Sunday Musings: February 3, 2019

I've decided to change this post that I do every two weeks to Sunday Musings (my own creation) because I never post to the Sunday Salon Facebook group.

My life in books over the past two weeks: 
I participated in the 28in48 readathon last weekend. It sounds so overwhelming to say I'll read for 24 hours and, in truth, I read for about 7 hours. In addition to reading the books below, I am reading three different books for work.

• The Adults by Caroline Hulse
• The Accidental Further Adventures of the 100-Year-Old-Man by Jonas Jonasson

Challenges progress:

• A to Z Reading--I have read books with titles for 14 letters so far: A, B, C, E, F, G, H, M, O, P, Q, T, V, and W.
• Diversity Reading Challenge--I have read 8 books, adding books with POC authors and characters.
• Literary Escapes--I have read books set in 8 states so far, adding no new states in the past two weeks. I have read in 16 countries so far adding the United Kingdom, Indonesia, North Korea, Sweden, Kenya, Tanzania, Congo, Russia, and Denmark.
• Motif Reading Challenge--The February motif is "Cover Love."
• Non-fiction--I have read 5 books so far.
• YA Award Winners--Winners were announced January 28 and it turns out I have already read 4 of the winners!

My life outside books:

Work:

I helped coordinate a cool event for our high school students this past week. César Chavez' grandson, Eduardo, came and showed his documentary "Hailing César" (this link goes to the trailer) that shows Eduardo's process of learning about his famous grandfather and how it has helped shape who he (Eduardo) is. He also did a Q and A session after the screening. It was quite powerful and the students totally "got it." It was fun to see the students want to meet him, shake his hand, talk to him about their family members who are farm workers. It was like he is a rock star because he is related to César Chavez

On Friday I was supposed to go to Los Angeles for an LGBTQ History forum comprised of teachers and community members who are creating curriculum and conversations about how to effectively embed LGBTQ history into our courses.But, I didn't go down because heavy rain was forecast as well as evacuation orders for our area. So, it ended up being a catch up on work day.

Personal:

My daughter went back to Vassar on the 21st, which is always sad; I love spending time with her and miss her when she is not in town, but I love that she is becoming an adult, learning to take care of herself, taking exciting classes, and making new friends and experiences.

I attended two fun events last week: I saw Paula Poundstone perform and dang is she funny! I also saw former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright speak. She is so intelligent and interesting, but also funny.

Yesterday was a crazy day with lots of rain and small debris flows, though much less than last year. All roads in and out were closed until the evening. I hate that we get cut off from the world so easily.