all the cool kids read.

Throughout school and college, reading was always a big part of my life. It refueled me. Then I married an extrovert, and book perusing took a back seat to spending time with my family, and that was not being huddled up at home with a good read.

Then came along Tes, and if there was a burner further back than 'the back burner' - my old hobby would have been there. Except, of course, for the old adoption / parenting standbys, which brought me back from more than a few tearful moments.

But I've made an effort to put away the parenting books for awhile, and am trying to ease back into reading for enjoyment to see if it still has the same energizing affect it did for me 10 years ago. I made a promise to myself, no more The Connected Child, or Parenting the Hurt Child, or anything with the words 'parenting', 'child', or 'just lock yourself in the bathroom and plug your ears for 2 minutes, everyone will eventually stop tantruming' anywhere in the title.

I had a whole, well-stocked library system to chose from (yea Minneapolis libraries!) - what did I pick?

28: Stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen

I know, not quite the 'rejuvenator' I was originally thinking. But this book is seriously... altering. As if I needed more fuel to my 'citizen of the world' fire, this work of non-fiction made me want to reach out and hug the author. And, even more-so, the individuals in the book.

It is exactly what I want to say when I try to talk to people about how we, as citizens of a very wealthy and powerful nation, can stand up and truly make a difference to people whose lives you can't even imagine living - but I can never get it to come out right. If this was happening in your backyard, you would be screaming from the tree tops. But, it is. Expand your idea of your backyard, and it is happening.

An excerpt from the prologue :

... Bono launched the Red campaign-a marketing effort that soon had people snapping up iPods and T-shirts from The Gap in support of the Global Fund-and suddenly the crisis was trendy.
And yet the response remains muted. Few people outside Africa seem to understand the scale or the epic gravity of what is happening there. When I talk to people at home about the pandemic, I get the sense that they feel a dying African is somehow different from a dying Canadian, American or German-that Africans have lower expectations or place less value on their lives. That to be an orphaned fifteen-year-old thrust into caring for four bewildered siblings, or a teacher thrown out of her house after she tells her husband she is infected-that somehow this would be less terrifying or strange for a person in Zambia or Mozambique than it would be for someone in the United States or Britain.

28: Stories of AIDS in Africa, by Stephanie Nolen

Yes. Yes. One hundred times yes.

In other words, I recommend this book.
And taking action.

A few personal recommendations, though there is a world of opportunities out there :
http://www.ahopeforchildren.org/
http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/
http://www.kiva.org/


Oh - and I really did enjoy getting back into reading. Actively seeking the next text!

Peace.

"Be the change you want to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi