Elizabeth Hughes’ Book Periscope

 

summerjusticecover

Summer Justice is a short story by Michelle Carithers. It is the story of Audrey Taylor who comes from a dysfunctional family in a run-down neighborhood. She wants to escape the shootings and drug-infested neighborhood, where she grew up in a home with an alcoholic father and a mother that has supported her family for years. Her siblings all became successful except one brother who got caught up in crime. She found a room to rent with an elderly woman 500 miles away. She arrives one week early because she is about to start classes and start a job in the college bookstore. When she arrives at Ms. June Baker’s house, the elderly lady says she will think it over and let her know in a week. Audrey’s car barely made it there and won’t make it back. Audrey tells Ms. June that they had agreed the room was hers. Then Ms. June tells her she didn’t realize Audrey was black. Ms. June lives in a ‘white’ neighborhood.

Henry, Ms. June’s neighbor, accepts Audrey as a neighbor and friend after she moves into the room. Ms. June tells Audrey that her husband was murdered in a home invasion robbery. Audrey’s brother has been arrested and has been linked to home invasion robberies and murder. Summer Justice touches on the subject of prejudice in many cultures. I am rating Summer Justice five stars. I recommend Summer Justice for older teens to adult. I know that you will enjoy Summer Justice as much as I have.

pearlmdcover

Wow!! This novel is absolutely FANTASTIC!! Definitely 5 stars and 2 thumbs up! I absolutely loved it and hope there will be a book 2. It is about Dr. Pearl Stern, one of the few women doctors in the 1800’s.

Pearl started out working with Dr. Stone in his medical practice. After Dr. Stone dies, she tries to buy the practice from his widow. However, his widow is a mean, jealous and vengeful woman. She is also very rich and has an extreme amount of influence in the Missouri town they live in and in the state of Missouri. When a woman who is pregnant and has lost a vast amount of blood is brought in by her family without the knowledge of the woman’s husband, Pearl delivers the baby and stabilizes the woman. Since the woman has lost such a vast amount of blood, she advises she be kept there. The woman’s family takes her home where she and the baby soon die. The husband blames Pearl and tells the widow Stone, who hates Pearl and has delusions that Pearl
was after her husband when he was alive. The Widow Stone then bribes Mr. Singleton with a great deal of cash to slander Pearl and have her thrown in prison.

Pearl leaves Missouri having no knowledge what the Widow Stone is going to do. She arrives in Asheville, NC and sets up practice. While there, she becomes friends with the Sheriff.

Pearl is a very progressive doctor. Not only is she a woman physician, but she will medically treat anyone who needs to be treated regardless of race or social standing. She also hires an African-American woman at first, just to help with the cleaning of the office. Loomey, her helper soon proves her worth and Dr. Stern soon promotes her to be her assistant. After Pearl heals one of the officers who were shot, she gains some of the respect she deserves. Then the widow Stone obtains a governor’s warrant for Pearl’s arrest and she is extradited back to Missouri.

Chief Harkins takes her to Missouri and helps clear up the lies that
led to the warrant. I highly recommend Pearl, MD. If you want a book with suspense, drama, humor and romance and that will keep your interest, Pearl, MD is the book. Happy Reading!!

Artwork from Michelle Tholen

Michelle Tholen’s work is on display at Mc Evoy’s Gallery in San Francisco, through May 31st.
Tholen’s inspiration is drawn from the landscapes in Northern California. The sustenance of stunning mist-laden rivers, lakes, and waterways infused with the atmosphere and with a sense of tranquility. Searching for what she loves and trying to capture its essence by showing how interesting that moment is. In pursuit of the abstract, the timeless and transcendently rational, the work speaks to the cultural complexity. Hopeful in feeling, they suggest real and imagined, material and ethereal, familiar and foreign places.
“During a difficult time in my life, I experienced a moment in nature that brought me the greatest joy. I understood that life was a mirrored reflection of nature’s ups and downs and that without darkness there could be no light. One existed because of the other. Both bound together. “Evocative of the mysterious and fragile in nature, not of existing places but of imaginary realms discovered in the heart and mind. Underpinned by an emotional sense of certainty. Reinventable spaces explored by themes of memory in relation to nature. Conceivable scenery allowing the viewer to escape into an uninhabiting, quieting, meditative, and idealized seduction of collective solitude.The artist creates a lure of light in color suggesting more than color and light found in the spiritual that illumines, fills, and enlivens. The feeling of promise yet realized within one’s imagination outside of reality into the spiritual and contemporary mind of innovative and artistic expression. Executed in finesse appealing to mood and emotions later the intellect. Close to the artist’s heart is the survival and love of our environment manifested in work that creates beauty and magic. The expression of hope and belief in an overriding force greater than the artist’s own insignificance.

Essay from Ayokunle Adeleye

THE POTENTIAL: Realising Limits.

It was the best of times. His luck could not have been better. Yes, he
was in debt, but that day he recouped his losses. That day he had made
$25,000 from betting at the casino. That day, he only needed $25, 000
more and his debt would be no more. There was no need to debate the
issue. All he had to do was visit the casino again the next day and
win some more.

Then it was the worst of times. For the next day, he left the casino
the way he’d gone in the previous day: drained of both hope and money.
Or not quite so. The previous morning he was hopeful he could pay his
debt, the previous night, he was convinced he could. And now he was
certain he couldn’t. He was right where he had started out. He had had
potential, had had energy, and it had ruined him.

Continue reading

Poetry and a short story from Sandy Hiortdahl

 

The Composite 

by Sandy Hiortdahl

Half-reeking Frankenstein composite,

stumbling through the orchard at dinnertime

grabs an apple and flings it headlong

against the wall of Disrepair–

then, going to the wall, scales it to see

a hundred-foot drop into boiling waves,

wishes himself Nemo composite,

sleek gills swimming through anemone:

 

then spies the patented dorsal fin, sees

tentacles floating outward from it, catfish

whiskers sly around the shark grin,

and knows himself not alone

 

Continue reading

G.X. Chen’s novel Forget Me Not, reviewed by Tony Longshanks le Tigre

Review: Forget Me Not by G. X. Chen
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G. X. Chen’s Forget Me Not is a tragic love story, a vivid historical narrative and a novel I’m not likely to forget any time soon. It provides a valuable window into the Eastern world during a dark epoch in the not-so-distant past: a seemingly first-hand account of life in China during the tumultuous decade known as the Cultural Revolution (1966 to 1976). Chairman Mao Zedong, a godlike figure to Chinese communists, initiated the revolution as a means to eliminate political rivals and solidify his legacy; but his utopian visions resulted in mass chaos and ruin for China’s traditions, its economy, and many of its citizens. I must confess that my knowledge of Chinese history and culture is less than exemplary. My Americanized mind has absorbed an idea of China as a communist country devoid of many of the civil liberties I hold dear (though somewhat more open and democratic now than in the past); beyond those general notions, things are fuzzy. I am grateful to Chen’s book for filling in some of that blank space in my awareness. It certainly enhanced my appreciation for the relatively free and privileged life I lead, and for how lucky I am not to have experienced the grim alternate reality evoked in the pages of Forget Me Not: a reality of violent chaos, arbitrary cruelty and imprisonment, and basic lack of personal choice and freedom that many Chinese citizens alive at the time of the Cultural Revolution did not survive.Li Ling, the novel’s protagonist, is a boy living in Hong Kong with his grandparents at the outset of the revolution. Abruptly, he is forced to leave his beloved caretakers and the world he knows and start a new life with his parents—virtual strangers to him—in Shanghai, the city of his birth. There in elementary school he forges friendships destined to last a lifetime, with Big Head (a nickname that sticks) and Zhang Lily, the girl with whom he will fall in love. Unfortunately, the cultural maelstrom that fate has thrown their way is not a climate conducive to the tender dreams of young lovers. One day in June 1966, Li Ling visits the farmer’s market with Lily and Big Head where they witness a distressing scene: Continue reading

Weather Events and Climate: Dr. Inez Fung speaks at Oakland’s Chabot Space and Science Center

 

Professor Fung

Dr. Inez Fung

Weather Events and Climate: Dr. Inez Fung speaks at Oakland’s Chabot Space and Science Center

Despite its proverbial status as a filler topic in conversation, weather events sparked a lot of commentary over the past couple years. Blizzards and canceled flights in the Northwest, massive nationwide droughts, and a few destructive storms filled headlines and grabbed people’s attention.
This month’s guest enrichment speaker, Dr. Inez Fung, discussed the difference between isolated dramatic events and overall trends in the planet’s climate during her presentation, and pointed out some mechanisms behind weather patterns. She is a Professor of Atmospheric Science in UC Berkeley’s Department of Earth and Planetary Science and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management.

Artwork from Erik Stitt

Erik Stitt
Erik is an Artist and Illustrator currently hailing from Bremerton, Washington. He has lived all over the US but his primary upbringing was in the Mojave Desert just east of the San Bernardino Mountains.
Erik’s influences on his decidedly chosen style of Realism are the Southwest Region of the US and it’s diverse cultures and societies, Fantasy, Science Fiction and even some Horror. His personal artistic influences are just as diverse as his artistic subject matter. Those being Howard Terpning, Mark Rohrig, Morten Solberg, J.D. Hillberry, Drew Struzan, Keith Birdsong and Nick Runge just to name a few, of the ever growing list.
Erik brings 25 plus years of experience to his craft and renders primarily in Acrylic Paints and Colored Pencils. He loves painting Wildlife, Native American Portraits, Fantasy and is currently working on a series called Para-Pin Ups for the Paranormal Convention circuit.
You can see all of Erik’s work as well as purchase high quality Prints and Giclees at the following website:http://erikstittart.blogspot.com