“But there are also autumn smells and autumn tastes,” Jack said.
    .    .    .
    Warm, soothing cinnamon.
    Spicy, sweet nutmeg.
    Peppery, fierce ginger . . .
                                               from Pumpkin Spice
                                                       by Arie Kaplan
                                        illustrated by Monique Dong
                                            Grosset & Dunlap, 2025

    Seems like everywhere and everyone is surrounding us with pumpkin spice. From Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks to Dairy Queen's new Pumpkin Pie Blizzard, we can inundate ourselves from our breakfast jolt of caffeine to a scrumptious dessert after dinner. (Or a midnight snack, anyone?)
    My pumpkin muffin fiasco as a "baked good" entry in our County Fair (see last week's post) is perfect this time of year, especially with its cream cheese frosting. The recipe is old. I adapted it from a friend who gave it to me about 50 years ago, and I’m sure it wasn’t new then. They’re delicious, and the only spice in them is cinnamon! Cinnamon goes especially well in dessert recipes. It blends well with other spices, too. But spicing up our coffee and dessert is cinnamon’s recent cup of tea, so to speak. 
    It is derived from the interior bark of a cinnamon tree, also called the kurundu tree, a native of Sri Lanka, a country with an interesting history of its own. From 1815 to 1948, Sri Lanka fell under British rule and was known as Ceylon, a corruption (or Anglicized form) of its ancient name used in the 6th century BCE, Sihalam.. British rule ended in 1948, but the name Ceylon remained until Queen Elizabeth II was no longer its political head. The newly-independent country became Sri Lanka. The prefix Sri translates to the English word resplendent. The word Lanka is as old as the ancient story of a kidnapped princess, Sita and her rescue. The word Lanka simply means island. 
    As early as 2000 BCE, merchants traveled the Spice Routes to acquire and exchange cinnamon from Sri Lanka. The primary reason for embarking on these treacherous journeys was the economic advantages of trade. Cinnamon was more valuable than gold. By the 16th century, it was the most profitable spice the Dutch East India Company traded (TimesNowNews). Other spices were traded, too, but none could compare economically with cinnamon.
    Traveling and stopping at ports along the Spice Routes also encouraged the trade of ideas, languages, and artistic and scientific skills.
    Besides its interesting history and economic value, cinnamon has many medical uses, both ancient and modern. Ancient Egyptians used cinnamon oil in their mummification process. Cinnamic acid is an antibacterial. 
    It is important to do your own research and consult with your medical professionals, but according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “[c]innamon is one of the most important spices used daily by people all over the world.” The NIH continues, “[i]n addition to being an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, anticancer, lipid-lowering, and cardiovascular-disease-lowering compound, cinnamon has also been reported to have activities against neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.”
    Cinnamon can interact with prescription medicine, so be cautious. More than one teaspoon can be harmful, but a dash on a bowl of oatmeal, a cup of Celestial Seasonings’ “Bengal Spice Tea,” or a pumpkin muffin (or two) might be just the thing on a brisk Fall day.
    Pumpkin Spice is also called Pumpkin Pie Spice. You might already have a jar in your cupboard, but here’s an easy recipe from allrecipes.com that only takes 5 minutes.
    
    HOME-MADE PUMPKIN SPICE
    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
    1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
    1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

    Mix all ingredients in a small bowl.
    Store in a small, airtight container in a cool, dark place. Properly stored, pumpkin spice will last up to three years.
    
    In case you want to try those delicious pumpkin muffins, here’s that recipe, too.

SHARI’S PUMPKIN MUFFINS (adapted from Kathy’s family's Pumpkin Cake Recipe)
4 eggs
1/2 Cup salad oil 
1/2 Cup unsweetened apple sauce
2 Cups sugar
2 Cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 16-ounce can solid pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix or filling)
1 Cup chopped pecans
    Mix all ingredients then beat with mixer until well blended. Ladle evenly into 24 muffin cups. Bake at 350º F for 40-45 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean)
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING 
1 stick butter
1 8-ounce package cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Cup chopped pecans
1 lb confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
    Mix well.
    NOTE: 1/2 recipe frosts 2 dozen muffins.
    NOTE: Muffins and frosting freeze well.
    
    In One Magic Jar by Corey Ann Haydu (Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins, 2021), Rose Alice Anders is called “Little Luck” by her father, famous for his exceptional magic-collecting ability. When Rose manages to collect only one jar of magic on Collection Day, she falls out of her father’s favor, but learns to distinguish what is real, what is magic, and the importance of friends and family. An author’s note includes information and resources about Domestic Violence.
                       -—Be curious! (and use common scents--like cinnamon)

I’m the same girl and not the same...Folks keep growing from one person into another all their lives, and life is just a lot of everyday adventures. Well, whatever life is, I like it.
                                          from Caddie Woodlawn 
                                   written by Carol Ryrie Brink
                              illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
                                                  Macmillan, [1973]
                           originally published by Macmillan, 1935
                                   Newbery Award Winner, 1936

    Every year since 1846 (except 2020 when it was closed for COVID-19), our county holds its Fair for a long (6-day) Labor Day weekend, and our little city is host.
    While I acknowledge all the people in our USA (including my husband and me) who work hard to produce, serve, and entertain, and even though I'm working and I've asked others to work, too, my focus is on the labor, not the day off.
     Since we live so close to the Fairgrounds, we use our lawn for private parking. Each year, we hire several kids to help. For most of them, it’s their first job.
    But the Fair is not all work and no play for my husband and me. If our very grown-up kids come in with our growing grandchildren, we can get away for a little while to experience the sights, sounds, and smells for ourselves. (Although the barn smells and cooking smells waft over when the wind blows just right!)
    Like all county fairs, ours shows all kinds of farm animals. I could stand in the rooster building all day (if I didn’t have anything else to do) and just listen. A crowing rooster has such a unique sound and a unique message. Wake up! Literally and figuratively is a command I need to hear daily.
    Farm equipment, large and small, is on display. Tractors whose tires stand taller than I do, perform all kinds of work from tilling a field to harvesting it. 
    And produce. A whole building is filled with apples. Corn, hay, and local honey fill another. Pumpkins and gourds are arranged like art. 
    Flowers, photography, and fine art are yours for the viewing.
    But the Fair is interactive, too. You can dress a cow and milk one. You can judge the rooster crowing contest. 
    You can enter handmade anything from brownies and jam to hand-knit afghans and sweaters and freshly carded wool. From ceramics and pottery to quilts, photographs, and fine art. All are judged for ribbons and recognition.
    Dress a gourd in the year’s theme. You could walk away with a ribbon there, too.
    One year, I entered my pumpkin muffins. It was the cream cheese frosting, I realized years later, that disqualified them. It does not hold up very well in 80+ degree weather in a hot building for six days.
    I have a competitive streak and a desire to prove that I can bake, even though some people say I’m not a very good cook. After the pumpkin muffin fiasco, I was determined to do everything correctly and bring home a beautiful blue ribbon. I decided to enter my challah recipe. It’s an egg-based, braided yeast bread that’s served each Sabbath in traditional Jewish homes.
    My recipe book says it’s a prize-winning challah, and with one more week to go, the braid needed more practice than the recipe. But, ribbon or not, I would end up with a freezer full of delicious challah. I’d call that a win!
    On the first day of the Fair, I went by myself to look for that big, blue ribbon sitting on my golden challah that reminds me of my gram’s silver old-lady-braid and my own chestnut young-girl-braid. I did not find that blue ribbon, but I was pretty ecstatic to find a smallish, shimmery, white honorable mention ribbon adorning my loaf.
    You can play games on the midway, too, and bring home a giant stuffie or a live goldfish (or not). You can eat your way from one end of its 353 acres to the other. Anything that can be fried and/or stuck on a stick will probably be for sale.
    Entertainment has included The Lennon Sisters in 1956, and each year since 1968, the Fair has been host to a diversity of acts including Bob Hope, The Monkees, Weird Al, and the Pentatonics. This year, besides the Tractor Pull and the Demolition Derby, Brad Paisley is coming, and so is Lynyrd Skynyrd. If the loudspeakers are aimed correctly and the wind cooperates and I’m standing (or sitting) in the right place, I’ll hear some of it.
    And that’s not even the best part.
    Each year, my husband and I hire several smart, creative, and high-energy teenagers. This year was no different. They mostly reported for work on time, stayed focused, and worked well together. 
    I hope they also learned responsibility, time management, and self-respect. I know they had fun. I did, too!
    I have every confidence that the world will be in good hands when these kids are in charge.
    I hope your Labor Day is the start of a great and productive week!
    No book this week, too busy with grandkids, cars, and the first phase of cleanup, but my next one is One Jar of Magic by Corey Ann Haydu (Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollinsPublishers, 2021).

                                 -—Be curious! (and productive)

Today, Tay will go to chess club.
He puts his board and pieces in his bag.
He packs his clock.
Tay is ready…
                            from Tay: Tay Goes to Chess Club
                                         written by Phelicia Lang
                                      illustrated by Samanta Veliz
                                 Me on the Page Publishing, 2019

    Dad was a planner. He taught my sister and brother and me to play chess. It was a good way, he told us, to learn strategy, how to plan ahead. 
    I understood the game, as well as my ten-year-old self could, anyway. I studied how each piece moved around the board to guard his king. They were all men, even the queen. All the knights were men, and so were the pawns. No one even talked about the horses.
    That didn’t bother me. It felt like the generic guys, like in Hey! you guys! and I never gave it a thought until now. Let’s save all that for a different day.
    For now, I’ll introduce you to a much different ten-year-old, Bodhana Sivanandan, an extraordinary chess prodigy. She won against a 60-year-old grandmaster in Liverpool, England, on August 10, 2025.
    What else was an almost six-year-old to do during the COVID-19 lockdown in London, whose parents gave her a new chess set? And just 15 months after learning the game, she was described as “exceptional.” 
    Two years after that, the eight-year-old Bodhana said, “I love to play chess because it helps me to recognise patterns, focus my attention and is helping me to learn how to strategise and calculate moves in advance. Also, I like the way the chess pieces move on the board, especially the knight.”
    She learned to play on her new chess set by watching YouTube videos. Of course, she did! She likes to play against really good players. “[I learn] from what they are doing,” she said in a quote on GMA (Good Morning America, 8/15/25).
    In 2023, she defeated Peter Lee, 81-year-old FIDE Master. FIDE is the French acronym for the International Chess Federation, founded in 1924, and serves as the governing agency for chess competitions worldwide.
    And she’s been winning chess tournaments ever since. Her recent win makes her the youngest female chess player in history to win against a grandmaster. Malcolm Pein, himself an international master, predicts that Bodahana will become a grandmaster one day.
    Lest she thinks she’s special, Bodhana joins the ranks of several other child prodigy chess players. In 2023, eight-year-old Ashwath Kaushik defeated 37-year-old Jacek Stopa in Switzerland. To find others, click on ChessKid.com. 
    Besides playing chess, her mom calls her a “normal” kid. Her other interests include piano, violin, and soccer. She’s also considering becoming the Prime Minister or maybe a doctor one day. “We just encourage her to go forward with her dreams,” said her mom on the GMA interview.
    I changed my opinion of chess as I grew up. Besides objecting to all the “men,” games of war did not interest me. I viewed killing, pretty much anything, and still do, as something morally wrong. Chess, with all its war strategy, did not interest me anymore. Then I looked into what people gain when they play chess, and found some interesting reasons to reconsider. 
    Here are my favorites from Healthline.com and TheChessJournal.com.

• By anticipating an opponent’s moves, we widen our perspective. We become more able to “put ourselves in someone else’s shoes.”
• Playing chess improves our memory, both visual and auditory. Excelling at the game involves memorizing and predicting complicated patterns of moves.
• The activity of theta waves increases when we enter a flow state, the deep involvement we experience when we’re totally absorbed in the “task at hand,” whether it be athletic, artistic, or chess. In a flow state, we are most receptive to insight, imagination, and creativity.
• We build our planning skills during those long periods of silent concentration when we anticipate the consequences of our actions.
• Regular chess playing can increase our ability to focus on a task. 
• We practice patience when we postpone a decisive move in anticipation of a more advantageous move or wait for our opponent to move. 
• Related to growing our ability to be patient, we learn the importance of making sacrifices. We may choose to lose something now to receive something better in the future.
• We develop both halves of our brain when we play chess. Studies have shown that top chess players combine visual processing with analytical reasoning to reach decisions faster.

    Could the game not be about war? Probably not. Can I get over the idea of chess being about killing? Probably. After all, it’s just a game. And a very good one, at that.
    Thanks, Dad!

I just finished reading Uncommon Measure by Natalie Hodges (Bellevue Literary Press, 2022). It’s the memoir of a young Korean American violinist who, after experiencing performance anxiety, decides to turn her creative gifts into an exploration of the human perception of music: how it relates to time, neuroscience, and quantum physics. And it’s surprisingly readable. Recommended.
            -—Be curious! (and play hard, but work hard, too) 

    “Hey kids,” said Thomas B.m“Who wants to check in a book?” 
    Everyone took a turn with the book scanner--beep! beep! beep!
                     from Amelia Bedelia’s First Library Card
                      written and illustrated by Herman Parish
                                        Greenwillow Books, 2013

    “Children's book author Herman Parish is the nephew of Peggy Parish, the creator of the beloved Amelia Bedelia series. After his aunt died in 1988, he decided to continue Amelia's adventures himself and has since published more than a dozen stories featuring the comical housekeeper. Parish is a popular speaker in libraries and schools throughout the United States.” (Bowker Author Biography)
    Herman began a series, Young Amelia Bedelia, starring Amelia Bedelia as a young girl, which is where I found today’s quote.
    When I was a “newish” children’s librarian, our Children’s Department Supervisor thought it would be great fun to take Amelia Bedelia on the road during our Summer Reading Program. She was right! We brought Amelia Bedelia to life, performing hilarious original scripts she wrote based on Peggy Parish’s books.
    We visited lots of libraries in our county system, but never found a more ardent fan than Diane Varady, our Head Clerk at the Poland Branch. She and I worked together there for almost half of her 45-year career. 
    But this post is not about Herman or Peggy Parish. It is not about Amelia Bedelia or our Children’s Services Supervisor, or even about the library. All those things that I loved and still do.            
    This one is for Diane. Her humor, dedication, and her own love of our library were part of everything she did and everything I love about her.. 
    I had a 25-minute drive to work that I convinced myself only took 20. I was not the first to arrive, ever, but Diane always greeted me with a smile. New staff came to our branch, some left. Most stayed a long time, but Diane was a constant. She was Head Clerk when I arrived and Head Clerk when I retired. I worked in different branches, but for my whole 20+ years, Diane was a fixture at the Poland Library, old and new. 
    She knew everyone who came in. She knew the kids, the parents, and the babysitters who brought them for storytime. All three sections of storytime each week were the highlight of my job. I could not have been as successful as I was without Diane.
    She and the rest of the clerical staff readied crafts from my “prototypes.” How many railcars, balloons, apples, butterflies, construction-paper strips for a chain that circled the interior of the library three times, sneakers, paper plate face puppets? Once, for Halloween, I gave her a skeleton. The kids glued many small, white pieces onto a dark background. I know I did not give her all 206 bones, but there were A LOT. I apologized, but she just laughed. All in a day’s work.
    And the clown noses for the Summer Reading circus theme.
    And the error-less and seemingly endless typing. And filing. 
    Diane was the county’s best shelf-shifter. After I finished weeding a Dewey section, the remaining books needed to be moved so that the shelves stayed in order, but also so each shelf had about the same number of books. She was accurate and fast! We worked like a machine!
    And the story ideas.
    And the cow books.
    Diane was a cow aficionado! She loved cows. The books about them, especially the funny picture books. The songs about them. Their swishy tails and their deep, lowing moos. Diane was famous for many things in our library, but everyone loved her nails. She had them done professionally. They were seasonal. They were exceptional. There were cows during the Canfield Fair!
    It was one of the ways she expressed herself. 
    All the lunches. Bellaria, Bruno’s, House of China. All the laughs! 
    The Margarita party at my house to celebrate my remodeled kitchen. The whole staff came. I burned up my blender, crushing ice for the margaritas. 
    Working closely with the same people for 20 or so years, we got to know each other, as well as maybe we could know anyone.
    Diane knew her job. She kept our branch in Dewey order. Even the picture books. Especially the picture books. 
    Her flair with the public.
    Her kindness to her friends and associates.
    Her love of her family.
    In a word, Diane was fun. Not the loud, outrageous, laughing-all-the-time kind of fun. Hers was gentle, kind, empathetic, and spontaneous. 
    Diane will be missed by every life she touched. Mine included!

I'm reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett. (Amy Einhorn Books/G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2009.) A young journalist in 1960s Mississippi secretly interviews the maids of her best friends for a book about race relations, class differences, and the infancy of the women’s rights movement. The takeaway for me is the similarities among people, our complicated love for our family, our need for each other, and the importance of self-respect. (The movie is also worth your time.)
                           RIP Diane, my friend.
                    Be curious! (and live your best, precious life)

… looking around, they worried their nest
needed more stuff to make it the best.

And so when one of them stayed behind,
the other flew off to go and find
the extra things that they agreed 
their chicks were really going to need. 
                                           from Too Much Stuff
                         written and illustrated by Emily Gravitt
          Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021

    Sometimes it’s hard to let go of all those articles I told myself I needed to read. They languished in my email inbox until I put them in an email folder. Then they languished some more. They seemed so interesting, important, clever, necessary…at the time.
    Sometimes it’s hard to tell the good stuff from the junk. How about the sweater I knew would go just right with the slacks I never wore because nothing looked just right with them. Both should have gone into the donation bag, but like my papers, they languish. 
    Glass jars to hold leftovers and freeze tomatoes? Yes, I use them, but I have a lot of extras.
    Or all the stuffs that are clearly not family heirlooms, but decorate my house just like they did Mom’s. 
    Books fill my bookcases. Most of them I have read, many I have not, but intend to. Some just have beautiful covers or clever titles. They languish, too.
    My dad was a philatelist. He collected stamps. They all went in albums designed for just that purpose. Some went into tiny glassine envelopes sorted by issuing country, denomination, and date. He also collected a couple of philately journals and newsletters, I suppose in case he needed to look something up. Mom called him the pilot, but really the pile-it. He piled it here and piled it there.
    My brother is a little like that. I guess I am, too. We keep stuff. But we are not horders.
    According to the Mayo Clinic, “[h]oarding disorder is an ongoing difficulty throwing away or parting with possessions because you believe that you need to save them.” Hoarded items may be potentially useful. They may stroke a sentimental nerve. Or they might be worth something. 
    Hoarding behavior becomes a problem when the crowded living space becomes dangerous. Narrow pathways can cause tripping hazards. Surfaces like tables, chairs, and even the kitchen range can become unusable because they are piled so high with stuff. 
    In a Psychology Today article, I learned that “the International OCD Foundation estimates that one in every 50 people struggles with severe hoarding—but also that the public is fascinated by it.” I intend to explore the one in 50, but I’ll have to save the fascination of the other 49 of us for another day. 
    People who hoard have entered a vicious circle. The same PT article says “[h]oarding both relieves anxiety and generates it.” How do those two opposites play out?
    Keeping something feels good, like a security blanket. When a behavior feels good, we tend to repeat it to get the same good feeling. But at some point, the thought of making room for more stuff causes anxiety. When that happens, we might become overwhelmed. The feelings of security can lead to feelings of isolation, keeping friends and family away.
    In general, people who hoard have difficulty making decisions, including what and how much to keep.
    When someone doesn’t recognize that the amount of stuff they have collected, or kept, or set aside is interfering with their daily life or has become a safety issue, professional help might be necessary.  
    How do we know if we or someone we love is experiencing hoarding behavior? 
Watch for these symptoms listed by The Mayo Clinic:

• getting and keeping more items than you need or have room for
  • can result in disorganized and crowded clutter and possibly unsafe or unsanitary conditions
• feelings of distress when you’re asked to remove or even reduce clutter
• losing important items in the midst of clutter
• inability or unwillingness to organize items

    People who hoard, keep stuff that is “unique” or might be “necessary in the future” or is “sentimental,” reminding them of a happier time, or a beloved person from our past, or a loved pet.
    Speaking of pets, people who hoard pets (dozens or even hundreds of them) create an unsafe environment for themselves and their pets. They need professional help.
    Of course, there’s a difference between someone who hoards and a pack rat. According to David Decker, an agent who handles apartments for rent in Wisconsin, a pack rat’s clutter is made up of stuff that they may have a use for… somewhere or at some time.” Their stuff is usually organized in some fashion. A person who hoards,, though, “may be hard-pressed to explain why they keep many of the things they keep.”
    Collectors collect stuff. It’s organized, acquired according to particular specifications, and may have real financial worth. Dad was a collector and a “pile-it.”
    I have more stuff than I need, or really even want. I read somewhere that a good way to declutter is to go through your items, one by one, and box up those that feel too precious to get rid of. Label the boxes and put them in a safe place in the basement or attic. They remain retrievable, but not visible. At some point, those boxes might become irrelevant and therefore unnecessary.
    Maybe it’s time to get a few boxes and try again.

I’m reading Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins (Scholastic Press, 2025). It’s the fifth book in the Hunger Games series. The main character, Haymitch Abernathy, is a young tribute, fighting for his life in the Arena, and takes place in the 50th year of the games. If you’re a fan of the series, this prequel will not disappoint.
                                      Be curious! (and organized)

    “I’m Greem. I’m a shadow cast from this rock.”
    And that was just the beginning.
                                      from Shadow and the Ghost
                                                 written by Cat Min
                                            illustrated by Cindy Kay
                                              Levine Querido, 2024
                                      accessed on Hoopla 8/3/25
    Shadows are where the ladders and yard equipment live in our garages or basements.
    A shadow can be a hint or an indistinct image, as in “shadows of things to come” or “the shadow of her smile.” And a shadow is someone who follows you for presumably nefarious reasons, say a spy.
    A shadow can remind us of what once was. “Even after she recovered, she was a shadow of her former self.”
    Shadows are the dark places in a painting. 
    A shadow can be a specter or a ghost, an inescapable threat or influence, or even the general atmosphere, especially one that causes gloom, fear, or doubt, as illustrated in the phrase, “they lived under the shadow of war.” 
    Shadows are ominous.
    In 2015, Chicago law professor Will Baude coined the term shadow docket. While the term is not explicitly derogatory, these court orders on the shadow docket are unsigned and unexplained. Even though, as noted by Baude, they are usually innocuous (up to 99% of the time in 2015), by their nature, they are controversial.
    Most of the time, a case is selected for the shadow docket when the court needs to decide whether an appeal in a lower court should be allowed to stand. These cases get very little discussion, briefs are very limited. Decisions are made quickly, in a week or less. They are used when the Court believes “irreparable harm” will be caused if the request for a decision is not made immediately.
    And as mentioned already, they are unsigned and unexplained. Also, as already mentioned, they are (or maybe were is more accurate now) very often inconsequential. They are in response to an “emergency application.”  
    That’s the history. 
    According to the Brennan Center, since 2017, the Court’s role has been changing. Cases being admitted to the shadow docket have become much more frequent and more substantial. They are more consequential. And can serve as precedential (introducing a precedent).
    In testimony before Congress (and included in the same Brennan Center article), law professor Stephen I. Vladeck explained the shadow docket. “Owing to their unpredictable timing,  [often late at night], their lack of transparency, and their usual inscrutability, these rulings come both literally and figuratively in the shadows.” 
    Since 2017, the Court has used the shadow docket to rule on issues related to gerrymandering and environmental regulations. These “emergency motions” often try to suspend or even reverse a lower court’s orders while the case is still in progress. And it touches on the “irreparable harm” clause. Critics argue that a case can be decided even before a litigant has proven that harm is really imminent.  
    And there is no transparency.
    Refer to the Brennan Center’s article for some interesting examples of decisions the Court has recently handed down. 
    In Merit Cases, the Court will wait until a lower court establishes facts and makes a decision. Then, if they decide to take on the case, they receive full briefs, hold oral arguments, and provide detailed, sometimes very long explanations of their orders.
    None of this takes place if a case is part of the shadow docket. 
    After application is made, a case is chosen using the Court’s four criteria for selection:

1. “reasonable probability” that at least four Justices will agree
2. a “fair prospect” that a majority of Justices, upon review, will determine the lower decision was erroneous
3. irreparable harm will result if not taken on
4. in a close case, balance is sought between the applicant, the respondent, and the interests of the general public  

    A surge of cases has reached the shadow docket since 2017, coinciding with Trump’s first term. The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed 41 emergency applications in his first term. As a comparison, during the previous 16 years (during the administrations of Obama and Bush), DOJ filed a total of 8 emergency applications.
    You can find a detailed and informed paper here. 
    Without owning or explaining their decisions, the public is hard-pressed to trust the integrity of the Justices and trust that their work is in the best interest of the public. 
     Ellena Erskine of CNN quoted Ted Cruz, former solicitor general of Texas, in September 2021. He said, “Shadow docket, that is ominous. Shadows are really bad, like really, really bad.”
    I’m not sure that in 2025, he’d agree with his own statement.

I’m reading Allegedly, by Tiffany D. Jackson (Quill Tree Books/HarperCollins, 2017). It’s an emotional thriller, a departure from what I usually read. The main character is a 16-year-old doing time for a crime she may or may not have committed when she was nine. The crime is heinous. The punishment is severe. From a starred review in Booklist, it “…ends with a knife twist that will send readers racing back to the beginning again.” I’m almost finished.
                                     Be curious! (and choose light)

…he conducted meetings. Lots and lots and lots of meetings, many in the middle of the night.
                       from Starring the Boss Baby as Himself!
                          written and illustrated by Marla Frazee
                                           Beach Lane Books, 2010

    Surprise! Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as a demographic in the United States. Surprise again! It’s old news. 
    The Boomer Generation peaked in 1999 and held that position for two decades.
    According to Pew Research, “Millennials, whom we define as ages 23 to 38 in 2019, numbered 72.1 million, and Boomers (ages 55 to 73) numbered 71.6 million.” 
    Before that, though, the 1960s came and went. In 1964, Jack Weinberg famously advised us Boomers not to trust anyone over 30. By 1984, Abbie Hoffman wondered whether people under 30 could be trusted. UPI (United Press International) archives. 
    Hoffman and Weinberg were both part of the Silent Generation (named for not speaking up against Joseph McCarthy’s communist scare and not protesting America’s involvement in the Vietnam War). Hoffman, aged 47 in 1984, claimed, “it may be the other way around.” As part of the Silent Generation, Hoffman meant the GenXers were not committed to social change. Boomers, he claimed, rebelled against hypocrisy. But GenXers rebelled because “the system” was getting in the way of their social interactions and job performances. 
    It’s dangerous and unfair to paint whole generations with a broad brush, but here it is.
        Silent Generation: inactive members of society
        Boomers: active and motivated change-makers
        GenXers: “me” driven, success-oriented
        Millennials: motivated by finding meaning, purpose, and making a social impact 
    My husband and I are Boomers. Our kids are GenXers. They came of age (mostly) amid the AIDS epidemic, MTV, and Sesame Street. They mostly were too young to vote for (or against) Ronald Reagan, but were affected by his Reaganomics policies. 
    Heavily involved in their children’s lives, the term “helicopter parent” was coined in 1969, and applied to us Boomers as we were busy raising our GenXers.
    In 2025, Boomers are between 61-79 years old. Millennials are between the ages 29-44. And the demographic gap is widening. The latest US Census statistics I could find are from 2023. Just two years ago, the Census revealed 65.5 million Baby Boomers and 72.7 million Millennials (USA Today).
    The reasons why the balance shifted are many. People move. Lots of people still want to come here for work. Most of those immigrants are Millennials, it’s their age. More Baby Boomers are reaching the end of their lives. It’s their age, too.
    I like to look for similarities among the many humans I meet, and we humans are wired to look for meaning in our lives. Social scientists use their tools: focus groups, surveys, and experiments, to discover what large groups have in common.
    You can find lists and lists of generational characteristics. They are all common traits. They speak of the middle of the spectrum, not of the many people who slink toward the edges. They all overgeneralize. Here goes:
    After WWII, the American economy soared. 
    Baby Boomers experienced the Vietnam War (and lots of us fought in it and protested it), assassinations of JFK, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and John Lennon, Woodstock (and all that that involved), and the Beatles (and all that that involved, too. John Glen orbited Earth and Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. Women’s health care leaped forward when Roe v. Wade was decided. 
    Boomers value loyalty, hard work, and saving money for the future. As a group, they show respect for authority, but not blind obedience. They believe a “good job” requires a college education. They prefer personal contact over email, ZOOM, and texts.
    Boomers believe in “prosperity through hard, honest work,” in other words, the American Dream is still possible. This optimism fuels their drive for success. We like to feel useful and productive.
    Like the Boomers, Millennials also lived through communal trauma and joy. They remember 9/11 and life before the internet. They remember when music came over the radio in real time. Their phones were attached to the wall, and one phone number per household was the norm.
    Millennials grew up with technology. They were not born into it like GenZers. They adapt to new tech easier than GenXers and especially us Boomers. But being fluent in both digital media and analog, boundaries can be a challenge as Millennials straddle the divide between the two.    
    Millennials value their community and work to help it survive. They want to find meaning in their work, achieve self-satisfaction, and experience the feeling that their work is making a difference in the world. not just giving them financial rewards. 
    They value the importance of protecting the environment, human rights, and creativity and look for careers that align with their values, including their company’s ethics.
    Even though they are the most well-educated generation in US history, many carry lots of student debt. They entered the workforce after the Great Recession, and COVID hit millennials hard. They are less likely to own their own home than their parents at the same age. They are less able to save money.     
    Success is redefined for many Millennials. Their American Dream is the ability to experience life as they live it, more than the financial rewards of a nine-to-five.  
    No matter our age, we’re all looking for happiness. Most people are kind and want to be productive, any way that productivity is defined. We want to love and be loved, no matter how that love is expressed. Even though their advice is not always appreciated at the time it’s given, most people want the next generation to thrive, and the one after that, and the one after that, too.

One more week of Jon Meacham’s Soul of America (Random House, 2018). I’m getting very close to the end. Even when he’s talking about the American Revolution, the New Deal, or Civil Rights, he reveals similarities with today. Even though I would not call him optimistic, he is realistic, energizing, and encouraging. Read this one. It’s important.
                    Be curious! (and march for your beliefs)

“I wish I could keep everything we say today.”
“Oh, I keep it all! I stick it here in my head.”
                                      from  Robinson’s New Thing
                              written and illustrated by Julia Mills
                  Clarion Books/HarperCollins Publishers, 2025

    When I was still working as a Children’s Librarian, one year, our Summer Reading Program emphasized the importance of exercise, the outdoor kind. It was a Summer Olympics year, and we had programs on bicycle safety, line dancing, and how to identify treasures you might find on a hiking trip or at the beach. 
    We had relay races and dance lessons, and chose books like Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish and newly illustrated by Wallace Tripp (HarperCollins, 1996) and Miss Nelson Has a Field Day by James Marshall (Houghton Mifflin, 1985).
    I decided to take a different tack and encouraged the kids to not only exercise their bodies, but also to exercise their brains. Reading, I reminded them, is a prime example of a brain exercise. A little more on that in a few minutes.
    Last week, I was driving with my 12-year-old grandson when I pointed out a beautiful flowering shrub. I corrected myself when I called it a hydrangea. In reality, it was a hibiscus. When I told him I have a problem remembering which is which, he told me a joke he had made up on the spot. I don’t remember the gist of it, but the punchline was “a biscuit.” 
    “Oh, I get it,” I told him. “A biscuit is round, and the hibiscus flower is round. They sound alike.” Now that we have a shared visual, we’ll both remember which is which. As a bonus, whenever I see a hibiscus, especially the red one blooming in a pot on my back porch, I’ll think of him! It’s a mnemonic device times two!
    Mnemonic devices are powerful memory tools. They work by associating what we want to remember with something we already know. Scientists classify the devices by how they work.
    Sometimes I organize my (short) grocery list in alphabetical order, or make up a word with their first letters (acrostics and acronyms). Sometimes I put the items in order according to where they are in the store, as if I were really there (method of loci). I can divide the (longer) list into categories: produce, cans, dairy, for example (chunking) with an alphabetical sub-list of each. 
    Association doesn’t work as well for me with a grocery list, neither does using a rhyme or making up lyrics to a familiar song. But those are also convenient. Does your new neighbor always smell good? Oh! Her name is Rose. Or my grandson’s biscuit joke that helps me remember the name of a flower (association).
    One of my granddaughters can sing Pi’s first 100 digits. My sister’s American history teacher put the presidents in chronological order to the tune of “Rock-a-bye Baby.” Even though “The Presidents” stops at Kennedy, both are examples of songs and rhyme. I can’t do the Pi song, but I haven’t tried to learn it. I can still sing the presidents up to Grover Cleveland, though.
    Scientific work is ongoing. It examines how we form, store, and recall our memories. All five of our senses work together to synthesize new information to create them.
    While mnemonic devices work as memory aids by connecting what we already know with material we are learning about, they are less effective for helping us understand deeply “the why of a thing.”
    We can use HOMES to remember the names of the five great lakes. We can even devise a mnemonic device to remember which one is deepest or which is cleanest, but why these comparisons are important, or how they work together, or even if they do, is beyond the scope of a mnemonic device. 
    Using mnemonic devices might help counteract the Google effect. Yes, that’s a thing. Simply stated, we tend to not remember an answer or fact or a confirmation that we look up online. Research points to our confidence in being able to “just Google it” again, so our brains don’t need to retain it.
    Also known as digital amnesia, the authors of an article in The Decision Lab tell us current research suggests the Google effect is resulting in “decreased attention spans, increased anxiety, lower performance on cognitive tasks, and diminishing social skills.”
    On the other side of the Google coin, using technology is the way we humans are moving into the future. That we have found ways to store very complex information and retrieve it is a mark of our intelligence. Also from The Digital Lab’s article, “knowing how and where to access the information is often more important than knowing the small pieces of information themselves.”
    It’s becoming a new behavior pattern. If we know the correct questions and know where to find specific answers, we free up space in our working memory and “reduce mental strain on this limited system.”
    Circling back to validate my summer reading advice, Jennifer Duffy from National University has written in her graduate school dissertation, “Words—-spoken and written—-are the building blocks by which a child’s mind grows. Reading is not only essential to a child’s verbal and cognitive development, but it also teaches the child to listen, develop new language, and communicate.” She continues, “books open a child’s imagination into discovering his or her world.”
    That was evident to me when I heard my grandson’s biscuit joke.
    Maybe I'm not getting forgetful after all. Even though I don’t have as much on the tip of my tongue anymore, maybe I’m holding too many factoids in my working memory.

I’m reading The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels by Jon Meacham (Random House, 2018). Even though Meacham published it at the beginning of Trump’s first term, Meacham's words feel extremely current. From the publisher, [h]e assures us, “‘The good news is that we have come through such darkness before’—-as time and again, Lincoln’s better angels have found a way to prevail.” Encouraging and readable.
              -—Be curious! (and just Google it when you need to)

Lubna gave Amir the shoe box with Pebble and the pen.
“What do I do if Pebble misses you?” asked Amir.
“Draw the smile back on,” said Lubna.
And what do I do if I miss you?”
“Tell Pebble all about it,” Lubna said.
Amir nodded and held the shoe box tight.
                                           from Lubna and Pebble
                                       written by Wendy Meddour
                                        illustrated by Daniel Egnéus
                             Dial Books for Young Readers, 2019

    The older I get, the more I understand my mom as a truly moral person. She taught me not to judge anyone before I walked a mile in their shoes. She was wise, too, wise enough to explain that lofty and difficult concept to my very young self in a way I could understand. 
    That, I think, is the foundation of empathy. From Greater Good Magazine, a publication of UC-Berkeley, “empathy is the ability to sense other people’s emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.”
    Though there is a genetic component to empathy, our capacity can be enhanced or diminished, depending on our childhood experiences and relationships. Infants sense their caregivers’ emotions and often mirror them. Remember those big, gummy grins? 
    Helen Riess, director of the Empathy and Relational Science Program at Massachusetts General Hospital, developed a training approach based on research and the neurobiology and physiology of empathy to enhance doctor-patient relationships. 
    She saw a decline in that relationship, especially since she noticed an uptick in her own patients’ reporting of feeling unheard, unseen, and even dismissed during their own medical appointments. She knew that we humans are hard-wired for empathy. She thought that if empathy was on the wane, there must be a way to enhance it. She’s devoted her career to finding ways to help us learn how to get back our empathy.
    Through her own research and experiments, she discovered some useful tips, for doctors, and the rest of us, too.. They conveniently spell out the word EMPATHY.
1. Eye contact releases oxytocin, the bonding hormone. By meeting someone’s gaze, human bonds are formed and enhanced. One way to make this a conscious effort is to note the eye color of the person you’re talking with (without staring at them, of course!).
2. Motor mimicry usually occurs on an unconscious level. But if you’re trying to teach someone to be more empathetic, or become more empathetic yourself, pay attention to how you react when you’re in conversation with someone.
3. Notice if your postures match. Are you both sitting? standing? looking alert? 
4. Affect. Can you name the emotion someone is feeling by “reading” their body language?
5. More is “said” with our Tone of Voice than our actual words, 85% more according to Riess. Listeners need to “tune in” to their conversations.
6. Hear the whole person, what’s being said, and what isn’t. Ask questions.
7. Your response is the personal inventory you ask yourself to determine how it’s going and how or if to continue the conversation, relationship, or meeting.
    Empathy in children and adults is also developed by reading, especially fiction. According to Lisa Cron in Story Genius (Ten Speed Press, 2016), “[s]tories instill meaning directly into our belief system the same way experience does—not by telling us what is right, but allowing us to feel it ourselves.” She quotes from Daniel Gilbert, a Harvard psychology professor, “[i]ndeed, feelings don’t just matter, they are what mattering means.”
    Of course, like life itself, empathy is a balancing act. Becoming too immersed in others can be a detriment to ourselves. 
    Empathy is different from caring, compassion, or kindness. All are important for a healthy society to work for everyone. But we can understand, sympathize, and help others without becoming overwhelmed by empathy. Doing for and with others, not only thinking about their plight, matters most to a sustainable community. 
    Like Mom also taught me, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”
    Turning our empathy into intention and action is good for us, good for our family members, and good for our communities.

In 13Ways to Say Goodbye by Kate Fussner (HarperCollins/Children’s Books/HarperCollins Publishers, 2025), Nina learns to forge her own identity as she grieves the loss of her older sister. It’s a novel in verse, full of emotion without being sappy. Recommended.
                                    Be curious! (and sew kindness)

Indivisible means unbreakable--
our country cannot be split into separate parts.
No matter how much we might disagree about some things, we all agree on one thing: we are strongest when we work together and help each other out. 
               from I pledge allegiance: the Pledge of Allegiance:
                                                   with commentary
                 written by Bill Martin, Jr. and Michael Sampson
                                      illustrated by Chris Raschka
                                          Candlewick Press,  2002
I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the
United States of America
and to the republic
for which it stands,
one nation under God,
indivisible, with liberty
and justice for all.
       --Frances Bellamy, 1892

    I learned to say “The Pledge” when I was in kindergarten. We all stood next to our tables, put our right hands over our hearts, and recited words we didn’t completely understand. But we did it together, and did it together again and again until we graduated high school. By then, most of us did understand it, mostly.
    Mr. Bellamy published his poem in 1892 in The Youth’s Companion, a Boston-based children’s magazine. Reprinted on thousands of leaflets and sent to schools all over the country in time for the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s arrival in the Americas, Bellamy’s words were recited by twelve million children as one voice to celebrate that anniversary (Chamber of Commerce.org).
    After several edits making the Pledge exclusively American, it was officially adopted by Congress on June 22, 1942, and formally included in the U.S. Flag Code. 
    Arguing that adding the words “under God” after “one nation” would give students a deeper sense of patriotism, in 1954, Congress passed a law to add the phrase. As you can imagine, it was met with controversy. Several lawsuits were argued in various courts for various reasons. In 2010, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that reciting the pledge did not violate students’ rights because students are permitted to choose not to participate.
    Until very recently, I believed the United States, under the leadership of reasonable lawmakers and judges, was moving, albeit slowly, toward becoming a more empathetic nation. 
    Now I believe differently.
    Not that Americans are not empathetic. I believe most of us are. I believe most of us want to help our neighbors, in the most general sense of that word. 
    I believe most of us are troubled by the cruelty, callousness, and carelessness we are seeing from this current government at the highest level. And the cowardice, fear, and selfishness of those who we elected to represent us.
    The question I most often ask myself is What can I do? The real answer might be “not much,” but to not even try to make a difference just feels wrong.
    We can make calls, send emails, or even write letters to our local, state, and national elected officials. We can show up to demonstrate. We can support the causes and people of like mind who are denouncing the cruelty we feel is engulfing us. 
    We can do the best we can to turn our own fear, anger, and grief into action.
Here are some sources that might be helpful.
    5 Calls app is easy to download onto your smartphone. 
        https://5calls.org 
    Click here to contact Federal, State, and Local elected officials.
        https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials/ 
Positive reinforcement is as important as a complaint, suggestion, or any other negative comment. 
    According to USA Today, more than 5,000,000 (five million) people attended the “No Kings” protest on June 14, 2025. Over 200 organizations sponsored more than 2,100 rallies in all 50 states.
    The next general protest will be held on July 17th. Called “No Kings,” “Good Trouble Lives On,” or “Anti-Trump,” depending on where you look, sponsors are, among many others, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), 50501, MoveOn.org, Good Trouble Lives On, and Indivisible. 
    You can find a location near you by typing “July 17, 2025” into Google or any other search engine.
                                Be curious! (and keep showing up)