www.findhornpress.com/relationships-43/torn-apart-392.html

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the foreword to my book. She is an ally in our fight and has suffered from the immigration situation herself as part of a binational relationship. Though she and her boyfriend were able to marry, they know what the drill was and they advocate for LGBT binational families. We like that!
Remember, too, you can follow me and what I am doing and thinking and reading on twitter   @tornapartbook

Watch: Binational Couples Should Be Included in Immigration Reform Debate

by KAREN OCAMB on FEBRUARY 18, 2013

(Binational couple Judy Rickard and her British wife Karin at a photo shoot in Los Angeles May 2011. Photo by Karen Ocamb)Congress is on a 10-day recess but the immigration reform debate just keeps heating up. There are 11 million undocumented immigrants in the US, with 1,400 people being deported every day, according to Telemundo TV host Jose Diaz-Balart, though the government refutes allegations of a deportation “quota.” Over the weekend, USA Today published a draft of a leaked White House immigration proposal that “would allow illegal immigrants to become legal permanent residents within eight years.” Within hours, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, part of a senate bipartisan “gang of six” working on their own immigration reform plan, said President Obama’s “back up” proposal was “dead on arrival.” As the New Republic points out, immigration has become a huge issue for Republicans since the last election glaringly pointed out the GOP is becoming “the party of white people.”

But the immigration reform debate is not just about undocumented people of color. As the New York Times reported on Sunday, same sex binational couples are leaving the country or facing deportation because the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits the same access to a green card automatically granted the foreign born spouse in a straight marriage. Though Obama supports including binational couples in a reform package, it is not clear if they are included in the proposal leaked on Saturday. Last Wednesday, Democratic Sen. Patrick J. Leahy and Republican Sen. Susan Collins introduced the United American Families Act Legislation and on Thursday, California Rep. Mike Honda introduced the Reuniting Families Act to help the approximately 35,000 binational couples trapped in this hell of inequality.  The success of the bills are uncertain since Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee where the “gang od six” reform legislation is being prepared, says there are “so many other, bigger issues” to resolve first and  Sen. John McCain just flat out says adding binational couples to immigration reform could “derail” legislation.

On March 27, the Supreme Court will hear a case challenging the constitutionality of DOMA – and several binational couples have had their deportation hearings or applications for a green card put on hold awaiting the Court’s ruling. But that doesn’t make it any easier for married couples such as Judy Rickard and her British wife Karin (Judy is the author of Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law) who have been fighting for their rights through The DOMA Project.  In this video, produced by The DOMA Project in collaboration with the DeVote Campaign, Karin talks about how, after a 12 hour flight, immigration officials held and questioned her for hours without being granted water or a phone call. She says officials told her:  “We can do whatever we like with you.” Karin says, “I felt like somebody was taking my life away.” She can’t fly to Scotland for her son’s wedding lest she not be allowed back in the U.S.

Judy says: “Karin and I are old broads, old dykes, lesbians of a certain age, golden girls. This is our time in life when we want to cash in on all the goodies. And instead, we have to spend more of our reduced income to solve problems that nobody should have to face….Nobody should have to choose between spouse and country. Nobody should have to choose between family and country. Same sex binational couples need the same promise of equality that any American couple has.”

————

See our story in the DeVote Campaign, The DOMA Project video here, adds Judy.

http://youtu.be/L-4lqA7PQ6k

_______________________

So here’s my regular sign-off for posts:

Immigration Equality, Out4Immigration and Love Exiles Foundation are the three groups working on our issue – and the three groups who receive whatever money comes in from sales of my book, Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, Findhorn Press, 2011.
My newer project, with David W. Ross, whose new film “I Do: The Movie” will be out in June 2012, is a portrait project of LGBT binational families, United by Love, Divided by Law Portrait Project. It expands the reach of my book and will keep adding portraits as we find couples and funds to add more. We will hold events to assist the work being done for our families by Lavi Soloway and Stop the Deportations – The DOMA Project.
Check out the site at

http://unitedbylovedividedbylaw.com/

and see the Facebook page at

https://www.facebook.com/unitedbylovedividedbylaw

To follow Torn Apart: United by Love, Divided by Law, go to its Facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Torn-Apart-United-by-Love-Divided-by-Law/116343758442046

Read an excerpt of my book at this link: http://bit.ly/eIyGxh
Order online from the publisher at this link:

http://www.findhornpress.com/relationships-43/torn-apart-392.html

Elizabeth Gilbert wrote the foreword to my book. She is an ally in our fight and has suffered from the immigration situation herself as part of a binational relationship. Though she and her boyfriend were able to marry, they know what the drill was and they advocate for LGBT binational families. We like that!
Remember, too, you can follow me and what I am doing and thinking and reading on twitter   @tornapartbook