Lisa > Recent Status Updates

Poverty. Hurricanes. Pollution.
Influential authors.
History of Haiti.
Essays.

Deep Russian cold. Feels appropriate to the season.

Poverty. Mysterious and sullen character. Murky backstory. Spooky house in the woods. PTSD.

Good guys. Bad guys. Empty spaces. Cacti. And a handful of mail order brides.

Nice and light and I just know the right people will win.

I'll take my simple quiet life over his famous life any day.

8. “The Dentist”
- conquer all fears

9. “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong”
No one understands unless they lived it.
Soldiers want their girlfriends there even though it would destroy them but then they would at least understand.

10. “Stockings”
Memories as a good luck charm

11. “Church”
How do you kill from a sacred place?

Perfect winter book

Ok now I care a bit for some of the people. Took awhile to get there.

He talks about his PTSD.

Doesn’t matter the cause, the symptoms are the same. It’s a nervous system injury.

I knew he joined the military and went to Afghanistan but I always imagined it was cushy and just for show. Nope.

Product placement: "Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger".
I can taste the bright red tangy sourness. It always needed a healthy scoop of honey...

Meh. Lots of topics mixed in. Religion/cults, LGBTQ, addiction, poverty, abuse, gangs… Maybe just tackle one or two at a time.

Silliest fluff ever.
But at least I know the good guys will win. Yay. That’s the kind of fantasy I’m reading. Although these “good guys” aren’t even fighting for anything nobel - literally just to get treasure…

I’m impressed that he actually went to war in Afghanistan.

I’m finding this book so bleak. And tiresome. And weird. I’ll finish it but I almost feel dread as I pick it up.

4. “On the Rainy River.”
- reaction to being drafted

5. “Enemies”
and
6. “Friends”
- the trauma and stress of war creates intense relationships

7. “How to Tell a True War Story”
- the blending of truth and story. How do you put into words the unspeakable?

These stories are so well written. They are awful as their subject is awful but they are also beautiful as beauty glimmers through.