January 7, 2018 I GO CRAZY

Remember the poem--All I really need to know I learned in Kindergarten?? Well I'm going to change it to--All I really need to know I learned on SOCIAL MEDIA--and it AIN'T PRETTY. Not sure why BUT people show their true colors on social media.  They say RIDICULOUS things that make me question their integrity and MENTAL HEALTH. Trump is an excellent example of this. Every day he flaunts his IGNORANCE AND STUPIDITY for the whole world to see on TWITTER.  He proves OVER AND OVER AGAIN that he is a LIAR--NARCISSIST--AND A MORON.  It's hard to believe that he has an IVY LEAGUE education in light of the fact that his vocabulary is about as sophisticated as a THIRD GRADER. What grown man AS HIGHLY EDUCATED AS TRUMP would ever use the word LIKE as a conjunction--he sounds like a VALLEY GIRL. It is SOOO GROSS. Just think--If Trump didn't tweet EVERY thought IN HIS EMPTY HEAD--THEN MAYBE--JUST MAYBE--the general public wouldn't question HIS MENTAL STABILITY. Somebody ought to take his phone away. ENOUGH SAID. Just finishing up The Little Red Chairs by Edna O'Brien--a frightening look at war, violence and the victims left behind.

The story begins in a small, isolated Irish village called Cloonoila. One night a mysterious man comes to town and decides to make the village his home. His name is Dr. Vlad, a handsome man who draws attention from all the women in town--even the married ones. Fidelma, the main character in  the novel, is the most beautiful woman in the village. She's unhappily married to a man twice her age and yearns for a different life.  She and Vlad have an affair that goes bad  after he is arrested as a war criminal for atrocities he committed during the Balkan War. After the affair is revealed, Fidelma leaves her tiny village and relocates to a refugee community in London and later The Hague. This book is about the consequences of forbidden love, violence, prejudice, being a victim and moving forward. The writing is beautiful but I feel compelled to warn you that there is one scene in the book that is graphic, violent and deeply disturbing. Find out what happens to Fidelma, Dr. Vlad and the people Fidelma meets as a refugee. This book was an International bestseller in 2016 and rightly so as O'Brien is a great writer.  It's about 320 pages--or a 5 mile run--that you will never forget.