Bulkhead art: isn't it fun?

 

Olympics From Loman Beach

 

On my walk today with friends. I am thankful to live with so many friends and so much beauty. Happy Thanksgiving!

Reviewing "Enough" by Cassidy Hutchinson

Essential Political Reading, But Also Helpful For Young Adults Raised In Abuse

Other reviews have written well on the great importance of this inside look at the Trump White House; truly all America owes her thanks for her testimony. However, she also tells a story about recovering from an abusive childhood.

The opening scene has young Hutchinson breaking a rule at the urging of her father; things go wrong; rather than help her, he shouts abuse. As many children do, she keeps trying to seek his approval, he keeps on abusing and breaking rules. With this background, it seems quite natural that she would prefer the ultimate rulebreaking abuser Donald Trump over his political rival Hillary Clinton; that is the world that she grew up in.

Hutchinson prospers - she shows a lot of ability - but is soon called upon to engage in abuse herself. Trump tasks Mark Meadows with finding a leaker; Meadows tells Hutchinson to name one; she does not know any, but wants to please the abusive boss; she names someone she does not like; the person she falsely names loses his job; she keeps her place; the gang is reassured of her loyalty.

Ultimately Hutchinson breaks with the Trump organization when the mob lawyer, coaching her on how to lie, lets drop that she is in danger of prosecution. Whether she prioritized the doubts she had been having all along, or merely realized that it was her turn to be betrayed, does not matter, she knows she needs out of the gang, and for that she needs help.

She goes to her biological father, but he is as useless and abusive as ever. No one else she knows is any help; her mob friends can not be trusted and ties with others had withered away. However, showing an admirable strength in problem-solving, Hutchinson reasons that somewhere, somewhen, someone else must have had a problem like this before. She searches and finds a book about Alexander Butterfield, her opposite number in the Nixon Administration, who had basically the same problem as she. Hutchison reads his book three times, taking careful notes. It is not too much to say that for the first time she has a father who can offer her guidance ... even if it is only in a book.

With this guide - and its all-important reassurance that at the end of his story Butterfield was satisfied that he'd done the right thing - Hutchinson reaches out for legal representation that is actually interested in helping her. There was still much difficulty and drama to endure, which is well worth reading (and it is to the good of all America that she persevered). However, but the fundamental life lesson to be learned here is that it is easy for a child who was raised in abuse to get trapped in an organization of abuse, but wise and loving helpers will assist you, so go look for them!

Again, the debt America owes Hutchison for her testimony is great, but the arc of personal development is also worth noting. How wonderful it is that at the end [SPOILER ALERT!] she was able to embrace a true father.

Dragon eggs growing near my bus stop

 

Possibly Shaggy Cap mushrooms, but I prefer to think of them as dragon eggs.

Imp never loses her sense of curiosity

 

Reviewing "Something Terrible" by Dean Trippe

I finished this short graphic novel - not really a novel, but that seems to be word for a story told through sequential art. The graphic, image-centered format of this work makes this difficult and essential topic more approachable than any plain text book. Some things are just better conveyed through pictures that go directly to the heart without being filtered through words. This is not a book for children, or at least not for children without the close support of a caregiver. Its most powerful message is that the cycle can be broken; you do not have to live in fear of passing on the abuse you survived. Highly recommended.