Another Book Review

Well, I just finished Where Men Win Glory - The Odyssey of Pat Tillman in the wee hours of this morning. I have read a couple of Krakauer's previous books and had high expectations for this one. Krakauer did not disappoint. It is spectacularly well written and drew me in with the first few pages. Krakauer seems to have two goals for this book: to paint a full and honest portrait of Pat Tillman's life and death and to educate his readers on the background of conflict in Afghanistan. He achieved both of these goals.

If you have an appreciation for Pat Tillman's, or any soldier's for that matter, decision to walk away from normal life and defend freedom - well, this book can only deepen that appreciation. Pat Tillman was often painted by the media as a cowboy-type hero who left the NFL to go fight the enemy after 9/11. That is a one-dimensional view of Mr. Tillman, however, and he was a much more complex man than that. I don't think that Pat Tillman saw his sacrifice (NFL contract and career) as any greater than the sacrifices made by his fellow soldiers who had also left behind families and lives of comparative comfort. Mr. Tillman was a Renaissance man of sorts. Well-read and sensitive, intelligent and respectful of people and ideas, and guided by a personal moral directive to live a good life. He loved his wife and family. He was a remarkable man by all accounts. Krakauer undertakes to show the fullness of Pat Tillman, and he succeeds.

Krakauer must have waded through waist-deep piles of documents in order to discern what actually happened during the firefight that killed Pat Tillman. The Army and the government engaged in a massive cover up to hide the fact that Pat Tillman was killed by "friendly fire." It took extraordinary efforts on the parts of Dannie and Kevin Tillman, Pat's mom and brother to finally get to the truth about what happened. It is shameful what the family was put through following Mr. Tillman's death and I can only imagine that it must have felt like they lost him over and over again.

As for Krakauer's second goal to educate the reader about the history and background of conflict in Afghanistan he hits a homerun on that front as well. Krakauer gives a detailed and highly-nuanced description of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan that reaches back to the Carter administration. He gave me a new understanding of our actions there and why many of them were doomed to fail from their beginning. The U.S. government seems to take a simplistic view of politics in that region and continues to make mistakes that will potentially haunt us for decades to come unless some very dramatic changes are made very quickly.

A great book I would recommend to anyone. Entertaining and educational. Well-written. Many thanks to my brother for the recommendation.

Better Living Through Chemistry?

Okay, I'm back to therapeutic pharmaceuticals for the treatment of my anxiety/depression. In discussing my dismay at this latest turn of events, I tell people that I am frustrated that, even as I am slowly trying to reduce/eliminate the preponderance of chemicals in my home, I am back to introducing chemicals in pill form into my body everyday. I am met with questions like, "Why do you have chemicals in your home?" To which I respond, "Well, don't you?" Don't you have a cabinet full of Fantastik, 409, Comet, and the like? Well, those are full of chemicals. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a few spritzes of soapy water can clean my table and countertops just as well as chemical-and-fragrance-laden commercial cleaners. People are surprised to find that I consider those products to be troubling. It makes me seem nutty and subversive. And yet, to me, it just seems like common sense. I am not advocating poor hygiene. I am only suggesting that when perfectly good, but less toxic, options are available doesn't it just make sense to choose the less toxic option? Especially in a home with children?

We have become so accustomed to re-odorizing everything around us that we are often oblivious to the fragrant assault we are subjected to on a daily basis. At the grocery store, I used to love to walk by the laundry detergent aisle. The scents of Fresh Linen, Spring Rain, and Mountain Mist seemed so lovely and calming. Then, several months ago now, I started making my own laundry soap at home. Shortly thereafter, I began to notice something very different at the grocery store - I can't get away from the laundry detergent aisle quickly enough. My nose itches. The fragrances seem heavy and cloying and sometimes even make my head hurt. When my kids come home from Grandma's, I often have to throw all of their clothes straight into the wash. See, Grandma oh-so-thoughtfully-and-graciously never sends home dirty clothes. I, of course, appreciate this gesture immensely and NEVER EVER complain. In fact, I thank her profusely, just so you know, for her kindness. Unfortunately, the clothing is so heavily fragranced that I just really can't stand it. She doesn't read this, BTW, so my secret is safe.

I'm really not trying to be a weirdo nut-job. I like to have a clean house, and I work hard to that end. I guess we all just have a different idea of what makes us feel satisfied that things are clean. My husband knows the kitchen is clean only when it reeks of lemon-scented Lysol household cleaner. I know other moms who feel the same way when their homes smell of Fantastik or smell bleachy. Personally, I feel like my house is clean when it doesn't smell like much of anything at all. If I want to freshen up the house, I like to open some windows to let fresh air in (weather permitting, of course) instead of spraying Fresh Scent from a can. I guess my post today is kind of a "standing on my soapbox" rant - I don't mean for it to be.

I just don't necessarily buy into everything that Dow Chemical has to say about healthy living. Their goal, after all, is to sell their products. My goal is to provide the safest environment for my family. Remember Agent Orange? Okay, I don't personally remember Agent Orange because I wasn't born yet. BUT, my dad is a Vietnam Veteran and the phrase "Agent Orange" was no stranger in our home. (We also were not allowed to watch Jane Fonda movies, but that's another story. But you can see that I was not raised with my default setting programmed to "Trust the Establishment.") For the uninitiated, Agent Orange is a dioxin-containing herbicide/defoliant that was sprayed pretty indiscriminately on the jungles of Vietnam in order to make it more difficult for the enemy to use the jungle foliage as cover. Unfortunately, this led to high levels of exposures to millions of U.S. troops (and also to Vietnamese civilians), which has led to long-term (still on-going, as a matter of fact) health effects. In fact, exposure to Agent Orange is so destructive that the Veteran's Administration policy imposes no time limits for filing health claims related to the exposure. Which is to say, veterans are STILL developing health problems, cancer, diabetes, and so on, that are presumed to have been caused by exposure to Agent Orange decades ago. So, who made Agent Orange? Among others, Dow Chemical and Monsanto.

You may recognize Dow because their label is probably on most of the commercial cleaning products you have under your sink. And Monsanto is currently hi-jacking agriculture on a global scale with genetically modified organisms that get sold as "food" but ultimately destroy the soil and put small farmers out of business - slowly and systematically diminishing our choices as consumers to purchase anything BUT their products. Do you grow your own food? Where do you get the seeds? Unless you purchase from a reputable supplier who pledges not to sell GMO seeds and sells seeds from open-pollinated plants, well then chances are you bought seeds from a Monsanto subsidiary without even knowing it. Scary stuff.

So, Better Living Through Chemistry, huh? Well, I guess in some ways yes, and in some ways no. It's a line we each have to draw for ourselves and our own families. Where do YOU draw the line?

Book Reviews

Last week I finally read the two books that have been On My Nightstand for months: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. I'm debating moving Animal, Vegetable, Miracle into the Life Changers category because it makes me want so badly to change my life, but it will be baby steps. At least it is baby steps in the right direction :-).

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle chronicles a year in the food life of Barbara Kingsolver's family as they endeavor to eat locally, and, in fact, mostly off of their own land and labor. This is not an undertaking that the Hopp-Kingsolvers took lightly or began on a whim. They planned for a year before beginning and then spent the year continually planning, as well. To eat tomatoes in January means canning tomatoes in August, and lots of them! To eat Tom Turkey for Thanksgiving dinner requires raising chicks in the spring. Kingsolver organizes the book according to the calendar, following their journey through the seasons. They begin by harvesting asparagus and that's how they end their quest, as well. There are portions written by Kingsolver's husband and by her eldest daughter. In addition to describing their personal experiences, Kingsolver educates readers on the history of food in the world and, particularly, how food in America got so screwed up. My favorite thing about this book is that Kingsolver makes it all seem so do-able. At times, she waxes romantic, but she always comes back to the mud-and-blood-stained reality of really feeding her family. I love, love, love this book. I must say, too, that Barbara Kingsolver is, without a doubt, my very most favorite contemporary author and has been since I was 16 or 17 when I was assigned The Bean Trees to read for a high school English class. Thank you, Mrs. Gronberg! Kingsolver has a new novel coming out in November. Woo hoo! If you want to take a peek, or just snag some recipes, check out www.animalvegetablemiracle.com.

And now on to The Last American Man by Elizabeth Gilbert. I really enjoyed this portrait of Eustace Conway. He is a fascinating man trying desperately to wake up Americans to the reality of, well, reality. If you ever feel like a cog in the machine, you will relate to Eustace's message. Eustace would like for us to live REAL lives in harmony with nature. He would like for us to understand the satisfaction of being self-sufficient. And he would like to have a house with huge walk-in closets. Yeah, I know. This guy is full of contradictions, but you just can't help but want to meet him. He lives out in nature on a plot of land he named Turtle Island in the middle of what must be an Appalachian paradise. He walks the walk, people. He is a wounded man, though, and struggles within the confines of close personal relationships, although he longs for closeness probably more than any other thing. I have to say that I do not entirely enjoy Gilbert's writing style. That's not to say that she is a bad writer. In fact, she was very successful with what had to be the most difficult aspect of writing about someone as "larger than life" as Eustace Conway - especially considering that they are friends - she managed to avoid turning Eustace into a caricature. She seems to show all sides of Eustace: the good, the bad, and even the ugly. I would definitely read other books by Gilbert, I am especially interested in Eat Pray Love, before deciding that she's not my kind of writer. I will add, too, that she seems like a chick that you could go have a beer with - that is, there is an earthy sort of real-ness about her that comes through in her writing. I just can't put my finger on what exactly put me off a little in her writing for The Last American Man. You can learn more about Gilbert at www.elizabethgilbert.com.

I just started today on Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer. My brother, who just finished reading it this morning, promises it will be an interesting and educational read, so I'll let you know.