Bookworm

Call him "Mr. President" or "President Obama" or at least "Mr. Obama"

2013-01-18T11:31:41-05:00

[Written as a comment regarding NPR's decision to only use an honorific the first time the President is referred to in a news story, and simply as "Obama" after that.]

I think when you've been elected to the Presidency you deserve a certain level of respect. Nobody is talking about calling him "Your Excellency" are they? News organizations can still cover the President and use a modicum of respect in how he is addressed.

I ask because I have not noticed -- how are the Justices referred to in first and second mentions? Is it "Justice Roberts" or "Chief Justice Roberts" the first time and simply his last name following? Obviously there should be consistency.

It's telling that businessmen and women are calling each other "Sir" or "Ms. Jones" in meetings all over the country today, college students are calling their teachers "Professor Smith," but the President only gets one referent of respect and after that, he's "Obama" like the news program is as informal as a coffee shop conversation.

In press conferences, all the reporters say "Mr. President," do they not? Why should news coverage differ from direct address, in terms of honorific?

[Written in response to this post on NPR's website]

What I Read in 2012

2013-01-07T07:35:00-05:00

Children's Books Read to My Daughter

Stormy: Misty's Foal by Marguerite Henry ****
Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry ****
The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler ***

Regular books

Comfort & Joy by Kristin Hannah ****
Skylight Confessions by Alice Hoffman ****
V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton ****
The Forgotten Affairs of Youth by Alexander McCall Smith ****
Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son by Anne Lamott ****
Midnight in Austenland by Shannon Hale ***
Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory ****
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake by Anna Quindlen ****
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins ****
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline ****
The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan ****
The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes ****
Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews ***
Starburst by Robin Pilcher ***
Make, Take Murder by Joanna Campbell Slan ***
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn ****
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt ****
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins ****
The Inn at Rose Harbor by Debbie Macomber ***
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins ****
The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds by Alexander McCall Smith ****
The Age of Miracles by Karen Walker Thompson ***
Ready, Scrap, Shoot by Joanna Campbell Slan **

Audio books

Escape by Barbara Delinsky ****
I Remember Nothing: and Other Reflections by Nora Ephron ***
Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult ***
Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs ***
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs ***
Knit Two by Kate Jacobs **
The Litigators by John Grisham ***
Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green **
Remember Me by Sophie Kinsella ***
Blue Nights by Joan Didion ***
The Replacement Wife by Eileen Goudge **
Home Front by Kristin Hannah ***
Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan ***
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Chery Strayed ***
One Summer by David Baldacci **
Friends Forever by Danielle Steel **
A Good Woman by Danielle Steel **
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling ****

I've bolded all the four star books. It's funny how different they are -- everything from juvenile horse books to YA dystopia to mysteries that take place in Scotland.
The books that used my brain the most this year were probably the Julian Barnes novel (short, but lots of sentences that made you think about time and memory) and the nonfiction Anna Quindlen book. She has a marvelous vocabulary and it felt like a wise book. I posted a short review here.
I still really enjoy the Isabel Dalhousie series by Alexander McCall Smith and hope he continues his two books per year pace of publication!
I won't read any more of Joanna Campbell Slan's scrapbooking mystery series; I barely skimmed the last one I borrowed from the library.
I'd like to buy and reread Tell the Wolves I'm Home. It was a library book and I ended up skimming some of it so I could return it.
I'd like to read more books in 2013 and more books that are high quality or challenging reading.
Most of the books that I gave low ratings to were audio books. In part this is due to the lack of variety of available audio books through Overdrive and partially because I know I can't pay attention to anything too deep while I'm simultaneously driving my car, so I tend to choose less demanding things.

If anyone reads this post besides me -- what did you love (or hate) in 2012? What do you hope to read in 2013?

Happy reading,

Laura

A Letter to Newtown

2012-12-17T07:00:00-05:00

Dear Newtown,

You don't know me and I don't know you. But I am thinking about you every day, ever since Friday, that day that will forever be a "before and after" date in your lives. I cried at my desk at work as I saw the news stories. I prayed. I emailed my daughter's principal to tell him I don't think our school is safe enough. I superstitiously counted down the minutes until I knew my husband had picked up my precious girl from school. I'm sorry for interjecting myself and my fear into this, but it is wound up like a coil of braided rope with your story, your loss, your unimaginable pain.

It is tempting to say that I can't imagine what you are going through. But it is the truth, instead, that I can. Every thing in your house will be reminding you of what you have lost. You will go to sleep at night -- I hope you are able to get at least some sleep -- with a pit in your stomach and wake up feeling the same way. You will be numb, then crying, then angry or perhaps just numb and trying to care for other family members and shoving everything down deep inside. You will have to be making choices and decisions you never, ever thought you would have to make about your beautiful child's funeral. And you almost certainly have a hidden stash of presents whose intended recipient will never receive them.

I wish that my words, my prayers, the moments of silence at my work meeting this morning, and at our church service yesterday could actually do something, anything to ease your pain.

While I'm sure whatever part of you is functioning is somewhat aware of the outreach of the nation and the world, it's possible you are not. That your computers and phones are off. That you are putting one foot in front of the other.

All I can think of is to list the names of those lost and end with the most heartfelt and inadequate of phrases, "I am so very sorry for your incalculable loss."

This day, we remember:

Charlotte Bacon
Daniel Barden
Rachel Davino
Olivia Rose Engel
Josephine Gay
Ana Grace Marquez-Greene
Dylan Hockley
Dawn Hocksprung
Madeleine F Hsu
Catherine V Hubbard
Chase Kowalski
Jesse Lewis
James Mattioli
Grace McDonnell
Anne Marie Murphy
Emilie Parker
Jack Pinto
Noah Pozner
Caroline Previdi
Jessica Rekos
Avielle Richman
Lauren Rousseau
Mary Sherlach
Victoria Soto
Benjamin Wheeler
Allison N Wyatt

~ Laura D.