mem fox, new revolutionary

Mem Fox described her experience with LAX custom agents last week. Her finally comment resonates: “I wasn’t pulled out of the line because I was a revolutionary. But now I am.”

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/an-australian-childrens-book-authors-harrowing-interrogation-at-lax?mbid=social_facebook

Ada, the neighborhood elk

Yesterday morning I watched what I thought was a baby moose behind the Boise Co-Op, chewing the bushes at Dr. Bodily's dentist office. She was scruffy adorable. Seeing wildlife in town however, may become a joy of the past, with no more stewardship of our environment. The president's new puppet, Scott Pruitt, says eliminating the EPA "is justified" -- that Americans look at it "much like they look at the IRS." Words fail. http://abcn.ws/2lW3kPS

Fortunately for now, Idaho Fish & Game is on duty. They've been out to see her and have determined she is an older elk they call "Ada," but because of her age she can't be sedated and moved. Most likely she'll forage in the neighborhood and eventually make her way back to the foothills. The best thing is "to give her space until she's ready to leave on her own;" and especially NOT to feed her, so she won't become dependent on humans. Thank you, Idaho Fish & Game for checking on "Ada."

boys who read

Josh, Joel and J.D. Frees, now college graduates

One summer day years ago, friends from Colorado drove through Idaho and stopped in Boise to visit us. During our lunch of BBQ'd hamburgers we somehow got on the subject of books so I showed the brothers to our shelves. After an hour the adults realized the house had grown quiet and the boys had vanished. We found them out front in the backseat of their van. Seeing them engrossed in reading warmed my heart then and does to this day. This photo [ABOVE] is still on our fridge; their books: Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie: The Oregon Trail Diary of Hattie Campbell, 1847. These brothers obviously kept reading and reading because they're now college graduates -- and happen to be married to lovely, smart women. I'm so delighted for them!

mem fox

Mem Fox

My favorite children's book author from Australia, Mem Fox, doubts she'll ever visit our country again. On her way to Milwaukee to address a convention she and a room-full of travelers were detained at LAX for visa checks. She said the border agents acted as if they'd been given "turbocharged power" by the president's executive order. 

Afterward she said, "I have never in my life been spoken to with such insolence, treated with such disdain, with so many insults and with so much gratuitous impoliteness."

I am so ashamed of the White House puppet show.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-25/mem-fox-detained-at-los-angeles-airport-by-us-officials/8303366

letter from U.S. Senator

I love receiving personal letters.

Especially from a United States Senator.

This one is from my Idaho representative, James Risch. I had written requesting a NO vote for Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary because of her zero time in public schools. He voted YES, however. Well, now that he and she will share time in Washington, D.C., perhaps she'll offer tips about how to actually read his letters before signing his name.

Oh wait! Idaho is 46th in the country in education, so maybe this is the best he can do.

resistance

When I heard that letters to Washington, D.C. go through anthrax screening and take longer to be read, I pulled out my stash of souvenir postcards, many of scenic Idaho, and bought a bunch of 34-cent stamps. Here goes!