Road Trip!

 

Reason for trip: art show at Kalamazoo College

Since the return from Arizona in the spring of 2023, completing my first cross-country round-trip without the Artist, I have been pretty much a homebody here in northern Michigan. Except for a day trip to Cadillac last fall and Reed City this spring, and a quick dart as far south as Interlochen once or twice, I’ve mostly stayed put. Asked the other day if I’d ventured south of Leelanau County over the winter, I thought for a minute and then replied that I’d been to Grand Traverse County a few times. Going as far south as Kalamazoo is a whole ’nother story! It means, usually, going through Grand Rapids and the rest of the way from there on expressway, and that’s what I did on Tuesday. 

 

Sunny was with me, confused and anxious about our departure from routine, but once we reached our destination my son dog-sat in the car with her while I attended grandson Jack Willits’s show of paintings (the ultimate destination) at Kalamazoo College, his senior project, which earned him graduation with honors. Meanwhile, Ian managed to log into his home computer from his phone, thus to work on his writing while tending to the dog girl, who found her favorite hidey-hole under the steering wheel while I was gone. (That settled her down enough that she didn’t feel compelled to bark at every passer-by.) Jack was pleased that I had made the trip, and his work—a full room of paintings done during the past year, his senior project—was beautiful: a wide range of subject matter, from landscapes to figures, in his own very distinctive style. His grandpa would have been so proud and happy! Family, friends, and lots of young people were there, of course. Neither Jack’s mom nor I managed to get good photographs of all the family together, or even all of them separately, but everyone was impressed by the work and happy to be there to celebrate it.

Artist and his model

After a drive back down to Portage and a bite to eat with my son, the dog girl and I repaired to our motel for the night, and after a little dog walk, I had half an hour’s conversation by phone with a dear friend before ending the social part of my day. Then, saving the last pages of the novel James for morning, I watched an episode of Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s “Finding Your Roots” (television is such an occasional, rare part of my life!) before letting sleep claim me.

 

With so much to do in my home and yard and business, return trip came the very next morning, but I had a couple of other objectives along the way: first, to avoid Grand Rapids; second, to stop in Newaygo at a bookstore I’d spotted (new store with used books) on the way south. That being the case, my route on Wednesday took me west from Kalamazoo and then north through Van Buren, Allegan, Ottawa, and Muskegon counties. Unlike the drive south, there was no one expecting me and nowhere I had to be at a particular time, so if my drive north took an hour or two longer, no problem. 

 

At River Stop Café (a favorite stop for the Artist and me on many trips), I bought a sandwich to go (my choice was the “M-37,” but there are no wrong decisions at this café) and then managed to find eight volumes to buy at Flying Bear Books (I would have found more if Sunny hadn’t been waiting for me in the car) before seeking out a park where Sunny and I could have a relaxed picnic before the last leg of our travels.

Since every road trip for me is a trip down Memory Lane, it’s easy for melancholy to get its foot in the car door as associations with the past accumulate. The Artist and I had many, many road trips over the years, and the best of my life were with him. No one was more fun! This time, a few little country roads I’d never been on before helped, as did a new bookstore to visit and not having much of an agenda for the return trip other than, eventually, reaching home. All told, the trip was worthwhile and successful, an important mission accomplished.

Home--and at work--before dark

Reminder: June 10, 5-7 p.m., is the launch for Marilyn Zimmerman’s novel, In Defense of Good Women. This is not an event for young children, but everyone else is cordially invited. Marilyn and I are very excited and hope you will join us! 

Happy author, my friend Marilyn Zimmerman

Guest Book Review: IN DEFENSE OF GOOD WOMEN

 

When Pamela Grath invited me to review a novel by a local Michigan author, I knew the book would be good. But, as it turns out, In Defense of Good Women, by Marilyn Zimmerman, is remarkably good. In fact, once I started reading this compelling, suspenseful story, I couldn’t put it down. 

 

In Defense of Good Women is a legal thriller that tackles the controversial topic of neonaticide, the killing of an infant within its first twenty-four hours. This fascinating book features strong, complex female characters and an evocative portrait of a coastal town in southeastern Michigan.

 

The lead character, Victoria Stephens, is a smart, accomplished criminal attorney with a twenty-year career. In the small town of Port Huron, she projects a perfect image of success with her Chanel sunglasses, designer shoes, and new Mercedes. At the insistence of a chief circuit judge she has known for years, Victoria reluctantly takes on a seemingly impossible case. 

 

The client, seventeen-year-old Callie Thomas, has been charged with murdering her newborn infant. The baby was drowned in the St. Clair River, hours after being born. Callie insists she is innocent. She does not remember giving birth or even being pregnant, though the DNA evidence is indisputable. Adding to the uproar, Callie is the daughter of a locally prominent Evangelical minister, known for his strident pro-life opinions.

 

As Victoria constructs a defense, she consults a psychologist with expertise on neonaticide syndrome, a kind of dissociation that occurs in women, particularly teenagers, who have been traumatized by their pregnancy. Closely related to temporary insanity, the syndrome is a controversial diagnosis that is not exactly abortion and not exactly infanticide. The woman wants to get rid of the baby after it’s born, and then she’ll block it from her mind, as if the baby never existed. The hypothesis would explain a lot about Callie’s behavior and frame of mind, though the expert admits that the defense may not work in U.S. courts.

 

The story has several unexpected twists that I won’t spoil. But I will say that Zimmerman is brave and even-handed in confronting tough issues related to pregnancy, motherhood, and the expectations that weigh on women facing difficult decisions. She also does a fantastic job of developing her lead characters. Callie is traumatized and reticent, but she’s also sensitive and artistic. And Victoria, even with her Jimmy Choo shoes and diamond wristwatch, is a complicated woman who carries wounds of her own. By its conclusion, the novel resolves the mystery of what happened to the baby and to Callie. But there is a deliberate raggedness to the ending that is startling and thought-provoking.

 

The book effectively captures the ambience of small-town Michigan. The media turmoil, the rumors and judgments, and the intertwining lives are all recognizable and believable. Especially captivating are the descriptions of the cozy cottage Victoria inherited from her father. Constructed by bootleggers during Prohibition on the St. Clair River, the home conjures memories of her parents and has become her sanctuary. 

 

Like most great books, In Defense of Good Women works on several levels. With its crisp pacing, compelling characters, and suspenseful plot, the book would make fabulous beach reading. On a deeper level, it would also be a wonderful choice for a book club seeking meaningful discussion around women’s reproductive health and the right to choose.

 

Thank you, Pamela, for sharing this book—and for all you do to inspire community and introspection in beautiful Northport. And thank you, Marilyn Zimmerman, for writing such an intelligent, entertaining, and timely book. I hope you’re already at work on your next manuscript!

Postscript from your usual blogger: First, thanks to Kristen Rabe for being an excellent guest reviewer! Second, we will be hosting a launch in June for Marilyn’s book—details to be announced when plans are firm.

Closeup, Farther Away, Back Home Again

“You left the dog out!” 

 

No, I did not forget about Sunny Juliet, and she certainly did not spend the night outdoors! When Sunny is outside, I am outside with her, and when I am indoors, my little companion is with me there, too. But it’s true that there was not a single image of her in my last blog post, so mea culpa! Although Sunny is not a bookstore dog (Naughty Barker that she is), she is very much the dog of my heart and life and blog. So here is my dog girl, back again by popular request.

 

More around the home place

 

‘Tis the season of golden yellow, everywhere I look – forsythia, daffodils, and now—at last—the first dandelions! 

Buds are appearing on trees and shrubs, and all three of my peonies have emerged from their winter sleep. I saw my first blooming Dutchman’s breeches of the season on Saturday morning and cowslips, a.k.a., marsh marigolds, on Sunday afternoon.  

When the weather warms up (again: it had warmed once or twice but cooled down again almost immediately) and stays that way, at last, I’ll get busy cleaning my front porch. The Artist and I always lived on that porch from late spring to early fall. Though it isn’t the same without him, I’m still glad to have it, and Sunny likes it, too. But this weekend there was a different agenda in effect at my place: A neighbor teen came to help me fill an industrial-sized dumpster with trash to be hauled away. “Big job,” I texted a friend, and she texted back, “Not big—huge!” She was right. One of the dangers of rural acreage is the accumulation of stuff no longer useful, but I can now report significant progress on the cleanup, thanks to my helper’s young muscles and ability to heave heavy items over the dumpster wall.

After all that work, I tried to take a nap in the afternoon, but Sunny had other ideas, so we went for a little ride up to Northport by way of the back roads, which is where I saw the marsh marigolds—and thank you, Sunny Juliet, for not letting me sleep the day away!

 

 

Reading at home

 

I finished James A. Stimson’s historical novel, King Noanett, set in colonial America during the time of the English Civil War. The story was a blend, I would say, of adventure, history, and melodrama. The ending was particularly melodramatic, but I’m not going to give it away.

 

Friday night I began reading a novel by a Northport friend, Karen Mulvahill’s The Lost Woman, and came to the last page of that book early Sunday evening. One of the novel’s characters, Nicole, “lost herself” due to a series of difficult life events that took place during the World War II Occupation of Paris, and now, as an older woman, she has persuaded an art historian to help her recover paintings stolen from her parents’ gallery by the Nazis. Robert, the art historian, has his own issues—whether his secret dabbling has any artistic merit at all, as well as how he feels about clients who regard art as a financial investment—and he also has difficulties with relationships. As Nicole and Robert’s lives intersect, secrets involving other people come to light, helping both Nicole and Robert resolve feelings they have carried as burdens for years.

 

Mulvahill’s research is solid and also, I’m happy to say, woven seamlessly into her story. We don’t know at first how all the characters are connected to each other, but the author has her narrative threads well in hand and brings them together in a satisfying finish. 

 

Karen and I are having a little bit of trouble trying to figure out how I can acquire copies of her book at wholesale price to offer in my shop, the complication being that her publisher is in England, and the books printed and distributed, at present, only through the online behemoth. But don’t ask about it! When we find a solution, I will let you know!

 

 

Waking in the middle of the night

 

Waking not from but to a nightmare. 

 

    Try to imagine…

 

If Jimmy Carter had roared like a maniac dictator and danced around a lectern during a rally; 

 

If Bill Clinton had invited Bill Gates to head a newly created government department and fire as many career workers as possible in the fields of education, health, science, etc.;

 

If Barack Obama had taken the oath of office without placing his hand on the Bible;

 

If Joe Biden had planned a military parade costing tens of millions of dollars for his own birthday celebration, while looking to cut services to citizens and cut taxes for billionaires;

 

If any Democratic president had ever had people abducted off the streets or out of their homes and transported to a foreign gulag without benefit of due process!

 

The latest, most pitiful thing I have seen was the current president of the United States, asked by an interviewer if he is obligated to follow the rulings of the Supreme Court and to obey the Constitution, responding, “I don’t know.” –What was that oath of office again?

 

Well, he still has his supporters (where do they get their news?), but he has royally ticked off Catholics around the world for posting an AI image of himself as pope, and Lutheran bishops in this country have come together with an official statement calling him a ”danger” to religion in America. Sadly, he is not the only danger to our country, since almost the entire Republican Party has been body-snatched by the Project 2025 crowd….

A couple of facts:

Less than 1% of the U.S. population identifies as trans. Nonbinary is a real thing, though not the statistical norm. Information is readily available for those not afraid to educate themselves. You might begin here. 

As for crimes, the Biden Administration never had an “open border,” and as for fentynal coming into the country at our southern border, 80% of people arrested with the illegal drug are American citizens. Immigration is not a primary factor in illegal drugs entering the country, says the Cato Institute. See more information here. 

Issues of gender and immigration, however, are guaranteed to stir fear and are intentionally used by the Republican Party to activate their base. (Immigrants have been a convenient political diversion and punching bag for as long as our country has been in existence.) Meanwhile, far-reaching dangers are pushed to the margins by sensationalism: 

Married women who have changed their names, although citizens all their lives, will have a much harder time voting; cuts are being made daily to government programs that benefit and protect veterans, children, and elderly Americans; the American military is being turned into an offensive force, rather than simply defending our country; the richest men in the world will, if they get their way—and under the current administration, who can doubt they will get their way?—benefit from mammoth tax cuts, burdens of those cuts falling on the majority of non-wealthy Americans; the president is planning a parade on his birthday that will cost tens of millions of dollars, at the same time that he posts an AI-generated image of himself on social media as POPE; and our poor, politically battered though materially wealthy country, once a beacon of liberty around the world, has become a pariah state. THESE ARE REAL AND PRESENT DANGERS!

So by all means, MAGA folks, focus your attention on foreign drug dealers and trans Americans, and let the autocrats steal our freedom and destroy the common good while you're looking the other way, if that’s what you want. I only ask you to please open your eyes and see clearly just what you are doing! 

 

 

At the same time—

 

Take a deep breath! Ordinary life in the hinterlands goes on. New books appear, old ones bob to the surface, spring wildflowers appear, work demands attention at home and in Northport, and the days grow longer and lighter and, although erratically, gradually warmer. Today is Monday, and I planted radish and chard seeds, while blissfully innocent (ignorant?) dog girls and boys continue to have fun. Bless their hearts!!!

Spring is here, and if you're reading this, you're alive! So happy cinco de mayo, friends!