Book #24: PICKING COTTON - Our Memoir of Injustice and Redemption

What a beautiful and heartfelt, yet challenging, and grace-filled story of innocence lost and forgiveness found.

The hot July day in 1984 began like any other in Burlington, North Carolina for Jennifer Thompson-Cannino, she spent the day with her boyfriend and enjoyed a relaxing evening at her apartment after dinner. Jennifer went to sleep and her boyfriend left the apartment around 11:00 p.m. It would be the last time - for many, many years - that Jennifer would enjoy a peaceful, dreamy sleep...

...Around 3:00 a.m. she awoke to a tall, heavy black man on top of her, with a knife to her neck. She was raped and sexually assaulted, but managed to escape her attacker; neighbors heard her screams and brought Jennifer to the safety of their home and called police. Days later, after a comprehensive hospital exam, rape kit completed, and interviews with police and detectives, Jennifer identified her assailant in a lineup: she picked Ronald Cotton.

On January 18, 1985, Ronald Cotton was sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years. Ten years later, on June 30, Ron was exonerated with DNA testing. He was finally a free man.

Ronald gave me something that eluded me in the thirteen years since that sweltering summer night: the gift of forgiveness - not because I deserved it, but because that's what grace is about.

Simply. Beautiful. A story of grace and love and redemption and the true meaning of forgiveness. Jennifer made a mistake. She identified the wrong man - an innocent man - and sent him to prison for more than 11 years. But instead of anger, hostility, or vengeance, Ron accepted Jennifer's apology and embraced her with love, humility, kindness, and love. This is their story - as painful as it was - of freedom: from incarceration and self-guilt.

Book #23: TOM BROKAW - A Long Way from Home, Growing Up in the American Heartland

A lot happened in 1983, the year I was born:

• M*A*S*H ended it's episodes on CBS;
• Sally Ride becomes the first woman in space, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger;
• Vanessa Williams is crowned Miss America;
• New release movies included "Return of the Jedi," "Flashdance," and "Risky Business";
• President Ronald Reagan declares the third Monday of January Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day;
• McDonald's introduces the McNugget;
• Michael Jackson was singing "Billie Jean" and "Beat It";
• Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program is launched; and
• Tom Brokaw became the lead anchor on NBC Nightly News.

In this reflective book of memories and adventures, Tom Brokaw shares stories of growing up in America's heartland, and of the people, the culture, and the values that shaped him in his youth and still today.

...I happened to be born in the right place at the right time, and to the right set of parents, who did not limit my dreams of of a different kind of life.

I grew up with Tom Brokaw, watched him religiously every evening around suppertime on NBC Nightly News....and I still do today, only with Brian Williams as lead anchor. Brokaw's calm demeanor, strong voice, and charm affected my youth. I quickly learned that the small-town environment of western Kentucky, where I was born and raised, was just a small piece of the bigger world. As I read this book, though, I appreciate my life in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in a new sense, with enriched pride.  

...whenever I return I am at peace, and always a little excited to know that this place has a claim on me...I've come to understand how important those early influences of family, place, and values were in making this life possible. I also know never to take any of this for granted, as I still live with the influences of failures as well as of success...I could not be the man I am today without the boy I was yesterday, in a far-off place and a long time ago.

Reading this reflection of Brokaw's made me smile in more instances because its truth rang home for me too. Brokaw was raised in a close-knit family where hard, honest work provided stability and a good home life. The entire community was an extended day-care center is very personal to me, especially in the days of Lollipop Daycare, or one of the homes of my many friends and relatives in Henderson or Webster County.

Daily life revolved around work, family, school, church, and community.

Great book - loved it. This book recounts Brokaw's life from birth to age 22 in small-town, South Dakota. As a fan, I would love to see a book by Tom of his years in mainstream journalism, especially as the White House correspondent from 1976 to 1981 and his adventures as lead anchor on NBC Nightly News. I can only imagine the places he's seen, the people he's met, and the stories he's heard along the way.....a memoir perhaps, Mr. Brokaw?!

Book #22: LETTER TO MY DAUGHTER by George Bishop

Liz, short for Elizabeth, runs away from home on the eve of her 15th birthday. Though scared, worried, and upset, her mother, Laura, sits down and begins writing a letter to her daughter detailing her own adolescence and explaining to her daughter that she really knows what it is like to be 15. Though painful, Laura reveals her masked secrets with Liz through a simple letter, words on a page.

There is power in writing. Words hold magic that can transform people.

Letter to My Daughter is a painfully candid confession from Laura detailing the reasons her parents sent her away to a private Catholic boarding school, how she fell in love with a forbidden 'misfit' from the wrong side of the tracks who ends up in Vietnam, and, finally, the meaning of the tattoo she wears proudly below her hip.

This is a special, beautifully written novel. The letter is heartfelt, honest, humorous, humbled, and horrifying - but teaches the life lessons we all learn when we come of age. A great tale of love between a mother and a daughter.

Book #21: THE GIRL WHO FELL FROM THE SKY by Heidi Durrow

Inspired by a real event, The Girl Who Fell From the Sky is the story of Rachel, the daughter of a Danish mother and a black G.I., who becomes the sole survior of a family tradegy after a fateful morning on their Chicago rooftop.

With her strick African American grandmother as her new guardian, Rachel moves to a mostly black neighborhood where her physical apprearance brings unwanted attention. As she grows up in the 1980s, she learns to swallow overwhelming grief and careful hide all sorrows and pain inside the "blue bottle."

A good read that confronts society's ideas of race, class, and beauty.

Book #20: LEAVING CHURCH - A MEMOIR OF FAITH by Barbara Brown Taylor

The search for faith...from Episcopal priest to college professor: this is the story of Barbara Brown Taylor's remarkable journey of finding her faith, even if it meant leaving her beloved pulpit but finding her authentic self.

Epilogue: In the tenth year of my priesthood, I found what I was looking for...When my husband Ed and I visited, it was love at first sight. After a lengthy courtship, I discovered that the church I wanted also wanted me. I was about to go and do what I believed God was calling me to go and do, without the least suspicion that finding my life might involve losing it - or that loss, in the end, might be cause for praise.

I first learned of Barbara Brown Taylor from my mentor and good buddy, L.W. As I turned every page of Leaving Church, I understood L.W. even more...as a woman, as a friend, and as a follower of God. Now, I see L.W. for who she is, not what she is.

...being ordained is not about serving God perfectly but about serving God visibly, allowing other people to learn whatever they can from watching you rise and fall. You probably won't be much worse than other people, and you certainly won't be any better, but you will have to let people look at you. You will have to let them see you as you are.

I appreciate Taylor's honestly and candidness to express her thoughts so eloquently. I, too, think Sundays are the best day of the week. When I enter the sanctuary of FUMC-Joshua on Sunday mornings, taken a deep cleansing breath, and settled into my seat, it's a foretaste of heaven. The bread and juice that I receive at Communion is given, I have not earned it with any deed, word, or gesture. And in the silence of any moment, I am sure the Holy Spirit is ever present and fulfilling my ever fiber of being.

As Taylor explains, reading the Bible persuades me to believe that God is found in right relationships, not in right ideas or particular places. To Taylor, if being ordained meant being set apart from people, then she did not want to be ordained anymore...she just wanted to be human.

My quest to serve God in the church had exhausted my spiritual savings. My dedication to being good had cost me a fortune in being whole. My desire to do all things well had kept me from doing the one thing within my power to do, which was to discover what it meant to be fully human.

When I left home for college, I also left church. It wasn't intentional, but I also did not go out of my way to find a new place of worship. I didn't lose my faith, but I felt I was 'cheating' on Webb Memorial if I attended another place of worship. The song says...O, Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary - pure and holy - tried and true. With thanksgiving, I'll be a living sanctuary for you. I finally realized that God is not in a particular building, He's in my heart. Always with me.

There was no mastering divinity. My vocation was to love God and my neighbor, and that was something I could do anywhere, with anyone, with or without a collar. My priesthood was not what I did but who I was. In this new light, nothing was wasted. All that had gone before was blessing, and all yet to come was more.

I get it, L.W. I get it. I get what you are (human) and I have a greater respect for who you are (my friend).

...God is faithful even when we are not. When we are able to trust the gospel that our human love of God and one another is the sum total of what were put on earth to do, and that we have everything we need to be human, then redeeming things will continue to happen, both because and in spite of us. They will happen because God loves life so much that even at the grave we make our song Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Taylor says that becoming a professional holy person almost killed her, but taking off her collar turned out to be as necessary for her salvation as putting it on. Today, her life has been saved by: becoming a part of a community; teaching school; living in relationship with creation; observing the Sabbath; encountering God in other people; and, becoming fully human.

I will keep faith - in God, in God's faith in me, and in all the companions whom God has given me to help see the world as God sees it - so that together we may find a way to realize the divine vision. If some of us do not yet know who we are going to be tomorrow, then it is enough for us to give thanks for today while we treat each other as well as know how.

This is my fervent prayer: that I will extend the grace of God that I have been given to all those around me and treat those around me the best that I know how.

Book #19: ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON-BONS by Lorna Landvik

Disclaimer: You have to read this book!!!!!!

Light-hearted, genuine (why would I fake them?) tears, and countless laugh-out-loud (or LOL for the younger generations) moments.....that's what I experienced reading Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons. What a great, memorable, enjoyable, and pleasant read. In case you couldn't tell, I liked this book...A LOT!

To whom do I most relate to? Well, let's examine that, because I've certainly given it much thought:

FAITH - She's a lover of books and lived in Texas. She hides a dark past; and, she's a people-pleaser, always wanting to portray perfection when she's crumbling inside...I really don't like the people-pleasing part about myself! For Faith's sake, I'm glad she makes peace with herself, her mother, and her past. I enjoyed reading the letters to her Mother, it seemed to have been a type of therapy for Faith. With each chapter, I longed for the letters at the conclusion...they were like my pajamas at the end of a long day, always there waiting for me. I can relate to personal journals and writing the words I'm afraid to speak. WORDS - spoken or written - ARE POWERFUL. For Faith, I think these letters proved to be the power she needed to acknowledge her past in order to face a better future...without secrets and masks.

MERIT - Enjoys music and dancing, and understands the bounty of God's blessings (though often disguised). She marries the man of her dreams, though she had to wait a while...I can relate - finding love required this me (a Kentucky Girl) to marry Kevin (a Texas Boy); we're living happily ever after and just celebrated 8 years together and 3 of them as husband and wife. I'm so incredibly blessed!!!! :o)

SLIP - She sweats profusely, has frizzy hair and a wild sense of humor, enjoys the personal "religious experience" of a bubble bath, and her mind falls into the gutter quite frequently. To add icing to her cake, she has a husband that absolutely adores her. Even with her strong opinions, I think Slip - in a way - becomes the glue of the AHEB group. Without her, the group would be incomplete. A true measure of friendship and relationship occurs at the end of the book when all the ladies surround Slip's hospital bed...but I do find it ironic that Faith is the one with Slip at the very end. A touching, very intimate and special moment between the two ladies.

KARI - A tender-hearted woman who loves all God's children, no matter their skin color and appreciates her high school English teacher for teaching her to think outside-the-box. I cried through a ton of Kleenex when she put her beloved golden retriever, Flicka, to sleep. He became the mascot of the neighborhood and the AHEB book club; once a friend, always a friend. I really want a dog. I could bust a dam right now, just thinking about all the many loved pets (family members) that are in Heaven.

AUDREY - Oh, sweet, sweet Audrey. I love this woman, plus the fact she has a gay 'husband'...I want one too. (No offense Kevin, I love you so much!) Audrey's grandfather spoiled her rotten, she jokes about Former President Johnson's johnson, and her selection for one month's book club meeting was Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex But Were Afraid to Ask. To celebrate her birthday, she polished off a quart of orange sherbet topped with chocolate syrup and a pan of Rice Krispies. I can't say enough about Audrey, including her boobies: "...my big beautiful breasts were still big and beautiful; they're like the Loyalist Party, always faithful to the queen." HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! Like Audrey, though, I can see myself in her not only because of the larger-than-life sense of humor, but I think she hides her inner struggles by making others laugh, pleasing others around her. I was incredibly proud when she went into ministry and found the will of God in her own life. Shout out to Rev. L, my mentor and buddy!

Alright, it's anonymous, I love Audrey...and Slip...and Kari...and Merit...and Faith. I LOVED THEM ALL and see a piece of myself in each of them.

GREAT BOOK - tons of laughs, lots of notes in the margins, and a great read for book club.