Diverse Books For Open Minds

Posted on June 9, 2024 by moonbridgebooks

I promote life writing to save history and culture and to open people’s minds to different experiences and perspectives. When you only know your own little life, your own little area of living, your world is very small, and it’s easy to be afraid of or downright mean to others who are different from you. Look around and it’s not hard to see the world is full of the nastiness from small minds that don’t know or don’t want to know the stories of others. We can learn empathy and understanding to help us get along better. “Before you judge someone, walk a mile in their shoes.”

A big reason I published my mother’s memoir, Cherry Blossoms in Twilight, was because almost no one outside of Japan knew about civilian life in wartime Japan. Many, if not most, of the children of the survivors did not know the stories of their parents. I also published the book to show the humanity of the people just trying to stay alive – an ever pertinent story.

I was made aware of a website called Diverse Book Blogs. Hopefully you’ll be interested in checking out some of them. Many feature children’s books, showing kids there’s a big, wide world out there to learn about. Diverse books also help kids and adults who are not the majority peoples see that they are not alone and that people similar to them can be a part of stories, too. We should all feel a part of this world and we should learn with open minds about each other.

Peace, love, and understanding to all.

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Lessons from Kristy Noem’s Memoir – On Lifewriting

Posted on May 19, 2024 by moonbridgebooks

Do you HAVE to put everything in your memoir? NO! In a nutshell, that’s the lesson from Kristy Noem’s memoir where she tells about shooting her young dog, plus a goat. Yes, farmers and other ruralites have dispatched unwanted, elder, or infirm animals, even pets, by shooting them. I have rural family history so I know about this. A bullet costs much less than a visit to the vet, no need to travel. (My current rural family would never think of shooting their own pets or the strays people dump their way.)

Many dogs like to chase down little animals (squirrels, rabbits, and yes, chickens), and that doesn’t mean you kill the dog. And if you try to take the “prey” away and/or the dog is overexcited by it, the dog might bite at you—be careful! One daughter has worked with coonhound rescue where volunteer private pilots fly these southern “misfit” dogs north to good homes—so hunters DON’T normally shoot dogs that aren’t good field companions. And you certainly don’t publicize the killing—really crass.

I won’t be reading the book, but Kristy Noem mentioned her dog killing to show she was a farmgirl who could make tough decisions, probably thinking her rural constituents would be impressed. As it turns out, people of all stripes were appalled, because rural conservatives love dogs, too. She must have really thought this shooting would appeal to “her people” and did not use any or enough beta readers (test readers). Seems like she shot her own self in the foot.

When you write your life stories, you judiciously pick and choose what’s important to tell. What belongs, what is the reason to include it. Think twice when including details that might be controversial or otherwise turn people off. Why did you or someone else do this? Back in the day, or in certain cultures, doing this “thing” was normal? (Think spanking, working the fields at age 5, or treating “those people” badly.) Maybe you were really stressed and not thinking straight? Mostly, is it THAT important to put it in your book? Some unpleasant actions or behavior really might be important to tell, but there are ways to gently explain, unless, of course, you WANT people to not like you.

Kristy Noem wrote to get votes. Her “hard decisions,” though, seem more like killing in anger or disgust. She could have chosen a less distasteful story to show she was tough or told the stories with a wee bit of heart or left them out so she wouldn’t come across as a vengeance killer of “man’s best friend” or of a billy goat just acting like the adult male goat it was (just neuter it!). And don’t throw in shooting your old pet horses to the mix! While her actions were of truth and culture, Noem was clueless in Wyoming.

PS: And blaming a ghost writer for including something you said and that YOU have the final say about including is so wrong.

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Mother’s Day Stories – Happy, Sad, Bad

Posted on May 12, 2024 by moonbridgebooks

Every Mother’s Day most of us celebrate our moms or remember our moms with fondness. Social media is full of us assuming everyone’s mom is or was great. Happy Mother’s Day! Now that I know better, I think of the people who are sad on Mother’s Day. There are mothers that abandoned, neglected, or abused their kids physically and/or emotionally. Not all mothers should have been mothers. Same with fathers. If we’re lucky we’ve had good-hearted mothers, mothers who tried their best even when they weren’t the best. Mothers may have hurt us, but we may love them anyway.

When I write my own family members’ stories or help others write theirs, I always ask about their parents and grandparents. What were they like? Good and not so good, because no one is perfect. We actually relate better to the imperfect! Sometimes we can laugh. Sometimes their actions were just the way things were in those days, and that needs to be said as a matter of explanation to us in “modern” times who might look askance. If a parent or grandparent behaved badly, what do you suppose was the reason—likely they were affected by their own past, their own parents. And THAT is why I like people to know the stories of their parents and grandparents. Their early experiences helped form who they became, and in turn affected how they raised their children. Asking for their stories helps us understand them, and this understanding can help us have better relationships. Writing my mother’s memoir with her helped me to love her better.

I hope you’ve had a loving mother who did her best, whatever that is for her, and I hope you honor her life by asking for her stories. But I leave you to have a thought for those who have/had painful relationships, and those who are missing their mothers, for the mothers whose children have abandoned them or mistreat them, and for the mothers who have lost a child. On Mother’s Day, some people really need love and hugs.

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