The Curious Autodidact

October 17, 2017

Prisons Elsewhere

Filed under: book related,prison reform,social justice,women heroes — Honilima @ 5:06 pm

Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World

Baz Dreisinger works at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, Where she is the Academic Director of the Prison-to-College Pipeline program, offering college courses and reentry planning to incarcerated men throughout New York State.

You don’t have to read very far into the book to realize what a gutsy woman she is and how brave she is to reach out to learn and grow.

Dr. Dreisinger has alot to say about the bizarre way people are treated in our prison system, after visiting prisons in different places around world and learning how differently people are treated and how they are released back into the community.

This book will open your eyes to other options and bring new light to the word “isolation.” I loved reading about the prison in Africa that powers 70% of their prison using human waste, and the system where prisoners are taught a trade and given jobs so their chances of success upon release are more assured.

Our way is certainly not the only way and this book helps us to learn from the successes in other countries how better to look at criminal justice with new eyes.

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August 20, 2017

Love in Action

Filed under: book related,Word Related — Honilima @ 1:05 pm

Love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams. Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all. Men will give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labor and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science.

Fyodor Dostoevsky , The Brothers Karamazov

August 1, 2017

Modern Death: a Listen and a Read

Filed under: book related,end of life,Word Related — Honilima @ 2:47 pm

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Dr Haider Warraich is interviewed by Terry Gross about how ignorant we are about the modern ways of dying and the great toll this lack of experience costs our culture daily in so many ways.

How much is too much CPR?  What age is CPR not recommended because a patient will have no quality of life afterwards? How do doctor’s cope with the various wishes of patients in crisis situations? How can we as a culture be more aware of death as a fact of life and the great cost of hope that is not matched my realism?

This is a terrific interview and may take you to an independent bookstore to buy his book.

A great listen with family and friends to elicit a profound discussion about end of life care and your wishes for just the end you most hope to have.

 

July 12, 2017

Nature Fix on KUER

Doug Fabrizio out of Salt Lake City’s NPR stations does a great job interviewing authors and his interview with the author of Nature Fix is no exception. Florence Williams discusses the healing power of nature and our lack of connection that is altering the world in profound ways. Listen and learn, or listen outside for an even better experience. This is a program you are

Image result for google images "nature fix"

June 12, 2017

Alain de Botton with Krista Tippett

Filed under: book related,women heroes,Word Related — Honilima @ 1:53 pm

 

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Krista Tippett is a national treasure. Her show On Being features some of the best contemporary thinkers and writers and airs on over 400 public radio station and online internationally. Listeners will love her show and her approach to interviewing, and perhaps one of her books, the latest is called Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living.

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Here she is interviewing Alain de Botton on the topic of love and relationships. His article entitled “Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person” was the most-read article in The New York Times in 2016 shocking him and his editors alike.

June 1, 2017

Reading & a Better Life

Filed under: book related,women heroes,Word Related — Honilima @ 12:57 pm

Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.

Karin Slaughter, novelist (b. 6 Jan 1971)

April 24, 2017

Marketing in 2017

Filed under: book related,cool internet stuff,media related — Honilima @ 2:56 pm

Image result for google images "Seth godin"

 

I heard this short piece on Fresh Air and it was at once spooky and fascinating. Terry Gross interviewed Joseph Turow the author of The Aisles Have Eyes.  Ever wonder when you download a free app where what information is collected and where it goes? Turow explains how the information is used and sold and what you agree to when you mindlessly click okay to the permissions. He also tells of some really clever ways that pricing can be changed, people are lured into buying things, and people outsmart the various companies formulas. It’s a fascinating listen and may make Terry Gross re-think her relationship with her frequent shopper’s card, at her favorite neighborhood drug store.

Seth Godin is also an interesting listen on Debbie Millman’s Design Matters, he is a wizard of marketing and a great story teller. He has many books and is featured in many internet videos for his expertise.

Both these are a look into a world many of us may not think about but these two men certainly are the wizards.

 

March 25, 2017

Axe Files: Rising Star Kamala Harris

Filed under: book related,social justice,women heroes — Honilima @ 1:32 pm

If you want to hear some intelligent discussion tune into Kamala Harris talking with David Axelrod on the Axe Files.  She is highly driven and intelligent and will give you hope in troubling political times.

The Axe Files is a podcast out of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and has had some fabulous guests. If you enjoy the Harris episode take time to listen to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on episode #126.  Girl Power!

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March 20, 2017

How Broken is our Mental Health System?

Filed under: book related,social justice — Honilima @ 8:48 pm

While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man's Descent into Madness

The brutality that took place on a summer night in Seattle’s South Park neighborhood is a horrific incident no one will soon forget. Stranger writer and Seattle native, Eli Sanders, won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the story and resulting trial and crafted his work into this amazing book While the City Slept.

Certainly, it is the story of a crime but more it is the story of the broken mental health system, in Seattle’s King County, and in the wider country. Sanders has incredible respect for the surviving partner which is handled with nothing short of grace. He also carefully dissects the steps the perpetrator went through, on his journey into brutal madness, and into the criminal justice system. If there is finger pointing it is a system that allowed this man to go improperly treated and monitored.

The book is so well-crafted and so compelling written you will want to read it in but a few sittings.

The bravery of the courtroom testimony, about the crime, and the compassion to see that this young man barely had a chance, from his humble beginnings ,will move readers way after the book is closed.

Read it and realize we have a mental health crisis in our country that spawns neglect, horrific crimes, drug abuse, and prisons bursting at the seams. Read the book and work for mental health parity and more resources to help those who suffer most among us.

“Inspiring . . . From a harrowing crime, it draws powerful lessons for our mental health and criminal justice systems that can’t be ignored.”

Sister Helen Prejean, bestselling author of Dead Man Walking

 

February 20, 2017

Krista Tippett: A Gem

 

Krista Tippett is a National Treasure. She lived in Germany and was a foreign correspondent for the NYT. She went to divinity school and has become an expert in creating spaces for civil conversations in a time of too little of this.

She hosts a show called “On Being” that books fascinating guests. She was the recipient of the  National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2014, and has won a Peabody Award. I am surprised more people aren’t aware of her work and her great show.

She most recently is the author of Becoming Wise: An Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living which she has issued a great discussion guide for each chapter to encourage people to share their thoughts about the book.  She explores the materials for a meaningful life:

Words — The language we use to tell stories to ourselves and others;
Body — “The body is where every virtue lives or dies”;
Love — More than something we fall into or out of, love is “the only aspiration big enough for the immensity of the human community.”;
Faith — “Literal reality is not all there is.”;
Hope — Hope has nothing to do with optimism or wishing, rather it reflects reality and reveres truth. Hope is a habit.

She has also written Einstein’s God: Conversations About Science and the Human Spirit and Speaking of Faith: Why Religion Matters—and How to Talk About It. 

Her interview style is intelligent and almost always enlightening. She features guests you are familiar with a some that you will not be. Also interesting is the fact that she releases the one-hour edited show and also the raw version.

Some of my favorites of her podcast include Rep. John Lewis, Pico Iyer, Parker Palmer with Courtney Martin, David Isay, Maria Popova, Ruby Sales, Mary Karr, Gordon Hempton, Isabel Wilkerson, Jimmy Wales, and Pauline Boss.

Here Krista is interviewed by the talented Debbie Millman.

 

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