Drinking from the Garden Hose

A very dear friend of mine who I consider family, just received a cancer diagnosis. As soon as their mind considered the practicalities of such a grave situation, panic set in and their mind thought the option of suicide was a better choice than taking on the medical system as a young person of color, with a minimum wage job and bad health insurance in the United States of America. I’m quite familiar with the political ideologies of countries like Australia, New Zealand and Spain where healthcare is not much of a burden for citizens. Young people should have the rest of their lives to look forward to - we are just getting started! That makes me furious. Each person who receives news in the fatality category has their own unique, specific experience that is deeply personal to them. Even if you are receiving news about a loved one, there's a lot of empathy and grief you experience as a witness. But the fact that when faced with a serious disease, however treatable still serious, some

 Yesterday I hosted bookclub! We had a special guest baby Huxley, literary namesake so of course it's necessary he attends book club his first month in the world! This month we read Pulitzer Prize winner  Gilead  by Marilynne Robinson . Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead series— Gilead, Home, Lila, and Jack —is an intergenerational story about faith, race, and love from the interwoven histories of two families in a small Iowa town to encompass American life: ideals and beliefs, our contradictions, failings, and hopes. I plan to read the rest of the series, as I found Gilead  a valuable read. A few points I found thought provoking in this novel (I read it on my Kindle so page numbers correspond : Page 75: The protagonist narrates the story, a Caucasian preacher from Iowa in his late seventies who feels he is near the end of life - "...because now, in my present situation, now that I am about to leave this world, I realize there is nothing more astonishing than a human face...It has s