Al Franken: Giant of the Senate
This account of Al Franken's time campaigning for, and eventually becoming, a United States Senator from Minnesota was fascinating and oddly inspiring.
I started out many years ago as a political activist, and I headed to college at Detroit's Wayne State University with the idea that I would major in Political Science and aim for a career in political campaign management.
Time has a way of changing your idealist conceptions about your chosen career and early ideals.
I met Tim somewhere along the way...he ran (and lost) for State Representative...with me as his campaign manager in what was always seen as a seat that was not a winning proposition for a changer at that time...but our original enthusiasm and dedication turned to disgust as we saw the field become a sharply divided field where "the other side" became dreaded enemies and horrible people in the eyes of "our side".
We always enjoyed campaigns and jawing with folks we really considered as friends, in spite of any political differences we might have had.
But...when politics became a hateful and adversarial thing where you became suspect even if you said "hello" to a neighbor who held different political views than you...it was time to get out.
I found a lot of Franken's book engaging, and even inspiring, in expressing his obvious love for politics and his job in representing his constituents in Minnesota.
Franken did not have a smooth ride to the Senate. His background as a comedian led many to immediately discount him, his abilities, his seriousness and his sincerely. His initial race was a real "nail-biter". It was one of the closest races in history, and a re-count dragged on for months before he finally officially took a seat as a Senator.
Franken seems to have won over many of his doubters and handily won his re-election campaign for Senator in 2016.
He has a lot of misgivings about the future ahead in a really sharply divided political system...but he also has a lot of hope about working with his colleagues and love for the people he represents.
This one is definitely worth reading for the secret political wonk, for those who miss seeing Franken's humor on bold display and for those who wish we could all be civil again in politics.
The Other Alcott
This novel is a deft imagining of the story of the youngest sister of Louisa May Alcott, whose real-life adventures were just a tiny part of the canvas that made up the older Louisa's classic story of Little Women.
I knew just a hint of the real-life back-story of Louisa May Alcott's younger sister "Amy", the real-life Louisa's prickly personality (imagined as "Jo" in the classic "Little Women" books), and the sisters' father's stubborn clinging to his precious principles of transcendentalism even as the family faced pressing poverty and the women in the family tried to keep them all afloat with their own work during an era of a definite restriction of rights and opportunities for women.
This novel is a debut effort by author Elise Hooper that takes the little-known story of Louisa's younger sister as a background for a fascinating story about a young woman finding her way out from under the shadow of her sister, the famous author, through the tough and competitive art world to find success and happiness in her own life.
May Alcott's story was already compelling and interesting, especially as it was set against the backdrop of Europe with events like the Siege of Paris in the early 1870s and the rise of the rebellious Impressionists and their re-making of the art world at the time.
Cooper's book references to other real-life figures like the sister's father Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson and artist Mary Cassatt who really did played some sort of real-life roles in the real-life stories of the Alcott sisters' lives.
Having read Louisa's books, starting during my own childhood and continuing through the present-day and having much admired the Impressionists throughout my own interest in art and painting, I found "The Other Alcott" fascinating.
Hooper's novel echoed some of my own long-held feelings about the Alcotts and their family situation, but the story added to my understanding and enjoyment of the life stories of the youngest Alcott sister.
"Amy" became a real and admirable figure for me that went well beyond her imagined role as the youngest sister of the famous family.
Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge
Bridge enthusiasts know the Roebling name, with many mistakenly entirely crediting John Roebling with designing and engineering this beautiful span and many others to the early 19th century engineer.
Those of us in the Midwest know about the beautiful Roebling bridge spanning the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. It was the Ohio/Kentucky span that first captured my attention and much of my fascination with bridges and led me to read David McCullough's book about the Brooklyn Bridge several years ago, so seeing Wagner's newly published take on the bridge and its background made it a must-read for me.
I did understand that John A. Roebling initially designed the bridge at Cincinnati, and that bridge bears his name, but I also knew a bit about the important work Washington Roebling did during the decade-plus construction projects involved with both seeing the John A. Roebling and Brooklyn Bridges to completion.
Wagner's book represents an even deeper look at the Roebling family and the complicated bond that led them to create and build such lasting monuments to their work during the late 19th and very early 20th centuries.
John A. Roebling died well before the completion of either span, and his brilliance and reputation worked to overpower the achievements of the rest of his family.
Wagner's does no real favors to the elder Roebling's reputation when it came to being the family patriarch, though.
She delves into the truth of his unyielding and abusive personality, so beware if you are not ready to see the story of the family warts and all.
Especially interesting to me was the largely unsung, and essential, role Emily, Washington Roebling's wife, played in the completion of the bridge at Brooklyn throughout her husband's prolonged illnesses brought about by his work on the bridge. This was at a time when women usually did not become as involved with such complex work, especially as an untrained engineer.
Like McCullough's book that I read nearly a decade ago, Wagner's book is a technical look at the technology, society and politics of the time. It benefits from newer research into the bridge and the Roebling family, but do be prepared to sometimes learn more than the casual reader might like to know about the history of the people behind the story.
Who Built That? :Bridges
This is a kid's book, but offers an easy way to look at some of the most notable spans in the world and the people who built them.
It includes a short chapter about the Brooklyn Bridge and the part that John Roebling, Washington Roebling and Emily Warren Roebling played in the design, building and seeing the bridge to completion.
The book features ten well-known spans with easy to understand-explanations and illustrations showing some of the technical construction methods used to create these spans.
Fun look at the subject that does not seem to talk down to younger readers that might be interested in architecture or building as a possible career choice.
Foo Fighters: Learning to Fly
Most folks seem to most readily associate Dave Grohl with the Seattle rock scene and as a member of Nirvana, and some long-time fans remember him as coming out of the Washington DC area and Virginia, where he grew up after moving there as a child with his then-single mother...but some Midwest fans take it as a point of pride that Grohl actually was born in Warren, Ohio!
I've read about Dave Grohl Alley there in Warren where they honor him with a display of the "world's largest drumsticks"! This is a place that has long been on my "Midwest bucket list" as a destination!
The story of the Alley and its transformation into a tribute to a rock star whose Ohio roots are unknown to many people even in Warren itself is interesting.
Author Nick Wall does a decent job of covering Dave's life after he left Ohio, started his professional life as a musician in Virginia, went on to become a member of Nirvana and what happened after to unfortunate suicide of Nirvana's Kurt Cobain.
The biography captures a lot of Dave's frank way of expressing himself and gives readers a good look at how Grohl was able to re-create his life as a musician after unspeakable tragedy.
