Nonfiction November

Hello Reader,

I haven't posted for awhile because like many dispirited Democrats, 2017 has been one wretched rollercoaster on the national level.  For anyone with a heart or a conscience, watching one side of the country be ravaged by hurricanes and then smelling the smoke coming from the wildfires destroying huge swaths of the North Bay locally, while simultaneously seeing the lack of care, coordination, and concern from the highest levels of government...yes, that's what 2017 has been like on the large level.

All of this is also oddly bewildering considering that for your Bookcharmer, things are going gangbusters.   I've busted out of higher education and have landed in a darling library where there is so much happiness that if I'm dreaming I don't want to be pinched.  More on that another time.  Let's just say I'm more aware and grateful for my blessings and good fortune than ever, ever before.

So let's get down to business.  Today we going to get ready for nonfiction November, and I'll tell you why, and then, as usual, I'm going to shake you down for some cash or signal boosting for some important causes.  Ready?

Nonfiction November.  This comes on the heels of an October instagram challenge, which I mostly finished, called #ShowYourArt2107 that was an activity sponsored by the advocacy group Americans for the Arts to celebrate National Arts and Humanities Month.  I am guilty of keeping my poor little phone so crammed with photos that I can barely squeeze on another in time to keep up with photo challenges, so there is going to have to be some serious downloading/deleting if I'm going to keep up with Nonfiction November. 

What is Nonfiction November?  Well, meet some new internet friends to find out!  Go here:

https://emeraldcitybookreview.com/2017/10/get-ready-for-nonfiction-november.html

here:

http://www.sophisticateddorkiness.com/2017/10/nonfiction-november-week-1-your-year-in-nonfiction/

and maybe even here:

http://www.fcbg.org.uk/national-non-fiction-november/

or perhaps here:

http://writenonfictionnow.com/

Wherever you choose to land, I hope you'll participate and signal boost nonfiction with me in November, because it is clear to me now more than ever that facts, realities, truths, and proofs need elevating and attending. 

I remember reading a column by Steven J. Gould years ago, in Discover magazine I think, where he provided an analogy of Americans' level of science literacy as being like offering someone a chocolate truffle to discover they choose to eat the wrapper instead of the truffle.  And I'm afraid that's more true now than ever before. 

And if you need some inspiration on how studying the very presence of nature in search of understandings still leaves room for awe and joy, let me direct you to one of the all time best videos on the internet, happy scientists on the Nautilus delighted to catch sight of a whale coming by to check out the deep sea rover:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkBpummjR5I

So that's the deep joy side of nature.  Nature does not play however, and all the crap we've dumped in the oceans, all the pollution we've pumped into the air, all of the pavement we've spread all over the earth is coming back to repay us in the form of extreme weather that has creating devastating hurricanes and floods in some parts of the world and drought in others.  Add to that lazy habits in attending to infrastructure, negelected maintenance of power lines, some Santa Ana winds, and just like that, nearly overnight in wine country fire took the lives of at least 42 people and destroyed 8,700 homes and buildings.

So it is a time to get serious and get serious about sharing and supporting and caring and rebuilding and fixing.  Here are some places where you can help:

https://www.gofundme.com/napa-sonoma-fires

http://refb.org/

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/can-help-hurricane-victims-puerto-rico

https://www.gofundme.com/irma

Nonfiction November, let's get started.