We head back to Michigan today. Our plane leaves in the afternoon and we are scheduled to arrive in Michigan near midnight local time there.

It has been a bittersweet time out here. I love seeing my family. But these are hard times for them due to my son’s alcohol addiction. So I am both happy and sad. But as usual I am very glad to have had time with them, especially my three grand children who continue to mature and show amazing resilience.

Yesterday I sat down and read a couple books my California granddaughters are reading.

Invisible Emmie by Terri Libenson is almost a graphic novel.

It’s the story of a middle schooler who is introverted and loves to draw. Amply and charmingly illustrated, this story is interspersed with a cartoon the main character, Emmie, is making.

The cleverness comes in observing how she uses her real life in the story she is making up. Catherine actually purchased the sequel to this book on Sunday, but had it out to reread in preparation for reading the second book.

Adultolescence by Gabbie Hanna is also illustrated. Hanna is apparently a YouTube personality. Catherine seem to know this right away, but I’m not sure whether Savannah who chose this book for purchase did.

The poems are not terribly well written, but I can see how the point of view would be interesting to Savannah. There are some witty moments and there are some poignant ones.  Here’s a poem, I liked. I also liked the accompanying illustration but was unable to find it online.

Here’s an example of her drawing.

This is Gabbie with her BFF, loneliness.

I hope I’m not driving my grand daughters a wee bit crazy, reading the books they are reading. They seem okay with it. I try to keep the comments to a minimum.

That’s it for today. I think I’m braced for travel.

The Black Panthers still in prison: after 46 years, will they ever be set free?

I have been reading Tears We Cannot Stop: A Sermon for White America by Michael Eric Dyson. It is a source of continuing amazement and frustration to me how the huge fact of slavery and the repression of its descendants is an open secret in the USA.

What the Provincetown AIDS Memorial Leaves Out | The New Yorker

It seems to leave out the important story of the struggle of AIDS. This is a good thing to remember when thinking about the past. Important points and nuances are sometimes ignored or omitted.